Chapter 49: Persuasions and Realizations

Memories are pictures we paint in our mind. They can be used to bring happiness and pain. The Game revolves around the existence of them. Will the Players be able to maneuver around them?

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The two men entered the room and spotted Lily in the chair. She was staring straight ahead as pictures flashed before her. Lyle stopped in his tracks and started watching the images. Angelo shook him till he responded. "Don't look."

Lyle shook his head while he moved to the chair. He looked for manual controls for the chair and found them on the side. "Here are the controls. He started hitting the buttons until the cuffs released. He scooped Lily up in his arms as he tried to keep himself and Lily from looking at the images on the wall.

Lily just stared ahead as Lyle headed to the doorway with Angelo at his heels. She then turned her head and looked Lyle in the face. "Lyle." She took both her hands and cradled Lyle's face. She pulled his head to her and kissed him fully. Lyle stopped as they deepened the kiss.

Angelo stopped stunned at what he was seeing. "No time. No time."

Lyle pulled away from Lily. "Lily?" She moved to kiss him again, when Lyle spotted movement in the hallway. He turned his head; his lips still half attached to Lily's.

Raines stood there with Klos, Willie, and Sam beside him. "Oh look. It's like old home week on SL-27."

Lyle's heart sank as he saw the look in Raines' eyes. He pulled away fully from Lily's kiss and she placed her head on his shoulder.

"Seems the conditioning has started to take affect Mr. Klos, but the sub routine has been interrupted. We will have to continue tomorrow. As for you Lyle, you disappoint me." Raines crossed him arms.

"It's not like it would be the first time." Lyle bantered back.

Angelo moved up next to Lily, her pendant clutched secretly in his hand. "Please work." He whispered.

"Angelo. What are you doing here?" Raines wheezed.

Angelo moved so he was half behind Lyle, but close to Lily. "Nothing."

Lily started to blink her eyes and shake her head. Her head was throbbing. "What's going on? Bobby, why are you carrying me?"

"Damn." Raines said. "She wasn't under long enough for it to fully take."

Klos thought for a moment. "Why don't we put her through the maze tomorrow? It might help us gauge how much she has retained."

Lily whispered to Lyle. "Put me down and back up." Lyle did as he was instructed and let Lily's long legs hit the floor. She took her defensive stance. "I don't feel like jumping through your hoops anymore."

Sam took a deep breath knowing that a fight was about to ensue. He almost wished that it were Jarod standing there; at least he hadn't been half the pain in the ass this broad had been. He was just about to move towards Lily, when Klos walked out in front of him.

"You want to play little girl? Let's go." Klos rushed toward Lily who used Lyle to flip sideways. Lyle went flying backwards onto the floor as Klos hit him in the mid section in his pursuit of Lily.

Willie and Sam went to assist Klos, but Raines stopped them. "Let them be." His eyes glistened with enjoyment as he watched the two opponents' circle and assess each other.

Lyle pushed himself up against the wall so that he had a front row seat to the rumble. "Bring him down Lily."

Raines' head whipped as he stared at Lyle. "We're going to have to have a discussion about loyalty Lyle when this is done."

Lyle sneered back at Raines. "There won't be a need for any discussion - I'm with her."

Lily assessed the situation. "Lyle. Where is the elevator?"

"Back behind you. Around the corner and 200 feet down the corridor." Lyle inched his way up the wall.

Lily went to finish the circle when Klos stopped blocking her way to the elevator. "When this starts, take Angelo and get to the elevator. I'll meet you there."

"Not likely." Hissed Klos.

"We'll see." Lily responded as she tried to maneuver Klos into giving Angelo enough room to run. She rushed at the man trying to spin him out of the way. He grabbed her arms and they both went flying onto the ground. Lily broke free and rolled to her feet.

Klos came at her, but Lyle tripped him sending him flying across the hallway floor. Yelling explanatives as he came crashing into the wall.

Raines became enraged. "Foul. Not good show Lyle."

