Total Recall by KB
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Part 1 – Total Recall
"And this is Jennifer. She's our resident computer expert."
Jarod down looked into the cool but not unfriendly eyes of the woman sitting at the desk and felt his hand firmly shaken before he and his new manager moved on.
The redhead watched as they left the room and then, by hitting a few keys, was able to use the security camera in the hallway to view their progress. She smiled slightly before reopening the file she had been using when they had entered her office. Then, as a thought floated into her head, she remembered where she had heard the name before. Of course: Jarod, the 'Good Samaritan' her friend mentioned had had that name. She would have to ask him about it.
Jarod dropped an armful of papers onto Jennifer's desk and she looked up at him with a smile.
"Wait, don't tell me," she laughed. "ASAP, right?"
He grinned, revealing a dimple in each cheek and shiny, white teeth. "Well, of course. It's not as though you've got anything else to do." Eying the large pile of papers that already sat in the tray, Jarod laughed and turned to leave. He had just reached the door when she spoke.
"So, Jarod, I hear you like Albany."
He turned and stared at her but her eyes never left the screen. "What makes you think I was in Oregon?"
"Oh, a little bird told me."
She smiled and, out of the corner of her eye, watched him leave the room before beginning to look through the papers he had left behind.
Jarod recalled the conversation as he sat in front of his desk and again winced inwardly. He knew that she would immediately pick up on his slip about Oregon and wondered if she would actually ask him about it or merely wait for him to make second mistake like the first. She had the ability to make people say more than they realized, as he had heard someone say earlier that day in response to his covert questions.
"Oh, it's incredible. She just asks you one question and, before you know it, you're spilling your guts."
"You're...doing what?"
"Spilling your guts. You know, telling her everything. It's just incredible. Even the boss can't keep anything from her. But trying to get anything out of her that she doesn't want you to know is like trying to break into an ATM with a chopstick."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. It's hard, that's all."
He turned back to his computer and once more attempted to work out the current password that would allow him access to the Centre's mainframe. Jarod shook his head in frustration as he was rejected again before sealing an envelope and sticking on a stamp, placing it into the box from where all of his other mail would be collected that evening.
Jennifer went in Jarod's empty office and placed the large bundle of papers and folders onto his desk. Scanning the empty shelves and almost clear desktop, she wondered why he had no pictures or personal knick-knacks like those that most people, even temporary staff, usually left in their offices. There were plenty of secrets to be discovered about her new fellow employee, Jennifer was sure.
Miss Parker picked up a book from her desk and threw it at the door as the new sweeper fled through it. Grimly smiling, she listened to him run down the hall and allowed herself a moment to enjoy the power-rush. The smile vanished from her face as Broots entered the office.
"And what do you want?"
"Lyle says to tell you that there's been a sighting of Jarod in Albany."
"Which one?"
"He doesn't know. There was a paper delivered here with a picture of Jarod on the front page. It was about him saving some woman from being evicted. The paper was called the Albany Express."
"Well get onto it, Broots. We don't have all day."
"Yes, Miss Parker." He shuffled out of the office and Miss Parker turned in her chair, staring at the floor with unseeing eyes.
Jarod stared down in amazement at the large pile on his desk that he noticed the moment he walked in. By his estimation, it should have taken at least three days to finish all of the work that he had asked Jennifer to do and yet here it was, the next morning, complete.
"Coming for the meeting?"
He turned and stared at her, uncomprehending. "How did...you've finished all this already?"
"Of course, Jarod. That's easy stuff. It doesn't take long."
"I'm stunned."
She laughed. "Obviously. Now are you coming or not?"
Jennifer was kneeling in front of her fireplace, about to strike the match she held in her hand, when she heard a knock on the door. Cursing under her breath and looking incredulously at her watch, disbelieving that the pizza could be being delivered already, she moved through the kitchen and opened the door. From the bottom step, Jarod grinned up at her, dangling a set of keys from one finger.
"Hi. You left these in my office this afternoon and I thought you might want them."
Jennifer grinned, sighing with relief. "Thank goodness! I thought I'd lost them for good and I had to get a taxi back here to get my spare set this afternoon so that I could bring my car home. Do you want to come in?"
She held the door open as he entered the house and then closed it against the cool autumn wind. Walking over to light the fire, she indicated one of the seats.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"Sure. What do you have?"
"Pretty much everything. My friends have a wide variety of tastes."
"Dr Pepper?"
"Tons of the stuff."
She handed him a can and glass before taking a seat opposite and picking up her own drink. Jarod looked over, curiosity on his face, and she laughed.
"There's obviously something you're dying to ask me. What is it?"
"How long have you been working there?"
Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" As Jarod grinned, she laughed. "About two years. I like the work and the people are friendly."
"But don't you get bored? I mean, if you find all the stuff as easy as what I gave you then you must have a lot of spare time."
