"How is she, Angelo?" Miss Parker asked
the childlike man. She knew he’d been spying on Anne, he spied on just about
everything that happened at the Centre.
"Anne not good." Angelo answered
seriously. "Needs help."
"What do you mean?" Parker was alarmed and
it showed. She remembered how pale the woman had been when she saw her, the
dark circles under her eyes and hollows under her cheekbones, but hadn’t seemed
to be injured in any way.
"Did Lyle hurt her? Does she need a
doctor?" Sydney questioned with quiet urgency.
"Anne’s soul is dark. Needs light soon."
Angelo clarified. "No hope, no joy---poor Anne."
"She’s giving up." Parker concluded.
"It’s a testament to her strength that she’s
held on this long." Sydney stated, his eyes troubled. "From what I
can tell, Lyle has been given total control of her, and we know Lyle’s track
record with women."
"I’m going to see Daddy." Parker decided
grimly. "Even if he did give Lyle permission to---to use her to conceive a
child, the Centre’s got a vested interest in keeping Anne reasonably healthy.
Daddy can’t possibly know what Lyle’s really doing with her."
"It’s certainly worth a try." Sydney
agreed, keeping his doubts carefully hidden. "Broots and I will do some
digging into where the child is. Since she wasn’t with her mother it’s
reasonable to assume that their time together is limited at best. Perhaps if we
could get her daughter into her hands more, her will to live will
improve."
"Broots, you look like you swallowed a
bug." Parker snapped irritably. "What’s bothering you?"
"Your father isn’t here, Miss Parker."
Broots said miserably.
"Where is he?" She demanded.
"He was arrested last night." Broots
admitted, hunching slightly as if he was afraid she was going to strike him.
"Arrested? For what?" Parker wasn’t angry,
she was in shock.
"Treason." Broots squeaked out.
"Treason? Treason?" She repeated dazedly.
"How could they think Daddy is guilty of treason?"
"I don’t know." He told her. "But
that isn’t all. You know Mr. Mutumbo was killed a while ago, right?"
"Of course I do!"
"Well, the rumor in the data entry pool is that
another member of the Triumvirate disappeared earlier this week. And the IRS is
auditing the books next week."
"Jarod!" Parker hissed, her eyes narrowing
dangerously.
"Maybe, but do you really think he’d stir up
the hornet’s nest when we have Anne?" Sydney questioned doubtfully.
"There’s no way this is coincidence."
Parker rebutted confidently. "This is an attack, and Lyle’s going to
figure it out soon, if he hasn’t already."
"Which puts Anne in more danger than she’s been
to date." Sydney pointed out, worry showing in his eyes. As if his comment
was a cue, his cell phone rang.
"Yes?" He asked as soon as he flipped it
open.
"Is there any chance you can get Anne and
Deirdre to safe place and hide them for a few days?" Jarod asked bluntly.
"I don’t know. Lyle has her pretty heavily
guarded, and we don’t even know where Deirdre is." Sydney answered
honestly.
"Try, Syd, for me. It’s really important."
"Then it is you behind the recent
disappearances of top level Centre staff."
"Not exactly, but I’m helping the people behind
it. Things are going to heat up pretty soon, and I’d feel much better if Anne
and Deirdre were out of the line of fire when it does."
"We’ll do our best, Jarod." Sydney
promised, keeping his doubts about their effectiveness to himself. "I’ll
call you if anything comes up."
"Do that. Thank you, Sydney. You get Anne and
Deirdre to safety, and I’ll owe you big time."
"You just be careful. Mr. Lyle isn’t stupid,
and if you corner him he’ll be dangerous." Sydney cautioned, worry
creeping into his expression.
"You too, Syd." Jarod replied, his voice
growing slightly husky. "I don’t want any of you getting hurt."
The phone disconnected from Jarod’s end, and Sydney
looked up at his coworkers.
"He wants us to try and rescue Anne and the
baby and hide them until things calm down." He told them with far more
calm than he was really feeling.
"He’s insane." Parker said flatly,
beginning to pace in her agitation. "You’re precious genius has finally
jumped right off the deep end, Sydney. Have you got any idea of the level of
protection Lyle has on Anne?"
"You’re the one who got in to see her."
Sydney countered mildly.