"Sue me." Lyle grabbed Angelo and pushed him down the hall. Lily took a quick look at where Klos was and tried to follow in pursuit.

"Get them you idiots." Raines screamed at Willie and Sam who after a moment of confusion ran after the three escapees. Klos got to his feet and sprinted after Lily. He threw himself into her mid-back and sent her flying face first onto the floor. Willie and Sam dodged the tumbling mess by jumping over them as they pursued Lyle and Angelo.

Lyle turned to see Lily sprawling across the floor, Klos taking his elbow and ramming it into her back. Without thinking he turned to help her, when Willie came barreling over the two rolling on the floor and pinned Lyle to the wall. "Angelo, get out of here."

Angelo seeing the mess going on behind him and Sam quickly approaching sprinted down the remainder of the hallway to the elevator. He pushed the button and jumped in as the elevator doors quickly opened. He slammed his finger on the Close Door button repeatedly, the door closing on Sam's face. He punched in the number for SL 15. He had to get to his room and then hide. He was needed. He knew that. And if they found him, Dr. Raines would punish him.

Lily struggled to get Klos off her back when she felt the coldness of a gun on the back of her head. "Afraid you couldn't take me without the armory?" She taunted Klos.

Klos rolled Lily over and pinned her to the floor. He bent down so that he could whisper in her ear. "When this is all over, I will take you. And then we'll see how powerful you are then."

As Klos was bringing his face over hers, Lily spit at him. "In your dreams."

"Klos!" Raines screamed. "Get her to her room. I've had enough of this for today. Willie. Lock him up in his room again. Put guards in the hallway. And find Angelo!" Raines turned and pulled his air tank back down the hall.

"Move." Klos said as he picked Lily up by her one arm and pulled her down the hallway.

"You probably don't get to date much the way you treat a woman." Lily spat as she was shoved down the hallway.

Lyle yanked his arm from Willie, who had been joined by Sam. "Get your hands off me you imbecile." Lyle tried to catch up with Lily and Klos, but Klos pushed Lily into her room just as Lyle reached the doorway.

"Lily." Lyle tried to yell into the room as the door closed. He pushed Klos' shoulder so the man was facing him. "You touch her and I will kill you. And I know many ways in which to do it."

'Big talk from a man who is getting shoved into a room himself." Klos motioned for Willie to move Lyle.

Lyle walked proudly to the opening to his room. He stopped short of going in and turned to Klos. "Asia is a great training ground. I wouldn't underestimate me." Willie pushed Lyle into his room.

Lily looked around her room. It was exactly like her other. The chair was now gone. "Thank God for small favors." She said as she examined the floor where the chair had been. There were lines on the floor. She surmised that there was a trap door that must open to allow the chair to rise. She got back up and looked around. She was tired and probably could sleep for days, but she spotted the computer. And she remembered what Sydney had said.

"There is no Sanctuary for you here." Lily remembered Sydney's phrase as he had tapped the computer with his hand. At the time she had thought it strange that Sydney would use such a strange word. "I hope that you can come to trust me in the future." She knew that Jarod trusted Sydney, but could she?

Lily sat herself in front of the computer. She pushed the on button and waited for the computer to boot up. She pushed the monitor button on and put the keyboard in a comfortable position. Once the screen was through all it's diagnostic screens, the main information screen came on. She started searching the files, looking for one specific folder - Sanctuary.

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Ethan, Major Charles, and Emily sat in the back of a dark blue van. They had landed two hours ago at the coordinates that Major Charles had given. They were pulling up onto a dirt road and passed under a wooden sign that announced that they were at the Triple P Ranch. The van passed fields full of cows and horses. The view was extraordinary.

As they approached the main house, there was not a sign of movement. As the van came to a stop, the front door opened and an elderly gentleman stepped out. He waited for the door of the van to open. Ethan was the first to open the door and get out.

"May I help you young man?" The older gentleman asked.

"We're here to see Thomas." Ethan stated as he helped Emily out of the vehicle.

"Don't know no Thomas. Just me and the Mrs. living here. You must have the wrong ranch." The man urged.

