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Nea: I'm a Moroccan student in France and I know very well Paris (one of my favorite cities in the world). I am from Casablanca the big economic city of Morocco. Visit us you'll love our country and its millenial history!!!!

Author's note: Thanks for the reviews, it is very important for me. Please forgive me for the late post but I had a lot of work this last week. But don't never doubt it: I WILL FINISH THIS STORY.
So here it is Chapter 2, enjoy it!

CHAPTER 2:

After Jarod left, Miss Parker was still in the same position sobbing and unable to move. After a little while, she decided to go ahead and to shower. She was a Parker and it was just another tough moment that she would overcome. But this time it was Jarod and his words had been so harsh, so cold, so emotionless, so unlike him... "This is where I wanted us to be" his words resonated once again inside of her mind. Yes this is where he wanted them to be. She slapped him and he was satisfied because he wanted it to be their goodbye. He didn'tshow any anger, any remorse. On the contrary, he was satisfied. He wanted it to happen. "You don't deserve anything", his voice was continuously taunting her. "You don't deserve a mother like Catherine Parker"...

She let the hot water of the shower travel across her body and it soon melted with her own hot tears... Jarod was right, she didn't deserve a mother like her mother. Her mother was compassionate, kind, gentle and loving. She was cold, heartless and merciless. She was the Ice Queen.

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When he had left her hotel, Jarod felt more confident. It was like a heavy burden had been removed from him. Yes it was a burden and he had removed it by settling the scores with her. It was finally finished. He would be able from now to continue his search without any interference from the Centre or from her. She was broken and strangely he was glad that in some way he had provoked it...

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"I'm sorry", "I'm so sorry". Miss Parker was violently tossing in her bed as she was completely lost in the depth of a bad nightmare. Completely covered in swet, she violently opened her eyes and remained still for a moment. She realized that she wasn't going to sleep this night so she decided to climb off the bed and to go drink something.
While she settled herself on the sofa with a glass of scotch in her right hand, she couldn't stop herself from thinking about what had made Jarod so angry... It was that night, that horrible night, two years ago...

