i) Thanks to gemini006007, Nancy, Staceysedge and Sabrina for once again letting me know what you think.
ii) 'I was just guessing, at numbers and figures' ('The Scientist',Coldplay)
Chapter Seven
Sydney caressed his brow with the fingers of both hands before resting back in his chair and closing his eyes. He had just been speaking to Lyle who was on his way to follow a possible lead on Miss Parker and the boy, and once again Lyle had declined his offer of assistance. Sydney could only hope that the lead was false or at least 'out of date'. Brigette, too, had made it clear that she did not want his assistance in pursuing Jarod, making some snide comment about his lack of success in the previous years. They had both made it clear they did not need his, or Broots', help in that department. All Sydney was used for now was going over old clues and offering up psychological analyses of the 'escapees' - which he believed neither Lyle nor Brigette took an iota of interest in. Now that he had more time on his hands for his other projects though he found he couldn't concentrate.
He picked the phone up on the first ring, something he had taken to doing since Miss Parker had left so abruptly. "This is Sydney".
"You lied to me about Gemini."
"Jarod!" Sydney leaned forward onto his desk in surprise, he had not heard from the pretender in weeks. "I...", Sydney faltered, conscious of 'others' who may be listening.
"I won't be contacting you again, by phone or e-mail." Jarod stated plainly, no hint of anger in his voice, and then hung up.
Sydney held onto the phone dumbly, the dial tone only half registering in his mind as he processed what had just occurred. He hung up the phone and turned his attention to his computer. Sure enough there was an e-mail waiting for him.
"Er... Syd?" Broots half stumbled, half ran into the room. He closed the door firmly behind him and nervously approached the older man.
Sydney only briefly lifted his gaze to his guest before returning his attention to the contents of his inbox. "What is it Broots?"
Broots paced nervously about the floor, Brigette's words ringing in his ears. Despite her warning to keep quiet his instinct was to confide in Sydney, but maybe just not here. "Could I speak to you... um privately?" When Sydney finally looked up at him again, this time with his eyebrows raised, Broots gestured outside with his hands.
Sydney nodded his assent and, after scanning the contents of the e-mail one final time, deleted the message from Jarod. He glanced at his watch wondering if he had enough time to counsel Broots before he had to meet Jarod. He grabbed his jacket and put a reassuring hand on Broots shoulder, leading him outside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Raines strode confidently, as one could when one is wheeling an oxygen tank behind, into Mtumbo's office. The African sat calmly at his desk, flanked on either side by security personnel, flown in especially. It was a sign to Raines that Mtumbo did not trust any one at The Centre. He took a seat opposite once Mtumbo had gestured that he should.
"What is it you want, Mr Raines?"
What he really wanted to know was the Triumverates real thoughts on The Centre's future but he didn't ask outright. He had more sense than that. He had heard the rumours flying around at the moment, most of them were implausible but this was The Centre; anything could happen. And the staff knew that, people were beginning to get edgy. Not just inside The Centre either, some of their oldest 'business' associates were beginning to voice concerns too. "Have you had chance to discuss with the Triumverate my offer?"
Mtumbo maintained a neutral face. He had spoken to them about Raines' ambitions regarding the chairmanship of The Centre as soon as he voiced them. However the Triumverate were not favourable to the idea, which was in concurrence with Mtumbo's own feelings on the matter. Raines had served his purpose over the years but it was not something they were going to reward him for, at least not in the way Raines desired. "I have discussed your proposal with them and they are taking it under consideration."
"Very well. I remain at your service, as always." Raines paused for breath, he had a feeling he was being brushed off. "Have you been able to find all the information you desire so far?", Raines enquired as innocently as he could. Mtumbo was currently in the process of reviewing all of The Centre's projects and he wondered if he had discovered anything about the other project at Donoterase, the one Mr Parker was involved in.
