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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: See part 1
Author's note: Sorry for the long delay, life seems to have gotten in the way of my writing lately. Hopefully you will see more in the near future. Part 5 is on the way for those of you interested.
Entanglement and Lies
By Apollo's Girl
(aka AG)
* * * * * * * * * * Part 4* * * * * * * * * *
Alex Knight stood behind the glass wall and watched as the young dark-haired woman shot her gun with perfect aim at the target. Three shots through the heart and three right between the eyes. She was one of Citadel Eugenics best target shooters, even better when the target was moving.
"It’s surprising that she’s still improving every day."
Alex nodded in agreement. "She’s becoming the best and most successful of all of them."
"Her accuracy results on the Sims have also improved, especially with the new drug, chem. 5723."
"Good, good. Continue with the administration of the drug and keep monitoring her progress. The moment you see something wrong, stop with the administration. The last thing we need is to lose one of our best Pretender."
"I understand, although I think we have other things to worry about than the drug. Her memory seems to be returning and there are signs of resistance in her performing the Sims."
"Is it because of 5723?"
"No, I don’t think so."
"Have you tried to suppress them with other drugs?"
"I have thought about it, but I don’t know how they will react to 5723."
"Hmm…" Alex stopped to think. She was the best pretender that they had and the last thing he needed was for her memories to return. It was hard enough trying to get her to cooperate in the first place, it would be harder the second time around. She had a very stubborn mind.
"We’ll stop with 5723 until we have suppressed the other memories, when you have ensured that they are gone continue with the experiment."
"Fine. By the way, I hear that you have a new assignment for her."
Alex smiled down at the doctor. "There’s someone that I want her to get rid of, I think it will be the best way to determine exactly what her capability is."
"And?"
"Have her kill Tanaka."
"Father or son?"
"Father."
"She’ll have to get in and out of the prison, he’s heavily guarded." The doctor pointed out.
"That’s the challenge. If she can pull it off without being caught, then we know what she’s capable of."
"I’ll have her prepped tomorrow morning."
"Good." Alex smiled at his pretender. She turned around and looked at him. It only made his smile grow larger as he saw that her eyes were empty of any soul, only pure hatred and evil stared back at him.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Parker and Jarod sat at the kitchen table going over piles of papers they had received over the past couple of days as well as the ones they had ‘borrowed.’ They found a few references to different projects, but mainly they were the ones the place had made public. Jarod sighed and stretched out his arms.
"Coffee?" He asked as he got up.
"Please!" Parker replied as she worked on the computer. Jarod went over to the counter and began to make another pot of coffee. He sat by it listening to the drips and whirs of the machine as he rubbed his eyes, wondering if he could find anything about his sister or if this was a dead end. His thoughts were interrupted by a gasp from Parker.
"Jarod. Come look at this."
"What?"
"This project number, 26435-3937, keeps being listed under other projects, including yours for Chem. 5723." Jarod nodded, surprised that Parker would catch something that he didn't. "When I saw this I looked up that project and with the security clearance I stole from Binks I was able to access it."
"Well?" Jarod asked at her pause. Parker took a deep breath.
"It’s a Pretender project, at least one of them."
"One of them?"
"By the looks of it they have five Pretender projects running, see here. However this one seems to be the most successful."
"Its like the Red Files."
"I guess. I think you know more about that then I would." Parker replied. She ran a hand through her hair to get it out of her face.
"Anything else?"
"There are two females and one male in this project. According to this a 17-year-old half-Asian, half-Caucasian girl, the other a 23-year-old Caucasian woman and a 19-year-old Caucasian man. Here are their pictures."
"Emily." He replied as he saw the picture of the oldest of the group.
"We'll get her out Jarod." Parker replied softly.
"I hope."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Tanaka slept in cell, his breathing soft and low. However it was interrupted by the sound of the bars opening. He looked up to see a figure covered from head to foot in black.
"What do you want?" He asked in his accented English.
"I'm here to set you free." The figure replied in Japanese.
"Tomei sent you didn’t he?" The old man asked, a proud smile coming over his face.
"No. I was sent by someone else."
"Who?"
"Death."
Tanaka looked up the figure only to see blood red lips turned up in a smile.
