“It’s me.”

“Can I take this call as a sign of good news?”

“That’s up to you.”

“Then you are not calling to say you’ll be returning home, that I can talk you out of this ridiculous plan?”

“I do recall you helping me conceptualize this so-called ridiculous plan.”

“It doesn’t mean I supported it.”

“I didn’t call to have yet another argument.”

“You just want to talk to him then? He asks about you, every day. I’m running out of things to say.”

“The game has a new player.”

“If you are calling and not e-mailing this news, I can assume that he or she will be of greater concern than Lyle.”

“Perhaps, but it’s all about perspective.”

“So they are not a key factor?”

“Oh he is most definitely a factor, it just that it is our turn to get a helping hand this time around.”

“Who?”

“Ethan.”

“How?”

“He just… appeared.”

“So this changes everything? Does this mean that you don’t have to follow through with the original plans.”

“No.”

“There has to be another way. Three minds strong –“

“It’s not enough. I still have to go through with this.”

“Why?”

“For him. It’s the only way to keep him safe.”

“Why can’t you think with your heart and not your head, just for once?”

“The moment I think with my heart, he’s…he’s..”

“He’s what – dead? Alone? Miserable? Why can’t you understand that you are seeing this situation in only black and white. There is another solution, I know there is.”

“And what is that?”

“I don’t know!! We just need more time, and if Ethan is willing to help…Time.. we just need more time.”

“Why can’t you understand? That’s the one thing we don’t have.”

THE CENTRE, INFIRMARY

“Sydney, you’re still here?” Miss Parker questioned gently as she entered the small infirmary room. “You should go home and get some rest.” she added with concern.

The psychiatrist turned slightly, but made no move to stand up from the chair he was occupying. It was late afternoon, but deep circles were evident under Sydney’s eyes, the emotional toll of Jarod’s collapse obvious.

“Sometimes I think you are more stubborn than I am Syd.” Parker remarked dryly, before turning her eyes to the prone figure on the bedside. “How is he?” she questioned, her tone taking on a hint of concern.

Sydney rubbed his eyes tiredly. “He hasn’t regained consciousness since he was resuscitated.”

“But he will be okay?” She probed further.

“For now.” He replied tersely.

“You sure know how to inspire confidence.” Parker replied with a hint of sarcasm, moving over towards the bed where the pretender lay, the regular beep of the heart monitor adding to the atmosphere of tension and apprehension that occupied the small infirmary room. His skin was pale and sunken, covered with a thin sheet of perspiration.

“A man of Jarod’s age doesn’t just fall into congestive heart failure. He was brought back in top physical condition.” Sydney added impassively. “Until we figure out the underlying cause…”

“I don’t have to be a doctor to figure that one out. It’s a blood-sucking parasite in the form of Raines.” Parker sneered, touching Jarod’s face briefly. It was warm, much too warm.  She jerked her hand back, aware that Sydney was watching her intently.

“While I believe he is to blame for the severity of Jarod’s condition, the root cause lies with what Jarod was doing before he was brought back to the Centre.” Sydney informed Parker, urgency in his tone.

Miss Parker shook her head. “How do you know that Sydney?” She turned over Jarod’s bare left arm, revealing several small, yet obvious, puncture marks on his arm. “He has more holes in him than a pin cushion. Connect the dots, they spell Raines.”

“If it was a side effect from a drug, the symptoms would have been acute. Jarod’s condition steadily, although rapidly, has decreased since his return. It has to have been something that was in his system before he arrived.” Sydney argued back.

“So Raines’ playtime was nothing but a catalyst?” Parker reaffirmed as Sydney nodded his agreement. The older man reaching forward to feel Jarod’s pulse, despite the regular beep emanating from the heart monitor the pretender was attached to.

“I believe the answer lies in what Jarod was doing before you caught up to him.” The psychiatrist suggested, frowning slightly as he gently touched his hand to Jarod’s forehead.

