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Chapter or Story
Part 16
Ashe, New York
Helen went into the living room, handing the baby to Steven before picking up David and hugging him.
"Sweetie, Jarod and I are going to go and buy you, Steve and Michael lots of lovely new clothes. Would you like that?"
"Can I come?"
"Not this time, baby. Maybe later."
Suddenly he clung to her. "You are going to come back, aren't you?"
"Yes, honey, of course I am." She kissed him gently. "You have fun here with Steve and Ethan, and we'll be back before you know it."
"How come I can't come?"
"Because you're not dressed in proper clothes, David. When you are, I'll let you go shopping with me, and we'll go to the park and play there, and you can go to school too."
"Really?"
"Really." She kissed him again. "What's your favorite color, sweetheart?"
The boy grinned. "Blue."
"Okay." Helen looked over at Steve. "Any requests?"
He shook his head. "I'll be happy with whatever you choose to give me."
"I'd let you wear some of the things I've got for Jarod, but I think they'd look a bit ridiculous." Her lips twitched as she looked from the tall man beside her to the far shorter one who was standing next to Ethan.
"Do you know what sizes to buy?" the older Pretender asked.
Helen eyed Jarod with scorn. "How well do the clothes I bought for you fit?"
"Well, they're not bad, I suppose..."
"Oh, stop it. If you're going to be like that, I'll take your brother with me instead."
"And then who'd pay?"
She took out her purse and dangled a credit card before his eyes, grinning. "The same person who's responsible for us needing to go shopping in the first place."
Lyneham, New York
"What's that?"
Jarod nodded at the box Helen was putting into the back seat of the car and she laughed. "A present for David."
"Oh, really?" He looked at the picture on the box and then grinned. "Do I get one, as well?"
"Where would I put two train sets of that size? It's going to be hard enough to find room for that one."
"There's always the cellar."
"That was my plan, yes. It will depend whether Steve wants to continue sleeping downstairs or come up to the spare room."
"What about Michael?"
She looked at Jarod as they went back into the shopping mall. "What about him?"
"Is he going to continue sleeping in your room?"
"I hadn't really thought about it. We'll see when we get home."
"If we ever do. I don't know how your car will be drivable with all the things we're cramming inside it."
"Oh, didn't you know?" Helen's expression was innocent as she led the way into the electrical department. "You're walking."
Ashe, New York
"Helen!" The boy ran over to hug her as she appeared in the doorway. "You did come back!"
"Yes, baby." She picked him up and he cuddled her. "I told you I would and I keep my promises. And I bought you lots of lovely clothes to wear."
"Like what?"
She took him into the kitchen where Jarod was carrying bags into the house, and put the boy on a chair. Seizing the first bag, she took out some of the clothes that they had chosen.
"Which ones do you want to wear today, sweetie?"
He thought for several moments before pointing to a top and pair of pants. Smiling, Helen picked them up and put them aside, returning the others to the bag, before smiling at him. "How about a bath?"
He looked up at her. "At home, I always got toys to play with in the bath. Do I get them here, too?"
"You sure do." She picked him up again. "I bought lots of toys for you and Michael to play with in the bath."
He hugged her tightly around the neck, beaming, and then looked over as Jarod carried the large box inside.
"What's that?"
"It's..."
"...a stroller," Helen interrupted. "For when we go to the park." She eyed the man and he nodded.
"That's right." He put it down so that the picture was against the wall and glanced at her. "How long before they get here?"
She glanced at her watch. "Another hour, at most." She looked up as Steve came into the room. "I wanted to ask - where do you want to sleep from now on? In the room where you were last night or upstairs?"
"I… I get to choose?"
"You sure do. And, if you decide later that you want to change your mind, you get that option as well."
"Wow." The man spoke softly and examined the floor before looking up at her. "I really liked my room last night."
"So you want to stay there?"
"Is that okay?"
Helen went over and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Of course it's okay, Steve. If you want to do something, you can. If you're not sure, all you have to do is ask."
He nodded numbly and Jarod came over. "What say we take your new clothes down to put them in your room? We can talk then, too."
Helen sent him an approving glance. "Good idea, Jarod. Ethan can look after Michael while David and I have fun in the bathroom."
"Thank you for giving me an option," Ethan commented drily and she smiled.
"I told you, Ethan, you'll be an expert soon and you may as well start sooner than later. And if you need a hand, you know where I'll be."
