Sydney's face felt hot with anger as he approached the front doors to the Centre. Of course there was an argument that he should have been more discreet in his entrance, but then, he figured there was no point. As he walked down the main hallway, he felt the eyes of curiosity and wariness upon him. Somewhere along the way, he picked up a few Sweepers, whom he was sure were merely following Mr. Parker's instructions. As he neared the office of Mr. Parker, a tall Sweeper whom he had never seen before stepped out of the shadows, stopping Sydney with a hand in front of him.

"Where are you going, doctor?"

Sydney smiled at the man. "To see Mr. Parker."

The Sweeper shook his head. "I've been instructed to escort you to medical for observation."

"I don't need to be observed, but I will be heard."

As Sydney started past him, the man grabbed him roughly by the shoulder. "You will report to the medical unit for observation."

"I don't think so, not today."

Sydney wriggled out of the man's grip, and he heard a gun cocking by his head. "It was not a request, doctor."

Sydney eyed the man, and smiled yet again. "Unless you intend to use that weapon, I won't be going to medical." He could see from the man's reaction that he had been instructed not to shoot. "So, where are they?"

"Who?"

"Raines and Parker." The Sweeper stared at him, and Sydney sighed. "Look, I can either search the building for them with you on my tail, or you can save us both a lot of time and energy by taking me to them." The man still hesitated, and Sydney did the only thing left to him; he drew his own weapon and pointed it at the man's midsection. "Now, I assure you, I have no standing orders from anyone in regard to not shooting you, and it would uncomplicate matters for me greatly if you were out of my way, so if I were you, I'd start moving." The man still stood there, so Sydney shoved the gun barrel into his stomach. "Now."

Slowly the Sweeper moved down the hallway, Sydney next to him, the gun trained on the larger man. As they approached the office of Dr. Raines, the psychiatrist shoved the man into an alcove.

"I thank you for your cooperation, but this is where you get off the train." Sydney slammed the handle of the gun down upon the man's head, and he crumpled to the floor. "Enjoy the nap."

Sydney put the gun back in the waistband of his pants and quickly covered the distance between the alcove and the door to Raines' office. He looked around and was surprised that the hallway was empty. Willie was nowhere to be seen, and a shiver ran up Sydney's spine: this wasn't right. He sighed. It was too late to back down now, and even if he could, he didn't want to; it was long past time that an end be put to this business. The threats going back and forth over the past twenty-odd-years had left him exhausted, and still Miss Parker wasn't free. But, a balance had been struck, with Raines and Parker never daring to go too far for fear of what Sydney might do. But the time had come to pass on the mantle of protection to one who would see that Miss Parker would rise above the intrigue, the lies, and the Centre itself. He had no doubt that Jarod wouldn't be the least bit surprised when he picked up the phone message Sydney had left, and he was confident that the pretender would see Miss Parker through to the end.

Sydney straightened his jacket, opened the door to the office, and walked in. As he suspected, Raines and Parker were there, along with Willie and two other Sweepers. Sydney looked at them.

"Well, well.....what a surprise."

Parker smiled at him. "Shouldn't you be resting or something Sydney? I understand you were hit quite hard on the head."

Sydney returned the smile. "Yes, you did hit me rather hard, Mr. Parker, but you know, you really should have killed me."

Parker's smile disappeared. "I should have killed you thirty years ago."

"Perhaps. It's a little late to think on that now."

"Why are you here?"

"The file folder and the DSA. I can quite imagine how the originals have been changed, and while I don't care what lies you show the Triumvirate--"

"--Miss Parker is another matter, isn't she Sydney?" The smile on the reptilian man's face made Sydney's skin crawl. Raines continued, "It's too late you know. The file is already on its way to her."

"I suggest you get it back."

Parker chimed in, "Why would we want to do that, Sydney? After my daughter reads through all of it and sees the DSA, she'll want nothing more to do with you, and she'll have no qualms with the Triumvirate taking action against you."

Sydney shook his head. "You still don't understand. You never did. I don't care what happens to me. It is Miss Parker who concerns me. I would rather she hate me than hate herself for who she really is."

"I don't see that you have any options, Sydney."

The psychiatrist moved toward Parker, smiling. As he reached the chair, he pulled the gun out of his pants, and held it to Parker's head.

"Now don't anyone do anything that might make me nervous, or my finger could slip and blow Mr. Parker's head off." He looked at Raines. "It would create quite a mess in here, you know."

Raines frowned. "You've finally lost it, Sydney."

"Have I? Or am I finally doing what I should have done long ago?"

"I'm talking to a dead man...."

"Maybe, Raines, but as I said, that doesn't matter to me; it will be the last thing you can ever do to me. You will destroy the files earmarked for Miss Parker, and you will never tell her the truth."

Parker spoke up, "You can't win here, Sydney."

"Yes I can. And I can take you with me."

Parker shook his head. "You can kill me, but all of the files she sees will show that you authorized the experiment; even more, that it was your pet project." Parker added, "Dead or alive, my daughter will hate you for eternity."

"And you'll destroy her in the process. But you don't care about that, do you? You've never worried about her feelings, nor how any of this might affect her. Don't you feel anything toward her?"

"She is an experiment, Sydney, just like all the others. But then, that's always been your weakness, you become attached to them, and can no longer function objectively."

"At least I taught them that's there's something more in the world than ugliness and hate; that there is life beyond the Centre."

Raines laughed hard. "That's your big accomplishment?"

"Admittedly, it wasn't much, but it was something."

---------------------------

From inside the air shaft of Raines' office, Jarod swallowed hard. He knew that Sydney had butt heads with both Raines and Parker, but he had never considered what it must have been like for him, nor what he had sacrificed in terms of his own life and happiness. Jarod whispered something to Angelo, who quickly disappeared down the shaft, and then the pretender pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.