"Who are you?" His voice slightly raising, ready to call for the guards.
"Your Angel of Death."
Before he could do/say anything, his assailant had wrapped his neck with a rope of bed sheets and tied it
to the metal bars. Then she pushed him and he fell forward only to be stopped by the sheet.
"It’s a shame they won't see it’s my own handy work." She said quietly to the dying figure. "But I'm sure they'll be quite happy that you committed 'suicide'."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"She's completed the assignment without a hitch." The doctor replied smiling at Alex.
"Congratulations."
The pretender looked up at him and smiled. The other two pretenders came over and congratulated her.
"Good job Baby." The one male congratulated. He slung an arm around her and gave her a tight squeeze.
"Now you are definitely part of the team." Emily added a proud smile on her face. "Always knew you
could do it."
"Thanks." She replied.
"Good, now that Jade is officially part of the team, I have a new assignment for the three of you. Emily you'll head the operation and no complaints about it Trent."
"Did you hear anything coming out of my mouth?" The young man replied.
"Just making sure before you could get it out." Alex replied with a smile.
"So what's the assignment?" Jade asked, adrenaline rushing at the excitement of doing more operations.
"The government is testing a new drug at one of their secret facilities in the Midwest. I want the three of you to penetrate it and retrieve all the information you can. I have already received blue prints of the complex and the access codes for the files. You can only retrieve the information from one of two of the labs. I leave the rest up to the three of you on how to get it."
"The drug?" Emily asked her mind already coming up with possibilities as she studied the blue print he had just handed her.
"Something called Barb. It’s supposed to paralyze a person for weeks and make them more susceptible to memory alterations. We have yet to come up with a successful formula, so why waste more money when we can just get the list of ingredients. Right?"
The four other occupants of the room smiled.
"I'll let you three get to work. Janette could you show them out?"
"My pleasure. I need to get to my office anyway." She said to Alex, then turning to the three pretenders, "If you do need anything, just let me know."
"Will do." Trent replied. They all exited the office leaving a very happy Alex Knight behind.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Lyle sat at a café in New York City trying to formulate some plan on how to find his daughter. Everything at the moment came up as a bad idea, with the possibilities turning out bad more often then good. What he really needed was someone on the inside to help him, but who was the question. He looked at the newspaper by his coffee cup and noticed that Tanaka was on the front. He picked it up in interest.
"Japanese Crime Boss Commits Suicide." He read out loud from the headline. It surprised him since he never thought Tanaka was that type of person, but he just shrugged it off. As he continued to read two voices caught his attention. When he peered up from his paper he felt his jaw drop down to the floor. It was Parker and Jarod, holding hands and if that wasn’t enough he saw her giving Jarod a kiss.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Parker walked into the restaurant with Jarod to have dinner with a co-worker of theirs, Eric Simon one of the security people. Then she saw Janette. Of all the people that had to come it had to be her. Janette waved her hand in hello, though Parker could see right through that saccharine smile of hers. Parker leaned up to give Jarod a kiss, hoping that Janette would finally get the point. ‘Blondes always seem to have a harder time grasping things.’ She reasoned silently with herself.
Jarod had to suppress a chuckle when he saw Janette and Parker’s reaction to it.
"Jealous are we?" Jarod whispered into her ear.
"Let’s just say I’m claiming what’s mine." Parker replied a wicked smile on her face as she approached their table.
"You really should learn to share."
"I don’t share!"
"Just spoil my fun why don’t you?" Jarod teased, his breath hot on her neck. Parker turned her face up towards him, seeing his cocky grin.
"You only wish."
Before Jarod could respond, Parker stopped in her tracks and could not believe who she saw sitting in front of her. Jarod looked at Lyle and prayed that he wouldn’t give away the pretend.
"Sis, how nice to see you? So this is what you have been up to." Lyle replied, still unsure how to react to his sister being here with Jarod.
"What are you doing here?" Parker asked.
"Could ask you the same. When did the two of you get hitched?" Lyle asked noticing the wedding rings on the two.
"Michael, Andrea!!!" Janette greeted loudly as she came over to three, stopping right besides Jarod.
"Glad you made it, I hope you don’t mind my joining. Eric was so nice to invite me when he told me of his plans tonight."
