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Disclaimer:
I just know that
they don't belong to me. I can only wish they did. God only knows what I would do
with them:)) However, they belong to NBC. Or is it TNT right now? I don't really
care as long as they don't sue me. Please don't!!!! I barely have enough money
to go to the movies.
Time
For Reunion
Part
9
by
Vania
"Damn
it, Jarod! Answer me!"
It
was the third time she asked him to tell her what he was reading, but he just
wouldn't move! It was like he was hypnotized by what he was reading. It most be
bad, if he's like that. Maybe her feeling was right and her father was already
using Andrew for their awful experiments. In that case, Miss Parker was getting
him out of there. She was already regretting not bringing him home with her
tonight. Then, Jarod finally moved.
"Parker..."
He quietly called.
"Care
to tell me what's happening, wonder-boy?"
"I never
thought they would go this far!" Jarod said angrily handing the papers to
Parker.
While Miss Parker
started to read what she had in her hands, Jarod got up and started pacing the
room back and forth, and then started speaking again, this time lower.
"They will pay
for this and for everything!"
Miss Parker read
the papers as faster as she could, while hearing him in the background. When she
finished reading what he already had, she couldn't believe it, and her mind
started to digest the contents of the file. Andrew was her son. Jarod's son.
Their son.
"And they
won't have him." Miss Parker said.
Standing, she moved
next to him and they embraced.
Jarod didn't get to
leave her house that night.
****
The
Centre
The
morning after
Carefully, Mr. Cox
entered the baby's nursery. After all, he didn't want to wake him up. He always
made a fuss and he wasn't in the mood to take care of him. Not today, anyway.
This was what he came to do. To take the baby to his purpose.
The results clearly
proved that he had the genes. And so, they were going to use him like they
planned all along. Jarod was no longer a valuable experiment. He became useless
as he discovered the outside world. Jarod was important to other purposes. The
perfect pretender would only be perfect, if he remained untouched by the
outside. And this was their chance. Andrew was only created with the purpose of
being a pretender. That was why Mr. Parker married Brigitte after all. He had
known all along that she was conspiring against him. But she was valuable to him
alive. Well, as long as she could have a baby. Not hers, or his, by that matter.
A project, joining both Miss Parker and Jarod's genes. How Mr. Parker was able
to act that cold towards his own daughter had been a mystery to Cox. But it only
remained a mystery until the day he discovered that Mr. Parker wasn't Miss
Parker's real father. However, he doesn't know, yet, who really is. He would
know in due time.
There was only one
thing important right now. And that was, taking the baby to Raines' care. That
were his orders. And because they were that, Cox took the small child into his
arms, carefully not to wake him, and lead him through the dark corridors of The
Centre.
****
Miss
Parker's house
Briar
Road
Same
time
Miss Parker slowly
started to wake up. She glanced at the clock in the bedside. It was exactly 8
o'clock. Then, she also remembered that she was supposed to have someone
sleeping in the other side of the bed. So, she dropped her right arm to her
right side and was very surprised to find no one.
Miss Parker got up,
putting her robe around her body. After a quick visit to the bathroom, she
headed to the living room, getting the same result she got in the previously
visited rooms. She had expected that he would at least have waited for her to
wake up. Going to the kitchen, her last hope, she noticed that she had her
breakfast in the table. Jarod cooked it for her. Replacing her usual black
coffee, was an orange juice and some croissants, and next to those was a note.
Miss Parker quickly grabbed it. It was the address of a motel and a message
"Sorry I missed you this morning. Meet me here after you got everything you
need. Love, Jarod." She sighed.
After putting one
of her usual suits with trousers and a jacket, Miss Parker left her home, but
only after having her breakfast and putting all the important things in a bag.
Important meaning, pictures, DSAs and a few other personal objects. She almost
didn't pack clothes. Then, after having done all this, Miss Parker went to The
Centre, for what would be her last day in Hell.