"And that was only because I’m a Parker. Even
with that, Lyle was down there in seconds." She retorted, her agitation
growing. "She’s more closely guarded than the crown jewels."
"What about the child?" Sydney questioned.
"What do you mean?"
"How hard would it be to get her and stash her
someplace?" Sydney wanted to know.
"I don’t know." Parker admitted
cautiously. "I’m not even sure where she is."
"Angelo?" Sydney turned to the quiet man.
"Do you know where Deirdre is?"
"Yes." He answered simply.
"Will you take Broots to her and help him get
her to safety?" Sydney asked next.
"Yes." Angelo answered again.
"Broots?" Sydney looked at the smaller
man, his eyes asking if the computer technician was in or out.
"I’ll get her someplace safe." He assured
Sydney with a grim determination that was foreign to his normal personality.
"I won’t let Lyle hurt her."
"Good man." Sydney approved warmly.
"Parker and I will see to Anne."
Broots nodded once and left with Angelo. Parker
turned to Sydney as soon as the door had closed behind them.
"And just how the hell do you propose we do
that?" She hissed worriedly.
"I’m still a physician." He reminded her.
"And you did tell Lyle you wanted me to examine her, didn’t you? We’ll
just stop by my office to collect my bag and head down there. Once we’re in her
room we can figure out our next move."
"You’re going to get us killed." She
warned, but she followed him from the laboratory and into the hall.
"Hello, my dear." Lyle said with a
charming smile that didn’t reach his cold blue eyes. "I’m glad to see you
looking so well."
His eyes devoured my ravaged appearance with visible
appreciation. As I’d surmised, he enjoyed the fact that I’d been crying.
’Tell him!’ The voice in my head urged insistently. ’Now,
before it’s too late.’
’No!’ I returned stubbornly. ’We don’t know anything.’
"I want you to put this on." Lyle told me
abruptly, holding out a backless hospital gown. "We’re going to contact
your beloved."
His smile was cold and full of malice as I accepted
the cloth and donned it with suddenly nerveless fingers. His all too visible
rage and bitterness warned me that something was very, very wrong. As usual, I
knew he was going to make me pay for whatever was wrong in his world.
I didn’t register the carefully concealed sympathy
on the face of the same Sweeper who’d smuggled my daughter to me during the
early days of this nightmare. I failed to notice the shocked looks of the
Centre staff we passed in the hallways and the air of anxiety that hung over
all of them. I barely noticed the quiet return of my other self from wherever
she’d gone. I was wrapped into a fog of dread
I surfaced slightly when Sydney and Parker intercepted
us at the elevators. I actually noticed the shock and distaste on Parker’s face
as the registered the new and old marks on my exposed flesh.
"I thought you’d decided she was going to bear
your children, Lyle." She growled disgustedly. "But she won’t be much
use to you in a morgue."
"What are you on about now?" Lyle snapped
back. Parker gestured towards my abused flesh, her gaze acidic.
"Look at her! She’s been beaten half to death,
and it’s obviously not the first time. Just what do you think you’ll accomplish
if you kill her?"
"You’re overreacting, as usual." Lyle
drawled back irritably. "I have to remind her of her position
periodically, and right now I’m about to save our asses here, so keep your
righteous attitude to yourself, okay?"
"I said I wanted Sydney to examine her, and I
meant it." She countered grimly. "That goes double now that I’ve seen
this."
"Fine. After she helps me convince Jarod to
give up his doomed attack and surrender himself, you can have the psychiatrist
examine her. I think he’ll find her conversational abilities a bit lacking,
though." Lyle snapped.
"This I’ve got to see." Parker needled
maliciously. "We’ll just follow along, shall we?" She asked Sydney
with saccharine sweetness.
Sydney rolled his eyes slightly, but followed along
with us as Lyle propelled me into a room full of busy people. There were video
cameras, a row of four computer terminals, lights, a backdrop, and two more
guards with a visibly battered Sam. I refused to look at him after one quick
glance to identify him. His eyes looked sick with self-recrimination.
"Have you contacted him yet?" Lyle
demanded of the nearest technician.
"N-no, Mr. Lyle." Broots stammered
nervously. "I've got several messages sent to several possible sites, but
no responses yet."