Miss Parker leaned against the wall heavily, retrieving memories buried behind three days of perpetual jet lag. “I only glanced the red note book briefly, there was something about cancer research…” She trailed off, noticing how Sydney paled slightly at the mention of the word cancer. “Tell me that heart failure and cancer research have nothing to do with each other.”

“Unlikely, however the heart is a very unforgiving muscle. If it were to be infected, this prognosis would not be unexpected.” Sydney informed her, almost in a state of disbelief, as if wishing the words that were exiting his mouth not to be true.

Parker pulled out her small cell phone, pushing a familiar speed-dial on her phone. “Broots, I need to see you – now.” She commanded as the hesitant voice answered on the other end of the connection.

She raised her eyebrows as the tech replied.

“I don’t care if you think Gemini is holed up next door to your little suburban love shack – this is important.” Parker growled impatiently, wondering why Broots hadn’t learnt to jump when she said so yet.

Sydney could hear Broots’ protests from across the room.

“You tell Lyle that …” Parker stopped suddenly, and Sydney could tell from the muffled tone emanating from the cell phone that Lyle had taken over the conversation.

With a frustrated sigh Parker slammed her cellular shut.

Sydney met her gaze questioningly.

“I’m on my way to rescue our faithful tech.” She explained. “Lyle’s convinced they are hot on another lead for Gemini. I’m convinced it’s nothing but another dead end. My brother excels at finding them, almost as effective as he was at creating them.”

“Then what?” Sydney probed.

“We find out what your lab-rat was up to before his luck ran out.” Parker replied determinedly, making her way towards the door, before turning back to studying Jarod’s unconscious form a few seconds longer.

“You don’t think he -…” Parker asked, the unspoken question of her revelation of Jarod’s red notebook content, before he was captured in California lingering in the air. “Any chance he’ll regain consciousness and volunteer this information on his own?”

“With the drugs in his system, I would estimate it will be at least another eight hours, but the rest is up to him.” Sydney informed the younger woman. Parker could hear the strain in his voice and he tried to maintain a clinical tone.

“Your boy is more damn work when he is back in the Centre than out of it.” She remarked, pausing at the doorway.

“Are you saying you prefer him outside these walls?” Sydney asked with almost an amused tone, under different circumstances Parker would have expected a small smirk to have dominated his features.

She ignored the question.

THE CENTRE, TECH ROOM

“So which constellation are you after today Lyle?” Miss Parker mocked as she entered the tech room. “I hear you might have a good shot of catching up to Leo at the Delaware State Zoo.”

“For your information, Broots has uncovered a very promising lead on the location of not only Gemini but Major Charles as well.” Lyle responded in his classic patronizing tone.

“I’m just quivering in my stilettos to see how this one turns out.” Parker replied back fiercely, crossing her arms with obvious disdain for her brother as his eyes sized up her slender figure.

“Why the sudden interest? I hear you pulled some special favours from Daddy Raines to get back to your beloved position in Corporate – and away from anything to do with the recapture of our property.”

“Let’s just say you’re not the only one interested in a zodiac sign at the moment.” Parker stated unhelpfully, moving into Lyle’s personal space. “Let me offer you a free piece of advice, this goosechase you’ve been parading around in the last week screams set-up. Jarod only let us get close when he wanted us to, or when something worth risking his freedom stood in the way. His family isn’t bound to the same need for answers. They want you chasing them for a reason. In my professional opinion you’re nothing but a rat in their maze.”

Lyle smirked wasting no time to reply confidently, “Your time chasing Jarod has ruined your instinct. Broots is good at what he does. Why can’t you accept that maybe this time we are really one step ahead of them?”

“You are nowhere except for where they want you to be. Tell me, has any one of your so-called leads confirmed the physical appearance of Major Charles and Gemini?”

Lyle’s silence indicated he hadn’t bothered checking.

Parker smiled bitterly. “Broots may be damn good at what he does,” She stated, glancing over at the tech as he subconsciously puffed out his chest slightly. “But he’s no match for your little golden goose and paternal figure.” With a step back she snapped at the deflated tech. “Let’s go Broots.”

