A Matter of Blood

Part 19

by N.R. Levy


Emily stood in the corner of the hotel room holding her nephew in her arms as the other men in her life finally got some rest.  She had awakened earlier to find Jarod on the balcony, his face indicative of the heavy heart he now carried in his chest.  Then he had told her about Matthew, about his son.  And then he had told her that Parker had gone back to Blue Cove.  It was that bit of information that, more than anything, explained the pained expression he wore.  Parker had left him again, and though Emily didn’t begin to understand how her friend could go back to that place knowing what they had done to create Matthew, she did know that Parker must have good reason for doing so.

It had taken Emily hours to convince Jarod to finally lay his exhausted body down on the other bed to sleep.  She had taken over watching their father, though the danger to Charles appeared to have passed, and now Emily alternated looking at her brother, who’s sleep could best be described as restless, and down at the baby in her arms.  Parker had risked so much to bring this little boy to Jarod, not to mention what she’d risked to save their father.  Why, after all that, would she go back to the Centre?

Whatever answers Emily might have found were pushed from her mind by the sudden shriek of anguish that escaped her new nephew.  Tears sprang from his eyes, and his tiny hands kept reaching out as if he were trying to clutch something.  Even Jarod, who had awakened at the little boy’s screams, could not seem to soothe his son.  Whatever had upset the baby was something they could not see or hear or feel...but it was definitely a pain that his little heart could feel as deeply as the two people who were now feeling it in Blue Cove, Delaware.



The door slammed, and Will realized he was alone.  Lyle and the sweepers had left him to face the horrible crime he had committed.  His mother - he had handed his own mother over to them.  And now in the unending quiet they'd left him in, he could do nothing but hear his mother's voice as she called out to him.

‘I love you, Will.’

How could she love him?  He was so undeserving.  She was the one thing, the one person he’d ever felt connected to, but he’d turned on her.  Now all those stories the Major had told him about the Centre, about the evil they were capable of...

Will crawled up onto his bed, his mother’s perfume still lingering in the air as he moved.  What had he done?  Dear, God, he thought, what had he done?

As Will dissolved into a sea of tears, a set of eyes peered through the vents of his room.  Angelo moved closer to the grate, and using a trick he’d long ago learned, he used a piece of string he’d found in one of the offices to lower a token to the crying young man.  Will’s sobs slowed as he saw the object drop in front of him.  He pulled it free from the thin string that had delivered it and pulled it close to him so that just in case the security cameras were turned back on, no one could see what it was.

Angelo knew that nothing he could say would ease the boy’s pain, but he smiled as Will’s tears slowed even more, then stopped.  That was when the boy glanced up and saw a pair of blue eyes just barely visible in the vent.

“Find.  Then we help.”

With that, Angelo departed.  As much as he wanted to help Will through his pain, he knew that for now, he had to focus on finding help for his sister.  Parker was trapped somewhere inside the Centre, and Angelo knew that he was the only one who could find her; After all, they didn’t even know he was back inside the Centre’s walls.

As Angelo made his way back down the vents, Will curled back up on his bed, his eyes now fixed on the photo his mysterious friend had given to him.  It was a photo of his mother, and she was smiling and happy.  He only hoped he would see her smile that way someday when they were far, far away from the Centre.




While all of this was happening at the Centre, a plane was halfway through its return journey from Miami to Blue Cove.  Inside the plane, the passenger cabin was as quiet as a crypt.  Every sweeper on board was too on edge to even think of speaking, and that mood was due completely to the scowl that seemed permanently etched on Mr. Cox’s face.  It also didn’t help that Sam, the most senior sweeper among them, was so nervous it seemed he might jump out of his skin at the slightest noise.

As the other men sat in quiet fear, those that held their attention, Cox and Sam, each struggled with their own troubling thoughts.  Cox was battling two emotions—anger at having wasted his time on a false lead and discomfort over his confusing feelings for Miss Parker’s current situation.  He’d been so certain when Broots had given him the lead on her car that he could find the wayward Parker heiress and bring her back safely into the fold.  He would have negotiated decent terms with Mr. Parker and made certain that any punishment she suffered was minimal. He was still not certain why he would have done this, only that he knew the moment he’d begun searching for her that he would.

Everything had gone so horribly wrong so quickly. Cox knew that the sinking feeling he’d had yesterday morning when he’d seen Broots and Miss Parker talking outside of her home was one he should have paid more attention to. He’d immediately gone back to the Centre and tried to discover what records Broots had handed over to her, but the technician had covered his tracks well, and whatever the data was, Cox had been unable to uncover it.  Still, he had not panicked because, at the time, he had thought he’d done enough to prevent her stumbling onto the Centre’s plans.  He’d moved Major Charles to a forgotten and never used section of SL-24 specifically to keep her cronies from finding out where the man was hidden, and he’d limited her participation in the Jarod pursuit, albeit without her knowing the interference was coming from him.  Clearly, those strategies had failed, and Cox wondered what consequences he would face for those disappointments upon his return.

Yet the truth was he was far less concerned with his own predicament than he was over what would happen to Miss Parker.  He remembered, with a chill, the tone of Mr. Parker’s voice when he’d given Lyle control of her fate.  Cox knew that he had to find some way to prevent that; the question was how would he do it.

Sighing heavily, Cox shifted in his seat.  Damn this feeling of protectiveness he had for her.  Where did it come from?  The only other person he’d ever felt anything for was his father and even those emotions were tempered with a calm shield of ice that left even their warmest exchange covered in a chill.  Cox knew he just wasn’t the sort of man to get all worked up about another person, least of all a woman he wasn’t even sexually attracted to.  So what was the explanation? That question plagued him again and again.  It was truly as if he felt some tendril of connection that was actually physical in some way, as if the resemblance in their blue eyes...

Time stopped for Cox as his mind turned that incomplete thought over and over.  It was an idea so completely outlandish and incomprehensible—but it was just the sort of thing the Centre would manufacture.  Could it be possible?

Cox’s mind was not the only one whose wheels were spinning. Sam sat in stony silence, his thoughts back in the dark vents of the Centre where he needed to return as soon as possible.  He knew that Angelo was there, trying to find his sister.  What Sam didn’t know, aside from Miss Parker’s location, was what had caused her to do what she’d done.  He knew that Jarod meant something to her, and it was certainly no secret how attached she was to her baby brother, but what had made her rescue Jarod’s father and kidnap the baby?  The sweeper couldn’t help but think it had something to do with the files he’d helped Broots intercept during Raines’ attempted file dump a few days ago.  Now he wished that he’d forced Broots to tell him about the information those files had contained.  He knew just from the little bald man’s reaction it was something volatile, but Broots had insisted that only Miss Parker should see the information, and Sam had agreed.  Now he had to know that information, and he would have to press Broots about it once the plane landed.

“Gentlemen.”

Cox’s voice pulled Sam from his thoughts, and he stood at attention in front of the mysterious man from the Centre.

“I’d like everyone but Sam to step into the rear of the plane, please.”