Parker and Sydney exchanged concerned looks, but had
no chance to say anything.
"Find him!" Lyle's temper was
deteriorating more rapidly than I would have believed possible, and I wasn't
the only person in the room who was frightened by it.
His pacing was beginning to take a martial stride
and my nerves were strained past the breaking point, when the computer finally
chimed for Broots' attention. His face was an odd mixture of hope and dread as
he opened the mail. His eyes quickly scanned the message, then he began to type
again rapidly.
"I think it's him." He said with a faintly
breathless air. "I'm telling him Anne needs to speak to him now. If he
answers, we'll know for sure."
"Eve." Lyle snarled dangerously. "Her
name is Eve."
Lyle’s eyes glittered with a light that could only
be madness while we waited for Broots to confirm the connection. Another few
moments stretched by, extending those few heartbeats into an eternity, and the
there was another noise from the computer.
"It's him." Broots confirmed still torn
between pleasure and guilt. "We're establishing a real-time link now. All
you have to do is turn on the camera."
One of the other people in the room made a move for
the camera, but Lyle stopped them with an upraised hand.
"Are you ready to be of use here,
Flemming?" Lye asked Sam with icy calm. Sam's eyes flew to me and back to
Lyle.
"Or what?" He demanded, the wariness on
his face revealing that he already knew the answer to the question.
"We’ve already established just what the consequences
to your stubbornness is; and who will pay them."
"What do you want me to say?" Sam sighed,
taking a long look at my pale face; seeing clearly the half healed bruises and
livid scars covering so much of my flesh.
"Tell Jarod how well you've been treated here
and invite him to end the little war he's started and to come and help rebuild
the Centre." Lyle answered, his eyes narrowed with anger as he voiced his
demand.
"He won't believe me." Sam answered
warningly. "The boy isn't a fool."
"Just do what you’re told, Flemming. I’ll do
the thinking."
Sam slowly went to stand in front of the camera. One
person stood behind the camera and another carried an armful of large cue cards
and went to crouch in front of the camera. Sam seemed to be repressing a sigh
as the camera light came alive.
Lyle pointed at the cue cards and Sam began to
speak.
"Jarod, this is Sam." He started
unnecessarily. "I've been at the Centre since the day I was accidentally
injured by the Sweepers who were defending themselves against my misguided
attack."
I wondered how Lyle could even dream that Jarod
would fall for that fantasy.
"They saved my life and I'm almost as good as
new."
If Sam's voice got any drier they would have to
declare a new desert, I thought irreverently. He was obeying the letter of
Lyle's orders while ignoring the spirit of them. Lyle's lips were tightly
pressed together, which alerted me that he wasn't happy, but didn't dare speak
while the camera was running.
"All they want is for you to stop attacking the
Centre, after all it's done a lot of good and is worth salvaging. If you would
come here, they promise to make you a partner in policy while they rebuild from
the economic damage you've caused."
Sam had obviously reached the end of his little
speech, and Lyle could see the simmering rebellion in his eyes. He grabbed my
arm and yanked me forward, an obvious warning.
"I know you'll do your best, son." Sam
finally ended neutrally, looking just past the camera with a deliberately blank
face.
The camera light died and Sam was bracketed by
Sweepers again. Lyle went to stand by Broots, waiting for Jarod’s response to
Sam’s message. I don’t know what Jarod said, but Lyle erupted seconds later.
"So that's how he wants to play it?" He
grated, his face red and contorted with the force of his fury. He turned to one
of the four idle Sweepers in the room, one that the other part of me recognized
from the hazy, pain filled days of our first days back at the Centre. He wasn’t
the kind man who’d smuggled my daughter to me, he was one who had willingly
participated in the atrocities Lyle had used to "train" me.
"Fetch the post."
The blood drained from my face and the other took us
into our familiar rocking crouch in an instant. We knew what was coming. I
barely noticed Sam's instinctive movement towards me, or the guards holding him
back, or Lyle's satisfied smirk. I was too busy twining my fingers together,
and filling my mind with out mantra;
Over and over our lips formed the little rhyme, our
entire mind focused on it and blocked out everything else. I didn't see the
sick comprehension in Sam's eyes as the sweeper wheeled in a leather covered
post that had what looked like two branches forking off upwards in either
direction.
