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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Part 28
"Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered."
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Daring
Jarod cleared his throat and began. "Steve, having married six months earlier, took part in a recruitment drive for the Centre, as did many of the other sweepers who are so familiar, including Sam and Willie. He’d lost his previous job a month before and had thought how providential this opportunity was. Later, he realized that the Centre had forced his boss of the time to release him so he’d have no excuse for not applying for the position. His wife wasn’t too keen on him accepting the position, but after a visit from several of Steve's future workmates one night while Steve was at a training session, she changed her mind. At least, that was how Steve described it to me, although I get the feeling they used force.
"Within three months, he’d gained a position among Raines' group of personal sweepers and was coming close to occupying the position that Willie holds now. Only one thing went wrong. He was the sweeper called upon to oversee a deal which Raines was handling and which involved the extraction of a large sum of money from a series of unwilling 'donors', as the Centre wanted to call them."
"Extortion?"
"With a little blackmail involved as well. During the discussion, Raines, as he occasionally did to protect his own identity, adopted the name of his sweeper and so it was the name Steve McCaffrey that the victim remembered."
"But if it was so long ago, why did it all come to a head now?"
"After the deal was completed, the sweepers, Steve being only one of several, fell on the victim and beat him. Unfortunately, the man didn't die but was left in a coma. Eighteen months ago, he regained consciousness for the first time and the police were able to ask him about the man whose name he had been repeating for so long. It was only when the man was guaranteed a spot in the witness protection program that he was willing to talk. And so the call went out to bring in Steve McCaffrey."
"So what happened?"
"He was found guilty and sentenced to twelve months in jail. He’d left the Centre, finally fed up with his job, and so they've been searching for him longer than for me. Steve didn't appeal the sentence because he didn't want the Centre to know that, after several attempts on his life and failed attempts at capturing him, he was still alive."
The psychiatrist eyed the younger man. "But how do you know all this?"
"Because I was there."
Sydney sat back against the sofa and looked hard at Jarod. "Explain, please."
"Steve learned, from something he’d overheard the other sweepers say when they had almost caught him the previous time, that I’d escaped. You were visiting Jacob one year when Steve protected me from an experiment that Raines wanted to perform and so, when he came to me for help this time, I did everything I could."
"In other words, you took his punishment."
"Correct."
"So you've just spent..."
"Twelve months in a solitary cell in a minimum security prison in Omaha." Jarod's face was sullen as he said this and he got up and stared out of the window, unable to face Sydney's eyes.
The psychiatrist was momentarily speechless and could only stammer an answer. "But why would you... your freedom...?"
"I sacrificed it so that an innocent man would not have to leave the family who depend on him for survival. He had small children, Sydney. How could I have lived with myself if I'd let him get arrested?" Jarod turned and his eyes pleaded with the psychiatrist to tell him that he'd done the right thing.
"And you never tried to escape?"
"If I had, the Centre might have learned where I was. It was difficult not to, sometimes. Like when I knew what they'd done to you."
"How did you find out?"
"Angelo told me, and sometimes I could feel it. I was able to tell him what to create so that the poisons could be neutralized. Luckily, the drugs worked."
Sydney raised an eyebrow. "You doubted yourself?"
"I couldn't test them the way that I normally would have. I had to take a chance."
"So what is all this?" Miss Parker, her arm wrapped tightly in her mother's, entered the room and tapped the case. The two men jumped and stared at her as though they didn't recognize her, and her voice became impatient. "Well?"
"My bag of tricks." Jarod grinned, somewhat feebly, as he moved over and snapped open the locks. The case opened to reveal one layer of assorted blades and pistols, which opened further to display a miniature chemists shop, full of mysterious vials and unused syringes. As Catherine and Jarod watched, Sydney and Miss Parker began picking up the various vials and examining the labels on them
" 'Stymphalis'." Sydney looked up curiously. "What on earth is that?"
"A new drug?" the younger woman put in.
"In a way," Jarod agreed. "It's a drug that effects the memory, or more specifically, any new artificial memories. In a way, it's an antidote to a specific drug that I know Raines was developing and which I'm positive he's been using. This drug blocked out a person's memory and allowed the creation of a new one, which Raines and whoever else was using the drug could adapt to their advantage. Fortunately, it didn't change the neurological structures, allowing this drug to reverse the process and block out the false memory."
"And who are you going to use this on?"
"Mostly the sweepers. If we allow Raines and his co-conspirators to use their army, we'll have no hope. With this, however, we're dramatically evening the odds. No pun."
"How did you know about the drug?" Miss Parker's face betrayed her curiosity and Jarod's showed his distress.
"I helped to create it. Raines set me the task in October 1995, before he and Lyle did their heart drug experiments."
Catherine moved over and touched him gently on the arm. "Jarod, it wasn't your fault. You didn't know, and even if you did, you couldn't have done anything to prevent it."
"I should have tried," Jarod muttered.
"We've been through this already."
"I know, but it doesn't make it any easier to accept." Jarod's head was bowed for a moment and Sydney and Miss Parker watched in silence and Catherine put both of her arms around him and held him for a moment.
After a pause, Sydney sought to break the silence. "Stymphalis, eh? So what are the other names of these stages of yours?"
Jarod smiled weakly as he looked up. "Think you can detect a pattern?"
"Absolutely. The virus that Broots created was called Hydra, this drug is called Stymphalis and I'm willing to bet that other stages are called Cereneia, Erymanthus and Cerberus."
The Pretender’s eyes were still serious, although his lips smiled. "Yes, they are."
"Okay, Hercules, so what about Nemea?"
The smile broke into a grin. "Struggle with a great beast and keeping part of it with me always to remind me of my success? What do you think?"
Sydney was about to answer when Catherine laughed. "Please, Sydney. Surely you can guess. Jarod's chosen the Lion of Nemea to represent his own escape from the Centre."