****
The
Centre
15
minutes later
After arriving to
The Centre, the first thing Miss Parker had planned, was going to Andrew's
nursery. But, of course, not everything always goes as planned, and she found
herself in her father's office, hearing to his usual speech. It was funny how,
in all these years, she still hasn't heard a word of sympathy towards her. Of
course, there were times when he said nice things, but those were so rare, that
she had difficult placing them herself.
After leaving that
little family reunion, where also her brother was, Miss Parker finally headed to
the nursery. When she reached her destination, her heart fell. Andrew wasn't
there. But where could he be? Someone got to him before her, because he wasn't
obviously going anywhere by himself.
Miss Parker abstracted
herself from the rest of the world for a while, just thinking of the places where
her son could be, and didn't notice when her brother approached her from
behind.
"Parker!"
Lyle called.
"Geez! I
didn't hear you come in! What do you want? If it has something to do with Jarod
and my failure to get him back, spare me the lecture, because I'm really not in
a mood for it right now."
"Oh, it is
about Jarod. And you're gonna hear me out," he continued.
"What do you
want then? You better make it quick!"
"Let's just
say I know of your extra curricular activities."
"What extra
curricular activities?" Miss Parker asked, although she thought she would
already know the answer to that question.
"Come on, Miss
Parker! You know what I'm talking about. And if I already know, others should
too. And I also know who was with you yesterday."
While Miss Parker
registered the information and was thinking of the best excuse she could give
him to get him off her back, Lyle continued.
"Listen, I'm
not the one you should worry about. Daddy must know it already. You should get
out as fast as you can."
"Why should I
trust you? You were probably the one who told him about it!"
"I want power!
And I want to be in charge of this place, but not like this!"
"Then,
how?"
"Like mom
should have wanted to," Lyle tried to explain her "I know what they
are planning to do to the baby. He is the only thing that matters. Get him! And
then get out!"
"Not so
fast," Mr. Cox said, holding a gun on Lyle. Two sweepers were standing by
his side, and they were also holding their guns on brother and sister.
"What do you
think you're doing?" Lyle asked nervously to the man he always secretly
feared.
"What do you
think I'm doing, Mr. Lyle?"
"I think
you're making a very big mistake."
"Is it? Well,
it doesn't matter if you think I'm wrong. I'm alive and right! And soon, my
friend, you'll be dead."
"Wait! You
don't have proofs! You can't do this!"
"Watch
me!" Mr. Cox said as he fired two bullets that hit Mr. Lyle right in the
chest.
"No!"
Miss Parker screamed, rushing to her brother's side.
"And you, Miss
Parker, have a lot of explaining to do. But I think that won't save you anyway. Get her!"
After Cox gave the
orders, both sweepers grabbed her by the arms and dragged her out of the
nursery, while he called a cleaner team to clean up the mess.
"If only Sam
was still here," Miss Parker thought to herself, while she was dragged to
Renewal Wing. She also thought about her baby, that she wasn't going to be able
to rescue from this place. She had to remain strong for him. And she was going
to get out of there, even if that had to be the last thing she did.
****
Sim
Lab
Same
time
Sydney was just
arriving to The Centre, when he noticed that there was something terribly wrong.
Although, the security in the entrance had told him that Miss Parker was already
there, Sydney hadn't meet her yet, and that was usually the first thing she did
when he arrived. She would come to the Lab and bug them about Jarod's
whereabouts. Then, he noticed something also strange. Broots wasn't at his computer. Mystery
solved! He just popped in!
"I was
starting to get nervous! Somebody's here, finally! Good morning, Broots!" Sydney
greeted, trying to hide is fear.
"Good morning,
Syd," the
tech took a deep breath and took his place near the computer. He
was holding a DSA in his hands and immediately played it.
"I just found
this in security! It's not good news," Broots said with a very sad face to
the older man next to him.
The screen started
to play something and Sydney saw his fears became true. It showed Miss Parker
and Lyle in the baby's nursery and then Mr. Cox shooting him and the sweepers
dragging Miss Parker out of there.
"We have to do
something, Sydney! I mean, we can't just watch!"
"I know, my
friend. Do you know where they took her?"
"Not yet, but
I'm on it! Give me a few minutes," Broots said, trying to type the
instructions to the computer as fast as he could. His friend's life was in danger
and he had to help her.