Helen hung up David's last shirt and placed a pair of pajamas on his pillow before looking around the room in satisfaction. The boy gave her the clothes that he had been wearing and then hugged her legs before she picked him up.
"Does that feel better, sweetheart?"
"Uh huh." He put his head on her shoulder and she laughed.
"Your hair's still a bit wet, baby. Do you want to make me wet too?"
"What will you do if I do?"
"Tickle you." She demonstrated, feeling David wriggle frantically against her hold as he shrieked with laughter and tried to get away. "So, are you going to try and wet me again?"
"No, I promise!" He giggled, hugging her around the neck as she took him downstairs to the living room. At the sight of the four unknown people, he froze and clung to her more tightly.
"It's all right, honey," she soothed gently. "It's okay. These are more friends."
"Really?"
"I told you, David, I'm not going to lie to you."
His grasp was still firmer than normal as she sat down on the last free chair, a hand stroking his hair.
"David, these are people that Jarod knows too, and Ethan as well."
He looked up at her. "Steve, too?"
"He might. I'm not sure."
"Hi, David." The psychiatrist leaned forward. "I'm Sydney."
"For some reason," Jarod commented drily as he came into the room, "I feel like there's a very logical continuation to that."
"Fortunately," the older man returned in similar tones, "there's no need for it in this case."
"Where's Steve?" Helen interrupted.
"Getting dressed. He'll be up soon."
Helen raised an eyebrow and he nodded, taking David out of her arms. She rose and went over to Debbie.
"How's my girl?"
"Good, Mommy." The girl flung both arms around her neck and lowered her voice, but not to the point that it was inaudible to anyone else in the room. "Are they the people you talked about?"
"Yes, baby." She smiled.
"So Daddy knows now?"
"Yes, he does, but you still shouldn't talk too much about it, okay?"
She nodded, glancing at her father, and then back at Helen. "You remember how you said there was something I could do here and not at home?"
The doctor smiled. "The books are on the mantel, sweetie, and the beanbag's still in the corner."
"Goody." Debbie sprang off the sofa and Helen, laughing, took her place, seeing the girl become immersed in the book, before looking over at Miss Parker.
"Any word on the family front?"
"Mine or yours?" She laughed. "No, I haven't heard anything, except that Daddy was called in for another T-Board this morning."
"Gee," Helen grinned at Jarod. "Who's shocked by that little development?"
"Why?" Sydney narrowed his eyes. "What do you know that we don't?"
"A number of things, I'd say. Do you want specifics, Sydney, or should I just list possibilities?"
He shook his head, trying to hide a smile. "Let's go with the thing of most interest, shall we? Do you know why Raines and Mr. Parker were taken in for yet another T-Board by your brother?"
"Well, I only know what Raines told me last night..."
"Wha-at?!" Miss Parker stared at her as Helen tried not to laugh.
She glanced at Jarod. "Should I show them?"
"It might be nice," he agreed solemnly and got up to retrieve the laptop. When he came back into the room, she stood and took David.
"I'll make some coffee while you watch that." She looked down at the boy before glancing back at Jarod and knew he understood what she was trying not to have to explain.
As she was about to carry the tray into the living room, a figure appeared in the doorway that led to the cellar and she smiled.
"How does that feel, Steve?"
"Weird." He wriggled slightly. "I guess I'll just have to get used to it, huh?"
"I think you'd rather wear normal clothes than the regulation Centre outfit, right?"
"Yes." He came over to stand next to her. "Did he mean it, everything he said?"
"Every word, Steve." Putting the tray down, she hugged him gently. "Every single word."
He smiled at her before going over to the door. Just before opening it, however, the young man paused and listened before turning, an expression of near-terror on his face, and Helen quickly went over to him, putting a hand on his arm.
"What is it, Steve? Tell me what's wrong."
"It's not… it couldn't be… he said… "
"Who?"
"S… Sydney." The color had faded from his face and she pulled up a chair so he could sit on it, afraid that he was going to pass out.
"What did he tell you about Sydney?"
"He…" Steve's eyes filled with tears as he sank onto the chair. "He told me Sydney was dead."
"When did you and Sydney work together?"
"A few years ago." The tears dripped down onto the hands that Steven had let fall helplessly into his lap. "But then one day he didn't come and the other man came instead."
"Raines," Helen stated softly and he nodded.
"He said that Sydney had died and that he would be working with me now."
