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Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They are owned by MTM and NBC. No infringement intended.
Thanks to Tatjana for the Beta-Read. :-)
Brothers in Arms
A Pretender Fan Fiction by Mareen
"Think I need a devil to help me
Get things right."
Foo Fighters, Learn To Fly
Part 1: The Beach
She was dreaming.
She must be dreaming, because the place she was right now had something absolutely unreal.
What had happened last night? Something unusual?
She couldn't remember.
She'd gone to bed and fallen asleep and now she was here.
If she'd been a romantic, she'd probably even liked the place.
A white beach, full of palms. She could hear soft music, Billie Holiday. There were people, sun-bathing or swimming in the blue sea.
When she looked down on herself, she became aware that she was wearing a short summer-skirt with flowers on it and some canvas shoes. Her hair fell into her face and she absently pushed it behind her ears, then put her hands back into the white, warm sand she was sitting on.
Unfortunately she wasn't a romantic.
"Wonderful", she hissed through pressed lips. "The only thing missing is the Love Boat."
"Why are we here?"
Miss Parker's head flew around and she discovered Jarod, sitting beside her in some white linen clothes, so he looked liked coming fresh from a Soap-Opera.
"Where did *you* come from so suddenly", she asked, slightly confused.
He made a face.
"How should I know. It's just a dream."
"More a nightmare."
"Looks pretty peaceful to me." He smirked. "Like heaven."
"Oh yeah!" She snorted.
Jarod lay back into the sand and crossed his arms behind his head.
"I like it here. It's so peaceful."
As suddenly as he himself had shown up, there were sun-glasses on his nose. He looked awfully relaxed.
"Oh god! Even in dreams you are getting on my nerves. Why the hell won't you even spare me here? And if you have to be here, why don't you do something I'd like you to do? Like... how about punching your head against one of the palms, again and again? I suppose, I can even force you to do it. This is *my* dream after all. I just have to concentrate and then..."
Parker pressed her eyes together and imagined a Jarod who punched his head against a palm's trunk. When she opened her eyes again, she groaned.
"Damn!"
Jarod smirked under his sun-glasses.
"You know, I don't feel like this is a dream at all. As a matter of fact, I feel pretty alive."
"That's what I was afraid of."
"I love Billie Holiday. What about you?"
"Go away, Jarod."
"You should be glad I'm here. I know you, Parker. If I weren't here, you'd be bored to hell at this romantic place. Lie back. Enjoy the sun. When do you have the possibility to relax?
When was your last holiday?"
She had to admit, he was right, even if he was only talking to her in a dream. She hadn't had a vacation for a long time. To be precise since...
"I didn't have one since you escaped from the Centre. So it's all your fault."
"Oh-ho! Listen!"
"Are you kidding me?"
Jarod shook his head. "Sure not! How could I?"
"I knew it!"
"Hey, it's me. Jarod. What do you want?"
"I've already said that. Go away. Or do something useful."
"Like what?"
"There's still the palm."
He laughed and it was hard for Miss Parker not to join him. He'd never laughed a *real* laugh when he was with her, and now that he did it, dream or not, she had to admit, that his laugh was hard to resist.
She suddenly realized, that he was looking at her.
"For smiling, please lift the corner of your mouth", he said.
She smiled before being able to stop herself.
"Thanks", she said dryly. "For a moment the How-to was hard to remember."
Jarod raised and sat beside her. His gaze wandered over her face.
"You look pretty when you smile."
Parker frowned. "I'm not interested."
"In what?"
"You know..."
"I know nothing."
"And stop grinning."
"I'm not grinning", he grinned.
She pressed her lips together and kept silent.
"You really look pretty when you smile."
"And I told you I'm not interested in something like that."
"In what?"
"Problems."
"But this is just a dream."
Miss Parker frowned again. "Right. I nearly forgot that."
"Does that mean, because this is a dream you *are* interested?"
"I didn't say that."
"But you thought it."
They both remained silent for a moment, until he gave her a surprised look.
"You really think I'm sweet?"
"Did I say that?"
"No, not really. But I'm in a dream. I know everything I wanna know."
"Oh God! I'm in Hell!"
He made a soft "Tsk Tsk Tsk".
"Miss Parker, I'm disappointed. You didn't get the possibilities of this state yet. This is a dream. We can do what we've always wanted to do, without consequences. No-one will ever know. It will stay a secret forever."
"Are you trying to seduce me?"
He seemed to think about that for a second.
"Well, yes. After all, this is just a dream."
"A pretty strange dream."
"You talk to much."
Jarod bend over and kissed her on her mouth, so very gentle.
"This feels real, not like in a dream", Parker whispered. "Are you sure this is just a dream?"
"I'm not", he answered and kissed her beside the ear.
She frightened away.
"What? Why not?"
Jarod was working down on her neck and muttered: "Well, the last thing I remember is falling asleep in my hotel room. And then I was here."
"WHAT?"
"I don't want to talk about it anymore. This is just a dream, so let's just..."
Parker suddenly decided it would feel wonderful, to kiss him.
"It's such a strange dream", she whispered and pressed her lips against his. "Whoever is dreaming it."
Jarod smiled while they were sinking back onto the hot sand. His hand was gliding through her hair. Just for one second he stopped because of the strange feeling of being watched, hearing voices that didn't belong to that place. But then he brought his full attention back to Miss Parker and forgot everything around them.
This was a dream.
"What do you think, how often do we have go with this treatment?"
"Maybe we are lucky and this one time is enough. I would be very pleased with that."
The other man snorted.
"My son and I don't like the game we have to play with his sister", the first man went on. "We don't want her to be hurt or be forced into anything with violence. And if the only way left is to treat Jarod and my daughter with drugs, I don't care. The only thing I care about is that the Centre gets what it needs. A new Pretender."
"*My* Pretender."
"Sure, Dr. Raines. What else?"
Part 2: Welcome back
When he woke up, he felt as if someone had played some kind of very cruel soccer game with his head. He groaned and started rubbing his temples to get rid of the pain.
That's when he realized, that he had no idea where he was.
And that's when he finally had a look around and came to wish he hadn't.
He was back at the Centre. He couldn't say where exactly but there slight smell of burned wood and plastic made him believe that he was somewhere down at Raines' playground. SL-27.
There was nothing in the room. Just plain white walls and a small bed - and some surveillance cameras.
Eyes in every wall that never blinked.
Jarod became aware that he was shivering.
He didn't remember anything. The last thing had been... going to bed in his hotel, yes. And falling asleep. And then he had had these strange dreams, about himself and Parker at a beach, kissing and then having sex. He'd had dreams like that before, though this one seemed somehow...more real than the ones before.
But he had more urgent things to do, than thinking about some
dreams...
Like bury the terrible feeling of fear that was trying to control him right now.
Like finding a way out.
Or finding out how the Centre had managed to catch him in the first place.
He wasn't even sure it had been Parker who caught him. If she'd been the one, he would be clearly remember her catching him.
She'd rub it into his face.
For a moment he considered that he maybe had been hurt while she caught him, maybe got a blow to the head, which would explain his terrible headache and the slight dizziness he felt. But he couldn't find any kind of injury on his head, not even a little bump, so he went on to the next possibility.
Drugs, which wouldn't be Parker's style at all.
He found needle marks in his arm when he looked for them, though.
Several.
So, they had used drugs to sedate him and bring him here. But he still couldn't imagine Parker or Sydney or Broots doing that.
What did that mean? A new player?
Or maybe it had been Brigitte? She'd managed to nearly catch him two times. What if she made it this time?
"You are awake."
Startled, Jarod brought his attention to the room's door, which he'd missed being opened. Raines was standing there, three sweepers at his side.
Jarod stood up from his bed.
"What do you want, Raines?"
"Just have a look how you are."
"You caught me. But you have to realize that I won't do any kind of sims for the Centre. No matter what."
"Oh, I do know that. That's not why we brought you here. From the moment you escaped, the only cause why we wanted you back alive, was one thing. Your sperm. And we have that now, as you will maybe remember." Raines smiled. "I was of the impression you had fun while giving it to us."
Jarod could hear the blood rushing in his ears.
"The dreams...", he managed to say, his voice hoarse. "But Miss Parker would never.... She couldn't..."
"Oh yes, she would, the right circumstances being given."
This couldn't be possible.
It was crazy.
"You are useless to us now, Jarod. We always knew you would never again do simulations for us. So, once we got positive test results you are expendable, Jarod."
Bury the fear. Just bury the fear.
But he knew Raines could see it in his eyes.
This whole conversation only took place because Raines wanted to destroy him. Watch his reaction to the realization of the deepest fear he'd ever had.
A child of his own, going through the same things he went through.
Maybe if he could buy some time....
"It will take years, until the child will be able to run sims", Jarod said. "What about that time? Do you know how much money you will lose? But I could..."
"We thought about that, too, Jarod. And we decided, that it will really cost us a lot of money. But on the other hand, trying to hold you here, will cost even more than that.
So we decided it's better to just get rid of you. And to me ... the money is worth it watch you die. I've waited so long for that, Jarod."
Raines smiled.
"There is no way out for you, Jarod. Not a chance this time. You will stay here and once the time has come you will die. Pretty easy."
Jarod said nothing. He felt so terribly numb.
That Parker really had been capable of doing that...Allowing the Centre to use both of them to breed a new Pretender.
It hurt. It was such a terrible pain inside.
"And you will never even see your child", Raines said. There was no emotion at all in the man's voice.
Jarod didn't look at him. He just stared at the floor, incapable of moving, or saying anything.
He was still standing like that, long after Raines had left his room.
Part 3: Waking up
Parker had never been that angry before.
"Raines!" she screamed into one of the cameras that stared down at her. "I know you are responsible for this. Get down here and I'll shove your damn oxygen tank up your..."
"Relax, Parker."
"Lyle!"
She was too surprised to see him right now, to assault him out of anger like she'd usually would do in this kind of situation.
When she'd woken up one hour ago, she'd found herself in a nice room with nice furniture somewhere in the Centre. But when she tried to open the door to get out and scream at the person who was responsible for bringing her down there, obviously after abducting her from her own bed in her own house, she'd realized that the room was locked.
She was a prisoner of the Centre.
Since then, she was screaming into the cameras or walking around in the room, from one side of it to the other and back. Again and again, getting angrier with every single step.
She'd expected that Raines would come to her sooner or later, though. She didn't really believe that her father had participated in taking her from her house, in her pyjamas. He would never do something like that, would he?
He had lied to her, he had let Brigitte questioning her, had done maybe even worse things. But he would never make her a prisoner of the Centre.
And Lyle...He may be a master in being a crawler. He also may be a sociopath and absolutely crazy. But he would never have the guts to participate in one of Raines' games against their fathers wishes.
What brought her back to her semi-trust for her father.
That's why she was surprised to be visited by Lyle.
"Lyle. I want to know what's going on here. Now!"
"I was send here to have a look how you feel. The drugs you were given are able to give a bad headache and we don't want you to feel bad, do we?"
He smiled.
A mistake.
She grabbed his collar and pushed him against one of the walls with all the strength she had.
"You are lucky that I still need answers from you, Lyle", she hissed. "If I wouldn't, you already had this damn red tie you are wearing down your throat. Now, I wanna know what's going on or I will..."
He closed his hands around hers, that were still holding his collar, and surprisingly gentle loosened them from his clothes.
"I can't tell you anything if you strangle me, can I? I'm here to tell you everything you need to know. If you just let me go and relax."
Parker inhaled deeply, very deeply, and took a step back.
Lyle re-arranged his clothes, then started to talk.
"You remember the dreams?"
"Dreams? I...Oh my God!"
She sat down, her legs shaky. She couldn't think.
Lyle was nodding.
"The beach. Jarod and you. It's all true."
"Why?" she said cooly.
"Two weeks ago, a...group inside the Centre Raines had called into the search for Jarod, was able to identify his location. Seems as if Raines got a bit impatient about our search for him, and from what I've heard, it needs a lot to get any kind of access to that specific group. Well, Raines was long sure that Jarod would never again help the Centre with any kind of simulations. But, as you know after you met little Davey Simpkins, Raines is *very* interested in getting a new Pretender. So he went to the Tower and arranged this. It was his idea, to use your's and Jarod's DNA."
"They want us to have a child?"
She was surprised how clear and strong her voice sounded while she felt like something was about to die inside of her.
"Why not just take Jarod's sperm and make an artificial insemination? Why all these mind games and the drug use?"
"Because Raines and our father were sure you would never participate in something like this. They would have to force you. And Dad refused to do that."
"Daddy is in this, too?"
She was dead.
It was the only possibility.
She had died and went to Hell and Hell was the worst nightmare she could have possibly imagined.
"Yes. He had been called into the Tower. It was discussed and then our father insisted, that no violence was to be used in order to make you participate in it."
"How do you call me being treated with drugs to make me sleep with Jarod?" she suddenly hissed at him. "How do you call that? How could you be sure, what would happen between Jarod and me at all?"
"We just knew. *That* it would happen has never been questioned by anyone."
"What if I had refused him?"
"But you don't."
"I want to talk to Daddy." She said after a while she had just stood there, unmoving. "I want to know how he could do something like that! How he could allow that being done to me!"
Lyle nodded again.
"I see what I can do."
"And I want out of here."
"I'm afraid I can't do that. The Tower gave strict order to have you in the Centre until they have the new Pretender."
"Yes. Sure", she said. "What else."
Parker tried to stay calm. Tried to be herself. The Ice Queen. Never show any kind of emotions. She looked up into one of the cameras.
No emotion at all in her face.
"So, is there already a little Pretender inside of me?"
She sounded cold. A "Pretender" that's what it was. Not her child. If she started to think about it as her child now, she wouldn't be able to think.
But she had to think. She had to find a way out.
"We don't know yet."
"So why did you stop giving me drugs?"
"Some of the doctors say, they could harm the child, if they've been given to you too long."
"I understand. - What about Jarod?"
Yes. She had asked it at last, some kind of afraid to get to know the answer.
"Jarod is the Centre's again now. - And he is of no use for it anymore."
"What?"
Parker sounded harsher than she had intended to. No emotion. She tried to remember that, but it was so hard... so hard.
"Once you are pregnant, Jarod will disappear."
"Raines will kill him."
"Yes."
She nodded and turned away from Lyle and the cameras, so they wouldn't see her face. The fear in her eyes. The desperation that was building inside of her.
"What about me?" she said at last.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, once the Pretender has been born, am I of no use anymore for the Centre, too?"
Lyle seemed surprised about her question.
"Sure not. Our father, Raines and the Tower agreed, that you can go back to work then...if you want to. There's also the option to leave. No-one will stand in your way if you want to go away afterwards."
"Because I did what has always been expected from me?"
"I think so", he answered.
"So, the Centre wants me to stay here, in this room, until the pregnancy is over. Did you tell Sydney? Or Broots?"
"No. There is no need to tell them."
"Then won't they miss me if I vanish for nearly ten months?"
"Sydney and Broots have been told that you were re-assigned... which is true, in a way."
He smiled. She just wanted to hit him. Beat that smile out of him.
But she stayed where she was. Unmoving.
"I'll send you Dad later. I'm sure he'll be here as soon as possible."
Lyle walked to the door. It opened without him saying anything or knocking, something, she had somehow expected remembering the fact that it was the door of a prison.
"When will I know?" Parker suddenly said
He turned around while still standing in the doorframe.
"Know what?"
"If I am already carrying the new Pretender."
"Soon", he answered. "Knock on the door if you need something. There is a sweeper just for you on the other side."
He left, and she heard the door being locked again.
Soon, she thought. Soon could even be in an hour. So she had to start planning her escape now. And her plans about how to kill Raines and Lyle ... and her father.
Oh yes.
She would kill them all.
Part 4: Allies
"Sydney!"
Broots was waving at him, looking something between scared and excited.
Sydney slowly went over to the other man, who was sitting at his computer.
He felt terribly tired. For three weeks now, Miss Parker was gone, just vanished.
Everything Lyle had told them, was that she had been re-assigned to something highly confidential and none of their business.
But both of them, Sydney and Broots knew Parker too well, and especially knew the Centre too well, to not believe that something was definitely wrong.
There were rumours going on, about something very big happening in the Centre. And there was this strange mood, everyone seemed to be in.
Raines, who seemed rather happy with himself. *Happy*! Raines!
Mr Parker, on edge, nervous.
Brigitte, smiling a lot.
Lyle, refusing to say anything about Miss Parker's whereabouts and obviously losing all interest in the hunt for Jarod.
As time had went by, Sydney had become more and more frightened that something terrible had happened to Parker.
They'd gone into her house and found it clean and empty. Her luggage and a lot of her clothes were gone, as if she'd left for a long vacation, which would fit into the information of her being re-assigned.
But it all seemed to look too *real* to Sydney to be the truth.
And then there was Jarod, who hadn't called him for weeks now.
Who seemed to have vanished just like Parker had.
For a second, Sydney had even considered that Parker and Jarod had left together, but that possibility didn't fit into the moods of Raines, Brigitte, Mr Parker and Lyle.
Something strange was going on.
And he intended to find out what it was.
"Did you find something, Broots?"
"Well", he answered, "I've searched the Centre's Database for anything unusual... But, well, you know the Centre. Everything seems unusual here in a way. But there is something... The Centre brought a Dr Daniels here, from the Centre's facility in Arizona. She did some kind of research on some hallucinogens and other drugs. From what I read here, she's some kind of expert at her job. Pretty bad things she worked on. Drugs, biological weapons...Actually she worked on a biological weapon that was supposed to make a possible enemy go after their own people and tried to test it in a prison...That's when she got fired from her former employer and came to the Arizona branch of the Centre."
"Do you know why she is here?"
"No. I can only say who wanted her here... Dr. Raines."
Sydney frowned.
"This is really bad, Sydney, isn't it? I don't know why. I just have the feeling."
"I think you are right, Broots."
He put his hand on the other man's shoulder for a second and squeezed it, trying to make Broots and himself feeling a bit better, which wasn't easy.
"You have to find out more. We need to find Miss Parker...and Jarod."
XXX
The man was standing in the other room, where Raines stored his files, searching for something of use to him, when Raines and Brigitte entered the office.
He did that on a regular basis, searching Raines' office, because he needed to know everything that was going on in the Centre.
Information.
Information meant survival. If you want to survive in the Centre, always know more than everyone else. He had learned that a long time ago.
When Raines and Brigitte entered, he vanished into the little room's shadows and listened.
