DISCLAIMER
Another chapter, another story. Threats in the shadows and tragic events on our way.
As always, comments are really appreciated.
This time I have to thank to Antoinette, who still helped me through this chapter. And a huge thank to the lovely DanielleSmileyFace, my new Beta Reader for Mind Rain. Thanks a lot! Your help is very much appreciated!
Chapter 10: Execution
JACKSONVILLE - Florida
5.17 p.m.
Jarod and Ethan had spent the whole day doing some investigating about the Triumvirate. It wasn't easy to find out who the effective members of the organization were, neither its financiers. But at least now they knew where it was. By controlling the visitors' movements, they could discover the names of some big shots to give Agent Zane.
"It's not easy…" Ethan confessed, after hours of research. Major Charles was helping them, too.
"We can't give up, boy" he said. Jarod agreed with his father.
"I created a program to monitor all Triumvirate e-mails some time ago…They're very good at covering their communications, but they can't keep them from me…Lately, even though, they have been strangely silent…since we got back from the island…"
"Since they got the Scrolls…" Ethan corrected him.
"When you were down there…" Jarod said "Did you ever see anyone of them? Would you recognize their faces, if you saw them?"
Ethan shook his head, "I had to be very careful not to be seen, Jarod…The only one I actually noticed was Mr. Parker…"
Jarod snorted. And at that very moment, his program finally gave some results.
"Apparently our African friends just sent an e-mail to our beloved Raines…"
At that very moment, Raines was in his office, reading the Triumvirate's answer to his request. His madness had reached exaggerated levels, he had decided to adjust the bones he still had to pick. Sydney had ruined his entire life. He had stolen the only valuable pretender The Centre ever had, he had been a father to his biological daughter, he had helped Jarod aid in Gemini and Ethan's escape…If he didn't stop him, he would probably find out the importance of the little bastard that Brigitte had carried in her womb. It was just the product of an experiment, in his eyes. And yet, come to think of it, that baby was his grandson…
Willie had been put on the alert. As soon as Raines gave the order, he would move and eliminate the "Sydney problem" once and for all. A well-placed bullet would be enough to close the matter.
But he couldn't act without an official reason, and most of all he couldn't without having the Triumvirate's permission. Until then, Raines hadn't told anything to the Africans about Sydney's involvement with Jarod, since the shrink was the only bond that the Pretender had with the Centre. With Sydney dead, Jarod would have disappeared, and so he would have said goodbye to all his hopes of ever finding him.
But now the situation was different. The doctor was getting more dangerous, and he was asking too many questions. Raines was sure that his questioning about Project Mind Rain was no coincidence.
When he opened the message in his safe mailbox, Raines's eyes brightened up.
"It seems that your lucky days are over, Doctor Freud…"
So said, he called Willie, "The moment has come, Willie. I want things to be clean, no witnesses, are we clear?"
"Yes, Mr. Raines", he answered, putting the silencer on his gun.
Jarod had intercepted the message, but he hadn't been able to decipher it yet, because he had to use different software to do it, and sometimes the Triumvirate codification algorithms were very complex.
"What is that about?" Ethan asked, a bit worried. The voices were getting louder and more insistent.
"I don't know yet…"
§
Sydney was in Angelo's room, trying to discover what Lyle had wanted him to do in the last days. The empath seemed much more relaxed since Miss Parker had invited him to calm down and be clear-headed. It seemed that she always had that weird ascendancy over Angelo. Maybe that was a heritage of their shared childhood.
"Angelo…tell me what was it Lyle wanted you to do…"
"Find…Jarod…" he answered, smiling, "But Jarod doesn't want to be found…"
Angelo was making one of his grins, one of those faces that Sydney had learned to interpret as an expression saying, 'I'm always a step ahead of you and so I'm having the time of my life!'
Sydney smiled "You're right, Angelo…our Jarod is very good at putting us off the scent…"
Suddenly, Angelo changed his face and hit the deck, agonizing in pain.
"Danger…danger!" he cried, rolling on the floor.
Sydney thought at once about Miss Parker, who was still in her office with Broots, with whom she was creating fake clues to chase Jarod and give The Centre the idea that they were still working to catch him.
"Who's in danger, Angelo? Jarod?" he asked, worried.
Angelo shook his head rapidly.
