CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

July 20, 2001

Unaware of Lambourni's plot of revenge against the Centre, Jarod and Miss Parker entered the Emporium, she picking up each item as if to see if it was a genuine antique.

"This will look good in the Living room," she said.

The proprietor kept a cautious distance, and then turned to the fat man being wheeled in by a man in his twenties, the latter having a fair complexion, with several freckles and wearing an off the rack suit in the manner of Savoy Row, England.

"That particular lamp is one of a kind," said Miss Parker to the invalid, "made in Athens to commemorate the birth of Prince Philip."

"I'm afraid your mistaken, Madam. Actually it's copy. A very good copy, I believe."

Miss Parker gave an air of shock. "And to think this store tried to pass it off as the genuine article. Thank you, Mr.?"

"Cleomedes. Stephen Cleomedes. Are you Miss Parker?" he whispered. On her nod, he continued. "I got a call from the FBI to look for a woman with three toddlers."

"Yes and I'm Jarod—Morris. I'm helping Miss Burke in this case. Undercover," said the Pretender, "Now here's what you are to do. As soon as a dark haired woman with three toddlers comes into the store, you…"

They did not have long to wait for five minutes later in ran Rachel's three, going right for the most expensive and delicate antiques with their mother following them and yelling, "Don't you dare touch anything!" As soon as she spotted Jarod and the others, she put out her right finger, supposedly to scold the kids.

Seeing his cue, Cleomedes had his man steer the wheelchair over and got the children engaged at looking at a less breakable article.

"Thanks," said Miss Burke.

"This is Angela Walters," said Jarod, indicating Miss Parker. "And a friend of mine, Mrs. Levy. She works to the civil court in New York."

"How do you Miss Walters," said Rachel, "you do seem a little sad."

Miss Parker wiped a fake tear from her face. "I just buried my dear brother a week ago. I always shop when I'.m depressed. My brother was such a nice man."

Jarod stifled a gag.

"Oh," said Rachel who noticed the store owner looking their way, "and he left you all that money."

"I'd rather have him back and besides his widow contested the will and she won!" And Miss Parker did the same mock sadness. "If I get a hold of that woman!"

"Well as his wife, she was entitled."

Miss Parker swore. "That blonde bitch doesn't deserve Snoopy!"

"Snoopy?" asked Jarod.

"My dog!" She opened her purse and put a handkerchief to her mouth to keep them from seeing her giggling. "He was a purebred and Trevor promised I should have him if he passed away." This time, came another sob and then she took out some photographs from her purse. "See, that's what she looks like!" . Actually they were pictures of a blonde movie star.

"I can get you in touch with a civil judge if there is any impropriety," said Jarod.

"Oh can you?" asked Miss Parker.

"Why Judith," he said indicating Rachel, "is a personal friend of Judge Grant and she even knows Judge Judy on sight. Why she was named after her."

"In that case, perhaps we can talk. Outside. Mr. Cleomedes?"

"Yes?"

"Could you tell me where you parked your car?"

"I've the Green one in the Handicapped Section," he said.

Once outside, away from the proprietor's prying eyes, they listened to the Greek's account of his brother's marriage and death by the hands of his wife. Eva who called herself Vera, and was part Greek, a fallacy that Stephen found out shortly after the marriage and tried to warn his brother about. The woman made the phyllo dough herself, instead of buying from the Bakery, as did most housewives. She insisted on wearing the traditional dress even when the holiday did not warrant it. She tried to be more Greek than the Greek.

The proprietor had an avarice look, so Miss Parker decided to go back in the shop and buy a sculpture while signaling to Mr. Cleomedes to make like he had a similar collection. Only Mr. Cleomedes was going deaf , so Jarod went over and said, "Why don't you make out as if you have something like that at your place and invite us to see it."

"I've got it." Mr. Cleomedes spoke a little louder as his attendant wheeled him in the shop,. "That's an interesting piece Ms. Walters. Are you a connoisseur of fine art?"

Miss Parker knew all about art. "Yes I am. This is from the Georgian period," she said, "Notice the elaborate lines."

"Just so happens I have similar pieces at my place, but I fear I may have been duped. The shading is a bit off and it feels a little rough around the toes."

"I'm an expert in the Georgian Period more than the modern. They made a quick copy and then applied a thin veneer of metal to give it an authentic hue. If you'd not object, we could come over and discuss this, before we warn all the eligible bachelors around her of that vulture!"

Jarod offered to get a picture of Miss Eva and make several copies to hand around in case she was husband hunting for another victim. The proprietor replied that he would like a copy of her hand style since he was corresponding with a Russian matrimonial service and wanted to be sure that young lady with the green eyes was not this Eva in disguise.

