Lord, Grant Me The Freedom…
Part 29
"In the light
of his vision, he has found his freedom: his thoughts are peace, his words are
peace and his work is peace."
Dhammapada
The darkness
made visibility difficult but the headlights of the minibus were very bright
and clearly illuminated the road ahead. The other occupants were asleep in the
back, or so Jarod thought, until he saw one stand and make their way to the
unoccupied seat beside him.
"Are you
okay?"
"Fine."
Jarod reached
behind him and pulled out a rug which he had stuffed into the pocket behind the
seat. "Wrap yourself in this. It's cold."
"Thanks,
Jarod."
There was a few
moments of silence. The Pretender, knowing that Miss Parker wanted to say
something, concentrated on the road to give her a chance to think about it.
"Jarod,
Momma told me what you went through. Why do you do it?"
"Do
what?"
"Help
people. Put your life in danger so that they can be happy. Risk it all for
others."
"I don't
know. A sense of obligation, I guess. And because I enjoy it." Jarod
thought for a moment before he went on. "Before Kyle was killed, we had
the chance, working together, to save a woman's life. It gave him the chance to
find out how it felt to help someone - and he found out that it felt good. I
found that out a long time ago."
"How
long until we get there?"
"About
two hours. I want to arrive at the Centre a couple of hours before daylight, so
that we have a chance to set everything up."
She nodded, a
motion just visible in the dim light, before speaking again. "Jarod - why
does Sam trust you? He never did before."
"Not
that you knew. But Sam and I have been working together for a while."
Parker sat
sharply upright in the seat and stared at him. "What?"
"He used
to give me some of my information."
"Why?"
"I saved
his life."
"What?!
How?"
"One of the
other sweepers was involved in an embezzlement scam and blamed it on Sam. By
doing a little detective work, I was able to trace it back to the proper
source, and stopped Raines' sweepers from carrying out the extermination order
that he had been given. Ever since then, Sam has done everything he could to
help, when it was safe."
"All
this time..." Miss Parker started to giggle softly. "And all this
time, I thought he was loyal to me."
"He is,
Miss Parker. And a divided loyalty is easier when the subjects of his loyalty
are working together."
"If
you're styling yourself as Hercules, what does that make me?"
Jarod
grinned, but knew she couldn't see it in the dark. "Who would you like to
be? Hera? Omphale? Hebe? Hesione? Which one seems most appropriate?"
"I
thought - Athena."
Jarod took
one hand off the steering wheel and took one of hers, squeezing it gently.
"I can deal with that. The goddess of wisdom and military victory. And
Hercules' half- sister. What could be more appropriate? We'll offer you some
prayers on the victory of this mission when we arrive, if you like."
The two
smiled briefly at each other before Jarod turned back to the road and Miss
Parker made her way back to where her mother sat.
* * *
The minibus
was barely visible beneath the low-hanging trees and the group slipped,
undetected, up to the Centre and, led by Angelo, into the first of the winding
maze of ducts within the Centre. Jarod halted the group when they were at the
entrance to a darkened room and opened his computer. He connected it to a point
within the room and typed a few instructions into the machine. There was a
brief dimming of the lights which was only noticeable due to the high level of
tension that the group felt.
"Cerenia
is a success. The security system is now virtually disabled. Now, we need to
get as quietly as we can into the vents."
Once they
were in the dark area, Jarod turned to them again, his voice even softer than
before. "Split up. Two groups. Myself with Sydney, Angelo, and Cox.
Parker, you go with your mother, Broots and Sam. "
"What
about me?" a voice interrupted and the Pretender jumped.
"Steve!
What are you doing here? " Jarod turned and stared at the man who had
appeared out of the darkness.
"Angelo told
me where you were. Don't think you're taking on the Centre without me. They owe
me too much for that!"
"Great!
Okay, you go with Parker and the others. Ten feet along and you know what to do
with the canister. "
Miss Parker
pulled the silver object out of her pocket and grinned at him meaningfully
before disappearing into the darkness, followed by the others. In the vent
outside of the large dormitory-style room, Jarod opened his case and took out a
large canister.
