CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

From Carthris to Dec 14 2001

The old man hovered between life and death, ranting and raving, and then falling back into unconsciousness. The nuns who attended to him, cross themselves and prayed to the Virgin to protect them against such a violent man.

A couple of local fishermen had found him, tangled up in a parachute, more dead than alive. It had taken some months to get him into good enough health, so he could at least get a little nourishment. He still acted rather mean, almost cold hearted, and talking about the Centre needing someone called Jarod. It was the way he referred to him, that shocked the sisters, as if this Jarod was a thing instead of a human being.

Perhaps he read the sisters' shocked expressions or perhaps being near death softened him, but the old man became a different person, although still regarding the person of this Jarod of no consequence. He appeared to mellow, and when the physicians pronounced him able to travel, he thanked the sisters, took what money he had and boarded an airplane to America.

He entered the town of Blue Cove, noting the evidence of a change. As well as the Roman Catholic Cathedral; Anglican, Dutch Reformed, and Methodist churches, a Presbyterian, a Free Church of Scotland, and a Pentecostal Church, sprang up almost overnight, although the latter did not have as full attendance as the others did because
the "New Species" did not go there. He asked one man about this "New Species," thinking they were a cult, and got "I know nothing," but "that Miss Parker has come a long way, she's now in charge of that business over there." The man pointed to the Centre. "A reward for something she did. Anyway with this new construction going on…"

Several of the houses had satellite dishes and vans promoting well- known DSL and an internet cable services either busy procured customers or installed systems, and Radio Shack was doing a thriving business.

The old man hailed a cab, ordering the taxi driver to let him off a block from the Centre where he walked the rest of the way and then entered the building and into the view of the older elegant man with a Belgium accent.

"Mr. Parker! I thought you were dead!"

:"I'm not, Sydney. Where is my daughter?"

"She has a room in the Tower, but she's not there right now."

"And how did this happen?"

"She captured Jarod."

"—At last, we have the return of our property." Mr. Parker would have rubbed his hands with glee if he were not so controlled. "Where is Jarod and why aren't you with him? My brother and Lyle are they supervising him aren't they?" The sweat started to pour on him as he thought of what Raines and Lyle would do, not that he cared, but there were so many simulations to catch up on and so much money that would pour into the Centre from their buyers and if Jarod were dead, they'd have to train one of the other Pretenders. None of them were as good as Jarod.. Before Sydney could see him, Mr. Parker rushed to the elevator, descending to the lower levels, but finding them not going as far down as he wanted. He used the intercom. "Why isn't the elevator moving?"

"We moved everything up closer to the surface,"came a female voice, "something about tightening budget. Couldn't afford to keep the lowest sub levels open."

"Where are the cells?"

"What sub level are you on, sir? The indicator isn't working."

"I'm on Sub level twenty."

"You have to go one floor up. You're on the storage area."

He rode up one level, entering the hallway, noticing the different cells, their bareness, and the rings in the walls. He had never seen that before. All he knew was that they kept the other Pretenders here. No one was occupying them right now. They would be working. He kept hidden as he examined the various rooms with the various devices for simulation, a pool in one, a model of a street in another, a larger room with a deep hole covered with planks. The Pretenders were working at their various simulations in the various rooms. One had been in the pool of ice cold water for over five minutes, trying to see if a person could survive that long Mr. Parker knew they would take him out and if he did not survive, they would use the monitor and the injection to bring him back to life. He went to the room with the deep hole covered with planks and heard screeching and a scurrying as a rat came out. Someone grabbed the rat and snapped his neck. He had not seen such violence in a boy. He turned back to the Pretender in the ice- cold experiment. Someone had a blanket over him and he was very much alive. Mr. Parker spent over an hour searching this level and the other ones. Jarod was not here.

"I thought that Miss Parker captured Jarod because that's the rule I made. Whoever captures Jarod, rules the Centre," he asked Sydney. "Where is he?"

"She has him.""Where is she stashing him? I searched all the levels—took me a whole hour, checking the hallways, going to that thing that my brother set up without my knowledge. You know the Centre's position on the Pretenders. When we brought then here, they were to remain the property of the Centre, and only the chief staff members could decide if they were to be released — until they needed them in the future." No Pretender, however, was really free.

