Sydney slipped into the tech's office but Broots wasn't there. He hadn't been standing there very long when the door opened again behind him nearly hitting him"Oh, Syd I'm sorry. I didn't see you." Broots apologized as he came through the narrow opening. "I'm not really myself right now. I had to go and take some reports to Ms. Parker's office, but she wasn't there. She came by here earlier but I didn't tell her anything. Did she see you?"
The words seem to fly out of the tech's mouth as if they were part of one really long sentence. Sydney just let him ramble. He knew that was something Broots did when he got nervous and it was better to let him get it all out sometimes than to interrupt him."
"Broots we need your help." Sydney calmly replied.
"We?" Broots cocked his head slightly at the question. Sydney had just said earlier that he didn't want Ms. Parker involved.
"Hello, Broots." Jarod stepped forward from the back corner of the office.
Broots eyes grew to the size of saucers as he jumped back falling into his chair, and then letting a small scream escape his mouth as he stammered, "J-Jarod!"
Jarod stepped a little closer to the tech. "I need your help."
Broots nervously looked between Sydney and Jarod. His mind was whirling. I could get in so much trouble right now. No, I could turn up on the wrong side of an accident if anyone found out. Sydney gave him a reassuring nod. "W-What are you doing here?"
Jarod looked at the picture of Debbi that Broots had pinned on his wall. Broots followed his line of sight. Jarod had once helped him with her, although Broots didn't know it at the time. His ex-wife had been trying to get custody of Debbi and some papers mysteriously appeared before the judge informing him that she was not a fit mother. He found out later when Jarod saved his life from another one of the Centre's experiments. Though he then did the same for Jarod.
Jarod's expression softened some as he answered. "I need you to loop the camera in Clark's room."
"Okay." Broots said with more confidence than he had felt all night. He knew this was the right thing to do, but hoped it wouldn't come back on him in a bad way. "But even if I loop the camera Mike is going to have to be distracted so that he doesn't see the screen blip."
Jarod and Sydney both looked at the tech as it dawned on him what they wanted him to do and all his newfound confidence seemed to melt away.
"Oh, no." Broots shook his head at the two men. "No, no, no. I'm not good at things like this." Broots tried to plead his case. "I get nervous and just ramble and you can completely see through me. I can't even play poker. Lost fifty dollars, which was all my money, the one and only time I've ever played."
The older man looked down at nervous tech kindly. "I've already gotten into a confrontation with Raines. He ordered the guard to not let me anywhere near there. You can do this Broots. You just have to have a short talk with Mike."
Broots nervously walked down the hall as he held the bag of Funyons. The bag rattled in his shaking hands. He tried to take a deep breath and calm down but it wasn't really helping any. Okay, you can do this Broots. Everyone is counting on you. You're just going to go and have a talk with Mike. That's all. Just a little talk and then you'll be on your way.
Broots tried to put his best smile on his face as he reached the small office area that the guard occupied. "Hey, Mike."
"Oh hey, Broots." The guard was propped back in his chair with his legs propped up on the counter with the monitor next to his feet. Mike dropped his feet to the floor and sat up. "What are you doing here so late?"
"Oh, I had to work on some reports for Ms. Parker." Broots answered, then showing the bag of chips. "I got hungry and they were all out of these upstairs."
Mike shook his head. "I don't see how you work for that Ice Queen."
Broots actually managed a small chuckle. "It's a paycheck, man."
The guard nodded. "I hear ya."
Broots saw the screen blip. Just wrap up the conversation and get out of there. "So, is this new job working out for you?"
"Yeah," Mike yawned. "Little boring though. Just sit here and watch the monitor. I used to get to at least walk around some."
"Well, I had better get back to work before Ms. Parker tracks me down." Broots started to head off.
"Better you than me." Broots heard him call after him.
Clark sat in the corner of his cell. He was afraid. There hadn't been that many times in his life that he had truly been afraid, but this was one of them. He was as curled up as much as his large frame could be on the small cot. Clark stared at the large window that he was sure the people holding him were watching his every move from its other side. He had no idea how they had found out about him. He was always careful about using his abilities so he wouldn't end up in places like this. Clark thought about his parents and what they must be going through. Then he thought about his dad, who taught him courage wasn't the absence of fear but of overcoming it.
Clark stood up and began to study his cell further. He stayed away from the glass now, painfully knowing it was rigged with gas. He began to tap the other walls gently to see if he got any reaction out of them. Clark made it back around to the wall where his bunk lay thankfully without a reaction.
Clark stopped when he heard a slight rattling noise. He watched as the ventilation cover next to his bunk began to move slightly and then came loose but stayed upright. A pair of hands moved the cover out of the way before Jarod appeared from the hole.
A mixture of relief and confusion flooded through Clark at the sight of his friend. "What are you doing here? How did you know?"
"A friend let me know. I'm here to take you back to your family. I can't let yours be ripped apart especially since you help me put mine back together."
Clark smiled. "Thanks."
"Okay, we'll talk later." Clark glanced up at the video camera.
Jarod followed his friend's gaze. "Don't worry about that. It's taken care of. We need to go before anyone discovers it."
Clark nodded. He didn't need to be convinced as he quickly followed Jarod out the shaft that he came in.
Ms. Parker found her quarry talking with his goon, Willie. "I knew you were pretty low, Raines. I didn't think that even you would stoop to kidnapping innocent people to use them as bait."
The one time doctor stared coldly. "I don't know what you are talking about Ms. Parker." Raines paused as he took a breath. "You need to be more careful about who you are accusing of doing things."
Ms. Parker put her hands on her hips brushing her jacket to her back. She stepped forward using every inch of her height she got from her high heel shoes as she spoke through nearly clenched teeth. "You are going to stand here and lie to me that you know nothing about that teenage boy you have locked up that you are using as bait. I would think you would know better than to have an exposure like that to the public."
Before Raines could answer an alarm started blaring through the facility. "You wanted him. Seems like you've got him."
Mrs. Parker quickly put her earpiece in her ear. "What's happening Broots?"
"The security sensors in the ventilation shaft on Sublevel 20 have tripped."
Ms. Parker grabbed her gun from her holster and took off at a full sprint for the stairs, followed by Willie. "Which corridor?"
"The East corridor."
Ms. Parker took the steps two at a time busting through the door that went into the corridor. "Now where?"
"Turn left"
Ms. Parker followed the directions. "How can I cut him off Broots?"
"Turn right, then left and you should get to the cutoff point before he does."
Ms. Parker threaded through the empty hallways and ended up in a boiler room. It would be just like Jarod to escape to a maintenance level of the building. She could hear him against the metal. "Jarod, come out here now. You can;t escape."
The noise stopped. Ms. Parker nodded toward Willie who stepped forward and removed the screen from the vent. Ms. Parker dropped her gun and let out an exasperated sigh.
Angelo sat there looking at them in bewilderment.
"Ms. Parker what's going on?" Broots called out over the radio.
She began to pace frustrated. "Your new security system found Cousin It."
Jarod pushed the exit to the vent further away. He crawled out, followed by Clark. "Can you run?"
Clark nodded his head. The trip had tired him, but he felt like he could run. "Yeah."
"Good. I have a car, but it's a little ways away."
Clark ran behind Jarod at what would be considered a normal pace, for anyone except him. He couldn't believe how tired he felt. He knew he should be able to speed both of them to the car in a blink, but his legs felt like they were made out of rubber. He noticed that Jarod seemed to have slowed his pace slightly as not to get too far ahead of him.
"This is how you escaped the first time?" Clark asked between breaths.
Jarod stopped as they reached a car giving Clark a quick smile. "No, the first time I didn't have a car."