"Everything is in hand at the moment. Is there anything else?" Mtumbo remained impassive as Raines repsonded in the negative and left. He dismissed his minders and they took up position outside of the office. He turned his attention back towards the files he was currently reviewing. The Centre had been involved in some profitable ventures, the most prominent being the pretender project, and that had to be taken into consideration. On the other hand there had been numerous indiscretions over the years; Catherine Parker being a major proponent of that. And now her daughter had continued on in that vein. Maybe he should have extended the termination order to Miss Parker, as well as her mother. Raines would have had no qualms about that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney brought the vehicle to a halt, slightly skidding as he had sped to reach the arranged rendezvous on time. His conversation with Broots had taken longer than he thought it would. And it had unnerved him too, no wonder Broots had been so edgy. He had tried to convince Broots to leave but the younger man had resisted, hanging on to the idea that he could help Miss Parker by staying. Sydney agreed with him; it was the main reason he had hung around so long, so many people to look out for. He had left the younger man searching The Centre's mainframe for information and erasing Sydney's message from Jarod permanently, as a precaution. Broots had also agreed to cover for his current abscence.
He walked up to the cabin, the place he had buried his brother not so long ago. He had cautiously taken a longer, protracted route to get there, despite the lack of time, just in case he was being followed. Now he just hoped Jarod had not given up on him. As he entered he saw no signs that there was anybody else about. He began to wander from room to room, quietly calling out Jarod's name. It was only when he returned to the room where he had begun his search did he find the other man.
"Hello Sydney." The pretender had taken off a dust sheet and made himself comfortable on the sofa.
Sydney could not stop the smile spreading across his face at the younger mans appearance, despite the current circumstances. "It's good to see you."
Jarod offered up a half smile in response. "You knew about Gemini yet you didn't tell me."
"I couldn't at that time, Jarod. I was planning on enlightening you as to the boy's whereabouts." Sydney explained as best as he could the circumstances surrounding his involvement in the project.
"Miss Parker beat you to it though. Have you heard from her Sydney?" Jarod could not keep the hint of desperation from his voice as he asked.
Sydney shook his head sadly.
"I need your help with something. Something that may involve her."
Sydney raised his eyebrows for the second time that morning. "If I can Jarod."
Jarod ran one hand through his hair and leant forward. "The Centre were running another project at Donoterase, one called silence." Jarod witnessed a flash of recognition cross the older mans face.
Sydney finally sat down, taking a seat across from Jarod. He ignored the crinkle of the dust sheet beneath him.
"You've heard about it.", Jarod growled. If it weren't for the accompanying look of shock on the older man's face, Jarod would have thought he was being lied to again.
"Yes. This morning Broots came to see me, he was somewhat on edge. Brigette had accosted him. She asked him to look into something called Project Silence."
"Brigette?" Jarod began to process this new piece of information. Brigette was obviously being kept out of the loop too, in fact according to the files he had liberated from Donoterase there were very few people who were actually in the loop. A grim thought pushed into his mind.
"What is this about Jarod? And how does it involve Miss Parker?" Sydney's shoulders sunk a little lower, he refused to even debate what new atrocity The Centre had committed until he knew the truth.
"Cloning me wasn't enough Sydney. Early tests on Project Gemini showed an improvement due to the environment he was raised in." Jarod's face grew darker. "But that wasn't enough. They wanted to increase my abilities, they were planning to breed a new, improved pretender." Jarod churned out the information through clenched jaw.
Sydney sank into his seat, "And Miss Parker..." He let the sentence trail off, he had an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"She's a red file, Sydney. The potential of any offspring was too great to ignore." Jarod muttered, his voice quieter. "It's Mr Parker's project, too.", Jarod explained bitterly.
Sydney wanted desperately, at that moment, to reach out to his protege, to comfort him. There were no cameras recording his every interaction with Jarod this time, an obstacle that had prevented him previously. This time though it was the fear that he would be rejected, Jarod had his father now, so he resisted. "What can I do, Jarod?"
Rubbing his tired eyes, Jarod contemplated his mentor. "I don't know what stage the project is at. Most of the information I have is sketchy at best. They were attempting to create new reproductive cells encoded with each of our DNA. The project was based on some research that I had started, looking at fertility problems."
Sydney nodded his head in remembrance. It was one of The Centres more altruistic projects, that was why it had been shelved. Or so he had thought, obviously Mr Parker had seen the potential.
"From the papers I have I believe they had gotten that far, to actually creating those cells. I just need to know how much further they went Sydney. I need to know if there are any more members of my family out there."
He could feel the younger man's pain, it was still raw. A sudden thought jabbed at him, "Do you think Brigette is involved, unknowingly, in this somehow?"
"She appears to have no overt involvement with the project but I don't think she can be ruled out of the equation." Jarod picked the words out carefully, unwilling to voice the possibilty that Brigette may be carrying his child. His and Miss Parker's child.
