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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Part 13
"No man is free who is not master of himself."
Epictetus
Denying
August 21, 2000
29 weeks to go
Three weeks left.
Jarod spent every spare moment trying to find a way to solve the situation brewing in the heart of the Centre. He had simmed any number of possible solutions. Unfortunately all of them involved him being somewhere other than where he was at the present.
Now, and only in these circumstances, had he considered escape; now, when he knew the layout of the prison and the details of its weakest times, as he had studied the Centre, in such depth, prior to his escape and two weeks after his betrayal by Damon. But his original qualms about escape continued to haunt him and made him realize that he could do nothing but stay where his was.
His thoughts were constantly on the people within the Centre, and he could see, not the first time, that they were more trapped than he was. Somehow he knew that his fears were grounded, although he could not explain the feelings of nausea that swept over him at various intervals, always when he felt himself to be most alone.
The sadness, however, that had haunted him for weeks, was easily recognizable, and it was a struggle not to tell Miss Parker that her father's death might have been more than it had initially seemed. This time, concern for her fate would prevent him from waiting the four years he had taken to tell her the truth about her mother. He was determined. But still he couldn't bring himself to do it.
But he could warn her. He walked over to the phone on the wall. The call was answered quickly and he gave her no time to speak.
"Get out of there now!"
August 21, 2000
"Get out of where? Jarod, what are you talking about?" Miss Parker tried not to reveal the relief in her voice. He was back. Months after the communications had virtually been abandoned. "Where have you been? We've... Sydney's been worried sick!"
"I need to talk to Sydney, now! It’s urgent."
"You can't, Jarod. He's not here."
Miss Parker looked at the still figure on the bed, trying to convince herself that she wasn't lying. Sydney, the real Sydney, wasn't there. Only his body lay on the bed, and the man she had begun to consider her surrogate father was no longer there. Don't tell Jarod. The words reverberated in her mind again and she closed her eyes and mind to them.
"I don't have time to explain, but you need to listen to me. Parker, get out of the Centre. Take Broots and Debbie and leave, now. You're life is in more danger than it's ever been."
"Jarod, what game are you playing now?"
"It's not a game I'm playing. The rules have been set by a higher power. But if you don't get out, you'll be sacrificed 'for the good of the cause', as they like to put it."
" Jarod, I can't leave now. Sydney..." She trailed off and covered her mouth with her hand.
"What about Sydney?"
She could hear the fear in his voice and somehow it acted to magnify the terror that she felt in her own heart and mind. Jarod had played games before, but never like this. The fact that she hadn't questioned who 'they' were was evidence of that. But she had no need to answer. Jarod did it for her.
"They'll be after you next. They wanted Sydney first as a ploy to get me back, but they'll want you and, unless you get away, they'll get you. I can't help Sydney and I can't help you. But you can help Broots, Debbie and Angelo. Get them out and go somewhere, anywhere. If you leave you'll be safe. If you don't leave now, you'll never leave, ever."
There was a click and the phone went dead.
September 4, 2000
Raines replayed the tape that his henchman had taken from Brigitte's office the week before. Jarod's last words seemed to hang for a minute in the air. If you don't leave now, you'll never leave, ever. Did the genius know what was planned? Raines' brow furrowed and the tube of the oxygen tank slipped slightly away from under his nose. Without thinking, he carefully placed it back and let his hand drop onto the desk.
"He knows; I'm convinced of it."
Lyle reached the wall of the office and glared at Raines before turning back and continuing his pacing along the length of the room.
"And on what do you place that assumption? Jarod could simply have made an educated guess." Rained inhaled uneasily.
"With a week to go? He's not that stupid, although you must be if you underestimate him like that."
Raines stood up and pulled a gun out of its holster and trained it on the other man. "Do you still dare to threaten me?"
Lyle took one step closer and placed on foot on the length of clear tubing that had fallen onto the floor as Raines got to his feet. The gun dropped out of the hand and onto the carpet with a thud. The tall, bald figure began to gasp before the other man removed the weight.
"You don't have the guts to pull that trigger, Raines. Just like you didn't have the guts to shoot Jarod in the alley, all those years ago. I might be a product of this place, but it doesn't mean I have to have any respect for its maker!"
