Hi Rebeckah great to work with you!!!!
 
 

5/?

Groaning, Miss Parker opened her eyes. The first light of the morningslowly pushed the dark shadows of the night away. She stretched out herright arm, searching for the clock on her night stand.  Finally shefound it an brought it in front of her eyes... barely past 6 AM. She loweredher arm and let the clock fall down on the carpeted floor with a low thud,but still loud enough to make her head pound even more. She tried to rememberthe events of the last day and night.

Yesterday everything had been so clear, but than her beloved mutanttwin brother had caught Emily. God she would never forget the look in Sydney’sand Broots eyes when she told them she was taking over Gemini and Emily.The hurt and the betrayal all mixed up with disgust. Disgust for her andwhat she had done during the last days.

Now everything was going wrong! Why in Gods name had Jarod hacked intothat damn mainframe and found her medical report?  *He’s always worryingabout you*, a small voice in her head answered her silent question. *No,better change that to, he always did*.  She knew she should be reallyhappy that he wasn’t a violent man, but she still could feel the chillof fear running down her spine when she remembered the look he had givenher in that damn alley. She knew it had taken him all of his willpowernot to hit her.

With another groan she dragged herself to her feet and headed to thebathroom.

She flicked on the lights in the room and looked at her refection inthe mirror above the sink. She looked like hell. She had dark circles underher eyes and her skin was so white it was nearly transparent. It wouldtake a lot of makeup to cover the signs of another sleepless night. Shehad no idea how much her body could take, although from the way she lookedthis morning she knew it couldn’t be much more. Her whole body was on fire,her back ached more than the last 6 weeks, felt like she could sleep fora week straight, and a faint nausea accompanied the pounding in her head.

She had nearly died from blood loss after Willie had shot her, but shehad been able to heel quickly. She had an unpleasant feeling that thisdamage was going to take much longer to heal, if it ever did.

There had never been a time she had not missed her mother, but now shefelt like she couldn’t survive without her.  Sydney had always beena refuge for Jarod, an anchor of sanity in the craziness of the Centre,but for her there was no one.  Since her mother’s death she’d hadno hiding place, no sanctuary where she could stop and let herself relaxand regain her strength.

Everything has a price; it’s only a question of whether you’re willingto pay it. She had paid, and she would pay for this for a long time. MissParker stared at the pale woman looking out of the mirror at her. Whatwould her mother have done in her situation? *Oh Momma, why aren’t youhere? I really need you*. Silent tears ran down her cheeks.

With a small sob she turned to take a shower. A nice warm shower towash away the tension in her body. *A hot shower and some fresh air andI’ll feel much better*.

*****

"Good morning Syd, Broots", Lyle greeted the 2 men in the office withoverdone cheer. He hated to being trapped like this. His damn sister hadmade a smarter move than he had ever dreamed she would.  He had underestimatedher daring.

He went over his plan again as he made his way over to his desk, tryingone more time to figure out where he’d gone wrong.

His plan had been completely perfect. Her weak spot had been alwaysher family and her friends. Damn it! It had been perfect! Everything hadworked out fine. She had returned to the Centre and it had been no problemto exchange the painkillers for his drug. It had taken several days toget everything flawlessly set up, but then It had been even easier thanhe had ever dared to hope.

He silently grinned. Jarod was a Pretender, a smart man, Lyle sneeredmentally at this. ‘Wonderboy’, this name reminded him always at the comicshe had loved so much as a child and he was never allowed to read. He stillremembered one day when his father caught him secretly reading one of them,he could still hear the crack when his rib broke under the powerful blowfrom his father that had sent him crashing against the wall. He shook hishead to clear his mind. He would not go back there, that was his past now;that was all that mattered.

Anyway, if he had ever the slightest doubt about the feelings the Pretenderhad for his sister, his actions on the airfield had given him away. A reallystupid move for such a smart man. All he needed was to make a apparentlyaccidental comment about his sister working too much and too late aftershe had been wounded so recently. Sure enough Jarod ‘sneaked’ out his cellto check on her. Look who’s smart now, Lyle thought smugly.