"Do we know yet, if she is pregnant?" Brigitte asked.
"We have the test results, but she isn't pregnant. We have to bring her and Jarod together again", Raines answered.
"I don't think Parker will participate in it. And Jarod won't, either."
"They will. We use the drugs again, if they won't do it freely."
"Whatever. - What will happen to her once we have the Pretender? You know her. Whatever she may say, she will never give up her own child to the Centre without a fight. She would do everything she had to in order to get the child back and out of the Centre."
"I know that. - That's why she won't survive another week after the child is born."
"You gonna kill her, too? What do you think Daddy will say about that?"
"He will refuse at first. But then he'll understand. He always has."
"And Lyle...?"
"Lyle knows nothing about this plan. He believes, that we will let her go after she has given birth. He doesn't have to know the truth."
The man in the shadows held his breath, frowning.
He remained in the room for another half an hour, listening to Brigitte and Raines talk.
When they both left at last, he had made his decision.
XXX
He didn't feel well doing this without Miss Parker. However she may have talked to him in the past, however she may have treated him, they were friends in a way, and her being with him, standing behind him, had always given him strength and the courage to do what he had to do.
He had become a new man since he met her.
He had always been someone People laughed about, into his face and behind his back and he had never done anything about that.
He still didn't, but now he knew, that whatever other people may say, he *was* someone. He was Broots, and he could even be proud of himself.
She did that to him.
She had always challenged him. Had never accepted a "No, I can't do that.".
And now that she was gone, he missed her, he was afraid that something had happened to her.
If she was dead... His friend, dead....
Broots fought the thought, the image of her lying somewhere, dead.
That could never be, could it?
Miss Parker dead. That was an impossibility itself.
He increased the speed of his typing into his keyboard. He had to think faster, clearer. What would Miss Parker do? What would...
Broots jumped in his chair when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Sydney!" he said. "You nearly scared me to death. I ..."
He looked around ... and into Lyle's face.
"Oh my..."
Yes, now he was a dead man. Lyle caught him while he was searching the confidential Centre Database. He was dead.
"Mr Lyle", he croaked. "I didn't...I..."
Lyle bend down and whispered into his ear. "Mr Broots, I have a surprise for you. From now on, we will be *real* allies. And I'm here because I want you to do something for me."
"Allies?" Broots groaned. "Oh my..."
Part 5: A deal with the devil
"I...", Broots managed to get out. "I...."
"Relax, Mr Broots. I wasn't asking for any kind of commitment."
Lyle smiled down at him.
"You want to help my sister, don't you?"
"Yes", Broots croaked. This man being so near to him, really made him nervous.
"Well, you can help her. And Jarod, too."
"Jarod? Why Jarod?"
"The Centre managed to get him back. He's here, as is my sister. I need to talk to him, but I don't want anyone to know what we are talking about. So I need you to turn off the surveillance camera's audio and make it look like an accident. Can you do that for me, Mr Broots?"
"I..." 'Sydney!' he thought. 'Sydney! Help!'
Broots cleared his throat.
"If you tell me where he is, I can do it, yes."
Lyle smiled again and it frightened Broots more than everything else.
"Sure I can, Mr Broots."
XXX
When the door to his prison opened, Jarod jumped up from his bed, just for a second hoping it would be Sydney, or Broots... or Parker.
Strange, that he still hoped to see her, though she had betrayed him.
But it was Mr Lyle.
"What do you want here?" Jarod hissed and lied back onto his bed.
"Talking to you", Lyle answered.
"There is nothing we have to talk about. Leave me alone."
"Do you want to get out of here?"
Startled, Jarod came up from his bed.
"What?"
"I can help you escape. And my sister."
"Why would you do that?" he asked suspiciously.
"You don't need to know that. Let's just say, both of you are more valuable to me alive."
"And why would Parker want to escape? She is in this, too."
"She is not. Did Raines tell you, she is? It's a lie. They treated both of you with drugs. Right now, she is just as angry as you are."
For a second, Jarod let his guard down and closed his eyes, relieved.
"We don't have much time", Lyle said. "Raines wants both of you to have a child. Parker isn't pregnant yet, but once she is, you will die. So we need to come up with a plan as soon as possible."
"I don't trust you."
"You don't have to. All I want from you is thinking about a way to escape. I'll bring Broots and Sydney into this, too."
"What about the..." Jarod looked up to the cameras.
"Broots turned off the sound. They can see us talking. But they don't know what we are talking about."
"Can I see Parker?"
"You will have another meeting, yes. As I said, the Centre wants her to become pregnant."
"I won't participate in that."
"You do not have a choice. They will just use the drugs."
Jarod closed his eyes again. Trying to shut it all out.
"Do we have a deal?"
"You didn't tell me what you want for your help", Jarod answered.
"Nothing. Yet. We'll come back to that later."
"I'm sure of that."
He refused to look at Lyle again, who left then.
XXX
When Lyle returned into the Tech Labs, Sydney and Broots were already waiting for him.
He had taken his time, before he went to meet them again. They had to discuss it all. Lyle was sure about what their decision looked like, but giving them time to think about the outcome if the three of them didn't work together, would help him a lot.
They scared themselves with all the possibilities they went through.
And having Broots and Sydney afraid of what could happen to Parker and Jarod made them easier to control.
"So?" he said.
"Was it all Raines idea?" Sydney said, obviously angry.
"A lot of people participated it this", he answered. "Up to the Tower itself."
"And why would you help then?"
"As I said to Jarod, and I'm sure you two were listening to every word we said, they are both more valuable to me alive. - Listen to me, Sydney, Mr Broots. It will be a lot easier with your help. To be precise, without your help I maybe won't bring them out alive. So, do I have your help?"
Sydney and Broots were looking at each other.
"Yes", Sydney said at last.
"Good."
Lyle smiled again and just for a second, Broots thought, that he just made the biggest mistake of his life.
XXX
Down in his little prison, Jarod was lying on his bed, thinking just the same thing as Broots.
But then, he thought about Parker... the dreams... which weren't dreams...the taste of her... the way she felt...her voice.
He tried to examine his feelings, which had made him wanting her...
She would probably say it was just Sex. A desire for each other that had been built up over years. But he knew that wasn't the truth. There was much more between them
He just needed the chance to tell her.
The door was being opened.
Jarod turned around, meeting the eyes of four sweepers and Mr Raines. The four men stormed towards him. He tried to escape but they held him, his arms and legs.
Jarod tried to get away. He kicked and hit and was even able to hurt one of them, but he wasn't strong enough.
Raines came to him, a smile in his face.
There was a needle in his hand.
"No!" Jarod said, afraid.
The needle came nearer and nearer to his arm, piercing the skin then, hurting.
The world started to blur. Jarod felt himself drawn into darkness.
He didn't want to.
He tried to fight it....but it was so strong.
And then he welcomed the darkness, a scream on his lips.
"NO!"
XXX
"Sydney!"
Broots didn't feel well. He really didn't. He should have left this place a long time ago. Yes. Once this was over, he would take Debbie and move into the deepest wilderness Alaska had to offer.
"Sydney." When the elder man joined him at last at his computer, Broots pulled him down so they were face to face.
"Sydney", he whispered. "I went through some more files. And I found something. Up to these memos", Broots said, "treating Miss Parker and Jarod with the drug was Mr Lyle's idea."
Part 6: The one real thing
When she looked into the mirror in the little bathroom that was part of her "room", as her guards called it, she flinched back for a second. Then she tried to make herself believe that she'd looked worse some time before in her life.
But that was a lie.
She had never looked worse than right here and now.
Her hair looked awful, there were dark rings under her eyes and her expression was sad and very tired.
She met her own eyes in the mirror and tried to force the old Miss P-look back into them.
Hard. Unmoved.
But all she saw was sadness and fatigue.
How long had she been here?
How much time had the Centre stolen from her?
Why could she remember the "dreams" with Jarod in them but not the time between?
A mindgame?
One of Raines' little games?
Or Lyle's?
Or Daddy's?
A mindgame to make her feel even worse than she already did?
A possibility, yes.
But she couldn't really think straight yet. All the drugs made her feel dizzy. It was so hard to concentrate, as it was to remember clearly. So maybe there *was* another possibility but she couldn't grab it.
How long?
Days? Weeks? Months?
She just learned that time was so fragile, so precious.
And then she finally allowed herself to *really* remember the dreams for the first time, because it was the little precious time she was *able* to remember.
These *dreams*. Jarod. And herself. The emotions she'd felt. The way he had touched her. How it had felt to touch him. His skin. His smell. His taste.
She suddenly realized how much she missed him.
How much she wanted him to be here with her.
Maybe to give her strength. To give her the power to fight back.
He was a pain in the ass, but he had always forced her forward, had made her go on . Questioned herself and her beliefs. And the worse thing was, that she would never be able to tell him, now that it had finally all become so easy, now that she'd had finally allowed herself to become aware of it.
There were so many things she wanted to tell him, but she doubted that she would ever see him again, except of full of drugs to control her.
And what about these drugs at all?
What did they do to her?
Make her believe she dreamt? Opened her? Loosened her up, so she would do what she'd always wanted to do?
Or did they make her follow orders?
What if someone had whispered it all into her ear, her ear and Jarod's, too. Telling both of them what to do?
So it was all a lie?
Jarod wanting her, a damn lie?
Maybe that was the worse thing? Maybe that's why they let her remember the "dreams"?
All for themselves they were entirely good. Something beautiful to remember.
And then, later, they would come to her and tell her, that they forced Jarod to do it.
That nothing of it had ever been real.
Something real...
She wanted there to be something real in the "dreams".
She knew they would come for her again.
All she had to do was remember the one real thing.
Remember it, take it with her and say it, though no-one but herself forced her to say it.
Something real...
When Raines and his sweepers opened the door and came in to get her, she had buried the real thing in her mind.
She just hoped, she would remember it, too.
XXX
A nightmare.
That's what it was.
A damn nightmare.
Jarod and Miss P taken by the Centre. Being forced to give them a new Pretender.
And himself and Sydney, forced to work with Mr Lyle, whom he trusted not a second.
A nightmare, yes.
"Did you come up with an idea, yet?"
"God, Sydney! Would you please stop surprising me like that!? You nearly frightened me to death!"
He turned around from his computer screen and looked up into Sydney's face, immediately feeling ashamed for jumping at the older man like that.
But Sydney just smiled.
"I'm sorry, Broots. I know. We are all a little bit on the edge. Let's walk a bit. You never know who's listening here."
Broots nodded and stood up, imitating a stretching of his body.
They slowly went down the sublevels floor.
"So, do you have any kind of idea about how we get them out of here?" Sydney asked after a while.
Broots shook his head.
"This is going to be very hard, Sydney", he said. "Raines took every precaution possible to make an escape impossible. And I'm getting the feeling that they aren't trusting us anymore, what doesn't surprise me at all. To be honest, for the first time, I'm glad, Mr Lyle is on our side. He still can go wherever he wants without a sweeper following *accidentally*... What I found out, is that Jarod and Miss P aren't even imprisoned on the same sublevel.
Jarod is on Sublevel 27, Miss P on sublevel 25. That makes me guess that they probably performing...well, you know what I mean... the thing with Jarod and Miss P... on sublevel 26. As you know, all sublevels from 23 to 27 have been closed. No-one is allowed to go down there."
"Except of Mr Raines, Mr Parker and Mr Lyle."
"You forgot Brigitte."
"Now, that's no surprise at all. Dear Mrs Parker is getting really powerful lately."
Broots looked at Sydney rather surprised. He hadn't seen him that angry for a long, long time.
"Well, the whole problem is, there are so many sweepers watching Jarod and Miss P that we will never have chance to free them without getting caught ourselves. I can't even imagine anything that would distract all of them long enough. They are just too many. 15 sweepers, Syd. Fifteen sweepers in front of the doors of both of them. Surveillance cameras in their rooms and the whole sublevel in general. The vents in their rooms have been closed with steel bars. The doors are electronically secured. They can only be opened with the right codenumber.
Right now, Sydney, I do not see a chance to get them out at all."
Broots attention suddenly went from Sydney to something behind Sydney.
"That's her!" he whispered.
Sydney turned around. "Whom?" he said.
"The woman over there. The one Raines is talking to. That's Dr. Daniels! I saw her picture in one of the Databases."
Whatever Sydney had expected, it wasn't the woman he saw. Dr. Stephanie Daniels was young, maybe 30 and very attractive. Her long blonde hair was shining, she had a beautiful face, blue eyes, long, dark eyelashes and a wonderful laugh. Even Raines seemed to have fallen to her charms. He was smiling.
"Not exactly what anyone would expect the inventor of a few very ugly chemical weapons to look like, isn't she?"
Mr Lyle had accompanied them using his newfound ability of stealth.
"No, not exactly", Sydney answered. "But never let yourself being fooled by a pretty face."
He gave Lyle a short look. The other man smiled about that.
"Better not", he said. "So, Mr Broots, did you do what I asked you to?"
Sydney frowned. He gave Broots a questioning look, who turned away from him to not have to answer it.
"Yes", he said.
Lyle put his arm around Broots` shoulders, who winced about the touch, and led him away.
"Well, then tell me what you know."
Sydney stayed where he was, confused.
XXX
Jarod sighed.
"What is it?" Parker said.
He closed his arms around her and pulled her nearer to his chest.
"Nothing", he answered. "It's just a wonderful day. The boat. The river. The sun."
"You forgot the birds", she said, fooling him.
"Oh yes, the birds", he grinned. "Isn't this just wonderful?"
"Yes, it is", she had to admit.
She turned around, feeling the boat moving under her and faced him. His hand went through her hair, pushing it out of her face.
"It nearly feels unreal", she said.
Jarod smiled and kissed her.
"Unreal?" he asked. "Not here. Pretty much reality here."
"No...I...I can't state it. It's just a feeling...strange." Parker frowned. "And there is this other feeling deep inside...as if there is something I once knew and have to know again but can't remember."
"Like a word that's on the tip of your tongue but you can't get out?"
"Yes. Exactly."
"I know the feeling. Pretty annoying."
"Yes", she whispered, kissing him. "But, you know, I remember one thing I've wanted to tell you. I can't remember the other thing. But this one, I do."
"You want to tell me something?"
"Yes. It's right here", she tipped her forehead, "and wants to get our so desperately, as if I will never have another chance to say it. Wherever the desperation comes from...I have to say it now."
Parker pushed herself up her arms.
Lying on his chest with his back to him had his good sides, too, like not having to look into his eyes while saying it, what would be much easier.
But she needed to face him, to make it real.
The one real thing... That's what this was gonna be, though she didn't know where *that* thought came from.
Jarod met her eyes, waiting, with a soft smile on his lips. She took a deep breath, just for a second hoping she could stop right here without saying it. Leaving it for herself, like she always had. But there was this feeling inside of her, like a voice, telling her to say it now because there may never be a another chance.
Never be.
She couldn't say why, just that it was the case. She didn't have the time to hold back.
"I don't know how...well, maybe I should be just straight forward... I love you."
For a moment, she was afraid.
No sound was coming from Jarod, no reaction at all. He was just staring up at her.
"Well, don't you want to say something?"
He suddenly grabbed her and pulled her down to himself, holding her so tight and near to his body, that it was hard for her to breath.
"It has always been so hard...But I'm sure...I *know* we will make it together", he whispered into her ear. "I love you, too."
She kissed him again, feeling him pulling on both of their clothes.
The boat was moving under them.
And she was happy, though she had suddenly became aware, that this was all a dream.
Part 7: Plans
"So, Mr Broots, tell me what you found out about this 'Group'", Lyle said.
"The Group", Broots answered, "I hardly found anything on them. No names. No faces. No real history. All I have is what they call themselves."
Lyle hated it when people did that, waiting for another person to *ask* about something, even if they knew that the other person needed to know this thing.
"And that is?" he finally said rather annoyed when Broots didn't bring it out without the obligatory question.
"Number One. Number Two. And Number Three."
"Funny. - So, how did they find Jarod? Do you know anything about that?"
"Well, there isn't much. These three are a secret. But from reading between the lines of some memos that have been going around in the Centre, I can say, that their way to catch Jarod was very *unconventional* and they didn't even get any money for it."
"What? Then what did the Centre give them?"
"I have no idea."
"Then do you know how they caught him, except of that it was 'unconventional'?"
"Not really. It's all very strange. They seem to have a certain *gift*, whatever that may be. And all they needed, was spending time in Jarod's old room."
"Yes, the whole level was closed for a week even before Jarod and my sister got their rooms down there. There weren't even sweepers allowed in there for that time."
"They said it was because of some rats..." Broots said.
Lyle gave him a look and for a moment, Broots had this strange thought, that Lyle and Miss P *really* were brother and sister. Yes. They had the same "God-you-are-stupid!"-look if they wanted to.
"So, all they did was spending time in Jarod's room?"
"Maybe they are empaths?" Broots suggested. "Like Angelo."
"Even Angelo couldn't state the exact place a person is right now from touching its things."
"Maybe they are stronger empaths? Or have another kind of *gift*?"
"The Russians and the CIA experimented with people with psychic abilities", Lyle said, "They wanted them to *see* places in their minds...If that's what the 'Group' does... Do you know how much money they are worth then, Mr Broots?"
"Money?"
"They would be invaluable. - But why didn't the Centre use them in the first place? Why wait that long?"
Lyle started to walk up and down the room, lost in thoughts.
"They didn't want any money", Broots suddenly said. "So maybe their price was worth much more than any money could ever buy and the Centre didn't want to pay that price before?"
"And that price could be, Mr Broots?"
"I have no idea."
XXX
He got *really* conscious when he was already lying on his bed in his little prison, having a terrible headache, something he already had started to get even used to by now.
Then he remembered.
And though he was imprisoned, though he would die soon, he started to smile.
She had said she loved him. She really had.
And he had told her he loved her, too.
How could anything be so hard and so easy at the same time?
He gave the camera that was watching him a happy smirk and turned around, so he didn't have to look at it anymore.
They had to get out. That was everything that counted now.
They had to leave and start to live a new life.
"My God!" he thought. They would live it together. They would be a family.
He just had to get them out.
When they had brought him back into his room, he had been hardly conscious. But he had been able to see a lot of sweepers on the floor. He might be able to take care of two or even three of them. But not all the sweepers who were out there.
Well, first of all he had to get out of the room, just like Parker had to get out of hers.
They couldn't get through the vent. Impossible.
