Sydney turned sharply at the sound of the metal grate being removed. His student stuck his head through, smiling at his mentor.

"Jarod! You shouldn't be here! I'm sure this room is under surveillance..."

Jarod smiled, waving a small electronic device. "Not right now it's not." He pulled himself through the opening of the grate and landed on the floor of the room. He glanced over at Miss Parker. "Is she all right?"

"She will be," Sydney answered. "Although in no thanks to Mr. Lyle, who took it upon himself to beat her almost senseless."

Jarod's lips pulled into a straight line, making a mental note to teach Mr. Lyle a lesson regarding manners. "I sent an email to your account, confirming the meeting at Seaford Park, but I figured they put you up to it."

"I'm sorry, Jarod, they left me no choice."

Once again Jarod looked over at Miss Parker. "I can see that."

"Raines is supposed to let her go in the park, but I don't trust him. I want you to take her with you now, Jarod, and get as far away from here as you can."

"And just what do you think they'll do to you then, Sydney?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, Jarod."

"And what about Broots and Debbie?"

Sydney looked at his watch. "Right about now they should be on their way to the Caribbean."

"What?"

"I cut a small side deal with Mr. Lyle, and you know Broots, he's smart enough not to stay where they've sent him. He and Debbie will be fine."

"Are you nuts? You can't trust Lyle!"

"This one time, yes I can. You see Jarod, I promised him that if Broots and Debbie weren't safe before we made the exchange, I'd tell Mr. Raines that Lyle was planning to kill him once he had you back."

"How could you have known about something like that?"

Sydney shrugged. "I didn't. It was an educated guess, and apparently not that far off, eh?" He put his hands on Jarod's shoulders. "Now, take Miss Parker, and go, before they realize you're here."

"I can't let them kill you, Sydney."

"It's a small price to pay to get all of you out of here, believe me." Sydney stared into his student's dark eyes. "Please Jarod, I owe all of you at least that."

Jarod looked at his watch. "Listen, I don't have time to explain, but you're going to have to trust me, Sydney. We've got an ace in the hole at the park who'll watch out for Miss Parker. In the meantime," Jarod reached into his pocket and pulled out a DSA and a folded file, handing it to his mentor, "take these and keep them safe. It'll restore the balance of power around here - and Sydney, don't destroy them, we can't expect Angelo to keep finding these things..."

Sydney put the files into his inner coat pocket and stared at Jarod. "Are you sure you can keep Miss Parker safe tomorrow and keep yourself from being caught?"

"I'm confident of the first part, not so sure about the second, but as long as you have the DSA and file, everything should turn out reasonably well." Jarod smiled. "Relax, Sydney, I think we've got Raines where it counts this time, you'll see. I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow. And Sydney, take care of Miss Parker."

Sydney smiled as he watched Jarod pull himself into the grate, closing it behind him. "Be careful, Jarod."

---

Feeling weak from her injuries, Parker shivered in the back seat of the towncar. Sydney reached over and pulled her hand into his own, gently warming it.

"Try not to worry."

"Raines isn't going to let me go, Syd, you know that."

His chestnut eyes glanced up toward the driver, who was watching them in his rearview mirror and listening to everything they said. He leaned in toward her ear, whispering.

"You need to have faith, Miss Parker. We're not alone on this one."

Parker's dark gray eyes darted to Syd's, and a silent understanding passed between them. She swallowed hard. "What about you?"

"I'll be okay." She stared hard at him, and he pulled her into his chest, holding her tightly. "I promise you."

The car pulled into the parking lot and Sydney, Parker and the driver got out of the car, all of them slowly moving toward the interior of the park. Sydney kept a tight arm around Parker's waist, allowing her to lean into him for support as they walked. The driver stayed at a close distance behind. Sydney couldn't see them, but he could feel Raines and Lyle lurking somewhere nearby, and it sent an involuntary shiver up his spine. Miss Parker tightened her grip on him.

"You okay, Syd?"

"Yeah."

"I hope Wonder Boy knows what he's doing."

"He usually does, Miss Parker..."

As they moved toward the carousel, Sydney caught sight of Raines, Lyle and their men, skulking behind the vendor stands to the right. His eyes moved straight ahead, and he saw Jarod, slowly walking toward them. Sydney stopped moving and turned Miss Parker toward him, holding her by the arms.

"This is where I stay. You walk toward Jarod, and whatever he indicates you to do, Parker, don't question it, just do it." She frowned, and he squeezed her arms hard. "Promise me." She nodded, tears stinging her gray eyes. Sydney leaned down and kissed her lovingly on the forehead. "Be careful, baby...now go on."

"But Syd--"

"--No. Just go now."

He gently pushed her away and reluctantly she began moving in Jarod's direction. Raines and Lyle watched from their vantage point, both smiling as their plan unfolded.

"Jarod looks good, doesn't he?" Raines asked.

Lyle licked his lips. "Yes, he sure does..."

"As soon as Jarod reached the halfway point, I want your men to move in."

"It's already in motion..."

As Parker neared Jarod, he spoke to her. "In a minute or so all hell's going to break loose, Miss Parker. Raines will make a play for me, and a man somewhere behind me is waiting to take you by force if necessary."

"What do you want me to do?"

They were almost in front of each other then.

"The man waiting for you will be stopped, and at that moment, while everyone is distracted, I'll make a break for it. Just head for cover. That's all you need to do. "

"Why should I let you go, Jarod?" She asked as they lingered for a brief moment in the same spot.

"Because you know that what they've done to both you and Sydney in all of this is wrong, and you'd rather try and catch me on your own terms, Miss Parker."

She smiled at him. "We'll see, monkey boy, we'll just see..."