‘You just wanted to hit on Jarod.’ Parker thought silently as she watched the woman press up against
Jarod.
"Um, yes well…" Jarod started to reply, but was interrupted by Janette.
"Who’s this?" She asked pointing to Lyle. "An old colleague or something?"
"This is-" Parker began.
"I’m her brother." Lyle finished for her. "I’m in town for business and just ran into these two here. Small world isn’t it?" He asked with a sly grin on his face.
"Umm, yes small world." Jarod replied. He was wondering why Lyle was playing along.
"So where do you two work now?" Lyle continued, trying to gather as much information as he could.
"Oh, we work at Citadel Eugenics." Janette replied. Lyle could barely keep his surprise hidden, however Parker picked up on it but decided not to say anything yet. "Would you care to join us Mr.- I’m sorry I missed your name."
"Robert Denton. Call me Bobby."
"Nice to meet you. Would you care to join?"
"Sur-"
"If you don’t mind Janette, I really hate to be rude, but I haven’t seen my brother in a long time and would like to have dinner just with him tonight. It’s such a surprise to see him that I would like to catch up with him." Parker replied throwing looks over at Lyle. Lyle only smiled and nodded.
"That sounds nice, Sis. It has been such a long time that even didn’t know you and Michael here got married."
"Well I understand. Michael would you like to join us then and leave the two siblings alone for catch-up time?" Janette asked throwing him a flirtatious smile.
"Umm… I think I have some catching up to do with my brother-in-law, but thanks. Tell Eric that I’m sorry for this change in plans."
"Oh, alright. I’m sure he’ll understand." Janette waved goodbye and walked back to her table.
"So Sis why wasn’t I invited to the wedding?"
"What are you really doing here Lyle?" Jarod demanded.
"What are you doing at Citadel Eugenics?"
"Is that really any of your business?" Parker responded. "What interest do you have in the place anyway? I noticed that the name caught your interest."
"You tell me first."
"We are not playing this game with you." Jarod said.
"My, my I’m sure the Centre would love to know where the two of you are. You have caused a great ruckus back there Sis."
"You tell us first what you are doing here then we’ll tell you on the condition that you don’t tell the Centre." Parker replied.
"Why should I not?"
"Cause you’re not suppose to be here either." Jarod said. "The Centre is looking for you too."
"How are you so sure?"
"My source." Jarod replied cryptically. The three sat silently at the table as each contemplated the next move to make.
"Fine. I’m looking for this person." Lyle replied quietly, pulling out the picture of his daughter. Jarod and Parker gasped, it was the same girl from the Pretender project. "You’ve seen her?" Lyle asked some hope creeping up in his voice.
"Why are you looking for her?" Jarod asked, suspicious as to why Lyle would want the girl.
"I don’t really think it’s any of your business Jarod."
"It is our business if you don’t want to be squealed on." Parker replied.
"You squeal on me, I squeal on you and I’m sure that the Triumvirate would not be happy to find out that you’re married to King Lab Rat here."
"Until you tell me why you are looking for her we’re not going to tell you what we’re here for." Jarod replied. All the while Parker kept feeling like they were going around in circles likes pre-schoolers.
"First you tell me something first then I’ll tell you."
"Nu-uh. You have to tell me why-"
"If you’re so interested then why don’t you-"
"Oh would the two of you just shut-up!" Parker bite out. "You are giving me a headache."
"Someone got out of the wrong side of bed." Lyle replied.
"Doesn’t she always?" Jarod said.
Parker gave both of them an icy glare. "Look brother dearest, I’m here because it looks like we have some competition here against the Centre. I’m here to gather information to bring back to the Centre."
"Is she part of one of the projects?" Lyle asked pointing to the picture.
"Yes."
"You going to get her out?"
Jarod and Parker looked at each other, slightly bewildered by Lyle’s tone. It was a mix of hope and sadness.
"You know her don’t you?" Jarod asked quietly.
"You could say that."
"What’s her relationship to you?"
Lyle didn’t say anything at first. He wasn’t sure if he could trust them, more precisely Jarod. His sister he was sure that he could trust, after all this dealt with their family, but Jarod was different. After all the things he had done to the man he wasn’t sure if Jarod would help him. But so far they were the only two he could count on.