Sydney smiled. "She has him in her house. Things have changed. Now with cable and DSL available to most, we don't need to hide our work in the Centre. Miss Parker set up her house as a relay station. We get information from her and she has the whole outdoors to stage an effective simulation. I can get someone to show you the improvements." He spoke into the intercom. "Send someone up here."

Mr. Parker certainly was pleased with the improvements. The new computers were a bonus. The guide, a young man, with long hair to his shoulders, not the typical geek, told him, "Miss Parker uses this program to send her experiments. We, that is, the Centre gave
her a 4.0 digital camera, a vast improvement over the 3.0 from last year. She also has a camcorder and with the broadband connection, can send the information the Centre desires at a blink of an eye. You wouldn't understand the terms."

"I probably would, young man. I hope you realize that this insubordination means you will be docked your salary"

"So? I don't get paid anyway." He turned to another computer and inserted a Cd in the tray. "This was done in the last few months — a certain court case or rather a plan of one. As the Centre instructed, we altered the figures so if someone comes through the
door…"

"Excellent. So Miss Parker can work out of her house. That could be anyone. Jarod?"

"No, Jarod was someplace else." He corrected himself. "I mean sir that Miss Parker had him doing something for her. I won't say what it was." The guide finished showing him the rest of the office and then left without telling Mr. Parker his name.

Mr. Parker looked for a driver to take him to his niece's house, but had to settle for Broots who had finished work and was going home.

"Yes Mr. Parker. I'll take you to Miss Parker's. The others are busy."

"Doing what?"

"Well considering that the Centre since the removal of the Triumvirate is on a strict budget, we had to lay off some of our staff. We had to use the inmates."

"Well I'll talk to Angel and she can hire some more. What's up with her?"

"She had four babies and found the Hercules Cd or rather Jarod found it."

"Four? Whose the father, and what's this about a Hercules Cd?"

Broots put his left hand to his mouth. "Oops." He steadied the car and drove down the road. "I thought you knew about that World War 11 experiment to beat the Nazis."

"All I know was that my father was doing some hush hush work for the Allies."

" Do you know the Pretenders are the result of that work? .Miss Parker and Jarod said that your father, excuse me, sir, was helping the Allies create someone to fight the Germans. You know they had their best young men, well, er, get together with tall blonde women and had babies who would be tall blonde Aryans."

"And we decided to do a similar? Just park in the driveway. I don't think anyone's home. Do you have a copy of that CD?" He rang the doorbell. "Also I want to know where Jarod is."

"If he isn't with Miss Parker, he's doing something for her. Well by the look of the house, don't touch that!"

Mr. Parker brought back his hand. "Paint."

"Sorry sir."

No simulations?"

"She said she'd make him pay for keeping her on the run for five years and you know Miss Parker. Shooting him would be too easy, only it didn't work as planned. I won't say anymore. I've got to get home."

Mr. Parker heard the car go in reverse as the living room now lit up and the door opened.

"Daddy?"

"Hello Angel," he said his arms open. A short hug and she let him in. Where's Jarod?" He looked around the living room. "Oh in the basement."

"Wait here." She brought out a metal box from the bedroom and opened it. "Remember this, uncle?" she asked, showing him the compact and the bill of sale/gift certificate giving Jarod to her. "How could you do this?"

"Did you look at the original date?"

"Oh, I was wondering why you didn't give me a horse. You said now that I was growing up enough, you could handle a greater responsibility. I remember asking you, Daddy, is it a he or a she? You meant Jarod, didn't you?'"

"It was a ploy, Angel to keep Jarod in control."

"What?"

"Yes, I hoped we'd never have to use this. I gave strict orders that Jarod was not to be taught the facts of life, but if worse came to worse, and you took over the Centre, I wanted you to have a closer bond with Jarod, make him unwilling to leave. I did bring you together for a time." Mr. Parker had lied for so long, he did not know the truth, adding lies to half truths, placating his angel, but now he told her the real reason. "If Jarod became rebellious, we were going to show him the certificate. In his innocent mind, he'd think he belonged to you and you were going to take him to the Tower and be lovers."