They followed Mr. Cleomedes's van out to the shopping center, Jarod and Miss Parker going in to get the necessary items from the two stores, equipment for the crib, bedding, mattresses, and other essentials from Wal Mart. Mr. Cleomedes offered to put the Home Depot stuff in his van.

That all settled, they drove towards Mr. Cleomedes's house. On the way, the Greek introduced his driver as John, and told them that Vera" was coming in a week or so. Rachel seemed interested but appeared to forget about it as they looked out the windows. .They spotted the small farms, a couple of orchards, a school bus on the way and cars filled with people coming home from work. One car, in particular, a black Lincoln seemed to be in a hurry.

"Must be having a meeting tonight,' said Cleomedes's driver and then he startled, "No it isn't." He unrolled his window and stopped the car.

Jarod came over. "What is it? Trouble with your boss?"

"No, but that black car's been following us for sometime since we left the shopping center."

"The Centre. I recognize the driver. How good are you at evading?"

"Watch me!" He fastened his seat belt and in less than a minute, the van started down the road.

Jarod rushed back to his car and got in the driver's seat. "Raines sent two of its sweepers after us. Follow the van."

Miss Parker quickly tightened her seat belt and got out her gun. "Cleomedes's chauffeur must have come from Greece; I heard they're horrible drivers. Well I hope the insurance is paid on this car."

"I don't think he's Greek. I'll tell you later."

Cleomedes's driver gunned the engine, and started across a field with Jarod and Miss Parker following and Miss Burke close behind. Sure enough the Centre goons started after them. The chase continued with the first group getting onto another road, and then cutting across another field. Jarod rolled down his window.

"Now," called Cleomedes's driver, "About a quarter of a mile away there's a division in the highway. Make as if you're heading for it and then make a sudden U-turn. Your view'll be blocked off just long enough."

"Right."

The quarter of a mile included a hill where they were out of site for a minute. Miss Burke signaled she could see the other car in her rear view mirror and then it was out of site. She headed for a road sign and hid the car behind some bushes, watching the black LTD drive by it.

Meanwhile Jarod started towards the division. Just before he was about to pile into the cement blockage, he swerved, making a sudden U-turn. He could see the Centre car speed towards it, the
driver slamming on his back, his partner lighting up a cigarette, about to make the same turn, but too late.

The car crashed into the concert, turning on its side. The goons tried to get out, but Cleomedes took a rifle, and began shoot apparently wildly, one of the bullets hitting the gas tank. At that moment, his driver lit a cigarette, and threw it in such a way that it appeared to come from the smoker. He heard the Centre driver say, "What'd you do with your smoke?"

"What the f— are you talking about?"

They could see the smoker look on the ground for his butt, and suddenly the fumes of the gas tank ignited, there was a horrible scream, and then the car lit into flames.

"I heard smoking was bad for your health," said Cleomedes's driver.

The drive to the Cleomedes's farm took another hour. It was quite well kept, not that large, and looked prosperous. Cleomedes was a widower; his wife had been an invalid for most of their married life. He did have a daughter-in-law, but "she drinks a lot"' his only son having died in Desert Storm. They had one child, a son, but Stephen's daughter and her husband now have custody. They live in Nebraska so they can't be much help. That was about six years ago, when an ad appeared in the local want ads: 'Young couple with four infant children seeks employment as domestic servants. If interested please see R.W. Copps at the Newgate Hotel, Room 434" Cleomedes wrote back.

"When I got to the address I figured the man needed more help than I did. He had an oxygen tank, and a voice devoid of feeling and he gave me the shivers!"

"That would be Raines," said Miss Parker who accepted a cup of herb tea from the young woman who came from the kitchen, followed by four youngsters, who although looked different, were the same age.

"I called him Wheezy. Said the family asked him to——. Say what's that agent doing looking out the window? I thought your Centre would not send any more."

"It isn't the Centre," said Jarod, "it's Lewison. He must have seen the wreck and followed us. He sensed them."

"How could he? How do you know?" asked Stephen.

"It looks like he has Gino with him. Can you speed up the information on how you got John and his wife?"

Stephen told them how Raines brought over John, his woman, and children, saying that John was an experience handyman and driver and his woman, an experienced nurse. "Wheezy said that he needed about ten thousand dollars because she was new in the country and could not pay for the courses she needed to upgrade to a registered nurse here in the States. The paper seemed official. Wheezy said that the certificate would be arriving in the mail in a week or so."

"Only it wasn't what you expected," said Miss Parker.

"I'll show you." Stephen wheeled towards a desk, took out a key, brought out an envelope, and handed it to Miss Parker. "Here, read it."