--------------------
THE CENTRE
Two years ago
"Finally... You're here... Miss... Parker" This raspy voice would always make her feel dizzy and disgusted no matter where and when she would hear it.
"Glad to see you sis!" This one was so facked, so proud, so overconfident, that it had always annoyed her... But it was a necessity for her to hear these two voices and to see daily these two faces. One was the incarnation of Nosferatu, the other the presonalization of treachery and deceit.
"Why am I here?
- You're because of your lack of results ... as always"
She dangerously glared at her brother who responded by an annoyant confident grin towards her.
"Stop it Lyle... we don't ... have time... for...this
- Yes, we don't have time, you see sis, you're here because I know how to finally catch Jarod and you're an central key in my plan.
- What ?" Miss couldn't hide the surprise from her face as she heard the last part of Lyle sentence.
"Oh come on sis! Don't play dumb with us! You know it as much as I know it! You see Jarod cares a lot about two things in this world: the first thing it's his family. Since he escaped, our pretender had been searchinh for his father, sister, mother... And the second thing... it is you! The labrat can't stand it when you are hurt. He had showed it very well in North Carolina. Don't you remember sis?"
Actually, Miss Parker rememebered this episode very well. She had never understood why Jarod choose to stay with her instead of his father and the clone but secretely she was flattered and pleased by Jarod's reaction. He cared about her and she knew it. Hell she always knew it!
But the fact that Lyle knew it annoyed her.
"And your point is...
- My point is... Lyle couldn't supress a chuckle while he analyzed her reaction... that you'll be the bait!"
Raines observed Miss Parker's reaction as her face grew harder.
"You fucking freek, I'm not a piece of meet.
- What a shame, you'd be positevely exquise"
Miss Parker headed dangerously towards Lyle but was stopped by Raines' outburst:
"Enough!... Miss... Parker... you don't have the choice... this will be your proof of loyalty towards the new regime"
- Jarod will never fall for it
- Oh yes he will dear old sis. You see we were never able to catch him because we were incapable of knowing his movements but now..." Lyle stopped and glared at her. "You will conduct him towards the trap."
Miss Parker looked with false bravado at her brother making him understand that he had all her attention.
"You see we, and most importantly, Jarod know that you care a lot about our baby brother... All those baby gifts that he kept sending to you. You know I think that he would make a great father... in dreamland.
- Stop the crap, Lyle... What is my role in all this stupid plan!" Miss Parker couldn't mask her irritation.
"It's simple Parker, you'll tell to the labrat what he always wanted to hear from you..."
Miss Parker suddenly felt a wave of panick as she shakily asked: "What do you mean?
- You'll tell him that you've decided to escape from the Centre and to never return and to make the hole thing more realistic you'll ask him to help you free your baby brother.
Raines rose from his chair and declared. " It's all settled you'll conduct him towards the east wing from the nursery. It's the only way to get out and we will wait for him there."
Lyle observed the new chairman and suddenly they both began to laugh while Miss Parker headed towards the door only to be stopped by Raines' voice: "Be ready Miss Parker..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once in her office, Miss Parker sat at her desk anly to be interrupted be Lyle's entrance:
"What do you want Lyle!" She said, rising from her chair.
" Like Raines said, be ready. I know that the little labrat can't stop himself from calling you...
- And if he doesn't?"
Suddenly Lyle pinned her on the wall and leaned dangerously towards her: "Blow this and I'll blow you."
Miss Parker looked at him but didn't talk. He let go of her and examined her body from head to toe proclaming: "I was right you're positively exquise sis!"
A completely shaked Miss Parker looked at her brother with disgust as he slowly exited her office.
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It was late and she knew that he would call. Such an idiot. As expected, her phone began to ring and she answered with her usual "what".
"Well Miss Parker, always so welcoming" The voice on the other end of the line sounded healthy and cheerful as always.
"I'm not in the mood Jarod
-If you keep working so late, you'll never be Miss Parker
-I'm here because I have to be
- No you don't have to... It's your life and they can't stole it from you.
- Yes it's my life..."
Her voice sounded so weak, so fragile that Jarod couldn't help but feel concerned: "Miss Parker, are you ok?
- Why are you always calling me Jarod? Why?... You...
- What do you mean?
- You're an idiot
- It is not what they say.
- I... I'm going to get out from the Centre... This night"
The voice on the other end of the phone remained still. Jarod couldn't believe what he had just heard. She was going to leave the Centre for good.
"You've finally reached your turning point ... Parker" His voice was so calm like a whisper, like a prayer that she was close to loose her façade so she decided to speed up the matter:
"I can't do it alone... I'm planning to take my baby brother with me...
- You will not be alone anymore Parker, I will help you"
Miss Parker disconnected the phone. She couldn't stand it anymore. It was so heartless... It was so cold... She was so cold. She never imagined that betraying Jarod will be so difficult...
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Miss Parker stared at the sleeping little form beside her. He was so innocent... Innocence, it was a luxury that she would never be able to enjoy. She had lost her soul and this time it was for good.
