Everyone in the room was quiet. Alex was aiming his gun at Jarod. The two still living sweepers couldn't make up with their minds on who to shot down. Jarod could not escape but, on the other hand, Alex had killed their boss.

Alex smiled slightly and took the decision for them.

Two more shots and they were down.

The gun was now trained on Jarod.

Face to face finally. The Shifter and the Deceiver.

“What do you want, Alex?”

“I thought you'd already figure it out. It's not so much a question of 'What I want', but what I have to do.”

“You'd do anything for power.”

“It's the way it has to be. I read fragments of the scrolls, Jarod. I KNOW what my role in the scheme is. I've seen it. And I'm not the least satisfied about it. I want more. I deserve more, damn it!”

“What if you do? What then? You know their power, Alex. You know where they came from.”

“Yes, I know. I know that only 'The Chosen' can claim the power without losing himself.”

“Then you know that's not your name there.”

“You're right but, as you are probably aware, I lost myself a long time ago. And besides, even Gods mistakes. In this case, they made the mistake of choosing you instead of me.”

“So now what?”

“I'll prove them wrong.”

One final bullet and Alex was the last man standing.

*/*

Miss Parker was heading for the clinic—Sydney was at the seat next to her, trying to ease the pressure they were both feeling—when suddenly she felt a jolt of pain in her head. A charge so powerful she lost control of the car. Sydney quickly grabbed the steering wheel and pulled the car over before an accident could happen.

“Are you alright, Miss Parker?”

But he knew she wasn't. She was pale, breathing hard and. . .almost crying. He was afraid to ask, but he had to.

“What happened?”

“I can't feel him anymore, Syd. His voice has always been with me and now. . .it's gone.”

Sydney thought he knew who she was referring to, but still. . .“Who is?”

“Jarod.”

*/*

There was silence in darkness. He had always known that. Every time he had found himself in the dark he had stood still listening to. . .nothing. Again, things were no different.

He couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't feel. Normally, he would be afraid, but not this time. He knew this was the way things were supposed to be.

He recalled that stinging moment of clarity when the bullet entered his brain—the moment when the dark came—and almost smiled.

Time has no meaning within the dark, yet he sensed it was too soon to make his next move.

He would have to wait.

*/*

Miss Parker was staring straight ahead but her eyes weren't registering anything. Right now, she could be on a desert, at the eye of a hurricane, deep down near the earth's core eating biscuits. She could be anywhere, doing anything.

It would all be meaningless without him.

She swallowed hard and tried to put her Ice Queen mask back on. This time, however, she was too troubled to do it. She had hid her pain for too long and the only one next to her was Sydney.

He didn't say anything, just gave her a reassuring look. Everything will be all right, it said. Only she knew different.

She was using her gift like she had never used it before. She had discovered, for instance, that her Inner Sense didn’t just put her in contact with the dead; she could also feel three other voices. Two of them she recognized as being Ethan and Angelo; the third one was new, barely audible yet, but growing day by day; and a fourth she had trouble accepting as being related to her. She didn't know who this person was and it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore now with Jarod gone. A sob came, then another; she fought the pain but this was a battle she was destined to lose, and soon she was crying.

*/*

Sydney and Miss Parker entered a small café and sat at the farthest booth. A waitress came by. Sydney asked for two cups of tea and two pieces of cake. Miss Parker said she wasn't hungry but was too tired to argue with Sydney.

Sydney looked into her eyes. The spark he saw earlier had disappeared and a frightening void had taken its place. She had hardly spoken a word since she mentioned Jarod's name. He hoped nothing serious had happened and mentally whipped himself for being so naïve.

The waitress brought their order and left them alone. Sydney watched Miss Parker as she grabbed her cup absently and drank a few gulps without adding sugar.

Sydney waited a few seconds, took a sip of his tea, before asking. “How are you feeling?”

She laughed. “How am I feeling, Sydney? You wanna know how I'm feeling?” She sniffled. “He's dead. Jarod is dead. He's not coming back. Ever.”

Sydney opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off.

“You really wanna know how I'm feeling?”

He nodded.

“I feel great. You know why?” She leaned over and whispered. “Because he's free now, he doesn't have to run anymore, doesn't have to search for the truth anymore. He's free and I'm not; I'm still here. I'm happy for him.”

“No, you're not, Parker. You're trying to bring a positive side to something horrible, when you don't even know if such a thing is true. You don't know if Jarod is really dead.”