"She’s- Look I know you are not going to believe me when I say this but its true." Lyle started out, he was looking at the picture. He took a deep breath and looked up at the two, "She’s my daughter."
"You’re WHAT?" Jarod and Parker replied at the same time.
"My daughter. You know I’m her father, half her DNA is mine, she’s my child, a product of having sex." Lyle replied slightly annoyed.
"I know that!" Parker said. "But I never thought that you were a father. You never said anything."
"Because if I did the Centre would be looking for her." Lyle replied.
"How do I know you’re not lying?" Jarod asked.
"Because I’m not. If you want proof, I have pictures, a birth certificate, etc. I’m not lying Jarod."
"Why is she with them? What happened?" Parker asked curious and surprised that she had a niece.
"She was taken away from me and Sylvia six years ago."
"Sylvia?"
"My wife… late wife. The bastards who took my daughter killed her." Lyle eyes turned dark with anger as he remembered the night that his life was turned upside down. "At first I thought it was the Centre, which is why I went to work for them, but it turned out I was wrong. I couldn’t find a trace of her until recently when someone gave me this picture. It was suppose to have been taken two years ago. I don’t even know if she is alive or dead."
"We haven’t seen her, only her records and files." Parker replied.
"But as far as we know she is alive." Jarod continued. "So that’s why you’re here."
"And why if the Centre found out they would take her the moment I got her out."
"That smart huh?" Parker asked.
"She was really bright. I would like to say it came from me, but I think most of it came from her mother." Lyle replied like a proud father. "Is this why you two are here? To get them out?"
"It is." Jarod said as he contemplated the information he just received. He still didn’t know how to react to Lyle. He could tell that the man was sincere in wanting his daughter back, but he still couldn’t get over the fact that Lyle had killed his brother or any of the other hideous things Lyle had done.
"Will you help me get her out?" Lyle asked, hope creeping into his voice although he tried to keep it neutral.
Parker and Jarod exchanged a look and nodded. "On one condition." Jarod said.
"What?"
"All the people we free are to stay free! The Centre is not to find out about any of them and if they do you do everything you can to stop them from taking them."
"It’s a deal then." Lyle replied.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Parker and Jarod returned to their penthouse later that evening after their unexpected dinner with Lyle. They didn’t say anything to each other at first. Finally the silence began to become oppressive.
"I have a niece." Was all that Parker could come up with.
"Looks like both of us has a family member to get out." Jarod replied. "I still can’t believe that Lyle has a daughter."
"You can’t believe it? I’m his twin sister, I can’t believe it."
"It’s going to take some getting use to, this idea of him having a heart."
"This might explain his behavior in the past." Parker reasoned. "He lost his daughter and his wife in the same night. Not only that when he went to the organization that he thought that took his daughter, it turns out that they don’t even know of her existence."
"It’s not a justification for what he’s done."
"No, it’s not, but it’s an explanation." Parker replied, feeling for the first time in her life true sympathy for her brother.
"I hope he stays away like he promised." Jarod said.
"He should, I don’t think he would jeopardize losing his daughter. He understands that someone over there will probably recognize him."
"Unless they already know he’s here. If they are anything like the Centre, they will be keeping some type of tabs on him."
"Not unless they still think he is dead."
"But he’s been back at the Centre for how long?" Jarod pointed out.
"True." Parker replied. "We just need to find out if they know about him or not. Plus if Janette is part of the project then that might mean she knows who he is."
"No I don’t think she does. If she did she would know who we are."
"Not necessarily Jarod." Parker said. "We are not what Citadel wants. From what I can tell they want pretenders who have not been ‘worked’ with before. They want someone who they can start off with a clean slate."
"I don’t agree Parker. They took my sister and your niece. They both are tied to the Centre."
"Yes but the Centre has never actually worked with them. Neither of them had been inside the facility or had direct contact with one of them."
"Jade?" Jarod replied.
"Lyle didn’t work for the Centre at the time Jarod. He was doing everything he could to keep her away from them."
"I see your point. This is going to be hard to get used to." Jarod said shaking his head in dismay.
"Lyle being an ally is not something that I feel comfortable with."
"We’ll just have to deal with it and hope for the best."
