CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
April 17 to April 20 2001
Jarod had always been afraid of Miss Parker, except when he thought they were brother and sister.. No father could treat his own son as he was treated and what was a fantasy turned back into hard reality, but during that brief moment, he was able to come into the same room with her without being afraid of her shooting him and working some of the simulations. However, once that was over, he had to flee the Centre once more and he did.
As far as the rape was concerned, Jarod decided to bone up on the subject. Now before he felt that is was simply a man beating up a woman and during one of his Pretends, he assumed that is what happened to the victim. No one came to him and brought him into the hospital room where the victim lay and opened the sheets, saying, "This is what the scum did. He forced her legs apart and… Now get out of the way. We have to take a scraping."
Forcible mating, he thought and delved into the rare cases where the women raped the men, also forcible mating, although it was usually a man who was rather of a lighter build and the woman was either husky, probably did weight lifting. It was two or more women who were usually angry at the man for some reason. The man in a lot of cases was a male stripper who had gone to one of the before bridal parties of some females, certainly not the type that Jarod was. He had read on such stuff, but never did a Pretend nor did he intend to.
However, even though the man may have danced in front of several girls, the results were the same. Jarod turned to an article about a man who was unable to function with his wife after his rescue. Jarod could not understand why, to tremble after mating, the Pretender thought, it is a biological function no matter how it is obtained.
He had another reason to fear Miss Parker, she was the grand daughter of the Ensign Lamech Parker who caused the wreck of two ships transplanting the parents of the original Dominants/pretenders to Mexico and consequently hunted down the Dominants born to them in Delaware, and by using a drug changed their fierce protective instincts without damaging their intelligence. Who knows whether suddenly in one night, she might take him back to the Centre?
Jarod took the picture of his mother from the wallet containing the money and credit card Miss Parker gave him. He never knew it before, but his mother's expression of utmost terror was greater than that of Catherine's who being married to Mr. Parker had more to fear. He tried to find an open window so he would not use Rachel's connection when using the laptop for Miss Parker had confiscated the DSAs and he had to break into Centre security to retrieve them or rather make copies.
What if Miss Parker and I are really related? Not that it would make a difference. She'd still take me anyway.
However, he knew this to be untrue. His Dominant instinct did not set up the red flag that came with close relatives. However, he felt familiarity when he first met Gemini and Ethan and sensed it when looking at Frederick, Margaret, and Rachel's children. He also felt it when he passed a closed door on the way to Lyle's office.
The Centre had tried to destroy all he knew. They wanted him dependant on them. The only wild cards were Ethan, Frederick, and Margaret because they had Parker blood in them. When he escaped, the Centre sent Alex off to Africa for training. But what did they do in the meantime? They would have to use a new Pretender and what better than one with my genes, thought Jarod another clone.
Now if Miss Parker was expecting, what chance of normalcy would her child or children have? What was the Dominant equivalent of a Down Syndrome child?
Jarod removed his shirt and in the bright light of the fluorescent light of Rachel's bathroom and with a hand mirror, his back to the medicine cabinet, saw the small almost indistinguishable scars on his back. He always wondered why he always undressed in the dark, why he was so careful to sleep on his back. He thought it was because of his small cell, just large enough for his body, no room for a cot, just the bare floor. Now he suspected it was because of another reason. He did not want the whip applied on his back again.
"Are you all right Jarod?"
Rachel was watching him. An idea that harbored in his brain took root. "Do you know anything about hypnosis? Some events in my past, at the Centre, that seem inconsistent. I was planning hypnosis, but question its validity."
"I gather you pretended to be a stage show hypnosis on one of your capers. Not the same thing. You can do it yourself, you know."
"Yes. I could, but I want a second party. After that, I want to find my family. I fail to comprehend that my mother was a Dominant, when I had so happy memories of her."
"We took your father's DNA and compared it to yours. We isolated your mother's from yours. My contact said that it fluctuated between 1.1 and 1.2, which is unusual." When she saw Jarod's expression, she changed the subject. "Didn't you tell me your parents were renters? Your father was a Major in the Air Force and could have bought a house. I wonder why he didn't."
"The Centre chased them. If he put his name on a mortgage form, they'd know, but I want to know why I have confliction about Margaret, Miss Parker. I heard her called that or a version of it by a strange man who wore a black suit and had his collar on backward. Mr. Parker called him Father although the man certainly looked younger." He filled in more detail. "I placed a bug in the Blue Cove Cathedral. It was quite fuzzy and the Centre has cameras. Angelo sent me the DSA, but I could not make out the vocals."
"A Roman Catholic Priest. Didn't you know that? What else were you ignorant of?"
"Oh that's his formal attire. I didn't know about Christmas until I got out, let alone the other celebrations. As for Miss Parker, I always kept my distance from her." He sat down on a chair, his legs crossed. "Do you know that when we found Ethan, Miss Parker handcuffed me, I was terrified, but since Sydney and Broots were in the same room, but I had no desire to escape."
"Perhaps because you couldn't."
"Oh I could have gotten out of the handcuffs easily, not like before."
"What about the time she had sex with you?"
"I could have broken them then as well, but somehow something inside me told me not to. It's that little voice. Sydney is the only one who can hypnotize me, Rachel, but I doubt he could now."
"I know an excellent medical hypnotist who the VCTF uses in child abuse cases. He might uncover more about your past. There has to be a deeper reason for your fear, and you might have blocked out the most terrifying parts from your memory." She showed him the advertisement. They were impressive. "I hope there's more you can tell me. I'll have to give him an insight about your problem."
