CHAPTER FORTY NINE
Dec 15 2001
Mr. Parker had left his niece's house around nine pm with misgivings. How could she let Jarod near her and actually slept in the same bed? Why, the thought of having his body close to her would have filled her with revulsion had she not had the curse removed and before Raines and Lyle got her to "seduce" Jarod.
"Broots," he called to the Computer Genius who was parked out front, debating whether to come or stay, "Could you give me a lift to Cox's house?" The Grim Reaper would know what was gong on.
In the meantime, Jarod started working on a case that was bothering him and well it should, with a loser who bought a house in Beverly Hills, had a thriving orange grove business, and still could not pay the two hundred dollars a month child support for the wife he left in Hampton.
"Jarod, can't you leave it until tomorrow? I'm not like you able to live on four hours a night." Miss Parker yawned. "It's a good thing Frederick took his household out house hunting. Those babies's cries hurt my ears. I don't know how I could stand another minute of it."
"Their cries are perfectly normal. You see, they're born after a shorter gestational period and they have to have a high pitched cry to turn on their mother's awareness."
"Their mother's awareness! I'm not like you, a Pretender or should I say a Homo Dominant?"
"Actually the real term is Home Dominant. A Pretender is a Homo Dominant enslaved by the Centre, given Neogenesis, either one or the other."
"So I guess that since I am now corporate in the Centre, you are still one even though you no longer have Neogenesis in your system. When'll you be done? I thought you geniuses got things instantly."
"Just pulling in the information."
"Right." Miss Parker yawned and finished brushing her teeth. She then put on her negligee and staggered off to bed, leaving Jarod still typing away, and searching through the folders and papers piled besides the laptop.
Miss Parker had gotten him a backpack, because when the Centre had retrieved his large carrying case, they promptly removed any evidence and put it on sale. It was picked up by an antique dealer. (Jarod had bought it, as well as most of his clothing, from either Goodwill or Salvation Army. Amazing how such perfectly good stuff people throw away, thought Miss Parker, remembering the suits that Jarod wore on some of his Pretends. There even was one with an Armani label and one of his shirts had been bought at Sacs Fifth Avenue by the original owner who was probably mad at the maid for giving it to the Sally Ann.
She soon dozed off and turned off the lights. Jarod would join her shortly.
It was now ten and quite dark. Jarod, obviously frustrated with the case and about to fall asleep on the keyboard, gave up, shut off the laptop, and prepared to join Miss Parker in bed.
"I had to check on some of my old DSAs. Do you remember the one where you first kissed me? They finally removed that glass shield they airbrushed between you and me."
She stretched her arms and gave a rather large yawn. "It's about time. I certainly did not kiss a window pane for all the suggestions the Centre Doctor gave me."
He took off shirt, and checked to see if his scars had faded some more. They were almost unnoticeable, not like the still visible welts they were at the Island. When the blind woman asked him to take off his sweater because it was soaked, he wondered whether his vest hid the scars enough. He did not want her to touch him, and certainly Miss Parker not to see them. She would ask too many questions. Well she knew now.
His hair was over shoulder length now. He had not cut it for over a year and did not know why until he learned more of the Dominant ability that resembled animal cunning rather than man's intellect. It then became natural for him to keep it long and there was no rule in the Dominant culture for slaves to have cropped hair; it was the opposite.
He swiped his face a couple of times with the razor, because he knew that Miss Parker, like most women, did not like someone half shaved rubbing over her face (still the idea was tempting), brushed his teeth, took off his trousers, and climbed into bed besides her.
She just yawned, and cuddled up against him. She was so tired, she did not bother to get out of bed, and lock his clothes in the chest, as she usually did. It had been a very hard day and those squeals of Frederick's infants reminded her when her babies were that age.
The two were fast asleep, although Miss Parker did wake up an hour later to fondle Jarod. Miss Parker, however, was not interested in having sex, so she switched her arms around his waist, and was soon back to sleep.
"Love you Miss Parker," he said with a yawn and was soon dreaming of his old house, although his bedroom looked like his cell in the Centre, and Miss Parker as a young girl sat on a bed playing with two dolls that had the faces of Raines and Mr. Lyle. She was just about to turn the dolls into marionettes and say, "Now you will dance for me," when Jarod suddenly awoke, his instincts picking up someone or some people approaching the front door.
"What is it?" Miss Parker stifled a yawn as she reached for her bra and underpants.