He whispered into it, "Hello Miss Parker...."

---------------------------

Raines answered the psychiatrist, "I've heard enough. Sydney, pull the trigger, or put the gun down; either way, you've lost. Miss Parker will be given the files, and that will be that. You no longer have the originals to use as leverage in this matter, so your influence is gone, and soon, you shall be too."

Sydney's hand flexed around the handle of the gun, and he smiled. "I'm afraid you've underestimated your position."

Parker's voice boomed, "What do you mean?"

"Jarod knows the truth."

The two men laughed, and Raines answered. "You told him, so what? He has no way to prove it, and Miss Parker will chalk it up to him trying to protect your memory. Face it, Sydney, it's over."

Sydney looked down at Parker, his voice unable to disguise the emotion propelling it. "You know that this will destroy her?"

"You overestimate your importance in her life, Sydney. She'll get over you and move on."

He shook his head. "Yes, you're right about me: I'm talking about the rest of it. The truth about her. My God, you've called her daughter for her entire life; how can you be this callous?"

Parker shrugged. "It was a good run. She had to find out sometime." He looked at Sydney meaningfully. "No secret lasts forever."

The two men held each other's eyes in understanding, and Sydney frowned, but all he said was, "Some secrets are far more dangerous than others, Mr. Parker, and you underestimate Jarod's ability to be convincing."

"Are you going to pull the trigger Sydney, or are we finished?"

Sydney looked down at the floor: he had come there to take their lives in the name of protecting Miss Parker. But now, as he stood there on the brink, he was not sure if he had come there for Parker's sake or his own, any more than he was sure he could go through with it. Mr. Parker watched the psychiatrist as he grew ever closer to relinquishing the weapon. Parker had seen it often enough in his enemies, this loss of resolve. He could smell victory.

Smiling, he chided Sydney. "Really Sydney, you fell in love with my wife and couldn't win her because she had no such desire for you; did you honestly believe you'd have better luck the second time around? The stupidity in that surprises me...."

Oh but it was the wrong thing to say. Sydney cocked the gun and held it tightly to Parker's temple, his lips curling into a sneer as he spoke.

"How dare you intimate such a thing. My feelings toward Miss Parker are not in any way carnal; to suggest anything else is the epitome of depravity and you know it. As for Catherine and me.....you saw what we allowed you to see, and well, you said it yourself, no secret lasts forever."

The provocative smile on Syd's lips had the desired effect. In a jealous rage, Parker lunged at him, and the two men struggled for the weapon. Willie and the other Sweepers drew their guns, but none of them could find a clear shot at the psychiatrist. Jarod watched with horror from inside the air vent, wondering what Sydney could have been thinking in provoking the attack with such an outlandish statement. But then Jarod couldn't be sure is it was a lie or not, only that Sydney somehow wanted to give Mr. Parker a fair chance in fighting for his life.

Jarod spoke under his breath, "Come on, Angelo, where is the diversion...?"

A moment later, an explosion from the bowels of the Centre rocked the room, putting a quick end to all else. The Sweepers holstered their guns, and followed by Dr. Raines, ran from the room to ascertain what had happened. Mr. Parker slowly got up from the floor, walked to the door and straightened his tie.

"We're not finished, you and I."

"Far from it."

Parker quickly exited the room, leaving Sydney alone. A moment later the vent to the air shaft opened, and Jarod crawled out.

"Jarod! What are you doing in there?"

The pretender smiled at his mentor. "Just making sure you didn't do anything rash."

Sydney smiled. "I'd hardly call the attempted murder of Mr. Parker and Dr. Raines 'rash' - it was thirty years in the making." Sydney stared into the dark eyes of his student. "How long were you in there?"

"Long enough to need an explanation."

Sydney turned away from Jarod and walked toward the wall with his arms across himself. "I wish you hadn't heard all of it."

"But I did."

Sydney shook his head. "It hardly matters now. They'll give Miss Parker the files and--"

"--No, they won't." Jarod pulled the copies and the originals from his backpack and handed them to Sydney. "This ought to restore the balance of lopsided power."

The older man stared into the pretender's eyes. "I don't know what to say, Jarod. I assume you read the files...."

The pretender nodded. "Why didn't you ever tell her?"

"Because I don't believe that knowing this particular truth is something that will help her live a better a life, Jarod." They stared at each other, then Sydney continued, "That, and frankly, I'm not altogether positive that it's the truth."

Jarod shook his head. "Where does it end?"

Sydney shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it never will."

"Mr. Parker eluded to a secret that won't last forever....what was he talking about?"

Sydney stared at Jarod, unreadable. "I have no idea."

The younger man observed his teacher for a moment. "What about Catherine Parker? Did you have an affair with her, or didn't you?"

One of Sydney's eyebrows raised, "Jarod, I taught you better manners than to ask a question like that; let me hold onto a little mystery......"

"I guess some secrets do last forever."

Sydney pat the young man's shoulder. "Jarod, you'd better go, they'll be coming back soon, and I need to destroy the copies and safely hide the originals. You're sure they can't reproduce any of this?"

"Angelo deleted all the files they had on the mainframe. They would need the originals again in order to fake convincing copies."

Sydney nodded. "All right then, off you go, before they discover you've been here."

Jarod hoisted himself into the vent, but before he replaced the grate, he looked back at Sydney. "You're never going to tell her?"

"I'm never going to tell her."

"What if I tell her?"

Sydney shrugged. "I suppose that's your prerogative, Jarod. But I would hope you would consider all the consequences in so doing. Silence is sometimes the most unlikely ally, but often the best one."

Jarod nodded, replaced the grate and disappeared in the Centre's ventilation system. He found it sadly familiar that he left the Centre with many more questions than when he arrived.