CHAPTER FIVE!! No wait . . . CHAPTER FOUR



Authors note: I've got nothing against thirteen year olds. It's a very good age to be.

Later, when the two had made sure that the pursuit team had left, they made their way back to the hotel room. There were signs that the room had been entered again, most likely that Parker had gone back for the DSA's at least. It was lucky that Jarod had hidden them well, like he always did when he went out.

Just in case, and because Jarod was slightly paranoid, they packed up all their things and went to look for another place to stay for the night.

Feeling the need to just drive for a while, Jarod stayed behind the wheel of the car until long after the light outside the windows had faded. Snowy, being only thirteen, dozed off against the car window, waking an hour or so later when Jarod finally settled on a roadside motel.

Despite the fact that he had fallen asleep earlier, or perhaps because of it, Snowy didn't want to go to bed right away. Jarod didn't really need to sleep much so they sat on one of the beds and talked.

Inevitably, as it was with Jarod, the topic of discussion turned towards the Centre, and something that had been bugging Snowy for a while.

'Why do you even let them chase you?' asked the boy curiously. Jarod looked at him in surprise as though the thought had never occurred to him.

'I don't *let* them chase me. There's no way I could stay informed about what's happening in the Centre and find out about my family at the same time as leaving no clues.'

'Why do you need to 'stay informed' about anything to do with the Centre anyway?'

'Come on, you know the answer to that. Think about it' Jarod couldn't help challenging the boy he was beginning to see as a protégé.

'I suppose it's cos in case they do anything they shouldn't.' Sighed Snowy. Jarod nodded. 'If I hadn't kept in touch, Davey Simpkins would have ended up like Angelo. Besides, laying low would mean not doing pretends to help people. Doing it this way works fine anyway. They'll never catch me.'

'No, they won't it's just . . .' Snowy paused with a pained expression, as though he couldn't think of the right words. 'You can keep in touch without them having to chase you all over the country. Like . . . most of the clues that set them onto our trail to start with are virtual. A phone call or bank record. What if . . . like, um, I could sort of erase those clues and then they wouldn't be tailing us.'

'And I could still stay in contact.' Continued Jarod for him, nodding slowly. His active brain was quickly analysing the options and possibilities. 'Do you think it's possible to 'erase' all cyber traces that we ever existed?'

'Give me your laptop and I'll give it a try.' Replied Snowy cockily. Jarod couldn't help laughing at his tone and passed the black case across, then went to sit on the bed behind the thin boy, always eager to see a true master at work.

When doing pretends, Jarod could only become as good at his profession as the people that wrote the books about it, at least at first. And the things Snowy could do with computers had never been written down in any book. He had designed his own operating system in his spare time, easier to use than Microsoft and friendlier than Linux.

But still, some things aren't easily done, even by geniuses. Snowy had to find all traces of phone calls made from Jarod's cell, money exchanged from any of Jarod's bank accounts, e-mails sent, transport paid for and credit cards financed. Thinking of things to wipe was as hard as the wiping itself.

As Snowy was doing another sweep through the internet, Jarod noticed him yawning and frowned. 'We can do the rest tomorrow Snowy. It's time for bed now.'

Snowy looked at him with narrowed eyes. 'I can crack the NASA mainframe in twenty-two minutes and you're still going to make me go to bed at eleven. I swear, you must be my long lost Dad or something cos only a parent could be so evil.'

Jarod smiled at the thought that Snowy could consider him like a parent but removed the computer from his grasp and firmly shooed him towards the bathroom so he could brush his teeth.



'Anything new on Jarod?' Parker asked Broots briskly in their normal greeting ritual.

'Um, not exactly' started Broots, not exactly sure how he should say it. Parker paused her shuffling of some papers that had collected on her desk and stared pointedly at Broots, commanding him to continue.

'There's nothing new but . . . there's nothing old either.'

'What the hell do you mean 'nothing old either?' Spit it out Broots'

'All the old leads and things we had on Jarod, bits of info on him we couldn't even use, they've gone. I keep them on a file on this computer here and when I came in this morning that had been deleted. So I started searching for where I had gotten the information from originally, like telephone company records and mail servers, and well, it's all gone.'

'All of it?' Parker's voice took on a dangerous edge.

'Every bit' replied Broots simply, his stomach clenching slightly. On que, once again, the phone rang. 'Trace this call' Parker ordered, having a sudden premonition of who was calling. Broots nodded that he was and she hit the speaker phone'

'What?'

'I'm terribly sorry about this Miss Parker, but I've decided to change the rules.'

'What are you talking about Jarod' she asked wearily as Broots anxiously watched the visual display of the trace.

'No more chasing, tough luck. If it's any consolation, I'll still be keeping in touch.' His repentant words were belayed by the undertones of smugness. It all suddenly clicked into place for Parker.

'You did this. You and that brat of yours.'