"Of course, but I spend a lot of my spare time designing computer packages that I distribute and that provide greater security or to enhance a company's image. It helps to supplement my salary and the boss doesn't mind as long as I finish all of the other, 'official' stuff first. I also have a few web sites that I work on. Other than that..." she laughed, miming the idea of sleeping, and Jarod laughed with her as she took a drink and then looked up at him. "How about you, Jarod? Have you always been involved with architecture?"
He was slow to respond, not seeing the light in Jennifer's eyes as she asked the question, wondering if she was about to learn this man's secret.
"Well, not really. I've been moving around a lot recently." Jarod stared into the fire, determined not to look at Jennifer, concerned that she might be able to learn from his eyes what he hadn't told her verbally.
Another knock at the door made Jennifer jump out of her chair. "Great! Dinner at long last! Do you want to stay?"
"What are you...?" Jarod's voice died away as she opened the door, purse in her hand. Minutes later she turned and, kicking the door shut, put the steaming box down on the table before getting out two plates and a pile of napkins.
"I always order pizza on a Tuesday night. It was a family tradition and I've kept it up. Can't help myself." She divided the pizza between the plates and handed one to Jarod. "Sorry, but on pizza night I can't really be bothered being polite. Enjoy."
"Syd? Hey, Sydney."
The psychiatrist looked up from his current report to see Miss Parker, jacket in hand, standing in the doorway of his office.
"Yes, Miss Parker?"
"Confirmed sighting of Jarod. We're going to Albany."
Sydney stood and snatched up his own coat, familiar excitement flooding through him at the thought of possibly, finally, bringing Jarod back where he belonged.
Jennifer put the last plate into the dishwasher, turned in on and smiled out into the darkness of the back garden as the machine began to hum. Several slips that Jarod had made that night had given her an indication to his character and she was certain that, with a little more time and persuasion, she could find out all about him. The article she had been shown proved invaluable and Jennifer had been able to find out other things about him in newspapers from across the country that she had seen on microfiche at the library. Of course she knew why he was at the company. She had been trying to gather the evidence that would convict the boss's secretary of blackmail and fraud for months and, although she hadn't succeeded, she felt that Jarod, with a little help, just might.
As the jet circled above the airport, Miss Parker glared through the window at the storm that was preventing them from landing.
"So, are we sure that Jarod is in New York State?"
"Of course not, Syd. We just have to hope he is, that's all."
"And…and what if he's not?"
Miss Parker turned her attention from the storm to Broots, who tried to hide in his seat as he saw her expression.
"Then we'll search through Albany in Georgia, Albany in Oregon and any other Albany we can think of until we do find him, that's what."
Jarod stared in disbelief at the files that had appeared when his computer booted up, quickly reading through the material. It was exactly what he needed. A sound from the doorway made him look up and his stunned eyes beheld Jennifer as she leaned against the doorframe and grinned at him. After several long moments of silence she stepped into the room and shut the door, taking a seat in the chair opposite his desk.
"How much time do you need?"
He tried to bluff. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, come on, Jarod. Everyone in this place knows that something illegal's going on. In fact, I'm willing to bet that's why you turned up so suddenly. I know what you do and I've given you what you need to get it done, so let's do it. Let's shut this place down!"
Jarod glanced covertly up at a security camera and then back at her, his mouth open to speak, but she jumped in.
"The camera? Don't worry. I fed it some dummy material and it's humming away up there, quite happily. As far as they know, you're working at your desk and I'm busy at mine."
"How do I know if I can really trust you?"
"Do you think I would have given you those files if I didn't want to help you? And if you really didn't trust me, you wouldn't have stood in the doorway of my house last night, swinging my keys in my face. You would have snuck in while I was at work and tried to find something incriminating about the company. Now, can we get on with it?" She leaned back and, grinning, waited for his response.
Sydney slowly climbed into the Centre jet. The six days of fruitless searching had taken their toll and he couldn't wait to get back to Delaware.
"Where do you think he is now?"
"I don't know, Broots. He could be just about anywhere." Sydney glanced at Miss Parker but she was giving directions to the pilot and he took his seat with a weary sigh. "I didn't know there were so many places called Albany in America."
"Do you think we'll ever find him?"
Sydney looked out of the window. "I don't know, Broots. I really don't."
Jennifer carried a tray into the living room where the flames were creating a pleasant heat around the fireplace. A newspaper, lying on the table, showed the result of the several days of hard work that they had both put in. Thanks to their efforts, the illegal activities of the company had finally been exposed and it had been shut down. Jennifer took her steaming mug and smiled at Jarod as she sat opposite him.
"Well, I think we did that rather well, don't you?"
He smiled back. "Superbly." There was a lengthy pause. "Do you know, we've been working together for about a month now and I know as little about you as I did on the first day I met you."