The rest of the sweeper team exchanged concerned glances, not at all liking being ordered to a part of the plane from which, sometimes, Centre employees did not return, but Cox didn’t seem to be planning anything nefarious, so the men nervously made their way, each wondering if perhaps their supervisor had done something to gain Mr. Cox’s ire.

Once the other men were gone, Cox straightened his cuffs and collar, and then sat down facing Sam.  He bore his eyes into the sweeper as he spoke.

“I have a question for you.”

“Sir.”

“Do you find it strange that you, a man known to be fiercely loyal to Miss Parker, were sent with me on a supposedly hot lead to find her?”

“Sir?”

“What I’m asking is, do you think Mr. Parker and Mr. Lyle would get you
out of the way if they were planning something involving Miss Parker?”

The sweeper thought carefully before answering.  Cox could be trying to trap him, and if he ended up locked in Renewal Wing, he would be of no help to his friends.   He was about to lie when he saw some flicker, some intriguing thing in Cox’s eyes that made him reconsider.  The past few months, at least since Baby Parker’s birth, Sam had noticed something different in Cox’s dealings with Miss Parker, something he’d almost call admiration.  Could even the odd and cold Mr. Cox have fallen under her spell?

“Yes, Mr. Cox, I do think that the two Mr. Parkers would make certain I was nowhere around if they were planning to try and capture Miss Parker.  They know I would not let that happen.”

“Have a seat, Sam.  We need to talk.  I’d like you to tell me what you think they might do to try and catch her, and what you think they’ll do once they have her.”




Broots and Sydney pulled into the driveway of Miss Parker’s house, their eyes saddened by the sight of sweepers moving in and out of her home. They both knew there was nothing they could do to stop the violation of her sacred space, yet they had come anyway, hoping that perhaps their presence would keep the invasion to a minimum.  It was a futile search anyway.  Miss Parker was too smart to leave any evidence behind.

After a walk through the house and several dirty looks from Willie, the two men made their way back outside.  Wanting to watch over their friend’s possessions was a noble idea, but actually seeing the sweepers handling her clothes and photographs and her hairbrush—it was just more than they could handle.  They were nearly five feet into the woods when Sydney spoke.

“Broots, I know that you know what started this.”

“Sydney, like I told them…”

“Broots, this is me.  I know you.  I know Parker.  She trusts you more than anyone on earth.  You know why she did this.”

“I can’t, Syd.”

“Broots, I promised Catherine that I would take care of her little girl.  I haven’t done a very good job of it.  Please, she needs our help now.  Please, tell me what is going on.  I understand why she helped Charles, but why did she take the baby?”

“Because he was hers to take.”

One sweeper had been left outside to keep watch over the exterior of the house.  He had watched the two men known as Broots and Sydney more so out of boredom than out of any real interest in what they were doing. So it was a surprise when he actually saw something intriguing.  He watched as the small, balding man excitedly told a story to the older man.  Then he watched as the face of the doctor went from shocked to saddened to frightened.  Whatever had just happened, he knew he should report it back to his superiors, but before he could, Willie emerged from the house.

“We’re done here.  Let’s get back to the office.”

The young sweeper, tired of standing alone with no one to talk to, was relieved to climb back in the waiting Town Car and head back in for something to eat.  He quickly forgot the animated conversation he’d seen between the other two men, and so he never mentioned it to anyone.




The Machine was one of Raines' personal triumphs.  He had developed it over several years and its effectiveness was beyond question.  There were only two conclusions to a session inside of it -- confession or death.  Now as the old man sat watching the dark-haired woman struggle to breathe as the pressure inside the metallic tube rose, he had to admit that though he'd fantasized many times about having Miss Parker subjected to The Machine, he'd never believed it would really happen; but, of course, then he hadn't known how twisted Mr. Lyle would turn out.  By turning Miss Parker's care over to her "brother," Mr. Parker had sealed his daughter's fate.

The machine moved from level three to level four without any interference, and as the pressure released inside the tube and Miss Parker began to take in deep, gasping breaths, the chamber began to fill with ice cold water.  The desperate struggle to get air into her lungs now left Parker taking in gulps of the cold water -- and her lungs were beginning to fill.

Just as this new phase of torture began, Mr. Lyle entered the room.  He smiled when he saw the obvious discomfort Parker was suffering.  Good. After she'd ruined so many of his plans and set him up for failure, she deserved it.  Even this morning she'd ruined his plans.  He had had her thrown into isolation the moment she was taken from the boy, his fantasies of beating and breaking her running through his brain with such ferocity that it bordered on sexual pleasure.  But no, she ruined that.  Her and her damn will to survive-- she'd fought off three sweepers and made a break back toward the boy. Mr. Parker witnessed this, and had ordered Lyle to use "more effective measures" of restraining his "angel."  It was then that Lyle had remembered seeing The Machine in action.

He was under no illusion that his sister would break and reveal the whereabouts of Jarod or his wayward family.  No, she would die before she allowed anything to happen to her precious pretender.  Still, the rigorous torture had a two-fold purpose.  First, it gave him pleasure to see her suffer, and second, he had hopes that her feelings for Jarod ran as strongly both ways.  Perhaps if she was willing to die for him, he was willing to do the same.  Lyle was about to bet his life on it.

"Take it to level six."

Raines looked up at his protégé, his eyes narrowed.

"You realize what that could do?"  Raines spoke the words with a false concern in his voice, and Lyle had to smile.  Clearly the former doctor was salivating at the chance to see just what skipping to level six would do.

"I don't care.  Just do it."

Ninety seconds later, Parker's screams escaped the metal tube and echoed down the halls, chilling the bones of the sweepers that stood guard up to 100 yards away.  It also paralyzed the man who had opened his senses wide to his sister’s emotions so he could find her.  Her pain and suffering registered deep in his soul, and Angelo knew he had to get help quickly if she was going to survive.




Elizabeth had not slept at all since returning home.  Her worry over both her sister’s children plagued her far too much for that.  Worse still, she was now troubled by the sketchpad she’d kept in her hands almost nonstop since arriving home.  Over and over again, she opened the pages of the book, returning to the sketches of the two boys, one, almost a man, and one just starting out in life.  Angelo’s words stayed with her—“Sister save family.  Save children.”

If her suspicions were right, Elizabeth knew that her niece was now in terrible danger.  There was nothing a Parker woman wouldn’t do to save her own...and if those boys were really...

“Lizzie, the phone’s for you.”

Elizabeth looked up at Harry, shocked to realize that she hadn’t even heard the phone ring.  He walked over to where she sat at the kitchen table and handed her the cordless phone.

“Hello?”

“Elizabeth, it’s Jarod.  I have some people who need a safe place to stay, and I was hoping I could bring them to you.”

“People?  What’s going on, Jarod?”

“Parker got my father and my...and my son out of the Centre.  I need to get them somewhere safe so I can go after her.  She went back, Elizabeth.  I don’t know why, but she went back.”