Moments after, the
baby came into Sydney's mind. If Miss Parker went to the nursery, then she was
going to bring him with her. But, she was stopped, and the DSA didn't show him in
his cradle. So, that should mean that someone had already took him when she
arrived there.
"The baby,
Broots! Try to find him too."
"Sure thing,
Syd."
After minutes of
more typing, Broots finally got something to work with.
"I've got
something!"
"What? Did you
find her, Broots?" Sydney asked with genuine concern.
"I think so.
According to what I found, she must be in the Renewal Wing," Broots paused
and then continued, "As to where the baby is, I don't know. But I found a
memo addressed to Mr. Raines, and he is the one in charge of the project."
"What
project?"
"Raines is
going to take care of the baby, like he did with other children, Sydney."
"Then, I'm
going after him," Sydney said, turning to the door.
"Sydney, wait!
What about Miss Parker?"
"I'm going to
get the baby, and then I'm going to get her! You have to get Debbie and take off
while you still can!"
Sydney left and
Broots could only think in obey him. Things were starting to get rough and he
too had a family to think about. He formatted his computer's hard drive and save
all important things to disk. Then, he left The Centre, like it was the most
normal thing in the world. When Broots reached the outside, he was surprised to find out that
no one followed him. And no one actually did, since he was looking after his
shoulder all the way to his house.
****
Highway
Motel
Outside
Blue Cove
Jarod was just
parking in front of the motel where is family was staying. Something in his
heart was telling him that something was wrong, very wrong, but he decided to
ignore it and talk to his father to see if he found anything on his mother yet.
"Hi there!
Anybody here?" Jarod asked when he entered the room and saw no one there.
"Oh, hi
Jarod!" Emily greeted him, also giving him a hug.
"Hi, Em! Where
are the others?" he said searching around for them.
"They went to
the cafeteria to get some breakfast. I woke up later, so I lost the bus,"
Emily joked with her brother, "Now, tell me. Weren't you supposed to have
slept here, big bro?" she continued, trying to half-annoy him.
"Something
came up, Emily. Listen, I really need to talk to dad. Do you know if he found
anything about mom?"
"They were
working through the night, but I don't think they got anything we didn't know
already. I was tired and went to bed early and, as you know, when I got up
they'd already left. So, I'm as left in the woods as you are."
"I'll check
the laptop. Maybe I can find something there."
"You go and do
that. I'm going to the bathroom. They should be here any second, though."
Emily had just
finished saying that, when three men entered the room.
"Speaking of
which," Emily announced.
"Good morning,
sweetheart. Did you sleep well?" Major Charles asked his daughter.
"Yes, dad.
Like I haven't in a long time."
"That's good!
You brought you something for your breakfast too," he said, giving her the
paper package he had in his hands. Then, he saw Jarod and hurried to hug him
"Jarod, son! I was beginning to worry about you. Where have you been?"
"I was at a
friend's house. I'm just fine. It's mom I'm worried about. Did you find
anything, last night?"
"I'm afraid we
didn't, son. But we were following a lead and we were going to continue
following it now."
"Yeah, that's
right, Jarod. Dad here was exhausted last night, so we decided we would continue
today," Ethan informed his half-brother.
"You did well.
I didn't want you to get sleep deprived," and then Jarod continued to the
toughest part, "But there's something I need to talk with you, before
this is all over."
"What is it,
Jarod?" His sister asked.
"It's
something we found out last night, while going through some Centre files."
"Does it have
to do with your mother?" the Major asked his son, with evident concern.
"No. It's
worse, much worse."
"Jarod, you're
starting to scare us."
"The Centre
went too far this time," Jarod began, "They created another
pretender."
"What?"
"Oh my
God!"
"You said
created. Do you mean, they didn't steal him?" Jake asked.
"They did
steal him. Just not in the way we're used to."
"Then,
how?"
"They used a
former Centre operative, Brigitte, as a surrogate mother for the baby."
"I remember
her! She was the one that went in my car, when I was being transported to
Africa."
"Yeah, that's
right, Jake. But, anyway, that baby is my son."
