CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
July 6 2001
While Giuseppe fixed the doctor's computer, the Grim Reaper examined Miss Parker and took a picture of the unborn infants. "Four. No wonder you're not feeling well."
"Four? The way they carry on kicking, I was sure I had at least a dozen."
He showed her the picture. "See, two boys and one girl. The other, I'm not so sure of, but I can find out considering your age."
"Please do."
"Now, you'll need to lift up your blouse a bit and expose your abdomen. It might hurt."
Miss Parker felt a slight pain as the doctor took out the fluid and put it under a microscope. "So do they have Down Syndrome?"
'They're normal for Pretenders. Yes Miss Parker, you're about to give birth to four little Pretenders." He smiled. "I don't know if they have the Inner Sense, but it doesn't matter does it? . Now get dressed in the other room while I destroy the film. Are you going to tell Jarod?"
She nodded. "I already had."
Jarod was pleased that none of the children had any mental defects and since Cox's own children were also Pretenders, he knew that the 'good' doctor was able to find out if there was any problems. "We ought to contact Miss Burke. Her children are older than Cox's and she can tell us what to expect although Naomi will make out splendidly. Her brothers dote on her. She'll be able to blend in. What I fear is for the boys. I don't want another Alex or Damien on our hands. But Naomi's a little charmer."
"Oh a JAP, Jarod, a Jewish American Princess."
"I didn't realize that Rachel was descended from Royalty. From my research, the Israelite kingdom and the Jewish kingdom expired centuries past."
"JAP is a definition applying to a Jewish girl who is the only girl in the family. The father can splurge on her education, graduation, and find the right man for her to marry."
"Understandable. There should be a balance. About Giuseppe. Can you arrange it if he works for Frederick. He said something about an operative, if that's allowed."
Miss Parker threw him some tapes. "I've taken steps to change Frederick and Margaret's last name to Angela and since that deal Lyle made, if I captured you, I'm in the position to transfer Giuseppe over to Frederick. You do agree, don't you?"
"Yes. Just get him of the Centre. How are you going to word it?"
She held her nose in the air as if putting on airs. "I am sure a fine young man such as Frederick Angela needs a swanky apartment, complete with his own butler, especially if he's going to mingle with upper elite!"
Jarod snickered as he put the tapes in a bag, but went back to normal as he picked up a flier. "It will appear as if we are going on a typical shopping excursion. I have included the advertisements from Home Hardware and some from Wal Mart, I hope those particular stores are in the area where we plan to meet her."
Miss Parker informed him that there was— after a remark that he should already know, to which Jarod rebuked her that he had been too busy running to do much sight seeing. After calming down, he checked the Wal Marts, learning the shopping center was just a mile out of that particular town which unlike Blue Cove had all the trappings of civilization, MacDonald's, Sears, etc.
Miss Parker picked up the cell phone and dialed the number for the VCTF.
Rachel had just finished her notes on the Sect of the White Lion when she heard the telephone ring. She was already looking for a break, but Bailey had another case up his sleeve.
"It's regarding a Mrs. Cleomedes, whose husband died under mysterious circumstances.."
"That's not in our expertise. We're supposed to deal with violent crimes not bad luck widows."
"I believe this fits our bill. Mrs. Cleomedes was married before to a Mr. Hughes, then previously to Mr. Saxton. None of the man had anything in common, but it seems Mrs. Cleomedes that is, Miss Eva Winkler's husbands all died of unnatural causes," he said as the phone started ringing.
Before he could grab it, Rachel picked up the receiver. "VCTF, Rachel Burke speaking."
"Miss Burke, this is Miss Parker from Blue Cove, Delaware. I believe we have someone in common, Jarod."
"Oh hello Miss Parker," said the Profiler, her voice suddenly going cold.
"I apologize for bothering you Miss Burke," said Parker," but we found tapes showing experiments of a distasteful nature done by Raines. If you could suggest a place where we could meet, I would appreciate."
.Rachel named a restaurant between Delaware and Connecticut and specified a time..
"Better make that hotel, one with a VCR and don't eat anything. You might get sick."
"I've a strong stomach, Miss Parker, but I would suggest you take them to the police."
"The Centre has ties in the police department, Miss Burke, good-bye," she said and after turning off her cellphone, turned to Security and Records "I want all the tapes destroyed except for that one and those envelopes."
"Done." He opened a metal box, inserted the tapes and the ensuing flash almost blinded Miss Parker.
"The Centre doesn't know about this, does it?" asked Jarod.
