Disclaimer: Please see the usual statements on Part I
Memory Ronin
Part XVIII
By Callisto
They were traveling along on the interstate at a good but legal clip. After switching vehicles, as per Jarod's careful plan, Emily drove without much conversation. Her mind was preoccupied with the report Jarod and phoned into their father. Apparently the mission was a success, they were all confident in Ethan's demolition abilities and were reasonably sure the charges he designed and constructed did the job. The shockwave the saboteurs felt from the first blasts alone told them the complex didn't stand much of a chance of surviving. The portion of Jarod's message which had her so pensive was that Naizen had suffered some injuries but was expected to make a full recovery. He had only suffered from some cracked ribs and was currently resting comfortably.
Emily was considering her own reaction to the news. She was thankful no one else was hurt but the news of Naizen's injuries distressed her more profoundly than she expected. They had spent some time together, nothing extensive but she realized that she was starting to care about him more deeply than she intended. Emily couldn't help but recall an earlier conversation she had with Maggie about Naizen. Maggie had told her up front that she and Naizen had been occasional lovers but since Jarod had entered the picture, their sexual relationship had ended amicably. By the time Maggie had finished speaking, she had all but informed Emily that she was giving her one of her best friends and entrusting his happiness and sanity to her sister-in-law. The only snag in this scenario was that Naizen had to first deal with his failing marriage and Emily needed to exercise patience with him.
Instead of being offended, Emily was intrigued. Obviously, Maggie had noticed the casual flirting and ribbing Emily was directing towards the usually calm and engaging Naizen. The fact the man was outrageously handsome, extremely considerate, intelligent and possessed a wicked sense of humor sealed Emily's fate.
Major Charles noticed his daughter's pensiveness when he passed on the information from Jarod. He as well as the rest of the family had noticed how involved she was becoming with the Japanese corporate lawyer. He worried over his daughter's feelings and watched her with unconscious anxiety. He looked down at the peaceful face of the toddler he had just rescued from the grips of the Centre and wondered if this child still retained any portion of the innate untroubled freedom each person is supposed to be born with.
Jarod's family home
Franconia, NH
It was several hours later, after the break of day when the family reassembled. After a few hours of rest, Naizen insisted on being allowed to sit in a comfortable chair in the family room and the rest of the family quietly settled around him and held a debriefing. The television had been tuned to an all news station. The first reports of a terrorist attack occurring in Delaware caught everyone's attention. It was obvious that security was tight but the news camera crew was able to get some shots of the leveled building. Everyone, including Ethan was impressed by the extent of the damage. Fortunately the news account informed the public that no fatalities from the bombing had been reported.
When the news moved on to other stories, quiet settled over the comfortable room. Looking up, Margaret said softly to Jarod, "The little boy your father rescued is still very frightened. There doesn't seem to be anything we can do to even get him to talk beyond one syllable. Perhaps you should try to get him to open up and assuage his fear."
Jarod nodded slowly at his mother and walked over to the dining room table where the small boy sat watching them apprehensively. His eyes were wide and an untouched glass of milk sat resting near him on the table. Smiling encouragingly, Jarod approached the boy and stopped just on the edge of the child's comfort zone. He looked at the boy and spoke softly to him. After several minutes, Jarod straightened and walked back into the family room. His family saw he had no better luck than his parents.
"We need to give him some time. He's been through a lot and he has no idea what's going on or who to believe," Jarod said quietly.
The Centre –1 year ago
Blue Cove, DE
Wade walked into her office with a curious mixture of expressions on his face. He was at once proud of himself and sadly apprehensive. Parker watched as he came to a stop in front of her desk.
"I've found what you asked me to look for. It wasn't easy but at least this assignment was more challenging than the one's I usually get stuck with," he rambled on, Broots-like.
Barely controlling her impatience, Parker with thinly veiled vehemence expressed herself fully with one word, "What!?"
Leaning over to minimize the chance of being casually overheard, Wade whispered, "Master Parker." Seeing that he had her undivided attention, Wade nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, I found him and sickening enough I also found a camera feed that has been set up to monitor his every waking moment. I hid a protocol in the program for a feed to be channeled directly into your office."