The elder Parker woman could hear the sadness and fear that Jarod was trying to keep out of his voice.  She knew he was terrified of losing Little Cat, as was she.  Still, her mind focused in on the one thing that Jarod had not mentioned.

“Jarod, you have a son?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Did she...did Parker say who his mother was?”

Jarod sighed heavily, and in that moment Elizabeth knew that he was in the dark about her niece’s possible connection to his newly found son. That meant he needed to know what she knew, but not over the phone, and not without the child being in a place the Centre couldn’t find him.

“Honey, you get your family here quick as you can.  You and I have a lot of talking to do.”

“We’re on the road now.  We’ll be there in about two hours.”

“Fine, we’ll be waiting.”

Elizabeth hung up and again let her hands return to the sketchbook.  The book was open to a drawing of a baby with bright, wide eyes and a joyous smile.  Somehow she knew that this was the baby boy Jarod was bringing to her.

“Lizzie, she’s going to come home.  Everything is going to be all right.”

So many times in her long and painful life, Elizabeth had needed someone to say those words to her.  When she was young, when she’d been happy, she’d had her mother and her beloved sister Catherine and there had been no need.  Then her father had stripped away everything she’d loved and her baby boy had died, and Elizabeth had wondered if anyone could ever make her believe those words again.  Now, looking up into Harry’s gentle, innocent eyes, she tried to believe them.  It would, somehow, all be all right.  It had to be.






The Centre jet landed and it’s assembly of sweepers disbanded into separate town cars.  No one was surprised when Cox climbed into a car solo, nor were they shocked that it was Sam who climbed in to drive him back to their headquarters.  Cox was in a foul mood and, really, they were all just happy it wasn’t them that was stuck with him for the next twenty minutes.

Inside the car, however, something was happening.  Sam wasn’t sure how it had come to pass, but it appeared he was formulating a plan with Cox to discover exactly what Lyle had in mind for Miss Parker when she was caught.  That meant they had to get to the one person who might know. Sam had been shocked to learn that the teenage boy known as Will was the one who had turned Miss Parker in to the powers that be.  Cox had told him on the plane that Lyle had spent many hours talking with the boy after that initial discovery.  Cox was betting that the young traitor knew what Lyle had up his sleeve, and that meant they had to get to him, and fast.

So as they drove, they agreed on a course of action.  They would arrive and check in at Mr. Parker’s office, knowing that the Chairman would still be at the Tower, but this would keep anyone from getting suspicious.  Then they would go straight to the boy’s room and find out what he knew about the Centre’s plans for Miss Parker.

Despite the fact that he was just a boy, the thought of seeing this Will made Sam sick to his stomach with anger.  Anyone who betrayed Miss Parker was an enemy, and this child would be no different.





The halls of the Centre were eerily quiet, and it made the hair on the back of Broots’ neck stand on end.  He and Sydney had come back to this hellhole after leaving Miss Parker’s house hoping to pick up some tidbit about where she might be.  What they’d come back to was an atmosphere so tense that it seemed the pressure would blow each and every door off its hinges.  And he felt fear.  He didn’t know whose it was or understand why he could sense it so deeply, but he did.  Someone here was terrified, and it made his bones shiver to think of what could make someone so scared that he could feel it.

After trying unsuccessfully to get any information off of the mainframe or out of any of his usual sources, Broots found Sydney sitting in Miss Parker’s office.  Her bottle of Stoli was sitting opened up on the desk and several swings had clearly been taken from the bottle.

“Sydney.”

The older man did not turn to look at him.  Instead, Sydney simply reached for the bottle and poured another drink.

“Syd, you’re always telling Miss Parker that that won’t help.”

Broots watched as Sydney brought the drink to his lips and downed it quickly.  Then he turned and looked at the technician.  It was then that Broots saw the tearstains that ran down his friend’s cheeks.

“No, it won’t help.  Nothing will help.  Something’s happened to her, Broots.  I can sense it, feel it in my heart.”

“I checked everywhere I can think, but no one’s saying anything.  Mr. Parker’s been in the Tower since before we left earlier and no one seems to know where Lyle and his sweepers are.”

“Something’s happened.”

The utter despair in Sydney’s voice threatened to break the fragile hold Broots had on his emotions.  Miss Parker had long ago ceased to be just his boss.  She was the best friend he had ever had, and the thought that she’d been hurt or even killed by the Centre was one too horrifying to really contemplate for Broots.  Which, he knew, made it even harder for Sydney.  Sydney had been more of a father to Miss Parker than Mr. Parker had ever been.

“Syd, you know how strong she is, how smart.  She’s probably hiding out somewhere until it’s safe to hook up with Jarod.”

The words failed to comfort Sydney.  He lowered his head to the desk, his body shaking with the power of his renewed tears.

“I failed them.  I failed them all, Broots.  Parker, Jarod, Angelo—I let them all down.”

Broots felt as if there were no words he could say now that would help Sydney, so instead he just stepped closer to his friend and wrapped his arms around Sydney as best he could.  This only seemed to make Sydney cry harder, and because of this Broots almost missed the soft words that came from the vent.

“Not failed.  Only one who loved us.”

The blue eyes were difficult to see from where Broots was crouched, but he knew the voice.  Smiling, he dropped to his knee and shook Sydney gently.

“Syd, listen.  Listen.”

Angelo’s voice quietly repeated the words, and Sydney, suddenly both sober and energized, rushed to the vent.

“Angelo!  What are you doing here?”

“Sister in trouble.  Needs help.”

Broots had rigged the security cameras in Miss Parker’s office to a kill switch under her desk.  He hit it, then joined Sydney at the vent and they quickly removed the screen.  From Angelo’s words, they knew they had very little time.  A moment later, Miss Parker’s brother was standing in front of them.

“Angelo,” Sydney spoke, trying to control his feelings of elation. Finally, he would be able to do something.  “Angelo, where is she?”

“Bad place with bad man.  Very bad pain.”

Sydney moved closer to Angelo, reaching out and placing both of his hands on the man’s arms.

“But where, Angelo?  Where?”

“17. 17.”

Broots and Sydney’s first instincts were to run for the door and head directly to SL-17, but Angelo, sensing this, reached out and stopped them both.

“No, boy first.”

Broots shook his head, pulling away and heading for the door.

“No, Angelo.  They won’t hurt the boy, but Miss Parker...”

“NO!”

The force of Angelo’s voice stopped Broots dead in his tracks.  He’d only heard Angelo so desperate once before...and it terrified him to remember.  It had been the day they learned Damon had tried to kill Miss Parker.

“Sister’s pain not worse then fear for boy.  Must get boy first.  What she wants.”

And though they both wanted to argue, Broots, who had been the one to discover Will’s true identity, and Sydney, who had only recently learned about his protégé’s son looked to Angelo for help.

“Then take us to him, Angelo.  Take us to Will.”






