Lord, Grant Me The Freedom…
Part 11
"Clouds and
darkness surround us, yet Heaven is just, and the day of triumph will surely
come, when justice and truth will be vindicated. Our wrongs will be made right,
and we will, once more, taste the blessings of freedom."
Mary Todd Lincoln
32 weeks to
go.
Jarod
smoothly fed the metal into the machine and watched as it was punched into the
required shapes. The experience he had gained while working as an ex-con was
now being put to an equally positive use and he could definitely see the irony
in the current situation. Somehow, as he continued at the frantic pace he was
accustomed to, thoughts of the Centre began to work their way into his mind.
Glancing
over, he saw a copy of a current newspaper sitting on a nearby bench but the
date took some time to work its way into his mind. The 31st of August. Six
weeks left. Why did that fact suddenly register? For several seconds, while his
hands continued to work, his brain struggled with the fact, trying to make
himself understand its relevance.
He felt
himself almost at the end of the puzzle when a hand clapped itself onto his
shoulder. Surprised, and with all thoughts of the Centre disappearing from his
mind, he turned around to see the foreman standing behind him.
"Yes,
sir?"
"Visitor,
McCaffrey."
"What?"
The foreman
was about to yell, but instead he reached over and pressed the button that
stopped the machine. Once the metal had clanged and shuddered to a halt, he
repeated his statement.
"You
have a visitor."
Jarod pulled
off the gloves that protected his hands from the hot metal and lifted the
goggles that prevented his eyes from getting damaged, tossing them into a
nearby basket as he walked past it to where two guards waited for him at the
door. His mind, meanwhile, was frantically trying to work out who his potential
visitor could be. He was still trying to solve the mystery when he entered the
visitor room and saw a man quietly sitting in a chair waiting for him.
Miss Parker
looked up in time to see Sydney walk past her door and she rapidly got up out
of her seat and, leaving the office, followed him along the hall to his own
sanctuary.
"Where
the hell have you been?"
"Yes,
Miss Parker, and it's nice to see you, too." The words were forced out and
were barely civil. Miss Parker took a closer look and was secretly horrified to
see the sunken cheeks and gray pallor that had crept into Sydney's face over
the past few days.
"Sydney,
you've been missing for five days. Where have you been?"
"Visiting
friends."
"Really?"
Sydney sighed
heavily and, without looking up, pulled a book towards him. "If you don't
believe me, why ask?"
"Jarod?"
The question, snapped out, took them both by surprise.
"I would
tell you if I'd seen Jarod." The sentence was curt and short and Miss
Parker imagined that Sydney simply wanted her out of his office. Looking away,
she failed to see the sudden change that came over his face and the pain that
became evident in his eyes as he stood up and began to walk away from the desk.
She picked up
a piece of paper from the large pile that sat on his desk; she scanned it
quickly and then replaced it. Finally she turned and began to walk out of the
office. A small noise made her turn and she saw that Sydney had collapsed onto
the floor. Yelling for help, she ran to him.
The
dark-haired woman watched the scene unfolding before her with a smile curling
her top lip and she moved the white stick around to the side of her mouth so
that she could talk.
"It's
working." A voice from the corner interrupted her.
"It's
working wonderfully. In fact, it couldn't be better."
The man
walked over and stood behind her, leaning over the back of the chair and
rubbing his hand along her arm, his blue eyes glowing. "You know, ever
since your tragic death, life's just gotten better, hasn't it?"
"Darling,
it's superb." She smirked and choked slightly as the lollipop went
slightly too far down her throat. As she recovered, the other figure retreated
to his original seat.
"You
really should take better care of yourself. If you were to die twice, it would
begin look a little suspicious." The woman shot him a sharp glare and he
chuckled.
"So when
does the rest go into action?"
"Are you
getting a little impatient, my dear? Don't worry. It won't take long for Raines
to take the bait and then it will all start coming together properly."
"You
really think this will work, don't you?"
"The
only time my plans haven't worked it when other people allow emotion to get in
the way of achieving the main aim. That won't be a problem for much longer, I
promise."
"Bah,
emotions! Waste of time and energy. If there hadn't ever been emotions at the
Centre, we wouldn't have any of the problems that we do now."
The woman sat
back in the chair and tucked her hands behind her head as she crossed her legs
on the desk. The man on the other side of the office smirked and, getting up,
began to walk towards her, his eyes glowing in eager anticipation.