CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
At the Beach House, Miss Parker was busy trying to take a pair of scissors away from Jarvis and desperately trying to find where Adrian and Patricia were up to.
"Jeremiah, where are your brother and sister?" she asked.
He looked at her in a rather serious way. "Disguising," he said.
"What do you mean disguising?"
"Progeny, mother. They must not find us." He smiled with a deceptively innocent grin, his hands on a small knife.
"Oh don't worry, Jeremiah, you're safe, but," she said, remembering that one had to be careful in addressing Progeny children, "you're the oldest. We don't want anything bad to happen to your brothers and sisters. Be sure they don't get a hold of the knife."
Her ears pricked, it was just a soft sound like the tread of a footprint, and it was not Jarod's. Patting her son on the head, she said, "I thought I heard someone at the door. You find Adrian and Patricia." She picked up Olivia, and put her on the couch. Olivia immediately got off when her mother's back was turned, and followed her older brother into the back room.
Miss Parker heard giggling. Something told her that was not good, nor was the woman at the front door who barged in, after the man besides her kicked it in. "Sam?"
"Hello Miss Parker."
"Hello Sam. I thought you were dead." With that, she looked at the other woman. "And Lady M, I hoped you were dead!"
The other woman pushed past the Sweeper, her eyes glittering deception, her cool voice echoing venom. "Miss Parker, so nice to see you. It's such a pleasant breeze. Reminds you of home, doesn't it? Sam keep your revolver on her. I'm going to search around."
She barged past Miss Parker, her eyes looking for signs of little ones. Hearing snickering, she reached into a closet, just in time to grab a small back, and haul it out. "Rather nice little boy, isn't he?" she asked.
"You put my son down."
"Oh I sure will. Oh I always love children." She had that pleasant look on her face, the kind that had deceived so many other children who went with the 'nice lady' and were never seen again.
"Wait a minute, Miss Margaret," said Sam, putting his gun to his side, and holding his other hand out in protest, "I don't like harming children."
She smiled. "But these aren't ordinary children. They're very dangerous children. We have to control them." Holding the child up, she asked, "Do you want to play a game? Do you?"
The toddler did not say a word. Lady M turned to Sam. "Just watch Miss Parker." Before he could do anything, she took a revolver out of her purse, pointing at both of them, and still holding the little one, grabbing its ankles, swung it towards the wall. "Oops slipped!"
Her gun fired at Sam as he rushed towards the child; deflected from the wall, it fell stunned to the floor.
Miss Parker stood horrified. "Sam! She's killed Adrian!"
At that moment, Jarod rushed in, just as the police officer raised his gun, aiming now to kill. "Patricia?"
"Stop!" Miss Parker rushed forward, pushing Sam to one side. "Don't kill him!"
But it was too late, the bullet had left the police officer's gun, but incredibly, Sam caught the shot. He looked at the blood dribbling down his hand. The police officer raised his gun again just as Miss Parker rushed towards him, grabbing his arm.
"I said you can't kill him. He's the father of my children and I'm expecting another!"
"Lady let go of my arm!" He looked rather frustrated, turning his revolver back to Jarod who just glared, daring him to shoot. "He threatened Dr. Colby and now we learned, he killed another doctor! Four in fact!"
Miss Parker did not have a second to think of Jarod's typical Dominant reaction. "I will not. Whatever you think, he's not that type!"
"Don't listen to her," said Lady M, "she's afraid of him. He told me to hurt the child." She sounded so convincing, what with her immaculate appearance and the police officer, obviously, was eager to put away the man who had threatened the Doctor.
By now, Jarod was angry. "You know I didn't kill them!"
"Be quiet!"
"The only doctor I saw in California was this Do..."
"I said be quiet or I'll shoot you right now!"
"Go ahead, you're too lazy to look for the real killer," Jarod shouted reaching into his jacket as the bullet went right towards him. He ducked just in time, as the bullet entered the wall. He then rushed at the police officer before he had time to reload, knocking him to the floor.
The other officer, occupied with Miss Parker, dared not use his weapon. He just watched helplessly as Jarod started throwing the other cop at the wall, picking him loose and throwing him against the wall again while Miss Parker yelled, "Jarod, stop it!'"
Meanwhile, Adrian toddled in and bent over Patricia, followed by Jeremiah. The older boy whispered something in the ear of the semi conscious little girl. However, no one took much notice for a man with a movie camera stood at the door along with a young woman, very beautiful and dressed in the bikini with a top. She also had what looked like cigarette burns on her face and arms.
Miss Parker was horrified, the policeman did not stand a chance against a raging Pretender and then the girl broke the spell, yelling in Spanish. "Madre Diós!" She rushed forward, screaming in a mixture of Spanish and English.
"Jarod, she's that actress. The one in that B movie Die, Diablo, Die!, Ana Sedona," said Miss Parker.
By this time, Jarod was standing up, holding his shoulder, pressing his finger against the small bloodstain.
"Now I've got you. Brown are you all right?" said the officer who held Miss Parker, and who had Jarod in his sites.
The officer on the ground just groaned.