She knelt in front of him. "Steve, who do you believe, me or him?"
"I… I want to believe you if you'll tell me he's alive but he said…"
Helen put a hand on the side of his face. "Steve, please, do try to believe me when I tell you that Sydney is still alive."
He clung to her other hand, tears increasing, as he leaned forward, and his head came to rest on her shoulder. She put an arm around his shoulder as he began to sob softly. Looking up, Helen saw Jarod in the doorway, an expression of concern on his face.
"Sydney."
The word was mouthed, but he nodded and, taking David, left the room. A moment later the psychiatrist appeared, silently shutting the door as he entered.
"Steve." She put gentle pressure on his shoulder until he lifted his head, looking down at her face, the tears still pouring down his own. "Do you believe me when I say to you that Sydney's still alive and that Raines lied to you?"
"I… I want to. I want to, so much."
"And if I showed him to you, would that make it easier?"
"M… maybe."
"Try, Steve." The psychiatrist stepped forward and put a hand on the younger man's shoulders. "Try to believe that he lied to you."
Helen got to her feet and stepped away, watching silently as Steve remained still, his gaze fixed to the floor, and Sydney moved to stand in front of him, bending down so that he could look into the younger man's eyes.
"Steve, it's me. I promise."
"He said…"
"I know what he said to you, but it isn't true. When Jarod escaped, I was told that it was my job to concentrate on finding him, so Raines would take over from me. There wasn't anything I could do about it. I wanted to come and see you, to tell you it all, but by the time I tried, you'd already been moved and I had no idea where you were. I didn't know that you'd been told that I'd died. If I had known, I would have made far greater efforts to find you but I promise that I had no idea." Sydney raised a hand and wiped the tears from the other man's face, his voice soft. "It's wonderful to see you again."
"If I could get hold of Raines right now..."
"Join the queue, Sydney." Helen looked up with a small smile as the psychiatrist appeared in the doorway. "There are a few other people ahead of you. Just take a number and wait your turn."
"Besides, Syd,” the other woman commented, “you had a go a few years back. It's not our fault your aim's bad."
The psychiatrist's lips twisted into a bitter smile as he sat down, his gaze resting on the boy who sat in Jarod's lap, listening to the discussion silently but with wide eyes.
"Is he asleep?"
"Yes," the older man affirmed in response to Jarod's question.
"He needs it." Ethan spoke quietly. "I don't know if he slept at all last night. Every time I woke up, I heard him moving around his room."
"I should measure the carpet pile and see how worn down it is," Helen joked.
"Besides Syd, let the Triumvirate have their fun too. This is his first serious try at wresting power from them. Once they've chewed him up and spat out the bones, I'm sure they'll let you have a turn."
The psychiatrist looked at Helen as Miss Parker finished this statement. "Do you know how that's going?"
"Strangely enough, I've been a little busy this morning, Sydney. I'm finding that two young children, and," she grinned at Jarod, "at least one big kid limits the amount of spare time that a person has, even for something as fun as watching my brother explode."
"And you're going to keep them?"
"There's nobody left to claim them, Miss Parker." Helen spoke softly, looking at the other woman. "You know what happened to his parents." She nodded slightly in the direction of the small boy.
"And Steve?"
"If he wants to find his family - and I have no doubt that he'll want to try - I'll help him as much as I can. He's not ready for that yet, though. Not having intended to escape the Centre, Steve has no definite plan in mind. He has to find one before he can begin to work out what he wants from the world. Equally," she added in quiet tones. "He doesn't know what would have happened if I'd left him there."
Miss Parker nodded. "And my brother?"
"He isn't."
Helen watched the woman's eyes widen and could see the shock on the faces of the other people the room.
"What do you mean, 'he isn't'?"
"I mean he's no relation to you at all except that your step-mother gave him life, if you wanted to count that as a relationship. After we got back from Blue Cove, earlier this morning, I did a little research. Brigitte was artificially inseminated, your father and the Triumvirate having sanctioned the process, and Raines was never meant to know anything about it. Lyle only learned about it on the day of my theft. That's what he meant when he said that it seemed as if you weren't the only person your father was keeping secrets from. Lyle had just found out the primary details when his father called to inform him of my robbery, and he was still smarting from finding there were things he hadn't been told when he appeared in the Tech Room. That’s what prompted his comment."
"So who's Michael's real mother?"