There was the aroma of a cheap perfume mingled with one that reminded him of autumn and over it, the strong smell of Old Spice, and he could make out the image of three people walking very furiously up the steps. Quickly he put on his trousers, tugged on the zipper, and buttoned his fly. "I heard something."
Probably my son and his retinue returning," said Miss Parker as she groped for her housecoat, looking up to see that Jarod was out of the bedroom and heading for the front door. "Tell them, to come back in the morning." She fell back on the bed, asleep. It did not last long.
"Jarod!" said a squeaky female voice.
"What are you doing here in the house of that woman?" asked another familiar voice.
Zoe and Emily, thought Miss Parker, as she reached for her housecoat, went to the bedroom door to see the two women in the living room, yelling at Jarod who was telling them in a rather menacing manner to be quiet, and mentioning the neighbors. She debated on whether to put her skirt and blouse underneath, but decided that once those two got over their rant, she would go back to sleep.
Jarod was having a hard time quieting the two women. "What are you doing here? You just woke me up! What's wrong that it can't wait until morning?"
"What's wrong?" yelled Zoe, "you tell me how you were mistreated and then you go back to her, that bitch! And I thought my own sex was dumb, well Jarod you take the cake!"
"Chasing you, planning to kill you, locking you in that place and goodness knows what they did to you." Emily started in with her scolding.
"Did I tell you that the Centre made it so I could never escape?" asked Jarod, "Miss Parker was the only one I—"
His father, Major Charles was there with a look of condemnation. Obviously, no one had explained the situation. Miss Parker took the device, and pressed the insert.
"Ouch, stop it!" Jarod pressed his right hand against his stomach.
When they saw Jarod in pain, they realized that something was wrong.
The two women turned their fury on Miss Parker, calling her all sorts of names. The children were now awake and started to babble.
"Mama, Fada, stranger! Stranger!" Patricia started to cry.
"Vaders," cried the other three , "Bad vaders."
"Now you've woken the kids and the neighbor," said Jarod now recovered as Miss Parker went in to console the children who by now were shrieking and making a racket.
"What neighbor?" Emily demanded.
"Lambourni. Looks like his lights are on. He'll be over here in a second."
"So? And whose kids are those? Did you actually sleep with that woman after what she did to you?"
"And why shouldn't he?" said Miss Parker, now besides Jarod, "I own him." She shoved the certificate in front of Emily's face. "Better that than him being locked in the Centre. Now I'm going back to bed, if you want to come in, please do so, but remember my children are very smart and I don't want them to pick up that trash coming out of your mouths. Jarod get the extra bedrooms ready."
Emily kept quiet but still fumed. "We have to rescue Jarod. That bitch's put a spell on him. Father, you distract her, and Zoe get to the phone and call the Child Pro—aiie!" She shrieked as someone grabbed her from behind, carried her outside, and a man hollered back "Everyone at my house!"
In a few seconds, Emily found herself in a large house with an outside swimming pool, and a few seconds later, Zoe, given the same treatment by Lambourni was besides her. They tried to leave, but Ethan and two young boys blocked all three exits.
Lambourni soon returned with Jarod, Miss Parker, and the rest. "The Supreme Chosen is already in town," he said after they all quieted down.
"Who is this Supreme Chosen?" asked Major Charles.
"The leader of the Dominants," said Jarod trying to keep Miss Parker who was dozing on his shoulder, awake. He saw Rachel and her children on the sofa. Her children like good Dominant children were wide awake, being good or bad depending on your point of view, whether you were homo sapien or homo dominant. Dominants expected their children to be alert at all time even when it was near eleven in the evening.
"Met them in New York after I finished that criminal case and if anyone else has a smart remark, they'll die," said Lambourni noticing Jarod's mouth starting to spread into a smile. "I had enough gibes from that Michael about the convicted man throwing the victim out the window. Said he should be arrested for littering the sidewalk and because the victim's blood splattered the awning, for defacing a public building. Luckily, the police caught the perp' and we brought him to justice, but not before he ran over an old woman with his car. Now I have to go away for another matter." He had his bags already packed. "It's a case I've been working on. I'll be back in a couple of days or so."
"So how did you get on to him? His partners mysteriously getting killed or fired?" asked Jarod.
"What you're good at going into his books. He made some rather bad decisions."