Sydney furrowed his brow, they were thinking along the same lines even though neither man would say the exact words. "If it's true, what will you do?"
The pretender shook his head, "I don't know Sydney." He looked into the eyes of the man he had wished was his father for most of his life. "The thought of sharing a child with Miss Parker is not abhorrent to me, as long as that child does not have to grow up as I did. The fact that Brigette may be involved unsettles me more."
Sydney nodded, understandingly.
"I need to know for sure before I make any plans." The possible involvement of Brigette could cause problems.
"There were no samples left at Donaterase then?" Sydney remembered the explosion at Donoterase almost a month ago now and had figured Jarod had been involved.
Jarod smiled grimly at Sydney's insight. "There was not much left at Donoterase." He found himself recounting the images he had seen there - something he had been unable to tell his father.
"Broots and I will see what we can uncover, Jarod. What about Miss Parker?" Sydney wondered how long it would take Miss Parker to return to The Centre, albeit only to murder Mr Parker, once she found out about the project.
Jarod shrugged his shoulders. "I'm working on it Sydney. I'm beginning to have a lot more respect for the hunters. But I won't give up." He handed Sydney a cell phone number he could be contacted on should he and Broots uncover anything.
"If you fnd her you will let me know?" Sydney asked. This time it was Sydney who could not keep the worry from his voice.
Jarod nodded and stood to leave. "Be careful Sydney."
"You too, Jarod." Sydney watched the younger man disappear out of the door. He looked down at the scrap of paper the number was on and committed it to memory as he absently began to replace the cover on Jarod's vacated seat, it would be some time before he came back again. Before he left he took the opportunity to visit Jacob's grave. Standing there his thoughts began to turn to the past, of how he should have done something all those years ago to stop this mess from happening. What could he have done though? He couldn't change the past, not now. What had happened back then; Jarod's, and the others, abductions, Catherine's death, Jacob's 'accident', and The Centre's descent into Hell, he accepted them. The only thing he could do was learn from his mistakes and make sure they didn't happen all over again. Thoughts of Catherine and Jacob turned to thoughts of Miss Parker and Jarod; he knew what was most important to him now.
ii) 'I was just guessing, at numbers and figures' ('The Scientist',Coldplay)
Chapter Seven
Sydney caressed his brow with the fingers of both hands before resting back in his chair and closing his eyes. He had just been speaking to Lyle who was on his way to follow a possible lead on Miss Parker and the boy, and once again Lyle had declined his offer of assistance. Sydney could only hope that the lead was false or at least 'out of date'. Brigette, too, had made it clear that she did not want his assistance in pursuing Jarod, making some snide comment about his lack of success in the previous years. They had both made it clear they did not need his, or Broots', help in that department. All Sydney was used for now was going over old clues and offering up psychological analyses of the 'escapees' - which he believed neither Lyle nor Brigette took an iota of interest in. Now that he had more time on his hands for his other projects though he found he couldn't concentrate.
He picked the phone up on the first ring, something he had taken to doing since Miss Parker had left so abruptly. "This is Sydney".
"You lied to me about Gemini."
"Jarod!" Sydney leaned forward onto his desk in surprise, he had not heard from the pretender in weeks. "I...", Sydney faltered, conscious of 'others' who may be listening.
"I won't be contacting you again, by phone or e-mail." Jarod stated plainly, no hint of anger in his voice, and then hung up.
Sydney held onto the phone dumbly, the dial tone only half registering in his mind as he processed what had just occurred. He hung up the phone and turned his attention to his computer. Sure enough there was an e-mail waiting for him.
"Er... Syd?" Broots half stumbled, half ran into the room. He closed the door firmly behind him and nervously approached the older man.
Sydney only briefly lifted his gaze to his guest before returning his attention to the contents of his inbox. "What is it Broots?"
Broots paced nervously about the floor, Brigette's words ringing in his ears. Despite her warning to keep quiet his instinct was to confide in Sydney, but maybe just not here. "Could I speak to you... um privately?" When Sydney finally looked up at him again, this time with his eyebrows raised, Broots gestured outside with his hands.