Helen looked over at the baby with eyes that were infinitely sad. "Michael doesn't have one."
"So… is he… a clone?" Jarod asked disjointedly.
She nodded. "After the 'success' as they saw it, of Jon, they did it again and this baby is the final result of that."
"And who...?"
As Helen hesitated, Sydney leaned forward. "It's Eddie, isn't it?"
"Yes." She examined the floor for a moment before looking up. "Something made me suspicious almost immediately. I think it's his eyes. The information was hard to find, but it’s there. Brigitte's reappearance was perfect timing as none of the other surrogate mothers had carried to term. She was the nearest match in blood and tissue type they had found, and the fact she would die giving birth was felt to be a bonus. It meant she wouldn't be able to tell anyone later."
"A… are you telling me,” Miss Parker spluttered, “that my father married her to get her pregnant, knowing it would kill her, just so that the Centre could get another pretender?"
"Yes," responded Helen softly.
A denial was on the tip of Miss Parker's tongue but she looked from the doctor to the baby lying in her brother's arms and suddenly the words wouldn't come.
"Can I ask something?"
Broots broke through the awkward silence with this question and Helen sent him a grateful glance as she responded. "Go for it."
"If Michael's the clone of Eddie, who I’ve always understood to have been as good a pretender as Jarod, how can he have been found to be lacking in skills?"
"Eddie wasn't a natural Pretender." Sydney responded to this softly. "I did a little research of my own after Raines disappeared and found that although Eddie had the genetic predisposition, it was only the training he received at the Centre that enabled him to be classed with Jarod. The Centre has, in fact, only ever had two people with innate pretender abilities."
"Jarod and who else?"
"Unsurprisingly, Jonathon. The person that trained Eddie also trained Jonathon while he was at Donoterase."
"So why...?"
"That man was found dead at home two weeks after Jarod was recaptured and his dad rescued Jon," Helen responded softly. "I haven't been able find out if there's a link, but there might be."
"And who ordered it?"
"The same person," Helen looked at Miss Parker, "who married your step-mother for the reasons you stated earlier."
"And where does Steve fit into all this?" Broots asked.
Sydney looked up. "Steven was brought to the Centre in 1972 and put under the care of the same person who would also train Eddie, Jonathon and several other pretenders too. When that person was sent to Donoterase, so that they could be involved with the pretenders far earlier in life, in the early 90's, Steven was put under my supervision. Then Jarod escaped. The Triumvirate felt that it was more likely for the team to find Jarod and for him to retain contact with the Centre if I was on it. That's the reason Steven was taken from my ca… direction and put under Raines'."
"You weren't going to say 'care', were you, Sydney?" Helen grinned at him. "The juxtaposition of 'Raines' and 'care' seems a bit odd."
"And David?"
Helen looked fondly at the small boy, who had fallen asleep in Jarod's lap. "In all the information I received, his folder was amongst it. When I saw how young he was, and who was overseeing his work, I couldn't bear to leave him behind."
"Where did the information come from?" Miss Parker asked.
Helen firmly closed her mouth, her eyes still fixed on the child.
"Helen?" Sydney prompted.
"I'm not willing to put another person in jeopardy by telling you. Maybe one day when that person is safe, I will, but not until then."
"Is David the latest arrival?" Broots queried.
"As far as I know, yes. And there's been a substantial gap since the last attempt which, of course, we're pretty much all aware of, because most of us were either there are the time or heard about it later."
"Davy Simpkins?" Sydney suggested.
Helen nodded. "Jarod's rescue of the child frustrated the Centre and NuGenesis' attempt to start the Prodigy program again. When David's parents came to NuGenesis to conceive, Dr. DeWitt was their consultant and, after testing, found the pretender anomaly in David's mother's blood. The Centre, while willing to abduct helpless children, doesn't enjoy doing the same to adults who might be able to actually fight back, so they had to wait until the child was born. According to the accurate file that Raines had hidden behind his filing cabinet - and I'll have to go and see what's behind the ones in Mr. Parker's office one day - NuGenesis provided a nanny for David and then arranged for the brake line on his parents' car to be severed." Helen glanced at Miss Parker. "It seems to be a popular spot for them to aim for."
"And so...?"