Then the only possibility was the door, what brought him back to the masses of sweepers out there.
What he needed was a *very* good distraction for the sweepers in front of his door and Parkerīs door.
The question was: What could that be?
He turned around on his bed and looked at the door.
For a second he considered an escape while they were drugged... but how? They weren't even aware that nothing was real when they had been given the drugs.
No, he had to get them out when they were in their rooms.
So, first problem was opening the doors. They were electronic, what meant...
Jarod frowned and thought that over again. Was it really *that* easy to open the doors?
It could work. They could open his and Parker's door at the same time with a little help from the outside.
Like Broots and Sydney. Or even Lyle.
And all they needed was a lot of timing.
So, the second problem: The sweepers.
And that was the *real* problem.
XXX
When it knocked at his door, Broots hoped just one thing:
Don't let it be Mr Lyle.
Since the whole thing started, Lyle had began to behave as if they were something like friends. But the only thing Broots thought about it, was, that that man nearly scared him to death.
He knew what Lyle was capable of.
With Miss Parker at their site there had always been someone who was able to stop Lyle because she wasn't afraid of him...or, well, didn't show it if she was.
But neither him nor Sydney were able to stop Lyle when he was about to go too far.
And now, with Lyle as is new best friend, he was afraid of what could happen if he let the man get too close to himself.
That's why a visit of Lyle at his home was the last thing he wanted.
But it was Sydney.
"Is there something you want to tell me, Broots?" was the first thing he said.
Broots sighed. He had awaited that.
"Don't you want to come in?" he said.
"No, you never know who's listening, don't you remember?"
They decided to have a walk around, and Broots told Sydney everything he found out about the Group.
XXX
"Lyle! Where are you? Hurry! The champagne..."
The woman in the bed stretched herself and lazily took another sip out of her glass. The little black *thing* she was wearing hardly hid anything from her body and she liked that, because she knew how she looked like that way. No man could resist her. She always got what she wanted.
Just like she had wanted this special man.
The moment she saw him the first time, three years ago when he visited the Centre in Arizona, she had wanted him. He was good looking, yes. But what had struck her even more was the expression in his eyes.
He had this handsome face, nearly innocent. And then there were his eyes, which hid something so very dark, so dangerous.
It was the danger in his eyes that had made her wanting him. Things like that had always turned her on.
She had gotten him then, three years ago, and whenever they had seen each other again since then, they had ended up in bed.
They fit together very well there.
"Lyle!" she said again. "Stop working and get here!"
They had seen each other again three months ago, while she had been in Washington for business. She had told him about this new drug she was working on and for which she was still searching for some test subjects.
The drug let people "open", it let them follow their deepest dreams. But that wasn't the thing she wanted to test. She had chosen that as a side-effect because she'd thought it would be fun. The effect she had *really* wanted the drug for was "selected memory". The drug was supposed to make it easier to control what people remembered. Changing the things they thought they remembered or what they were supposed to remember would be a lot easier through her new work.
Her only problem had been that she didn't had subjects to test the drug.
She told him about it, and he seemed to be very interested in what she had told him.
And then, a few weeks later, she'd got Lyle's call, telling her that he had exactly what she needed.
Oh, the man was devilish.
The thing he had and offered her for testing, was his own sister, and the night after she found that out, she had wanted him more than ever before.
"Now", she suddenly heard Lyle's voice, "tell me more about this new project you are working on."
He lay down beside her and took his own glass of champagne.
"It's supposed to make people much more aggressive. They aren't able to control themselves", she said. "Let's just say, this gas I'm working on is turning evolution back a *few* years. Basic instincts. The enemy will kill each other and the user's army will never even be in danger."
"And it's not effective through gas masks, if I'm understanding you correctly", Lyle said, while nipping on his glass. "But wouldn't it be in the best interest of every army, if the chemical weapon they are using would penetrate gas masks, too? Wouldn't that be much more efficient?"
"You didn't listen to what I said earlier, Lyle. This weapon has never been meant to be used against the enemy's army. 'Hit them where it hurts most'. It's a weapon to be used against public facilities."
"You are talking about towns."
"Yes, I do", she said, nibbling on his ear. "And how many of the common people in a town, do you think, own a gas mask? Besides, the gas is affecting them so fast, they would never have a change to react, even if they had gas masks. Well, but I can still change that, once I made the drug work properly."
"Interesting", he whispered and started to work down her body. "But you have this gas done?"
"Yes", she groaned. "All I need is a place to test it."
That's when it struck him.
A distraction? Wasn't that what Broots said they would need?
It would make a hell of a distraction, literally spoken.
He smiled, when he went on Dr Daniels the way she liked it most.
Part 8: Visitors
"What are you trying to say, Lyle?" Jarod said, rather shocked.
"Fight them with their own weapons, that's what I'm saying. Isn't that what you usually do?"
"But we are talking about a chemical weapon here. Spreading a chemical weapon within the Centre!"
"Yes. That's why it will be so pretty....efficient."
"You are crazy!"
Jarod started to walk up and down his room, thinking.
Five minutes since Lyle had entered his room and the man had already seriously suggested to use a weapon that would probably kill dozens of people, so they could escape.
"No!" he said again. "I won't participate in that! Killing all these people is out of the question. There has to be another way."
"This is really amazing, Jarod. The Centre tries to kill you and Parker and steal your child and you are thinking about how you can escape without hurting anyone. This is real life! Make your choice, Jarod!"
"I don't *kill* people, Lyle. That's just your way!"
"Well, it should become your way, too, Jarod, if you want to survive."
He could see Jarod fighting with himself. The fight between morality and survival instinct. He wondered which one would win.
"And how do you intend to get that gas?" Jarod suddenly said after minutes of silence.
Lyle smiled. He had thought so.
"I have my ways."
"It's one of Dr Daniels' little *discoveries*, isn't it?" Jarod spat at him. "Your dear friend from Arizona's."
With satisfaction, Jarod welcomed the surprised look on Lyle's face.
"The two of you, you were using Parker and me as test subjects for this first drug. And now you want to use the whole Centre as a test subject for her other drug. Dr Daniel's private little alpha-test!"
Lyle spared himself and Jarod some lies about that and changed the subject.
"We will do it at night, when everyone will be gone except of the sweepers in front of your door. At exactly three o'clock tomorrow night. I won't be able to come down here again. Dr Raines and my father have already questioned me about my first visit and I had to lie. And hiding this second visit will be even harder. Mr Broots will have to *change* the surveillance tape. I give you my watch so you can be ready at three. We will open the door the way you said. As soon as your door has opened, hold your breath. The gas is invisible, so though you can't see it, it will already be there. Hold your breath and get to the next vent on the right side as soon as possible. We'll have the mask ready for you there. You know where to meet Parker?"
"Yes."
"Then everything is clear now?"
"I think so."
"Then everything I can do is wishing you luck."
"Yes", Jarod said.
A deal with the devil... that's what he just made. And all the little things you do, come back to you at the end.
He suddenly shivered.
XXX
The really hard thing was visiting his sister.
He knew she hated him. And his feelings towards her had always been very twisted.
On the one hand, she was his sister, his family, more family than his father could ever been. He and his father were much too alike for that.
But Miss Parker wasn't like they were.
Sometimes he thought, that he could find something of their mother in her. Through her he knew a bit about the way she must have been.
Caring. Loving.
Miss Parker was all that, even if she always tried to fight it.
When Raines had told Brigitte that they would kill her, his feelings about that had been as twisted as his feelings about her.
On the one hand, she was his sister.
On the other hand, Raines had always taught him to never care.
But the contradiction inside of him against seeing her dead had been overwhelming.
And this was where it brought him.
Playing games against the Centre, the only home he had ever known.
Actually trying to help someone... Jarod and Parker!
It was crazy.
Especially now, with his sister staring at him from the other site of the room with deepest hate in her eyes.
He suddenly asked himself, what he was doing here and crushed that thought as fast as he could, before it would make him turn around and forget it all.
He had made his decision. No going back now.
"I'm here because I have something for you", he said.
"I don't want anything from you, Lyle!" she spit at him.
He went to her, turning his back to the cameras and protecting both of them from its eye, so no-one would see what he did, and took her hand in his. She tried to get away with all her strength but he held her, meeting her eyes with his.
"Here", he whispered.
She looked down when he put something in her hand.
It was a watch.
"What...?" she said, but he stopped her.
"Tomorrow night, at 3 a.m. Broots will turn of the Centre's electricity. It takes the security system 3 seconds to take over. In these three seconds, the doors to this room will be unlocked. The guards outside will be surprised because of the sudden lack of light. So, you should be able to get to the first vent down the right corridor and open it. There will be a gas mask for you inside. Under all circumstances you have to put that on. And don't breathe between opening your door and putting it on. Then crawl down the vent. Jarod will meet you in there and you will get out together."
She stared at him in amazement.
"Why?" she whispered. "Why are you doing this? And why should I trust you?"
"Because after all, I'm still your brother. And I won't let the Centre kill you."
They looked at each other for a few seconds without saying anything.
"I have to go now", he said at last. "Good luck."
He was glad that the times when he didn't care would be back again soon.
Helping others for that long was making him sick.
XXX
"Tomorrow night", Sydney whispered.
"Yes", Broots answered, as shaky as Sydney.
They had decided to take a drink in a Bar. It was the first time they did that, drinking together. But without actually saying it, they both knew that it could be the last time, too.
That morning, Broots had called his mother and asked her to take Debbie for a few days. He had written a letter to his daughter and given it to a lawyer, just along with some other things. He still hoped, they would get through with this, without getting caught. But the chances for that hardly existed.
Why he did it though, he couldn't say.
Maybe because like Sydney, he owed Jarod.
Or maybe he just did it, because Jarod and Miss Parker both were his friends.
Sometimes you have to do something, no matter what the costs may be.
He knew now, why Miss Parker couldn't stop searching for her mother's murderer.
The alternative was just unthinkable.
"I thought about the 'Group' again, Broots", Sydney said, bringing him back into reality.
"Yes, pretty frightening, isn't it?"
"Yes, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is, that we missed something crucial entirely until now. The group caught Jarod before and they only needed one week. What would stop them from doing that again?"
Broots started to feel very cold. Sweat was running down his back.
"Even if we are able to free Miss Parker and Jarod, the Group will always be able to find them, just by concentrating."
"And what if we make a deal with them?" he tried.
"We have nothing to trade, Broots. We still don't know what their price was the last time."
He felt bad. He felt really bad.
"What if we make them come into the Centre?"
Broots said it very carefully and very slowly after a long time of thinking over every possibility he could come up with. This one was the only one left.
"What do you mean?" Sydney answered. "I don't think I'm understanding you right."
But he did understand exactly.
"What I'm saying is, that when we flood the Centre with the gas, the group has to be there. If they go after each other then, they won't be able to go after Miss P and Jarod later."
"You realize what you just said, Broots?"
"I do", Broots whispered. "My god, I do know it. And it scares me to death."
XXX
When the door to his room opened, the first thing Jarod thought was, that Dr Raines and Mr Parker had found out. They knew it. They had already killed Broots and Sydney for helping them and he and Miss Parker would follow soon.
But the person who entered was someone he had never seen before.
It was a man of around 30, intelligent looking, with dark hair, green eyes, some obviously expensive clothes and a big smile on his face.
Jarod disliked him on first sight.
"Hello Jarod", the man said. "I wanted to see how you are. My name is Number One."
Jarod frowned.
"Do I know you?"
"Not yet, no. I am one of the people who are responsible for catching you."
Number One smiled.
"You want to know how we were able to do that. We have this gift that allows us to *see* some things, you know. We are *mentally gifted* to call it that way."
Jarod swallowed.
"What does that mean? You read other peoples thoughts?"
"No. The thoughts are still free, Jarod, even for us. - You look relieved. Any secrets?"
Jarod didn't answer.
"What do you want from me?"
"I wanted to meet you. You know, we will spent a lot of time together once Miss Parker is having your child."
Jarod frowned.
"I was told I will be killed."
"Is that how they called it? Well, you know Jarod, maybe that's true. There are other ways to kill a human being than just make its heart stop beating. So maybe what you have been told is the truth. But personally, I wouldn't see it *that* hard."
"I still don't understand."
"We, I mean the Group, like to have toys. The more intelligent they are, the more fun they are to play with. So, you were the prize we wanted from the Centre for catching you. They get the child. We get the father."
"And what about the mother?" Jarod asked toneless.
"Actually, I do not know and I do not really care."
Jarod just nodded.
"You know, the Tower discussed the whole thing for a long time. They have tried to find a way to control you once you are back in the Centre. They wanted you to run sims for them again, no matter how. They thought about blackmailing you and even considered using drugs to control you. But then they became aware, that the ongoing efforts for blackmailing would be too unsafe and they can't used a high Pretender for sims. That's just not how it works. That's when they realized you are worthless for them. And that's why they accepted the deal we offered. Now they will get a whole new Pretender within the same time it would probably have taken to catch you. *If* they had ever managed to catch you, that is. And all they have to do is give you to us. And we really look forward having you with us. It will be real fun."
"I'm glad there is at least *someone* who's happy about it all."
"Sarcasm, Jarod?" Number One grinned happily. "I like that!"
Looking at that grin and the other man's eyes, Jarod realized that they *had* to get out of here no matter how, because staying with this man would be even worse than dying.
Part 9: Descent
Broots had met frightening people before.
Actually, since he had sold his soul to the Centre, he was surrounded by frightening people.
There were frightening people like Miss P, who hid herself behind that "I'm the Ice Queen"-Wall, because she was in the Centre much to long to not having learned her lesson.
Then there were people like Mr Parker, who were frightening, because they were lying to everyone without ever seeming to give it a second thought.
Then came the frightening people who lost their whole self to the Centre, so there was nothing left of them, like Mr Raines had.
Lyle... Boy, the man was frightening because he wasn't even able to say if Lyle was still insane or not.
Yes, Mrs Parker, Brigitte, ...frightening because there was nothing in her eyes. No expression at all.
And then there were people like the one standing in front of him.
Dr. Stephanie Daniels.
With her beauty, her wonderful smile, her charm.
She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. And she was even flirting with him.
And though...When he looked into her eyes, there was something he could neither grasp nor name.
But it frightened him.
"Mr...Mr Lyle will be here soon....", he stammered, while pressing his back against his computer, trying to get away from her as far as possible.
She still smiled at him. "Thank you, Mr Broots."
Why did this woman come down here, into the Tech Lab?
Why did she have to come at a moment when he was all alone?
For a second, he considered, that it was all a ploy from Mr Lyle, that the man was watching him from somewhere and was laughing his ass off about his terrified expression.
But not even he would do that, wouldn't he?
"Tell me something about yourself", Dr Daniels said while having a look around in the Tech Room.
"What...what do you want to know?"
He tried a smile... and failed.
"I'm hearing you have a daughter."
Broots frowned. "Yes", he said, "her name is..."
"Deborah", she finished the sentence. "Yes, you can be lucky. You have a nice, healthy daughter. A good job. Friends. A house. Why would anyone endanger something like that by doing something pretty stupid?"
She turned around and gave him a look.
"Wha...what do you mean?"
"You know what I mean, Mr Broots." Daniels smiled at him, and Broots suddenly felt very sick.
"Steph." A grinning Lyle was suddenly standing beside them. "Don't you see that you are terrifying Mr Broots?"
With his mouth open, Broots witnessed Lyle turning to Daniels, putting his arm around her hip and kissing her full on the mouth right under his eyes.
"Relax, Broots", Lyle said then, "I told her everything. - Dr Daniels here was just teasing you a bit. Didn't you, Steph?"
She gave him an apologetically shrug and grinned.
Broots tried to fight the spinning in his head.
"Yes,...very funny...really."
"Well, we've got work to do. - Are the gas masks were they are supposed to be?"
"Sydney is taking care of that right now, Mr Lyle", he answered. "Wha...what about the gas?"
"Well, it's lighter than air", Daniels started, "so we'll have to store the tanks in or under the levels where we want to spread it. Which Sub-Level do you need it in?"
"27 and 25", Lyle answered. "At least."
"Well, the best thing would be to store them right in these Levels. Several tanks to ensure the best possible spreading."
"But how will we do that?" Broots asked. "Who will store them down there?
Another one of those "God you are stupid"-looks from Lyle.
"Well", he said, sounding a bit annoyed, "considering the fact, that neither you nor Sydney are allowed to go there, it has to be me and Dr Daniels, hasn't it, Mr Broots"
"I suppose so", Broots stammered.
He wished he could turn around and run as long as there was still time.
XXX
"Angel! How do you feel? I hope you've been treated well?"
Strange, that after all these years, she had forgotten to think about her father for the first time only now, when she should have done nothing more but thinking about how he could have possibly done that to her.
But the truth was, though she had sworn to kill her father and Raines and Lyle, it all didn't matter anymore.
She had other things to think about.
Like her and Jarod's escape in less than seven hours.
Like why Lyle was helping her.
But her father was here now, looking at her with this expression he had always used to get through to her feelings.
He was looking at her with this look that meant "Sorry but I had to do it and why could you possibly hate me for it and I love you Angel".
She nearly fell for it again, like she had so many times in the past, but then she *really* looked at him for maybe the first time in her life, and what she saw was just miserable.
"Angel, how do you feel?"
"I feel fine, Daddy", she answered.
Was that really her voice?
So very unmoved from what her father said?
"I'm sorry, Angel, for not being here earlier. And I promise you will be free to go, once this is all over."
"Sure, Daddy."
"Do they treat you well? Do you need anything?"
"No, Daddy. I have everything I need."
"You understand, that I couldn't have done anything to stop this? The Tower even wanted to force you using violence, but I resisted them. It will be over soon, I promise. And I know you will go through this. You are a real Parker. You are strong."
She looked him in the eyes and felt nothing.
He was just an old man, desperately trying to get absolution from her, for what he did.
She lied and gave it to him.
XXX
If he'd been Broots, he'd wished he had never become part of this.
But he was Mr Lyle, so he just took it as unchangeable fact that he had brought himself into this position and went on with his work.
They had four of the tanks.
Stephanie had taken two with her into SL-25 and he had the other ones.
They were small enough to be put into usual leather briefcases and carry them around without bringing up any suspicion, but it was dangerous, though.
If anyone would watch one of them while they stored the tanks in the vents of Sublevels 27 and 25, they were as good as dead.
And giving his life because he tried to rescue *Jarod* wasn't exactly a thing Lyle intended to do.
