She didn't know.
Debbie saw the way her father was looking at her so she quickly joined Angelo in his corner.
"Miss Par..." Broots began.
"It's Green now Broots...I might as well start using it...call me Miss Green."
Broots was a little taken a back by the immediate change in her name...but could understand why she would be grateful to be able to claim another name when one's father had been Mr. Parker.
"I...ah...I found what you were looking for," he nodded his head in a positive manner while biting his lip.
"Broots!"
"Yah.."
"Spit it out."
But before Broots continued, Sydney began to talk.
"Your ova were harvested." Sydney stated.
And with that one sentence had shattered any hope that the Centre had not been that cruel...that cold...that evil. She stared at Broots to continue, the whole time seeming very calm on the outside, when on the inside she was panicking at the information.
Broots cleared his throat.
"I...ah...starting looking for anything with your name on in, your DNA, to your blood type and I...ah...I found something." He said lowering his eyes.
Miss Parker held her breath.
"I found that ever since 1984 your ova have been used to create Pretender's...they've been taking blood from Jarod for decades as well as semen samples from his bed sheets when he was a teenager..."
At this Sydney huffed and turned away from the group.
"Apparently they used your mother for one of Raines' tries to perfect the Pretender gene..." Broots looked over at Ethan, "that's why Ethan is here...Raines' had a folder that I was able to find that had your name on it...project named Mirage...that's Ethan Miss Parker."
"I found a file that said Raines had a confrontation with Jacob Green about the use of your ova in trying to create the perfect pretender. It seems as though your mother made Raines and offer, her ova for yours. Raines agreed to harvest her eggs ..."
"Let me guess," Miss Green interrupted, "they took mine anyway."
"Exactly." replied Broots exasperated.
"How many Broots?" Miss Green asked hurriedly. She had to know how many children the Centre had taken away from her how many of her babies had actually lived, she had to..
"29." Broots responded.
Miss Parker blinked several times.
"HOW MANY?" She yelled out.
Broots was now afraid and so he held his arms in front of him. And then his hell became worse when Miss Green began to walk toward him and grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her.
"HOW THE HELL IS THAT POSSIBLE!!!??? How could they have created 29 children without me noticing?" She hissed out the last sentence.
"It..It..It's not like they were all created at the same time. They were all created a year from each other. They needed all age groups to be able to compare age groups and sexes. Miss G...please your starting to choke me." Broots struggled to get out.
Miss Green hadn't even noticed that she had started to tighten her grip on Broots' collar. Her mind had wandered. She looked back to Broots.
"Did you include the children from the DSA's?" She asked.
Broots shook his head no. Miss G closed her eyes.
"Where are they?" she hissed, suddenly releasing his shirt.
"That's where the really weird part comes up; apparently your parents know where one of the triplets is, but as for the other two I came to some strange files. It looked as though one of your ova's serial numbers went into an archive of eggs that ...were renamed as Margaret Charles' eggs...apparently they made the egg seem as though it were hers...when in reality all of her eggs had already been used...they were trying to actually clone Jarod...but when they had used up all of Jarod's mothers eggs they found someone who they knew to carry the Pretender gene...you."
Miss Green looked at Broots as if he had just spoken in Aramaic.
"You didn't get pregnant naturally with Jarod's children...they impregnated you with Jarod's children." Broots explained.
Miss Green's eyes began to water.
They had even robbed her of that.
Of actually conceiving her own children.
"This is the picture of the child was in the database." Broots spoke while going over to the computer and bringing up a file.
As the photo of the child came into view, Miss Green sank down to her knees.
Before her was a picture of her son...her son who looked as though someone had made a photocopy of his father at that age...and made him out of it.
He looked like Jarod when he was a teenager. Identical.
"What about the other baby?" she asked above a whisper while still staring at the picture of her son.
Broots sighed a heavy sigh.
"All I know is that it was a girl. Her records are completely wiped out of any database that the Centre has."
"Keep looking Broots." Miss G ordered as she ran her fingertips down the computer screen that held her son's photo.
"Keep looking."
Broots couldn't find the children. As hard as he looked...he came up empty. Something didn't seem to be right. Out of everything that he had found, most of the information had been from Nugenisus to The Centre. No other paper trails really did exist. But the worst part was that he found nothing on the girl from the DSA.
Nothing.
Angelo stood behind Broots waiting. Broots noticed Angelo standing behind him. And then an idea came to Broots. Still looking at Angelo...he rose from his seat. Angelo quickly sat where Broots sat. Angelo's hands flied on the keyboard. Soon blue prints of the Centre appeared on screen. Noticeably in the blue prints you could see sublevels all the way to 27...but oddly...on the other wing of the building were stairs that enter the ground, leading to nowhere.
As Angelo continued, he actually brought up the hidden floors, revealing 3 more sublevels.
