Gumperson's Law: The probability of anything happening is in inverse ratio to its desirability.

Lyle grabbed his coat from the back of his chair and pulled it on, preparing to leave his office for the day. He was surprised by how easily things had been going, it had been almost a month since the project began, and while the pursuit team had not gotten any clues from Jarod, his part of the assignment was going great. Riley was consistent in finishing the SIM's before Jarod-- the first hadn't been merely a stroke of luck; He had no indication that Jarod had found out about her yet; Riley was scheduled to have a meeting with the Triumvirate soon, and she had not acted up at all since the briefing day, so he could only hope that the meeting would pass uneventfully, and they would be allowed to resume their daily lives. It was almost too good to be true, which was why Lyle didn't trust it. He opened the door to his office, and paused just before he left. He could have sworn he saw something in the vent, and fell prey to a sudden twitchy feeling that he was being watched. He shrugged it off, grabbing a box of old DSA's as he left the room. It was probably just Angelo.

Jarod moved out of the shadows, thanking whatever deity would listen that Lyle had finally left. He was a little irked by the sound of the shutting and locking door, the mixture of darkness and the lock clicking was all too familiar and Jarod had to stop himself from running back into the ventilation system. He hated the feeling of being trapped. He tumbled out of the vent after reminding himself that he could leave this time, anytime he wanted. He gave the office a cursory glance, and went to work. He picked the lock on Lyle's filing cabinet first, he really didn't expect to find much on what he was looking for, come to think of it- he really didn't know what he was looking for in the first place, he just knew that something was up. Seeing as all of the deep dark secrets of the Centre always had something to do with either Lyle or Raines, he decided to start there. He had planned on searching Lyle's office first, after his accident with the virus he had contracted the last time he had gone searching in the mainframe. To Jarod's extensive knowledge, Lyle had some sort of a phobia when it came to technological progress, and was therefore the first person to come to mind that would not place sensitive material into the database. He did, however, have several filing cabinets.

Jarod tried the first drawer, tugging at it and sifting through the contents, though nothing seemed to present itself. After a good ten minutes of searching in the same ineffectual manner, Jarod got lucky. Pulling out the bottom drawer of what must have been his fourth filing cabinet, a file dropped out from below it.

Jarod picked himself up off the floor where he was sitting and gathered up the contents (they had spilled about messily) of the file. He almost did a double take upon seeing what those contents were, almost. Lying on the ground before him was a green file, in the corner; written in a messy scrawl were the numbers 12-24-85 subject 15 beta. Jarod carefully picked up the file, making sure that nothing fell out. He sat down at Lyle's desk and prepared himself to look inside. The corners of the file were crinkled and dog-eared, and looked as though they had been thumbed through on several occasions. He opened the file and began to read, though by the time he was finished, he wished he hadn't.

The file was a report, and explained in full the Centre's newest pretender. Words and phrases jumped off the page at him--

... confident... artistically gifted... temperamental... stubborn... cooperative under correct conditions... sociable... shows predisposition of pretender traits... has great promise...

Jarod scanned down farther, past the notes of what he could only assume her mentor had written. He flipped a couple of pages, stopping at a page that seemed to detail where she had come from. His name was listed under 'genetic donor'. It was both incredible and horrifying; and his emotions seemed out-of-place and weak next to the apathetic, uninspiring report. His feelings soon burned down into raw fury at the invasion--They had done it again! Taken a part of him, to keep locked up in the Centre forever. His grip on the file tightened, his hands shaking in rage. He violently flipped further through the pages, until his eyes came to rest on another psychiatric analysis. This one was from a few years later.

...Subject is withdrawn... avoids questions... shows unrivaled pretender traits... unusually quiet... apathetic outlook... removes herself from uncomfortable topics... shows signs of mental/ physical abuse, should undergo touch therapy... artistically gifted... confident in abilities, but uncomfortable around adults/ strangers... cooperative towards handlers... a little diffident

Jarod stopped reading. This report was almost themirror twinof the previous one; he couldn't imagine what the Centre had done to this little girl (His little girl...) that could have possibly changed her so much in so little time... No, he could. He could imagine exactly what they might have done and that was the problem. He re-read the part talking about the abuse... he could imagine easily the implications of those words, and he didn't want to. He flipped the page to the most recent area of updates. Under the title Project Coordinator Raines had scrawled out his signature, and just below that the title of Project Handler went to Lyle. Bile rose up in Jarod's throat and he threw the file angrily across the room, leaning back in the desk chair and pressing his hands over his eyes. God, how could he have let it happen again?