With a nod,
he pulled a small mask out of his pocket and affixed it over his mouth and
nose. In the dim light, he watched as others completed the same task. With a
tense hand, he reached out and pulled back a tab from the top of the canister,
which immediately began to hiss gently, before slightly opened the vent and
tossing the silver object onto the only vacant bed in the room, which
fortunately was closest to the vent itself. Within only a few seconds, the
highly pressured air within the canister had been released and Jarod knew that the
occupants of the room had inhaled enough gas to render them unconscious for
hours. He opened the vent and, followed by the others, dropped silently into
the room.
Moving over,
Jarod opened the diving door between the two rooms and handed to each member of
the group a handful of syringes. He nodded and the group split up, each taking
a part of the room and injecting the sweepers with the mixture that Jarod had
created. As they finished, each came to where Jarod was setting up a small
projector and watched as he loaded a large reel, which, they all knew,
contained images of themselves.
The drug,
Jarod had explained to them in the bus, would leave the sweepers with a few
moments of knowing nothing about themselves and they would automatically turn
to the video as a source of information. This would establish their loyalty to
the group, thus destroying the perfect army that Raines imagined he had
created. Before leaving, Jarod firmly locked each door and pocketed the keys,
leaving on the dividing doors open.
The group
returned to the vents as the light began to enter the room and, still wearing
the air-filtering masks, they crept along to where the vent divided into
several braches. Staying in the groups to which they had earlier been assigned
and with one member of each carrying a black case, they split up and approached
the various offices to which they had been assigned. Within moments, the groups
found themselves looking at the backs and head of the current power-players
within the Centre.
'Raines, Lyle,
Brigitte - is that it?'
Catherine
picked up Jarod's thought and nodded, knowing what would come next and feeling
the adrenaline pumping as she looked down on the man she had once loved.
Moving away
from the cover slightly, Catherine watched as Sam and Steve opened the vent and
silently dropped down into the room. In seconds, Mr Parker was being held in
the strong grasp of two sweepers, a firm hand on his mouth. It was too dark for
him to tell clearly who his captors were and neither Catherine nor her daughter
gave him a chance to realize. A quick injection and the figure lay prone on the
floor.
Miss Parker
stood up and made mental connection with Jarod, in time to see the gas canister
dropped silently into the room. She tried to hide her giggling as she watched
the scene unfold.
"So, we
are agreed. The first priority is Catherine Parker..."
"...and
then Jarod."
Raines’ blue
eyes bore into the younger man. "Are you sure that you can manage to do
this without stuffing it up completely?"
"Please,
Raines. I failed because I had incompetent help." Lyle was so harshly
defending himself that he never heard the soft thud of the canister landing on
his coat, which had fallen off the back of his chair and was lying on the
floor. The indignant man sat back against the chair and took several deep
breaths to calm himself down, even as the gas began to leak into the room and
Raines turned to Brigitte.
"Woman,
you will do whatever you are told. Is that understood?"
"Yes,
sir." The words were monotonous but with something in them that caused
Jarod to raise his eyebrows.
"And,
Lyle, you will use any means possible."
"D...definitely.
A...any....means..." Lyle brought a shaky hand up to his head as he
muttered the words and slipped slightly down in his chair.
"What is
it, Lyle? The strain taking its toll? Maybe you need a holiday." Raines
voice was as harsh and sarcastic as usual as he looked at the other occupants
of the room.
"I...I
think...I don't...know..." As Jarod and the others watched, Lyle fell in
graceful, slow motion out of his chair and landed in a heap on the floor.
Brigitte, forgetting her artificial demeanor, jumped out of her chair and ran
across to him.
"Lyle!"
She bent over him and spotted the gas canister under the chair. Reaching over,
she picked it up and, fatally, inhaled as she straightened.
"Raines...I...I think..." Her knees visibly buckled under her and she
slipped onto the floor, lying next to Lyle with one arm over him, as though
protecting the unconscious man.
Raines
reached over and plucked the silver object from her hand. As the group in the
vent watched, he brought the canister up to his nose and, disastrously inhaled
sharply. His graceful fall to the floor was marred by the oxygen tank, which
got caught up in his legs and toppled with a loud thud.
The fugitives
spent several more seconds simply staring at the scene, unable to believe their
eyes, before Jarod set them off by putting his head against the wall of the
vent and breaking into near-hysterical laughter.