Wade elbowed her aside and began typing furiously on her keyboard. She knew Wade was extremely ambitious and would have loved nothing better than to replace Broots on her team. The only reason she was using him this time was that she felt her ever vigilant and nervous friend was becoming too involved in the nastier side of politics in the Centre. Still Broots had learned the hard way and this moron was going to have to learn also. Just as she was about to shove the tech out of the way a black and white picture of a small boy sitting at a low table with a pile of blocks in front of him flickered to life on her computer monitor. The blocks seemed vaguely familiar and a part of a mathematical problem was laid out before him. The child stared at the problem then slowly began to piece the rest of the equation together.
She was staring at the screen with an intensity Wade found exhilarating. He stood there a while longer when Parker said in a distracted but commanding voice, "Get out, I want to be alone."
Blushing at the abrupt rebuff, Wade backed up towards the door nodding and as resentment began to coagulate in his mind Parker said, "Wade? Good work and thanks for this—not a word to anyone, clear?"
Juvenilely overjoyed at her acknowledgement of his efforts, all remnants of his prior resentment were cleared from his mind as though a finely shaped finger from Miss Parker's hand hit the delete button in his head. "No, no of course not Miss Parker."
Jarod's family home—Present day
Franconia, NH
The memory of that scene in which the child she had used think of as her little brother, filled her mind. Turning towards Jarod, Parker interrupted the on going conversation.
"Jarod, do you have any of those building blocks that were used on the children the Centre thought were pretenders? You know, the blocks with mathematical symbols?"
A questioning look settled on Jarod's face as he answered her, "Yes. I have some from the pretend I did to save little Davy Simpkins. Why?"
"Put them in front of Isaac and give him a problem to solve. It's something he's familiar with and it'll help him feel more comfortable."
Nodding thoughtfully, Jarod left the room in search of the blocks in his stored belongings. He returned almost immediately and again talking quietly with the boy, Jarod set up a simple mathematical problem and asked Isaac if he would help him solve it. The tactic worked as Maggie had anticipated, the child slowly uncurled his body and looked at Jarod with a slight lessening of suspicion. When Jarod stepped away, Isaac sat up straighter in his booster seat and began trying to find the correct answer to the puzzle.
Maggie entered the room, as Jarod was about to leave. He noticed the almost trancelike state that had come over her. He stopped in his tracks and watched with increasing curiosity as she slowly walked up to the boy.
The Centre—1964
Blue Cove, DE
She was becoming impatient for her mother's return. Wanting to please her mother young Maggie practiced on the empty tabletop playing scales for the piano as she had been taught. She didn't know how long it had been but a tall solemn looking man came into the room carrying a large pile of wooden blocks.
She watched carefully as the man set up the blocks and asked her to solve the problem in front of her. He wanted her to complete the order in which he had set up the blocks. After the tall man left, Maggie stared at the symbols on the blocks uncomprehendingly. She sat that way for several minutes before returning to practicing her piano exercises. Her eyes kept moving from her fingers to the blocks and finally the symbols on the blocks began to sense. In her young imagination the symbols danced to the tune she was practicing, soon in her mind's eye, the symbols on the blocks changed to musical notes. Her mommy had been teaching her what the musical symbols meant and how they made sound.
Using what her imagination was showing her, Maggie made the blocks read like the pretty song her Momma helped her to memorize. She kept exchanging blocks until she was finally satisfied. It was at this moment that Catherine Parker opened the door and beckoned Maggie to come to her. Delighted, Maggie rushed over to her mother and in an excited voice she said, "Look Momma, I made the pretty song for you! Everything is balanced just like you said." The frightened look on her mother's face cooled young Maggie's enthusiasm. "Momma, what's wrong?"
"Baby, I need you to listen very carefully to what I'm saying, okay?" At Maggie's solemn nod, Catherine Parker continued, "Maggie, darling, I want you to go over to those blocks and make that pretty song I taught you sound off key. I love the way you made it sound just like a song but I really need you to do this for me. Arrange the blocks so they sound just the way it does when you bang on the piano keys. If you'll do that for Momma then we'll go and get some ice cream, is it a deal?"
Frowning slightly and a little uncertain, Maggie nodded deciding that she really wanted the ice cream and to spend some more time with her mother, so she walked back over to the table and did as her mother bade.
The next time the door opened, Maggie whirled around expecting to see her mother instead the tall, solemn man who was the proctor and her father greeted Maggie. Maggie's face lit up with happiness as she showed her father the off key notes she made.
"Look Daddy, look what I made!" the child said triumphantly. The bemused look on her father's face told her something was wrong and before Maggie could protest that this is what she was supposed to do, he said, "That's very interesting, Angel." Turning to talk with the tall man her father said, "Jacob, I think that will be enough for now."