Author's note: Sorry for the long delay, life seems to have gotten in the way of my writing lately. Hopefully you will see more in the near future. Part 5 is on the way for those of you interested.
By Apollo's Girl
(aka AG)
* * * * * * * * * * Part 4* * * * * * * * * *
Alex Knight stood behind the glass wall and watched as the young dark-haired woman shot her gun with perfect aim at the target. Three shots through the heart and three right between the eyes. She was one of Citadel Eugenics best target shooters, even better when the target was moving.
"It’s surprising that she’s still improving every day."
Alex nodded in agreement. "She’s becoming the best and most successful of all of them."
"Her accuracy results on the Sims have also improved, especially with the new drug, chem. 5723."
"Good, good. Continue with the administration of the drug and keep monitoring her progress. The moment you see something wrong, stop with the administration. The last thing we need is to lose one of our best Pretender."
"I understand, although I think we have other things to worry about than the drug. Her memory seems to be returning and there are signs of resistance in her performing the Sims."
"Is it because of 5723?"
"No, I don’t think so."
"Have you tried to suppress them with other drugs?"
"I have thought about it, but I don’t know how they will react to 5723."
"Hmm…" Alex stopped to think. She was the best pretender that they had and the last thing he needed was for her memories to return. It was hard enough trying to get her to cooperate in the first place, it would be harder the second time around. She had a very stubborn mind.
"We’ll stop with 5723 until we have suppressed the other memories, when you have ensured that they are gone continue with the experiment."
"Fine. By the way, I hear that you have a new assignment for her."
Alex smiled down at the doctor. "There’s someone that I want her to get rid of, I think it will be the best way to determine exactly what her capability is."
"And?"
"Have her kill Tanaka."
"Father or son?"
"Father."
"She’ll have to get in and out of the prison, he’s heavily guarded." The doctor pointed out.
"That’s the challenge. If she can pull it off without being caught, then we know what she’s capable of."
"I’ll have her prepped tomorrow morning."
"Good." Alex smiled at his pretender. She turned around and looked at him. It only made his smile grow larger as he saw that her eyes were empty of any soul, only pure hatred and evil stared back at him.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Parker and Jarod sat at the kitchen table going over piles of papers they had received over the past couple of days as well as the ones they had ‘borrowed.’ They found a few references to different projects, but mainly they were the ones the place had made public. Jarod sighed and stretched out his arms.
"Coffee?" He asked as he got up.
"Please!" Parker replied as she worked on the computer. Jarod went over to the counter and began to make another pot of coffee. He sat by it listening to the drips and whirs of the machine as he rubbed his eyes, wondering if he could find anything about his sister or if this was a dead end. His thoughts were interrupted by a gasp from Parker.
"Jarod. Come look at this."
"What?"
"This project number, 26435-3937, keeps being listed under other projects, including yours for Chem. 5723." Jarod nodded, surprised that Parker would catch something that he didn't. "When I saw this I looked up that project and with the security clearance I stole from Binks I was able to access it."
"Well?" Jarod asked at her pause. Parker took a deep breath.
"It’s a Pretender project, at least one of them."
"One of them?"
"By the looks of it they have five Pretender projects running, see here. However this one seems to be the most successful."
"Its like the Red Files."
"I guess. I think you know more about that then I would." Parker replied. She ran a hand through her hair to get it out of her face.
"Anything else?"
"There are two females and one male in this project. According to this a 17-year-old half-Asian, half-Caucasian girl, the other a 23-year-old Caucasian woman and a 19-year-old Caucasian man. Here are their pictures."
"Emily." He replied as he saw the picture of the oldest of the group.
"We'll get her out Jarod." Parker replied softly.
"I hope."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Tanaka slept in cell, his breathing soft and low. However it was interrupted by the sound of the bars opening. He looked up to see a figure covered from head to foot in black.
"What do you want?" He asked in his accented English.
"I'm here to set you free." The figure replied in Japanese.
"Tomei sent you didn’t he?" The old man asked, a proud smile coming over his face.
"No. I was sent by someone else."
"Who?"
"Death."
Tanaka looked up the figure only to see blood red lips turned up in a smile.
"Who are you?" His voice slightly raising, ready to call for the guards.