Just then Major Charles got out of the van. "It's all right Jim, these are my children."

"Charles, you old fly boy." The man said as he smiled and came to shake Charles' hand. "What are you doing back so soon?"

"We have a situation old friend. We need to get Thomas out of here." Charles followed Jim into the house followed by Emily and then Ethan. The house was decorated in a country motif with little cows everywhere.

Ethan was following his father when he noticed that Emily had gone into the living room. "Ethan. Look at the cute little cows. Aren't they adorable?"

Ethan looked at the young woman. "If you say so. I think we better stick with Jim." They went down the hallway that Charles had gone down and it led to a study. There were old comfortable furniture and wood tables throughout the room. There was a large wooden bookcase on the one wall. A grandfather clock stood in one corner. But when they got fully into the room, no one was there.

"Hello. Dad?" Emily called out. She looked back out into the hallway and came back into the room. "Where did they go?"

Ethan was about to respond when the bookcase behind him started to move. Ethan turned in surprise as Charles, Jim, and Thomas emerged from behind the bookcase.

"Cool." Emily said as she went over to investigate the bookcase. "Was this originally built with the ranch?"

Jim smiled. "Yes. This ranch was a stop along the Underground Railroad. With a little bit of improvements, we have a safe little area in the house where we can observe everything on the ranch. Would you like to see?"

"Oh yes, please." Emily followed Jim into the bookcase and he showed her how the door closed.

Charles brought Thomas over to Ethan. "Ethan. I would like you to meet your brother Thomas."

Thomas produced his hand and the two shook. "It's nice to meet you Thomas. I've heard a lot about you."

"Dad has been telling me about you. Seems you have had as strange a life as I have. Seems par for the course for being in this family. Do you like ice cream? We have some in the freezer." Thomas went to leave the room when Charles stopped him.

"I'm sorry Thomas, but we don't have time. Ethan says that the Centre has found you. So we have to leave."

"I don't want to leave. I like it here. I can ride the horses and milk the cows. Run in the fields. It's not fair. I can hide if the Sweepers come." Thomas pleaded.

"Son. I know that you just want to be free to explore normal things, but it's not safe for you. Or for Jim and Delores. We would be putting them in harms way if we left you here. And there are other factors that are going on that we need for you to come with us." Charles put his hand on the young man's shoulder, but he pulled himself away.

Ethan went over to Thomas. "I know that life has been anything but great for you, but I promise where we are going you will have a little freedom. And there are other children your age to play with."

"I hate this." Thomas crossed his arms and walked over to the window. After a few moments, he spoke. "Where are we going?"

"A place called Angel's Hope. It has other special children there and facilities you wouldn't believe." Ethan explained as he came up behind the young man. "It will only be for a little while, I promise. We just have to give Jarod and Lily a little more time."

Thomas turned to Ethan. "Who's Lily?"

Ethan put his arm around the young man. "I'll explain it on our way to the airport. It's a long story."

Thomas went and packed his bag and the group jumped into the van. Thomas listened in amazement as Ethan told the story.

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Broots dictated to Parker what she had to input onto the computer. The laptop computer had come within the hour and they had been working on and off trying to get into the Centre files. It had been obvious from the beginning that the Centre had blocked Broots' codes, but Broots also said that he had ways around them.

Since Parker had two good hands, she had volunteered to do the typing. Broots had been amazed at the speed at which Parker typed. He had never thought about her being a typist much. But she maneuvered around the keys as if she were an expert.

"I don't know Miss Parker. Maybe we're not going to be able to break into the main frame. Maybe I'm never going to see Debbie again. I failed her." Broots' eyes were beginning to water.

Parker looked Broots in the eyes. "Toughen up Broots. What are you a damn jellyfish? This isn't the family picnic. This is Debbie's life we're talking about and I'm not about to let that ghoul keep her." She pointed her finger into his chest. "You are going to stay clear-headed and focus. I can't do this by myself this time. I need your knowledge and expertise. Now get me the hell into those files!" Parker barked.