Disappointment had been expected, but Garvey was still reeling over the way it had affected him.  He had not planned on Miss Parker passing the test.  She had, despite her strength and intelligence, demonstrated emotional weakness in the past, and though he had hoped she would rise above that flaw, he had been prepared for her failure.  He also realized that he was accepting his own failure to help her succeed.  It was his fault that her care and upbringing had been left to a man not worthy of the task.  Mr. Parker was the one responsible for the young woman’s weakness.  Garvey would have to make certain that he avoided that pitfall with the next generation of potential heirs.

Will and the as yet unnamed boy were the hope of the Centre.  Until their maturation, the remaining heir would have to be their guardian. He, at least, had proved unflappable.  Yes, his decision to keep Mr. Cox out of the Centre until his adulthood had proved wise.  Though it was too late for the new heirs to be raised outside of the compound, he would make certain to apply the lessons learned from this disappointment with Miss Parker.

Now, the fate of Catherine’s daughter sat in his hands as her fate had so many years ago.  His eyes focused on the security screen before him. Mr. Parker had condemned her to certain death by giving her over to Lyle and Raines, two men who had already tried to kill her on several occasions throughout the years in plots even she did not know about. Now, her screams filtered through the mechanical ears of the Centre, and though a small part of him wanted to stop them, he knew that Miss Parker was lost to him.  She was, as it turned out, her mother’s daughter, and she would suffer a similar fate to the woman whose likeness she had carried throughout life.  He could only hope now that he had made a better choice of guardian for Catherine’s grandchildren than he had for her children.

Muting the sound from Raines’s torture chamber, Garvey reached for his phone and buzzed his secretary.

“When is Mr. Cox due back?”

“His plane has already landed, sir.  He should be back within the hour.”

“Tell him I’d like him to have dinner with me tonight.  We have plans to discuss.”

With that, Garvey hung up the phone.  Then he reached out and turned off the security monitors, his heart a bit saddened by the thought that he had looked on a certain beautiful face for the last time.  Three women had born that face throughout life, and now two of them would be dead. Briefly, he thought on the third.  He thought himself a compassionate man for having allowed her to live.  Still, he could never lay eyes on her again, which meant that he was, in some way, saying goodbye.

Garvey quickly shook those thoughts from his head.  He could not think on the past.  Focus on the future had built the Centre into the powerhouse that it was, and that focus was needed now more than ever. Now was the time to lay the foundation for the Centre’s final reach for greatness, a reach Garvey was certain would mean that ultimate power would be the legacy he left behind.





The black Suburban drove slowly down the path to Elizabeth and Harry’s house.  Emily looked around at the faces in the vehicle.  Her father looked worn down from his ordeal, but he was fine and the effects of the Centre’s brainwashing had been pushed aside.  Matthew, her newest family member, was finally asleep after having literally cried himself to exhaustion.  The little boy was inconsolable, and Emily knew the only thing that would fix his heart was to be in Parker’s arms again.  She could understand that.  For so long, all she’d had in her life was her mother.  Their separations had devastated her.

Though their situations were very different and Matthew was much younger, Emily knew that to the little boy, Parker was everything.  All she had to do was look in his eyes and see the loss and pain so evident there to know that this child had lost the one connection he depended on for survival.  It was critical that Jarod find Parker and bring her home.  That, of course, meant he had to go after her.  Emily and her father would stay with Matthew at Elizabeth’s until that happened.  And it would happen.  She kept telling herself that.  Emily could not allow herself to think that by going back Jarod was risking his life or that, God forbid, he might be captured again.  Though just a few days earlier she had stopped him from returning to Blue Cove to save their father, she knew now that nothing would stop him.  Parker was there, and that was where Jarod would be.

The car stopped, putting an end to Emily’s thoughts as Jarod quickly sprang from the truck.  Elizabeth emerged from the house and approached, her arms quickly wrapping Jarod in an embrace as the Major suffered the shock everyone did upon seeing this older version of Parker standing in front of them.  By the time she released him, Emily had pulled a sleeping Matthew from his car seat.  Elizabeth, seeing him, reached for him instantly.  Emily handed the baby over and the older woman quickly nestled the boy against her chest.  Suddenly, Matthew awoke, and Emily and Jarod held their breath, waiting for his pain-filled screams to start again.  But they didn’t come.  Instead, the boy’s eyes blinked at the face that loomed above his own, and though he knew it was not her, his eyes flashed with some kind of recognition.  Comforted, the baby snuggled against Elizabeth, and, for the first time since Parker’s departure, drifted into a peaceful sleep.

Sleep was also on the agenda for the Major at Jarod’s urging.  His father still needed rest after all he’d been through, and Jarod also hoped he could leave before his father awoke.  He didn’t need any opposition for what he was planning to do next, and though is father would understand his driving desire to go after Parker, he was a father, and he would still mount some objections.  Jarod had no time for objections.  Something inside of him knew that Parker was in trouble, and he had to get to her before he lost her forever.

While Emily went off to take a hot shower, Elizabeth, who still sat holding Matthew, filled Jarod in on what had happened on Blue Cove.  The two sat at the kitchen table. Unnoticed by Jarod, the sketchbook sat closed in front of Elizabeth. Jarod was not surprised that Sam had been an ally to them, and he knew that he had someone to turn to if he needed help once he got there.  What no one knew was where Parker was, or where Angelo had run off to.  Chances where, the locations were one and the same, but Jarod knew that if they weren’t at the Centre, finding them would be difficult.  Still, find them he would.

“He’s beautiful, Jarod.”

Jarod, who had been thinking through the access routes he could use to get back inside the Centre, was mildly surprised by Elizabeth’s words, but one glance at his still sleeping son told him exactly what she was talking about.  Jarod smiled in response.

“Yes, he is.  She risked so much to bring him to me.  If anything happens to her...”

“Do you know why she went back?”

“She just said she had to.”  Elizabeth saw the slump that came into Jarod’s shoulders as he spoke about his last conversation with her niece.  “I tried to stop her, but she insisted she had to go.  I don’t know what would make her go back.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath and carefully pushed the sketchbook across the table toward Jarod.

“I may know why.”

Jarod looked at her questioningly, then he glanced down at the book.  He began to thumb through the pages, his heart filling with emotion as he looked at the pages Parker had used to pour out the emotion she felt she could not show in any other way.

“Angelo found that at Parker’s house.  He said something I didn’t understand at the time, about Parker saving the children, saving family.”

“But now you think you know what he meant?”  Jarod was speaking to Elizabeth, but looking down at a sketch of Thomas sleeping in what he assumed was Parker’s bed.  The date on the page was two days before his friend’s murder.  Two days before Parker’s heart had been torn out again by the Centre.

“Yes, I do.  Look at the last few pages, Jarod.”

Curious, Jarod glanced up at Elizabeth, then he flipped to the last few pages of the book.  There, he saw the sketches Parker had done of the baby.  He also saw sketches that he first assumed were of him as a young man.  It wasn’t until he saw the subtle differences that he realized the face was not his, but his clone’s.

“They’re pictures of Matthew and the bo... I mean, Will.”