"Children." Angelo said.
Broots nodded.
"Are you sure they're all there?" Miss Green asked an excited Broots.
"Angelo confirms that all the children Centre created are in these sublevels. The bottom sublevel to be exact- the other two are really sleeping quarters and sim labs."
Ethan had been quiet for along time...but all of a sudden popped up.
"I know where she is!!" Ethan said.
"Know where who is?" Miss Green asked her brother.
Ethan looked at her as though she had grown heads.
"Margaret Charles." Ethan stated.
All those in the room looked at each other. Miss Green was the first to speak her opinion.
"I have to bring Jarod to her...but," she began but Angelo interrupted.
"Ethan help Daughter. Ethan help daughter find Friend's Mother. Ethan help save children after find Mother. Go! Hurry!" Angelo insisted by pushing at Ethan.
Ethan and Miss Green exchanged looks but quickly began to grab clothes and keys and left.
Sydney looked to Angelo.
"Are the children ok Angelo? Are they safe?" Sydney asked, afraid of the answer.
"Children safe...for now safe." Angelo responded drearily.
"What does that mean Angelo?" Sydney asked alarmed. Sydney had thought Angelo was going to lie and say they were ok...unfortunately all lies were left at the Centre.
Angelo's eyes began to water and soon tears flew down his face.
"Baaaddd Maaannn," he cried softly.
"Very Baaddd Maannn," he whimpered out as his body shook with the force of his tears.
Sydney swiftly rose to comfort Angelo, but it was to no avail.
It had been the image of the person the children saw everyday...the tests and punishments he would hand out to the children. His mind filled with the screaming of the children...the crying...and the praying...for someone to save them.
Miss Parker held Jarod in her arms once more. She couldn't help holding him. She was never allowed to when they were younger...how she wish she could have. How she wished she could kiss his lips and have them respond to her touch...to her taste.
But he wouldn't be waking up.
This is her punishment- To live life without the one person that made her complete. She had him for all these years and did nothing to claim him. Now when she had the strength to claim him as her own...Satan came and claimed him before her.
"This is it." Ethan said from the driver's seat.
They hadn't driven but 2 hours. They were somewhere in what looked like a farming area. She didn't really know where they were. She was busy looking at Jarod. She tried to memorize every detail. Everything. She wanted to remember his face always...like she had done all those years ago. His face had filled her dreams when she had been sent to school. He had grown into a handsome man...but now he wouldn't grow anymore.
Jarod was not to know all of the games children played when little. He was never going to find all the interesting candy children ate. He was not to find another of his discoveries ever again.
"You ok sis?" asked Ethan.
Miss Green smirked down at Jarod.
Can you believe it Jar, we have a brother together...and he called me sis.
Miss Green looked up to Ethan.
"No I'm not...but I have to do this." She answered honestly.
Ethan nodded his head in understanding. He exited the car and went to help Miss Green carry Jarod to the small house just a few feet away, But Miss Green was determined. She hoisted Jarod into her arms. He was heavy. But she just cradled him to her. SHE had to do this. She had to tell this woman that her child was dead...and it was because of her.
Ethan went ahead of her to make sure she didn't drop Jarod, but Ethan knew she would kill herself before dropping him. Ethan turned to knock on the door.
"HELLO! PLEASE WE NEED TO TALK TO YOU MARGARET! PLEASE!" he yelled out.
Slowly the door opened.
It was Margaret.
Miss Green again had started to cry as she held Jarod while she was looking at him, that she didn't notice when Margaret came out of the house rushing towards her.
Margaret was crying and trembling and shaking Jarod's frame in Miss Green's arms. Margaret stopped shaking his frame and looked into Miss Green's eyes.
Green didn't know what to say. She hadn't thought this far into things. But her emotions took over and spoke for her. With tears spilling down her face, cheeks flushed red from the constant crying she whispered to Margaret.
"He just wanted to go home."
Broots and Sydney had been trying to find files on all the children. All of their files had a high encryption that was taking forever to decode a single file. So far Broots had been able to decipher 22 of the children's files.
"Syd, how do you expect us to rescue these kids..." Broots began.
"Let's not even consider the fact that getting into the sublevels themselves is going to be beyond impossible, and let's not consider the fact that we have no means of keeping them truly safe from the Centre," Broots rushed out as he waved his open hand in front of him.
"But how are we going to hide 29 children WHILE we escape?" he asked truly perplexed.
"I don't know Broots." replied Sydney.
Broots furrowed his brow and leaned in closer to inspect the blue prints.
"There has to be something I'm not seeing. Something that could be done...why am I not seeing it??" he asked Sydney.
Sydney patted his shoulder.
"We will figure this out Broots...those are my nieces children...and even if I have to kill everyone in sight...we will set them free." Sydney said in a no-nonsense voice. The fear that Angelo expressed earlier about the "Bad Man" had truly disturbed him. If anyone touched those children...he would make sure they would never touch anything ever again.