No-one was asking any questions when he came out of the lift and entered SL-27.
That was the first positive thing.
Lyle took a look up and down the long floor.
He could still see how much destruction Sydney's bomb had left down there. The smell of fire was hanging in the air, most of the walls still looked black with soot.
There were a lot of sweepers around, but most of them avoided to look at them.
Second positive thing.
For a moment he allowed himself to imagine Jarod opening the vent in a few hours and the gas mask wasn't there. He smiled when he saw Jarod's shocked expression about that in front of his inner eye and then decided it couldn't be so bad to just imagine a bit more.
Like Jarod being surrounded by a lot of gone crazy sweepers...
What a wonderful thought.
He just wished he could witness that in reality...
He sighed and went down the corridor then.
Broots had went through the plans of SL-27. They had decided the best place to store the first one of the tanks was Dr Raines former office. No-one went in there anymore, not even Raines himself, but the room was right in the middle of the air conditioning system of SL-27, what made it the perfect place.
The second tank was just for security, just to be sure there was enough gas for everyone.
He would store that second one as near as possible to Jarod's cell.
Lyle opened the door into Raines' office. He had a short look around, but then lost interest and went down in front of the vent.
He opened the little lattice first, then his briefcase and stored the tank in the vent.
The last thing he did was turning on the timer.
Four hours left.
He went on to store the next one.
When he left SL-27 ten minutes later, he was looking at the sweepers around and gave them a soft, surprisingly gentle laugh before getting into the lift.
The sweepers should have known that something was wrong then.
But no-one ever gave them the order to think.
So they didn't.
XXX
Brootīs finger stayed over the send-button, unmoving, for more than ten minutes.
He was just sitting there, at his computer, staring at the screen and the things he had written and couldn't bring himself to hit.
Whenever he tried to, he felt as if every part of his body, but especially this single finger, had suddenly become ice.
Why it was so hard, he wasn't sure.
By storing the gas, they had accepted the possible death of a lot of people.
Why should these three make a difference?
"Because you are tricking them back into the Centre because you *want* them to die", the little voice in his ear said and he tried to tell the voice that what it had said was wrong.
But that would have been a lie.
He was sitting there, without being able to move his finger for a long time, reading the text over and over again.
"Get here immediately. It's done. We want to get rid of Jarod now. Raines."
He had found out what the Group had wanted for catching Jarod by watching the surveillance tape from Jarod's prison.
Number One had made himself very clear.
They would use Jarod for their games. What these games could possibly be, Broots couldn't say. But Number One had frightened him, as he had frightened Jarod. He saw that in the man's face.
"It's them or Jarod", he thought. "Them or Jarod and Miss P. Who do you choose? Who do you choose?"
His finger was hanging in the air over the send-button and he could see the trembling going through it.
"Who do you choose?" he thought.
And then his finger moved at last.
"Message has been send".
It was blinking on his computer screen.
"Who are you?" the voice in his ear asked. "Who are you?"
"I am Broots", he whispered.
"Are you?" the voice answered.
Part 10: And so it begins...
He had really considered it.
He had must have stared at the vent for about two minutes, from his place around the corner where the sweepers couldn't see him, and considered taking away the gas mask.
But there had been two problems:
First, the sweepers would have seen him while taking it away.
Second, Jarod was worth much more alive to him.
Dead would be fun, but alive was worth money.
So he had went back into the Tech Lab without taking it away, after taking care of some unfinished business.
Sydney and Broots where still there, obviously pretty nervous.
Strangely, Lyle himself wasn't nervous at all. He felt more excited, like he always did when he was planning something, he was sure would work out just fine.
And even if it didn't, it wouldn't fall back on him.
He had taken care of everything.
"Mr Broots", he said, "Sydney. Are you done with everything?"
The two were looking at each other, and the way they did it, made Lyle think that something wasn't quite right here. But on the other hand, both of them wouldn't dare to try anything.
They were too afraid that something could happen to Jarod or Parker.
"Well, then there's nothing else left for us to do, but to go", he said. "before it all starts."
"Shouldn't we wait for Dr Daniels?" Sydney said.
"Dr Daniels already left the Centre", Lyle answered. "You don't want anyone believe that something is wrong, when the four of us are leaving the Centre together? That would look a bit strange, wouldn't it?"
"Hm, I suppose so..."
"Well, Mr Broots, I'm glad you think the same way I do. - Then get out of here. I'll follow in a few minutes."
Sydney gave Broots an "I-don't-like-this"-look when they left.
XXX
One and a half hour left.
Jarod tried to eat something but couldn't. He left the food, the sweepers had brought him, nearly untouched and was walking up and down the room.
He was suddenly wondering, why no-one had come to make him "forget". After all, that's what they seemed to have done all the time. He couldn't even say how long he had been here, because all he could remember were the "dreams".
The time between had vanished.
He was sure that was the thing the drug did. Make it easier for others to let him forget everything others wanted him to forget. It was strange, that they didn't seem to be able to "insert" false memories. On the other hand, memories were bound to so many things, smells, sounds, thoughts. No drug was able to simulate all of it.
But that still left him with why no-one had come to make him forget.
Until he remembered that Lyle's "girlfriend" was exactly the one who engineered the drug in the first place. So no problem at all for her to insist that she needed a break-time to examine all she had learned with earlier tests.
It all fit together so well.
It was almost funny.
XXX
Sydney stopped the car and he and Broots got out.
The laptop in his hand, Broots unceremoniously just sat down on the a bit cold and wet ground.
He could see the Centre's lights, only 300 meters away.
Broots opened the laptop and started to type.
"How much time left?" he asked.
"45 minutes", Sydney answered.
He couldn't help that his voice sounded shaky.
XXX
Dr Stephanie Daniels slowly got conscious again.
"What happened?" she said more to herself and was surprised to get an answer.
"You betrayed the Centre."
"Wha...?"
Only then she became aware that her hands and feet were bound. She couldn't move. She tried to do it, but she couldn't move.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she hissed at him.
"Well, you betrayed the Centre. You helped Jarod and Miss Parker escape because you thought you would get to a *lot* of money through it. And while trying to destroy all the evidence for your betrayal, you accidentally killed yourself. What a shame, isn't it?"
"I don't..." She knew she should have felt frightened. But the shock was so immense that all she felt was numbness. Cold sweat was running down her back.
"Yes, you did. You know what kind of room this is?"
He started to walk around touching some computers and screens.
When he came to the man who was responsible for the DSA's he stepped over his dead body and just went on talking
"It's the room where all the surveillance cameras are coming together. The DSA room. Everything that happened in the Centre during the last week is being stored in here. The tapes are supposed to be brought into the DSA library tomorrow. But I'm afraid that won't be possible because you planted a bomb in here. As I said before, to destroy all evidence. But something just went wrong. And you died."
"Oh my..."
"God has nothing to do with this", he whispered into her ear.
She didn't even see the hit coming that knocked her unconscious again.
He took away the knots that bound her then, set the bomb on 5 minutes and opened the door to leave.
When he had one last look back into the room, he couldn't resist.
He turned and kissed her good-bye.
XXX
There were 10 minutes left.
Miss Parker slowly stood up from her bed where she had spent the last few hours with the terrible feeling of getting sick, and positioned herself besides the door.
What she would do, if Lyle *had* betrayed her, something she had expected all the time since this crazy game had started, she didn't know. Maybe she would *really* kill him, like she'd wanted to do for a long time now.
There were so many questions going around in her head.
What would happen if she didn't get out.
What would happen if she *did* get out.
Where a deal with Lyle would get her.
Where a life with Jarod would get her.
She surely could leave him after escaping from the Centre. The problem was that she didn't want to. Not so long ago, everything had seemed too complicated. He was the hunted and she the hunter. They could never be together, because the past would always be in their way. All the ghosts that had hunted both of them for so long.
But now, it all didn't matter to her anymore.
She was even beginning to think, that they could work it all out.
Five minutes.
XXX
"I'm ready", Broots suddenly said and made Sydney jump with it.
"What?"
"I said I'm ready. How much time left?"
"Three minutes."
Broots had his finger over the enter-button again.
This time he wasn't shaking.
He suddenly had the strange feeling that he'd lost a part of himself by doing all this, a part he wouldn't never get back in his life.
XXX
When the lift stopped down at SL-27, the twelve sweepers there were more than surprised.
It was nearly 3 am now, no time for any of the "Big Ones" how they used to call them, to get down here.
But none of them had ever seen the three people who left the lift and came towards them.
There was a man of around 50, distinguished but reserved looking, and a girl of maybe 18, with a very short silver-coloured skirt and too much black make-up.
The tallest of them, a man around 30 with expensive clothes and a stupid but frightening grin on his face came near to the first one of the sweepers.
"Where is Dr. Raines?"
The sweeper looked at him rather surprised.
"He's not here."
"He has to be here. We got his message. He..."
The man suddenly stopped talking and whisked around to the two others he'd come with.
"A trap", he just said.
As if listening to some kind of secret sign, all three started to walk back to the lift at the same time, obviously as fast as they could.
The woman hit the button to let the lift come down there.
That was when the lights went out.
Part 11: Finale
Jarod took one last deep breath and opened the door.
It was still dark outside and he knocked out the first sweeper before the man even saw him.
The next moment, the security system took over and the backup lights went on, a bit darker than the usual light, but still light enough to let him see what was going on.
Jarod could see several sweepers coughing or holding their heads, obviously in pain.
Suddenly one on his right side screamed and started to hit one of the other sweepers who hit back immediately. Other sweepers started to hit walls or themselves or each other.
Whatever Dr Daniels had come up with, it was a gruesome weapon.
He didn't have much time.
"First vent on the right side", he thought. "First vent on the right side."
He turned right, staring into the face of another sweeper immediately.
The man was still coughing, but already had something murderous in his eyes. Jarod hit him in the face, but was surprised when the man hit back and punched him in the stomach. Jarod went on his knees immediately. The air he'd held back went out of his body. He had to force himself to resist the instinct to take a deep breath. Instead, Jarod grabbed the sweepers feet and pulled. The man fell onto his back, groaning.
Jarod pushed himself up, hit the man into the face to really knock him out this time, then took the man's gun and went on.
"The vent", was the only thing on his mind. "Get to the vent."
He already started to feel dizzy from the lack of air.
Chaos started around him. Sweepers were attacking each other, even shot at each other.
When he reached the vent after what seemed to be an eternity, but could have been only thirty seconds, he nearly stumbled over the body of a young woman, hardly twenty. Someone had shot her in the head. There were two man fighting next to her, hitting each other with all the strength they had.
Number One was one of them. When their eyes met, Jarod could see the man's mouth moving.
"Help." He could read a "Help me, Jarod."
Jarod opened the vent and crawled inside.
XXX
It felt good to hit someone.
When the lights had went out, she'd already held her breath, opened her door and found herself face to face with a very surprised looking sweeper.
With the first hit into his face, she'd broken his nose. He screamed and started to hold it, blood flooding over his fingers and onto her, when she hit him in the groin with her knee.
The sweeper fell to her feet, only groaning.
She didn't know what was going on because Lyle had never told her what they'd planned. But when she saw the sweepers coughing and in pain from something she couldn't even see, she was glad that she was holding her breath like her brother had told her to.
She took the right floor, following Lyle's orders, forcing herself to not think about the things that were going on around her. Sweepers in pain, screaming, going after each other and herself.
She'd taken the gun from the sweeper, she'd attacked in front of the door of her room, and was more than glad to have it only moments later. One of the sweepers suddenly ran towards her as if gone crazy, screaming something she couldn't understand.
Parker lifted the weapon, hesitating only for a second. Then she shot him in the leg. The man went down, screaming.
Another sweeper tried to grab her, but she pushed him away, hitting him on the head with the gun.
Then she reached the vent, opened it as fast as she could and went inside, closing the vent's door behind her.
There was the gas mask, just as Lyle had promised her. Parker put it on and took one long breath, closing her eyes for a second.
Again she hesitated when she saw something lying on the ground in front of her.
Cracker Jacks.
She smiled into the gas mask before starting to crawl down the long narrow corridor, following the path of Cracker Jacks.
XXX
"You made it, Broots!" Sydney said, when the Centre's lights went out for three seconds and then went on again. "Now let's just hope everything else worked as well."
"Yes, I made it", Broots whispered. "Let's just hope, the Group made it into the Centre in time as well."
Broots heard something behind his back and turned around, only to look into Mr Lyle's face.
XXX
Jarod couldn't say how long he'd crawled around in the corridors of the Centre's air system.
Everything just looked the same, every path he took. Time seemed to vanish again.
Only once something had been strange.
There had been a deep crashing sound and then the smell of a fire, as if there had been an explosion. But Jarod couldn't say from what direction it had come and didn't have the time to have a look about it.
He had to get to Parker first.
XXX
The Cracker Jack path suddenly stopped when she'd made her way up to SL-21.
She found herself in front of another vent and the crossing of two long corridors. Parker looked it up and down and considered to just get out here.
Or maybe the stopping of the path was meant to make her wait here?
So she just did that, hoping that Jarod would be there, soon.
XXX
It took Jarod 45 minutes to get to SL-21, and he was crawling fast.
When he got there at last, coming nearer to the place he told Lyle to name as meeting place for Parker and him, his knees were hurting and his hands had started to bleed.
He was wondering how Angelo managed to spent his life like this, crawling around in the ventilation system of the Centre.
Until that moment he had made himself forget the possibility that Parker was still down in SL-25, killed by one of the sweepers.
There had always been that possibility, even if he had tried to avoid thinking about that, from the moment Lyle and he had been discussing the plan.
Maybe she hadn't made it.
When he came around the last corner before the meeting place, he took a long breath and then held it again.
He closed his eyes and opened them. Ready now.
Parker was sitting there.
"Parker!"
His hardly even heard his own voice through the mask, but she did somehow.
He could see her eyes widen at his sight, and hurried with getting to her just as she hurried to get to him.
They were just staring at each other when they were in front of each other at last.
Jarod closed his arms around her then, wanting nothing more but to kiss her, but it was still too dangerous to take off the masks.
So he just took her hand in his and met her eyes.
But that was all they needed.
XXX
They went out two hours later, taking the same way Jarod had taken to get out of the Centre three years before.
There was a car, some cash and clothes waiting for them a hundred metres away from the Centre. And a little note from Sydney, which just said "Good luck."
They went into the car and drove away, leaving the Centre and everything else behind.
Nothing had ever felt better than that.
Epilogue
Jarod called him one hour after their escape.
"I suppose we've got to thank you, Lyle", he said.
"No, you don't", he answered. "Just remember that we have a deal. You owe me now.
"I couldn't forget that. Even if I wanted to."
"Good. And don't misunderstand me here. This is the first and only time I'll help you and Parker. Next time, I'll let the Centre do whatever it wants to do."
"I would never misunderstand you."
A little "Klick" told Lyle, that Jarod had hung up.
XXX
They had to mourn the death of nearly all sweepers who had been in SL-27 and SL-25. And those who hadn't been killed, were badly hurt. Some of them would probably die of their injuries.
Then there was the Group, dead down in SL-27 and the explosion in the DSA room.
The Tower wasn't exactly amused about how everything had ended up.
As was Mr Parker.
"Are you sure about it?" he growled.
"I am. Everything is pointing into her direction. Dr Daniels obviously was helping them."
"Why should Daniels help Jarod and your sister escape?" he answered.
"Well, I suppose she made a deal with Jarod. He's a genius. He probably told her he would help her with her work. But she took *all* the answers to that question into her grave."
"Grave?"
"Some sweepers found her remains in the DAS room. She must have made a mistake when she planted the bomb down there."
"What a waste."
"Yes", Lyle said. "But, that leaves us with everything she worked on without having to pay for it. And, as terrible as the whole incident is, the gas the Centre wanted to buy has been tested now and seems to work as it's supposed to work. And now that Dr Daniels is dead, the Centre saved 10 Million Dollars."
Lyle gave the older man a nice smile.
"Well, Dad, if there isn't something else you'd like to discuss with me, I'm going back to work"
He went to the door, when his father called him back.
"Lyle."
"Yes, Dad?"
"I want you to find them."
"Whom?"
"Jarod. And your sister."
"Sure, Dad. I'll start working on that as soon as possible."
When he left his father's office, he nearly smiled.
Strange, that some people still seemed to trust him.
Strange indeed.
And very stupid.
XXX
He went back down into the Tech Lab, meeting Sydney and Broots there.
It hardly surprised him, that Sydney seemed to be pretty angry.
He hadn't really awaited that they wouldn't find out the truth.
"Broots found information, that the Centre intended to buy the gas that has been used to *distract* the sweepers", Sydney said, hardly hiding his anger. "But it seems as if Dr. Daniels demanded too much money, so the Tower brought you in, because you two knew each other so well. You were supposed to *persuade* Daniels to sell it for less. Well, now that Dr. Daniels died while planting a bomb, the Centre gets all her work for nothing, doesn't it?"
Lyle said nothing. There wasn't anything to say for him.
He just didn't care enough, to defend himself.
"You used us, Lyle!" Sydney screamed at him. "You used us for letting Dr Daniels testing her drugs. And for getting it all for nothing! And you used Broots to find out what the Group is!"
There was nothing that could make him angry today.
The day was just too perfect for that.
So Lyle just smiled.
"But I helped you, too", he answered.
"And what was the price, Lyle?"
"Jarod's freedom? And that has always been what you wanted, hasn't it, Sydney? I gave you what you wanted and you gave me what I needed. Fair game."
"Don't tell me something about fairness."
"And you don't try to make me believe you are "Mr Morality". You made your choice, Syd. We had a deal. And you always knew who I am. Sometimes, Sydney, when people are playing with fire, they are burning their hands."
Sydney gave him one last angry look, then stormed out of the room. Broots tried to follow him, failing in trying to avoid Lyle's eyes.
Lyle took Broot's arm and held him back.
"Mr Broots, you really surprised me with tricking the Group back into the Centre", he said. "Pretty...interesting move. You know, I really look forward working with you for a long, long time."
Lyle smiled at him, then put his hand on Broots' shoulder and squeezed.
"Oh, and by the way, my just father informed me, that the Group consisted of six numbers before it was ... *out-numbered* so very surprisingly."
He grinned about his own joke before turning around and walking away.
Broots could hardly fight back the upcoming compulsion to vomit.
He felt very sick.
XXX
"We have the results of the last test we made on your daughter before the whole thing started to get out of control."