She did so and handed it to Jarod. "Seem familiar?"

"Yes. I hope I was worth more than that," he whispered to her.

"With all the work you did for them, you'd be worth close to a million, probably more."

"Lewison and Gino are driving through the front gate. I'm sure Giuseppe told his father about Cleomedes's." Jarod looked at the fat man who was injecting himself with a needle.

"Cox wouldn't let him go. You know that."

"Unless Lewison was at the doctor's place about enrolling his kids in the Dominant school."

"And if they found that Stephens's wife had died, they'd wonder why he still needed the services of a nurse, John's mate. Is that what you'd call her?" asked Miss Parker.

"Probably. Since Raines sold them, I presume they were from the Inner Sanctum. That'd count for their nervousness about clothes."

"After six years wouldn't it enough time for them to get used to wearing stuff?"

"Try cramming thirty years experience into five and see how you like it Miss Parker. We have to do something about Lewison and Gino,"

"What? They won't kill Cleomedes, will they?"

"Probably."

"Wait a minute," said Rachel, "I got a plan." She walked over to Stephen and engaged him in whispered conversation to which the fat man's eyes widened as if it was some fantastic tale.

"Do you mean that our Allies created their ancestors to fight against some Nazi super heroes and this Centre has been pursuing them?"

"That's about it, Mr. Cleomedes. .

As soon as Gino broke through the door, Jarod grabbed his son and pinned his arms behind him. In the meantime, John grabbed a gun and pointed it at Lewison.

For a second the principal froze. These two were in bondage, but they were of the New Species. According to the Dominant law, he had a legal right to kill them, but something told them that perhaps that Miss Parker was giving them orders. .

It was then that Rachel did her act. "Stop that this instant" She turned to the Greek. "You said you know of others who were fooled like you?"

"Yes. And I cannot go to the lawyers, the finances would kill me."

Gino mentioned something that seemed rather ominous, but they ignored him. Lewison, being more outwardly civilized decided to give his opinion. "Fooled? Ah yes a human is easily fooled. Did you try to rectify the situation?"

"And where would they go and how could they act?" He pointed to several medical books all in Greek. "These haven't been translated into English and are designed to show young girls and boys how to act in society, dating rituals, you see?"

Lewison took them, and thumbed through them. "I know Greek and Latin. I can get them translated." He glared. "You will give me the names of those Raines— I assume that is the person you refer to—sold the others. If they give them up willingly, maybe we'll let their purchasers live. You because you did try, will not die, but you will leave this place." He looked at a picture with a black border. "Your female, I assume, now deceased. You cannot use your
legs because of a disease. We have doctors who will get you walking again and then you will no longer need your servants. We can compensate you."

"Nothing doing," said Cleomedes, "I did not agree with what your Raines did. He tricked me, taking advantage of my ignorance."

"Do you know the danger you are now in? When I came to this part of the country, I learned that many of our kinds were held captive, some already dead, and some whose whereabouts are unknown. Do you think I have sympathy on you humans so foolish enough to purchase one of us from that drain on humanity?"

"They'd be in the Inner Sanctum," said Gino.

"Did I ask you to speak? The only reason you are here is because your son is the Record Keeper and Cox gave you permission to come with me because he had to deliver a child of a diplomat hiding here in United States because of his country's anti American policies."

Gino sneered. "I heard Raines ordered the doors shut but Cox heard about it. They're still alive, but if my owner does not return in time, that hypocrite'll make sure they perish. So I can talk."

"Like father, like son," mumbled Jarod under his breath.

"Then we had better return to the Centre after the appropriate punishment of those who cooperated with Raines's." said Lewison.

"Selling of human beings?" asked Rachel.

"Oh don't make me laugh. If the money all went dry, so we'd be bartering, and people would be selling their flesh and blood. What do they have in the Southern States, chain gangs? And preventing conjugal visits for those whose only crime was stealing a loaf of bread or getting a traffic ticket? Not like back home."

"I guess that is Mexico," said Jarod, "How many of the Mexican citizens did you kill? I hope that isn't the reason the Centre grabbed us."

"No. Survival. Remember we assumed that if we married human women, we would die as a species. I presume the Cro Magnon had the same idea. Marry a Neanderthal and your children will have thick brows and a sloping forehead. Well at least we made progress."

Cleomedes informed Lewison five minutes later that perhaps John knew more than he let on so Lewison questioned the driver in the same haughty way he had addressed Gino and got the same arrogant method of speaking along with a certain bit of information that he heard Raines talk about another farm towards the Southwest.

Lewison agreed to repay the Greek for John and his family, but did not mention how many of the Centre staff would disappear in order to accomplish that end.