"And who do you think you are?" demanded John, the photographer who was now about to aim his camera.
"Look it's none of your business! We've a dangerous criminal here."
Someone, another policeman who answered the call of "officer in trouble" stood behind John, "All right come along quietly!"
Unfortunately for him, the photographer would not cooperate. He lashed out with his spare arm, knocking the gun out of his hand. The other officer, seeing the commotion and not having the help of his partner who was still semi conscious from the beating, turned away, loosening Miss Parker.
At this, Lady M saw her chance. Before Miss Parker could reach her, she took something from her purse, and aimed it at Jeremiah and Adrian.
The realization that the children were in danger from the lady not from this rather tall angry man struck the two police officers who saw Lady M's triumphant smile, and the faces of the children getting paler.
Suddenly John tossed the actress something. As Lady M's gun aimed and missed, she rushed forward and pressed the object against the sides of both the children's necks. The light red mark faded into pink, and then into their natural beige skin color. All this she did, while trying to avoid the bullet.
It was then that the photographer moved in, so fast that Miss Parker could not see the action and pushed into Brown, deflecting his bullet so it lodged into a lamp, sending it to the floor, glass and ceramic smashing to the floor.
Adrian just looked at her and smiled. "Nice." And touched where the cut had once been.
"What a minute," said Brown recovering from almost falling to the floor. "You're under arrest! Gomez cuff her and read her her rights!" He pointed it to the children's rescuer who handed the children over to their mother.
"Are you sure you want to do this? Do you know who she is? It's Señorita Sedona, the famous Mexican actress," said Gomez.
She gave a haughty look that would have pleased Miss Parker.
"I don't care if she's Jennifer Lopez!. And I want that photographer arrested to. Stopping a police man in the commission of his duty," said Brown.
"She saved the children's lives or would you rather wish the other woman had killed them?" Gomez kept talking. "It's obvious that Jarod is not the man. You saw how that other woman acted and the children did get their throats cut. It's a good thing that Señorita Sedona acted as fast as she —"
Suddenly his eyes widened, and he started to stammer, pointing to Lady M who was staggering towards the floor, her gun dropping to the floor, as Jeremiah pulled her by her scarf while Adrian, Jarvis, Olivia bit into her, nails digging into her flesh. As for Patricia, she held the small knife their mother told Jeremiah not to give to his younger brothers and sisters, and stabbed through the woman's sandals.
Jarod just watched and then Miss Parker turned to the others. While Brown and Gomez moved to rescue Lady M, the camera and the actress did not move a finger to help the endangered Lady M. And the look on their faces was complete satisfaction.
Dominants, thought Miss Parker, and Jarod's acting just like them not like over a year ago or two when he would move in and save her. She glanced at the photographer for a moment, feeling something calming come over her and tried to fight it. "What's going on?" she asked, turning to Jarod who just stood there, his face a little paler than usual. Then she looked at the officers as they reached for Lady M who bleeding from her various wounds, threw off the children and staggered towards the door and John Sedona.
"Help!" she pleaded.
With all her fury, Miss Parker whispered to the woman, "Did you see what you accomplished? My children are part Homo Dominant, part Homo Sapiens, they are Progenies! Do you know what Progenies can do? They can blind the eyes and minds of not only their own species, Dominants, but our own. You think Frederick and Margaret were bad when they killed those guards? Think of what four could do no five! You opened up a can of snakes, Lady M and I hope you're happy!"
It was then that Miss Parker saw what she could not a few minutes earlier, the knife in the photographer's hand, saw how Lady M seemed drawn to him, and how he just held it so she fell right onto his blade.
The elegant woman who had helped the Centre kidnap so many children, and ruined the lives of others, fell dead.
"He's a Progeny," Miss Parker whispered, but no one heard her.
"Coup de grace," said Officer Gomez while Officer Brown felt her pulse.
Brown's brow winkled. "Are you sure it wasn't deliberate? And we ought to take them in."
"Arrest them for criminal negligence? For child endangerment? We should have read this Jarod his Miranda rights instead of being judge and jury. I don't know what to write on my report."
"Not animal assault. The bites are definitely human and the nail marks. She did attack them first. They were defending themselves and who knows how much damage that woman did by slitting their throats and throwing the little girl against the wall." He turned to Miss Parker and Jarod. "I would advise you take them to a doctor and have him look at them for brain swelling."
"We'll do that," said Jarod, seeing the room fade in and out.
The ambulance was at the door. The attendant looked at Sam's upper arm while Jarod just stood there, not moving. "You'll have to come to the hospital and have it looked at," said the paramedic and then turned to the Pretender. "You don't look too well yourself."
"I'm all right." He was feeling this intense pain in his shoulder.
"No you're not. Novacaine." The paramedic turned to his partner. "That'll do it. You'll need stitches and the wound cleansed. Luckily the bullet excited and bed rest."
Miss Parker was just about to say that they did not have time, when they heard the whistle blow.
The Regetta had disappeared and along with it The Dead Beat and there was MacLean at the door.
"What happened here?" he asked.