Raines seemed to have even more problems to breath today than usually.
"Conclusive?" Mr Parker answered.
"Yes."
"So?"
"Positive."
He nodded.
So it had only just started.
The End.
Feedback addy: syad.nms@gmx.net
Thanks to Tatjana for the Beta-Read. :-)
A Pretender Fan Fiction by Mareen
"Think I need a devil to help me
Get things right."
Foo Fighters, Learn To Fly
Part 1: The Beach
She was dreaming.
She must be dreaming, because the place she was right now had something absolutely unreal.
What had happened last night? Something unusual?
She couldn't remember.
She'd gone to bed and fallen asleep and now she was here.
If she'd been a romantic, she'd probably even liked the place.
A white beach, full of palms. She could hear soft music, Billie Holiday. There were people, sun-bathing or swimming in the blue sea.
When she looked down on herself, she became aware that she was wearing a short summer-skirt with flowers on it and some canvas shoes. Her hair fell into her face and she absently pushed it behind her ears, then put her hands back into the white, warm sand she was sitting on.
Unfortunately she wasn't a romantic.
"Wonderful", she hissed through pressed lips. "The only thing missing is the Love Boat."
"Why are we here?"
Miss Parker's head flew around and she discovered Jarod, sitting beside her in some white linen clothes, so he looked liked coming fresh from a Soap-Opera.
"Where did *you* come from so suddenly", she asked, slightly confused.
He made a face.
"How should I know. It's just a dream."
"More a nightmare."
"Looks pretty peaceful to me." He smirked. "Like heaven."
"Oh yeah!" She snorted.
Jarod lay back into the sand and crossed his arms behind his head.
"I like it here. It's so peaceful."
As suddenly as he himself had shown up, there were sun-glasses on his nose. He looked awfully relaxed.
"Oh god! Even in dreams you are getting on my nerves. Why the hell won't you even spare me here? And if you have to be here, why don't you do something I'd like you to do? Like... how about punching your head against one of the palms, again and again? I suppose, I can even force you to do it. This is *my* dream after all. I just have to concentrate and then..."
Parker pressed her eyes together and imagined a Jarod who punched his head against a palm's trunk. When she opened her eyes again, she groaned.
"Damn!"
Jarod smirked under his sun-glasses.
"You know, I don't feel like this is a dream at all. As a matter of fact, I feel pretty alive."
"That's what I was afraid of."
"I love Billie Holiday. What about you?"
"Go away, Jarod."
"You should be glad I'm here. I know you, Parker. If I weren't here, you'd be bored to hell at this romantic place. Lie back. Enjoy the sun. When do you have the possibility to relax?
When was your last holiday?"
She had to admit, he was right, even if he was only talking to her in a dream. She hadn't had a vacation for a long time. To be precise since...
"I didn't have one since you escaped from the Centre. So it's all your fault."
"Oh-ho! Listen!"
"Are you kidding me?"
Jarod shook his head. "Sure not! How could I?"
"I knew it!"
"Hey, it's me. Jarod. What do you want?"
"I've already said that. Go away. Or do something useful."
"Like what?"
"There's still the palm."
He laughed and it was hard for Miss Parker not to join him. He'd never laughed a *real* laugh when he was with her, and now that he did it, dream or not, she had to admit, that his laugh was hard to resist.
She suddenly realized, that he was looking at her.
"For smiling, please lift the corner of your mouth", he said.
She smiled before being able to stop herself.
"Thanks", she said dryly. "For a moment the How-to was hard to remember."
Jarod raised and sat beside her. His gaze wandered over her face.
"You look pretty when you smile."
Parker frowned. "I'm not interested."
"In what?"
"You know..."
"I know nothing."
"And stop grinning."
"I'm not grinning", he grinned.
She pressed her lips together and kept silent.
"You really look pretty when you smile."
"And I told you I'm not interested in something like that."
"In what?"
"Problems."
"But this is just a dream."
Miss Parker frowned again. "Right. I nearly forgot that."
"Does that mean, because this is a dream you *are* interested?"
"I didn't say that."
"But you thought it."
They both remained silent for a moment, until he gave her a surprised look.
"You really think I'm sweet?"
"Did I say that?"
"No, not really. But I'm in a dream. I know everything I wanna know."
"Oh God! I'm in Hell!"
He made a soft "Tsk Tsk Tsk".
"Miss Parker, I'm disappointed. You didn't get the possibilities of this state yet. This is a dream. We can do what we've always wanted to do, without consequences. No-one will ever know. It will stay a secret forever."
"Are you trying to seduce me?"
He seemed to think about that for a second.
"Well, yes. After all, this is just a dream."
"A pretty strange dream."
"You talk to much."
Jarod bend over and kissed her on her mouth, so very gentle.
"This feels real, not like in a dream", Parker whispered. "Are you sure this is just a dream?"
"I'm not", he answered and kissed her beside the ear.
She frightened away.
"What? Why not?"
Jarod was working down on her neck and muttered: "Well, the last thing I remember is falling asleep in my hotel room. And then I was here."
"WHAT?"
"I don't want to talk about it anymore. This is just a dream, so let's just..."
Parker suddenly decided it would feel wonderful, to kiss him.
"It's such a strange dream", she whispered and pressed her lips against his. "Whoever is dreaming it."
Jarod smiled while they were sinking back onto the hot sand. His hand was gliding through her hair. Just for one second he stopped because of the strange feeling of being watched, hearing voices that didn't belong to that place. But then he brought his full attention back to Miss Parker and forgot everything around them.
This was a dream.
"What do you think, how often do we have go with this treatment?"
"Maybe we are lucky and this one time is enough. I would be very pleased with that."
The other man snorted.
"My son and I don't like the game we have to play with his sister", the first man went on. "We don't want her to be hurt or be forced into anything with violence. And if the only way left is to treat Jarod and my daughter with drugs, I don't care. The only thing I care about is that the Centre gets what it needs. A new Pretender."
"*My* Pretender."
"Sure, Dr. Raines. What else?"
Part 2: Welcome back
When he woke up, he felt as if someone had played some kind of very cruel soccer game with his head. He groaned and started rubbing his temples to get rid of the pain.
That's when he realized, that he had no idea where he was.
And that's when he finally had a look around and came to wish he hadn't.
He was back at the Centre. He couldn't say where exactly but there slight smell of burned wood and plastic made him believe that he was somewhere down at Raines' playground. SL-27.
There was nothing in the room. Just plain white walls and a small bed - and some surveillance cameras.
Eyes in every wall that never blinked.
Jarod became aware that he was shivering.
He didn't remember anything. The last thing had been... going to bed in his hotel, yes. And falling asleep. And then he had had these strange dreams, about himself and Parker at a beach, kissing and then having sex. He'd had dreams like that before, though this one seemed somehow...more real than the ones before.
But he had more urgent things to do, than thinking about some
dreams...
Like bury the terrible feeling of fear that was trying to control him right now.
Like finding a way out.
Or finding out how the Centre had managed to catch him in the first place.
He wasn't even sure it had been Parker who caught him. If she'd been the one, he would be clearly remember her catching him.
She'd rub it into his face.
For a moment he considered that he maybe had been hurt while she caught him, maybe got a blow to the head, which would explain his terrible headache and the slight dizziness he felt. But he couldn't find any kind of injury on his head, not even a little bump, so he went on to the next possibility.
Drugs, which wouldn't be Parker's style at all.
He found needle marks in his arm when he looked for them, though.
Several.
So, they had used drugs to sedate him and bring him here. But he still couldn't imagine Parker or Sydney or Broots doing that.
What did that mean? A new player?
Or maybe it had been Brigitte? She'd managed to nearly catch him two times. What if she made it this time?
"You are awake."
Startled, Jarod brought his attention to the room's door, which he'd missed being opened. Raines was standing there, three sweepers at his side.
Jarod stood up from his bed.
"What do you want, Raines?"
"Just have a look how you are."
"You caught me. But you have to realize that I won't do any kind of sims for the Centre. No matter what."
"Oh, I do know that. That's not why we brought you here. From the moment you escaped, the only cause why we wanted you back alive, was one thing. Your sperm. And we have that now, as you will maybe remember." Raines smiled. "I was of the impression you had fun while giving it to us."
Jarod could hear the blood rushing in his ears.
"The dreams...", he managed to say, his voice hoarse. "But Miss Parker would never.... She couldn't..."
"Oh yes, she would, the right circumstances being given."
This couldn't be possible.
It was crazy.
"You are useless to us now, Jarod. We always knew you would never again do simulations for us. So, once we got positive test results you are expendable, Jarod."
Bury the fear. Just bury the fear.
But he knew Raines could see it in his eyes.
This whole conversation only took place because Raines wanted to destroy him. Watch his reaction to the realization of the deepest fear he'd ever had.
A child of his own, going through the same things he went through.
Maybe if he could buy some time....
"It will take years, until the child will be able to run sims", Jarod said. "What about that time? Do you know how much money you will lose? But I could..."
"We thought about that, too, Jarod. And we decided, that it will really cost us a lot of money. But on the other hand, trying to hold you here, will cost even more than that.
So we decided it's better to just get rid of you. And to me ... the money is worth it watch you die. I've waited so long for that, Jarod."
Raines smiled.
"There is no way out for you, Jarod. Not a chance this time. You will stay here and once the time has come you will die. Pretty easy."
Jarod said nothing. He felt so terribly numb.
That Parker really had been capable of doing that...Allowing the Centre to use both of them to breed a new Pretender.
It hurt. It was such a terrible pain inside.
"And you will never even see your child", Raines said. There was no emotion at all in the man's voice.
Jarod didn't look at him. He just stared at the floor, incapable of moving, or saying anything.
He was still standing like that, long after Raines had left his room.
Part 3: Waking up
Parker had never been that angry before.
"Raines!" she screamed into one of the cameras that stared down at her. "I know you are responsible for this. Get down here and I'll shove your damn oxygen tank up your..."
"Relax, Parker."
"Lyle!"
She was too surprised to see him right now, to assault him out of anger like she'd usually would do in this kind of situation.
When she'd woken up one hour ago, she'd found herself in a nice room with nice furniture somewhere in the Centre. But when she tried to open the door to get out and scream at the person who was responsible for bringing her down there, obviously after abducting her from her own bed in her own house, she'd realized that the room was locked.
She was a prisoner of the Centre.
Since then, she was screaming into the cameras or walking around in the room, from one side of it to the other and back. Again and again, getting angrier with every single step.
She'd expected that Raines would come to her sooner or later, though. She didn't really believe that her father had participated in taking her from her house, in her pyjamas. He would never do something like that, would he?
He had lied to her, he had let Brigitte questioning her, had done maybe even worse things. But he would never make her a prisoner of the Centre.
And Lyle...He may be a master in being a crawler. He also may be a sociopath and absolutely crazy. But he would never have the guts to participate in one of Raines' games against their fathers wishes.
What brought her back to her semi-trust for her father.
That's why she was surprised to be visited by Lyle.
"Lyle. I want to know what's going on here. Now!"
"I was send here to have a look how you feel. The drugs you were given are able to give a bad headache and we don't want you to feel bad, do we?"
He smiled.
A mistake.
She grabbed his collar and pushed him against one of the walls with all the strength she had.
"You are lucky that I still need answers from you, Lyle", she hissed. "If I wouldn't, you already had this damn red tie you are wearing down your throat. Now, I wanna know what's going on or I will..."
He closed his hands around hers, that were still holding his collar, and surprisingly gentle loosened them from his clothes.
"I can't tell you anything if you strangle me, can I? I'm here to tell you everything you need to know. If you just let me go and relax."
Parker inhaled deeply, very deeply, and took a step back.
Lyle re-arranged his clothes, then started to talk.
"You remember the dreams?"
"Dreams? I...Oh my God!"
She sat down, her legs shaky. She couldn't think.
Lyle was nodding.
"The beach. Jarod and you. It's all true."
"Why?" she said cooly.
"Two weeks ago, a...group inside the Centre Raines had called into the search for Jarod, was able to identify his location. Seems as if Raines got a bit impatient about our search for him, and from what I've heard, it needs a lot to get any kind of access to that specific group. Well, Raines was long sure that Jarod would never again help the Centre with any kind of simulations. But, as you know after you met little Davey Simpkins, Raines is *very* interested in getting a new Pretender. So he went to the Tower and arranged this. It was his idea, to use your's and Jarod's DNA."
"They want us to have a child?"
She was surprised how clear and strong her voice sounded while she felt like something was about to die inside of her.
"Why not just take Jarod's sperm and make an artificial insemination? Why all these mind games and the drug use?"
"Because Raines and our father were sure you would never participate in something like this. They would have to force you. And Dad refused to do that."
"Daddy is in this, too?"
She was dead.
It was the only possibility.
She had died and went to Hell and Hell was the worst nightmare she could have possibly imagined.
"Yes. He had been called into the Tower. It was discussed and then our father insisted, that no violence was to be used in order to make you participate in it."
"How do you call me being treated with drugs to make me sleep with Jarod?" she suddenly hissed at him. "How do you call that? How could you be sure, what would happen between Jarod and me at all?"
"We just knew. *That* it would happen has never been questioned by anyone."
"What if I had refused him?"
"But you don't."
"I want to talk to Daddy." She said after a while she had just stood there, unmoving. "I want to know how he could do something like that! How he could allow that being done to me!"
Lyle nodded again.
"I see what I can do."
"And I want out of here."
"I'm afraid I can't do that. The Tower gave strict order to have you in the Centre until they have the new Pretender."
"Yes. Sure", she said. "What else."
Parker tried to stay calm. Tried to be herself. The Ice Queen. Never show any kind of emotions. She looked up into one of the cameras.
No emotion at all in her face.
"So, is there already a little Pretender inside of me?"
She sounded cold. A "Pretender" that's what it was. Not her child. If she started to think about it as her child now, she wouldn't be able to think.
But she had to think. She had to find a way out.
"We don't know yet."
"So why did you stop giving me drugs?"
"Some of the doctors say, they could harm the child, if they've been given to you too long."
"I understand. - What about Jarod?"
Yes. She had asked it at last, some kind of afraid to get to know the answer.
"Jarod is the Centre's again now. - And he is of no use for it anymore."
"What?"
Parker sounded harsher than she had intended to. No emotion. She tried to remember that, but it was so hard... so hard.
"Once you are pregnant, Jarod will disappear."
"Raines will kill him."
"Yes."
She nodded and turned away from Lyle and the cameras, so they wouldn't see her face. The fear in her eyes. The desperation that was building inside of her.
"What about me?" she said at last.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, once the Pretender has been born, am I of no use anymore for the Centre, too?"
Lyle seemed surprised about her question.
"Sure not. Our father, Raines and the Tower agreed, that you can go back to work then...if you want to. There's also the option to leave. No-one will stand in your way if you want to go away afterwards."
"Because I did what has always been expected from me?"
"I think so", he answered.
"So, the Centre wants me to stay here, in this room, until the pregnancy is over. Did you tell Sydney? Or Broots?"
"No. There is no need to tell them."
"Then won't they miss me if I vanish for nearly ten months?"
"Sydney and Broots have been told that you were re-assigned... which is true, in a way."
He smiled. She just wanted to hit him. Beat that smile out of him.
But she stayed where she was. Unmoving.
"I'll send you Dad later. I'm sure he'll be here as soon as possible."
Lyle walked to the door. It opened without him saying anything or knocking, something, she had somehow expected remembering the fact that it was the door of a prison.
"When will I know?" Parker suddenly said
He turned around while still standing in the doorframe.
"Know what?"
"If I am already carrying the new Pretender."
"Soon", he answered. "Knock on the door if you need something. There is a sweeper just for you on the other side."
He left, and she heard the door being locked again.
Soon, she thought. Soon could even be in an hour. So she had to start planning her escape now. And her plans about how to kill Raines and Lyle ... and her father.
Oh yes.
She would kill them all.
Part 4: Allies
"Sydney!"
Broots was waving at him, looking something between scared and excited.
Sydney slowly went over to the other man, who was sitting at his computer.
He felt terribly tired. For three weeks now, Miss Parker was gone, just vanished.
Everything Lyle had told them, was that she had been re-assigned to something highly confidential and none of their business.
But both of them, Sydney and Broots knew Parker too well, and especially knew the Centre too well, to not believe that something was definitely wrong.
There were rumours going on, about something very big happening in the Centre. And there was this strange mood, everyone seemed to be in.
Raines, who seemed rather happy with himself. *Happy*! Raines!
Mr Parker, on edge, nervous.
Brigitte, smiling a lot.
Lyle, refusing to say anything about Miss Parker's whereabouts and obviously losing all interest in the hunt for Jarod.
As time had went by, Sydney had become more and more frightened that something terrible had happened to Parker.
They'd gone into her house and found it clean and empty. Her luggage and a lot of her clothes were gone, as if she'd left for a long vacation, which would fit into the information of her being re-assigned.
But it all seemed to look too *real* to Sydney to be the truth.
And then there was Jarod, who hadn't called him for weeks now.
Who seemed to have vanished just like Parker had.
For a second, Sydney had even considered that Parker and Jarod had left together, but that possibility didn't fit into the moods of Raines, Brigitte, Mr Parker and Lyle.
Something strange was going on.
And he intended to find out what it was.
"Did you find something, Broots?"
"Well", he answered, "I've searched the Centre's Database for anything unusual... But, well, you know the Centre. Everything seems unusual here in a way. But there is something... The Centre brought a Dr Daniels here, from the Centre's facility in Arizona. She did some kind of research on some hallucinogens and other drugs. From what I read here, she's some kind of expert at her job. Pretty bad things she worked on. Drugs, biological weapons...Actually she worked on a biological weapon that was supposed to make a possible enemy go after their own people and tried to test it in a prison...That's when she got fired from her former employer and came to the Arizona branch of the Centre."
"Do you know why she is here?"
"No. I can only say who wanted her here... Dr. Raines."
Sydney frowned.
"This is really bad, Sydney, isn't it? I don't know why. I just have the feeling."
"I think you are right, Broots."
He put his hand on the other man's shoulder for a second and squeezed it, trying to make Broots and himself feeling a bit better, which wasn't easy.
"You have to find out more. We need to find Miss Parker...and Jarod."
The man was standing in the other room, where Raines stored his files, searching for something of use to him, when Raines and Brigitte entered the office.
He did that on a regular basis, searching Raines' office, because he needed to know everything that was going on in the Centre.
Information.
