Mind's Eye - Part 9
Parker made the forty-minute drive back to the Centre in just over thirty. Her foot pressed the accelerator in agitation as she replayed the encounter with Sr. Mary in her mind. Something was seriously wrong with the story, but she had no way of pinpointing was it was that gave her pause.
The sun was fading by the time she pulled into the parking deck. Her pace to the elevator was brisk, trying to burn off pent-up energy she had accumulated. Parker wanted to get back to the lab and begin solving the riddle of information supplied by Mary LaGrange and how Jeanie fit into the big picture of St. Agatha's Church. When the doors opened, she found herself confronted by Broots and Sydney. Broots had a silver DSA case clutched in his hands.
"What?" she asked, eyeing the two men insistently.
"We've found something," Sydney said cautiously. "We need to take a ride."
They stepped forward, forcing Parker back into the deck.
"Where are we going?" she asked them.
Broots cleared his throat. "Anywhere but here would be just fine with me."
Sydney led them back to Parker's car. She let them in, sliding into the driver's seat and turning over the engine. Not a word was spoken until they had safely left the confines of Centre property.
"Do you have any particular destination in mind?" she asked once they were finally on the highway.
"You may want to head back to St. Agatha's," Sydney said.
"Why?"
"Broots found something in the DSAs. Pull over at the next rest area and we'll show you."
She did as he asked, finding a rest area three miles down the road. She threw the car into park and waited with impatience. "Well? Let's hear it, boys."
Broots fidgeted relentlessly in the back seat, hugging the DSA case as though it were a precious child.
"Follow me," Sydney said. He got out of the car and proceeded to the picnic area, followed by Parker and Broots. The rest area was practically deserted. Only one other car was in the lot, and it looked like its passengers were ready to hit the road once more.
"Show her, Broots."
Broots set the DSA on the table and opened it. The terminal lit up as he tapped commands into the keyboard. "I did what you told me and started digging through the Centre records on Black Arrow."
"And?"
"And I found some really weird things. Then came the spooky stuff. Then I don't want even describe how it all ended."
She turned to Sydney. "Translation?"
"Show her the videos, Broots," Sydney told the younger man.
The DSA of David and Jeanie in the playroom came on the screen. "I've already seen this before, Broots."
"Yeah, but you didn't see this," he countered. "Look at the reflections in the mirror glass."
She watched it, seeing Raines, the camera unit and several people. "So what am I seeing besides bad fashion sense on Raines?"
Broots touched the terminal and began isolating and zooming in on the faces in the mirror. There was one in the far corner of the room that was some distance away, but Broots brought it in close and clear. The woman's face was a mirror itself, that of Parker's. Catherine Parker had been watching David and Jeanie with Raines.
A sharp chill swept through Parker as it dawned on her what was wrong with Sister Mary's story. "That's my mother," she breathed. "That's impossible."
"That's what I said," Broots continued. "Catherine Parker died April 13, 1970, but this video is dated April 9, 1971, almost a year after her death."
Parker felt dumbfounded. "Tell me there's an explanation for this," she demanded, although it was really more of a plea.
"Well, like I said, there were three levels to all this. That was the weird part. Now for the spooky. All of the records for Black Arrow had the date and time stamp changed to 1971. At least everything I could recover officially, anyway."
"And unofficially?"
Broots began recalling files on the terminal. "I managed to find some residual imprints of old files on the network. See, even if someone went in and erased them, they're not really gone until new information overwrites that area of the storage unit. Not too long after the files were erased, the Centre changed to a different storage system, so a lot of it would never have been overwritten. Raines or whoever was erasing the files probably never even knew to go back and check to make sure the original Black Arrow was really gone."
The explanation was quick, but she understood what it meant. Files Raines thought were gone were still hanging around, and Broots had found them. "So, if we're seeing my mother's reflection, when did the project begin?"
Broots pointed to the date stamp in the corner of the screen. "The original files show a date of 1968," he supplied.
Parker shot a curious look at Sydney. "Why would he go through all that trouble to change the date?"
Sydney had a grim look upon his face. "We seemed to have found that answer as well. Apparently, Raines was not authorized by the Triumvirate to be conducting Black Arrow. He had applied for approval and was summarily denied by the council because of the intent of the project. They had no stomach for training children as killers."