"In what way, Daddy? I learned you put me on top of Jarod for five minutes twice to create two super Pretenders! I thought it was Raines but it was you. Did you do that because I was not your real daughter?" She ignored her 'father's' shocked expression and shaking of his head from side to side, so angry was she. "And did you know that Raines wanted Jarod dead, and he probably would have killed Jarod if I had not asked him to give me anything I wanted? With you dead, there would have been no one to stop him,"

"I thought he meant working at another location, not dead. I was such a fool, Angel." He appeared contrite. "Anyway, I searched all over for it, and then Raines told me he would look into it."

"I bet." She showed him a look of disbelief.

"Listen Angel, I did the right thing, I tried to get the lawyers to draw up a duplicate, but the District Attorney got them disbarred. You realize how difficult it was for the Centre to hire the correct legal advice."

"Oh yes, someone with no morals. Strange them getting disbarred after you lost it." Her cell phone flashed. "Just a moment, I've got a call." She went in the other room.

Mr. Parker walked around the house. Someone had put a couple of extra rooms, enlarged the kitchen, and added an en suite to the bedroom which also included the nursery, because they had removed the door to Catherine Parker's suite making it into a double room. . The ballerina music box was on top of the desk, now complete and he opened one of the drawers, taking out two pairs of handcuffs. One pair was large enough to go around a man's ankle. The other one was standard issue. The metal seemed of a different alloy. He tried to open one and found it hard. I guess she doesn't need this anymore, he thought, and put it away

He opened another door and saw Miss Parker folding over her cell phone and turning on the monitor and accessing one of those instant messaging systems. In a short while, a zipped folder was on its way. It must have been a video because it was quite big.

Mr. Parker kept hidden and waited until Miss Parker left to go to the kitchen

"Do you need any help?" he asked her as he went over to the computer and put in the Centre code.

"No help will be coming back soon," she said, plugging in the kettle and taking something from the refrigerator.

In a short while, he had accessed the Centre videos and came on a file marked DR, for Doctor Raines. He opened it, finding short clips of Raines as a young man attending Medical School. There was another file that he could not open unless using a password. He tried every Centre code he could think of, but with no avail. By this time, the kettle was boiling. "I'll be there in a minute." This was too important.

Mr. Parker heard a draft as the back door opened and someone walked in. He heard squealing and chattering. Maybe Angel adopted some children, he thought with regret. I should have found a better way to contain Jarod, perhaps taking him out of the lower levels and letting him work upstairs. Oh he'd still not be free, but he'd be content and when the time was right…He tried different combinations, Raines's social security number, the address of his first apartment, his score on the final examination, his marriage date, until he came up with the right one, the day his daughter had died and no doubt why Raines had wished Jarod dead. Mr. Parker wavered between horror and fascination, reading the notes on the simulations. This was more than he wanted when he inherited the Centre from his father. This was monstrous, not only altering Timmy
into Angelo, but also trying to turn Sydney and Jarod into addicts, killing Jarod and bringing him back to life, and his own nephew was a part of this. You should not treat a valuable property like that.

He did approve of his daughter's handling of Jarod when she got him. After all, the Pretender had to pay for what he did — it was not as if he were a willing participant. The Centre would never have approved if her and Jarod had fallen in love, but since Miss Parker had him chained to a bed, this was different. That he did approve, but when he saw .Jarod's reaction, it was not what he expected. The Pretender had a predatory look about him. Was that what being enclosed in the Centre did to him? He remembered how Jarod had always escaped, how Raines had told him, "Like a frightened animal." Mr. Parker dismissed this as foolish; a hunted man always acts that way. He remembered Broots telling about a certain Hercules Cd and he doubted it was one starring Steven Reeves or Lou Ferringo.

He could see Jarod bend down and put four children on the floor. They held onto their mother and then to Mr. Parker's amazement, toddled towards a pile of Lego Toys and then they started putting something together.

Miss Parker and Jarod were in an embrace, but the passion was all hers. Still, they got things done, she had her hand in his hair getting him closer, and he did not resist. He noticed Mr. Parker first.. Either he knew that to break away would mean a shock from
the device or he did not care. Miss Parker slowly got off from Jarod and straightened her skirt. Jarod glared at Mr. Parker, no fear, no submissive look, just a sort of cool superiority as he buttoned his pants and pulled his shirt down.

"Hello Jarod, glad you're back with us. I see you've been quite busy. Are those yours?" Mr. Parker pointed to the children. " Angel I want to know about this Hercules Cd. Broots told me about."