Part 4: Resurrection
by N.R. Levy
Broots tried hard to walk down the long hallway to Miss Parker's office, but his legs screamed for him to run. She was going to flip when she saw what he'd found. While part of his excitement came from knowing that she'd be pleased with his work, more came from the knowledge that he was helping her find a way to make peace with Jarod's death.
He had to admit, it was a little shocking to see how hard she has taken his passing. Still, he knew that he had never had the benefit that Sydney had of seeing the two together as children. Not for the first time, Broots wished he had known Miss Parker as a little girl, before her mother died. Somehow, he knew that she would have been the type of child who would have spoken to a small, smart nerdy kid like himself, even if the other kids thought he was a freak. That was why he loved her, why Debbie loved her. No matter how hard she tried to hide behind the Miss Parker the Centre demanded she be, they saw the person she really was.
He opened the door to her office and stopped short at the scene which unfolded in front of him. Miss Parker had apparently fallen asleep at her desk. This was actually not an uncommon occurrence these days. Everyone knew she had come back to work too soon, but only he and Sydney knew the real reason why. But seeing her resting wasn't what made him stop, it was the man sitting in the room with her.
It had become clear in the past year that Angelo, though still trapped in the emotional hell that Raines had created for him as a child, had begun developing strong human attachments. This of course, was shocking, since Angelo had previously only been able to feel other people's emotions, not his own. Sydney had always been someone he felt safe with and Jarod had always been a trusted ally, but it was Miss Parker who seemed to trigger the new aspects of Angelo's personality.
The savant often snuck into Miss Parker's office, simply sitting in the corner, watching her as she worked. Though Miss Parker had snapped at Sydney to keep "Cousin It" out of her way, Broots had not been able to miss that fact that after a few weeks, Miss Parker had simply removed the screws from her air system vent completely, making it easier for Angelo to crawl inside her office.
Now Broots stood with his mouth open as he watched Angelo sink to his knees beside Miss Parker, his hand gently stroking her face. Broots had never seen Angelo make such an obviously intentional movement, and one motivated completely by what appeared to be his own emotions, not the pull of someone else's.
After a moment of watching, Broots heard footsteps behind him, and quickly turned to see Sydney approaching. He put his fingers to his lips to silence any words the shrink might have spoken, not wanting to startle Angelo. Sydney came to stand next to him, and his eyes also widened at the sight of the two occupants in the room.
Sydney pushed Broots the rest of the way inside, wanting to close the door and keep others from prying into the intriguing moment. The two men froze as Miss Parker began to stir, and were afraid she would startle Angelo if she woke up angered or shocked by his behavior. Both men were further amazed, however, when her eyes opened, and she looked down at the strange man beside her with a smile on her face.
"Baby okay. Baby knows you love him."
Parker smiled wider at his words and her hand reached up to take his, which had still been moving gently against her face. She moved Angelo's hand to her stomach, where the baby was beginning to make his first truly noticeable signs of movement. Angelo's face lit up at the sensation of the child moving inside of her, and he laughed like a small boy on Christmas morning.
That sound was what finally forced a shocked gasp of surprise from Sydney. Parker turned to see her two friends standing, mouths wide open, just inside of her closed office door. For one evil moment, she considered screaming at them just because it was what they expected her to do, but the moment passed quickly. She no longer had the energy to be the Ice Princess.
"Are you two planning to stand there all day or did you have a reason for stopping by?" As she spoke, Miss Parker straightened herself in her chair, careful not to startle Angelo, who's hand still rested gently on her stomach.
"He's never done that before, Parker." Miss Parker looked up to catch Sydney's eyes, not certain of what he meant.
"Done what?"
"Laughed. Angelo doesn't laugh. Laughter is an emotional response. He doesn't do it."
"Apparently, he does now." Parker stood, and stretched, easing herself away from Angelo and walking towards Sydney and Broots.
"What did you find?"
Broots, suddenly remembering the file that had brought him here, opened it and held it where Parker could read it. Though her face betrayed nothing of it's contents, Broots knew that she was thrilled by what he'd found.