"The file contained a newspaper clipping of a car that went over a cliff, sparking a forest fire. The sweepers, sent to oversee the 'accident' to ensure its happening, confirmed that the car was that owned by David's parents and that a man and a woman were inside it, but the heat of the fire was so great that the bodies literally incinerated. Testing to prove their identities was impossible. Still, I think it's a fair enough assumption to say that the people inside the car were David's father and mother."
"Raines kept the clipping?" Sydney asked in a horrified tone.
"Well, unless somebody knew I was coming and planted it there, just to make the guy look a little bit worse than he already is, I'd say so, wouldn't you?"
"Why do they wait so long?"
"Who?" Jarod looked at Broots as if the technician had grown an extra arm.
"The Centre. Why wait until a child's four or six? Why not take them at Michael's age?"
"Sydney?" Helen looked up with a glance that was almost bitter. "You'll be most likely to know the answer to that one. What's the difference between someone of the age that Jarod was when they abducted him and one younger?"
"Understanding and experience," the psychiatrist responded quietly. "A pretender is better able to understand what is required of them if they've had some time out in the world before being brought into an environment of restricted mental as well as physical stimulation."
"Spoken like a true textbook," the doctor responded emotionlessly.
There was a moment of silence before Broots spoke. "So what will you do?"
"Bring these children up to be happy, healthy and intelligent." She half-smiled. "I think that last point will be rather easy."
"How did you know the information on David was wrong?" Miss Parker asked.
"The folder had a few of the items circled and with question marks next to them, in my brother's handwriting," she added with meaning. "I don't somehow think that coup attempt will have been as much of as surprise to him as Raines was hoping."
"So what's going to happen now?"
"Mr. Parker will probably be questioned until tomorrow and then his part in the T-Board will stop. Raines' will probably continue a little longer."
"Why will Daddy's stop?" Miss Parker's voice was sharp.
"For the same reason that your supposed brother's life was in danger. The man who has been protecting him from being discarded as worthless will be permanently removed from all future chances at a coup."
"Y...you mean...?"
"You know exactly what I mean, Miss Parker. All the details that I found - and all of them had to do with an anonymous 'rumor', the meaning of which should be known to at least one individual in this room - suggests that the Triumvirate has been aware of his actions for a while now. It will be slow, painful and final, and, despite any or all warnings he receives, it will still happen, one way or another."
"Your brother...?"
"My brother won't get his hands dirty. There are plenty of dogsbodies to do work like that for him. That's one of the benefits of having a top job."
"Just how secure is his position?"
Helen laughed. "My dear Miss Parker, my brother owns the Centre. All the assets are registered under his name, the property titles are in his strongbox and the profits line his pockets."
"And you're depriving him of some of those profits," commented Jarod in amusement.
"Sibling rivalry. I could try to be jealous if that would help.
"But you're not?"
"Jealous of what? Why would I want to trade my constantly changing, exciting lifestyle, where I get interaction with interesting people, for a lifestyle of constantly having to look over my shoulder and being mistrustful of my co-workers, with just one single benefit being that of money. The one way for my brother to lose any of his power is if someone was to assassinate him, and he must be aware of that. If they were determined to do it, not all of his fortune would save him. I can get any money I need, so why be jealous?" She smiled. "I was brought up Catholic and, while I don’t agree with every one of their doctrines, I see no point in having a fortune that you can't take with you when you die. In a position like his, he would have to be constantly aware of the threat of death."
"And instead you help people to recover from that same threat."
"Exactly." She laughed softly. "I think I get the better end of the deal. Maybe that's a point I should mention and then he can be jealous of me."
As if her amusement was a signal, the boy in Jarod's lap lifted his head and held out his arms.
"Did you have a nice sleep, sweetie?" Helen asked as she took him.
"Uh huh." David snuggled up against her, his head on her shoulder and his arms wrapped around her neck.
"You see?" She looked over at Miss Parker. "I really do have a wonderful life."
Helen tucked in the plastic sheet before putting the fitted sheet on the mattress and dropping it in position in the baby's crib. She securely tied on the padding that would protect the infant from the wooden bars and then, tucking in a blanket at the foot of the crib, she spread it smoothly over the mattress. Finally, she put a small teddy bear into the corner of the bed, and stepped back, almost falling over the man who stood silently behind her.
"Sydney! Do you want to at least let me know you're there?"
"Surely that spoils all the fun, doesn't it?" He smiled and glanced around. "Did the two of you buy all this today?"
"If we had, we’d have need a truck to carry it all home. No, most of it's from when I was a baby. It was in storage for years but, when I purchased this house, I got nearly all of it transferred here."