"And he went ahead and did it. No wonder my mother was there. She had to have known Raines was doing it without permission." She looked back at Broots. "So what's the rest?"
Broots looked ill, like he always did when he discovered something horrible. A sinking feeling welled in the pit of her stomach as she waited for him to load up the last video segment. When the playback began, he walked away from them.
For Centre Use Only
Surveillance – David – Doctor Raines.
Seated on a stool in the middle of an otherwise barren black room is an older boy with dark hair, straight and shiny. He is dressed in a white cotton shirt and black pants. A spotlight in the ceiling focuses on his location, and it is clear he is scared. His eyes are wide with fear of the man circling like a shark.
Doctor Raines passes behind the boy, laying a hand on the child's shoulder. The boy flinches at the contact but does not pull away from Raines. He knows better than to do that.
Bravely, the boy tightens his fist and says, "I know what you do here."
Raines seems pleased, almost as if anticipating the moment. "And what is that, David?"
"You hurt people," David says, controlling his fear. "You hurt them and make them do things they don't want to do so you can hurt other people."
Raines lowers his hand from David's shoulders and circles to the side of him. "And what would you say if I told you I was about to hurt you?"
"I'd say 'go ahead'. You're going to anyway, aren't you?"
Raines tries to smile, but it turns into more of a sneer. He seems intimidated by David's courage, unnerved that the boy is putting up a fight.
"There are others like you, David. There are others right here in this place who are depending on you to do the right thing."
David looks down at the floor. He refuses to look at Raines, no matter how close the man gets. He breathing is heavy from his agitation and fear. Most striking of all is the flush of anger in his face. He is struggling to maintain his control, but Raines keeps pushing.
"It would be a shame to see any of the other children hurt because you won't help us."
Raines looks up and nods to a location off-camera, motioning with finger for the next phase to begin. The angle of the surveillance changes. A door opens, and the muffled sound of a small girl can be heard. She is crying, terrified of the large hands controlling her. Her hair is braided, and her dress is torn near the side.
The view reverts to David. His alarm is clear. He knows the girl, mouths her name, careful not to voice it.
Raines passes behind him and places two hands on his shoulders. He bends down to speak quietly into David's ear. "All you have to do is show us your abilities, David. If you do, I promise you that nothing will happen to Sarah. She'll go back to the playroom and be protected. If you don't, we'll begin studying her, and that will include some very distasteful procedures."
David's rapid breathing can be heard. His eyes are glued to Sarah's distress, to her struggle against the man holding her hostage. "Let her go!"
"Not until you work with us, David."
"Let her go!" David shouts again. He moves as if to leap off the chair, but Raines' strong hands hold him in place. He is pushed back down on the stool as the grip on his shoulders tighten.
"This is your last chance, David," Raines says, the timbre of his voice becoming something short of maniacal as it sounds into David's right ear. "If you don't cooperate, Sarah will be taken from this room, and the last thing you'll hear is her screaming when we begin our study. The choice is yours."
"Leave her alone!" David screams. He is nearing a frenzy of anxiety and anger.
"You know what you must do, David!" Raines says as he realizes David's anger is becoming proportional to the energy of the moment. By then, it is too late.
"I said leave her alone!"
Before the cameras can catch up to the flight path of his body, Raines is sent sailing backwards at least fifteen feet. He slides across the polished floor as his suit coat provides the skid for such travel. David picks up the stool he had been sitting on and hurls it with his mind toward the man holding Sarah. The speed at which it travels, however, is startling. It nothing more than a blur as it finds its target.
The guard is thrown backward, forced to release his hold on Sarah. As he does so, he also releases his hold on life. His skull is shattered into a hundred pieces by the cold metal stool. A distinctive crunching sound is heard as it impacts with his head.
Sarah slumps to the floor, terrified at the sudden explosion of violence. David goes toward her to pick her up, but more guards enter the room. He reaches instead for the stool again, prepared to launch it at the next person who stands in the way of their escape. They see their dead co-worker on the floor and deduce the significance of the boy's threat.
"Stop him!" Raines yells.