"Oh one book for the Feds and one with the real transactions," said Jarod thinking of Lambourni giving a closing argument like so: "this scum bag not only ran over an innocent woman with his car but also couldn't balance his account books. The first was bad enough, but the second was so horrific, I felt like throwing up and now him speeding in a fifty mile per hour zone."
Jarod tried to hide a smile, "I won't make any snide remarks about the case. I mean you probably had a hard time, being a corporate lawyer. Of course, the FBI got Al Capone for tax evasion, but…" This time Jarod's smile was very evident.
One of Lambourni's daughters put the Parker children in the nursery, and then turned on a lamp. By this time, her father had the adults on the two sofas he had pulled together, one which looked suspiciously like the typical black bed with a large cushion over it. He kept however, several weapons within easy reach of anyone over four feet. Most of the other belongings were in two trunks, and carpet on the floor was a light burgundy. He had a trunk on the four corners, a corner desk with a computer, a radio, and a projector that faced towards one of the walls. There was also a large cd carrying bag on the floor.
The Lambourni girls wore long skirts and blouses or long dresses with slits on the sides, front, or back. The boys wore slacks and shirts. All clothing appeared to come from the bargain basement or Walmart if someone had not sown them together. As for ages, they ranged from four sets of ten years down with a couple of years between each group. It appeared Geraldo was in the second group from the top and except for two girls of eight years, none of the quadruplet sets was identical.
When Antonio explained that the first two sets had mates, Major Charles's family found it quite incredible and shameful, but the lawyer explained that since most Dominant girls could get pregnant at eight years old, it was best to marry them early. The only exception was with the Pillar Ceremony and the Seduction or Infiltration program.
"Seduction, infiltration?" asked Emily.
"To impregnate human females and make their husbands believe it is their child. Done to keep the homo sapiens from finding us out. You get the idea."
Zoe noticed that book on the coffee table. "I thought you people figured you were gods."
"We call God, the Divine," said Lambourni, "and the idea of Him making all those Egyptians die and the walls of Jericho fall down as well as what'll happen to the disobedient ones at the end, appeals to us"
"My mother told me God loves everyone," she said and shut up. Zoe had a feeling that Miss Parker's neighbor would argue that point.
There were others there, notably Lewison with little Margaret and another man, who told Zoe that her children through Jarod would never fear servitude — unless they decided in later years to throw money on gambling or were on the losing end of a battle between two Dominant factions.
Margaret emphasized the gambling with her own prejudices. "Leaving their females at the mercy of our enemies so they can win a few thousand dollars to buy a larger house."
"You must not get agitated. Remember the children?"
She patted her belly. "I will see the new ones, Claudia," she said, following Lambourni's daughter. They did not do the ooing and awing' but their gestures and actions towards Miss Parker and Jarod's children expressed pride. "You are a strong one! We are pleased with you."
"Since Jarod is the father of your children," said the Council man, "according to our laws, the children of Slave Consorts take the status of their father. Having Raised his children by the Lady Angela, that is Miss Parker, and those of Miss Burke, we now inform the homo sapien female Zoe, that your children have been Raised." With deliberate slowness, he took a certificate from his wallet. "Someone has volunteered the price. I believe a cabal run by a certain Mr. Parker, thought to have been deceased."
"Opportunity, Lady Angela:" said Lambourni, "Opportunity. I hope there is no more in the woodwork, as that statement goes, more offspring we have to search for, not counting any you are expecting now or in the future, of course. Perhaps being taken care of down in the subterranean levels of the Centre."
"Do you mean the assumed son of Mr. Parker and Brigitte? Lambourni how did you find out?" asked Miss Parker.
"I believe the Centre kept your DNA in storage, Miss Parker," said Lambourni, "and we're rather adapt at finding out things. I noticed that your two older children's DNAs were a combination of yours and someone called Jarod, a property of the Centre who escaped several times. When you finally recaptured him, I called the Council."
"You realize that I am the last of the Parkers since someone killed off the remaining branch of my great grandfather's, the whole clan," said Miss Parker, "Funny, only someone with an exactness to detail, like a lawyer who deals in business licenses could find out what Parkers to kill and not only that, anyone related to them."
Lambourni smiled. "Yes, Miss Parker, that is quite amusing, considering that I am still alive, Frederick, and Margaret were not the only ones affected by that exorcism." He bent down and handed her an envelope.
She took one look at the contents and a closer look at the lawyer.