“Yes.”  Elizabeth acknowledged Jarod’s answer, but saw that he did not understand what she meant.  “Look at them, Jarod, the way she did.”

Jarod took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, trying to clear his mind so he could do what Elizabeth was asking.  As his body calmed and the tension left him, he saw the small details of both boys that Parker had captured so precisely.  He saw how perfectly she had drawn the exact
way Matthew curled his fists while he slept, and the youthful wonder she had put into Will’s eyes.

Jarod’s mind began to click.  Quickly, it began to assemble the information he was gathering, and the feeling it created made him uneasy.  He continued to look at the pictures, taking in each detail. Then he glanced up and looked at Matthew.  He thought back over the way his son had responded to Elizabeth, to the similarities between she and Parker.

“Oh, my God.  She’s his mother.”

Elizabeth didn’t need to confirm it.  Jarod had unlocked the answer on his own, and she sat silently, letting him absorb the shock of it.

“She brought him to me to keep him safe, but why didn’t she tell me? Why wouldn’t she...”

And then a random thought that Jarod had not had the time or inclination to think of in days shot through him.  He jumped up and ran for his gear, grabbing his laptop.  He quickly flipped through disks until he found what he was looking for.

He read for several minutes and as he did, Elizabeth watched his face cloud over again, this time with anger.  Pure rage began to burn inside of Jarod, and for a moment, the older woman thought he would throw his computer across the room.  Instead, he stood, slamming his chair into the wall behind him as he began to pace like a wild animal.

This was the exact moment that Emily walked into the room.  She instantly recognized the familiar danger that emanated from her brother, and she knew that something else had gone very wrong in her absence.

“Jarod, what is it?”

“Those bastards!  They did it again.  They used her, and they hurt her again!”

The commotion had brought Harry into the room, and Elizabeth, sensing the growing tension, handed Matthew to her husband.  Harry took the squirming bundle and managed to reach the stairs before Matthew began to cry again.

Back in the kitchen, both Elizabeth and Emily were trying to calm Jarod down.

“Halmar, Emily.  I’m talking about Halmar.”

Emily shook her head, still confused.  She had no idea what her brother was talking about.

“The research, Em.  Remember the cloning data that didn’t make any sense because it wasn’t coming out right?  Halmar had never been able to duplicate the Centre’s results.”

“Right, I remember.”

“That’s because there were no results to duplicate.  Will isn’t a clone, he’s...he’s my son.”

Elizabeth, who had suspected this, closed her eyes and tried to gather her strength for what might come next.  Emily, who’d had no idea this was a possibility, sank into a chair.  In two days, Jarod had acquired two sons, both apparently engineered by the Centre without his knowledge.

“Oh, God.  Oh, my God.”

Both women looked up at Jarod when they heard the sudden change in his voice.  The anger was gone, and in its place was desolation.  Jarod seemed to have aged 10 years in 10 seconds, and Emily rushed to her brother’s side as he sank to his knees.

“Jarod, what?  What is it?”

“I called him a monster.  I told her he wasn’t worth saving.  That’s why she went back.  She went back to get our son, and she didn’t tell me because I made her think she couldn’t.  What did I do, Em?  What did I do?”

Jarod dissolved into tears then and Emily pulled him into a tight embrace as their father entered the room.  Elizabeth saw the man’s face change from tired to terrified when he saw his son, so she pulled him out of the room to tell him about what had happened over the last few minutes.  That left Emily to try and comfort her brother and to try and make some kind of sense of what she’d heard and seen.  ‘Our son.’  She was certain that’s what she’d heard Jarod say.  And that meant that she was Parker and that through yet another twisted Centre plan, both of them had again been betrayed.

“It’s going to be all right, Jarod.  You’ll make it all right.  I know you will.”






Pain.  She felt pain at a level she had never endured before, and for Parker, who had walked around for two days with an ulcer on the verge of rupturing before she’d collapsed, that was saying something.  But this thing, this contraption of Raines’, it was pushing her to her limits and it was a struggle just to keep her breathing at something close to its natural rhythm.

The torture changed again and again.  First, there had been a drug that left her on the verge of panic once they enclosed her inside the metal tube.  After that had come extreme darkness, pounding noises, intense pressure, freezing cold water, suffocating heat, blinding light and now, she lay there enduring the unending sound of screaming.  She didn’t know who’s screaming it was, only that listening to it was driving her mad, which was of course its purpose.  Her body shook involuntarily from chills that had wracked her frame ever since they had filled the tube with freezing cold water earlier.  Even the heat had not helped to stop them, and now, as sweat ran down her body, she knew she was suffering from a high fever, which only served to intensify the desired effect of the screaming sound effects pumping into her ears.

Fighting for control, Parker forced herself to think of her sons.  Will was still inside this place.  She knew he needed her now more than ever.  He was so much like his father, too much in some ways.  She knew that he had felt betrayed by her because he had jumped to conclusions—something Jarod had been guilty of on more than one occasion throughout the years.  That had led to her capture.  Now he would blame himself completely for what was happening to her.  That was also like Jarod.  She had to get to him.  She had to let him know that she understood.

Suddenly, the screaming stopped, and Parker felt herself begin to shake even harder.  She had learned to fear the brief silences that they allowed her, because it meant that something worse was coming.  Once, in between sessions, Lyle had leaned over the tube to wear she could see his face.  He hadn’t said anything.  He had just looked down at her and smiled, and it was in that moment that Parker had begun to fear she might not make it out of this room alive.  Her mind wouldn’t allow her to surrender to that fear yet.  But she was afraid of what might happen if they managed to break her spirit completely.  If she surrendered, her son would live with her death forever, and she could not let that happen.  Still, she was at a loss for how in God’s name she could prevent it.

Worse still was the knowledge that Jarod did not know what was happening.  He had no idea that his son—their son—was still inside this hellhole.  He didn’t know that she was the mother of his children.  And he didn’t know how much she loved him.  In the silences Raines and Lyle
allowed her, Parker thought back to Christmas Eve.  She wondered what would have happened if she had not let her fear push her away, if, instead of running, she had told Jarod about the nightmare that had terrified her so much.  Where might they be now if only she had not been
afraid then?

A faint hissing sound caught Parker’s attention, and she realized that whatever new horror her captors had in store for her was underway.  She turned her head as much as she could, frantically searching for the source of the noise.  It took only a few seconds for her to understand what it was.  Parker’s lungs began to burn.  They were pumping some kind of gas into the tube.  She fought, trying to hold her breath despite the fact that she knew fighting was useless.  As she lost her battle and began to take in deep breaths of the gas, Lyle leaned over the top of the tube again, his face breaking into a wide smile as he looked down at her.

“Just tell me where Jarod is, Parker.  Tell me, and I’ll make all the pain go away.”

Parker closed her eyes and succumbed to the effects of the gas.  She knew Lyle well enough to know that he was lying.  Even if she did tell him where Jarod and the baby were, which she would never do, Lyle would still kill her.  Her father had cut her loose, and she knew that her only hope of survival was a mistake by Raines or Lyle that she could take advantage of.