Sydney nodded his assent and, after scanning the contents of the e-mail one final time, deleted the message from Jarod. He glanced at his watch wondering if he had enough time to counsel Broots before he had to meet Jarod. He grabbed his jacket and put a reassuring hand on Broots shoulder, leading him outside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Raines strode confidently, as one could when one is wheeling an oxygen tank behind, into Mtumbo's office. The African sat calmly at his desk, flanked on either side by security personnel, flown in especially. It was a sign to Raines that Mtumbo did not trust any one at The Centre. He took a seat opposite once Mtumbo had gestured that he should.
"What is it you want, Mr Raines?"
What he really wanted to know was the Triumverates real thoughts on The Centre's future but he didn't ask outright. He had more sense than that. He had heard the rumours flying around at the moment, most of them were implausible but this was The Centre; anything could happen. And the staff knew that, people were beginning to get edgy. Not just inside The Centre either, some of their oldest 'business' associates were beginning to voice concerns too. "Have you had chance to discuss with the Triumverate my offer?"
Mtumbo maintained a neutral face. He had spoken to them about Raines' ambitions regarding the chairmanship of The Centre as soon as he voiced them. However the Triumverate were not favourable to the idea, which was in concurrence with Mtumbo's own feelings on the matter. Raines had served his purpose over the years but it was not something they were going to reward him for, at least not in the way Raines desired. "I have discussed your proposal with them and they are taking it under consideration."
"Very well. I remain at your service, as always." Raines paused for breath, he had a feeling he was being brushed off. "Have you been able to find all the information you desire so far?", Raines enquired as innocently as he could. Mtumbo was currently in the process of reviewing all of The Centre's projects and he wondered if he had discovered anything about the other project at Donoterase, the one Mr Parker was involved in.
"Everything is in hand at the moment. Is there anything else?" Mtumbo remained impassive as Raines repsonded in the negative and left. He dismissed his minders and they took up position outside of the office. He turned his attention back towards the files he was currently reviewing. The Centre had been involved in some profitable ventures, the most prominent being the pretender project, and that had to be taken into consideration. On the other hand there had been numerous indiscretions over the years; Catherine Parker being a major proponent of that. And now her daughter had continued on in that vein. Maybe he should have extended the termination order to Miss Parker, as well as her mother. Raines would have had no qualms about that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney brought the vehicle to a halt, slightly skidding as he had sped to reach the arranged rendezvous on time. His conversation with Broots had taken longer than he thought it would. And it had unnerved him too, no wonder Broots had been so edgy. He had tried to convince Broots to leave but the younger man had resisted, hanging on to the idea that he could help Miss Parker by staying. Sydney agreed with him; it was the main reason he had hung around so long, so many people to look out for. He had left the younger man searching The Centre's mainframe for information and erasing Sydney's message from Jarod permanently, as a precaution. Broots had also agreed to cover for his current abscence.
He walked up to the cabin, the place he had buried his brother not so long ago. He had cautiously taken a longer, protracted route to get there, despite the lack of time, just in case he was being followed. Now he just hoped Jarod had not given up on him. As he entered he saw no signs that there was anybody else about. He began to wander from room to room, quietly calling out Jarod's name. It was only when he returned to the room where he had begun his search did he find the other man.
"Hello Sydney." The pretender had taken off a dust sheet and made himself comfortable on the sofa.
Sydney could not stop the smile spreading across his face at the younger mans appearance, despite the current circumstances. "It's good to see you."
Jarod offered up a half smile in response. "You knew about Gemini yet you didn't tell me."
"I couldn't at that time, Jarod. I was planning on enlightening you as to the boy's whereabouts." Sydney explained as best as he could the circumstances surrounding his involvement in the project.
"Miss Parker beat you to it though. Have you heard from her Sydney?" Jarod could not keep the hint of desperation from his voice as he asked.
Sydney shook his head sadly.
"I need your help with something. Something that may involve her."
Sydney raised his eyebrows for the second time that morning. "If I can Jarod."
Jarod ran one hand through his hair and leant forward. "The Centre were running another project at Donoterase, one called silence." Jarod witnessed a flash of recognition cross the older mans face.
Sydney finally sat down, taking a seat across from Jarod. He ignored the crinkle of the dust sheet beneath him.
"You've heard about it.", Jarod growled. If it weren't for the accompanying look of shock on the older man's face, Jarod would have thought he was being lied to again.
"Yes. This morning Broots came to see me, he was somewhat on edge. Brigette had accosted him. She asked him to look into something called Project Silence."