Broots closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "OK. We have to find a way into the main frame that's not so protected." He thought for a moment. "How about the sanitation program? It's a level 5 security access. Anyone can get into it. Especially the city service department."

Broots told Parker how to get into the city database. "We're in."

"OK. Now access their garbage schedules and it should lead us to the automated link." Broots held his breath as Parker typed in the codes.

"I'm in. Now what do I do Broots?" Parker had a sparkle in her eyes.

"We have to see if we can access the security grid for SL-27." Broots leaned over a little more and winced as the pain shot though his shoulder. "Syd and I found out before all this happened that they were manning SL-27 again. It is operational. I never thought that Debbie would have to live in that dungeon."

"If we can all pull this off, she never will." Parker typed and moved from system to system. Broots helped her navigate through the systems, when they realized that they had secured a line to SL-27. "The rooms are all empty. Could we have been mistaken? Where else would they have taken them?" She slammed her hand down and looked up in the air in frustration.

"Miss Parker. Look." Parker turned back to the screen and she caught a glimpse of someone on a computer. "Who is that? She's too old to be Debbie."

"That is Jarod's sister Lily." Parker looked at the screen. "Can we move in to see what she is typing?"

"Click there and hit the word zoom." Broots pointed to where she had to click.

"There. She's entering a password - Sanctuary." Parker could barely make it out.

"She must have meet Sydney. Sanctuary is the file that Sydney and I set up to save the plans we found of SL-27."

"So Sydney is helping Lily. I guess he swapped one lab rat for another." Parker said as she tried to see if Lily was having success accessing the file.

"I don't think Sydney thinks of anyone as a lab rat. If he's helping her, it's because whatever Raines is doing to her must be bad." Broots leaned back against his pillow and rested for a minute.

"Sorry Broots. Old habits die hard." Parker moved the monitor so that she could get a better look at Lily. She now noticed how tired Lily looked and rumbled. Like she had been fighting. "You go girl. Don't let them get you down. Broots is there anyway we can access that file and send the information to Jarod?"

"We can try, but I can't guarantee that they won't detect us and block us out. I'm surprised they haven't found us by now. Get into the H drive and go to the..." Parker cut Broots off.

"Wait Broots. I want to check the other rooms first. Lily looks pretty safe right now. Let's go through the next room." Parker ran down the one side of rooms with no hits. She started going up the next side when she spotted Lyle walking around his room. "Oh look. Brother dear has been given an ambassador suite. I guess Raines didn't like him getting caught up with Lily." She looked at Lyle and could see that his lips were moving. "Broots. How do I get audio on this thing? I want to know what Lyle is saying."

Broots leaned over with another wince and pushed the buttons. "There."

Parker raised the volume and could now hear what Lyle was saying. "I'll do whatever you want. I'll sit in your mind warp chair for however long you want if you just let Lily go. Just don't hurt her anymore."

Parker sat shocked at hearing her brother's emotional plea.

Broots looked at the screen confused. "Did I just hear Lyle ask for someone to be let go free? Lyle?"

"These Pretenders have a way of getting under your skin. He's trying to protect her." Parker saw concern in Lyle's eyes. He was afraid. Whatever had happened, he knew that Lily was in trouble. "Let's get searching the other rooms and then get this information to Jarod. I think they are going to have to speed their time line up."

Broots saw the concern in Parker's face. "We're in big trouble here aren't we?"

Parker half smiled at Broots. "Don't worry about that. Concentrate on Debbie. I'll protect everyone here."

"You're working with them. For real. You've left the Centre." Broots said more as a statement than surprise. "It's about time someone brought Raines to his knees."

Parker patted Broots' shoulder. "Finally getting a backbone. Good. You're going to need it. If Jarod doesn't succeed, then yes I am working with them and I will protect this place with my life. My Mother did."

Broots could see that something in Parker had changed. "Your mother?"