'Very observant. Oh, and Broots? I wouldn't bother if I was you. Don't worry, Snowy says he'll fix it when I hang up.' There was a click and Broots looked up from where the screen was flashing multiple error messages. Parker shot him a questioning look and he shook his head.

'How did he know what time to ring?' wondered Parker out loud, 'And how did he know you were tracing the call?'

'I know the answer to the second one. He heard me breathing over the phone line. I've got a deviated left septum from this accident when I was a kid. It's a long story. And he would have worked out that after discovering all those leads were missing that you would try and, well, make some more. But I don't know how he knew what time to call. The Centre's surveillance is a closed system. Maybe someone is telling him' speculated Broots.

'Work on it' ordered Parker sharply, gathering some papers that needed attention and stalking out. Broots watched her go and sighed.



Jarod hung up the phone and looked over at Snowy who was typing furiously at the laptop, trying to stop Broots detecting and tracing his actions. In a few minutes he stopped and closed the lid. 'And thus it starts' he stated prophetically, the effect ruined slightly by the grin on his pale face.

'Hmm, I think she'll be mad'

'Is she ever not made mad by things like this?'

'I don't know. I've never done something like this before.' replied Jarod worriedly. Changing the game could have unforseen consequences.

'We'll cope with them when we get to them' said Snowy sagely and Jarod realised that the boy had just read his mind. Well, not read his mind, but pretended him accurately enough to be able to predict what he was thinking. Jarod looked at him sharply.

'What?' asked Snowy, seeing the look on Jarod's face.

'You just . . .I suspected before but I thought it was so highly improbable. It's entirely possible that you're a pretender.' Said Jarod.

'I'm what!?' asked Snowy, in reality understanding perfectly, yet to shocked to fully comprehend.

'You've been showing small signs ever since I've known you but just then you pretended to be me. I do it all the time when I'm talking to people.'

'You mean know what they're thinking or what they're about to do? That's nothing, I do that all the time, that doesn't make me a pretender . . . does it?' Jarod nodded slowly and couldn't help a small flash of pride, even though the ability could in no way be credited to him.

A look passed over Snowy's face, one of wonder and at the same time speculation, what exactly he could do with this gift. 'Come on mini-boy wonder,' Jarod broke into the reverie. 'We should get on the move again. There's no way to tell whether or not the wipe worked fully.'

'Um . . . what? Oh, yeah' replied Snowy distractedly and Jarod couldn't help a smile at the thoughts that were obviously bubbling just below the surface.

Once they were in the car once again, Snowy was unusually quiet. Jarod left him to his thoughts but couldn't help glancing over at the pale child now and again. Finally Snowy broke the silence.

'You said it's only a possibility that I'm a pretender.'

'A very high possibility but we can't be sure until I run some tests.'

'What sort of tests?'

'First to see if you have the pretender gene. The just some IQ testing and basic simulations.'

'And if I am a pretender?' Snowy asked tremulously, hope and worry fighting for dominance in his tone.

'Even if you are, you haven't been trained so you won't be able to do complex scenarios for a couple of years yet. But I could train you. If you want, that is.'

'I'd love it. That would be so cool. Then the Centre would have two Pretenders to bug it. Oh man, the stuff we could do together.' Both hope and worry had been thoroughly quashed by excitement. The words quelled Jarod's empathic excitement though.

'If you are, the Centre will be truly chasing you too. It means a life on the run, never having a home, or lasting connections to people. You can still pull out of this life, I could find you some nice foster parents who would take great care of you. Snowy, I don't want you to lead that sort of life just because of me.'

Snowy just looked at Jarod in disbelief. 'Are you trying to dump me Jarod? I know exactly what your life involves, I've been watching it on the screen for ages. And what are you talking abut 'no lasting connections to people.' There's you. Besides, admit it- you need me.'

Jarod glanced over at Snowy and relief and gratitude filled him. It would have broken his heart if Snowy had pulled out on him but he had to ask, to make sure this was really what the boy wanted. 'Yeah, you're right. We're a team now.'

The car drove on for another few minutes in companionable silence. Once again it was Snowy who spoke. 'With all this running around in the open air, I think I'm getting a tan' he said, carefully inspecting his arm and frowning.

'That's meant to be a good thing,' laughed Jarod, 'you can stop looking like some sickly cancer patient who spends their entire time in the hospital and never sees the sun. Your eyes are so dark in comparison to the rest of your face it looks like you're wearing eyeliner.'

'Hmpf. I don't like it. I really had the whole 'computer geek' look working for me. I'm gonna start wearing sun screen.' He sounded so genuinely put off at the sight of his skin showing some natural colour that Jarod couldn't help but laugh.

'Think of it like this; because you're becoming better with computers, you need to spend less time in front of them to do the same amount so your 'tan' is like a badge of ultimate geekship'

It was Snowy's turn to laugh. 'You're an idiot Jarod' he said affectionately.



You like? Snowy is rather fun to play with. He's sort of the physical projection of Jarod's mind. i.e. immature.