Since her return from Carthis, she had found peace and joy in "her little man" that she had secretely called Tommy. She had been visiting her baby brother regularly at the Centre nursery and a strong bond had been progressively built between the two persons. And here she was using her innocent baby brother to trap another innocent man.
She knew that Jarod would come. He was always here for her. Lyle had deployed his army of sweepers in the surroundings of the Centre and was already savouring his future success.
She could reveal all the trap to Jarod and let him escape...
No she couldn't, the cameras were recording everything. She was also trapped in some way...
She was suddenly interrupted in her musings by a little noise in the airvents. She knew instantly that it was him. "I thought you'd never come" Her voice wasn't sarcastic. It was indeed very sad.
"So sorry to always deceive you in your expectations... Some things never change!" His voice was cheerful. More than this, he was ecstatic.
"You're an idiot!
- Follow the idiot, he will get you out of here."
Jarod looked at her little brother and smiled at her: "He is so beautiful. He has a lot of chance to have a sister like you."
At his comment, she couldn't stop a little tear.
"Hey... Everything is going to be all right... I promise... It is a brand new life for you Parker"
She didn't respond. Instead she gently lifted her baby brother in her arms which provoked a little giggle from the sleepy baby.
"Here we go, we have to go towards the east wing and we willexit by the sea... I have a boat waiting."
Miss Parker couldn't stop a little gasp as she heard Jarod talking about the east wing. Lyle knew that the pretender wouldn't risk the safety of the baby through the air vents. So he was waiting for them on the other side of this door and she was driving Jarod towards her psycho-brother.
When Jarod approched the door, he smiled at her and opened it. Soon his smile vanished and pure panic grew deeply inside of him as he witnessed the scene before him. He was encircled by a dozen of sweepers and he has nowhere to run. He quickly put himself between Parker and the sweepers: "Run, run as fast as you can and don't turn around."
When Jarod realized that Miss Parker didn't move, he turned around and looked with horror at Lyle walking confidently towards them with a gun in his right hand.
"Parker!
- Don't be afraid, Labrat, the gun isn't for her... It is for you!" Lyle looked at his sister with a grin and declared: "Good performance sis! Your theatre courses were not useless after all!"
The horror on Jarod's face transformed into incomprehension and soon into pure disarray. He looked at Miss Parker like a lost boy with plead in his eyes: "Why?" His question remained without answer. Instead Lyle glared at him and talked:
"You see Jarod... There is one lesson that you haven't leant in the outside world: You should never trust blindly a woman and especially a specimen like her."
Miss Parker remained still at Lyle's comment. She couldn't mobe. The look on Jarod's face was so devastating. It was the look of a shattered heart. Suddenly, Lyle declared: "It is the end of the show! People leave the opera!"
All the sweepers converged towards Jarod but the pretender resisted screaming and struggling like a madman.
Miss Parker choose to retreat from the horrible scene, carrying with her a little screaming boy...
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That night, Miss Parker couldn't sleep. She was constantly awakened by the screams of Jarod and his look when he realiazed that he had ben betrayed by her. The next morning, when she entered the sim lab, there wasn't the usuals "Good Morning Miss Parker". Sydney was glaring at her like she was the pest and Broots was faking a new interest in the floor. They knew what she had done, they knew that she had sold her soul to the devil.
She headed doretcly towards her office and closed the door. But soon, Sydney stormed inside her office:
"Who do you think you are!"
She had never witnessed such an outburst in Sydney's behaviour before. The shrink was always for her the personnification of steadiness. But she didn't let Sydney's anger impress her. Instead, she retorked in her best Ice Queen manner:
"It is my office Sydney! Who do you think YOU are?
- Don't play these games with me Miss Parker! Is there any limits to your lack of heart! How could you do this! How could you use your own brother for such a purpose!
- It's my Job! What was I supposed to do ? Let him experience life like he is anybody else! He belongs to the Centre! His life is here!"
Sydney looked at her and before leaving declared:
"So you think that his life is here! Take a look at this and you will see how you made his life a living hell!"
Sydney threw a DSA in her direction and lef her alone in her office.
She loaded the disc in her DSA player and waited until the screen revealed a dark room in the bowels of the Centre. It was actually a cell. Suddenly two sweepers shoved Jarod inside and cuffed him to the wall. The pretender looked completely exhausted.
Soon, Lyle entered the cell carrying with him electric cables, knifes and other torture instruments. Miss Parker quickly understood and she unconsciously shivered. Her brother walked towards the pretender and whispered to him:
"So how it feels to be betrayed by her Jarod... She doesn't give a damn about what happens to you! She doesn't care! Tell me one thing: why Jarod? I don't understand, she chases you and you still care, why?"
Jarod lifted his his head and spat at Lyle's face.
"I understand... You are stupid! So Mr. Cox told me that you didn't want to cooperate...
- I will never do simulations again
- Oh, we will see after a little... persuasive moment. You see, since our last encounter, I have ameliorated my technique."
Lyle glared at the sweepers near the entrance of the cell.
