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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
New Aquitances
Lily and Becky were scouting the North area of the Centre's perimeter when they spotted a figure carrying a small body. Lily swung her bag around and pulled out the one thing she was hoping she would never have to use. Lily approached the dark figure and pointed her gun at him. "Put the child down." She ordered.
Jarod in one motion threw the little girl over his shoulder, pulled his gun that had been tucked into the back of his pants, and pointed it at the figure standing before him. "Never."
And there they stood across from each other, with guns pointed at each other's chest.
"Put the child down or I will shoot you." Lily stated again.
"I would rather die than let you Centre personnel get another child. So where is your boss Mr. Lyle?" Jarod growled at Lily.
"I'm not from the Centre, you are. We saw you carrying that poor little girl to the Centre." Lily bantered back.
"I'm not carrying her to there; I'm carrying her from there." Jarod tried to explain. "They are going to do terrible things to her if you don't let us go."
"No. Lies. That place is evil and we saw you going there. Put the child down." Lily was getting frustrated.
"Lily no, maybe we should listen to him. Can we really say that he was coming or going?" Becky didn't want a misunderstanding to erupt into gunfire.
"Jarod good man. Good soul." Angelo chimed in.
Jarod decided to make the first gesture. He put his gun down and laid the girl on the ground. Looking up while kneeling next to the girl. "OK. I've done what you asked. Now put the gun down. Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"I'm not answering any questions until I get some answers. What is wrong with her?" Lily pointed her gun toward the little girl. "What did you do to her?"
"I didn't do anything. The Centre did. She has been conditioned to become a Pretender. And you better hurry and make up your mind about me because pretty soon we are all going to be escorted into the Centre." Jarod knew they were losing valuable time.
"He's right Lil. We have to figure out something soon. I can feel it." Becky added to the conversation.
"Danger. They're coming Jarod." Angelo also added.
Becky decided to take the matter into her own hands. She quickly moved to Jarod and touched his arm.
"Becky don't!" But Lily was too late. Becky was already reading Jarod. "Well?"
"He's telling the truth Lily. He's been part of the Centre, but now he's fighting against them." Becky looked into Jarod's eyes. "I'm so sorry." She got up and walked back over to Lily.
Lily debated one more minute and lowered her gun.
******************
The alarms were sounded and bells were ringing on every level. Men were running everywhere. Sydney ran out of his office, he had been working late on a research project.
"What's happening?" He asked one of the techs running by.
"Breach in security Doctor." She ran off down the hall.
"Jarod." Sydney smiled. He knew that the only one who ever could breach security was Jarod. He decided to go to Lyle's office. Lyle was in a state of frustration. "What's happening Lyle?"
"Your boy wonder has yet again disrupted one of our projects." Lyle slammed his fists on the desk. "And if that's not enough, that freak Angelo is also missing."
"Angelo is missing?" Now Sydney was concerned.
"I'm heading the search team. Get out of my way Sydney." Lyle pushed Sydney out of the way.
Sydney hoped that if Angelo was out of the Centre, then at least he was with Jarod.
*************
"Thank you for trusting me. My name is Jarod." He said to Lily.
"I'm Lily. This is my sister Becky. And if Becky says that you are OK, then you are OK. She's never wrong." She replied.
"Jarod in danger. I'm going to distract." Angelo said as he headed back toward the Centre.
"Angelo no!" Jarod semi shouted. But it was too late. Angelo was already heading for the Centre at full speed.
"We have to get her out of here now." Jarod stated picking up the little girl.
"Are you going to let him go back there?" Becky asked.
"I don't have time to explain, but he is actually safer there. He wouldn't survive in the outside world."
"We have a place not far from here. We can take her there..........." Lily started, but never got to finish. Standing in front of her was Miss Parker. Her 9mm pointed right at the group.
"I don't think you'll be going anywhere." Parker stated.
"Good evening Miss Parker. Out for a nighttime stroll?" Jarod asked sarcastically.
"Jarod, who's this?" Lily asked.
"Meet the Centre's number one tracker, Miss Parker." Jarod introduced Lily and Becky.
"And whom do we have here?" Parker asked motioning to the sisters. "And don't either of you try for your weapons. Throw them here." Parker motioned to her feet.
Lily looked at Jarod. Jarod shook his head yes and Lily threw her weapon towards Parker.
"Let them go Parker. The Centre has nothing to do with either of them." Jarod pleaded as he threw his gun down.
"If they have nothing to do with the Centre Jarod. Then what the hell are they doing here?" Parker surmised.
"Listen lady. I don't know who you are, but we have a very sick little girl here and the clock is ticking." Lily wanted to try and distract Parker.
Parker took a closer look at the girl in Jarod's arms. "Another child?" Parker's tone softened.
"Yes and we're running out of time Miss Parker. Pretty soon we may not be able to reverse the effects."
"Jarod, you know I have to bring you in. I have no choice." Suddenly something struck Parker in the side of her throat. "Damn! What the ..........." She collapsed onto the ground.
Lily, Jarod, and Becky ran to the woman. "What happened?" Lily pulled out a small dart from her neck. "It's a dart." She showed it to Jarod. She spotted a red light on Jarod's neck. The next thing she knew, Jarod was grabbing his neck and collapsed next to Miss Parker. "Jarod."
"Centre personnel?" Becky whispered.
"They're using a scope to fire the darts." Lily searched the area for where the firing was occurring. She spotted several dark figures coming towards them. She desperately looked underneath Miss Parker for her gun.
"That won't be necessary Lily." Came a familiar voice from the figures.
"Joan?" Asked Becky.
Joan Stedman came into view. She had a Retrieval Team with her. "Get the two and the child and take them back to the van." She turned toward Lily and Becky. "And you have given us quite a bit of trouble ladies. Now let's go."
Lily gave Joan a look. "Go where Joan? That little girl needs help and you just neutralized the only person who knows how to help her."
"No one can help her. It has been too long since her conditioning. Now we will bring her back and try to help her like the others."
"You go back. I'm going to deal with them." Lily nodded in the direction of the voices that were coming closer.
Two of the Retrieval Team members moved closer to Lily. "No you won't Lily. You have already jeopardized everything we have worked for all these years."
"This is what I have been programmed for all these years. I'm not going back to Angel's Hope."
Joan nodded her head. The Retrieval Team members grabbed Lily's arms.
"Joan what are you doing?" Asked Becky
"What I have to do." With that Joan turned to see Lily flipping backwards out of the team members hands and kicking them to the ground. "Get her!"
The team got to their feet and one tackled Lily to the ground. Joan ran over and took a syringe out of her pocket. Quickly she shot it into Lily's arm.
"Joan. Why............" Lily fell into unconsciousness.
