Lord, Grant Me The Freedom…
Part 12
"No man has
received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from
heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy
it..."
Denis Diderot
31 weeks to
go.
Jarod still
had difficulty in understanding the reason that his visitor had come and seen
him. After all, the danger that he would be seen and recognized was almost
overwhelming. It had taken a few seconds for Jarod to recognize the visitor
and, Jarod had to admit to himself, it was due to a fear that the person would
be Raines, Lyle or, and this was the worst possibility, Sydney. Seeing the real
Steve McCaffrey brought first a wave of relief and then one of anger. He
managed to keep his voice a low, fury-filled hiss.
"What
are you doing here? Do you know the kind of danger you're in, being here?"
"What
about you?" The man's voice held the same level of tension as Jarod's.
"Why are you pretending to be me? What do you hope to gain by it?"
"Your
freedom."
The visitor's
eyes widened and then narrowed. "So what? I'm not guilty."
Jarod leant
closer to the man. "I know. But any jury would find you guilty. I'm proof
of that. There wasn't a single person that could identify me as you, but I'm
still here." He glanced up and saw that the guard had moved slightly
closer. "Now listen, Michael," he stressed the name and knew that the
other man understood the reason for its use, "tell Julie that I'm fine. It
won't be for much longer and I've got a much better chance of things going well
if she doesn't interfere. Just tell her to wait and not do anything that might
cause problems." Jarod raised his eyebrows questioningly and the other man
slowly nodded.
"All
right. I suppose. Is there anyone I should tell?"
"No,
nobody. The less people that know about this, the better."
The real
Steve McCaffrey got to his feet and pushed the chair back under the table.
"I...you'll understand if we...nobody comes very often..."
"Yes,
I'll understand. Now you just go and take care of that family of yours. I'll be
out before you know it."
The other man
turned away and Jarod watched as he was let out of the room, before being taken
back to his cell. He understood the feelings that the other man was harboring
and knew how difficult it must be for him to see a man, innocent as himself,
take the punishment for which a third man had gone free.
"Don't
tell Jarod."
How cruel
that the last words spoken by two of the most important men in her life should
be about someone else. You
look so like your mother. Don't tell Jarod. Both so impersonal. Admittedly, her father's comments
had some personal meaning, but not enough. Never enough. And always the
reference to her mother, as though the daughter was not a person in her own
right but only a shadow of the woman who went before.
Miss Parker
shook her head to clear the thoughts and rounded on the doctor as they entered
a small office.
"So,
what is it?"
"It's
hard to tell, at..."
"Don't
give that crap. Just tell me what you think it is."
"Sydney
shows signs of...poisoning."
"What?!"
"He has
an increased level of several sodium-related products which, due to the degree
in which they've been absorbed, suggest that this has been occurring over a
period of about a month. In fact it's incredible that there have been no signs
before now."
"So he
had a little too much salt with dinner every night," she growled.
"Are you telling me that you haven't got the facilities here..."
"Miss
Parker, this is not sodium chloride, or table salt. We're looking at sodium
polyphosphates, carbonates and salicylates."
"So?"
"These
occur in many common cleaning products, particularly in dishwashing
powders."
Miss Parker
stared at the doctor. "How on earth would he have swallowed that?"
"I
couldn't tell you. But if it were deliberate, a small amount in foods ingested
daily could easily result in levels this high."
"But,
now you know the cause, you can do something about it."
"We're
doing everything we can, for the moment."
"Which
is?"
"The
symptoms in this type of poisoning include severe pain in the mouth, throat and
stomach, swelling in the throat, drop in blood pressure and the collapse that
you witnessed in his office, an hour ago."
"But you
can treat those symptoms and he'll be okay, won't he?"
"Treating
the symptoms is all we can do. It's possible that he may have extensive
internal damage in the mouth, throat and stomach due to the acidity of the
sodium. The fact that he's still alive now, a month after the assumed initial
poisoning, is a good sign but we need to keep monitoring him to make sure. If
he's still alive in another four weeks, then he should probably survive. But
there might be permanent injury to the throat. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need
to get the results of the tests."
A week, and
the doctor was still fighting for his life. Raines smirked and pressed the tips
of his fingers together as he leaned back in the chair and watched the screen.
The other occupant stood behind him and watched also, his eyes lighting up as
he saw a dark-haired woman enter the room and slip a small syringe into the
figure's arm, pressing the plunger and then rapidly disappearing. Suddenly the
man's brow furrowed.
"You
didn't order that, did you?"
Raines spun the
chair around and stared at the figure. "I was under the impression that
you had, my friend."
"Friendship
doesn't enter into this. It's a business relationship, Raines, as you should be
aware by now." He turned to the window and clasped his leather-gloved
hands behind his back. The figure in the chair looked again at the screen and
then chuckled softly.
"It
would seem that we have a little competition."
"God! Of
course we have competition," Raines burst out. "This is the Centre!
But who is it?"
"The
woman has a natural choice as a partner. And, indeed, wouldn't have much choice
in the matter."
The two men
looked at each other for a moment before the younger chuckled in much the same
way as Raines had done.
"So much
the better. We can kill a multitude of birds with a small handful of stones.
How long until the plan goes into effect."
"Five
weeks. That will give us enough time to get rid of any unforeseen problems as
well as dealing with the ones we do know about."
The two men
watched as another woman entered the room and sat down beside the bed, taking
Sydney's hand in her own.
"And
Miss Parker?"
"Will be
dealt with."
"Good,
good."
"Oh, and
Raines?"
"What?"
"I'd
better get my share."