"Your Angel of Death."
Before he could do/say anything, his assailant had wrapped his neck with a rope of bed sheets and tied it
to the metal bars. Then she pushed him and he fell forward only to be stopped by the sheet.
"It’s a shame they won't see it’s my own handy work." She said quietly to the dying figure. "But I'm sure they'll be quite happy that you committed 'suicide'."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"She's completed the assignment without a hitch." The doctor replied smiling at Alex.
"Congratulations."
The pretender looked up at him and smiled. The other two pretenders came over and congratulated her.
"Good job Baby." The one male congratulated. He slung an arm around her and gave her a tight squeeze.
"Now you are definitely part of the team." Emily added a proud smile on her face. "Always knew you
could do it."
"Thanks." She replied.
"Good, now that Jade is officially part of the team, I have a new assignment for the three of you. Emily you'll head the operation and no complaints about it Trent."
"Did you hear anything coming out of my mouth?" The young man replied.
"Just making sure before you could get it out." Alex replied with a smile.
"So what's the assignment?" Jade asked, adrenaline rushing at the excitement of doing more operations.
"The government is testing a new drug at one of their secret facilities in the Midwest. I want the three of you to penetrate it and retrieve all the information you can. I have already received blue prints of the complex and the access codes for the files. You can only retrieve the information from one of two of the labs. I leave the rest up to the three of you on how to get it."
"The drug?" Emily asked her mind already coming up with possibilities as she studied the blue print he had just handed her.
"Something called Barb. It’s supposed to paralyze a person for weeks and make them more susceptible to memory alterations. We have yet to come up with a successful formula, so why waste more money when we can just get the list of ingredients. Right?"
The four other occupants of the room smiled.
"I'll let you three get to work. Janette could you show them out?"
"My pleasure. I need to get to my office anyway." She said to Alex, then turning to the three pretenders, "If you do need anything, just let me know."
"Will do." Trent replied. They all exited the office leaving a very happy Alex Knight behind.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Lyle sat at a café in New York City trying to formulate some plan on how to find his daughter. Everything at the moment came up as a bad idea, with the possibilities turning out bad more often then good. What he really needed was someone on the inside to help him, but who was the question. He looked at the newspaper by his coffee cup and noticed that Tanaka was on the front. He picked it up in interest.
"Japanese Crime Boss Commits Suicide." He read out loud from the headline. It surprised him since he never thought Tanaka was that type of person, but he just shrugged it off. As he continued to read two voices caught his attention. When he peered up from his paper he felt his jaw drop down to the floor. It was Parker and Jarod, holding hands and if that wasn’t enough he saw her giving Jarod a kiss.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Parker walked into the restaurant with Jarod to have dinner with a co-worker of theirs, Eric Simon one of the security people. Then she saw Janette. Of all the people that had to come it had to be her. Janette waved her hand in hello, though Parker could see right through that saccharine smile of hers. Parker leaned up to give Jarod a kiss, hoping that Janette would finally get the point. ‘Blondes always seem to have a harder time grasping things.’ She reasoned silently with herself.
Jarod had to suppress a chuckle when he saw Janette and Parker’s reaction to it.
"Jealous are we?" Jarod whispered into her ear.
"Let’s just say I’m claiming what’s mine." Parker replied a wicked smile on her face as she approached their table.
"You really should learn to share."
"I don’t share!"
"Just spoil my fun why don’t you?" Jarod teased, his breath hot on her neck. Parker turned her face up towards him, seeing his cocky grin.
"You only wish."
Before Jarod could respond, Parker stopped in her tracks and could not believe who she saw sitting in front of her. Jarod looked at Lyle and prayed that he wouldn’t give away the pretend.
"Sis, how nice to see you? So this is what you have been up to." Lyle replied, still unsure how to react to his sister being here with Jarod.
"What are you doing here?" Parker asked.
"Could ask you the same. When did the two of you get hitched?" Lyle asked noticing the wedding rings on the two.
"Michael, Andrea!!!" Janette greeted loudly as she came over to three, stopping right besides Jarod.
"Glad you made it, I hope you don’t mind my joining. Eric was so nice to invite me when he told me of his plans tonight."