-

-

Lyle unlocked the door to his apartment, struggling with the key, the door handle, and the box of disks; the absence of his left thumb only making things more difficult. He finally succeeded and stepped inside. The sterile cleanliness of the room would have made most people sick, but to him it felt comforting. The pervading smell of bleach hit his nose and he remembered the bloody puddle that had been cleaned up last week. Blood was a horrible stain to try to get out, you had to catch it before it dried and set in, and you could almost never be certain that you had gotten every drop; it tended to splatter in the strangest patterns. Bleach was really the only thing for it; to erase all the evidence, and in order to be sure, you really did have to clean the whole area.

Lyle deposited the box on his coffee table and shrugged out of his jacket, kicking off his shoes and padding in his socks into the kitchen area. He grabbed a box of leftover Chinese from the fridge, and walked into the other room, picking up his DSA player as he went. He had seen Sydney go over old DSA's of Jarod as a child, and had watched Parker scoff at the old man as though he were entering senility. But Lyle thought that he might be able to understand the older man's disposition—not that he had anything in common with Sydney of course, but he felt that he could sympathize... perhaps. There was always a little bit of need to go over your life's work and try to tell yourself that it wasn't pointless; that there was a reason for it all, and it seemed to Lyle that these pretenders were the closest things that could ever tell them what that point might be.

Maybe I'm just nuts... Well now there's a thought

Lyle chose a disk to play and inserted it into the machine, he hadn't even looked at the date on the DSA, he just chose one. He knew that he would recognize the event immediately; he knew every single one by heart. The screen crackled to life and he watched as a room materialized, and a little girl appeared on screen.

FOR CENTRE USE ONLY

5/27/89

Lyle knew this day, Riley had tried to run away about two weeks after Raines had sanctioned the termination of Sarah, she had been caught within an hour of her leaving the building, and then she had been taken to the renewal wing. Raines had erased her memories of Sarah's death, but not her memories of running away... Those she kept, on the basis that they would punish her for it and she wouldn't do it again. Raines had been right of course, so Lyle had never said anything about it. But he had been young there, and fresh from his own dealings with Mr. Lyle his foster father, and the abuse they had doled out on that little girl had rankled somewhere deep inside him. But Raines was right-- it worked. And that was most important, because Lyle needed Riley to work. What he was now watching had taken place about three days after her run. This was the day that he introduced himself to Riley... for the second time. Lyle turned off the DSA player, he didn't need it for this one, he could remember it, the detail, the feeling, the thoughts behind the actions; every sound, scent, look. Everything.

-

-

The small girl sat on her bed, swinging her legs back and forth and staring at the ground. All of her toys had been taken away; because she had run, and her whole body hurt really badly... she had never been punished for anything before... They'd left her in isolation for an entire day. And then... and then... She shifted on the bed and swiped at the tears welling up in her eyes. Her back was horribly sore, and moving only made it worse. Angry welts covered it, and her lower lip had only just stopped bleeding the night before. She was never going to run away again, that was certain. She didn't know why she had run away in the first place; she couldn't remember it at all.

Her little head lifted up as someone entered her room and she wiped again at the tears on her face before looking up at the young man who stood before her. She flinched at the sight of him and she didn't know why. He crouched down in front of her, lifting up her chin so that their eyes met. "Hello Riley. My name is Mr. Lyle; I'm going to be working with you for a while."

"Where's Sarah?" Her voice was quiet, and her eyes sank back down to the floor.

"Sarah's been transferred to a different project... she won't be working with you any longer."

The girls eyes widened a bit and she started to protest. "But... but..." Her eyes started tearing up again and Lyle wiped one away for her.

"But what Riley?" He asked, keeping the kind tone in his voice, pretending as though he cared.

The girl sniffed pitifully. "She didn't even say goodbye."

Lyle intentionally placed a hand on her shoulder, and partially on her back. Riley flinched involuntarily and her body stiffened automatically as she let out a small whimper of pain. He took his hand off immediately, arranging his face into an apologetic look. That bit hadn't actually been his idea, really none of this had. He had allowed Raines a sample of his DNA little over eight years ago, though he had never signed up for baby-sitting detail. And now Raines had him here, and Lyle wanted nothing more to do with it. The whole deal was screwed up, but he was in it for the long haul, and she needed to learn that she had been punished because she had done something wrong, or that's what Raines had said.

"Oh, I'm sorry Riley. I didn't realize-"

Her eyes came up to meet his; it was the first time anyone had apologized to her in days.

"That's got to hurt." He said, he could imagine. His... Bowman... had never actually taken a belt to him, but it was hardly an uncommon practice among some of the parents of his old town. Hicks.

"Uh huh..." Her lower lip trembled and her face contorted into a look of abject misery, Lyle could tell that she was trying to hold back tears.