"And what, exactly, did you want to find out?"
"Well, most people like to talk about their families and have photos of them all over the house. I haven't seen any of them here."
"Maybe I just don't like to display them." Her voice was very quiet and she stared into the fire. A lone tear rolled slowly down her cheek but, as she had turned away from Jarod, it went unseen and disappeared into the red curl that touched her cheek, just near her mouth. After a prolonged silence, she began to speak, her voice soft and filled with pain.
"My parents died three years ago. I was really close to them. They couldn't have kids and so they adopted me when I was two. All through my life, as I grew up, we always had difficult kids living with us. We were a kind of 'half-way house' for them, between the old life and the new, so to speak, so I had heaps of company. We lived in a little place called Townsend, in Nebraska. When I was twenty they adopted another child. He was two years younger than me and he was perfect - good-looking, smart, super intelligent, the whole bit. He missed a lot of school when he was younger so my parents sent him back to the local High School to get a decent education. He attended Douglas High for a few years but left to go to a more advanced college before graduation. When he started dating, he had more girls chasing him than we could keep up with. We'd make a joke out of it, 'Hey, here's another one', and he'd come to the phone and then we'd tease him for ages afterwards. After we adopted him, we stopped taking in other kids, so for a few years it was just the two of us and Mom and Dad; that was until I moved out of home. Then, after studying part-time and working at various other companies, I came to the firm to work. That was in '93. About two or three years later, after he'd had work at a few businesses, building his resume, my brother got a job at some center. He never told us which one but he seemed to be doing really well and, as long as he was happy, that was all that mattered to the rest of us. He sent us letters and cards all the time, telling us how he was. I thought it was a bit strange when Mom and Dad died in September '96 that he didn't come to the funeral, but he said there was some sort of crisis at the place where he worked and they wouldn't give him time off..."
Finally the words ran out and Jennifer sat silently as tears filled her eyes. Jarod moved over and sat next to her but she made no move towards him. He placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke softly. "I understand."
Miss Parker stormed down the hall to Raines' office but stopped at a room that had previously been used for storage. To all appearances, it seemed that it had now had been converted into an office of some sort. Without knocking, she threw open the door and stared at the sole occupant - an unknown, red-haired woman sitting at the computer.
"What are you doing here? Who are you?"
The woman smiled up at her calmly. "Oh, you must be Miss Parker. I've heard a lot about you."
Miss Parker heard a squeak and a step behind her, turning to see Raines come up behind her, oxygen tank in hand.
"Ah, Miss Parker! It's about time you and the others returned. Lyle's followed a number of new leads while you've been gone. This is Jennifer. She's a computer analyst. We've brought her in to improve the security system and to complete any other trivial secretarial tasks. You may give her any work you require." He turned to leave but was stopped by the newcomer.
"Mr Raines, these are the papers you wanted. And this disk contains the files you asked me to look for."
"Very good!" the man wheezed. "Miss Parker, this woman is an excellent worker."
As he left, she stared at the newcomer in shock. "How much are you paying him to talk about you like that? He's never nice - to anyone!"
Jennifer shrugged. "He's been fine to me. I've been here three days and he's had nothing but pleasant things to say to and about me." She turned her head as loud footsteps could be heard outside her office.
"Miss Parker..."
"Broots, get in here!"
"Oh, there you are. I have to tell you they've brought in..."
"I know that, you moron. She's sitting right in front of you. Jennifer, this is Broots; he can be a moron but he's pretty handy with a computer so I imagine you'll have a lot to take about. I'll leave you two to get acquainted."
She shut the door behind her and walked quickly along the hall, hearing snatches of conversations that told her that, although the new person had been installed in the Centre a few days, the unexpectedness of her arrival, as well as the obvious change in Raines' mannerisms were still causing surprise among other Centre employees.
"This is Sydney."
"I hear you've got a new workmate."
"Jarod! Yes, she's...how did you know?"
"Oh, I know everything, you know that."
There was a pause
"I was disappointed to miss you in Albany."
"You weren't there."
"Oh, I was. You just didn't look hard enough."
"Jarod - Jarod, don't hang..."
Jennifer turned as her door opened and smiled at Miss Parker who was standing in the doorway. The brunette walked into the room, leaning against the desk.
"Going home already, Parker?"
"No. I have to leave for a while. Jennifer, did Raines tell you about Jarod?"
The newcomer's neutral expression was enough to convince Miss Parker of her ignorance, however, as Miss Parker turned to face the artificial window and began her explanation, Jennifer slipped her hand under her desk, pressing a small button….
"'And so, for the last four years, we've been trying to get him back.'"
Jennifer pressed the stop button on the small, hand-held tape recorder and then grinned at Jarod, who raised an eyebrow and laughed.
"Can no-one keep anything from you?"