"I found out that she founded this place. It's called Angel's Hope." Parker finished the remainder of the rooms. "Debbie is not in any of these rooms. I'm going to see if I can access the floor records." Parker fiddled with the files and came upon the roster. "Lily and Lyle are the only occupants right now. Wait. Here. They are transferring her from NuGenesis."

"Why did they have her at NuGenesis?" Broots asked knowing that it was a fertility clinic.

"I don't know Broots. Maybe they wanted a place to hide her where they wouldn't think we'd look. We need to get all this information to Jarod." Parker started typing in the e-mail address that Jarod had given her. She attached the file from Sanctuary and typed a message about Debbie being moved from NuGenesis. She hit send. "I hope he gets this in time."

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Becky sat on the bed as the two men took the two chairs at small table. They were discussing the best way to approach the Centre while eating pizza, when Jarod noticed that Becky looked upset. He put his piece of pizza down and went and kneeled in front of her. "Are you still angry about earlier? I'm really so sorry that Mark and I went at each other that way. It was inexcusable."

Becky shook her head. "No. It's not that." She lowered her head and Jarod was sure now something was wrong.

"What's going on Becky?" Jarod asked as he leaned onto her knees to see into her eyes.

"I don't want to worry anyone if I'm wrong, but I think something happened with Lily, Lyle, and Angelo. I got this feeling that there was a fight and that Angelo was running. Now all I feel is my heart racing like I am very nervous. Jarod I think Angelo is in trouble."

"I wonder if they tried to escape with Lily and Lyle getting caught. That would leave Angelo running from Centre personnel. I hate not being in control." Jarod hit his hand down on the bed.

"I wouldn't put it pass Lily to try and get the three of them out of there. The question is what punishment they will get in retribution?" Mark stated as he stood up and tossed the pizza on the plate. "Suddenly I don't feel so hungry."

"We can't panic." Jarod went and grabbed his computer. "I need to see if I can break into the Centre mainframe and access the schematics for SL-27. Without some sort of map we're dead in the water." Jarod started to access the Centre files when the You've Got Mail flashed on the screen. He clicked it open and he saw the Angel's Hope e-mail. After double clicking on the line, Parker's e-mail opened up. He read it quickly and then opened the attachment. "I love that woman."

"What is it Jarod?" Becky asked coming to stand behind Jarod with Mark next to her.

"The plans for SL-27. Mr. Broots got her into the Centre mainframe. But Lily is going to have to hold on for a little longer. We're going to a place called NuGenesis."

"The Centre fertility clinic?" Mark asked. "Why are we going there? Lily needs us."

"How do you know about a Centre fertility clinic?" Becky asked looking at Mark suspiciously. "How many of our secrets do you know?"

Mark hesitated in answering, so Jarod stepped in. "We don't have time for this. Debbie Broots is being transferred from NuGenesis to the Centre. We have to get her before they can transport her. We'll need stealthier transportation than that car. Mark, do ride a bike?" Jarod went and got his gun and a few other items.

Mark's eyes grew wide and then he acted as if nothing were wrong. "You mean a motorcycle. Of course. I know how to ride a Hog."

"Let me tell the guards that we're going." Becky pulled out her phone and spoke quickly. "We're set to go."

Becky and Jarod just looked at Mark. "I have two motorcycles in a shed in the back. We'll take them." Jarod headed for the door with Becky following him. Mark just hung his head and followed the two out of the door.

The trio approached the shed and Jarod undid the lock. After opening the doors, Jarod went in and pulled out the first bike, then the second. "OK. Which bike do you want Mark?"

Mark looked at Becky. "I'll shoot you to see who gets to ride alone."

"Chicken. Once, twice, three, shoot. Once, twice, three, shoot. Once, twice, three, shoot. That's it."

Jarod spent fifteen minutes showing the two how to ride a motorcycle. A few minutes later the roar of motorcycles filled the air. Two motorcycles flew down the road into the dusk of night.

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In the Game of Life decisions are crucial. The Rage of War dictate decisions must be made. One Player had to decide between two loves. Did he make the right choice?