Believing

November 13, 2000

16 weeks to go.

Jarod looked across at the screen the visitor had placed in front of him. After watching for several seconds, he looked up at the black-haired man opposite. "And the result is?"

"Exactly what you might expect. Brigitte is completely drained of her ability to think or act for herself, and obeys orders given by her masters immediately."

"So that leaves her former partner on his own," Jarod mused.

"The man whose side I was always supposedly on. Hah! If he only knew!"

"Luckily, he's too stupid to have thought that there might be a connection between the two of us. But I worry somewhat about what comes next. I mean, he's on his own with no support, as the sweepers have been trained to obey Raines and…Is that Sam?" Jarod caught sight of the figure on the screen and his visitor zoomed in on the picture.

"Looks like him. What about it?"

"It's just...that expression. Look closely. I get the feeling that any treatment they gave him is beginning to wear off, and I can guess why."

"Are you going to tell me or do I have to guess too?"

Jarod grinned. "To whom has Sam's loyalty always been directed? Come on, you've seen him at work."

The man snapped his fingers and sat up straighter in his chair. "Of course. Parker."

"Absolutely. He came to apologize to me after I was recaptured at the beginning of the year because of the way he had to treat me. Of course I forgave him. I had to. It's always a good idea to obey Lyle, unless, of course, you can make him tremble, the way you did when you accused him of killing Mutumbo. But Sam's always been loyal to both of us, and even treatment like he got isn't going to be as effective if the object of his loyalty isn’t the one doing the brainwashing. But of course they never realized where his real loyalty lay."

"And so now it's losing its effect."

"And if you get to him quickly, you might be able to get him out of there and to safety before they realize and give him another session."

"Where should I take him?"

"Bring him here and we can discuss the next stage."

November 15, 2000

Miss Parker watched again the images Broots had found while searching the Centre mainframe for information about the takeover. It was almost terrifying to see the immediate responses Brigitte made to the orders the two men gave him. Her marksmanship had improved to the point that Miss Parker knew she could never hope to succeed if it came to a shooting match between the two. Brigitte had become an automaton, like so many of the sweepers within the Centre.

The thought of trying to topple an empire like that, and with only the expertise of the people within the room, was frankly frightening and, not for the first time, Miss Parker wished that Steve would reveal Jarod's location so she could convince him to join them and defeat the situation.

"Hello, Parker?"

She snapped out of her reverie. "Sorry, what?"

"Any chance that you could join us for this discussion?"

"Mmm, sorry."

"I was saying that we should do something before that, " Sydney waved at the screen, "goes much further. But you disagree." Sydney looked at Steve with an expression that displayed both frustration and eagerness.

"I've told you, I’ve already spoken to Jarod and he has a plan with a greater likelihood of success than any we could devise. What we need to do, though, is wait until he's available."

Miss Parker brought her fist down on the table, making the crockery jump. "You keep telling us that, but you won't say where he actually is!"

"Believe me, I do want to tell you more than I am, but he doesn't want me to."

"What is he afraid of? That I'll drag him back to the Centre? Trust me, Mr McCaffrey, this is one time that I wouldn't consider it."

The man shifted uneasily in his seat. "He's aware of that fact, Miss Parker. However he feels that it would be better if you were not informed as to his current location. It's more difficult than you'll ever know for him to keep that information silent."

November 15, 2000

The sweeper returned to his room and, almost angrily, threw the belt containing his gun onto his bed. Another bloody awful day of pretence and facade. And still no sign of Miss Parker. He was so deep in thought that he almost missed the sounds that came from the air vent in the corner of his room, but finally located them and approached the screen.

"Who is it?"

"Sam? It's me."

"My God!" The sweeper strode over and lifted the cover. After several seconds he was able to see the outline of the man's head in the dim light. "What are you doing here? Do you know how much Lyle or Raines would give to get their hands on you now?"

"Then we'd better leave as fast as possible!" The man grinned, showing a perfect row of white teeth. "Are you ready?"

"Am I ready?" The man repeated the question while looking around the room in disgust. "I can't wait to leave. Let's get out of here."

"Wait. We have to make one stop."

"For...?"

In the dim light, Sam could just make out the nodding of the other man's head. "Great. Well, let's do it."

Part 19

Series Index

Home