"So despite the fact that you knew that you could never have children…?"
"I couldn’t ever bear to throw it away." Helen sat in the rocking chair that had been brought down from the attic. "On several occasions, I thought that I should have a big clearing-out of things, but somehow I could never do it. Maybe it's just an attachment to parents I couldn't really remember, but now it seems lucky I didn't." She looked at him for a minute in silence. "I'm sorry, Sydney."
"What for?" He looked startled. "Why are you apologizing?"
"I was taking out on you the anger that I couldn't take out on Raines. The things I said earlier and the way I said them were unpardonable, but I hope you will forgive them."
"Helen, you're allowed to be angry."
"But not to somebody who has no responsibility."
"Perhaps I do."
"Not in these cases." She smiled faintly. "Unless, of course, you snuck back to the Centre every night when we thought you were in bed to help arrange David's abduction."
He laughed. "No, I guarantee I wasn't doing that. But the anger you felt towards me for my treatment of Jarod surely extends to the way I treated Steve."
"Let me check the DSA archives and I'll let you know. I haven't really paid all that much attention to anybody else at the Centre except Jarod and Eddie. It took five years before I found out about Alex, and only then because he forced himself on my notice by his actions."
Sydney nodded before looking at her closely. "Can you cope with bringing up this boy who will, after all, become Eddie?"
"He won't, Sydney. Cloning creates the same person genetically, but that isn't the same person, either mentally or emotionally."
The psychiatrist looked at her narrowly. "Is that the doctor's mind or the mother's heart speaking now?"
"Mother?" Helen looked startled. "Sydney, I'm not..."
"Helen, don't make the mistake I made with Jarod. These two children are going to think of you as their mother, even if they don't call you that. If you're unable to deal with that then find them foster families where people will be willing for it to happen. The last thing these boys need is to grow up with you in the role of the absent parent and for you to spend the rest of your life denying that that is your position in their lives."
She could see the pain in his eyes as he watched her. "Believe me, if you know that a child thinks of you in that role, it makes it even more difficult, and you've got enough problems to look forward to, trying to make these children into people you can be proud of."
"My expectations aren't high."
"Happy and healthy? But, in circumstances like these, when you have to mould a child into an adult, that's only the beginning."
"Are you admitting that your professional demeanor cracked, Doctor?" she asked wryly.
"Cracked?" He laughed. "It smashed into a million pieces the moment I first laid eyes on Jarod."
"And yet you never told him that?"
"No, and that's been another of my greatest mistakes."
Helen descended the stairs, after having made the other beds, and picked up the little boy who ran towards her, before glancing around.
"Where is everybody?"
"Jarod, Steve and Broots are down in the cellar, setting things up." Sydney gave her a significant smile. "And Miss Parker and Ethan are making lunch for us all."
"Michael?"
The psychiatrist nodded his head in the direction of the beanbag, and Helen saw Debbie cradling the baby, who was peacefully asleep in her arms, as the girl read another of the books. Smiling faintly, Helen came to join him on the sofa.
"So, how are they going?"
"Both men are refusing to admit anything."
"And what was Raines' reaction to a certain sound file?"
"He denied very vigorously that it was him. Funnily enough, I don't think that your brother believes him."
"How very odd." She rolled her eyes, laughing. "If Mr. Parker knew what the fates had in store for him, I think he'd be talking more."
"Well, I think he's about to talk a lot more anyway."
"Really?" She looked at him, an eyebrow raised. "And why?"
"Your brother decided to disregard your advice."
"Oh, no." Helen stared at him in dismay. "Not really."
"What's wrong with that?"
She rose and, David still in her arms, began to pace the floor. "If my brother uses that drug, he'll find that Mr. Parker responds normally to it, not collapsing, and it'll probably convince him that your situation was a one-off. That might mean he'll use it on Miss Parker, and I can't leave these children alone to go and help her."
"No, you certainly can't do that," he agreed. "But he discussed it with the other two members of the Triumvirate and they made the decision to use the same one as he was treated with during his last session. It seems your report created enough concern for them to arrive at that decision very quickly."
"So that means..."
"They're still holding off on the use of those drugs until the testing has been done and it's a pretty low priority right now."
"What's their highest priority?"
"Several deals that were due to be sold within two weeks, and have now been put back a number of months."