"Well, you couldn't, could you?"
He didn't answer the question but scooped up the last few noodles from his plate into his mouth and then sat back against the sofa.
"What is it about you?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, why are you so special? You're different from just about anyone I've met before. I've never known someone who can get people to say anything without really asking the necessary questions, or that can repeat so much information without really trying."
There was another long pause while Jennifer's eyes twinkled as she stared into the fire. "Well, I'm afraid I can't give an answer to your first comment because I honestly don't know why. Someone told me that I was just a very friendly person and they could know that, when I said things, I meant them. As for point two, I have eidetic memory. That means, if you haven't heard of it before, that I trained my memory so that it can remember things after only seeing them once. As an example, on the day we met, I recalled the fact that a friend of mine in Albany had mentioned you. When I asked how you liked the place, your response confirmed what I already suspected. I did a little more searching for details before I gave you those files on the computer. That's how I knew I could trust you and why you were there."
She shifted her gaze from the leaping flames to his face and smiled at him. After a moment, he smiled back.
Sydney flipped through the papers in the folder in front of him. The neatly typed notes were a record of the recent experiments he had performed on sets of twins within the Centre and which he had given to Jennifer the day before. As he was beginning to think how much easier it was to have somebody like that there, his door flew open and he looked up in shock.
"Syd, have you seen Lyle?"
He shrugged. "Not for a few days. Why?"
"It's just that we can't find him again. He's gone off on some new project or other and now, even though someone thinks they've seen Jarod, we can't find him."
Sydney's response was calm. "Does that matter? We could go without him."
Miss Parker glared at a spot on the floor for several seconds but then decided that he was right. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Jennifer glanced back over her shoulder at her door but it remained closed. Still she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. Surreptitiously she slid her hand under the desk and pressed a small button that was situated there, remembering when she had explained the system to Jarod the day that they had begun working together to close down the architectural firm.
"It's simple. I've set the program so that, when I press this button, a piece of film threads itself into the security monitor. It shows the occupant of the office working quietly at their desk. I've also put a ten second delay on the camera so that, as soon as the button is pressed, the film starts up. That means even if I have to leave my desk for some reason, it'll still look as though I'm working there."
Thankful that she had had the foresight to install it here as well as at her old job, Jennifer was now able to look around the office more openly. A tiny flash of light made her move over to the air duct in the corner and she was about to go back to her desk, believing she was seeing things, when the vent cover moved and Angelo's head appeared. Having met him on several previous occasions, though never in a situation quite like this, she returned to her desk. However she was not permitted to work.
"Jen-ni-fer...come."
"Angelo, I'm busy. Can it wait?"
"Jen-ni-fer come now...must see."
With a sigh she rose from her chair once more and locked the door of the office before moving over to the open vent. Squatting down, her eyes widened as she saw papers, rolled and tied up in bundles, on the floor of the vent at the empath's feet, and she looked up at him.
"What's this?"
"Read..."
She unrolled the bundle closest to her and visually scanned it. "Dara Landers? I never...hang on, yes I have!" She moved across to her computer and ran a quick search of the entire mainframe. "Bingo! But this is in the very depths of Raines' files. Why would he hide it?" She turned back to the man. "Who is she, Angelo, and why is she so important to Raines?"
He picked up two other rolls and, moving across the room, handed the first one to her. She unrolled it and, after reading it for several seconds, looked up at him in amazement. "Kyle? And that one?" She pointed to the papers he still held in his hand, keeping them away from her. "Is it Jarod?" He nodded. "Then these are all - Pretenders?" There was a long pause, during which she looked over Kyle's papers again and then glanced up at him once more. "Has anybody else read these? Sydney? Miss Parker?" He shook his head again, silently. "Then why are you showing them to me?"
"You help Jarod. I help you."
Jennifer's eyes narrowed. "How do you know I help Jarod? Who told you?"
"I feel it. You are… friends."
"Do you want me to take these - or should I leave them here?"
"Copy - for Jarod."
"But wouldn't it be better for Jarod to have his own file, rather than Kyle's?"
"Needs part of Kyle for himself. Has guilt."
She nodded slowly. "I know. He told me. Okay, let me copy this and then you can have them back. Have you got a good hiding place?"
"I keep - for years."
"True. I guess you must have." She quickly watched the pages slip through the copier that stood in the corner of her office. "Okay, here, that's done. I'm going to see what I can find out about Dara in the Centre's files in SL-25. You keep them safe, Angelo, to give back to Jarod and the others later."
Jennifer was examining the small amount of information about Dara that she had been able to discover when Miss Parker appeared in the doorway.
"Are you doing anything important?"
"Actually I was just about to leave. Why?"
"My car died and I was hoping you could give me a lift home."
The redhead smiled and slipped the pages into her bag before shutting down her computer. "Sure thing. Not a problem."