"You know that in North Korea, they use scorpions to torture the political opponents... In some ways, you're one Labrat! A political opponent to the centre!"
Lyle laugher echoed through the room as the sweepers oppenned a box full of scorpions.
Suddenly Lyle grabbed a bucket of water and threw all its contents on Jarod. Within a second, the pretender was screaming at the contact of the electric cables on his skin. Lyle's evil laugher increased more and more as he took carefully in one hand a scorpion and directed it towards Jarod's collar. Soon, the two other sweepers joined him.
"You know, in Asia, they think that the sting of the scorpion is like the so longed kiss of an unreachable woman: it is always deadly risky! Think of this scorpion like the lips of my sister..."
Jarod screamed in pain as he felt the sting of the scorpion on his flesh and the poison travelling through his blood. Soon he felt a needle plunge on his arm. They were giving him immediately the antidote. Darkness began to surround him.
Miss Parker couldn't breath. She was deeply shocked. She knew that his brother was a sick man but this... She needed to talk with the chairman.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Broots was also deeply shocked. He had saw the DSA with Sydney but it was the fact that Miss Parker was the responsible of all of this who disturbed him. How can she have possibly done such a thing! He had always thought that she had changed, that she wasn't only the cold hearted bitch that he had met six years ago. But now, he was completely lost. How can he talk to her, how can he work with her, but most importantly, how can he let Debbie with her all the Week End?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miss Parker walked confidently towards the Chaiman's office and stepped inside to find Lyle, Cox and Raines in some of their regular conciliabule.
"What's going on with Jarod!
- It's none of your business, sis!"
Miss Parker grabbed Lyle by his collar and yelled at him:
"I have lost six years of my life chasing your so precious your so precious labrat! So Jarod is my business!"
Slowly, Cox moved towards Miss Parker: "He doesn't want to cooperate... We are trying to break him"
Raines who had been silent until now looked at the three protagonist in front of him and declared: "Break him... Yes...Break him... That's the solution... But not physically... Morally... And it's you Miss Parker wo is able to do this!"
Miss Parker couldn't believe her ears. They were planning to use her again like a counter in a chess game.
"Who do you think you are... giving me orders like this!
- I am the chairman Miss Parker and I don't tolerate insubordination. I think that you had a deal with your father... I propose to you a new one... You can leave the Centre with your brother if you succeed in maling Jarod cooperate."
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A week had passed since Jarod had been returned to the Centre. During all the week, she had to support the looks of dismiss and disgust that Sydney was directing at her. Broots was constantly avoiding her. Even Angelo was distant towards her.
She was feeling dirty and was treated like an outcast. She realized how she was so lonely in her life without those three persons. She understood how her life was so empty without them and it scared the hell out of her. She had disappointed them. She had disappointed her loved ones. The people who really cared about her. When she had returned from Raines' office, she had remebered that Debbie was planning to spend the week end with her and it had brought to her an immeasurable joy. But it had been quickly smashed by Broots' faked excuse: "Oh! I'm s...sorry Miss Parker, I didn't tell tou... She is spending the week end with a friend." It had hurted her badly. Broots was like a brother and he didn't trust her anymore...
Raines had offered to her to leave the Centre for good if she succeeded in making Jarod cooperate. Her choice was made: she couldn't continue to live a life like this and she couldn't let her baby brother grow in a place like this. She was going to make Jarod cooperate.
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Jarod was completely exhausted. All his body was aching, courtesy of another torture session administred by Lyle. This times there was snakes... Hearing the noiseof the door, the pretender stood and yelled: "What now Lyle!
- It is not Lyle"
Jarod stopped dead at the sound of the voice and turned to see Miss Parker enter the cell.
" You came to see your achievement... So Miss Parker how is your dear little brother! I can't believe that you used him! You used a little boy! You used your own flesh and blood! I was mistaking: you are valuable to the Centre. Hell you would make a formidable chairman: cold, heartless, merciless... bitch!"
Miss Parker couldn't control herself. Angrily, she shoved Jarod to the wall, unholstered her gun, and plunged it down his throat. Jarod, completely shocked, just stared at her.
"It is my job Labrat! I have to bring you where you belong by any means! Now you are going to listen to me for a change. There isn't any chance for you to escape. I will personnally shoot you if you try it. Your little trip is ended... I will personnally make your familly's life a living hell if you don't cooperate... Do you understand!!"
Then Miss Parker released the pretender who was gasping for air and leaved the room.
The next day, she learned that the pretender had escaped. He had left a message for her: "My trip has just began... Yours is ended... You have reached your destination: emptiness"

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Author's Note:I know taht that the flashback is very long but it was a necessicity for the plot. PLEASE REVIEW: I want your analysis and also some suggestions. I can't continue the story without reviews...









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