"I'll bet." She grinned, sitting back down on the sofa, a look of relief on her face. "But I don't think the Triumvirate should count on them being in sellable condition for even longer."
"Why, what will you do?"
"The same thing I've been doing for years."
"Helen, you can't!" Sydney leaned forward earnestly. "Do you know what that would do to these children, if you never came home?"
"Jarod would bring them up."
"They need a mother."
"Let me amend that. Jarod, Margaret, Emily, Ethan, Jon and Charles would bring them up."
"They need you."
She looked dissatisfied but remained silent. The psychiatrist looked at her closely for a moment before continuing.
"Helen, you can't put yourself in danger like that anymore, especially now that you have people relying on you for support. You have to think of these children before you do anything that might put your life in danger, and going back to the Centre, sister of the head of the Triumvirate or not, is still putting yourself at risk. The Triumvirate won't need the details on the mainframe. Your visit to the infirmary and subsequent disappearance, particularly considering what happened inside of twelve hours after that, is going to be enough."
There was a small smile on her face as she looked up at him. "Sydney, the one piece of proof the Triumvirate has that I was even there was that report I gave to them about you. There's no DSA footage of me, no sign-in card, nothing."
"How...?" the psychiatrist demanded.
"After I got the information about these three..."
"From Angelo," he interrupted.
She looked at him narrowly. "I won't confirm that."
"You don't have to. I'm already well aware that it was him."
"Performing your old trick as a know-all sage to ensure your survival again?"
"Something like that." He hid a smile and looked at her. "How did you do it?"
Standing, she reached into her pocket and took out a flat case that she gave to him. Recognizing it, he opened it and took out the first DSA. "This is...?"
"Footage from the infirmary from the day that you were there and the next day until I left. The next DSA is your T-Board. My brother didn't like having transcribers in with him - I'm not sure whether you noticed that it was just you, them and a sweeper or two - and used the DSA footage to review the sessions. Before Michael woke up this morning, I checked on my brother and he knows it's gone. It's another thing that annoyed him when he found out about it." Helen laughed, before becoming more serious. "I also stole my sign-in card while I was leaving yesterday and destroyed it before you saw me shopping."
"And it's the last time you should risk your safety by ever going there." Sydney nodded toward the small boy on her lap, his fingers wrapped around her index finger tightly, silently listening to the conversation. "It's natural for these children to become attached to you - and even Steven's done that to a considerable degree already. You can't break their hearts for a second time, just as you couldn't have done that to Debbie by leaving."
"But if the Centre isn't neutralized, these children will have to have the same sort of life that Jarod does."
"Who says you have to do it?"
Helen looked at him skeptically. "Who else is there? Realistically, Sydney, name people who could do it? Jarod - too dangerous, and that point counts for the rest of his family as well; Miss Parker - loyalty to her father's too strong; you - danger just as great as with Jarod and his family; Broots - would put his daughter in too much danger..."
"You - would be the destruction of these children." He glanced at Michael. "You do have to begin thinking about other people now."
"You said that already."
"And you weren't convinced." He smiled. "I've had more than thirty years of trying to force facts into Jarod's obstinate mind and I know how long it takes. You two aren't all that different."
"And that's why these children would be just as good with him as with me, so I'm not going to be concerned if they catch me." She smiled faintly. "And they have to do it first."
"Do you think they won't? Do you remember how tight security was after the other three escaped, or tried to?"
"Of course. I was watching it."
"And you'd go back into that hornet's nest willingly?"
"I wasn't planning to go today, Sydney," she responded drily.
"No, I would hope you wouldn't. But you were planning to go sometime."
"How else can I get hold of the necessary information if I'm not there?"
"There's always us."
She gave him an exasperated look. "I thought I'd already clarified that point."
"Maybe you're not the only obstinate one."
"I know I'm not." She rolled her eyes. "Sydney, I'm not putting the two of you, or Debbie, Michelle or Nicholas at risk by asking you to do that. And I know that Miss Parker wouldn't be willing to do it. Despite the shock she’s received today, the virtual brain washing that her father's been giving her since her mother died is too powerful to be broken down just by hearing a few home truths."
"His death might do it."
"Break down that loyalty?" Helen laughed softly. "Somehow, I doubt it. Still, all we can do is wait and see." She looked up to see the other woman in the doorway, a look of shock on her face, and gave a weak smile. "Not that she knew any of that until just now, of course."