Information meant survival. If you want to survive in the Centre, always know more than everyone else. He had learned that a long time ago.
When Raines and Brigitte entered, he vanished into the little room's shadows and listened.
"Do we know yet, if she is pregnant?" Brigitte asked.
"We have the test results, but she isn't pregnant. We have to bring her and Jarod together again", Raines answered.
"I don't think Parker will participate in it. And Jarod won't, either."
"They will. We use the drugs again, if they won't do it freely."
"Whatever. - What will happen to her once we have the Pretender? You know her. Whatever she may say, she will never give up her own child to the Centre without a fight. She would do everything she had to in order to get the child back and out of the Centre."
"I know that. - That's why she won't survive another week after the child is born."
"You gonna kill her, too? What do you think Daddy will say about that?"
"He will refuse at first. But then he'll understand. He always has."
"And Lyle...?"
"Lyle knows nothing about this plan. He believes, that we will let her go after she has given birth. He doesn't have to know the truth."
The man in the shadows held his breath, frowning.
He remained in the room for another half an hour, listening to Brigitte and Raines talk.
When they both left at last, he had made his decision.
He didn't feel well doing this without Miss Parker. However she may have talked to him in the past, however she may have treated him, they were friends in a way, and her being with him, standing behind him, had always given him strength and the courage to do what he had to do.
He had become a new man since he met her.
He had always been someone People laughed about, into his face and behind his back and he had never done anything about that.
He still didn't, but now he knew, that whatever other people may say, he *was* someone. He was Broots, and he could even be proud of himself.
She did that to him.
She had always challenged him. Had never accepted a "No, I can't do that.".
And now that she was gone, he missed her, he was afraid that something had happened to her.
If she was dead... His friend, dead....
Broots fought the thought, the image of her lying somewhere, dead.
That could never be, could it?
Miss Parker dead. That was an impossibility itself.
He increased the speed of his typing into his keyboard. He had to think faster, clearer. What would Miss Parker do? What would...
Broots jumped in his chair when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Sydney!" he said. "You nearly scared me to death. I ..."
He looked around ... and into Lyle's face.
"Oh my..."
Yes, now he was a dead man. Lyle caught him while he was searching the confidential Centre Database. He was dead.
"Mr Lyle", he croaked. "I didn't...I..."
Lyle bend down and whispered into his ear. "Mr Broots, I have a surprise for you. From now on, we will be *real* allies. And I'm here because I want you to do something for me."
"Allies?" Broots groaned. "Oh my..."
Part 5: A deal with the devil
"I...", Broots managed to get out. "I...."
"Relax, Mr Broots. I wasn't asking for any kind of commitment."
Lyle smiled down at him.
"You want to help my sister, don't you?"
"Yes", Broots croaked. This man being so near to him, really made him nervous.
"Well, you can help her. And Jarod, too."
"Jarod? Why Jarod?"
"The Centre managed to get him back. He's here, as is my sister. I need to talk to him, but I don't want anyone to know what we are talking about. So I need you to turn off the surveillance camera's audio and make it look like an accident. Can you do that for me, Mr Broots?"
"I..." 'Sydney!' he thought. 'Sydney! Help!'
Broots cleared his throat.
"If you tell me where he is, I can do it, yes."
Lyle smiled again and it frightened Broots more than everything else.
"Sure I can, Mr Broots."
When the door to his prison opened, Jarod jumped up from his bed, just for a second hoping it would be Sydney, or Broots... or Parker.
Strange, that he still hoped to see her, though she had betrayed him.
But it was Mr Lyle.
"What do you want here?" Jarod hissed and lied back onto his bed.
"Talking to you", Lyle answered.
"There is nothing we have to talk about. Leave me alone."
"Do you want to get out of here?"
Startled, Jarod came up from his bed.
"What?"
"I can help you escape. And my sister."
"Why would you do that?" he asked suspiciously.
"You don't need to know that. Let's just say, both of you are more valuable to me alive."
"And why would Parker want to escape? She is in this, too."
"She is not. Did Raines tell you, she is? It's a lie. They treated both of you with drugs. Right now, she is just as angry as you are."
For a second, Jarod let his guard down and closed his eyes, relieved.
"We don't have much time", Lyle said. "Raines wants both of you to have a child. Parker isn't pregnant yet, but once she is, you will die. So we need to come up with a plan as soon as possible."
"I don't trust you."
"You don't have to. All I want from you is thinking about a way to escape. I'll bring Broots and Sydney into this, too."
"What about the..." Jarod looked up to the cameras.
"Broots turned off the sound. They can see us talking. But they don't know what we are talking about."
"Can I see Parker?"
"You will have another meeting, yes. As I said, the Centre wants her to become pregnant."
"I won't participate in that."
"You do not have a choice. They will just use the drugs."
Jarod closed his eyes again. Trying to shut it all out.
"Do we have a deal?"
"You didn't tell me what you want for your help", Jarod answered.
"Nothing. Yet. We'll come back to that later."
"I'm sure of that."
He refused to look at Lyle again, who left then.
When Lyle returned into the Tech Labs, Sydney and Broots were already waiting for him.
He had taken his time, before he went to meet them again. They had to discuss it all. Lyle was sure about what their decision looked like, but giving them time to think about the outcome if the three of them didn't work together, would help him a lot.
They scared themselves with all the possibilities they went through.
And having Broots and Sydney afraid of what could happen to Parker and Jarod made them easier to control.
"So?" he said.
"Was it all Raines idea?" Sydney said, obviously angry.
"A lot of people participated it this", he answered. "Up to the Tower itself."
"And why would you help then?"
"As I said to Jarod, and I'm sure you two were listening to every word we said, they are both more valuable to me alive. - Listen to me, Sydney, Mr Broots. It will be a lot easier with your help. To be precise, without your help I maybe won't bring them out alive. So, do I have your help?"
Sydney and Broots were looking at each other.
"Yes", Sydney said at last.
"Good."
Lyle smiled again and just for a second, Broots thought, that he just made the biggest mistake of his life.
Down in his little prison, Jarod was lying on his bed, thinking just the same thing as Broots.
But then, he thought about Parker... the dreams... which weren't dreams...the taste of her... the way she felt...her voice.
He tried to examine his feelings, which had made him wanting her...
She would probably say it was just Sex. A desire for each other that had been built up over years. But he knew that wasn't the truth. There was much more between them
He just needed the chance to tell her.
The door was being opened.
Jarod turned around, meeting the eyes of four sweepers and Mr Raines. The four men stormed towards him. He tried to escape but they held him, his arms and legs.
Jarod tried to get away. He kicked and hit and was even able to hurt one of them, but he wasn't strong enough.
Raines came to him, a smile in his face.
There was a needle in his hand.
"No!" Jarod said, afraid.
The needle came nearer and nearer to his arm, piercing the skin then, hurting.
The world started to blur. Jarod felt himself drawn into darkness.
He didn't want to.
He tried to fight it....but it was so strong.
And then he welcomed the darkness, a scream on his lips.
"NO!"
"Sydney!"
Broots didn't feel well. He really didn't. He should have left this place a long time ago. Yes. Once this was over, he would take Debbie and move into the deepest wilderness Alaska had to offer.
"Sydney." When the elder man joined him at last at his computer, Broots pulled him down so they were face to face.
"Sydney", he whispered. "I went through some more files. And I found something. Up to these memos", Broots said, "treating Miss Parker and Jarod with the drug was Mr Lyle's idea."
Part 6: The one real thing
When she looked into the mirror in the little bathroom that was part of her "room", as her guards called it, she flinched back for a second. Then she tried to make herself believe that she'd looked worse some time before in her life.
But that was a lie.
She had never looked worse than right here and now.
Her hair looked awful, there were dark rings under her eyes and her expression was sad and very tired.
She met her own eyes in the mirror and tried to force the old Miss P-look back into them.
Hard. Unmoved.
But all she saw was sadness and fatigue.
How long had she been here?
How much time had the Centre stolen from her?
Why could she remember the "dreams" with Jarod in them but not the time between?
A mindgame?
One of Raines' little games?
Or Lyle's?
Or Daddy's?
A mindgame to make her feel even worse than she already did?
A possibility, yes.
But she couldn't really think straight yet. All the drugs made her feel dizzy. It was so hard to concentrate, as it was to remember clearly. So maybe there *was* another possibility but she couldn't grab it.
How long?
Days? Weeks? Months?
She just learned that time was so fragile, so precious.
And then she finally allowed herself to *really* remember the dreams for the first time, because it was the little precious time she was *able* to remember.
These *dreams*. Jarod. And herself. The emotions she'd felt. The way he had touched her. How it had felt to touch him. His skin. His smell. His taste.
She suddenly realized how much she missed him.
How much she wanted him to be here with her.
Maybe to give her strength. To give her the power to fight back.
He was a pain in the ass, but he had always forced her forward, had made her go on . Questioned herself and her beliefs. And the worse thing was, that she would never be able to tell him, now that it had finally all become so easy, now that she'd had finally allowed herself to become aware of it.
There were so many things she wanted to tell him, but she doubted that she would ever see him again, except of full of drugs to control her.
And what about these drugs at all?
What did they do to her?
Make her believe she dreamt? Opened her? Loosened her up, so she would do what she'd always wanted to do?
Or did they make her follow orders?
What if someone had whispered it all into her ear, her ear and Jarod's, too. Telling both of them what to do?
So it was all a lie?
Jarod wanting her, a damn lie?
Maybe that was the worse thing? Maybe that's why they let her remember the "dreams"?
All for themselves they were entirely good. Something beautiful to remember.
And then, later, they would come to her and tell her, that they forced Jarod to do it.
That nothing of it had ever been real.
Something real...
She wanted there to be something real in the "dreams".
She knew they would come for her again.
All she had to do was remember the one real thing.
Remember it, take it with her and say it, though no-one but herself forced her to say it.
Something real...
When Raines and his sweepers opened the door and came in to get her, she had buried the real thing in her mind.
She just hoped, she would remember it, too.
A nightmare.
That's what it was.
A damn nightmare.
Jarod and Miss P taken by the Centre. Being forced to give them a new Pretender.
And himself and Sydney, forced to work with Mr Lyle, whom he trusted not a second.
A nightmare, yes.
"Did you come up with an idea, yet?"
"God, Sydney! Would you please stop surprising me like that!? You nearly frightened me to death!"
He turned around from his computer screen and looked up into Sydney's face, immediately feeling ashamed for jumping at the older man like that.
But Sydney just smiled.
"I'm sorry, Broots. I know. We are all a little bit on the edge. Let's walk a bit. You never know who's listening here."
Broots nodded and stood up, imitating a stretching of his body.
They slowly went down the sublevels floor.
"So, do you have any kind of idea about how we get them out of here?" Sydney asked after a while.
Broots shook his head.
"This is going to be very hard, Sydney", he said. "Raines took every precaution possible to make an escape impossible. And I'm getting the feeling that they aren't trusting us anymore, what doesn't surprise me at all. To be honest, for the first time, I'm glad, Mr Lyle is on our side. He still can go wherever he wants without a sweeper following *accidentally*... What I found out, is that Jarod and Miss P aren't even imprisoned on the same sublevel.
Jarod is on Sublevel 27, Miss P on sublevel 25. That makes me guess that they probably performing...well, you know what I mean... the thing with Jarod and Miss P... on sublevel 26. As you know, all sublevels from 23 to 27 have been closed. No-one is allowed to go down there."
"Except of Mr Raines, Mr Parker and Mr Lyle."
"You forgot Brigitte."
"Now, that's no surprise at all. Dear Mrs Parker is getting really powerful lately."
Broots looked at Sydney rather surprised. He hadn't seen him that angry for a long, long time.
"Well, the whole problem is, there are so many sweepers watching Jarod and Miss P that we will never have chance to free them without getting caught ourselves. I can't even imagine anything that would distract all of them long enough. They are just too many. 15 sweepers, Syd. Fifteen sweepers in front of the doors of both of them. Surveillance cameras in their rooms and the whole sublevel in general. The vents in their rooms have been closed with steel bars. The doors are electronically secured. They can only be opened with the right codenumber.
Right now, Sydney, I do not see a chance to get them out at all."
Broots attention suddenly went from Sydney to something behind Sydney.
"That's her!" he whispered.
Sydney turned around. "Whom?" he said.
"The woman over there. The one Raines is talking to. That's Dr. Daniels! I saw her picture in one of the Databases."
Whatever Sydney had expected, it wasn't the woman he saw. Dr. Stephanie Daniels was young, maybe 30 and very attractive. Her long blonde hair was shining, she had a beautiful face, blue eyes, long, dark eyelashes and a wonderful laugh. Even Raines seemed to have fallen to her charms. He was smiling.
"Not exactly what anyone would expect the inventor of a few very ugly chemical weapons to look like, isn't she?"
Mr Lyle had accompanied them using his newfound ability of stealth.
"No, not exactly", Sydney answered. "But never let yourself being fooled by a pretty face."
He gave Lyle a short look. The other man smiled about that.
"Better not", he said. "So, Mr Broots, did you do what I asked you to?"
Sydney frowned. He gave Broots a questioning look, who turned away from him to not have to answer it.
"Yes", he said.
Lyle put his arm around Broots` shoulders, who winced about the touch, and led him away.
"Well, then tell me what you know."
Sydney stayed where he was, confused.
Jarod sighed.
"What is it?" Parker said.
He closed his arms around her and pulled her nearer to his chest.
"Nothing", he answered. "It's just a wonderful day. The boat. The river. The sun."
"You forgot the birds", she said, fooling him.
"Oh yes, the birds", he grinned. "Isn't this just wonderful?"
"Yes, it is", she had to admit.
She turned around, feeling the boat moving under her and faced him. His hand went through her hair, pushing it out of her face.
"It nearly feels unreal", she said.
Jarod smiled and kissed her.
"Unreal?" he asked. "Not here. Pretty much reality here."
"No...I...I can't state it. It's just a feeling...strange." Parker frowned. "And there is this other feeling deep inside...as if there is something I once knew and have to know again but can't remember."
"Like a word that's on the tip of your tongue but you can't get out?"
"Yes. Exactly."
"I know the feeling. Pretty annoying."
"Yes", she whispered, kissing him. "But, you know, I remember one thing I've wanted to tell you. I can't remember the other thing. But this one, I do."
"You want to tell me something?"
"Yes. It's right here", she tipped her forehead, "and wants to get our so desperately, as if I will never have another chance to say it. Wherever the desperation comes from...I have to say it now."
Parker pushed herself up her arms.
Lying on his chest with his back to him had his good sides, too, like not having to look into his eyes while saying it, what would be much easier.
But she needed to face him, to make it real.
The one real thing... That's what this was gonna be, though she didn't know where *that* thought came from.
Jarod met her eyes, waiting, with a soft smile on his lips. She took a deep breath, just for a second hoping she could stop right here without saying it. Leaving it for herself, like she always had. But there was this feeling inside of her, like a voice, telling her to say it now because there may never be a another chance.
Never be.
She couldn't say why, just that it was the case. She didn't have the time to hold back.
"I don't know how...well, maybe I should be just straight forward... I love you."
For a moment, she was afraid.
No sound was coming from Jarod, no reaction at all. He was just staring up at her.
"Well, don't you want to say something?"
He suddenly grabbed her and pulled her down to himself, holding her so tight and near to his body, that it was hard for her to breath.
"It has always been so hard...But I'm sure...I *know* we will make it together", he whispered into her ear. "I love you, too."
She kissed him again, feeling him pulling on both of their clothes.
The boat was moving under them.
And she was happy, though she had suddenly became aware, that this was all a dream.
Part 7: Plans
"So, Mr Broots, tell me what you found out about this 'Group'", Lyle said.
"The Group", Broots answered, "I hardly found anything on them. No names. No faces. No real history. All I have is what they call themselves."
Lyle hated it when people did that, waiting for another person to *ask* about something, even if they knew that the other person needed to know this thing.
"And that is?" he finally said rather annoyed when Broots didn't bring it out without the obligatory question.
"Number One. Number Two. And Number Three."
"Funny. - So, how did they find Jarod? Do you know anything about that?"
"Well, there isn't much. These three are a secret. But from reading between the lines of some memos that have been going around in the Centre, I can say, that their way to catch Jarod was very *unconventional* and they didn't even get any money for it."
"What? Then what did the Centre give them?"
"I have no idea."
"Then do you know how they caught him, except of that it was 'unconventional'?"
"Not really. It's all very strange. They seem to have a certain *gift*, whatever that may be. And all they needed, was spending time in Jarod's old room."
"Yes, the whole level was closed for a week even before Jarod and my sister got their rooms down there. There weren't even sweepers allowed in there for that time."
"They said it was because of some rats..." Broots said.
Lyle gave him a look and for a moment, Broots had this strange thought, that Lyle and Miss P *really* were brother and sister. Yes. They had the same "God-you-are-stupid!"-look if they wanted to.
"So, all they did was spending time in Jarod's room?"
"Maybe they are empaths?" Broots suggested. "Like Angelo."
"Even Angelo couldn't state the exact place a person is right now from touching its things."
"Maybe they are stronger empaths? Or have another kind of *gift*?"
"The Russians and the CIA experimented with people with psychic abilities", Lyle said, "They wanted them to *see* places in their minds...If that's what the 'Group' does... Do you know how much money they are worth then, Mr Broots?"
"Money?"
"They would be invaluable. - But why didn't the Centre use them in the first place? Why wait that long?"
Lyle started to walk up and down the room, lost in thoughts.
"They didn't want any money", Broots suddenly said. "So maybe their price was worth much more than any money could ever buy and the Centre didn't want to pay that price before?"
"And that price could be, Mr Broots?"
"I have no idea."
He got *really* conscious when he was already lying on his bed in his little prison, having a terrible headache, something he already had started to get even used to by now.
Then he remembered.
And though he was imprisoned, though he would die soon, he started to smile.
She had said she loved him. She really had.
And he had told her he loved her, too.
How could anything be so hard and so easy at the same time?
He gave the camera that was watching him a happy smirk and turned around, so he didn't have to look at it anymore.
They had to get out. That was everything that counted now.
They had to leave and start to live a new life.
"My God!" he thought. They would live it together. They would be a family.
He just had to get them out.
When they had brought him back into his room, he had been hardly conscious. But he had been able to see a lot of sweepers on the floor. He might be able to take care of two or even three of them. But not all the sweepers who were out there.
Well, first of all he had to get out of the room, just like Parker had to get out of hers.