"What?"
that was the only question spoken by the presents.
"And, not only
mine, as you can imagine."
"Whose
then?"
"Miss
Parker's," Jarod calmly said to them.
"What?"
"I know it's
hard to grasp, but right now all that matters is getting him out of that
place."
"Sure, Jarod.
Count me in," Ethan assured him.
"Thanks,
Ethan, but that won't be necessary. Parker is getting him out."
"You talk to
her?" His father asked.
"Yes, I did.
And, once she's out of there, she will be meeting us here," after a brief
pause, seeking for his father's approval, Jarod continued, "Now, we need to
find mom. We don't have much time."
"Yeah, let's
find her."
Some time after,
all the family got a strong lead on Margaret, Jarod and Major Charles were
getting ready to follow it.
"Let's go,
Dad. The soon we get there, the better our chances are ."
Then, Jarod looked
over at Ethan, who was concentrating on the voices, and saw his mood change.
"What is it
Ethan? Is something wrong?"
"Miss Parker.
I have to help her."
"What's going
on, Ethan?"
"The voices
are telling me that she's in danger, but that help is on the way."
"What are you
going to do, Jarod?" His father asked, when he saw his son grabbing his
cell phone.
"Come on,
Sydney! Pick up the phone!"
Jarod begged, but
after four rings, he was starting to lose hope. Finally, Sydney picked up his
cell phone.
"Sydney! What
happened?"
"Don't worry,
Jarod. Something went wrong, but I have Andrew and I'm getting Parker out
now!"
"What went
wrong?"
"We can't talk
right now. It's not safe. Listen, we'll meet you later, all right?"
"Ok, Sydney.
Just, please, be careful."
"I will,
Jarod. Take care," Sydney said as he disconnected the phone, holding the
baby close.
When Jarod hanged
up, there were four concerned faces staring at him, so he decided to share the
little he knew.
"Something
went wrong at The Centre, but I think Sydney is handling that," Jarod took
a deep breath, "I just hope everything is under control as he said."
Then, Jarod and
Major Charles left the motel as they were supposed to, and Jarod tried to ignore
the side of him that was screaming to help Parker and his son in The Centre,
knowing that his friend will be helping them.
****
The
Centre
SL-16
Sydney scrolled into The Centre
sublevels. Broots traced the baby to SL-16, where Raines was keeping him. He
wasn't going to let them take another child and destroy its life, like they did
with others, namely Jarod. And even if Sydney didn't want to admit it, he was
the one to take Jarod's life.
For 30 years he exploited his
genius and made him do things he never should have done. He had been blind with
lies. The Centre filled his head with them. Now it was time for some kind of
redemption. It didn't make up for the years he stole from Jarod, but it did make
up for Miss Parker. Well, kind of. There were still
some things she should know. Her terrible family secret. He was right when he
told her he didn't know it. But some time passed since that day, and he was able
to learn it. Catherine had been right not to tell him, but if he only knew...
things would have been different.
Now, he had a task to run. He had
to find the baby and get to Parker as soon as possible. God knows what they were
thinking of doing to her.
As he reached closer to his destination, he could see
Raines near the crib, where Andrew was laying. Raines would certainly be an
obstacle to him, but, this time, Sydney would do whatever he had to. Even if
that meant killing the wheezing bastard.
Slowly, Sydney reached for the
gun, that once was hided in his desk drawer, just to be sure she was still
there. Then, he made his presence know to Raines, who looked up from the crib and
directly to Sydney's eyes.
"What are you doing here,
Sydney?"
"Getting something that
doesn't belong to you."
"I believe that 'something'
doesn't belong to you either."
"I'm not interested in
hearing any of it, Raines," and with this, Sydney grabbed the gun he was
hiding and pointed it to him.
"Come on, Sydney. We all
know you wouldn't fire that gun. Should I remind you that you tried once... and
you failed."
Raines was clearly trying to
dissuade Sydney's intent. However, the psychiatrist wasn't having any of it. He
had a mission to carry, and he planned on executing it right. Then, he decided
to take a different approach.
