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Chapter or Story
Chapter 33
"Perfect freedom is reserved from the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do."
Robin G. Collingwood
Outliving
February 14, 2001
A knock on the door distracted Jarod from the papers he was reading and made him look up. "Sydney? Come on in."
The psychiatrist walked through the open doorway and approached the desk, sitting down in one the chairs that waited there for that purpose.
"I thought I'd stop by and congratulate you. One week and everything seems to be finished."
"I know. The sweepers have had a chance to return to their families, and, unbelievably, many of them came back to work here. The other staff members are mostly still employed here, Miss Parker is finally happy, her mother is on cloud nine and everything else is just peachy."
"How's Lyle?"
"Slowly recovering. A few doses of Stymphalis are all that remain and he should begin to approach being a normal person. Of course, the nervous breakdown probably helped. Tanaka probably would have actually wanted him if he'd been okay. And, of course, Catherine is helping him a lot."
"Heard from any of the others?"
"Nope. As far as I know, Raines, Mr Parker and Brigitte are all still waiting for their day in court, not that it will help them. There's no way they could be found not guilty. We've seen to that. There could be trials going on for years!"
"So what's wrong?"
Jarod tried to smile and failed. "What makes you think that anything is wrong?"
Sydney arched an eyebrow. "Jarod, I've know you for years. And right now I know that there's something you're trying to hide."
The Pretender sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You're right, as usual. I'll show you."
The two men took the elevator down to SL-26. When the levels had been designated for exploration for the various people, Jarod had allotted this level for himself, knowing that Raines had kept many of the worst projects down here. But it wasn't until he as going through the last of Raines files that he had found information on one particular subject.
It was a relatively new one, having begun only in April 1999, however some facts had interested Jarod and, the day before, he had gone in search of the subject with Cox. The two had found the man in a room with a hidden door. The subject cowered in a corner of the room, his hair long and unkempt and his body covered with fading bruises.
A week away from Raines and Lyle had obviously allowed him to heal somewhat, but his mind was damaged from the treatment he had received and he fled in terror to the far side of his small, padded cell when Jarod had appeared. Now Sydney and Jarod stood at a one-sided mirror and watched as he frantically paced the length of the room.
"You can see why I haven't said anything."
"It’ll destroy her," Sydney murmured. "She's only just gotten used to the idea that he was dead."
"I still don't know how they managed that. But they did."
"Managed what?" a voice interrupted.
The two men turned, seeing the one person that had hoped not to see. Miss Parker stood before them, a smile on her face and an inquisitive look in her eyes. None of them had read the others’ minds for almost the entire week and now, when Miss Parker tried, it seemed that she had somehow lost the ability. Instead, the look on her face demanded answers.
Jarod immediately stretched out an arm to block her view. "No, Parker. I really don't think you should see this."
"Oh, come on. What could it possibly be?" She stepped forward, past Jarod, and peered down into the room, ignoring the hands he placed on her shoulder. Her eyes fixed on the figure below and she froze, unable to believe her eyes.
"No…no! Tommy!"
The whisper was faint but Jarod heard it and wrapped his arms around her, trying to stop her from looking. Instead, she tore herself away and, pulling open the door, descended a flight of stairs into the room. At a nod, Cox picked up a rifle that stood near the door and followed Miss Parker down the stairs.
Miss Parker's sudden appearance into the room startled the figure, which hesitated for a moment before hurling himself onto her and attacking her with his fists. Jarod leapt into the melee and tried to pull the two apart but found that he couldn't. He did, however, turn the two around so that Thomas had his back to Cox, who immediately raised the rifle and shot at the man. Within seconds, Thomas had loosed his hold on Miss Parker and lay in a heap on the floor. Jarod held the distraught woman in his arms as she panted for breath. Finally she turned and stared at him, and at Cox who still held the weapon at shoulder height.
"You...you've killed him." Her whisper was forced out and full of pain as her expression crumbled.
Jarod took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. "No, Parker. He's not dead, I promise. That was a tranquillizer and the only way to calm him down. He'll be fine. I guarantee it." Jarod looked up at Sydney, who came over immediately. "Take her back to her office and come down to the infirmary in one hour. Everything should be ready by then."