Lyle grabbed her arm as she walked by him. “We are not done here.”

Parker pulled herself out of Lyle’s tight grip, sending him an icy glare. “Broots’ skills are required elsewhere. Get another monkey to play with you in the rat maze.” She sneered as Broots scurried by. With a false smile, she exited the tech room, meeting the tech’s questioning gaze as the made their way to the elevator.

“Another zodiac sign?” Broots inquired, with disbelief. Parker couldn’t help but let a small smirk escape, realizing he was contemplating the existence of another clone.

“Relax Broots, I meant it figuratively. Jarod was doing medical research before I caught him, so word of the day is cancer.” She informed him, pressing the elevator call button, stepping back with her arms crossed.

“How is Jarod?” Broots asked with obvious concern.

“He hasn’t regained consciousness, and the infirmary doctors are all but mystified. Sydney’s holding vigil at his bedside.”

“I don’t understand what I can do.” Broots admitted with a halting tone.

“Syd’s convinced that whatever Jarod has, he had it before his well received home-coming. With boy-wonder sleeping off his new found drug-induced haze, we have to do the digging for him.” Parker informed the tech.

“Lyle is desperate to find Gemini.” Broots replied, his look turning towards the tech room they had exited moments earlier.  

“Don’t wet your pants. I’ll keep Lyle off your back. In the meantime we need to focus on learning everything we can about what Jarod was up to before he ended up back here.”

“We?” Broots commented dryly as the pair stepped into the elevator.

Parker raised her eyebrow. “Last time I checked, the Jarod pursuit was a team effort.” She responded with an equally neutral tone.

“I didn’t see you breaking into Raines’ office.” Broots muttered, barely audible.

Parker shot him a dangerous look, but harmless by all accounts.

She deeply treasured the friendship she had forged with the gifted computer tech over the past few years. Not that she would ever readily confess that to him.

As much as she hated to admit it, the lustre of Corporate was not as radiant as it had been five years ago.

THE CENTRE, INFIRMARY

Sydney stirred in the uncomfortable infirmary chair. He glanced briefly towards Jarod’s still form on the small hospital bed, before giving his watch a bleary glance.

Half past eleven. Perhaps he should have heeded Parker’s advice and left for the day. His aging physique was not meant for holding vigil in the Centre infirmary. With a heavy groan, Sydney pushed himself out of the chair, and moved towards the far-side of Jarod’s bed. He knew he didn’t have it in his heart to leave the pretender alone. He could only imagine the panic and helplessness that Jarod would be overcome with once he returned to consciousness. The infirmary staff were not renowned for their nurturing nature.

Inspecting the IV line unnecessarily, Sydney placed a gentle hand on the pretender’s forehead. It was still noticeably warm with fever, his concern for his charge amplifying further.

Sydney pulled his hand back, as Jarod began to stir slightly, a small moan erupting from the pretender as he opened his eyes.

“Jarod?” Sydney whispered in relief, as the pretender’s head rocked back and forth, as if struggling to keep his eyes open. Given the cocktail of drugs that were flowing through the IV line, Sydney could well imagine the haze that Jarod was having to fight through to return to the here and now.

With a painful swallow, Jarod’s eyes finally remained opened blearily. The defeated brown orbs instantly located his mentor. “Sydney?” Jarod questioned weakly, a hint of panic escaping.

“It’s okay Jarod. You are in the Centre infirmary, do you remember what happened?”

Jarod looked up impassively at Sydney. “I…” The pretender started with obvious exertion. As his voice trailed off, Jarod squeezed his eyes tight, unable to find the words or memories to answer his mentor’s question.

Sydney placed a comforting hand on the pretender’s bare shoulder. “It’s okay Jarod. You collapsed as you were being escorted back to your room. You were brought here with congestive heart failure. We had to restart your heart.” The psychiatrist informed his protégé with as much clinical professionalism as he could muster.

