Disclaimer: See chapter 1 for details.
Author's note: For those who may not know, Faust is a character who was being wooed by the Devil into giving up his soul for a farthing. And as we all know, Raines can't act worth beans, though the actor who plays him is brilliant.
The things I do…
Chapter III
By Callisto
The Centre
Blue Cove, DE
"Welcome home, Miss Parker," wheezed the lying representative of Mephistopheles. "The recognition of you're formal fall from grace has been long overdue. I must admit that you had us fooled all this time with your reassurances of actively trying to recapture Jarod." He paused for awhile taking deep draughts of air from his bottled supply; never allowing his stare to waver from her face for more than a few seconds. When he realized she wouldn't verbally spar with him; he nonchalantly drew his hand back and slapped her smartly across the face. The sound of the blow was loud but the victim continued to impassively stare out of the window, ignoring her attacker. Smiling with approval, Raines slowly walked behind his desk and seated himself.
"You will finally experience the treatment which should have always been given you. My brother was too soft, too sentimental. I often warned him that sparing the rod would spoil you and time has proven me correct. Your new home will be on Sublevel 8 and you will follow the same rules and regulations given to our other inmates. I hope this will be a lesson to you, my child," he said with deep insincerity and enthusiasm. Still watching her expressionless face, he nodded curtly to his personal guard, who lifted Parker to her feet and escorted her out of the office. Releasing a deep sigh of satisfaction, Raines looked at Lyle and smiled grimly.
"So how does it feel to see your twin in this position?"
"I would have preferred a slightly different set of circumstances. While we're on the subject, I would like to spend some quality time with her. When Mr. Parker was alive, she was too independent and resistant to new ideas. I was also a bit reticent about asking him to arrange it because he doted on her so much," Lyle probed dispassionately.
Glancing at his former pupil, Raines successfully hid his abrupt and almost overpowering feeling of disgust. He was a lot of things and there were places he had willingly, if not eagerly, gone that in his younger years would have horrified him. However, there were still a precious few points of depravity which still had the power to disgust him—incest was one of them. He was fully aware that Lyle wasn't Miss Parker's twin but the sociopath wasn't. Planting the idea and then supplying the supporting evidence in the form of a forged lab report was essential in getting Lyle under control. He had been a Triumvirate darling and was well on the way to reestablishing himself with that group if it hadn't been for Miss Parker's 'discovery'. Apparently his protégé had outstripped him by eagerly experimenting with the depths of his own decadence.
Instead of answering Lyle, Raines stated, "she is to be kept isolated in her cell for the next 12 hours. Afterwards, I want a full battery of physical tests to be run on her. I want to know everything about her physically; from how much she weighs to how far she can run before passing out. Her intellectual tests I will conduct myself." Noticing that Lyle still hadn't moved, he continued menacingly, "From your last reports, our insinuation into the target network is nearing completion and we should anticipate our newest acquistition within the next few months. If that fails to retain your attention, we still have two pretenders out there waiting to be caught. I suggest if you don't want to join your twin in the cells that you get to work immediately."
Sydney's residence
Powell Lake, BC
Broots and Sydney were lounging on the spacious porch with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate Debbie had prepared for them resting on a small table between their chairs. This was the first time in several months both men had a chance to really relax and take in their new circumstances. The view from the porch was spectacular; the blue expanse of the sky was clear and endless, matching the tranquil blue of the lake. A light, chill breeze wafted intermittently through the covered porch encouraging the loungers to wear warm clothing but not discouraging them from their vigil.
"Sydney, tell me more about your brother, Miss Parker's father. Do you think he was aware that she was his daughter?"
"He must have been. The night of the accident he said there were things going on at the Centre I refused to see. Over the years, I've kept getting tiny bits of the puzzle. Now I think I have enough pieces to make out the picture. A few years ago, I told you about the scene a set of twins at the twin's convention had spoken to me about. To jog your memory, they told me of an altercation they had witnessed between Jacob and Raines. The argument had gotten so heated that Raines pulled a gun on Jacob threatening him. It was something Jacob had never told me and my guess is that he must have done or wanted to do something Raines refused to allow. Now I believe it had something to do with either Catherine or her daughter, perhaps both."
"Catherine Parker seemed like such a classy lady, it's hard to imagine her sleeping with someone like Raines, especially when she was friends with his wife. I'm not naïve, I know that sort of thing happens every day. It's just from everything I've heard about her, Catherine Parker doesn't strike me as that kind of person," he concluded with a thoughtful shake of his head.
"No, she wasn't. The only way Raines could have fathered Miss Parker is by artificial insemination. The Centre was always ahead of the curve when it came to medical research and its implementation."
