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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Eyes Made Wide Open
"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. In the distance the group heard muffled voices.
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.
Joan picked up the weapons off the ground and handed them to one of her assistants. She then turned to Becky and pulled out another syringe. "Becky?"
Becky looked at Joan and the syringe. "Where's the van?" Becky and Joan followed the Team carrying Lily to the van.
Joan took her phone out of her pocket. "What is the status of the plane coming in from Morocco?"
The voice on the other end informed the psychiatrist that the plane was at the Blue Cove airstrip.
"Good. We're on our way in. Have the jet ready to fly." Everyone got into the van.
Becky sat in the passenger seat with a team member on either side. She looked back at the others unconscious in the back of the van. "What's going to happen now Joan?"
"I don't know. But we're going home." The van took off into the night just as the Centre personnel reached where Jarod and Lily had stood.
***********************
Angelo had run circles around the Sweeper Team and they had lost valuable time. Lyle could see the van taking off into the night. "Get a Sweeper Team to follow that van. Jarod's got my prize possession and I want it back!"
"Yes Mr. Lyle." Sam stated.
Lyle checked out the ground. There seemed to be the impression of heeled shoes. "It looks like there was some kind of commotion here. Get a team out here to check every bit of ground. I want to know what went on here." Lyle went to head back to the Centre when he spotted Angelo. "And put him back in his cage." He motioned at Angelo with a fling of his hand.
"Yes Sir."
Angelo looked back at the taillights in the distance as he was being escorted and smiled.
**********************
Lily's eyes fluttered open. A nurse was standing over her removing an IV out of her arm. She looked around and realized she was back in her room at Angel's Hope. She tried to sit up, but was too groggy and fell back onto the bed. The nurse swiped her card and left the room.
"Don't try to get up yet Lily. You still have the anesthetic in your system."
Lily tried to focus and realized that Becky was sitting at the foot of her bed.
"What happened?" Lily asked in a raspy voice.
"Joan felt that it would be better if she kept you sedated for a while." Becky got off the bed and went to pour a glass of water out of a pitcher on the nightstand. She went over to Lily. "Here, have a drink."
Lily took a sip and laid back down. "How long have I been out?"
"Three days." Becky looked down at the glass.
Lily tried to get up again. "Three days! I have to get up......." She collapsed again on the bed.
"I told you you're not ready. They used some heavy-duty drugs on you Sis."
"Why?" Lily closed her eyes trying to focus.
"For one, because Joan didn't want you to fight and try to leave again. She knew you would be mad. Two, she's trying to figure out what to do with our guests."
Lily opened her eyes. "You mean escape. She brought Jarod and the Parker woman here?"
"I never felt we were escaping from here. . And yes, she said that she couldn't just leave them there. But she wouldn't tell me why."
"Because they know about us." Lily said in frustration. "Now they're trapped here like we are."
"Why is it that I always felt that Angel's Hope was a safe refuge and you felt like a prisoner?" Becky asked.
"Maybe the hypodermic in my arm justifies my feelings." Lily bit back. "Sorry, I know this is hard on you. How is the little girl? And where are Jarod and Miss Parker?"
"The little girl is going through re-adjustification."
"Is she responding?" Lily asked with concern in her voice.
"A little. Joan said that it would be a slow progress. A drug was used that she is not familiar with. And Jarod and Miss Parker are comfortable in their guest quarters."
Lily started pulling herself up and Becky tried to help her this time. "I have to go see Jarod. He might know what drug was used."
Becky looked at the floor. "You can't do that right now Lil."
"Why not?" Lily questioned while trying to steady herself.
"Joan has them under sedation and quarantine. Plus, Hun, you're under quarantine. Only certain personnel are allowed in here and you're not allowed out." She pointed to the card key lock next to Lily's door.
"She put a lock on my door?"
"And a guard." Becky added.
"So. I am a prisoner." Lily put her head on her sister's shoulder.
********************
Sydney made his way to Angelo's room. He opened the door and went inside. He found Angelo sitting at his computer with a concerned look on his face.
"What's wrong Angelo?" Sydney trying to look at what Angelo had on the computer.
Angelo escaped out of the program he was in and looked at Sydney. "Jarod not responding. Jarod lost."
"How is Jarod lost Angelo? Is he in trouble? Does Mr. Lyle have him?" Sydney was concerned.
"No. Lyle angry." Angelo's face went into a growl. "Property gone. Raines mad."