§
Ethan heard the voices increasing in intensity, but they were overlapping themselves to such an extent that he couldn't understand what they were saying.
"What's going on, little brother?" Jarod asked him, noticing his concentration.
"I think…something's going on…" he explained, his eyes closed.
"Miss Parker?!" Jarod asked, very worried.
"No, no…it's someone else…"
§
Angelo was still moving, and Sydney couldn't help him. Very few times he had seen him so freaked out.
"Angelo! Please, calm down…"
"No…danger!" he screamed again, standing up and running out of the room.
"Angelo!" Sydney cried. He left all his things in the room, even the encrypted mobile given to him by Jarod. He started to follow Angelo through all The Centre corridors.
§
Jarod heard the signal made by the decipher software that indicated a complete translation, so he focused on the Triumvirate's e-mail.
"Object…Execution…That doesn't seem to be good…"
Seeing your frequent warnings about the doctor's conduct,
we authorize his immediate execution.
We won't allow him to go on and help the pretender on the run.
Eliminate Refuge, once and for all.
Jarod didn't need to read more to understand the situation. He took his phone and stood up, starting to pace back and forth in real worry.
"Jarod, what does it mean?" Ethan asked, the voices more and more involved and present in his head.
"Come on, Syd, answer…please Sydney!" he said, speaking out loud.
The phone was idle for a minute, so Jarod ended the call.
"Damn it!" he shouted.
Sydney was trying to reach Angelo. He was running towards Sublevel 19, but he didn't understand why.
"Angelo, stop! Let me help you!"
"No, Sydney…danger!"
The doctor didn't think for a second that Angelo was indicating that he was the target, that time. He couldn't know that Willie was following him to find the most suitable place to kill him.
§
Parker was in her office with Broots. She was checking the fake banking movements created for Jarod with one eye, while the other was set on little Michael through the surveillance videos well visible on her computer.
Aside from the continual coming and going of doctors and nurses, the boy seemed to be healthy, intelligent and still unaware of his destiny in the world.
Her mobile phone started to ring, so she ran answering, "What?!"
"Miss Parker, I must talk with Sydney, now!" a very worried Jarod's voice answered her from the other side.
"I haven't seen him for a couple of hours, he was working with Angelo…what's going on?"
"If we don't warn him at once, he's going to die!"
§
Angelo had reached Sublevel 19, where he hoped to take Sydney to save him. He knew that Miss Parker was checking the cameras, he had the feeling. Maybe in that way she would see the doctor in time and would come to warn him and save his life.
"Angelo…why did you come here? Is the boy in danger?"
"No…Sydney…" he answered, but he found only the doctor's curious gaze, and his shortness of breath for the long run.
§
"I've just intercepted an e-mail from the Triumvirate which consented to an immediate execution of Sydney…you must find him, Parker!" Jarod urged her.
She didn't need to be told twice. She took her 9mm from the drawer and checked that it was loaded. While doing this, her eyes fell on the computer screen and she noticed at once Angelo and Sydney's presence in one of the four surveillance cameras.
"Move, Broots!" she shouted to the technician.
"What's going on?"
"Sydney is in danger…" she answered, exiting the office in a rush.
§
Sydney and Angelo were leaning against the wall next to the door that gave access to Sublevel 19. Angelo now was breathing easy, still shaken and upset.
"Sydney…danger!"
For the first time, Sydney realized that maybe Angelo wasn't talking about someone else, but was trying to tell him that he was the one in danger.
§
Willie hid in the shadows, he was trying to understand how much Angelo could be considered as a "witness", in that business. Raines asked him for a clean job, without indiscrete eyes watching. But after all, Angelo was no normal person. Instead, Willie wasn't sure he could be considered as a person at all.
§
Jarod got inside the surveillance video and realized, as Miss Parker had, that Sydney was just close to his son's room, "Sydney!"
"He can't hear you, Jarod…" Ethan explained.
"But I have to save him!"
Meanwhile, Miss Parker and Broots were running like hell to reach Sublevel 19.
"D'you reckon that the person who wants to kill Sydney is going to do it in broad daylight, under everyone's eyes?"
"With my mother, the problem didn't even arise, did it?" she asked, thinking about Catherine's fake murder in the main elevator of The Centre. Broots had to admit that she was right.
