CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
July 20 2001
The auburn haired man drove his car into his driveway, almost missing the three figures that appeared suddenly in front of him. Masking, he thought, amateurs! The Council lets anyone join. That was, until he saw the middle one, a boy around ten, with light red hair and brown eyes.
"Geraldo!" he said getting out of the car.
"Father."
They did not hug or cry, or show any emotions. They were Dominants. "And this is the two you talked about."
"Is everything set, father?"
"Yes, the time for your revealing is at hand."
"I wish you were the Chosen of Eastern Shores, instead of me, father. This is Ethan and Edward Junior, but we call him, Irish."
"Miss Parker's half brother," said Lambourni, "I hear you are good at explosives. Come in the house, but don't let anyone see you enter."
A dark blue car drove slowly along the street, the occupants, Centre sweepers. One of them pointed out a man and two boys talking to Lambourni. He nudged his companion.
"What do you mean a guy and two kids?" his companion asked, "It's just Lambourni locking the door to his car and going inside."
"But I thought."
"Come on. Let's get back to Raines and tell him that Lambourni's back." They drove off, leaving the lawyer supposedly alone.
"Father," said Geraldo, "you are the Advocate. You could use your influence to change the ruling of the Council."
"The Council rules that only one with two free parents can be a Chosen. As you know, I along with most here are the children of those prisoners of the Centre. My father or mother may now be in the Centre dungeons, escaped, or working in one of the Centre institutions, but the son of the founder of the Centre to ensure no one becomes Chosen, inserted a device in all their skulls. Unfortunately, he forgot that our girls bear children starting at eight years of age, and our male at the same age, although the former Advocate suggest they wait until they are ten. Raines found it out, and tried to use this to his advantage, to stock the Centre satellites with 'employees.' However, I have word from the Record Keeper that Raines tried to eliminate them. That has been thwarted."
"And what of the chief one, the one they call The Pretender?"
"Jarod?" asked Ethan, "is he still alive?"
Lambourni nodded and told them of Jarod's and Miss Parker's Official Joining and their subsequent Companionship, the term the Dominants used instead of a honeymoon.
"They came back briefly I heard from Mr. Broots and went away to purchase things for the house. She has been impregnated and the house must be enlarged." Lambourni put his hand on his lips. "But be silent about this knowledge. Geraldo you and Irish will be permitted a quick death, but as for Ethan, he will not have that privilege."
"Even though I am the Second Chosen?" asked Geraldo.
"Yes, and because you are second only to Tom Daniels, the Supreme Chosen, you hold a greater responsibility. As Chosen, you have the privilege of being in the Chameleon program as well as first knowledge of Mentoring and Masking, something few of us have had. Only because of the certain circumstances here, with the Centre's claws over us, was I permitted to become the Chosen of New York and New Jersey."
"And Irish?"
"He is in the Chameleon program and soon will take his place in Law Enforcement after replacing a human. I wish you good success, Irish."
"Thank you, sir."
The lawyer now turned to Ethan, Jarod and Miss Parker's half brother by the Centre's perverted program. The young man would use his knowledge of explosives to get on the Centre grounds and disarm any bomb or explosive device set to eliminate their own kind— those that Lambourni found were in the Inner Sanctum. He did appreciate the Record Keeper's sacrifice, and the whipping he took. The lawyer had no idea that Giuseppe was Jarod's grandson, and it would not have made any difference if he did.
"Are you able to do this successfully, Ethan?" he asked.
"I can, but I need certain equipment."
Antonio took out several thousand-dollar bills and handed them to him. "This will be sufficient." He sneered and handed his son a PDA. "On it are the names of those staff and their families exempt from extermination. The others are to have no mercy, but be sure the death of the innocent, the children are as if they slept and never awoke. With the adults, a little or lot of pain would be appropriate."
"And of the children, what if one renounces his or her evil parent, should they also die?"
"You can let them live in bondage," said his father.
A dark cloud covered the sky, an ominous warning for the Centre's future.