"Still nothing. Well, I vote we let Lyle spend the rest of the day chasing his tail and Major Charles, alone. Sydney, would you mind driving me home?"
"Of course not, Miss Parker. I have to give Broots a ride too, if you don't mind." Parker mustered her best, "if you must" look and walked back toward her desk.
"Just give me a minute to get my things." As she picked up the stack of reports on her desk and dropped them into her briefcase, Parker knocked another file off of her desk onto the floor. It's contents spilled out in front of Angelo, who immediately scooped up a photograph that had fallen out of the folder.
"Friend."
Miss Parker leaned down to retrieve the papers and saw that Angelo had picked up the photograph of Jarod that she had kept in his pursuit file. Sadly, she looked at Angelo and wondered if he understood that Jarod was gone.
"Yes, he was your friend, Angelo, but Jarod is gone now."
"Not gone."
Parker sighed at Angelo's words. He continued to stare at the photo, suddenly losing all consciousness of everyone else in the room. Parker leaned closer to him, trying to re-focus his attention, wanting to make him understand.
"Angelo, Jarod is gone."
"Not gone. Miss Parker not gone. Jarod not gone."
Sydney, now knowing that something was definitely going on, stepped forward to the twosome on the floor.
"Angelo, what do you mean, Miss Parker's not gone?"
"Friend sad Miss Parker's gone. Miss Parker's not gone, not hurt self like bad man says."
Silence filled the room as the trio absorbed the words that Angelo had spoken. Sydney, afraid to believe in the growing hope that had taken root in his heart, pushed Angelo further.
"Is Jarod alive, Angelo?"
"Scared, confused. Needs daughter."
Sydney's eyes locked with Parker's as she reached up and grabbed Broots' wrist, silencing whatever words he might have been thinking of speaking in a room where extra ears were always listening. She stood, leaving the rest of the papers and then, taking a deep breath, picked up her briefcase.
"He's never going to get it, Sydney, and maybe that makes him the lucky one."
Sydney stood, nodding in agreement with Parker's statement. The group left the office in silence, leaving Angelo sitting next to Parker's desk. After a moment, Angelo returned to his crawl space and began the long trek back to where his friend was so scared and lonely. Reaching his destination, he leaned close to the vent and saw that Jarod's room was emtpy. He lay down, waiting for his friend to return.
* * * * *
Sydney's car stopped near a lonely stretch of beach and the trio climbed from the vehicle, moving several hundred yards away before they began speaking. Broots noticed that Miss Parker winced in pain several times as she made her way, and a careful glance at Sydney told him the older man had made the same observation.
"Broots," Miss Parker stopped walking and turned to face the two men. "You're the computer magician. Could the Centre have fabricated the DSA of Jarod's assassination?"
"Miss Parker, with the technology the Centre has access to, yes, they could have. I doubt most people, even me, would be able to tell."
"It makes sense, Miss Parker." Sydney chose his next words carefully, not wanting to deepen the wounds he knew were already opening up inside of her. "Your father knows that you're aware he's been less than honest with you about some things. If he told you Jarod was dead, you probably wouldn't have believed him, but by telling you that he had escaped..."
"He sent me looking for the lie he really wanted me to believe." Parker took in a breath, letting the weight of what had just happened in her office sink in. Jarod was alive. Another Centre lie, another lie told to her by her father. Jarod's escaped, Jarod's dead. When all along, Jarod was trapped somewhere inside the Centre...and at Raines mercy.
"Broots, you're sure the information you have on Major Charles is good?"
"I'd bet my life on it, Miss Parker. There are too many coincidences. It has to be him and the boy."
"You may just have to make that bet, Broots. Sydney, you and I will go and find the Major." Sydney nodded at the statement, but Broots, confused, began to question her plan.
"But, Miss Parker, shouldn't we --" Parker cut him off, urgency, not anger, forcing her to do so.