"What about Jarod Angelo?"
Angelo picked up a piece of paper and started drawing a picture. When he was finished, a picture of a statue of an angel with spread wings was on the paper. "He's with the angel's. Miss Parker too."
"Angelo, can I have this piece of paper?" Sydney had recognized that Angelo was saying that wherever Jarod was, he was by this statue. "I'll speak with you later Angelo."
Sydney left the room and headed for Broots' office. Maybe Broots could find a match to the statue. And they had to find a match before the Centre realized that Miss Parker was with Jarod.
****************
Lily had been sitting on her bed. She had taken a shower and had gotten changed into a long sleeve shirt and jeans. She was feeling more coherent now. She realized that they had gone through her room. It was way too clean.
The door lock beeped and the door opened. Joan came through the door carrying a tray of food. "Thought you might be hungry now." She put the tray on the nightstand.
"You mean that I might be hungry after being on an IV drip for three days?" Lily said with anger in her voice.
"Lily, I did that for your best interest. You were not going to listen to me until you cooled down."
"And that was your solution to my anger. I think you made a mistake. I'm just angrier. " Lily looked away from Joan.
"Lily. Being in charge means having to make certain decisions." She was trying to justify herself.
"Like putting a lock on my door and treating me like the prisoner I have been my whole life." The words that she had kept inside all these years from Joan had finally come out.
"You don't know what being a prisoner means! But I think you're about to find out. Eat. In an hour, we're taking the IV out on Jarod. I think you should be there when he wakes up." Joan turned, went to the door, and swiped her card. She left without another word.
******************
Jarod shook his head, trying to shake off the fuzziness in his head. He immediately surveyed the room. Nurse, IV stand, nightstand, dresser with mirror, door with card key lock, and the woman who had stopped him at the Centre. The woman named Lily was sitting at the end of his bed. "Where am I?"
"Angel's Hope. It's where I live." Lily responded.
"How did we get here?" Jarod was trying to put together a perspective of where he was.
Lily moved up the bed with the glass of water in her hand and gave Jarod a sip. "I'm not actually sure. I was unconscious." Lily looked down at the cup that was now in her lap. "I would assume on one of our jets."
"Unconscious? Why would your own people knock you out?" Jarod laid back down on the pillow. This bit of information made him curious.
" Because we had a difference of opinion. I saw myself attacking the Centre and they saw me being here." Lily smiled a little.
"And the girl?" Jarod realized that if he was here, so was the possible new Pretender.
"She's resting comfortably. I think we may need your help Jarod."
"My help? Why?" Jarod pushed himself up.
"Joan says that the girl's conditioning was achieved with a new drug that they are not familiar with. They don't have the correct counter agent to reverse the effects. She was hoping that you knew what drug they had used." Lily looked into Jarod's eyes. She saw the pain in them as she delivered the news.
"I know the anecdote, but it had to be administered within a certain time span. How long have I been out?"
"Three days." Lily could see Jarod's pain turn to rage. "Jarod, I know how you are feeling. I went through the same thing. Becky told me that Joan estimated that the girl had been conditioned five days prior to your rescue attempt. Even if we hadn't stopped you, there would have been nothing you could do."
Jarod hung his head. "Nothing."
"Jarod. The only hope that little girl has is our Re-Adjustification Team. They have dealt with other children like her."
"You have had other children here with the same condition?" Jarod was confused. Davey had been the first child, since the red files, that he had known of that Raines had tried his drug therapy on.
"Yes, the Retrieval Teams have brought them here since even before I was here. And I have been here since I was four."
Jarod laid back down in shock. There had been more children harmed by the Centre. "Were they made that way by the Centre?"
"I don't know. I just learned of the Centre a little while ago. I just know that the children were brought here and that I have assisted in their re- education."
Jarod feeling stronger sat up. Then a thought entered his mind. "If I'm here, the girl is here, does that mean........."
"Yes, Miss Parker is here as well. She is still under sedation." Lily replied as if she were reading his mind.
"Then we may have more trouble than you originally thought."
Lily was about to ask why, when the door opened. Joan stood there with two members of the Retrieval Team. "Hello Jarod. I am Dr. Joan Stedman. I think it's time that you come with us to SL 27."
Jarod's eyes grew big with fear as he heard that sub-level number.
Lily looked at Joan. "Why are you taking him to the Re-Adjustification level?"
"I'm sorry Lily. He knows too much and we're going to have to take care of that."