I didn’t see Parker’s movement towards her brother,
or Sydney’s hand coming down on her arm to restrain her as the Sweeper dragged
me to the pole. I didn't notice the worry on Broot’s face as my arms were
securely fastened to the manacles on the ends of the two branches and the
hospital gown torn open to expose my already battered back.
I was locked into my recital of the words of that
simple nursery rhyme, until it swelled to fill my entire world. I didn’t care
about, or need, the pity, sympathy and worry that filled the room, none of it
would do me any good anyway. The preparations were finished, and Lyle picked up
a custom made whip, with six or seven little tails that ended in small balls of
leather. He gestured to the sickened cameraman to turn on the machine.
"Fine, Wonderboy." He told it spitefully.
"If you’re too clever to be fooled, perhaps you can be convinced. Do you
care about her or not?"
I jerked as the whip came down, the balls at the end
tearing through the tender flesh. I took a perverse pleasure in the fact that I
didn’t cry out, even though I couldn’t have if I’d tried. Two more blows and
blood flowed freely down my back. Parker and Sam were being restrained only by
the full force of the Sweeper team Lyle and backing him up, and Lyle called for
a different whip.
Oh yes, he had quite an assortment. Lyle seemed to
be fascinated by beatings of any kind. This one had only one tail; a thin strip
of leather. It sliced cleanly through the skin of my back without effort. I
shuddered continuously now and would have been screaming my head off if I had
the vocal chords to do so.
I didn’t hear the ringing of the cell phone that
halted him, I barely noticed that the next blow hadn’t fallen. I could dimly
hear Parker cursing the Sweepers, and Sydney speaking to her in calm tones of
reason.
"Good." I heard Lyle say, his voice oozing
satisfaction. "I'll give you two and a half hours, no more. If you're
late, well, maybe I should just leave her there until you get here."
I knew that the words were bad, but I couldn’t
remember why. Not much penetrated the fog of pain surrounding us now. I
actually clung to the hated post for support as I waited for the next
development, as mindless as the post itself.
"What the hell do you think you're
doing?" I heard Parker hissing furiously. She had finally shaken off the
hands of the Sweepers and confronted her brother. She was breathtakingly
beautiful in her rage, even Lyle stopped to admire the passionate picture she
made.
"What I am doing, Sis, is saving our butts.
Someone has to stop Jarod before there’s nothing left."
"That would explain this little
session." She admitted, her voice dripping with disgust. "What
explains the others?" She gestured expressively towards my ravaged back.
"As I once pointed out to Sydney, I am a
persuasive man. Persuasion isn't always a painless thing." Lyle answered
complacently.
"Not if you’re involved it isn’t." I heard
Sydney mutter in an undertone.
"Now," he went on decisively. "Jarod
has already had our father arrested and put the IRS onto us. I don’t know if
the other member of the Triumvirate has vanished like the one who disappeared
earlier this week, but it’s only a matter of time. The only way we can be sure
that Jarod has called off this attack is if we have him in our hands. I merely
did what was necessary to achieve that. If you don't like it, you can take your
friends and go home." He finished casually.
"And turn the Centre over to you by default? I
don’t think so." Parker returned icily. "Besides, Sydney was going to
take a look at your little project there. We’ll take her back to her room and
then I’ll take up this discussion again with you in your office."
"Willie and Jack will make sure you don’t get
lost on the way." Lyle countered smugly. "After that, I don’t care
what you do. But she isn’t going to leave her room, so any half-baked rescue
plans you’ve cooked up can just be abandoned now."
"No one can come up with a half-baked plan the
way you can, Brother Dear." Parker purred viciously. "I wouldn’t
dream of competing."
She gestured peremptorily at Sydney and Broots and
they released me from the post. Then she gently took my arm and began to lead
me out of the room, Willie and Jack falling into place behind Sydney and
Broots.
’Jarod shouldn’t have agreed to come.’ I thought dully as I
shuffled along. ’ He has to know Lyle has something horrible planned. Why
doesn’t he just finish off the Centre and get it over with?’
’Because Lyle will take you with him if he goes
down.’ My
inner voice supplied reasonably.
’So?’ I questioned with honest confusion. ’His Anne is
already gone, surely he understands that.’