"Look, I know I'm running around right now doing the brave, strong woman thing, but I am pregnant and I'm not going to be able to get Jarod out of there by myself. We're going to need Major Charles' help.
"Broots, I need you to stay here and lay a false trail for us. You have to make them think that we're on following a lead, a different lead, and you have to keep them from finding out any of the information you discovered today."
"I already deleted everything from my computer, and I used a masking program so that if they try and restore it, it'll destroy itself." Broots was proud when he saw the small glimmer of approval that showed in Miss Parker's face.
"All right, Sydney, I suggest you head home and pack. Broots, file a false flight plan from some member of the executive counsel so they don't get suspicious about us flying commercial instead of taking the jet."
"You got it Miss Parker."
"And find out anything you can about where they have Jarod. God only knows what Raines has done to him by now."
"Very good, Jarod." Raines wheezing voice was barely audible over the hum of machinery in the lab. He looked down at the Pretender, who lay strapped to a metal table, his body hooked once again to a myriad of electronic stimulators.
A fine sheen of sweat covered Jarod's body, and he was easily twenty pounds lighter than the day he'd "died" just weeks earlier. His face was contorted into a mask of pain, and though he fought to control his fear, he was already anticipating the next onslaught of pain.
"Now, Jarod. What is the purpose of simulations?"
Jarod's mind scrambled as he searched for the right answer. 'Please,' he thought, 'please, give him the right answer."
"The purpose o-of s-simulations is to help others by – by --" Jarod felt his body tensing, waiting for the burst of pain he knew would come if he failed. Then suddenly his mind cleared, and he knew the right words to say.
"The p-purpose of s-simulations is t-to h-help others by discovering the b-best solutions to all p-possible problems."
Raines smiled as he looked up at the observation room. Mutumbo, Mr. Parker, Lyle and Brigitte looked on, watching the results of Phase Three of Project Renewal.
"Very good, Jarod. Very good. That'll be all for today."
Jarod couldn't hide the sigh of relief as he heard the words come from Mr. Raines. He was so tired and he hurt everywhere. More than anything, he wanted to lie down and sleep and dream about the only thing that gave him any peace.
The guards led Jarod towards the door, but stopped when they heard Raines address the Pretender.
"Jarod, I was thinking of letting you work on simulations in your room tomorrow. Do you think you could handle that? Before you answer, you have to realize what will happen if you fail to complete your tasks."
Jarod felt a war taking place inside himself. He wanted, more than anything, to never come back to this room. Agreeing to do the simulations on his own would make that happen, unless he failed. God, how much worse would the treatments be if he wasn't successful?
"I-I, I w-would like that v-very much."
A nod from Raines told the guards to remove Jarod from the room. After a moment, he heard the loud speaker in the observation room turn on. He looked up and saw that Mutumbo had activated the device.
"Very impressive, Mr. Raines."
"Thank you, sir." Raines watched Mr. Parker keenly, aware that he was still on dangerous ground with the Chairman. To his surprise, the man said nothing, though his son was only too happy to speak up.
"I've never seen him so agreeable. But Raines, what's with the stuttering?"
"Don't worry, Lyle. The stuttering doesn't affect his usefulness, only the enjoyment of speaking to him."
* * * * * * * *
Jarod crawled into his bed, pulling the covers up over his head in order to get the cameras away. It was the only thing he did that they didn't like, the only thing they didn't punish him for.
He ignored the pain that the treatment had left in his body, and instead fought to breathe slowly and evenly, willing himself to go to sleep. Quickly, his mind drifted and his brain shut down, except for the safe place that Jarod allowed himself to visit only in his sleep.
He walked up to the door to the old stone cottage and opened the door. As always, she was sitting in the window seat, waiting for him.
"Hi, Jarod. It was a terribly bad day today, wasn't it?"
Jarod rarely answered her. Instead, he walked to where she sat and sank into her arms. Again, as always, he released the tears that he had held in all day as guardian angel held him close.
"Please, Parker. Please, don't let them hurt me anymore."
go to part 5