"It's hard to imagine a turkey baster being cutting-edge science," Broots replied morosely. "But yeah, I know what you mean. I remember the labs at Donaterese."
Sydney's brow furrowed and he stared off into the horizon, deep in thought. Broots saw his friend's change in demeanor and knowing something new had occurred to him, he refrained from breaking Sydney's concentration.
"Broots, what if it was something simple, what if they knew what Raines had been planning?"
"What are you talking about Sydney?" Broots asked in confusion.
"What if they weren't having an affair but somehow Jacob found out what Raines was planning on doing?" Sydney asked as the idea took on a more defined shape and form. Glancing at his friend and noticing the perplexed expression on his face, Sydney continued hurriedly, "Catherine must have known that Mr. Parker was impotent. She was depressed because of her failing marriage and the inability of her husband to father a child with her. She must have willingly agreed to an alternative donor. Catherine had told Jarod that Ethan was conceived by Raines impregnating her using Major Charles' seed. What if the same was done to create both Miss Parker and Jarod?"
"You mean that they are half-siblings? Jarod and Miss Parker?" Broots asked in a horrified voice. There had been rumors that Miss Parker had been sent to kill Mr. Lyle before she was aware they were twins but to find out that she was sent to chase down her own half brother as well was beyond twisted.
"Yes and no. They were intended to be half siblings but Raines in his effort to use his own seed was thwarted. In Catherine's case, what if Jacob had found out what Raines was planning on doing and substituted his own sperm for Raines'? Raines must have run some simple blood tests on Catherine's children and discovered they weren't his. Jacob might have tried a similar substitution again and Raines caught him."
"And that's why Raines wanted him or better, both of you out of the way. It was common knowledge that Mr. Parker wanted his daughter to eventually run the Centre. The last thing either Mr. Parker or Mr. Raines would have wanted was to have her real father pop up out of nowhere. The attempts on your brother's life were so that no one would ever know the truth or try that again," Broots continued excitedly after catching Sydney's train of thought. "Sydney, what about this? What if at NuGenises instead of helping the parents produce their own children, they are duping couples into having children produced with the genetics of other people? You know take either the eggs or sperm from a pretender and use it to create a child. The parents are carefully screened and desperate enough not to ask too many questions."
"What little I know of the NuGenesis project, your theory isn't much of a stretch. The main wrinkle in producing children is that it can be a very inexact science. The couples aren't prohibited from having sex, a child could actually be produced by the test subjects unintentionally."
An unconscious shiver crept down Broots' spine at Sydney's reference to loving and desperate parents trying to have a child. "Yeah and what if that happened to Jarod? His parents weren't able to have a kid then when they go to NuGenises and submit themselves to the usual tests and treatments, then they find out—surprise! The treatments that usually don't work, for once actually did. Bigger surprise, the parents not only produced a kid but a gifted one at that. Those scientists must have been tearing their hair out trying to figure out how it happened."
"My God, Jacob was right. I was blind, the clues were all there staring me in the face. Unfortunately, the more I think about some of the strange happenings at the Centre the more I realize what I refused to see," Sydney replied sadly.
"The screwed-up part here is that Raines considers everyone involved as his personal lab rats—Miss Parker included. I can't imagine him ever giving up on the idea of recapturing them to continue on with his twisted brand of medical research," Broots said with deepening disgust.
The Centre
Blue Cove, DE
The accommodations were pretty much the same as when she had last seen them several years ago. Wandering around the spacious room and taking in the decorations, Parker settled in a comfortable chair to wait for Raines to show up. The past few days were trying to say the least; the battery of tests he forced her to take were exhausting and pointless—unless, of course, you're an old torturer who likes to know the physical limitations of his victims. All the information he gathered was easily accessible from her former physical exam taken shortly before she made the decision to leave and was able to do so without endangering her friends/colleagues in the process. The blood tests must have picked up on Emil's pregnancy serum, her personal contingency plan just in case the worse case scenario occurred. She had injected herself with the serum using a tiny kit he had supplied her which she had hidden in her hair, next to her scalp. The serum must have shown up in the tests or she wouldn't have been transferred to Jarod's private sim digs—the rooms designed for him when he was being a good little pretender.
Leaning back in the overstuffed chair, she relaxed her mind and sought the voices which had been advising her since they had first guided her down this strange path. Margaret must now be safe with her family and Jarod—no, she wouldn't allow herself to think about him just yet. Instead, she concentrated on her mother and was soon rewarded by hearing the familiar soothing voice in her mind. Smiling happily, Parker relaxed her body automatically and the comforting vision of her mother appeared before her closed eyes.
Unaware that she had been sitting in the chair for over an hour, her attention was recalled by the opening of her cell door. Her elderly, demented captor was putting on one of the lousiest performances of the Faustian protagonist she had ever seen. At least Faust got slick, all she got was old, cheesy and breathless.