"No," Jarod lied. When he was a boy at the Centre, Sydney sometimes took him to the main level. On the way back once, they had to pass a hallway leading to a door going down to one of the first sublevels. When they approached it, Jarod grabbed onto the nearest pillar and screamed. Sydney relented and they went another way.
Rachel arranged the appointment for the first day in May and until then, they went through the usual interviews where they were accused of doing too much or doing too little. However, the day for the appointment arrived and they drove to the doctor's office. She parked in the back to let Jarod off. "I'll have to go to the New York VCTF with my report while you're having the session. That way, it'll give you at least an hour."
Jarod took the elevator to the fourth floor, and entered the office. It was quite spacious, light with a faint pink glow, and the music playing being either soft rock or classical. The nurse led him into a larger room with a couch and called in Doctor Pasqueles.
"Now," said Pasqueles, "I want you to relax. You can either sit on the chair or lay on the couch. Okay? I'll adjust the back. Now, think of something pleasant, something in your childhood." His voice was calm, gradually lowering, until Jarod felt himself falling into a sleep. "Now you are at the Centre. You are twelve years old."
He continued adding years to Jarod's memories. "Remember whatever you see does not affect you. It will not hurt you. You have this invisible shield around." The doctor avoided the usual, "I will be with you," because it would invoke another memory of "why didn't you help me." It would be better that way.
Jarod watched the screens come out of the deep recesses of his mind. He saw himself in the cell with Miss Parker. He saw them take the reluctant girl and place her on top of him. He saw the two behind her, a man and a nurse. He heard their voices. "She doesn't want to do this. The drug has worn off."
"It has to or the fetus will be damaged."
He shuddered, almost waking up. That isn't what happened, he thought, but he knew this was true.
Jarod fell further into a dream like state, seeing Raines taking him down the hallway to that elevator. He was a boy now, not a man like in the previous encounter. He remembered someone take the hood from his face and heard Raines say, "We're going to do a little experiment Jarod." Two of the sweepers grabbed him and started to remove his shirt and pants. "Don't struggle Jarod. You're going to do something that a lot of boys your age just dreamed of." He saw a girl about eight or nine. They had her strapped by both arms to a bed and Raines was smiling. "Come now Jarod" and a minute later, "He needs persuasion." The two guards grabbed him around his waist. .
He remembered another scene, months later. He was on top of this same young girl, his face in her bosom, and then he heard the weak pleat of an infant crying with hunger. He turned to see Dr. Raines behind him. He felt a sharp bolt of pain and then heard angry male voices, Raines and two other men arguing and then someone grabbed the infant and another man took a bottle and put it in the child's mouth.
He now remembered the second incident with Miss Parker who did not need someone to place her on him. "This won't hurt," she said, but her voice had already begun to have the Ice Queen tone to it.
Jarod remembered the same nurse and man removing Miss Parker off him and the man saying "It worked." He looked at the Pretender with stern eyes.
The scene shifted to a few hours after this incident. He was in Raine's office, remembering what happened and saw Raines take a needle. "Now this is to help your muscles, Jarod."
Jarod felt him going into a fog, but then something jerked him into the dream state again and the hypnotist's voice came through. "You have to fight it, Jarod. You have to be strong."
Now he saw Raines opening an envelope and showing what was inside. "Remember Jarod that Mr. Parker gave you over to his daughter. They mean you harm. They are going to use you. They will cut out your tongue so you can't scream, and when she tires of you, they will leave you to starve to death. Remember I am your friend, not Sydney, .I am your friend." The perverted voice continued in Jarod's memory. "You will forget all I told you except that you will be afraid of Miss Parker and the Sweeper team. You will never be safe as long as she hunts you. Remember Miss Parker will kill you."
Jarod started to thrash and Pasqueles had trouble holding him. Now the Pretender remembered another incident when he was thirteen that happened when Sydney handed him a pair of earphones.
"It's from Mr. Parker. He wants to congratulate you on that simulation.
Mr. Parker's voice came in low, soft, and monotonous. "You love it here in the Centre. We want you. All of us love you, Jarod, especially Miss Parker," Jarod's movements became more violent. He was fighting the voices, knowing that Mr. Parker's hypnotic strain reeked of insincerity. He remembered asking Sydney replaying the tape, and listening to it again before Sydney told him to finish his drink "You must love it here in the Centre. We want you to feel safe. Not all of us love you, especially not Miss Parker, but you will never leave." It was like that song, Hotel California. Mr. Parker lowered his voice with certain words, words that showed the real meaning and that drink no doubt drugged. Jarod also remembered that until a few weeks after he escaped, he was very compliant and extremely helpful. Now looking back, he was too helpful.
"I remember everything," he said, "Raines wanted me to think that Miss Parker would kill me, but she didn't and I listened to a tape where Mr. Parker said they all loved me, but then I listened to it again. It was as if he was ordering me to like where I was and no one had any feelings of affection towards me." He started to speak the hypnotic messages when Pasqueles stopped him. "I must have repeated them."
Pasqueles read his notes. "That and another message. Raines hypnotized you twice. One time he said she would kill you when she was with the sweepers and not touch you when she saw you alone. The next time, it was the reverse. He deliberately confused you." The hypnotist could not understand. "Are they after you? I can't call the police, my oath, you remember. Look I'll make you another appointment." He started to write in his pad, but when he lifted his eyes, the tall man had gone, but left a note.