Learning

January 29, 2001

2 weeks to go.

Fourteen days.

Three hundred and ninety-two hours. Or so.

Twenty-three thousand, five hundred and twenty minutes. Pretty much.

One million, four hundred and eleven thousand, two hundred seconds. Give or take.

Sun streamed through the bars and onto the bed and Jarod made the calculations in his head. Heck, it passed the time and the time was going so slowly at the moment that it was driving him crazy. He remembered the few days before his escape, leading up to those few minutes pressed up against the vent cover, waiting for the patrol to move away so that he could leave. Those moments had been terrible, when he couldn't move and would hardly breathe for fear of giving himself away.

This, though, was different.

Somehow, too, this was worse.

He was also nervous about the success of his plans. Although he would never have admitted it, there were certain factors that needed to be right for his ideas to work and he was not totally confident that this would occur. Of course, the team that he had working with him had a greater knowledge of the Centre's workings than any other threat that the organisation could face. He had qualms, though, about whether the two groups would fully trust one another.

Certainly there would be some friction to overcome first, the least of which would be he and Miss Parker working together, for the first time, for exactly the same aim.

February 4, 2001

Miss Parker stared out of the window and into the increasing darkness. Sydney had been quiet and uncommunicative, as he was every year on this date, remembering the day he and Jarod had first met. Despite trying to deny it, such actions showed Miss Parker and Broots just how much impact such events had had on his life and how much the people involved meant to him. But now they were all spending many hours silently contemplating their futures. Each one of them knew what would happen if Jarod's plans failed but they had never discussed it. Now, as the time drew constantly nearer, the tension was beginning to take its toll on all of them.

She turned her eyes to the three men who sat in different parts of the rooms. She couldn't reach into Sydney's mind - he, like Jarod, had blocked her out. Angelo, though, was willing to talk to her.

'They’re all nervous, like you.'

'Are you scared?'

'What can they do to me that’s worse than what Raines has already done? I've been a prisoner in my own mind for years. What do I have to be scared of? But do you really have so little faith in Jarod's abilities that you think his plans won't work?'

'What do you think has been his greatest achievement?'

'Escaping from the Centre - and staying out of it for so long.'

Miss Parker saw the twisted smile appear on the man’s face and the next thought shot out before she could help it. 'You! You're the one who's been helping him for so long.'

The empath shook his head. 'I'm not the only one.'

She folded her arms impatiently. 'Who then?'

A small grin curled Angelo’s lips. 'You'll be surprised.'

February 4 2001

Sam paced around the small room and finally looked up at the other two who, for the past few minutes, had been silently watching him.

"What time?"

"Ten past six."

"What an ungodly hour. Why can't they let him out at, say, nine or something?"

"Don't know. Policy, I suppose. And you know how important policy is."

"I know. And I've also known people to bend policy to suit themselves."

The woman smiled and flung her long hair back over one shoulder. "Is that a personal reference, Sam?"

The sweeper grinned before speaking. "And then?"

"Then we head off for Charleston, so that we can begin to finally put the plan into action, after all this preparation."

"Do they know we're coming?"

"No. Jarod wanted it to be a surprise." Sam eyed his co-conspirators. "And I'm pretty sure that it will be. I mean it's not as though they could guess."

The other man gave a half-smile, revealing his white teeth. "That's true. I can't wait to see their faces."

"They, on the other hand, probably can wait to see yours," the woman interposed.

"A few moments of amusement before they learn the truth."

"If they give you that chance. Miss Parker’s pretty quick on the trigger."

"They will. She never shoots without asking questions first, unlike her brother."

"And I'm sure Jarod wouldn't allow that happen. We need you." The woman smiled and the other men in the room couldn't help grinning.

"We need all the help we can get."

Part 27

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