"Brigette?" Jarod began to process this new piece of information. Brigette was obviously being kept out of the loop too, in fact according to the files he had liberated from Donoterase there were very few people who were actually in the loop. A grim thought pushed into his mind.
"What is this about Jarod? And how does it involve Miss Parker?" Sydney's shoulders sunk a little lower, he refused to even debate what new atrocity The Centre had committed until he knew the truth.
"Cloning me wasn't enough Sydney. Early tests on Project Gemini showed an improvement due to the environment he was raised in." Jarod's face grew darker. "But that wasn't enough. They wanted to increase my abilities, they were planning to breed a new, improved pretender." Jarod churned out the information through clenched jaw.
Sydney sank into his seat, "And Miss Parker..." He let the sentence trail off, he had an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"She's a red file, Sydney. The potential of any offspring was too great to ignore." Jarod muttered, his voice quieter. "It's Mr Parker's project, too.", Jarod explained bitterly.
Sydney wanted desperately, at that moment, to reach out to his protege, to comfort him. There were no cameras recording his every interaction with Jarod this time, an obstacle that had prevented him previously. This time though it was the fear that he would be rejected, Jarod had his father now, so he resisted. "What can I do, Jarod?"
Rubbing his tired eyes, Jarod contemplated his mentor. "I don't know what stage the project is at. Most of the information I have is sketchy at best. They were attempting to create new reproductive cells encoded with each of our DNA. The project was based on some research that I had started, looking at fertility problems."
Sydney nodded his head in remembrance. It was one of The Centres more altruistic projects, that was why it had been shelved. Or so he had thought, obviously Mr Parker had seen the potential.
"From the papers I have I believe they had gotten that far, to actually creating those cells. I just need to know how much further they went Sydney. I need to know if there are any more members of my family out there."
He could feel the younger man's pain, it was still raw. A sudden thought jabbed at him, "Do you think Brigette is involved, unknowingly, in this somehow?"
"She appears to have no overt involvement with the project but I don't think she can be ruled out of the equation." Jarod picked the words out carefully, unwilling to voice the possibilty that Brigette may be carrying his child. His and Miss Parker's child.
Sydney furrowed his brow, they were thinking along the same lines even though neither man would say the exact words. "If it's true, what will you do?"
The pretender shook his head, "I don't know Sydney." He looked into the eyes of the man he had wished was his father for most of his life. "The thought of sharing a child with Miss Parker is not abhorrent to me, as long as that child does not have to grow up as I did. The fact that Brigette may be involved unsettles me more."
Sydney nodded, understandingly.
"I need to know for sure before I make any plans." The possible involvement of Brigette could cause problems.
"There were no samples left at Donaterase then?" Sydney remembered the explosion at Donoterase almost a month ago now and had figured Jarod had been involved.
Jarod smiled grimly at Sydney's insight. "There was not much left at Donoterase." He found himself recounting the images he had seen there - something he had been unable to tell his father.
"Broots and I will see what we can uncover, Jarod. What about Miss Parker?" Sydney wondered how long it would take Miss Parker to return to The Centre, albeit only to murder Mr Parker, once she found out about the project.
Jarod shrugged his shoulders. "I'm working on it Sydney. I'm beginning to have a lot more respect for the hunters. But I won't give up." He handed Sydney a cell phone number he could be contacted on should he and Broots uncover anything.
"If you fnd her you will let me know?" Sydney asked. This time it was Sydney who could not keep the worry from his voice.
Jarod nodded and stood to leave. "Be careful Sydney."
"You too, Jarod." Sydney watched the younger man disappear out of the door. He looked down at the scrap of paper the number was on and committed it to memory as he absently began to replace the cover on Jarod's vacated seat, it would be some time before he came back again. Before he left he took the opportunity to visit Jacob's grave. Standing there his thoughts began to turn to the past, of how he should have done something all those years ago to stop this mess from happening. What could he have done though? He couldn't change the past, not now. What had happened back then; Jarod's, and the others, abductions, Catherine's death, Jacob's 'accident', and The Centre's descent into Hell, he accepted them. The only thing he could do was learn from his mistakes and make sure they didn't happen all over again. Thoughts of Catherine and Jacob turned to thoughts of Miss Parker and Jarod; he knew what was most important to him now.