For his part, Lyle watched as Parker’s nervous system was overtaken by the nerve gas Raines had filtered into the tube.  The effects would leave her virtually paralyzed, and as it wore off, the spasms the chemicals would cause in her body would be terrifying to watch let alone endure.  He could hardly wait.






Sydney and Broots followed Angelo through the intricate system of tunnels within the Centre, both hoping they were nearing the place where Miss Parker was being kept.  They had been inside the walls of the Centre for nearly two hours, and though it was taking much longer than they liked to get to her, all three men were being extra cautious.  If they were discovered, all hope of getting Miss Parker out of here alive was lost.

As they made their way down the dark corridors, Broots used his laptop and a digital video camera to create a series of loops that would keep the Centre’s security cameras from tracking their movements.  Each loop took seven minutes to establish.  Each time Broots began to run the program, he felt his heart pounding in his chest.  Seven minutes.  What could Lyle and Raines do to her in seven minutes?  Just the consideration of that sent chills down his spine, and Broots said a succession of silent prayers for his friend.







Sam checked the corridor again, then waved to his companion, indicating that it was okay to move ahead.  Cox rounded the corner and headed directly toward the room where Jarod’s clone was being kept.  It had taken them longer to get here than they’d anticipated because Cox had needed to negotiate a reasonable deflection of Mr. Garvey’s dinner invitation.  Sam had never seen the man before, but just seeing the reaction Cox had to the message that this mystery man wanted to have dinner with him, well, that was all Sam needed to see to know that Mr. Garvey was someone to avoid.

Cox had handled the matter smoothly, though, and Sam was impressed. Garvey believed it when Cox had phoned him and said he’d gotten a last minute lead on Jarod, and with Miss Parker out of commission and Lyle assigned to find her, it seemed natural for Cox to take the lead and pursue it.  He informed the Tower that he was taking Sam with him on the assignment, and since the lead was in northern Delaware, they would simply drive so as to avoid the wait for the plane to refuel and have maintenance.

The two had driven away, parked and then made their way up an access road that Sam knew was rarely checked by the sweepers.  That had taken time, and both men hoped it wasn’t too much.  They both knew what Lyle and Raines were capable of.

Now they were only a few steps from the room where the clone was waiting, and they would get answers from him.  Neither of them was in the mood to show much mercy, and if the boy showed them much attitude, they were both fully prepared to make him pay.  Which is why they were both stunned to find not a defiant traitor but a heartbroken boy who had clearly been crying for hours.

Will heard the door open and he turned over on his bed, half expecting Mr. Lyle to come in and say something awful to him.  Instead, he saw Mr. Cox and a man named Sam.  Suddenly he sprang from the bed, rushing toward them.

“Please, please, you have to help me find her.  They’re hurting her.”

Cox grabbed the boy by the shirt, pulling him close so he could glare down at him.  The boy’s eyes widened with shock and fear, and that made Cox happy.

“You’re the one that turned her over to them.  Now you want to help her?  I’d say you’re a little late.”

“Please, I was wrong.  I didn’t mean it.  Please, help me find her.”

Cox pushed the boy backwards and he fell on the bed.  Sam closed the door, standing in front of it so that no one could enter without coming through him.  He watched as Cox reached for the boy and shook him.

“I took great pains to keep Miss Parker away from our plans for Major Charles, Will.  Did you tell her about them?”

“What?”  The boy looked from Cox, who was manhandling him roughly, and Sam, who stared at him with a face full of contempt.  “I—I, of course I didn’t tell her.  I didn’t want her to know.  I’d never...I mean, I didn’t mean to do anything to hurt her.”

“What did you think would happen when you turned her in?  Did you think Raines and Mr. Parker would pat her on the head and send her off with a lollipop?”

“I was mad.  I didn’t know.  I didn’t know she’d come back...”

Sam could see that the boy’s fear was growing with every second.  Good, he thought.  It was the least the little creep deserved after turning on Miss Parker.

“Where is she?”  Cox spoke in a calm, even tone that belied the look of pure rage in his eyes.  Will shook under the power of that look, and he suddenly felt more afraid than he ever had in his life.  If he couldn’t convince these men to help him, his mother would die, of that he was certain. But they both hated him so much, how could he get them to listen?

“Please, please just help me find her.”

“As I said, Will, where is she?”

“Lyle, he—he told me to wait here in my room. He must have known somehow, but I don’t know how...”

Cox shook the boy, stopping his speech.

“Stop rambling, and tell me what happened.”

Will’s whole body began to tremble as fear took hold of his whole being.  He didn’t know what to say.  He knew he should, but he was so worried about his mother, he just couldn’t get the words to form in his head.

Sam could sense Cox losing patience, and he felt a sudden urge to step in and stop what he could tell was about to happen.  He didn’t need to. Cox raised his hand to strike the boy, but before he could bring his hand down, the vent above them flew open and Angelo dropped down, pulling Will from Cox’s grasp.

“No!  Don’t hurt boy.”

Will turned toward Angelo, the feeling of warmth coming from the man’s embrace a stark contrast to the hatred he felt from Cox and Sam.  Cox stepped back as the man named Sydney and another man joined them. Sydney quickly moved toward Sam.

“Sam, what are you doing?”

“Mr. Cox and I are trying to find Miss Parker.  We know that Lyle has her somewhere.”

“You and Cox?”

“He’s trying to help.  He doesn’t want her hurt, either.”

Sam could see that Sydney doubted him, but he didn’t have time to convince the doctor right now.  Miss Parker’s life was in danger, and they had to get some answers from someone quickly.  He was about to say so when Cox’s cool voice rang out from beside Will’s bed.

“Sydney, don’t interfere.  This boy is responsible for whatever has happened to Miss Parker, and I intend to make him understand that.”

“I didn’t mean it.  I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

Will’s barely audible statement prompted Angelo to hold the boy tighter.  Broots sat down on the bed beside the two of them, his hand reaching out to try and comfort the boy.

“Angelo knows you didn’t mean.  Mother knows, too.”

That statement caught both Sam and Cox’s attention.  Cox stepped closer, kneeling down so he was eye level with the trio on the bed.

“What does he mean?  What does Will’s mother have to do with this?”

Broots looked up into Cox’s eyes, and though this man normally instilled nothing but fear in him, he now felt something akin to common ground. He could sense real concern coming from Cox, and though that shocked him, he was willing to take advantage of it to save his friend.

“Everything.  Miss Parker is Will’s mother.”







Raines rarely tired while he was torturing someone, but the constant adjustments Lyle asked for in the Machine had demanded a great deal of physical work.  After some 10 hours in the room, he needed a break. Lyle had gone off to meet with Mr. Parker to report on their progress, which was, to be honest, little.  Miss Parker had not come close to breaking, but Raines suspected Lyle didn’t care about that.  He had posted “invitations” on every web site the Centre had ever listed as having been accessed by Jarod.  The message was clear – come or she dies.