Jarod’s eyes flew open at this. “Stay calm Jarod. We have you on a combination of drugs, beta blockers, diuretics. You’re heart function has returned virtually back to normal. It’s important that you stay as relaxed as possible. We can’t risk any unnecessary strain on your heart.” Sydney stressed, not wanting Jarod to get worked up.

“It’s too soon Sydney. This isn’t right.” Jarod practically moaned, as he began to sit up. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”

Sydney placed two strong hands on the pretender’s shoulders. “Jarod, please relax.” He ordered, as the younger man struggled against his grip. Two sweepers appeared at Sydney’s side almost instantly, and with their assistance, the pretender was lying prone on his back, his eyes wide with panic.

“Please Jarod, you need to stay calm. Your heart has been under a lot of stress.” Sydney pleaded, as the beeps emanating from the heart monitor began to sound with a higher frequency.

Jarod was virtually attempting to claw his way out of the sweeper’s grips as the two men pulled out a set of soft hospital restraints.

“NO!” Jarod protested, his struggling increasing instantaneously, the panic on his face was obvious.

“Those are not necessary! You are doing him harm and I will not allow this.” Sydney commanded authoritatively.

“Mr. Raines has specified that he was to be further secured the second he regained consciousness. If you have a problem with it, take it up with him.” The nameless sweeper stated professionally as he easily restrained Jarod’s flailing wrist.

“Sydney… please.” Jarod pleaded desperately. “I… I…” The pretender pleaded, before his head fell back against the flimsy pillow on his bed, the heart monitor beginning its screeching warning that something was going very terribly wrong.

“Jarod! Stay with me.” Sydney cried, pushing his way through the two sweepers.

“I… It wasn’t suppose to happen like this.” Jarod whispered, no energy left to fight.

Sydney looked up to find the infirmary nurse injecting a sedative into Jarod’s IV line, a fact that obviously did not escape the pretender’s attention.

“No.” He whispered fiercely. “Please Sydney… I need to stay awake.”

Sydney gave a frantic glance to the heart monitor, its warnings become more vocal and frantic. He was desperately worried at Jarod’s physical capability of being able to handle the stress of his situation. Turning his back to the nurse, he squeezed Jarod’s hand tightly, the pretender now thrashing madly against the restraints.

“We’ll get you better Jarod I promise. Please, don’t fight the medication, it will allow you to sleep. You’re heart simply can’t handle this stress right now.” Sydney pleaded, guilt in his voice.

“Gee, I wonder why.” Jarod snarled, yanking on the soft hospital restraints around his wrists that now kept him tethered to his bed.

Sydney ignored the pretender’s well-warranted remarked, giving his hand another squeeze in an attempt to offer some sort of comfort as the sedative slowly worked it’s way to Jarod’s body. “Don’t fight it Jarod. You’re safe.” Sydney offered lamely, almost picturing the unimpressed snort the pretender likely would have shared had he been fully conscious.

As the sedative claimed control, Sydney breathed in a sigh of relief as the heart rate monitor return to normal.

Jarod was safe – for now.

Alarm bells sounded in his head, as Jarod’s words finally absorbed into his brain.

“It wasn’t suppose to happen like this.”

What was wrong with his protégé? The more he thought about it, the more realized he probably didn’t want to find out.

THE CENTRE, MISS PARKER’S OFFICE

Broots didn’t bother knocking as he blustered into Miss Parker’s office. They had given up on such formalities years ago.

He found her sitting at her desk, her chair tilted in the direction of her window, obviously lost in thought – and oblivious to his presence.

He cleared his throat, as he had done many times in the past to get her attention, preparing himself for her legendary bite. It no longer phased it, as it was nothing but a harmless defence mechanism. The more she ailed, the worse it was.

“How is he?” Parker asked softly, her right hand tracing the top of her empty scotch glass.

Broots moved to the desk and sat down heavily, tossing a small file folder on the desk.

“Sydney is on his way up. Jarod apparently came to, but had to be sedated after two of Raines’ sweepers interfered.” Broots informed his boss.