"You're right, Raines. I
wouldn't shoot you," Sydney said, lowering his gun and making his way to
the crib. When he was there, and despite Raines' eyes on him all the time,
tracing all his moves, he reached for the child.
"I'm warning you, Sydney.
Leave the baby alone and go to your office, like nothing happened."
And because Raines was too busy
tracking Sydney's movements, he didn't see his hand come to the tubes that
assured his breathing.
Sydney pushed the tubes with all
his might, what make Raines' breathing become more labored. Then, and to be
assured he wouldn't be going anywhere, anytime soon, Sydney cut off the
circulation between the tubes and the oxygen tank.
"That should be enough to
stop you for a while."
Sydney knew that there were
cameras everywhere and that, as soon as they spotted what was going on, sweepers
would make their way to help the monster. Besides, how many times did he trick
death?
Sydney quickly picked the baby
up, and ran as faster as he could to where Miss Parker was being held.
****
Somewhere in
Renewal Wing
Miss Parker was
nervously pacing her temporary cell. She couldn't help but think about her baby
boy, and Jarod, and how she disappointed him. She had already lost track of time a
long time ago, but she figured that it probably only passed an hour or so. She
heard footsteps and, almost reflexively, she went to the door.
"Cox, you
bastard! Let me out of here!" Miss Parker screamed, not really hoping that
he would listen to her pleas.
"Shh! Miss
Parker, it's me, Sydney."
Promptly, he opened
the cell's door with the key he stole from the sweeper in charge. Once, he
managed to opened the door, Miss Parker immediately recognized the child in his
arms, and Sydney gave him to her.
"Hi
baby," she said in a small voice to him, while picking him in her arms.
"Quickly, we've
got to get out of here. There's no time."
They walked through
some more corridors and were getting closer to the exit by the moment. They were
almost leaving, when someone blocked their path.
"Again, not so
fast," Mr. Cox said again, this time coming with Mr. Parker.
"You should
have known better than to cross us, Sydney."
"Daddy... why
are you doing this? I'm your daughter."
Cox let out a devilish
laugh and Mr. Parker remained straight faced.
"Give me the
baby, angel."
"No, never!
He's mine! And I'm leaving."
Mr. Parker drawn
his gun and pointed it at Sydney.
"Daddy, don't
do this, please!"
"The
baby."
Miss Parker would
never give him the baby in her free will and Mr. Parker was ready to do what he
had to, even if that meant killing the old psychiatrist.
"Do you know
he killed Lyle?"
"Lyle betrayed
me! That's what happens to people who betray me. Now, angel, I'm counting on
that you're smarter than your brother," Mr. Parker tried to convince her.
"Never. I'd
rather die than give you my son."
"Then, so be
it."
And in that moment,
Miss Parker could only hold on to the hope that someone would come down to save
them. Her prayers were listened. A shot rang. Two. No, three of them, in fact.
The first one was Mr. Parker's. He shot Sydney and he was now lying on the
ground, in pain. The second and third ones were Angelo's. He appeared out of the
blue and shot both Cox and Mr. Parker. They, too, were lying on the ground. Miss
Parker was motionless, but after she captured the whole picture, she grabbed her
father's gun that was lying next to him. Then, she turned to help Sydney, but
before she could make it, one sweeper appeared and she couldn't.
"Go, Parker!
I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," Sydney managed to say, before closing
his eyes one last time.
"No!"
Parker screamed again. It was the second person she saw being shot today. And it
was the second that she was unable to help.
Angelo dragged her
and pulled her to a vent, getting her out of there, as well as her son. They
wouldn't be able to get them in the vents. Parker looked back one last time, and
saw Cox moving, as well as sweepers running to her father's side, but Sydney
wasn't moving anymore. Tears were flowing through her eyes now, as she made her
way to the outside in the vents, closely followed by Angelo, and keeping her son
the closer she could.
-----------------------------------------------
For those who didn't know it already, I'm
a huge Lyle fan, and not even I could believe myself when I killed him:( But,
other stories will come, and there's always room for revenge. hehehe
Feedback please rumor_lx@yahoo.com.br
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