The tall man nodded sympathetically and said, "Yes, Mr. Parker. My apologies."
"No apologies are needed. I was certain because of the results from her twin but this has turned out to be more fortuitous than I anticipated," Mr. Parker replied. Then holding out his hand for his daughter to take he said in a softer tone, "Come along, Angel. I believe your mother is waiting for you."
Jarod's family home—present day
Franconia, NH
Maggie, drawn to the child and the blocks he was playing with was rocked by her buried memories. It seemed to her as though for some reason, today her memory had turned ronin. She was no longer the master but instead it was showing her scenes from her childhood and forcing her to draw conclusions from the clues she had been supplied. Her father's duplicity and the words which meant nothing to her when she had been this child's age, now made a damning sense.
She suddenly became aware of the child's eyes watching her every move. Looking into his eyes through the stinging tears that were threatening to fall in hers, she impatiently wiped them away. Unaware her strange behavior had drawn the silent concern and vigilance of her entire family, Maggie looked at the child and favored him with a brilliant smile. Recalling Sydney's words when he first encountered Jarod, Maggie thought they had assuaged the fears of two young boys, Jarod and Trent, why not a third?
"Hi, my name is Maggie and me and my family will be taking care of you for a while."
As though he were reading from a script, the young boy looked at her quizzically and asked, "Why? Where are my mommy and daddy?"
"The people who were your caretakers were not your real parents. As for me, I only know one of your parents. This is a lot for such a little boy to understand but I would like you to do me a favor if you will?" Her eyebrows arched upwards punctuating the question.
"What is it?" he asked simply.
"I would like to call you by your daddy's name. He has been ill for a very long time and it would help if I could honor him by giving you his name. Would that be okay?"
"You know my daddy?"
"Yes, your real daddy, not your foster parents. His name is Timmy and personally I think it's a very handsome name."
Biting his lip in his uncertainty, the child remained silent. Maggie, figuring a little push was in order, decided for him. "Timmy is short for Timothy and if you like I will tell you a little story I learned a long time ago," she said softly and using her best weapon she gave him a beautiful smile.
The little boy nodded slowly and allowed her to pick him up and sit him in her lap in a nearby chair. She then started to tell him the story of a little boy named Saigo who escaped from an evil castle.
The rest of the family stared in awe as Maggie wormed her way into the young boy's heart. Jarod was proud but concerned about whatever had come over her. Naizen smiled wryly as he shook his head in cynical bemusement.
"All of you, except Jarod and Ethan, have this stunned expression on your faces. She was right; you really do believe she's some kind of monster. That is very sad, because the woman in there has the biggest and most generous heart of any person I know," he said in a hard but quiet voice.
"Naizen, we don't know her as well as you do but I think I honestly can speak for us all, we want that to change," Emily said contritely. She had hopes for turning this special woman into a lifelong friend. They were already on the road, now after this display of utter kindness, Emily was determined that nothing should get in the way.
"My son, Ichiro is a very sensitive child. Several years ago, as a treat, I took him into Tokyo for the day and introduced him to Magdalena. They became fast friends and he was almost immediately telling her of the discord at home he had the misfortune to witness. Maggie, having already met my wife, didn't need a lengthy explanation to understand the situation. Instead of being false or pitying, she told him a story that gave him heart. To this day, Ichiro identifies with little Saigo and his courageous fight against the evil mountain lords who live in a stone castle embedded in a mountain called Ambiguity."
Turning to look into all of the faces of Jarod's family, Naizen said, "I suppose you know who the model is for the hero in her stories. She first told my son this tale six years ago when he was about the same age as this boy."
The Major nodded to himself thoughtfully. It had been several months since any further apprehension and suspicion about Maggie and her motives had plagued and worried him. He looked up at Naizen and said, "It's refreshing to hear that my new daughter is thought of so well by her friends, I for one always knew she was special." At this declaration the rest of the family assaulted him with several pillows aimed at his head.
Several hours later, the early evening shafts of light glowed their fading luminosity with an almost tangible stubbornness. A cool breeze wandered restlessly through the branches of the trees chilling the two who happened to find some privacy from their tight-knit family. Jarod had finally succeeded in getting Maggie off to himself. He pushed aside his own internal reflection that recently he had become more demanding of her time. He found his enjoyment of any time alone with her increasing, even when the reason was destined to be the discussion of an unpleasant subject.