‘You just wanted to hit on Jarod.’ Parker thought silently as she watched the woman press up against
Jarod.
"Um, yes well…" Jarod started to reply, but was interrupted by Janette.
"Who’s this?" She asked pointing to Lyle. "An old colleague or something?"
"This is-" Parker began.
"I’m her brother." Lyle finished for her. "I’m in town for business and just ran into these two here. Small world isn’t it?" He asked with a sly grin on his face.
"Umm, yes small world." Jarod replied. He was wondering why Lyle was playing along.
"So where do you two work now?" Lyle continued, trying to gather as much information as he could.
"Oh, we work at Citadel Eugenics." Janette replied. Lyle could barely keep his surprise hidden, however Parker picked up on it but decided not to say anything yet. "Would you care to join us Mr.- I’m sorry I missed your name."
"Robert Denton. Call me Bobby."
"Nice to meet you. Would you care to join?"
"Sur-"
"If you don’t mind Janette, I really hate to be rude, but I haven’t seen my brother in a long time and would like to have dinner just with him tonight. It’s such a surprise to see him that I would like to catch up with him." Parker replied throwing looks over at Lyle. Lyle only smiled and nodded.
"That sounds nice, Sis. It has been such a long time that even didn’t know you and Michael here got married."
"Well I understand. Michael would you like to join us then and leave the two siblings alone for catch-up time?" Janette asked throwing him a flirtatious smile.
"Umm… I think I have some catching up to do with my brother-in-law, but thanks. Tell Eric that I’m sorry for this change in plans."
"Oh, alright. I’m sure he’ll understand." Janette waved goodbye and walked back to her table.
"So Sis why wasn’t I invited to the wedding?"
"What are you really doing here Lyle?" Jarod demanded.
"What are you doing at Citadel Eugenics?"
"Is that really any of your business?" Parker responded. "What interest do you have in the place anyway? I noticed that the name caught your interest."
"You tell me first."
"We are not playing this game with you." Jarod said.
"My, my I’m sure the Centre would love to know where the two of you are. You have caused a great ruckus back there Sis."
"You tell us first what you are doing here then we’ll tell you on the condition that you don’t tell the Centre." Parker replied.
"Why should I not?"
"Cause you’re not suppose to be here either." Jarod said. "The Centre is looking for you too."
"How are you so sure?"
"My source." Jarod replied cryptically. The three sat silently at the table as each contemplated the next move to make.
"Fine. I’m looking for this person." Lyle replied quietly, pulling out the picture of his daughter. Jarod and Parker gasped, it was the same girl from the Pretender project. "You’ve seen her?" Lyle asked some hope creeping up in his voice.
"Why are you looking for her?" Jarod asked, suspicious as to why Lyle would want the girl.
"I don’t really think it’s any of your business Jarod."
"It is our business if you don’t want to be squealed on." Parker replied.
"You squeal on me, I squeal on you and I’m sure that the Triumvirate would not be happy to find out that you’re married to King Lab Rat here."
"Until you tell me why you are looking for her we’re not going to tell you what we’re here for." Jarod replied. All the while Parker kept feeling like they were going around in circles likes pre-schoolers.
"First you tell me something first then I’ll tell you."
"Nu-uh. You have to tell me why-"
"If you’re so interested then why don’t you-"
"Oh would the two of you just shut-up!" Parker bite out. "You are giving me a headache."
"Someone got out of the wrong side of bed." Lyle replied.
"Doesn’t she always?" Jarod said.
Parker gave both of them an icy glare. "Look brother dearest, I’m here because it looks like we have some competition here against the Centre. I’m here to gather information to bring back to the Centre."
"Is she part of one of the projects?" Lyle asked pointing to the picture.
"Yes."
"You going to get her out?"
Jarod and Parker looked at each other, slightly bewildered by Lyle’s tone. It was a mix of hope and sadness.
"You know her don’t you?" Jarod asked quietly.
"You could say that."
"What’s her relationship to you?"
Lyle didn’t say anything at first. He wasn’t sure if he could trust them, more precisely Jarod. His sister he was sure that he could trust, after all this dealt with their family, but Jarod was different. After all the things he had done to the man he wasn’t sure if Jarod would help him. But so far they were the only two he could count on.
