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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
New Alliances
"Forever. There can be no medical treatment to reverse the results." Joan got up from behind her desk, picked up a framed picture from her shelf, and walked over to the group. "And I offer you also Miss Parker something you have never had your whole life."
"And what is that Dr. Stedman?" Parker coolly said.
"I can give you the information you have craved your whole life. I can give you your Mother." Dr. Stedman turned the frame around and revealed a picture of Catherine Parker holding a baby standing in front of a statue of an angel. Next to her was granite sign that simply stated "Angel's Hope."
"That's me. She brought me here?" Miss Parker asked as she got up and took the picture from Joan.
"Yes. When we first founded Angel's Hope, your mother would bring you with her. But as you got older, she was afraid that without knowing it you would tell your father where you had been. So she stopped bringing you."
Parker ran her finger across her mother's picture. She had so few pictures of her mother, having a new one in her hand gave her joy.
"At first we didn't have a name for the facility. We would just bring the children here and kept to ourselves. And then when you were about four years old, she came and said that her husband had inspired a name that she thought was appropriate. That's when she told me she wanted to call it Angel's Hope. She named it after you my dear."
"Daddy," Parker choked on the word for a moment, "called me his Angel. But why hope?"
"It was her hope to get you away from your father and the Centre." Joan began when Lily interrupted.
"You knew the Centre existed and the people who ran it and never told me? Why all these years did you give us a nameless enemy?"
"In your youth Lily, you would have run off and started an all scale war. By making it a faceless enemy you could be groomed without provocation. And by your actions the last few days, I was right."
Lily looked down at the floor. "You know me too well."
"By that time Catherine had started to find out more information on the origin and purpose of the Centre. She was recruiting more allies or as we called them, guardians, for our cause and that's when things started to get more dangerous. She had found out about a project called Prodigy."
"The Red Files." Jarod stated frankly.
"Yes Jarod, the Red Files. How do you know about them?" Joan asked with curiosity.
"I" Jarod looked at Miss Parker, who had returned to her seat with the picture clutched to her chest. "I mean we learned of their existence while we searched for our pasts. I confiscated copies from the Centre and Miss Parker found copies on her father's desk. I learned that NuGenesis was monitoring eight children for the Centre. But now Lily has told us that there are more Red File children here."
"Yes. Lily and Becky were part of the Prodigy project. There were many projects going on there."
"But why were some children brought here and not all of them?" Parker asked.
Just then there was a knock on the door.
"Enter." Joan called.
Becky stuck her head into the room. "Joan, dinner is ready."
"Very good. Let's all get something to eat. I'm sure everyone can use a good hot meal." Joan came from behind the desk and headed for the door.
"Dr. Stedman. What about my question?" Parker asked noticing that the good doctor had used the interruption to not answer her question.
"Miss Parker there will be plenty of time for you to ask questions and get answers." Joan motioned for everyone to follow Becky out the door.
Everyone got up out of his or her chairs. Lily approached her sister and gave her a hug. Jarod motioned for Miss Parker to proceed and he followed.
"A gentleman. I like that Jarod." Joan said in a matriarchal way.
Suddenly Jarod felt like a small child who had gotten the approval of his mother. He held the door for her as Dr. Stedman walked through. He took a quick look around the room again and spotted the door to Catherine Parker's office. For some reason he was drawn to that door. Suddenly he felt the arm of the guard on his shoulder.
"Sir. The others are waiting." Larry was nudged Jarod's shoulder firmly.
"Of course. Forgive me." Jarod responded trying to be as non-chalant as he could be.
The group headed for the elevators and went to the private dining room.
*************
Broots had been working all day trying to get into Lyle's computer files. Mr. Lyle had instituted some sort of new firewall around his system that Broots' had had no knowledge of. He was angry that someone had introduced something into his system that he had no knowledge of. Especially when he needed to get to where the system protected. He had worked all day trying to get past it with no luck. He probably would have worked all night, but he had to pick up Debbie at school. She was the lead in the school's play and had stayed after school for rehearsals. He was so proud of her. Despite everything that had gone on in her life; her mother and Broots' crazy schedule, she was thriving and doing well in school.
Debbie approached the car. "Hi Daddy!" She yelled through the open window. She opened the car door and got in. "How was your day?"
"Fine honey. How was your rehearsal?" Broots took off in the direction of his home.
Farther down the street, a black sedan pulled away from the curb one minute later.
*************
Sydney had tried to work with Angelo all day in his office. Angelo was nervous and jumpy. All he would say to Sydney was that Jarod was missing and with the angels. Broots had tried to locate the angel statue, but had been unsuccessful. That meant that the figure was custom made and would be harder to track that anticipated.
Angelo was playing with a pen in his hand. "Others will be taken soon. Must find Jarod. Must find Jarod."
Sydney approached Angelo. "Who Angelo? Who is going to be taken?"
"A Princess. A precious Princess." Angelo was rocking on the floor still playing with the pen.
"Angelo, may I see the pen in your hand?" Sydney asked putting out his hand. Angelo dropped the pen into Sydney's hand. Sydney looked at the pen and it had the initial's "RP" on them. He had seen the pen on Mr. Lyle's desk before and wondered about the initials. But that would have to be a mystery for another day. He handed the pen back to Angelo. "I think you better put this back before it is missed."
Angelo grinned and headed out of Sydney's office.
*************
The private dining room was an elegant oak room with an ornate dining table in the center. Each chair looked as if it had been hand carved with the most delicate pictures of cherubs. There were shelves carved into the walls where fine china and knickknacks sat. Glasses hung over a small bar in the corner.