Miss Parker clung to Jarod as though trying to find an answer for what had occurred and, when Sydney slipped an arm around her waist, she rested a large part of her weight onto his shoulder. Her eyes had dimmed and her breathing was shallow as all color faded from her face. Jarod knew that it would be an effort for Sydney to take her alone and was grateful when Sam appeared in response to his summons and the trio left the room. Then he and Cox turned to see what they could do for Thomas.
Thirty minutes later, he was in a bed in the infirmary, still unconscious from the dart that Cox had shot into his leg. However he had been shaved and tidied up, a process that he had not allowed them to complete earlier. Now Jarod opened his black case and took out the final vial that nestled there.
"Stymphalis?" the doctor queried softly.
"The last dose I made."
"Will it work?"
"I don't know, Cox. I hope so." Jarod found a vein and slowly injected the contents. "It’ll destroy Parker if it doesn't. And this isn't pure Stymphalis. It's a small variant, which I named Hippolyta. It will hopefully also undo the effects of the other drugs he's been given." Jarod extracted the needle and dropped it in a kidney dish that Cox had held out for him.
There was silence in the room for a few minutes. Then the monitor that recorded Thomas' heart rate showed an increased pulse and, at the same time, his breathing became faster. Jarod leaned over and carefully touched Thomas' eyelid with a gentle finger, a grin spreading across his face as he noticed the reflex response. A few seconds later, the eyes flickered and then slowly opened. Thomas stared blankly for a second, before his eyes glowed with recognition and he struggled into a sitting position.
"Jarod!"
The Pretender beamed. "Hello, Thomas. How are you feeling?"
"Apart from a hangover to beat anything I've ever had before, not bad. But where's Parker?"
"You can see her in a while. But first, I really think that we need to talk."
Parker waited outside the room, her hand trembling as she reached out to knock. Before she could, however, the door opened to reveal Jarod standing in front of her. She grabbed his hand and held it tightly as he shut the door behind him.
"Tell me he's okay. Please."
"He's fine. A little groggy, still, from the sedative but otherwise fine."
"And…does he remember?"
"Vaguely. He has a slight memory of what occurred but, as with the other people we used Stymphalis on, his memories are disjointed and unclear. It's probably better to avoid the subject, if you can."
"So he...would know me?"
"You were the first person he asked about."
"Really?"
He reached out and gently wiped away the tear that was sliding down her cheek. "Really. I promise, and you know that I wouldn't lie to you."
She nodded, about to turn to the door, when she met his gaze. "Jarod, I'm sorry."
He raised one eyebrow. "Sorry? What for?"
"All this time, when you've been trying to help me, I've been ignoring you and resenting you for what you've shown me. When all you ever wanted was for me to be happy."
"And are you happy now?"
She nodded mutely and took a deep breath as he opened the door. He watched for a moment as Thomas held out his arms and Parker ran into them. Then, with a decided nod, he turned away and walked back to his office.
February 15, 2001
Miss Parker left Thomas' side and walked over to the door where Jarod stood, waiting, his DSA case in one hand and a bag containing all of his other possessions in the other.
"Why are you leaving? I can't really understand why you don't want to stay."
"It's not that I don't want to," he told her softly. "I can't stay, Parker. I don't belong here, with you. I need the chance to keep doing the work that I started to do, out there."
Miss Parker stared at him, tears welling in her eyes. "But I need you here, with me. I want you to stay. Please, Jarod."
He put down the bags and turned to face her. Gently he cupped her face in his hands and wiped away the tears that ran down her cheeks.
"You and Thomas have the chance to make the Centre, and your lives, everything that you ever dreamed of. Be happy, start a family. I still have things to do, not the least of which is to find my family."
"Isn't anything going to change?"
"Catch me if you can."
She tried to laugh and choked on her tears.
"Check in on me every know and then. I'll always find time to check out how you're going and I’ll stay in contact. Maybe a few more of those presents."
"I know everything about my family now. I have them with me." She looked back over her shoulder to the door where Catherine, Ben and Ethan had come to join Thomas.
"Maybe these will be just for you." He lifted her face to his and gently kissed it. "Parker, I'm leaving the Centre. My life is linked to the outside world and yours is connected to this place." Suddenly, as the tears began to run down her cheeks again, he smiled. "I want to ask a favour."
"Anything." Then curiosity got the better of her. "What is it?"
"Nothing much. Just a five minute head start."