"She’s- Look I know you are not going to believe me when I say this but its true." Lyle started out, he was looking at the picture. He took a deep breath and looked up at the two, "She’s my daughter."
"You’re WHAT?" Jarod and Parker replied at the same time.
"My daughter. You know I’m her father, half her DNA is mine, she’s my child, a product of having sex." Lyle replied slightly annoyed.
"I know that!" Parker said. "But I never thought that you were a father. You never said anything."
"Because if I did the Centre would be looking for her." Lyle replied.
"How do I know you’re not lying?" Jarod asked.
"Because I’m not. If you want proof, I have pictures, a birth certificate, etc. I’m not lying Jarod."
"Why is she with them? What happened?" Parker asked curious and surprised that she had a niece.
"She was taken away from me and Sylvia six years ago."
"Sylvia?"
"My wife… late wife. The bastards who took my daughter killed her." Lyle eyes turned dark with anger as he remembered the night that his life was turned upside down. "At first I thought it was the Centre, which is why I went to work for them, but it turned out I was wrong. I couldn’t find a trace of her until recently when someone gave me this picture. It was suppose to have been taken two years ago. I don’t even know if she is alive or dead."
"We haven’t seen her, only her records and files." Parker replied.
"But as far as we know she is alive." Jarod continued. "So that’s why you’re here."
"And why if the Centre found out they would take her the moment I got her out."
"That smart huh?" Parker asked.
"She was really bright. I would like to say it came from me, but I think most of it came from her mother." Lyle replied like a proud father. "Is this why you two are here? To get them out?"
"It is." Jarod said as he contemplated the information he just received. He still didn’t know how to react to Lyle. He could tell that the man was sincere in wanting his daughter back, but he still couldn’t get over the fact that Lyle had killed his brother or any of the other hideous things Lyle had done.
"Will you help me get her out?" Lyle asked, hope creeping into his voice although he tried to keep it neutral.
Parker and Jarod exchanged a look and nodded. "On one condition." Jarod said.
"What?"
"All the people we free are to stay free! The Centre is not to find out about any of them and if they do you do everything you can to stop them from taking them."
"It’s a deal then." Lyle replied.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Parker and Jarod returned to their penthouse later that evening after their unexpected dinner with Lyle. They didn’t say anything to each other at first. Finally the silence began to become oppressive.
"I have a niece." Was all that Parker could come up with.
"Looks like both of us has a family member to get out." Jarod replied. "I still can’t believe that Lyle has a daughter."
"You can’t believe it? I’m his twin sister, I can’t believe it."
"It’s going to take some getting use to, this idea of him having a heart."
"This might explain his behavior in the past." Parker reasoned. "He lost his daughter and his wife in the same night. Not only that when he went to the organization that he thought that took his daughter, it turns out that they don’t even know of her existence."
"It’s not a justification for what he’s done."
"No, it’s not, but it’s an explanation." Parker replied, feeling for the first time in her life true sympathy for her brother.
"I hope he stays away like he promised." Jarod said.
"He should, I don’t think he would jeopardize losing his daughter. He understands that someone over there will probably recognize him."
"Unless they already know he’s here. If they are anything like the Centre, they will be keeping some type of tabs on him."
"Not unless they still think he is dead."
"But he’s been back at the Centre for how long?" Jarod pointed out.
"True." Parker replied. "We just need to find out if they know about him or not. Plus if Janette is part of the project then that might mean she knows who he is."
"No I don’t think she does. If she did she would know who we are."
"Not necessarily Jarod." Parker said. "We are not what Citadel wants. From what I can tell they want pretenders who have not been ‘worked’ with before. They want someone who they can start off with a clean slate."
"I don’t agree Parker. They took my sister and your niece. They both are tied to the Centre."
"Yes but the Centre has never actually worked with them. Neither of them had been inside the facility or had direct contact with one of them."
"Jade?" Jarod replied.
"Lyle didn’t work for the Centre at the time Jarod. He was doing everything he could to keep her away from them."
"I see your point. This is going to be hard to get used to." Jarod said shaking his head in dismay.
"Lyle being an ally is not something that I feel comfortable with."
"We’ll just have to deal with it and hope for the best."
