Lord, Grant Me The Freedom…
Part 13
"No man
is free who is not master of himself."
Epictetus
29 weeks to
go
Three weeks
left.
Jarod spent
every spare moment trying to find a way to solve the situation brewing in the
heart of the Centre. He had simmed any number of possible solutions.
Unfortunately all of them involved him being somewhere other than where he was
at the present.
Now, and only
in these circumstances, had he considered escape; now, when he knew the layout
of the prison and the details of its weakest times, as he had studied the
Centre, in such depth, prior to his escape and two weeks after his betrayal by
Damon. But his original qualms about escape continued to haunt him and made him
realize that he could do nothing but stay where his was.
His thoughts
were constantly on the people within the Centre, and he could see, not the
first time, that they were more trapped than he was. Somehow he knew that his
fears were grounded, although he could not explain the feelings of nausea that
swept over him at various intervals, always when he felt himself to be most
alone.
The sadness,
however, that had haunted him for weeks, was easily recognizable, and it was a
struggle not to tell Miss Parker that her father's death might have been more
than it had initially seemed. This time, concern for her fate would prevent him
from waiting the four years he had taken to tell her the truth about her
mother. He was determined. But still he couldn't bring himself to do it.
But he could
warn her. He walked over to the phone on the wall. The call was answered
quickly and he gave her no time to speak.
"Get out
of there now!"
"Get out
of where? Jarod, what are you talking about?" Miss Parker tried not to
reveal the relief in her voice. He was back. Months after the communications
had virtually been abandoned. "Where have you been? We've... Sydney's been
worried sick!"
"I need
to talk to Sydney, now! It’s urgent."
"You
can't, Jarod. He's not here."
Miss Parker
looked at the still figure on the bed, trying to convince herself that she
wasn't lying. Sydney, the real Sydney, wasn't there. Only his body lay on the
bed, and the man she had begun to consider her surrogate father was no longer
there. Don't tell Jarod. The words reverberated in her mind again and she
closed her eyes and mind to them.
"I don't
have time to explain, but you need to listen to me. Parker, get out of the
Centre. Take Broots and Debbie and leave, now. You're life is in more danger
than it's ever been."
"Jarod,
what game are you playing now?"
"It's
not a game I'm playing. The rules have been set by a higher power. But if you
don't get out, you'll be sacrificed 'for the good of the cause', as they like
to put it."
" Jarod,
I can't leave now. Sydney..." She trailed off and covered her mouth with
her hand.
"What
about Sydney?"
She could
hear the fear in his voice and somehow it acted to magnify the terror that she
felt in her own heart and mind. Jarod had played games before, but never like
this. The fact that she hadn't questioned who 'they' were was evidence of that.
But she had no need to answer. Jarod did it for her.
"They'll
be after you next. They wanted Sydney first as a ploy to get me back, but
they'll want you and, unless you get away, they'll get you. I can't help Sydney
and I can't help you. But you can help Broots, Debbie and Angelo. Get them out
and go somewhere, anywhere. If you leave you'll be safe. If you don't leave
now, you'll never leave, ever."
There was a
click and the phone went dead.
Raines
replayed the tape that his henchman had taken from Brigitte's office the week
before. Jarod's last words seemed to hang for a minute in the air. If you don't
leave now, you'll never leave, ever. Did the genius know what was planned?
Raines' brow furrowed and the tube of the oxygen tank slipped slightly away
from under his nose. Without thinking, he carefully placed it back and let his
hand drop onto the desk.
"He
knows; I'm convinced of it."
Lyle reached
the wall of the office and glared at Raines before turning back and continuing
his pacing along the length of the room.
"And on
what do you place that assumption? Jarod could simply have made an educated guess."
Rained inhaled uneasily.
"With a
week to go? He's not that stupid, although you must be if you underestimate him
like that."
Raines stood
up and pulled a gun out of its holster and trained it on the other man.
"Do you still dare to threaten me?"
Lyle took one
step closer and placed on foot on the length of clear tubing that had fallen
onto the floor as Raines got to his feet. The gun dropped out of the hand and
onto the carpet with a thud. The tall, bald figure began to gasp before the
other man removed the weight.
"You
don't have the guts to pull that trigger, Raines. Just like you didn't have the
guts to shoot Jarod in the alley, all those years ago. I might be a product of
this place, but it doesn't mean I have to have any respect for its maker!"