“But I do. I can feel it.”

“I don't understand completely how your gift works, but isn't it possible that he's just asleep?”

“There's a difference between being asleep and being dead, Syd. I would still feel him if he were asleep.”

Sydney considered his options for a while. There was a chance Jarod could still be alive. It was a long shot but it was possible nonetheless.

“What if he's neither?”

*/*

When the medical team assigned to Dr. Gershon arrived at Lab A on SL-27 they were shocked with what they saw.

“Oh, my God. Dr. Mitchum?”

“I'm afraid she can't answer.”

They all turned to where the voice was coming from and saw Alex standing at a corner with a gun on his hand.

“What the hell happened here?”

Alex shrugged as if he had been asked the same question several times before. “A tragedy, really. Our prisoner entered a catatonic state and we brought Dr. Mitchum down here to provide the necessary assistance.”

“That doesn't explain any of this.”

“Well, I'm not sure what exactly, but something happened here that pissed Mr. Lyle off—you know how he is—and he shot the patient and Dr. Mitchum. Jarod lost his temper too, took a gun from one of the sweepers and shot Mr. Lyle. Then he used Mr. Lyle's body as a shield and killed the rest of the sweepers.”

Dr. Gershon didn't seem to buy that story. “Jarod. . .killed the sweepers?”

“Yes.”

“So, who shot him? You?”

“No. I didn't have a gun. The third sweeper managed to fire a shot before dying and hit Jarod on the head.”

“What I want to know, first of all, is why wasn't I aware of this? I am the Head of Renewal Wing. Every medical doctor, nurse, surgeon, whatever, is under MY command. When and if any of my staff members is moved to a different assignment than the one I had them on, I HAVE to know. It's Centre standard procedure.”

“Too bad you can't ask Mr. Lyle about it.”

Dr. Gershon took a cell phone from his pocket. “I'm calling Mr. Raines. This is out of my authority.”

Alex pulled the gun safety off. “No, it's not.”

“What the hell do you think you're doing?”

“Lyle may be dead, doctor. But Jarod is not. I need you to do anything in your power to keep him alive. He's much too important to die.”

“You can't keep Mr. Lyle's death a secret forever. Sooner or later, Mr. Raines will find out.”

“Don't worry about Mr. Raines. I'll make sure he knows.”

*/*

Miss Parker wasn’t sure she understood what Sydney had told her. Something about brain waves frequencies and Jacob and. . .Whatever he had said, the only thing worth registering was: Jarod could still be alive.

She tried to recall that conversation. It had happened less than two hours ago, but her mind was so unfocused it looked like it had been years ago.

“Tell me about this feeling you said you have.”

“What do you want to know?”

“You told me you could hear Jarod's voice.”

She nodded.

“Since when?”

“Since always, I guess. I have always heard his voice, even before I met him. Our first meeting just gave me the possibility to add a face to it.”

“Is it like your Inner Sense? Does it work the same way?”

“No. This is something that has been with me for a long time. The Inner Sense is more powerful; it's much more perceptive. This is sort of like a gut feeling. Like he was a part of me, you know?”

Sydney nodded. “I understand perfectly.” He paused, as if to choose the right words to say. “As you know, my brother Jacob was in a coma for thirty years. Like any normal twins, we always shared a special bond—especially after what we had been through in Dachau during the War. I could feel him, could hear him. I could talk to him, even after the accident. He was still there to guide me.”

“What are you saying? That Jarod could be in a coma?”

“It's possible. I don't know what happened and neither do you. All you have is this feeling. Without physical evidence, the best we should do is to consider it a premonition.”

“So what do we do?”

“We go to the clinic like we were supposed to.”

“And if he dies?”

“Parker, I don't like this more than you do, but the fact is: even if we try to help him, we can't because we don't know where he is.”

She sighed and nodded. “You're right.”

And so it was; they were now waiting at the clinic for the doctor to see them. Sydney was right when he insisted they should come here; with Jarod—possibly—gone, this was all she had left. She had to know once and for all.

Was Sydney her father?

All evidence pointed towards it. Her heart felt it. Even if not biologically, Sydney had always been like a father to her. This was a mere redundancy to something she acknowledged a long time ago but had never actually assumed publicly.

The receptionist called out their names. “Mr. and Miss Farley?” They got up. “You may come in now.”

As they walked to the door, Miss Parker leaned over and whispered “Farley?”

Sydney whispered back. “Sorry.”

They entered the doctor's office and closed the door.