They couldn't get through the vent. Impossible.
Then the only possibility was the door, what brought him back to the masses of sweepers out there.
What he needed was a *very* good distraction for the sweepers in front of his door and Parkerīs door.
The question was: What could that be?
He turned around on his bed and looked at the door.
For a second he considered an escape while they were drugged... but how? They weren't even aware that nothing was real when they had been given the drugs.
No, he had to get them out when they were in their rooms.
So, first problem was opening the doors. They were electronic, what meant...
Jarod frowned and thought that over again. Was it really *that* easy to open the doors?
It could work. They could open his and Parker's door at the same time with a little help from the outside.
Like Broots and Sydney. Or even Lyle.
And all they needed was a lot of timing.
So, the second problem: The sweepers.
And that was the *real* problem.
When it knocked at his door, Broots hoped just one thing:
Don't let it be Mr Lyle.
Since the whole thing started, Lyle had began to behave as if they were something like friends. But the only thing Broots thought about it, was, that that man nearly scared him to death.
He knew what Lyle was capable of.
With Miss Parker at their site there had always been someone who was able to stop Lyle because she wasn't afraid of him...or, well, didn't show it if she was.
But neither him nor Sydney were able to stop Lyle when he was about to go too far.
And now, with Lyle as is new best friend, he was afraid of what could happen if he let the man get too close to himself.
That's why a visit of Lyle at his home was the last thing he wanted.
But it was Sydney.
"Is there something you want to tell me, Broots?" was the first thing he said.
Broots sighed. He had awaited that.
"Don't you want to come in?" he said.
"No, you never know who's listening, don't you remember?"
They decided to have a walk around, and Broots told Sydney everything he found out about the Group.
"Lyle! Where are you? Hurry! The champagne..."
The woman in the bed stretched herself and lazily took another sip out of her glass. The little black *thing* she was wearing hardly hid anything from her body and she liked that, because she knew how she looked like that way. No man could resist her. She always got what she wanted.
Just like she had wanted this special man.
The moment she saw him the first time, three years ago when he visited the Centre in Arizona, she had wanted him. He was good looking, yes. But what had struck her even more was the expression in his eyes.
He had this handsome face, nearly innocent. And then there were his eyes, which hid something so very dark, so dangerous.
It was the danger in his eyes that had made her wanting him. Things like that had always turned her on.
She had gotten him then, three years ago, and whenever they had seen each other again since then, they had ended up in bed.
They fit together very well there.
"Lyle!" she said again. "Stop working and get here!"
They had seen each other again three months ago, while she had been in Washington for business. She had told him about this new drug she was working on and for which she was still searching for some test subjects.
The drug let people "open", it let them follow their deepest dreams. But that wasn't the thing she wanted to test. She had chosen that as a side-effect because she'd thought it would be fun. The effect she had *really* wanted the drug for was "selected memory". The drug was supposed to make it easier to control what people remembered. Changing the things they thought they remembered or what they were supposed to remember would be a lot easier through her new work.
Her only problem had been that she didn't had subjects to test the drug.
She told him about it, and he seemed to be very interested in what she had told him.
And then, a few weeks later, she'd got Lyle's call, telling her that he had exactly what she needed.
Oh, the man was devilish.
The thing he had and offered her for testing, was his own sister, and the night after she found that out, she had wanted him more than ever before.
"Now", she suddenly heard Lyle's voice, "tell me more about this new project you are working on."
He lay down beside her and took his own glass of champagne.
"It's supposed to make people much more aggressive. They aren't able to control themselves", she said. "Let's just say, this gas I'm working on is turning evolution back a *few* years. Basic instincts. The enemy will kill each other and the user's army will never even be in danger."
"And it's not effective through gas masks, if I'm understanding you correctly", Lyle said, while nipping on his glass. "But wouldn't it be in the best interest of every army, if the chemical weapon they are using would penetrate gas masks, too? Wouldn't that be much more efficient?"
"You didn't listen to what I said earlier, Lyle. This weapon has never been meant to be used against the enemy's army. 'Hit them where it hurts most'. It's a weapon to be used against public facilities."
"You are talking about towns."
"Yes, I do", she said, nibbling on his ear. "And how many of the common people in a town, do you think, own a gas mask? Besides, the gas is affecting them so fast, they would never have a change to react, even if they had gas masks. Well, but I can still change that, once I made the drug work properly."
"Interesting", he whispered and started to work down her body. "But you have this gas done?"
"Yes", she groaned. "All I need is a place to test it."
That's when it struck him.
A distraction? Wasn't that what Broots said they would need?
It would make a hell of a distraction, literally spoken.
He smiled, when he went on Dr Daniels the way she liked it most.
Part 8: Visitors
"What are you trying to say, Lyle?" Jarod said, rather shocked.
"Fight them with their own weapons, that's what I'm saying. Isn't that what you usually do?"
"But we are talking about a chemical weapon here. Spreading a chemical weapon within the Centre!"
"Yes. That's why it will be so pretty....efficient."
"You are crazy!"
Jarod started to walk up and down his room, thinking.
Five minutes since Lyle had entered his room and the man had already seriously suggested to use a weapon that would probably kill dozens of people, so they could escape.
"No!" he said again. "I won't participate in that! Killing all these people is out of the question. There has to be another way."
"This is really amazing, Jarod. The Centre tries to kill you and Parker and steal your child and you are thinking about how you can escape without hurting anyone. This is real life! Make your choice, Jarod!"
"I don't *kill* people, Lyle. That's just your way!"
"Well, it should become your way, too, Jarod, if you want to survive."
He could see Jarod fighting with himself. The fight between morality and survival instinct. He wondered which one would win.
"And how do you intend to get that gas?" Jarod suddenly said after minutes of silence.
Lyle smiled. He had thought so.
"I have my ways."
"It's one of Dr Daniels' little *discoveries*, isn't it?" Jarod spat at him. "Your dear friend from Arizona's."
With satisfaction, Jarod welcomed the surprised look on Lyle's face.
"The two of you, you were using Parker and me as test subjects for this first drug. And now you want to use the whole Centre as a test subject for her other drug. Dr Daniel's private little alpha-test!"
Lyle spared himself and Jarod some lies about that and changed the subject.
"We will do it at night, when everyone will be gone except of the sweepers in front of your door. At exactly three o'clock tomorrow night. I won't be able to come down here again. Dr Raines and my father have already questioned me about my first visit and I had to lie. And hiding this second visit will be even harder. Mr Broots will have to *change* the surveillance tape. I give you my watch so you can be ready at three. We will open the door the way you said. As soon as your door has opened, hold your breath. The gas is invisible, so though you can't see it, it will already be there. Hold your breath and get to the next vent on the right side as soon as possible. We'll have the mask ready for you there. You know where to meet Parker?"
"Yes."
"Then everything is clear now?"
"I think so."
"Then everything I can do is wishing you luck."
"Yes", Jarod said.
A deal with the devil... that's what he just made. And all the little things you do, come back to you at the end.
He suddenly shivered.
The really hard thing was visiting his sister.
He knew she hated him. And his feelings towards her had always been very twisted.
On the one hand, she was his sister, his family, more family than his father could ever been. He and his father were much too alike for that.
But Miss Parker wasn't like they were.
Sometimes he thought, that he could find something of their mother in her. Through her he knew a bit about the way she must have been.
Caring. Loving.
Miss Parker was all that, even if she always tried to fight it.
When Raines had told Brigitte that they would kill her, his feelings about that had been as twisted as his feelings about her.
On the one hand, she was his sister.
On the other hand, Raines had always taught him to never care.
But the contradiction inside of him against seeing her dead had been overwhelming.
And this was where it brought him.
Playing games against the Centre, the only home he had ever known.
Actually trying to help someone... Jarod and Parker!
It was crazy.
Especially now, with his sister staring at him from the other site of the room with deepest hate in her eyes.
He suddenly asked himself, what he was doing here and crushed that thought as fast as he could, before it would make him turn around and forget it all.
He had made his decision. No going back now.
"I'm here because I have something for you", he said.
"I don't want anything from you, Lyle!" she spit at him.
He went to her, turning his back to the cameras and protecting both of them from its eye, so no-one would see what he did, and took her hand in his. She tried to get away with all her strength but he held her, meeting her eyes with his.
"Here", he whispered.
She looked down when he put something in her hand.
It was a watch.
"What...?" she said, but he stopped her.
"Tomorrow night, at 3 a.m. Broots will turn of the Centre's electricity. It takes the security system 3 seconds to take over. In these three seconds, the doors to this room will be unlocked. The guards outside will be surprised because of the sudden lack of light. So, you should be able to get to the first vent down the right corridor and open it. There will be a gas mask for you inside. Under all circumstances you have to put that on. And don't breathe between opening your door and putting it on. Then crawl down the vent. Jarod will meet you in there and you will get out together."
She stared at him in amazement.
"Why?" she whispered. "Why are you doing this? And why should I trust you?"
"Because after all, I'm still your brother. And I won't let the Centre kill you."
They looked at each other for a few seconds without saying anything.
"I have to go now", he said at last. "Good luck."
He was glad that the times when he didn't care would be back again soon.
Helping others for that long was making him sick.
"Tomorrow night", Sydney whispered.
"Yes", Broots answered, as shaky as Sydney.
They had decided to take a drink in a Bar. It was the first time they did that, drinking together. But without actually saying it, they both knew that it could be the last time, too.
That morning, Broots had called his mother and asked her to take Debbie for a few days. He had written a letter to his daughter and given it to a lawyer, just along with some other things. He still hoped, they would get through with this, without getting caught. But the chances for that hardly existed.
Why he did it though, he couldn't say.
Maybe because like Sydney, he owed Jarod.
Or maybe he just did it, because Jarod and Miss Parker both were his friends.
Sometimes you have to do something, no matter what the costs may be.
He knew now, why Miss Parker couldn't stop searching for her mother's murderer.
The alternative was just unthinkable.
"I thought about the 'Group' again, Broots", Sydney said, bringing him back into reality.
"Yes, pretty frightening, isn't it?"
"Yes, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is, that we missed something crucial entirely until now. The group caught Jarod before and they only needed one week. What would stop them from doing that again?"
Broots started to feel very cold. Sweat was running down his back.
"Even if we are able to free Miss Parker and Jarod, the Group will always be able to find them, just by concentrating."
"And what if we make a deal with them?" he tried.
"We have nothing to trade, Broots. We still don't know what their price was the last time."
He felt bad. He felt really bad.
"What if we make them come into the Centre?"
Broots said it very carefully and very slowly after a long time of thinking over every possibility he could come up with. This one was the only one left.
"What do you mean?" Sydney answered. "I don't think I'm understanding you right."
But he did understand exactly.
"What I'm saying is, that when we flood the Centre with the gas, the group has to be there. If they go after each other then, they won't be able to go after Miss P and Jarod later."
"You realize what you just said, Broots?"
"I do", Broots whispered. "My god, I do know it. And it scares me to death."
When the door to his room opened, the first thing Jarod thought was, that Dr Raines and Mr Parker had found out. They knew it. They had already killed Broots and Sydney for helping them and he and Miss Parker would follow soon.
But the person who entered was someone he had never seen before.
It was a man of around 30, intelligent looking, with dark hair, green eyes, some obviously expensive clothes and a big smile on his face.
Jarod disliked him on first sight.
"Hello Jarod", the man said. "I wanted to see how you are. My name is Number One."
Jarod frowned.
"Do I know you?"
"Not yet, no. I am one of the people who are responsible for catching you."
Number One smiled.
"You want to know how we were able to do that. We have this gift that allows us to *see* some things, you know. We are *mentally gifted* to call it that way."
Jarod swallowed.
"What does that mean? You read other peoples thoughts?"
"No. The thoughts are still free, Jarod, even for us. - You look relieved. Any secrets?"
Jarod didn't answer.
"What do you want from me?"
"I wanted to meet you. You know, we will spent a lot of time together once Miss Parker is having your child."
Jarod frowned.
"I was told I will be killed."
"Is that how they called it? Well, you know Jarod, maybe that's true. There are other ways to kill a human being than just make its heart stop beating. So maybe what you have been told is the truth. But personally, I wouldn't see it *that* hard."
"I still don't understand."
"We, I mean the Group, like to have toys. The more intelligent they are, the more fun they are to play with. So, you were the prize we wanted from the Centre for catching you. They get the child. We get the father."
"And what about the mother?" Jarod asked toneless.
"Actually, I do not know and I do not really care."
Jarod just nodded.
"You know, the Tower discussed the whole thing for a long time. They have tried to find a way to control you once you are back in the Centre. They wanted you to run sims for them again, no matter how. They thought about blackmailing you and even considered using drugs to control you. But then they became aware, that the ongoing efforts for blackmailing would be too unsafe and they can't used a high Pretender for sims. That's just not how it works. That's when they realized you are worthless for them. And that's why they accepted the deal we offered. Now they will get a whole new Pretender within the same time it would probably have taken to catch you. *If* they had ever managed to catch you, that is. And all they have to do is give you to us. And we really look forward having you with us. It will be real fun."
"I'm glad there is at least *someone* who's happy about it all."
"Sarcasm, Jarod?" Number One grinned happily. "I like that!"
Looking at that grin and the other man's eyes, Jarod realized that they *had* to get out of here no matter how, because staying with this man would be even worse than dying.
Part 9: Descent
Broots had met frightening people before.
Actually, since he had sold his soul to the Centre, he was surrounded by frightening people.
There were frightening people like Miss P, who hid herself behind that "I'm the Ice Queen"-Wall, because she was in the Centre much to long to not having learned her lesson.
Then there were people like Mr Parker, who were frightening, because they were lying to everyone without ever seeming to give it a second thought.
Then came the frightening people who lost their whole self to the Centre, so there was nothing left of them, like Mr Raines had.
Lyle... Boy, the man was frightening because he wasn't even able to say if Lyle was still insane or not.
Yes, Mrs Parker, Brigitte, ...frightening because there was nothing in her eyes. No expression at all.
And then there were people like the one standing in front of him.
Dr. Stephanie Daniels.
With her beauty, her wonderful smile, her charm.
She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. And she was even flirting with him.
And though...When he looked into her eyes, there was something he could neither grasp nor name.
But it frightened him.
"Mr...Mr Lyle will be here soon....", he stammered, while pressing his back against his computer, trying to get away from her as far as possible.
She still smiled at him. "Thank you, Mr Broots."
Why did this woman come down here, into the Tech Lab?
Why did she have to come at a moment when he was all alone?
For a second, he considered, that it was all a ploy from Mr Lyle, that the man was watching him from somewhere and was laughing his ass off about his terrified expression.
But not even he would do that, wouldn't he?
"Tell me something about yourself", Dr Daniels said while having a look around in the Tech Room.
"What...what do you want to know?"
He tried a smile... and failed.
"I'm hearing you have a daughter."
Broots frowned. "Yes", he said, "her name is..."
"Deborah", she finished the sentence. "Yes, you can be lucky. You have a nice, healthy daughter. A good job. Friends. A house. Why would anyone endanger something like that by doing something pretty stupid?"
She turned around and gave him a look.
"Wha...what do you mean?"
"You know what I mean, Mr Broots." Daniels smiled at him, and Broots suddenly felt very sick.
"Steph." A grinning Lyle was suddenly standing beside them. "Don't you see that you are terrifying Mr Broots?"
With his mouth open, Broots witnessed Lyle turning to Daniels, putting his arm around her hip and kissing her full on the mouth right under his eyes.
"Relax, Broots", Lyle said then, "I told her everything. - Dr Daniels here was just teasing you a bit. Didn't you, Steph?"
She gave him an apologetically shrug and grinned.
Broots tried to fight the spinning in his head.
"Yes,...very funny...really."
"Well, we've got work to do. - Are the gas masks were they are supposed to be?"
"Sydney is taking care of that right now, Mr Lyle", he answered. "Wha...what about the gas?"
"Well, it's lighter than air", Daniels started, "so we'll have to store the tanks in or under the levels where we want to spread it. Which Sub-Level do you need it in?"
"27 and 25", Lyle answered. "At least."
"Well, the best thing would be to store them right in these Levels. Several tanks to ensure the best possible spreading."
"But how will we do that?" Broots asked. "Who will store them down there?
Another one of those "God you are stupid"-looks from Lyle.
"Well", he said, sounding a bit annoyed, "considering the fact, that neither you nor Sydney are allowed to go there, it has to be me and Dr Daniels, hasn't it, Mr Broots"
"I suppose so", Broots stammered.
He wished he could turn around and run as long as there was still time.
"Angel! How do you feel? I hope you've been treated well?"
Strange, that after all these years, she had forgotten to think about her father for the first time only now, when she should have done nothing more but thinking about how he could have possibly done that to her.
But the truth was, though she had sworn to kill her father and Raines and Lyle, it all didn't matter anymore.
She had other things to think about.
Like her and Jarod's escape in less than seven hours.
Like why Lyle was helping her.
But her father was here now, looking at her with this expression he had always used to get through to her feelings.
He was looking at her with this look that meant "Sorry but I had to do it and why could you possibly hate me for it and I love you Angel".
She nearly fell for it again, like she had so many times in the past, but then she *really* looked at him for maybe the first time in her life, and what she saw was just miserable.
"Angel, how do you feel?"
"I feel fine, Daddy", she answered.
Was that really her voice?
So very unmoved from what her father said?
"I'm sorry, Angel, for not being here earlier. And I promise you will be free to go, once this is all over."
"Sure, Daddy."
"Do they treat you well? Do you need anything?"
"No, Daddy. I have everything I need."
"You understand, that I couldn't have done anything to stop this? The Tower even wanted to force you using violence, but I resisted them. It will be over soon, I promise. And I know you will go through this. You are a real Parker. You are strong."
She looked him in the eyes and felt nothing.
He was just an old man, desperately trying to get absolution from her, for what he did.
She lied and gave it to him.
If he'd been Broots, he'd wished he had never become part of this.
But he was Mr Lyle, so he just took it as unchangeable fact that he had brought himself into this position and went on with his work.
They had four of the tanks.
Stephanie had taken two with her into SL-25 and he had the other ones.
They were small enough to be put into usual leather briefcases and carry them around without bringing up any suspicion, but it was dangerous, though.
If anyone would watch one of them while they stored the tanks in the vents of Sublevels 27 and 25, they were as good as dead.
And giving his life because he tried to rescue *Jarod* wasn't exactly a thing Lyle intended to do.