"I'm sorry kid, but this is what happens when you do something wrong."

Riley hugged her knees to her chest, and wiped at her nose, trying not to cry, she hadn't even known that she had done something wrong; she could sort of remember running away, but she didn't know why, or how, all she knew was that she had. Some small part of her was inclined to think that it had never really happened in the first place."I'm really, really sorry." She sobbed at him, burying her face in her arms.

"Why are you sorry Riley?" He asked her, he had to make sure that she learned this lesson well.

"I'm sorry for running away, and I'm sorry everyone's mad at me, I don't even know why I did it. I won't do it again! Promise..." she mumbled the last bit, and Lyle almost didn't catch it.

"You really had us worried Riley; we didn't know where you were, or where you were going. It's dangerous out there for you..."

"But why? Why is it dangerous for me and not anybody else? Why can't I go outside? It isn't fair." The little girl folded her arms across her chest, and glared at him.

"First of all, stop looking at me like that-" Lyle told her sternly, "It's disrespectful and disobedient. That's why you were punished in the first place. You disobeyed us when you ran away, and furthermore you disrespected our wishes for you to stay here... You upset a lot of very important people Riley."

"But-- but why can't I go outside, maybe I wouldn't have run away if you told me why I'm never allowed to go outside, at least then I would have had a reason not to." She insisted.

"It's dangerous for you to be outside because you are what is known as a pretender; you automatically assume the personalities and character traits of the people around you... It's dangerous because if you get around too many people, you could hurt yourself. It's dangerous because someone could trick or force you into doing something wrong, and you wouldn't be able to stop yourself. Riley it's in your very nature. Pretending, that is what you do, it's who you are, and there is nothing wrong with that... as long as you stay in a controlled environment... as long as you stay here." He told her, reciting the key points Raines had given him. The old man had prepared him for practically any question Riley might have for him, and what Raines didn't tell him Lyle could fill in for himself. He knew that this initial conversation was instrumental to their plan for her in the future; he had to get it right. She was going to be important in his rise to the top.

"But-"

"There are no buts about it, Riley, you need to stay here. Here we can use your talent to do great things, here we can protect you, and ensure that your talent is allowed to grow, here we can keep you safe, but we need your cooperation."

"It's still not fair." Riley grumbled under her breath, and Lyle knew that he was botching up his job; if he kept allowing her to disrespect him then she would make it a habit, she wouldn't know that it was wrong. And it was imperative to the project that she pay him respect, she needed to be obedient. But he still couldn't quite bring himself to hit this little girl, she'd hate him! And he was still working on earning her trust-- trust that he needed if his plans were going to work. God if he didn't get her to stop Raines was going to come down! Lyle heard the door unlocking, and pivoted slightly to look behind him.

Too late.

-

-

Jarod crawled through the ventilation shafts in the direction of Sydney's office, he reached the correct grate, and saw that his old mentor wasn't in his office, but his briefcase was, and that meant he was still here. Good. He opened the vent cover and dropped silently onto the floor; moving back into the shadows to avoid any cameras.

Some time later Sydney walked back into his office, humming something quietly to himself. He looked as though he were packing up for the night. Jarod stepped out of the shadows slightly, but it didn't matter, Sydney's back was turned to him anyway.

"Long time, no see, Sydney." Jarod watched, slightly amused, slightly worried, as his mentor nearly jumped out of his skin.

Sydney turned around, a smile on his face and a hand over his heart, as though to stop it from leaping out of his chest. "Jarod! Oh my- how are you? Where have been? What are you doing here?" Sydney looked a strange mix of excited and concerned.

"Tell me you didn't know about this." Jarod held up the green file he had 'confiscated' from Lyle's office. "Just tell me you didn't know, please Sydney." Jarod looked at Sydney pleadingly; he could almost live with it if Sydney just told him he didn't know.

Please...Please

Sydney looked at the folder in Jarod's hand; it was Riley's. He had known how upset Jarod would be, had known what it would do to him to know that not only had a member of his family been kept at the Centre, but he, Sydney, the person whom Jarod had placed his trust in, hadn't gone to the trouble to tell him.

Sydney looked the desperate young man in the eye, knowing that he could apologize for this the rest of his life, and Jarod would never forgive him.

"I did know--"

"No! Dammit Sydney! No! Why didn't you tell me?" Jarod slammed the fist holding the file onto the desk in anger, turning his back on the older man and struggling to control the urge to start screaming. "Wh-Why? Please- Just... just tell me-- How could you! After everything you've done to me-- what, was it not enough? Answer me!" He kicked furiously at the waste paper bin on the side of Sydney's desk, and it flew into the wall, scattering crumpled bits of paper.