He stood quietly, patiently waiting for her to answer the question he had asked a few long moments before: what was it that had made her so intensely thoughtful? He could tell that a sudden revelation had forced her to piece together some internal puzzle whose answer had been previously eluding her.
"I know anything, even slightly devious that I have to say about my father won't come as a shock to you. For me, my recent internal realizations point to the depths of the deceptions and lies he chose to spoon-feed me over the years," she said in a voice so depressed it was practically emotionless. "The only question left in my mind now is why he felt it necessary to keep up the ruse. Several weeks after that fateful flight to Africa, I kept going over in my mind the times he had offered to tell me the truth and I had been kicking myself for not sitting down and letting him talk. Now I'm glad I didn't, I'm sure he would have continued to lie to me." She started walking slowly towards the open area behind the garage where she habitually practiced what used to be her early morning but recently had turned into evening kata exercises in response to her husband's complaints of waking up alone. Since the Major had informed the rest of the family of her habit, at least one or two of them would watch her fascinated by her grace and beauty of movement. Her arms were now wrapped around her body as if to ward off a chill despite Jarod's heavy jacket draped lovingly across her shoulders.
"Watching Timmy made you remember something. I recall seeing that look on your face before when a suppressed memory unearthed itself. Tell me, what was it?" he asked as gently as possible.
"Jarod, my father knew about Lyle, he knew Raines had taken his son to be raised by violent psychotic strangers." Shaking herself, she clinched her jaw to better collect her racing thoughts. "Daddy told me that he didn't know Lyle survived. He said he believed Raines when he informed both of my parents that Lyle was stillborn. When I saw Timmy solving that math problem, the memory just came back to me. I remember sitting in that one-way glass room and Jacob walking in placing a pile of blocks in front of me with a problem to solve. I must have answered it correctly because my mother snuck into the room and told me to rearrange the blocks so they wouldn't make any sense. Several minutes after she left and I did what she asked, Daddy walked in with Jacob looking all disappointed in me," she said speaking quickly.
"It was what he said that made me realize he knew about Lyle surviving and about me. He told Jacob that he was certain about me because of what my twin had done but the results were fortuitous. The only way he could have been certain was if he had Lyle tested as well."
Catching on to her train of thought, Jarod continued, "Unfortunately for Lyle, he probably was already too emotionally damaged to be of any use in the pretender project so they decided on seeing if you also had the talent."
"It was fortuitous because my father didn't want to be used like your father had been. My guess is it was around that time that my father had himself sterilized. We both know how obsessive Raines could be; he would have locked Daddy in a rubber room as a constant sperm donor. I wouldn't have put it past Raines if he tested his own daughter," she said with tightly controlled rage. At Jarod's questioning look she explained, "My guess is the pretender gene can be inherited by the child from only one parent."
"Yes, that's why they wanted my father's sperm. The gene can be passed on to the child from the father but the mother's genetics probably enhance and activate the gene," he said thoughtfully. "They knew all along that the gene came from the father, when they used your mother Raines knew he would be creating another pretender as well as someone with her gift."
"The story Sensei told you makes it all fit together. It was only after Daddy had finished reading the scrolls that he realized his mistake in not using me. He finally understood neither he, the Centre nor the Triumvirate would ever get what they wanted from either of us. So like all those wretched fellows back in 1929, he decided to take a cowardly leap into oblivion instead of facing the consequences of his actions. God, how pathetic!" she concluded with feeling.
Jarod had an expression of utter disgust on his face when his wife glanced at him. She looked off with increasing desolation; she doubted he would want to remain with her after this latest discovery of her family's depravity and corruption. Jarod, guessing her turn of thought, reached out suddenly and turned her to face him.
"They were the corrupt ones, not us. I hope through all this you recognize your own strength. You've never sunk to their level. On the contrary, they purposely kept most of their motives and actions away from your notice. Now we have a chance to live the kind of life we always dreamed of instead of letting their greed and amorality rule our decisions. We're both finally free from their prison and I promise you'll never be lonely again," he said as he gently brushed tendrils of her hair from her face.
Looking into his dark eyes, she said in a voice heavy with emotion, "I never knew I could feel what I'm feeling for you right now. The depth and passion I have for you is beyond anything I have ever experienced. What I'm trying to say is that I love you more than I could ever express." She leaned towards him and they began to kiss. They stayed that way for some time sealing a bond that went far beyond anything marriage could have forged.