David seethes with anger. He turns toward Raines, ready to hurl the stool at the man responsible for suffering the children of the study have endured. He brings the stool up over his head, preparing to throw it and kill Raines.
"Stop him!" Raines screams, his hand held out defensively in front of him as he lay on the floor.
It is difficult to count how many gunshots are issued, for there is a hail of bullets that pierce the body of the young boy who will never again know freedom. David's body jumps and rebels against the onslaught of projectiles piercing his skin. His white shirt begins to darken in small circles where blood escapes his body. He is sent sprawling on the floor, his body still except for a slight twitching in his left hand.
Raines gets to his feet and nears the body on the floor. He reaches down to check for a pulse, apparently finding none or at least not admitting to one. He straightens and looks at the guards in the room.
He focuses on Sarah, who has pressed herself into a corner of the room. She is beyond terrified or angry. She is in shock. Even in the black and white video, it is clear the blood has left her face. She is shivering violently, unable to take a proper breath.
Raines walks to her, and stoops down as if to offer an ice cream cone. "Let's go back to the playroom now, Sarah. We'll find you a nice toy."
He holds out his hand for Sarah. She reluctantly takes it, her eyes glassy and horrified at the sight of David's dead body on the floor in front of her. Together, she and Raines head for the door.
As it opens to admit them to the hallway, there is a younger boy there. When he sees David's condition, he turns frantic, trying to get into the room. He is screaming David's name as another man bolsters him down the hallway and off camera.
Raines holds tightly to Sarah's hand. As he leaves the room, Raines eyes one of the guards sharply. "Clean this up," he rumbles.
End of record.
Parker was scarcely breathing as she finished watching. The boy had been brutally killed by the Centre, all in a final effort to protect a little girl.
"Parker?" Sydney said.
A rage began to slowly build inside her. This was not the first atrocity she had witnessed with Raines, and it would probably not be the last. Nevertheless, he would some day pay for the things he had done. Some time, some way, he would know his own wrath and hatred and abominable behavior.
She focused on the task once more. It was critical she keep within the scope and the discipline of her training. If there had been any value to Jarod's games, it had been his insistence she look for the things in the background instead of what was in front of her eyes.
"Who's the boy in hallway?" she asked.
"We don't know yet. Broots is still looking for him."
"The file said there were twelve children. Where are the others?"
Sydney motioned that it was okay for Broots to return to the terminal. The horror was over for the moment. Broots began pulling up profile information on the children. The computer scrolled their faces and information on the screen, one by one.
"We're running the same search we started on Jeanie," Broots said. "So far, we've matched eight to the aging composites we did earlier. There aren't that many of them left. Three died of cancer, one in a car accident, and one committed suicide. One was murdered, and one was in prison, at least as of this morning."
"This morning?"
"Peter Stoltz," Sydney said. "He was found guilty last month in the shooting of a park ranger at Prime Hook National Wildlife Preserve. He was the first match we made when we compared the face to the NCIC. According to Black Arrow, he was the second choice next to David for a test subject."
The National Crime Information Computer, or NCIC for short, was a flourishing database of felons convicted of crimes across the nation. It was an invaluable tool for law enforcement agencies in creating a network of information. The Centre frequently used it to recruit operatives for its less than glamorous details.
Still, Parker knew there were other factors that had not come to light yet. "None of this makes sense. Why would Raines order Lyle to find these children if they're a threat? Why not just leave well enough alone?"
Broots cleared his throat. "Well, what if Mr. Raines wasn't the one who ordered Lyle to find the kids? I mean, what if Lyle is looking to frame him so the Triumvirate will do something to get Raines out of the Centre?"
Sydney nodded. "A power play would make sense."
"No," she disagreed, "if the Triumvirate knew where they were, they'd just send a sweeper team to take care of them so there'd be no risk of disclosure of the project. There's something more to this. My guess is that Raines really did order Lyle to find the children. To what end, I don't know."
She turned to Broots. "I want you to keep digging. Get back to the lab and find out what Raines is up to. Call me the minute you have something."
Sydney moved slightly to keep her from walking away in haste. "Where are you going?"
She looked him directly in the eyes. "To church."