So now they were all just waiting for Jarod to make an appearance, and there was no doubt he would.  Raines had long advised Mr. Parker to take advantage of the pretender’s fondness for his daughter, but the man had always balked.  Weakness.  It was no wonder Miss Parker had failed them all.

Taking a deep breath off of his oxygen tank, Raines stood and headed for the door.  There were nearly 50 sweepers on this floor.  No one was getting in without his say-so, and so he decided to take a much-needed break.  Before he left, he leaned over the glass, looking down at Miss Parker’s twitching body.  The nerve gas was more than half way out of her system, and the intense tremors were beginning to subside a bit.  He could see tear stains on her face, and there was blood on her lip where she had bitten through it, but other than that, she refused to show her
pain.

“Don’t go anywhere, Miss Parker.  I’ll be back soon.”

Laughing softly, Raines made his way from the room.  He locked the door behind him, and the wheels of his oxygen tank squeaked as he got farther and farther down the hall.  When the noise had disappeared completely, two hands laced through the vent and popped it out of place.  A string was wrapped through the openings and the metal piece was lowered to the ground without so much as a tinkle of metal on concrete.

Within two minutes, four figures filled the room.  Sam had entered first, followed by Cox, Sydney and Angelo.  They all immediately headed  toward the horrible metal contraption that sat in the middle of the room.

As Sydney gazed down and saw the gaunt face of Miss Parker, he was suddenly very grateful that they had decided to have Will help Broots secure their escape route.  The young man was guilt-ridden enough over what he’d done.  Seeing his mother so vulnerable, so hurt was going to break his heart even more.  They could not prevent that from happening for long, but at least he wouldn’t see her inside this monstrosity.

The men worked the levers and bolts of the Machine, trying to release the top without shutting off the control panel, just in case there were alarms connected to it.  After several moments, Cox’s hand ran over the final mechanism and they were able to spring open the latch and pull the cover off.  What they saw terrified them.

Miss Parker was shaking terribly and struggling for breath.  She was bruised in every visible area they could see.  Her clothes were soaking wet and when Sydney reached out to touch her arm, he almost pulled his hand back from the coldness of her skin.

“We have to get her out of here now.  She’s freezing.”

Sam and Cox responded quickly to Sydney’s words, and the men lifted her up as carefully as they could.  Soft whimpers escaped Miss Parker’s lips, but they knew they had a long journey to undertake, and chances were the pain would only get worse.  For now, they had to ignore her response.

As they placed her on the floor, Angelo moved so her head would be cradled in his lap.  Cox immediately began stripping off Miss Parker’s cold and wet clothes.

“Sam, check the supply cabinets.  We need anything dry we can wrap her in.”

Sydney joined Cox in the effort to get the dangerous clothes off of Parker’s body as Sam moved to do what Cox had asked.  Parker continued to struggle for breath, her chest rattling with every effort.  Sydney gently pulled Parker into a sitting position to ease her shirt off, and Cox took the opportunity to put his hand against her back.

“There’s fluid in her lungs.”

Sydney looked up at Cox, the concern on his face growing.

“Pneumonia?”

“Probably the start of it,” Cox said as they laid her back down.  “Sam, hurry.”

Sam found a stack of drop cloths in the supply cabinet and brought them to Cox.  He tried not to react to seeing Miss Parker lying naked on the floor, knowing modesty couldn’t be a concern right now.  Still, he couldn’t stand the thought of her being so exposed.  He saw Sydney begin to pull off the sweater he was wearing, and Sam followed suit, quickly taking off his jacket.

Cox and Sydney layered Miss Parker in the sweater and jacket, then wrapped her up in the cloths Sam had found.  All the while, Angelo sat holding his sister’s head and stroking her hair.  Sydney knew that the connection between them was so strong now that Angelo didn’t need to say anything.  Parker knew her brother was there.

They made certain Miss Parker was wrapped up as warmly as possible and then Cox nodded to Sam, indicating that the sweeper should pick up their delicate cargo.  Angelo stayed close to them, keeping his hand on his sister to let her feel his presence.  Cox motioned toward Sydney and the two men stepped to the side of the room together.

“I didn’t expect to find her in such bad shape.  We can’t take her through those vents.  We don’t have that kind of time.”

“What do you propose we do?  Broots says there are three platoons of sweepers on this floor.”

“I’m going back up.  Stay here 10 minutes.  If you don’t see me by then, get her in the vents and try to get out.”

Cox turned and headed toward the vent, but Sydney reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Don’t double-cross us, Cox.  This woman is like a daughter to me, and if you hurt her...”

Cox was about to respond when he felt another hand touching him.  He looked to his other side and saw that Angelo had moved next to him.  The odd man’s hand was touching his other arm, and he stared at him with crystal blue eyes.

“Sydney, trust.  Confused heart.  Good blood.”

Sydney didn’t begin to understand what Angelo meant, but there was no time to figure it out now.  Cox disappeared into the vent and Sydney turned to Sam.

“You should set her down, Sam.  You’ll need your strength for when we make our move.”

Sam looked down at Miss Parker’s fragile form in his arms.  Despite all the wrapping they had put on her and the additional warmth coming from his own body heat, she still shook in his arms.  Rather than heed Sydney’s advice, Sam pulled his charge closer to him.





Cox had no idea when he left the small room on SL-17 what he was going to do to help get his new allies to safety.  A plan quickly formed, however, as he strolled down the corridor of SL-15.  Smiling, he pulled his cell phone out of his jacket and dialed a number.

“Hello?”  Broots’ nerves were evident in his voice, and Cox fought the urge to snap at the bald man for letting his fear show so much.

“Mr. Broots.  Patch me through to the relay.”

“Yes, sir.”

A few moments passed, then a beep confirmed to Cox that if the Centre traced his call, it would pinpoint to the exact location where he was supposed to be – a few hours north of Blue Cove.  He dialed in a second number and waited for the smug voice he knew would sound on the other end.

“Lyle.”

“Lyle, it’s Mr. Cox.  I’ve got something you’re looking for.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your pretender.  I’ve got him.”

The dead silence that echoed on the other end of the phone proved to Cox that his words had had the desired effect.  Lyle’s voice had lost its smug quality when Cox finally heard it again.

“That’s impossible.  Jarod is on his way here.”

“You’re right, he was, but the tip we had was a good one.  We caught him here making plans to hide Miss Parker in a private hospital.  Apparently he assumes you’ve done something to injure her.  I assured him that he was incorrect.  After all, we still have to find her.”

Cox was certain he heard Lyle’s teeth grinding together as he spoke his next words.

“Where are you?”

“Route 33, about 115 miles from the Centre.  There’s a convalescent hospital there called The Whispering Elms.”

“I’m on my way.  Don’t lose him.”

Cox snapped his phone shut after hearing Lyle disconnect his.  He knew his adversary would leave the Centre immediately, hoping, of course, that the call would prove a ruse of some kind, but knowing he couldn’t afford to be left out of the glory of bringing Jarod in.  He also knew that Lyle wouldn’t want allow for any chance that Jarod might get away. That meant he would call off a large portion of the available sweepers stationed on SL-17.