At that point everything had been fine; which was good since Jarod’sreal escape 3 days later had definitely not been part of the plan. He silentlycongratulated himself for the bomb, though.  It had been a masterstroke on his part.  Either Jarod rescued his sister, and then shewould be more receptive to further advances from him later, should thatbe necessary, or he wouldn’t, and the biggest obstacle to his advancementin the Centre and in his family would be gone.  No matter what happened,he won.

The morning before they had been trapped in that container she had beenin a bad mood. He had offered her some breakfast and she had looked athim like she was going to throw up all over him.  He’d noticed thatevery morning her face was a faintly green, which he’d taken as a goodsign. He’d continued to   keep a close eye on her the whole timewhile they where locked in that miserable box. In a way he’d been gratefulto Jarod for giving him so much time with his sister to observe her withoutraising  her suspicion.

By the time they’d arrived back at the Centre he had been convincedthat his plan had worked out.  He had nearly danced with joy whenshe visited a doctor on her own initiative. He hadn’t dared to hope thathe’d have that much luck. But that was the end of things working out theway he had planed them.

Lyle could still not believe that she simply walked out and had a abortion. He’d never have believed his soft, sentimental sister could do such a thing,at least not without a lot of soul searching first.  Then, for herto provide the Centre with the fetal tissue to clone, he still couldn’tbelieve it!  He was even more shocked when she handed everything overto the Triumvirate! And for her to then claim that now that they were usingher genetic material as well that they should give her the project! Well, that was simply too much. Lyle could feel the anger rising againabout the entire situation.

But it was her next demand that nearly knocked him out. He had caughtEmily and he was coming out ahead in the meeting, but she destroyed itin an instant. After the Triumvirate had agreed to give her Gemini, shehad demanded Emily for research. Before he could protest he saw the satisfiedlook on Mutumbo’s face and his nod of agreement. He had flexed his handslongingly, dreaming of wrapping them around the neck of his sister, whowas giving him an acid smile of triumph.

He tried to protest, only to have Mutumbo warn him that the Centre wasnot a democracy.  He’d only dared to ask what his role in the Centrewould be from now on.  Of course, Daddy’s "Angel" already had a *wonderful*idea. They still had a Pretender on the run and Lyle had always claimedto be the better choice to hunt him, now was his chance to prove it. Shehad cheerfully suggested that he work with Sydney and Broots, and oh, Angelotoo, to recapture Jarod. That damn Freak.

There was no logical reason he could find to refuse this job, so, silently cursing, he agreed. On top of everything else, now they had blockedhis access to all of Project Gemini’s data.

While was lost in his thoughts he searched in the data base, not reallyknowing what he was looking for. He didn’t care that he was venturing intoforbidden files.  After all, if he found a proof that she had betrayedthe Centre it wouldn’t matter that he’d disobeyed orders.

He was about to open the next file when something caught his eye. Itwas the findings of the initial tests on the fetal tissue Parker had provided.He exulted as he realized that the data had been altered, and the RhesusFactor had been changed from positive into negative.  This file wasthe automatic backup and it showed the original findings. He was positivethat Parker had done this.  No one else would have anything to gainfrom it and he was sure if Broots had somehow been convinced to do it forhis sister he would never have made such a big mistake-----not that hewould help her anymore anyway. Lyle grinned, sure now of victory.

Time to show his dear sister where her place in Life was.  Afterthe Triumvirate saw this report his position and authority would be returnedand Parker would----well, maybe he could arrange a nice cell in Donoterasefor her, next to Emily. At this thought his smile grew even wider.

He never noticed the uneasy looks Sydney and Broots exchanged as theysecretly observed him the whole time.  They knew him well enough bynow to know that his smile did not promise anything good.
 

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Part 6