§
Sydney felt something, as if somebody was watching him. Angelo motioned to him to be quiet, putting a finger on his lips. In that moment, they were hidden behind a wall, but behind them somebody was ready to get closer and kill the only person who had ever taken care of him since he had been a child. He couldn't allow them to hurt Sydney, even if he couldn't communicate this out loud to him.
§
Willie took aim, ready to shoot as soon as Sydney showed himself.
Then Jarod saw him, from another camera. Willie was still, aiming with his gun, equipped with a silencer. In another camera, Jarod saw Angelo raising his face, as if he was looking at him.
"What is he doing?" Ethan asked.
Jarod noticed that Angelo was smiling and moving his lips, as if he was trying to say something.
"I don't understand…" Jarod whispered, desperate for the situation. He had learnt to read lips, but he couldn't understand what Angelo wanted.
Ethan closed his eyes, "Lights…" he whispered, guided by the voices.
"Of course!"
§
Parker and Broots arrived at the entrance of the main corridor of Sublevel 19, Parker aiming the gun in front of herself with circumspection. Broots was moving behind her, being careful not to make any noise.
Angelo hoped that he had sent the right message.
"Angelo, what shall we do?" Sydney whispered, worried and powerless in facing uncertain danger.
"Lights…" the empath whispered.
In that moment, all the sublevel lost their energy, with the result that all lights were turned off, all the zones were left in darkness.
Jarod was proudly contemplating his work: the cameras had an infrared visual, so he used it. Willie seemed afraid of that sudden change and he looked around, trying to get his eyes used to darkness.
Praying that Parker had her phone with her, Jarod called her.
§
Parker took the phone, which she had asked Broots to switch to silent mode. Another little help from her inner sense, or maybe just common sense.
"Where are they?" she whispered.
"Willie is alone…He's hidden behind a pillar about 50 meters from you. Sydney and Angelo are at the end of the corridor, for the moment they're invisible…but I won't be able to keep the lights off for long, as soon as The Centre notices the voltage drop, they're going to re-establish the circuit…"
"Great!" she growled in answer, giving Broots the mobile but without ending the call.
Then she started to move slowly towards the direction indicated by Jarod. Meanwhile, Willie made a few steps forward. Sydney and Angelo were just two, and that was the ideal chance to kill the shrink without anybody else watching him.
§
"Angelo…what shall we do?" Sydney asked again, spying over the wall and hearing the light footsteps coming right towards them.
Angelo didn't know what to answer. He was just praying that Jarod and Miss Parker would help them in time.
§
Miss Parker walked slowly, but she couldn't see anything in front of her. The darkness was absolute.
Willie was in the same condition, but he had an advantage: he was in front of her, so it didn't take long to him to hear her heels behind him. Without need to think twice, he turned around suddenly and shot blindly. Miss Parker was faster, or at least her inner sense was. She threw Broots on the floor and she stepped aside, too, hearing the shots ringing out very close by.
§
"Parker! Broots!" Jarod exclaimed into the phone.
But the phone, during the jump, had fallen on the floor in the middle of the corridor. Jarod's voice was echoing in the silence left by the shots.
"I know you're here!" the sweeper said out loud.
Sydney was nervous, worried for the fate of those who had come down there to save him and Angelo. He didn't understand how it could be, but he knew he was risking his life.
Miss Parker indicated Broots to stay where he was and leave the phone on the floor. Willie changed his mind and turned back in their direction, intending to eliminate those who had followed him down there.
"Parker! Please, answer me!" Jarod's voice was shouting.
Willie seemed much too focused on the phone to realize what was happening behind him. Sydney didn't want to freeze, waiting for the death, and mostly he couldn't allow Miss Parker to risk her life to save his.
Suddenly he stood up and ran against Willie blindly, starting to tackle him.
"No…Sydney!" Angelo cried.
Parker stood up rapidly and in that very moment all the lights turned on and blinded them all. Using his senses, Sydney continued his fight with Willie to seize his gun, but the sweeper was much stronger than him and much faster. He threw him on the floor and Sydney collapsed, helpless.
While Parker was trying to get used to the light again, she aimed her gun in front of her.
"Sydney!" she screamed.
Jarod was looking at the scene with fear, and he realized at once that his mentor couldn't make it against Willie. At the same time, Parker was a much easier target, she had to hurry in getting a hold on herself.