With his first tasks completed, Cox walked into the medical lab on SL-15.  He packed a bag with the medical supplies he thought he would need to care for Miss Parker wherever they decided to take her.  During this time, he thought about how he and Sam would handle the sweepers that remained two levels below.  He was about to turn and leave when an idea hit him.  Quickly grabbing a bottle from the top shelf of the cabinet, Cox made his way to the elevator and down to SL-16.

Reaching his destination, Cox glanced at his watch.  He only had three minutes to get back to the others before they would leave without him. He threw open the bottle he’d brought with him and began shaking it into the fan that led directly to the main ventilation shafts on SL-17.  The white powder began to disperse immediately.  That done, Cox rushed to the elevator and counted the seconds that passed as the device carried him to the floor below.

When the doors opened, Cox ran out into the hallway.  The sweepers were already coughing thanks to the chalk he’d pushed into the airways.

“Get out!  Get out!  Jarod’s poisoned the air system.  Get out now!”

The 10 sweepers left on SL-17 looked at each other, uncertain what to do.  Cox saw this, and gave them the final motivation they needed to turn and run.  He collapsed on the ground and began writhing, then he stilled his body as if he had lost consciousness.  The sweepers needed no further prodding. They ran for their lives.  As soon as Cox heard the elevator doors close, he stood shot out the control panel, stranding the elevator where it stood.  Then he ran back to the room where Miss Parker was being held.

Sydney turned toward the door with Sam’s gun in his hand, fully prepared to shoot if necessary, but he saw Cox and felt a surge of relief, especially when the man began to wave them out of the room.  Sam carried his precious bundle as Sydney took Angelo’s hand and guided him out into the hall.  The group entered the stairwell and headed down toward the fire exit door on SL-22...a door that Broots had mapped and informed them of earlier.

The group moved quickly, knowing that it was only a matter of time before Miss Parker’s disappearance was discovered.  They reached the door and saw Broots and Will waiting there for him.  The young boy’s face paled visibly when he saw the condition his mother was in, but there was no time to reassure him now.  Cox knew if he was right about Miss Parker having pneumonia, she needed immediate care, and that meant getting somewhere safe very, very fast.

Broots entered the security code and the door flew open.  Cox exited first, checking for sweepers and finding none.  He motioned for Sam to exit the building.  That was when they heard a magazine snap into place in a gun that was very close to them.

“What did you do to her?”

Sydney knew instantly that the voice was Jarod’s.  How he had found this door or known it would be a safe point of egress was a mystery solved for a later time.  Right now, he was furious and he had a gun pointed at Cox’s head.  Sydney stepped forward, making certain Jarod could see him.

“Jarod, he didn’t do this.  Raines and Lyle are responsible for hurting her.  Cox helped us get her out.”

“He’s been trying to kill her since he got here.”

“Jarod, you know I wouldn’t lie to you about this.”

All eyes held on the pretender.  His finger was close to pulling the trigger and ending Cox’s life, yet something held him back.  He wanted to believe Sydney, but Jarod had researched Cox himself and he knew the man’s reputation for cruelty.  Still, something kept him from pulling the trigger.  His eyes looked from Cox to the still form in Sam’s arms. Seeing Parker so weak, so obviously hurt undid him.  He stepped back, ready to kill Cox and anyone else who stopped him from getting to her. That was when a very familiar face stepped out of the back of the group standing in front of him.

Everyone held their breath as Will walked up to Jarod, his eyes filled with tears.  The younger version of the man holding the gun reached out and put his hand on top of Jarod’s.

“I know that you probably hate me, but please, just help us get her somewhere safe.  She needs our help.”

Jarod stood there, staring into eyes he realized belonged not to a replica but to his son.  This nearly grown young man was his son and he was Parker’s son, and he was asking his father to save his mother’s life.

“Will.”

The sound of Parker’s faint and weak voice brought them all out of the fog they seemed to have drifted into as Jarod contemplated his son’s words.  Jarod brought down his gun and he and Will both rushed to stand beside Sam.

“Mom.  I’m here, Mom.  We’re going to get you out of here.”

Jarod heard Will’s words, and he realized that Will knew the truth about his parentage.  He and his son had a lot to talk about, but not now. Jarod leaned over and kissed Parker on her forehead.

“Our sons are safe, Parker.  They’re both safe.”

Parker forced her eyes open and for a brief second, they met Jarod’s. Then she sank back against Sam’s body and slipped back into unconsciousness.  Jarod turned and faced Cox.

“Why would you help her?”

Jarod was genuinely surprised when Cox shook his head and answered, “I don’t know.”

“Fine, you’ve helped.  Now I’ll take care of her.”

Cox eyed the pretender and took a deep breath.  He knew that he could let go of the situation now.  Miss Parker would be in safe hands, and he could walk away.  So why was it that his gut wouldn’t let him?  Instead of giving way to Jarod, Cox heard his voice coming out of his mouth on its volition.

“She needs medical attention.”

“I’m a pretender, remember?”

“Can you pretend to be a doctor and drive at the same time?”

Sirens wailed inside of the Centre, and they all knew the time for discussion was over.  Jarod reached for Parker, taking her from Sam, then he locked eyes with Will, making sure the boy knew to follow him. As he headed off down the alleyway toward his waiting car, Jarod looked back over his shoulder and directed his attention at Cox.

“If you betray us, I’ll kill you.”

Cox nodded then motioned to Sam that he should follow.  Sam turned back and grabbed hold of Angelo’s arm, and the three ran into the night following in Jarod’s footsteps.  Sydney and Broots rushed to return to their respective offices.  They had to provide any electronic smoke and mirrors were needed to help their cohorts get away.

Within moments, Cox was in the back of a Suburban, pulling medical supplies from the bag he had packed earlier.  Angelo and Will sat in the middle seat and Sam sat, gun drawn, in the passenger seat beside Jarod, keeping watch for Centre personnel.

Jarod drove like a madman, knowing that time and distance were the only safety net that would really protect Parker and Will from ending up back at the Centre.  Every now and then, he glanced in the rearview mirror and watched as Cox got an IV started and put Parker on intravenous antibiotics.  He also saw Will turn around and again and again, trying to find someway to let his mother know that he was there and that he wanted her to get well.

Forcing his eyes back to the road, Jarod fought back tears.  All these years, he had thought to lecture Parker about the importance of family, about the true sacrifices people make for the ones they love.  And once again, he realized that it was she who lived the lesson he spoke of so often.  She had risked so much for him and those he loved and those he hadn’t even known he should love, and now she was fighting for her life again.

Sam’s eyes remained peeled on the road as he continued to do the job he had considered his primary duty for years – protect Miss Parker from harm.  A few quiet words reached his ears from the seat next to him, and Sam wondered if Jarod even realized he had spoken them aloud.

“Don’t leave me, Parker.  Please, give me one more chance.”