"Mind telling me why I'm here instead of my usual 'plush' accommodations?" she asked sarcastically.
"I want you comfortable and rested for the upcoming evaluations. So far you have performed better than I could have anticipated. Continue to cooperate and you will be rewarded," he said confidently as his soulless eyes regarded her with greedy interest.
"I was already tested to see if I was a pretender, let's cut to the chase—I'm not. Whatever else you have spinning around in that demented brain of yours will be just another waste of time. You're going to have to skip to the fun part where you kill me outright," she countered with fading interest.
"Your prior tests were, shall we say, tainted. New tests have been ordered for you. I am also extremely curious about the awakening of your inherited gift, your mother's inner sense. There isn't any point trying to deny it; I know you also possess the ability. Exploring the limitations and applicable uses that would ultimately profit the Centre will be the next challenge. I already have a few ideas on that front," he replied enjoying her sudden apprehensive demeanor and her mercurially depressed expression. "You seem at a loss for words, Miss Parker. It's refreshing to see you are finally learning your true place," said the old man with a note of triumph.
"That's because your deodorant gave up its losing battle several hours ago and I was forced to take a breath of this polluted air. One thing I have always known is that any place is good as long as it's downwind from you," she replied caustically.
Raines stared at her blankly for several minutes, then turned and left her alone, his bodyguards trailing behind him like spiked tail.
Several minutes after he had left, Parker rose from her seat and paced the room fretfully. Putting on a show for her watchers, she was instead relieved at the prospect of being allowed to stay in these rooms since she was betting that the old passageway she used when as a lonely and neglected child she would visit Jarod, still existed.
A few days later, Parker was lying on a thin mattress in a sterile, dormitory room—an exact replica of the original quarters she was kept in upon her return to the Centre. Her head throbbed excruciatingly, forcing her deeper inside of herself to separate the pain from her awareness. Several minutes later, her breathing having calmed and slowed, the sound of soft, barely audible scratching came from the air vent in her room. Smiling slightly, she cracked open her tired eyes and focused on the vent. Through the grating she could see the vague form of someone silhouetted in the shadows. She wearily sat up; leaning against the wall and pulling the thin blanket around her body shielded her hands from the camera's view. With the cover of the blanket concealing her movements, she gracefully signed using the old code Jarod had developed for them as children. Her movements had become more fluid in the intervening days as she reacquainted herself with the code.
'Hello, what kept you? I've been waiting for sometime, are you alright?'
A light tapping sound answered her using the same code. 'Angelo fine, came to check on you. Have been here 20 minutes waiting.'
'Sorry, Raines had a very tiring sim he wanted me to complete, still trying to get me to use my gift. Have you eaten already?'
'Not hungry, what about you?'
'Same but at least I forced myself to choke down some of that disgusting green stuff the cafeteria keeps pushing. You should eat more and take better care of yourself. Sydney isn't here to look after you anymore.'
'Why worry? Never did before.'
'That was before, when I had a reputation to maintain. You're visits have kept me from giving up and I'm selfish enough not to want them to stop.'
'Never give in, will lose soul if you do.' There was a pause in the tapping and then it began again. "Mother still talk?'
'Yes. Says it's time for me to leave, haven't found a way out of here yet, I only know the way out from Jarod's private sim room.'
'Give what he wants, will return to other room. Leave then.'
'What about you? I won't leave without you, not negotiable.'
'No worry, will be fine.'
'Then I will have to try and hold out till Jarod comes to 'rescue' me. He will be so happy,' she signed with an indulgent roll of her eyes. The room fell into silence and after a while she thought he had left.
'No more, Daughter. Friend again. Medicine helped, tricked them.'
'Yep. Prior, proper planning. At least they won't try injecting me with anything or subject me to some of those horrible experiments I'd kept hearing about. Voices want us to leave in next couple days, will need your help.'
'Way out still same, no need help.'
'Voices say you should come with me,' she lied smoothly. 'I'll drag you out if I have to; this place is no longer anyone's home. You aren't safe here and there is no one left to make sure you're okay.'
'Lady wants to help Angelo. Will come. Dangerous for lady to stay." A soft shuffling followed his tapping. Parker laid down again on her lumpy mattress, waiting patiently for her guard dog, Praetorian sweeper to return her to the si m lab. She would solve the simple test sim Raines presented to her—she had figured out the solution within seconds of being explained what the problem entailed. A major consolation was that Raines believed her inner sense worked in the same way as Ethan's, fortunately it didn't. Once she was in Jarod's old room, she would take Angelo and make a run for it. Her inner sense had already shown her that she would be successful. She lay there trying to figure out where the car her mother was leaning on had came from.