“I should get on that elevator right now and shoot that son of a bitch dead on the spot. If it’s a choice between the lab-rat or Captain Wheezy, I doubt anyone in this building would hesitate to make that decision.”

Broots just huffed his response dutifully. Parker had ranted about offing Raines more than once in the past. She didn’t have it in her, as much as she wanted to believe she did. Not execution style anyways.

The two didn’t look back as the office door opened, and the slow gaited walk of Sydney approached the desk.

“You look like hell Syd.” Parker commented dryly as the shrink took a seat beside Broots. Her facial features softening visibly as she commented further, “I’m surprised we were able to tear you away from your boy’s bedside.”

“Time is of the essence Parker. We are awaiting several key test results, but Jarod’s fever is increasing, his heart function is beginning to deteriorate.” Sydney informed the pair, with obvious urgency and distress.

Broots swallowed as two pairs of eyes focused on him.

“I finally was able to track down Jarod’s old boss at the Best Institute. It was no small feat. He was on vacation in Peru, some remote Jungle lodge in the Amazon. I got that guy, Ricardo, who works in Archives to translate, anyway we finally were able to track him down, but he was out on a three day trek with his family, so we…”

Broots stopped his story-telling midrant as Parker held up her hand. “The point?”  She asked impatiently.

“He had nothing but wonderful things to say about Jarod – confirming what we already knew from the red notebook, that he had developed a promising new therapy for pancreatic cancer.”

“Did Jarod give any indication that he himself was unwell?” Parker grilled aggressively.

“No. His boss did say that no one he had ever employed had stamina like Jarod’s. He said it was almost like Jarod was racing against some sort of invisible clock. He did say that he suspected that Jarod had a personal connection to the disease, but that he played dumb when confronted about it.”

Parker rubbed her forehead tiredly. “This is a waste of time. The more we discover, the more I am once again convinced that we are chasing answers that likely lie in Raines' skull. Jarod doesn’t have cancer, and it’s likely whoever he was trying to help was just one of his infamous little guys that matter to no one but him.” She spat out, standing from her desk.

“How do you know that Miss Parker?” Sydney asked hautingly.

“Because this whole situation stinks. Jarod has been nothing but complacent and relatively cooperative since I cornered him on the rooftop. I’ve seen nothing of the freedom fighter I’ve come to know over the past five years. If he had a terminal disease, he would have simply disappeared. This is the last place he want to be.” Parker argued, her memory finding images of Faith, lying alone and scared on her deathbed.

“Please Broots, is there anything else?” Sydney asked pleadingly.  

Broots shrugged. “The guy also mentioned something about some big grant that Jarod helped them secure, researching bird flu, and how it is transferred to humans.”

“Remind me to buy him a parrot.” Parker commented dryly.

Broots ignored her. “Apparently the project involved studying avian-human disease transfer for a variety of species… parrots, pigeons even. Apparently the NSA is worried about a potential terrorism plot that would involve infecting city pigeons with some deadly virus. They are studying not only the bird flu but a variety of other diseases that can be transferred to humans from avian species. ”

Sydney let out a frustrated sigh. “There is nothing else Broots? Nothing else that is significant that this man mentioned?”

Broots paused. “No. He wanted to know if Jarod had changed his mind about the parrot he befriended at the institute. It was one of the test birds, but apparently he’s been sulking after him since he left.”

“Only Jarod.” Parker interjected. “See I told you Syd – nothing but dead ends. We can chase pigeons till the homeless lady drops the birdseed, the answer to what you need is in Raines’s head – I know it.”

Sydney stood up and numbly moved to the door.

“Syd?” Parker questioned.

“I… I have an idea.” He stated haltingly as he exited the room, as if in a daze.

“Syd??” Parker called out again, ignoring the confused look Broots was giving her.

“What was that about?” The tech finally asked, staring at the door like an abandoned child.

“Would you follow him already?” Parker growled, not reacting as the tech scurried out, following the path the psychiatrist had taken only moments ago.

Was this cause for hope?