No-one was asking any questions when he came out of the lift and entered SL-27.
That was the first positive thing.
Lyle took a look up and down the long floor.
He could still see how much destruction Sydney's bomb had left down there. The smell of fire was hanging in the air, most of the walls still looked black with soot.
There were a lot of sweepers around, but most of them avoided to look at them.
Second positive thing.
For a moment he allowed himself to imagine Jarod opening the vent in a few hours and the gas mask wasn't there. He smiled when he saw Jarod's shocked expression about that in front of his inner eye and then decided it couldn't be so bad to just imagine a bit more.
Like Jarod being surrounded by a lot of gone crazy sweepers...
What a wonderful thought.
He just wished he could witness that in reality...
He sighed and went down the corridor then.
Broots had went through the plans of SL-27. They had decided the best place to store the first one of the tanks was Dr Raines former office. No-one went in there anymore, not even Raines himself, but the room was right in the middle of the air conditioning system of SL-27, what made it the perfect place.
The second tank was just for security, just to be sure there was enough gas for everyone.
He would store that second one as near as possible to Jarod's cell.
Lyle opened the door into Raines' office. He had a short look around, but then lost interest and went down in front of the vent.
He opened the little lattice first, then his briefcase and stored the tank in the vent.
The last thing he did was turning on the timer.
Four hours left.
He went on to store the next one.
When he left SL-27 ten minutes later, he was looking at the sweepers around and gave them a soft, surprisingly gentle laugh before getting into the lift.
The sweepers should have known that something was wrong then.
But no-one ever gave them the order to think.
So they didn't.
Brootīs finger stayed over the send-button, unmoving, for more than ten minutes.
He was just sitting there, at his computer, staring at the screen and the things he had written and couldn't bring himself to hit.
Whenever he tried to, he felt as if every part of his body, but especially this single finger, had suddenly become ice.
Why it was so hard, he wasn't sure.
By storing the gas, they had accepted the possible death of a lot of people.
Why should these three make a difference?
"Because you are tricking them back into the Centre because you *want* them to die", the little voice in his ear said and he tried to tell the voice that what it had said was wrong.
But that would have been a lie.
He was sitting there, without being able to move his finger for a long time, reading the text over and over again.
"Get here immediately. It's done. We want to get rid of Jarod now. Raines."
He had found out what the Group had wanted for catching Jarod by watching the surveillance tape from Jarod's prison.
Number One had made himself very clear.
They would use Jarod for their games. What these games could possibly be, Broots couldn't say. But Number One had frightened him, as he had frightened Jarod. He saw that in the man's face.
"It's them or Jarod", he thought. "Them or Jarod and Miss P. Who do you choose? Who do you choose?"
His finger was hanging in the air over the send-button and he could see the trembling going through it.
"Who do you choose?" he thought.
And then his finger moved at last.
"Message has been send".
It was blinking on his computer screen.
"Who are you?" the voice in his ear asked. "Who are you?"
"I am Broots", he whispered.
"Are you?" the voice answered.
Part 10: And so it begins...
He had really considered it.
He had must have stared at the vent for about two minutes, from his place around the corner where the sweepers couldn't see him, and considered taking away the gas mask.
But there had been two problems:
First, the sweepers would have seen him while taking it away.
Second, Jarod was worth much more alive to him.
Dead would be fun, but alive was worth money.
So he had went back into the Tech Lab without taking it away, after taking care of some unfinished business.
Sydney and Broots where still there, obviously pretty nervous.
Strangely, Lyle himself wasn't nervous at all. He felt more excited, like he always did when he was planning something, he was sure would work out just fine.
And even if it didn't, it wouldn't fall back on him.
He had taken care of everything.
"Mr Broots", he said, "Sydney. Are you done with everything?"
The two were looking at each other, and the way they did it, made Lyle think that something wasn't quite right here. But on the other hand, both of them wouldn't dare to try anything.
They were too afraid that something could happen to Jarod or Parker.
"Well, then there's nothing else left for us to do, but to go", he said. "before it all starts."
"Shouldn't we wait for Dr Daniels?" Sydney said.
"Dr Daniels already left the Centre", Lyle answered. "You don't want anyone believe that something is wrong, when the four of us are leaving the Centre together? That would look a bit strange, wouldn't it?"
"Hm, I suppose so..."
"Well, Mr Broots, I'm glad you think the same way I do. - Then get out of here. I'll follow in a few minutes."
Sydney gave Broots an "I-don't-like-this"-look when they left.
One and a half hour left.
Jarod tried to eat something but couldn't. He left the food, the sweepers had brought him, nearly untouched and was walking up and down the room.
He was suddenly wondering, why no-one had come to make him "forget". After all, that's what they seemed to have done all the time. He couldn't even say how long he had been here, because all he could remember were the "dreams".
The time between had vanished.
He was sure that was the thing the drug did. Make it easier for others to let him forget everything others wanted him to forget. It was strange, that they didn't seem to be able to "insert" false memories. On the other hand, memories were bound to so many things, smells, sounds, thoughts. No drug was able to simulate all of it.
But that still left him with why no-one had come to make him forget.
Until he remembered that Lyle's "girlfriend" was exactly the one who engineered the drug in the first place. So no problem at all for her to insist that she needed a break-time to examine all she had learned with earlier tests.
It all fit together so well.
It was almost funny.
Sydney stopped the car and he and Broots got out.
The laptop in his hand, Broots unceremoniously just sat down on the a bit cold and wet ground.
He could see the Centre's lights, only 300 meters away.
Broots opened the laptop and started to type.
"How much time left?" he asked.
"45 minutes", Sydney answered.
He couldn't help that his voice sounded shaky.
Dr Stephanie Daniels slowly got conscious again.
"What happened?" she said more to herself and was surprised to get an answer.
"You betrayed the Centre."
"Wha...?"
Only then she became aware that her hands and feet were bound. She couldn't move. She tried to do it, but she couldn't move.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she hissed at him.
"Well, you betrayed the Centre. You helped Jarod and Miss Parker escape because you thought you would get to a *lot* of money through it. And while trying to destroy all the evidence for your betrayal, you accidentally killed yourself. What a shame, isn't it?"
"I don't..." She knew she should have felt frightened. But the shock was so immense that all she felt was numbness. Cold sweat was running down her back.
"Yes, you did. You know what kind of room this is?"
He started to walk around touching some computers and screens.
When he came to the man who was responsible for the DSA's he stepped over his dead body and just went on talking
"It's the room where all the surveillance cameras are coming together. The DSA room. Everything that happened in the Centre during the last week is being stored in here. The tapes are supposed to be brought into the DSA library tomorrow. But I'm afraid that won't be possible because you planted a bomb in here. As I said before, to destroy all evidence. But something just went wrong. And you died."
"Oh my..."
"God has nothing to do with this", he whispered into her ear.
She didn't even see the hit coming that knocked her unconscious again.
He took away the knots that bound her then, set the bomb on 5 minutes and opened the door to leave.
When he had one last look back into the room, he couldn't resist.
He turned and kissed her good-bye.
There were 10 minutes left.
Miss Parker slowly stood up from her bed where she had spent the last few hours with the terrible feeling of getting sick, and positioned herself besides the door.
What she would do, if Lyle *had* betrayed her, something she had expected all the time since this crazy game had started, she didn't know. Maybe she would *really* kill him, like she'd wanted to do for a long time now.
There were so many questions going around in her head.
What would happen if she didn't get out.
What would happen if she *did* get out.
Where a deal with Lyle would get her.
Where a life with Jarod would get her.
She surely could leave him after escaping from the Centre. The problem was that she didn't want to. Not so long ago, everything had seemed too complicated. He was the hunted and she the hunter. They could never be together, because the past would always be in their way. All the ghosts that had hunted both of them for so long.
But now, it all didn't matter to her anymore.
She was even beginning to think, that they could work it all out.
Five minutes.
"I'm ready", Broots suddenly said and made Sydney jump with it.
"What?"
"I said I'm ready. How much time left?"
"Three minutes."
Broots had his finger over the enter-button again.
This time he wasn't shaking.
He suddenly had the strange feeling that he'd lost a part of himself by doing all this, a part he wouldn't never get back in his life.
When the lift stopped down at SL-27, the twelve sweepers there were more than surprised.
It was nearly 3 am now, no time for any of the "Big Ones" how they used to call them, to get down here.
But none of them had ever seen the three people who left the lift and came towards them.
There was a man of around 50, distinguished but reserved looking, and a girl of maybe 18, with a very short silver-coloured skirt and too much black make-up.
The tallest of them, a man around 30 with expensive clothes and a stupid but frightening grin on his face came near to the first one of the sweepers.
"Where is Dr. Raines?"
The sweeper looked at him rather surprised.
"He's not here."
"He has to be here. We got his message. He..."
The man suddenly stopped talking and whisked around to the two others he'd come with.
"A trap", he just said.
As if listening to some kind of secret sign, all three started to walk back to the lift at the same time, obviously as fast as they could.
The woman hit the button to let the lift come down there.
That was when the lights went out.
Part 11: Finale
Jarod took one last deep breath and opened the door.
It was still dark outside and he knocked out the first sweeper before the man even saw him.
The next moment, the security system took over and the backup lights went on, a bit darker than the usual light, but still light enough to let him see what was going on.
Jarod could see several sweepers coughing or holding their heads, obviously in pain.
Suddenly one on his right side screamed and started to hit one of the other sweepers who hit back immediately. Other sweepers started to hit walls or themselves or each other.
Whatever Dr Daniels had come up with, it was a gruesome weapon.
He didn't have much time.
"First vent on the right side", he thought. "First vent on the right side."
He turned right, staring into the face of another sweeper immediately.
The man was still coughing, but already had something murderous in his eyes. Jarod hit him in the face, but was surprised when the man hit back and punched him in the stomach. Jarod went on his knees immediately. The air he'd held back went out of his body. He had to force himself to resist the instinct to take a deep breath. Instead, Jarod grabbed the sweepers feet and pulled. The man fell onto his back, groaning.
Jarod pushed himself up, hit the man into the face to really knock him out this time, then took the man's gun and went on.
"The vent", was the only thing on his mind. "Get to the vent."
He already started to feel dizzy from the lack of air.
Chaos started around him. Sweepers were attacking each other, even shot at each other.
When he reached the vent after what seemed to be an eternity, but could have been only thirty seconds, he nearly stumbled over the body of a young woman, hardly twenty. Someone had shot her in the head. There were two man fighting next to her, hitting each other with all the strength they had.
Number One was one of them. When their eyes met, Jarod could see the man's mouth moving.
"Help." He could read a "Help me, Jarod."
Jarod opened the vent and crawled inside.
It felt good to hit someone.
When the lights had went out, she'd already held her breath, opened her door and found herself face to face with a very surprised looking sweeper.
With the first hit into his face, she'd broken his nose. He screamed and started to hold it, blood flooding over his fingers and onto her, when she hit him in the groin with her knee.
The sweeper fell to her feet, only groaning.
She didn't know what was going on because Lyle had never told her what they'd planned. But when she saw the sweepers coughing and in pain from something she couldn't even see, she was glad that she was holding her breath like her brother had told her to.
She took the right floor, following Lyle's orders, forcing herself to not think about the things that were going on around her. Sweepers in pain, screaming, going after each other and herself.
She'd taken the gun from the sweeper, she'd attacked in front of the door of her room, and was more than glad to have it only moments later. One of the sweepers suddenly ran towards her as if gone crazy, screaming something she couldn't understand.
Parker lifted the weapon, hesitating only for a second. Then she shot him in the leg. The man went down, screaming.
Another sweeper tried to grab her, but she pushed him away, hitting him on the head with the gun.
Then she reached the vent, opened it as fast as she could and went inside, closing the vent's door behind her.
There was the gas mask, just as Lyle had promised her. Parker put it on and took one long breath, closing her eyes for a second.
Again she hesitated when she saw something lying on the ground in front of her.
Cracker Jacks.
She smiled into the gas mask before starting to crawl down the long narrow corridor, following the path of Cracker Jacks.
"You made it, Broots!" Sydney said, when the Centre's lights went out for three seconds and then went on again. "Now let's just hope everything else worked as well."
"Yes, I made it", Broots whispered. "Let's just hope, the Group made it into the Centre in time as well."
Broots heard something behind his back and turned around, only to look into Mr Lyle's face.
Jarod couldn't say how long he'd crawled around in the corridors of the Centre's air system.
Everything just looked the same, every path he took. Time seemed to vanish again.
Only once something had been strange.
There had been a deep crashing sound and then the smell of a fire, as if there had been an explosion. But Jarod couldn't say from what direction it had come and didn't have the time to have a look about it.
He had to get to Parker first.
The Cracker Jack path suddenly stopped when she'd made her way up to SL-21.
She found herself in front of another vent and the crossing of two long corridors. Parker looked it up and down and considered to just get out here.
Or maybe the stopping of the path was meant to make her wait here?
So she just did that, hoping that Jarod would be there, soon.
It took Jarod 45 minutes to get to SL-21, and he was crawling fast.
When he got there at last, coming nearer to the place he told Lyle to name as meeting place for Parker and him, his knees were hurting and his hands had started to bleed.
He was wondering how Angelo managed to spent his life like this, crawling around in the ventilation system of the Centre.
Until that moment he had made himself forget the possibility that Parker was still down in SL-25, killed by one of the sweepers.
There had always been that possibility, even if he had tried to avoid thinking about that, from the moment Lyle and he had been discussing the plan.
Maybe she hadn't made it.
When he came around the last corner before the meeting place, he took a long breath and then held it again.
He closed his eyes and opened them. Ready now.
Parker was sitting there.
"Parker!"
His hardly even heard his own voice through the mask, but she did somehow.
He could see her eyes widen at his sight, and hurried with getting to her just as she hurried to get to him.
They were just staring at each other when they were in front of each other at last.
Jarod closed his arms around her then, wanting nothing more but to kiss her, but it was still too dangerous to take off the masks.
So he just took her hand in his and met her eyes.
But that was all they needed.
They went out two hours later, taking the same way Jarod had taken to get out of the Centre three years before.
There was a car, some cash and clothes waiting for them a hundred metres away from the Centre. And a little note from Sydney, which just said "Good luck."
They went into the car and drove away, leaving the Centre and everything else behind.
Nothing had ever felt better than that.
Epilogue
Jarod called him one hour after their escape.
"I suppose we've got to thank you, Lyle", he said.
"No, you don't", he answered. "Just remember that we have a deal. You owe me now.
"I couldn't forget that. Even if I wanted to."
"Good. And don't misunderstand me here. This is the first and only time I'll help you and Parker. Next time, I'll let the Centre do whatever it wants to do."
"I would never misunderstand you."
A little "Klick" told Lyle, that Jarod had hung up.
They had to mourn the death of nearly all sweepers who had been in SL-27 and SL-25. And those who hadn't been killed, were badly hurt. Some of them would probably die of their injuries.
Then there was the Group, dead down in SL-27 and the explosion in the DSA room.
The Tower wasn't exactly amused about how everything had ended up.
As was Mr Parker.
"Are you sure about it?" he growled.
"I am. Everything is pointing into her direction. Dr Daniels obviously was helping them."
"Why should Daniels help Jarod and your sister escape?" he answered.
"Well, I suppose she made a deal with Jarod. He's a genius. He probably told her he would help her with her work. But she took *all* the answers to that question into her grave."
"Grave?"
"Some sweepers found her remains in the DAS room. She must have made a mistake when she planted the bomb down there."
"What a waste."
"Yes", Lyle said. "But, that leaves us with everything she worked on without having to pay for it. And, as terrible as the whole incident is, the gas the Centre wanted to buy has been tested now and seems to work as it's supposed to work. And now that Dr Daniels is dead, the Centre saved 10 Million Dollars."
Lyle gave the older man a nice smile.
"Well, Dad, if there isn't something else you'd like to discuss with me, I'm going back to work"
He went to the door, when his father called him back.
"Lyle."
"Yes, Dad?"
"I want you to find them."
"Whom?"
"Jarod. And your sister."
"Sure, Dad. I'll start working on that as soon as possible."
When he left his father's office, he nearly smiled.
Strange, that some people still seemed to trust him.
Strange indeed.
And very stupid.
He went back down into the Tech Lab, meeting Sydney and Broots there.
It hardly surprised him, that Sydney seemed to be pretty angry.
He hadn't really awaited that they wouldn't find out the truth.
"Broots found information, that the Centre intended to buy the gas that has been used to *distract* the sweepers", Sydney said, hardly hiding his anger. "But it seems as if Dr. Daniels demanded too much money, so the Tower brought you in, because you two knew each other so well. You were supposed to *persuade* Daniels to sell it for less. Well, now that Dr. Daniels died while planting a bomb, the Centre gets all her work for nothing, doesn't it?"
Lyle said nothing. There wasn't anything to say for him.
He just didn't care enough, to defend himself.
"You used us, Lyle!" Sydney screamed at him. "You used us for letting Dr Daniels testing her drugs. And for getting it all for nothing! And you used Broots to find out what the Group is!"
There was nothing that could make him angry today.
The day was just too perfect for that.
So Lyle just smiled.
"But I helped you, too", he answered.
"And what was the price, Lyle?"
"Jarod's freedom? And that has always been what you wanted, hasn't it, Sydney? I gave you what you wanted and you gave me what I needed. Fair game."
"Don't tell me something about fairness."
"And you don't try to make me believe you are "Mr Morality". You made your choice, Syd. We had a deal. And you always knew who I am. Sometimes, Sydney, when people are playing with fire, they are burning their hands."
Sydney gave him one last angry look, then stormed out of the room. Broots tried to follow him, failing in trying to avoid Lyle's eyes.
Lyle took Broot's arm and held him back.
"Mr Broots, you really surprised me with tricking the Group back into the Centre", he said. "Pretty...interesting move. You know, I really look forward working with you for a long, long time."
Lyle smiled at him, then put his hand on Broots' shoulder and squeezed.
"Oh, and by the way, my just father informed me, that the Group consisted of six numbers before it was ... *out-numbered* so very surprisingly."
He grinned about his own joke before turning around and walking away.
Broots could hardly fight back the upcoming compulsion to vomit.
He felt very sick.
"We have the results of the last test we made on your daughter before the whole thing started to get out of control."
Raines seemed to have even more problems to breath today than usually.
"Conclusive?" Mr Parker answered.
"Yes."
"So?"
"Positive."
He nodded.
So it had only just started.
The End.
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