Giuseppe sneered as he buttoned up his shirt, "They haven't the intelligence. Doctor Cox needs another motherboard. Since I don't have any money, someone will have to pay for me."
Miss Parker called Broots on the cell phone, telling the situation as concisely as she could, and learning that some of the Centre supplies had been stolen by two boys and a girl, called the Packrats. Further to this information was the revelation that Mr. Lambourni had aided in the pilfering by placing some of Raines's opera CDs, where the Packrats could find them."
"Oh he did huh?"
"He's been asking around Blue Cove, and went as far as New Jersey and New York, asked that friend of his and that assistant district attorney, you know, the one whom his old firm had the worst luck with. He figured if McCoy could win all those cases, he knew about someone who left their kids at a train station or something."
"all right if Mr. Lambourni wants to find who their parent's are, I wish him luck."
"He gave Debbie a gift certificate to get her hair done and he had someone over to fix our pool."
"That was nice of him"
"It's a good thing he did, with the washing machine on the blitz, I couldn't afford it."
"Did you break it again?" she practically shouted into her cell phone, "if you haven't enough money to buy the motherboard, just use your Centre credit card. I'm sure that Raines will compensate you. If he doesn't, just put a word in Lambourni's ear. He has a bone to pick with 'Daddy dearest.'" That conversation over, she put her cell phone in her purse and breathed a loud sigh.
"After you left," said Giuseppe, "he was taking out his knife and looking at Raines."
"How?" asked Miss Parker, her eyes gleaming, "tell me more."
"Like a cat about to eat a mouse."
"Good," said Jarod. "So how much time do we have?"
"We have about an hour to get there. Giuseppe, wait here until Broots arrives. You won't have any trouble with the sweepers. Can you get into Cox's house?"
"I have a key," he said as Jarod and Miss Parker left for their appointment with the Profiler.
An hour later, they entered the hotel, an older establishment, what was known as genteel where the major residents were those between fifty and one hundred and the other residents, potential nuns and priests, with a smattering of college students. The manager looked at them suspiciously, until Miss Burke showed her badge.
"We'll see that you are not disturbed," said the manager and handed her the key. "Just remember to shut off the television after you are through and keep the sound down after ten pm. By the way, the special in the dining room today is Grilled Chicken with a Dijon sauce on a bed of Spanish rice, soup de la jour, or a spring salad, if you are interested?"
"If you could bring it up for three," she said as she handed him her credit card and when that was done, Jarod, Miss Parker, and her went up to the room to watch the tapes.
Miss Rachel turned pale, and then her anger grew at seeing the videos. "This is disgusting and you say, that the Centre has one of the participants working as a record keeper?"
"I believe that is his designated title," said Jarod, "he doesn't get paid for it. They just took him out when he was small and shoved him in that room. How he got out for exercise, I have no idea."
"Oh really," said Miss Parker, "Cox probably had a key to the door, and opened it long enough for Giuseppe to take a stroll. Of course the Centre found out about it."
"How did you know?" asked Miss Burke.
"Giuseppe's back is crisscrossed with scars," said Jarod.
Rachel understood. "This is enough evidence to bring Raines to justice, but we have another matter."
"So what is the other matter?" asked Miss Parker.
"Something which Jarod could help with," Rachel said and told them about Mr. Cleomedes.
"So you say that this Eva Winkler preys on lonely men, marries them, and kills them for their money?"
"Yes."
"And you want me to play the fall guy for her schemes?"
"No. Mr. Cleomedes had a brother, Stephen who has some information that could put this Ms. Winkler away.
"Did you say Stephen Cleomedes?" asked Miss Parker.
"Yes."
"It just so happens that before I caught up to Jarod, I saw a letter from a S. Cleomedes in Raines's mailbox, something regarding a misunderstanding—about some new employees." He looked at Jarod. "The same kind of misunderstanding that Cox had about Gino and Liza."
"What are you talking about?" asked Rachel.
"Because we are different than humans, stronger faster, and more ruthless," said Jarod, "the Centre's been selling our kind off to various individuals and foreign powers after a little in-house production."
Miss Parker filled Rachel in about the Neogenesis fed Jarod that also opened his mind to hypnotic suggestions, telling all the horrible details in as tactful a manner that she could. She also mentioned Mr. Parker's search for those born on July the twelfth.
"Does this tie in with the tapes? I guess not, Miss Parker," said Rachel, "The FBI has been investigating factories that use slave labor, most of it immigrants from places like China or Mexico. However, if it is someone like Cleomedes who has a conscience and tries to do the right thing, our hands are tied. He probably put them on his payroll, and if not, he'd pay them in kind, perhaps have them work for board and room."