"Parker, use your inner sense!" Ethan shouted, trying to concentrate very intensely on his sister.
§
Everything happened in a second: Parker closed her eyes and shot blindly, thinking about the foolish desire to prevent Willie from killing the only man who had been a father to her all those years. At the same time, yet, Willie shot in the direction of the man at his feet, placing the bullet the most precisely he could. The two shots came at the very same moment. A second later, two bodies fell down.
§
Jarod was looking at the scene with opened mouth. Willie had been gunned down from the shot Miss Parker had placed right in his nape.
When Parker opened her eyes, she ran over Willie's still body and she saw Sydney on the floor, right next to Angelo. A pool of blood was expanding beneath them, Sydney had his hands completely soiled of it.
"Sydney!" she screamed, starting to cry.
"It's not mine…" Sydney whispered.
While Raines and Lyle reached them, Parker squeezed Angelo's hand, because he was the one who was losing blood from his chest. Willie had hit him close to his heart.
"Angelo…Angelo, please hold up!" she shouted.
Sydney was pressing on the wound. Broots reached them, with Miss Parker's mobile phone in his hands.
"Call someone, Broots!" Jarod shouted form the other side, then he closed the communication, terrorized at the idea of losing another brother.
Ethan was squeezing his shoulder.
Angelo had his eyes half-closed, his mouth curved in a little smile "Sydney…Miss Parker…safe…" he said, with sincere joy.
"You're going to be ok, Angelo…you must hang on…don't give up, you understand me?" Sydney screamed.
Broots was still calling for the doctors, while Sydney pressed on Angelo's chest with all the strength he had. His blood was still coming out from his wound, the hemorrhage seemed to be unstoppable.
"Miss Parker…Jarod…danger…" Angelo whispered. Once again, he was trying to advise the only friends he ever had of the great danger approaching. He felt that somebody would do everything to kill them, as they had just tried with Sydney.
Hearing those words, a very angry Raines left the corridor. Lyle didn't understand what was going on, or why Willie had a hole in his head. He just knew that they couldn't afford losing Angelo, he was much too important to The Centre.
"I've called the doctors, they're looking for a stretcher!" Broots shouted.
"Fine!" Lyle said, a bit louder than he intended. Parker sent him a questioning look.
"Miss Parker…friend…Jarod…friend…" Angelo whispered.
§
From the other part of the camera, the pretender couldn't help crying at the words of his dying friend.
"Angelo…" he whispered "Hold on, please…"
Parker squeezed his hand tighter and got closer to his ear, "Don't you dare die and leave me here alone, do you understand?!"
Angelo smiled and closed his eyes, he was now unconscious. Sydney touched his wrist and felt his pulse getting weaker and weaker. At that moment, a doctor and a nurse came from the corridor with a stretcher and a defibrillator.
They put Angelo on the stretcher and started to move rapidly towards the highest Centre levels, where they would reach the hospital wing.
Parker was still crying, the gun held in her right hand. The other was completely covered with blood, and so were her clothes and the floor. Sydney was shaken.
"I'd better go and call for a cleaning team…Willie's body must disappear…by the way, nice job, sis-"
Parker didn't let him finish the sentence and silenced him with a look that would incinerate the Antarctic. Lyle disappeared, his mobile still at his ears to call other sweepers.
"Who might have wanted us dead?" Sydney asked her, still astonished.
"Not both of you…just you…Jarod advised us in time, but it wasn't enough...to save Angelo…"
"He put himself in the middle…he was between me and the bullet… he saved my life…" he explained to Miss Parker.
"This seems the destiny of all of us Centre victims…put ourselves between a shot…and a father figure…" she said sarcastically.
Stunned by her words, Sydney felt guilty. Angelo had tried to save him, the one who had exploited his abilities for years…
Miss Parker's mobile rang, and Broots gave it to her, who held it in sufferance. She didn't answer, she let him be the one to speak.
"Ethan and I are leaving in an hour. Just be ready for when I arrive."
"Ready for what? Another defeat?" she replied, saddened.
"We're taking our son out of there, Parker…and I swear I'm going to blow up The Centre once and for all…"
The communication ended. Parker stared at the phone, a bit surprised, a bit worried.
"What did he say?" Sydney asked her.
"That time has come to stop watching the people we love die…" she explained.
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