"Please everyone," Joan motioned to the table, "take a seat."
Joan moved to the chair at the head of the table. Lily and Becky took chairs on either side of Joan as if they had done this on many occasions. Jarod sat next to Lily and Miss Parker next to Jarod. The guards Larry and Fred sat next to Becky. Lily introduced Becky formerly to Jarod and Miss Parker. The meal of French onion soup, salad, beef bourguignon and vegetables was consumed while everyone made small talk. Dessert was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
"Dr. Stedman, how many levels are there to this facility?" Jarod finally asked wanting to know about where he was.
"There are 32 sublevels. Each level represents a function or research. Such as sublevel four is the office level. I will make sure that there is an office made available to both of you. Each office is stocked with supplies and research material. Please let Becky know if there is anything that you may still need."
"That is a large facility to keep in obscurity. There are very few regions that could sustain that mass of a complex." Jarod stated trying again to locate their position.
Joan laughed. "Good try Jarod. I promise. When I feel more confidant that I can trust you, then you will know exactly where you are. Until then, this location stays top secret." Joan turned to look at Lily. "And I mean top secret. No hints. No word games. They find out the location and I will separate all of you."
Lily shook her head in agreement. Jarod looked disappointed. Parker grinned.
" Lily. Why don't you take our guests on a tour of the facility? I'm sure they are curious about where they are going to live."
Larry and Fred got up and waited for the group to head for the door. Fred opened the door as Lily, Jarod, Parker, and Becky walked through. Lily introduced Miss Parker to Morris, who would be her guard. Lily took them throughout the complex. The main laboratory looked like something out of NASA. The other levels were computer laboratories, conference rooms, living quarters, and classrooms. The group got off on sublevel 6.
"This is my favorite level." Lily told Jarod as she escorted them further into the level. "On the right are our movie theater and the dance club."
"A dance club in your facility?" Parker asked. "Is this a research facility or a teenybopper hangout?"
Jarod gave her a stern look. "Be nice Miss Parker." Jarod mouthed.
Lily sneered at Parker and continued. "On the left is the recreational area - ping-pong, air hockey, pinball machines. A whole arcade including skeeball, my favorite." Lily noticed that Jarod looked confused. "Jarod. You do know what skeeball is right?"
"I'm sorry Lily. I haven't frequented too many arcades." Jarod responded peeking in through the glass door. "I worked for the circus once."
At the end of the corridor there were two large glass doors. "Now this is my favorite place to think." Lily pushed open the door and showed Jarod and Miss Parker a huge arboretum. Trees, flowers, plants covered every inch of space. Boulders were scattered throughout the room as if they were chairs. Normal chairs and benches were also scattered throughout the room. When Parker looked up, she could see the clearest sky and stars. Tons of stars.
"This was your mother's idea Miss Parker." Becky told her. They moved off to one of the benches to discuss the idea. Parker relished getting information about her mother.
Jarod and Lily moved off to a corner of the room. Lily sat on a boulder with her knees folded. Jarod sat on the grass. "So this facility is built into the side of a mountain." Lily smiled. "I can see through the overhead panels."
Lily looked at Jarod. "Tell me about the Centre. How did you find out about them?"
Jarod looked up at the stars. "I was taken from my parents when I was young and brought to the Centre."
Lily felt a shiver rush up her spine. "You lived there? But we were told that horrible things went on there........." Lily looked at Jarod and stopped talking as she realized what she just said. Solemnly, "What was it like?"
"I went to a psychiatrist once. I explained the Centre as this. Think hell with nicer furniture. There are no windows, no unlocked doors, no light, no hope. They take all that away. They decided what I ate, when I slept, who I saw. They decided everything I did. And I was never allowed to know anything about who I was. They made my life a living hell."
Lily sat in shock. "I'm so sorry Jarod. And I thought I had it bad here. But nothing like that."
"What was it like here growing up?"
"We have windows and light. We have friends and activities. Our work is geared toward helping humanity." Lily looked off into the foliage.
"But......" Jarod could tell something else about Angel's Hope bothered her.
"Like you the doors are always locked. Not the ones to my room, like now. But we were hardly allowed above sublevel 4 unchaperoned. When we were older we were allowed to leave to attend a play or opera. But everywhere we went, whether out or here, there was always someone watching us. If it wasn't physically, then with the cameras." She pointed to one in the far corner of the room. "How I longed for just a few moments of being alone." Lily moved off the rock and onto the grass with Jarod.
Jarod added remembering his session with Dr Goetz. "They had eyes in every ceiling, every wall, they never blinked. They were always on me. Every minute, every hour, every day of my life."
"Every day of my life." Lily said simultaneously. She moved closer to Jarod. "You understand, don't you? I think I left this week not only to fulfill what I thought was my destiny, but also to just have two minutes of not being watched. I've been told it is my destiny to do this and that. Learn this, cure that, being told what to do every day of my life. But never given any time to be......." She looked into Jarod's eyes. "Why Jarod? Why did they do this to you?"
"I worked on simulations that they later took and used to hurt people. They made me into a, I mean I'm a Pretender. I can become anyone I want to be. A doctor, lawyer, police officer. Anything I want to be."
"Except I don't know who I am." Lily finished looking at Jarod.
Jarod shook his head in agreement. "Except I don't know who I am." Suddenly feeling an eerie bond form.
Lily felt the need and did hug Jarod.
"How is it that we know exactly how the other feels?" Jarod questioned.
"Because we shared similar experiences I suppose. Kindred spirits." Lily laid her head on his shoulder.
Parker, in the midst of hearing a story about her mother's favorite tree, turned just in time to see Lily in Jarod's arms.