"Isn't that slavery, still the same?" asked Jarod.
"In a strict sense, yes. However in the cases of adoption, sport's trading, giving money to a parent or guardian to train a child, the situation is in a gray area. Now if the Centre took a hundred or so, and then said to some factory manager, 'You give me one million dollars, and these will work for you, pro bono, for the rest of their lives. You own them,' then we can make a case."
"So just because these are 1.6rs, we have no rights?"
"You are different than us," said Rachel, "and fear influences people. I also learned why your women are less successful in bearing children to our men. Have you heard of steroids?"
"A drug thought to enhance muscular ability, but with a powerful side effect. It causes sterility because of the…"
"Yes. Since the women want strong men, they are attracted to muscle builders, the weight lifter who takes steroids to improve his strength. We found that when the women married those in the military with a strict policy of no enhancing drugs, they had just as much chance of having children as you had with me, Jarod."
"But will the children be Dominants or regular humans, in such cases?" asked Miss Parker, "that would disrupt society, not to mention the school system."
"You mean that we will find about the Dominant schools, send the army after them? That is a possibility," said Rachel, "but they are classified Private schools and can adhere to a religious or dress code. The latter, the Dominants would agree to, but the former would be a problem."
"We have Lambourni. He told me a bit about those schools, that they have shorter hours, and the classes are not as structured, the older Dominants, the parents can walk in at anytime, and actually give lessons, more like a home school and it's expensive.." She then addressed Miss Burke who told her that the tuition was well worth it. "Certain items have gone missing from the Centre and then been returned. I thought it was Angelo, a patient there, but it wasn't. I just learned about it from Broots that three children have been seen on the Centre grounds, stealing food and clothes. No one knows where they come from."
"How old?" asked Jarod.
"About eight or about." She suddenly grew pale. "Couldn't be!"
"Yes, it could." He turned to Rachel. "Miss Parker when she saw a room with a birthing bed with chains in SL27. She thought it was an experiment by Raines to make my brother Kyle go through a rebirthing process, but I wonder if it was used for another purpose."
"Raines forcing Kyle to have sex with a poor Pretender girl, waiting until she was about to give birth, chaining her to it, killing her or forcing Kyle to kill her after she gave birth and dumping the kids. Great! What a family I was born into! It's a good thing Illuminae removed the curse!"
"I presume we should go to a Church so that curse doesn't start up again. I do not know about your God, but according to what I read, it helps," said Jarod. The idea of the Dominants suddenly attending Church or any religious organization seemed foreign to him, thus voicing this opinion must have taken a lot of courage. The few 1.6rs who did go into Christianity, did it out of a sense of self-preservation. Those raised by humans took on the religion of their foster parents. The idea of love and compassion coupled with protection of humanity and those weaker than themselves was foreign to the New Species' sense of being. However, a vengeful God who visited destruction on the unrepentant seemed to appeal to the Dominant mind set. Jarod, except for a brief period which ended on the rooftop of a Baptist Church and the ceremony in the Cathedral, knew nothing about God. He assumed, for that was the Centre's intention, that there were many gods. If anyone brought a religious identity to the Dominants, it would not be him.
"I wonder if Stephen Cleomedes might know if anyone else was duped by Raines," said Miss Parker.
"The VCTF checked on Mr. Cleomedes. He is quite well educatedt in Greece. He came here as a young man and got his American citizenship about ten years ago. He is a diabetic, confined to a wheelchair, cannot get around much so has enough time on his hands to make trouble," said Miss Burke. She showed them a pile of letters and emails. "All from Mr. Cleomedes, telling of his suspicions about his new sister-in-law which unfortunately we thought were cranks because Miss Eva was good at covering her true intentions."
"There is only one thing wrong. The Centre is probably watching us. If we go and help you, they will know about it."
"So what excuse will you make to get away, Miss Parker?"
"Fixing up the house," said Jarod, "putting a dungeon in the basement complete with chains on the wall." He was so straight-faced that Rachel had to stop a minute before she knew he was teasing.
"So I gather you'll make the crib or cribs rather than buy them," the Profiler said and got on the telephone. "By the way, where do you plan to go and when?"
"Two weeks from today. . There's a sale at the shopping center outside of town. I told Accounting that I needed a special sound proofing, the kind they use in isolation pads or in torture chambers," she said with a straight face but sparkling eyes..
"I'll ask Mr. Cleomedes to meet us in, say, the Haven Emporium. It sells antiques. I've seen your house, Miss Parker. I don't expect you to get ultra modern furniture."