In the corner Angelo was drawing a picture. Sydney had calmed him down by letting his emotions be expressed on paper. Sydney had not noticed that the picture had taken a true form of a person...that is until he muttered a very familiar name.
Sydney turned around and gazed at Angelo with eyebrows furrowed together.
"What did you say Angelo?"
Angelo remained quiet and slowly Sydney approached the man sitting on the floor with Debbie's crayons scattered everywhere. Sydney's eyes widened at the picture.
Sydney had not even thought of this person. This person was now so much more to him then he use to be.
"Angelo..." he began scared "is this the 'Bad Man'?" he asked truly scared for the first time that day.
Angelo looked to Sydney with confusion written all over his face. He then looked back down at the picture he had drawn. He then shook his head no.
"Help us." Angelo said.
Sydney looked at Angelo in complete shock.
"Angelo there is no..." Sydney began.
"Help us!" Angelo said again firmly.
Sydney looked back at the drawing. He couldn't believe what Angelo was saying about the figure drawn on the white piece of paper. Angelo's was able to drawn the figure as if copying from a photograph. No one could doubt who the man in the drawing was.
Lyle.
The hour had gone by in a blur. Margaret and her daughter had swooped Jarod from her arms...her arms that now felt empty without him. Ethan had left her alone with them. The voices had talked to him and he said he'd be back as soon as possible.
And so she sat there.
Watching Jarod and his mother reunite...when it was already too late.
She watches as mother and sister cradled the lost family member and all she could do was watch.
"Thank you." Margaret said as she looked up at Miss Green.
Miss Green began to cry.
"Whhyy are you thhhankking me...I caused this...his dead because..." but before she finished she found her head between the hands of Margaret's.
"Thank You...ffoorr brinnginnngg my baby boy home to rreesstt." Margaret said while crying.
Miss Green closed her eyes. This woman shouldn't be thanking her. This woman should hate her. This woman should hate her with a passion...but she didn't.
Suddenly the voices inside her began to rise. She turned to look at the door just as it opened.
"Look who I found not far from here!" Ethan said before stepping aside.
Behind him was Major Charles.
But what once would have been a joyful reunion became one of true pain. Ethan had not told the Major that Jarod was not with the living any longer, and the sight before him...made him fall to his knees.
His baby boy lay blood soaked and white as snow.
She watched as the Major cried at the horrid sight. He crawled to his wife and daughter and clutched at his wife as he stared down at Jarod's body. And suddenly out of nowhere her brother's voice came to her.
"...a parent should never out live there children."
And as she gazed at the family before her...she couldn't have agreed more with him.
A good while had passed before the major had taken his son's body into one of the bedrooms. Green had watched as the man placed his son under the covers of the bed and tucked him in...as if he was 5 years old and had just zonked out after a major event...instead of the grown man that had died a brutal death.
Now they all sat around a kitchen table drinking coffee. No one had spoken since Ethan's arrival. It was as though everyone was on autopilot. They agreed to things with each other without speaking. At least that's how she would explain the appearance of a coffee cup in her hand.
"We need to tell you something." Ethan spoke disrupting the agreed to silence.
He looked straight into Major Charles' eyes.
"I'm your son."
At the spoken statement the Charles family looked up to look at Ethan.
"I was made from your DNA and implanted into my mother, a woman you knew as Catherine Parker." Ethan explained.
Major Charles pressed his palm against his forehead.
"How low will those bastards stoop do get what they want?" the Major asked rhetorically. But surprisingly, Miss Green responded to the question.
"Oh you don't know how low they've gone."
And at the look and tears the Major saw in her eyes, he braced himself for bad news. Miss Green looked up towards the ceiling as she spoke.
"About 3 hours ago...I learned that Jarod and I have children."
The Charles family leaned forward with shocked faces at the information. Miss Green looked down at the table cloth while she spoke.
"The Centre used us to create Pretenders...and they succeeded...and now they have 29 children that are reliving Jarod's nightmare."
As the number of children washed over the family, the shock returned to their faces...but this time with wonder in them.
"We have grandbabies from Jarod?" asked a shocked Margaret.
Miss Green nodded vigorously without taking her eyes off of the table cloth.
"They have them don't they?" the Major asked with an angry voice.
Again, Green nodded vigorously with tears streaming down her face. The next thing she knew a big strong male hand grabbed hers from across the table. She looked up into the crying eyes of the Major.
"We'll get them out...we'll save them!" stated the Major confidently.
This time when Green nodded her head, it was obvious she didn't believe the words he was saying. She looked to the bedroom door where Jarod lay. In her mind, one thought kept repeating.
How can we save all of them...when we couldn't even save Jarod?
And she let the tear in her eye drop to the ground.