Sydney watched the pretender pace around the room, he was clearly about to lose what little control he had managed to retain- and why not? The Centre had taken everything else from him, why not strip him of his dignity as well? Sydney finally managed to steer Jarod into a chair, trying to calm him down. Jarod was running his hands through his hair, his face screwed up in fear and confusion. Sydney watched the young man teeter closer and closer to the edge of a mental breakdown.

"Jarod-"

"Don't Sydney, just don't!" Jarod spat at him, a distrustful look spanning his features.

"Jarod I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you, but when did you expect me to? You changed your email address, and you haven't called me in three weeks. Please-- I couldn't just tell you when you called-- the walls have eyes around here!"

"Stop-it Sydney."

"Jarod would you just listen to me? Please? I didn't even have information on her yet!"

Jarod stood up and began pacing again; he was still on the brink of losing it- he just couldn't stand that Sydney hadn't told him! Why? What? He couldn't find him the one time that it was important? He should have found a way! She was his daughter! She was a part of him, she was a missing part of him, and she was fifteen now and he hadn't even known she existed! The Centre had stolen part of him, part of his DNA and just created her! They created her just like they created the boy! What the hell had he ever done to deserve this?

"I have to get out of here. I've got to go Sydney."

"Jarod, please, don't go, not like this, you could hurt yourself, you could hurt someone else... Just stay." Sydney was on the verge of begging, but Jarod cut him off.

"Don't even start Sydney-- just don't go there."

"At the very least tell me where you're going. Jarod, I'm worried about you. Don't leave like this. Will you at least talk to me?" Sydney was worried, if he left now he could get himself hurt, he could get himself captured!

"Goodbye Sydney. I'll- I'll see you." Jarod left the way he came, closing the vent and leaving the same way he had originally escaped.

-

-

Lyle covered his eyes with his hands, leaning back into the couch and going over that day again.

Standing in the doorway to the small room was Raines, flanked by two sweepers.

"We need to talk." Raines wheezed at him, showing his cigarette stained teeth, and looking slightly lethal.

Lyle looked once more at Riley, who seemed to be more than a little frightened by the appearance of the sweepers, Lyle couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid, if she had been handed over to sweepers for the past couple of days then it seemed that her anxiety was justified. He walked out of the room, relieved when he was followed by the two boulder-like men; he could hardly make the girl trust him, if he left her to the ministrations of those two, now could he?

"You aren't following the program..." Raines practically growled, his voice coming out low and guttural.

"I..." Lyle tried to think of an argument that could stand up to Raines. "haven't, you're right. But she hasn't been told it's wrong yet. She doesn't even know that she isn't supposed to do that-- I can't punish her for something she doesn't know about-- I'd lose her trust." He said, and it was true, he would lose her trust. And her trust was imperative to the program.

"Then... inform her... before I do it for you..." Raines growled threateningly.

"Sir, I don't think that I should be the person to do this to her," Lyle said. "If I'm going to be working with her she has to be able to rely on me... and she won't if I'm constantly badgering her... someone else ought to do this--"

"No." Raines interrupted quickly, wheezing for breath as he wheeled himself closer to Lyle. "It has to be you... You must be seen as an authority figure... you have to be disciplinarian."

"But if we're going to build the relationship we want with her, she has to like working with me-- she has to want to please me." Lyle argued, whispering the words through his teeth, so that the little girl in the room next to them couldn't hear. "She won't do that if I'm unreasonable."

"So redefine what's reasonable--"

"Listen, I already talked with her over this, and that's enough right now. If she does it again--"

"If she does it again... you will follow through with what I say."

"Fine. But right now, I'm doing this my way. We're through discussing it." Lyle turned on his heel and walked back into the room, and as he left, he could feel Raines' glare burning holes in him.

Lyle remembered the weeks that followed, how he had eventually earned the faith of this little girl, how she had been so eager to please him, and how Raines had taught him to mold her into a pretender, one that didn't care about the what the pretends she did involved. He had turned her into a murderer (though not directly) by age five. The phone rang in the next room and Lyle came to himself, pulling his mind away from memory lane, to realize that he was sitting in the dark. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except for the fact that when he had started the DSA player, it had been light outside. He glanced at the clock on his VCR; the luminous green numbers read 8 :30. He let the machine pick up the phone, loosening his tie and letting his head drop back onto the couch.

"Hey, it's Kim Che... from the other night at the restaurant? Um... anyway, you gave me your number and I decided to use it before I lost it... Call me back? You've got mine... um, bye."

Lyle looked over at the answering machine with interest... hmmm... Dinner tomorrow sounded... pretty.