Jarod continued to move toward Raines and Lyle, and Parker brushed past him, seeing the suit waiting for her just ahead. The man, whom she recognized as one of Raines' sweepers, pulled a gun and pointed it at her.

"Stop right there, Miss Parker."

"I don't think so," Mr. Parker's deep voice boomed as he stepped out from the cover of a large tree. "You'd better put that gun away, sonny, before I use it to break your head open."

The man swallowed hard. "Uh, Mr. Parker, I uh, I...I was just doing as Mr. Raines instructed, sir, that's all."

"Uh-huh."

"Daddy!"

Miss Parker ran toward his open arms, as Raines, Lyle and the rest of the team watched their plan begin to fall apart. And suddenly Jarod made a break for the carousel. Lyle pulled his gun and ran toward the pretender, but Sydney threw himself into the Lyle's path, knocking both of them down to the ground. They scuffled for the weapon, and Lyle came up with it. He pointed it at Sydney, cocking the trigger.

"I have had enough of you, Sydney!"

"Daddy!" Miss Parker screamed, "Do something!"

Growling under his breath, Mr. Parker hustled toward Lyle, his voice barking, "Stand down, Lyle." The younger man stared at his father, but the gun remained trained on Sydney who was still on the ground. "Did you hear me? Put the gun away."

"I'm sick of it. I'm sick of him; I would have had Jarod, but he deliberately stopped me. Why not just get rid of him? There's nothing standing in our way now..."

Sydney pulled the DSA and folded file from his pocket then, smiling. "I wouldn't be too sure about that, Lyle."

Parker rolled his eyes. "Lyle, put the gun away. Now."

Finally Lyle eased the hammer back and put the weapon in its holster. Miss Parker knelt next to Sydney.

"You okay, Syd?"

"Yes," he said as she helped him up.

He and Mr. Parker held each other's eyes for a long moment.

"Looks like another stalemate, Mr. Parker."

"Yes and no, Sydney. I understand that you've got a few things to answer for..."

"Minor things, Mr. Parker, in comparison to your daughter's safety, I'm sure."

The two men glared at each other for a moment longer, and then Sydney gently shrugged out of Miss Parker's grip and walked back toward the car in the parking lot. Miss Parker turned to her father.

"What did he mean by that, Daddy?"

Parker pulled his daughter into his arms, kissing her on the forehead. "Nothing, honey. It's nothing. Come on, we have to derive an appropriate punishment for Mr. Raines and Mr. Lyle, whom I understand were extremely ill-behaved while I was gone..."

---

Sydney looked up from the book in his hands as he heard the floorboard creak under the weight of his student.

"Good evening, Jarod."

Jarod smiled. "You caught me."

"You didn't make it very difficult." Sydney stood and shook hands with Jarod. "It's good to see you."

"Are you the only one seeing me?"

Sydney laughed. "Yes. All of the surveillance equipment that was in here has been removed. As long as I have the DSA and files, I don't think Mr. Lyle or Mr. Raines will try anything. Besides, Mr. Parker still hasn't forgiven them for their attempted coup d'etat."

"And Miss Parker?"

"She's fine, Jarod, completely recovered from her injuries."

"That's not what I meant."

Sydney looked down and paced away from his student. "What do you want me to tell you, Jarod?"

"That you've told her the truth."

Sydney stared into the dark eyes piercing him and shook his head. "We've been through this before; I don't see how it would be helpful to her. As a matter of fact, I think it could prove to be very harmful."

"She's no less a person for it, Sydney."

"No. But she's everything that Catherine Parker was right down to every last little minute detail. Don't you see how that could hurt her?"

"And you don't think that someday she'll put together the pieces and realize that I wasn't the first person that the Centre cloned?"

"I don't know...she might."

"And what about the Centre? Where will it stop, Sydney? Raines will just continue with his vile experiments on human beings, not caring what it does to the subjects or their families. Don't you see that?"

"What I see is that I don't have a right to tell her. And neither do you."

"But she has a right to know who she is and where she came from. Catherine Parker is dead, Sydney. She can't tell her. Mr. Parker sure as hell isn't going to tell her."

"Catherine Parker didn't want her to be told, Jarod. She begged me, she made me promise to protect her."

And then it suddenly struck him; how he could have missed it over the years, the pretender didn't know.

"You were in love with her." And a frown creased Jarod's brow as another thought entered into his mind, which was no longer clarity-filled, but emotionally-ruled. "My God, Sydney, are you in love with Miss Parker?"

"How dare you say such a thing to me."

"It makes perfect sense. You were hopelessly in love with the original, why not the clone?"

"You have no idea what you're saying."

"I read the file, Sydney. I saw the DSA. I should have seen it all sooner. Raines and Mr. Parker approved the experiment, but you did nothing to stop it. And I think it's because you saw your chance. You saw your opportunity to have a Catherine Parker for yourself--"

And without thinking, Sydney struck out, slapping Jarod hard in the face. Jarod's dark eyes filled with tears; not from the blow, but from the emotion attached to it. Sydney reached out then, and Jarod backed away from him.

"Jarod...please, Jarod, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

"You...you hit me, Sydney."

"I didn't mean it. Jarod--"

"--Sydney, you've never hit me before."

Sydney suddenly felt exhausted and he plopped down on the couch, his voice a whisper. "You don't understand, Jarod."

"Then explain it to me."

"I do love Miss Parker, but not in the way you mean." He looked up into Jarod's glistening eyes then and let out a long sigh. "Not everything is contained in that file, Jarod. In the early days of clone study, the process wasn't cloning as we know it today. DNA from the subject was extracted and a duplicate egg was made, but that egg still needed to be fertilized--"

"--I read the file, Sydney, I know that. Mr. Raines ordered you to fertilize the egg with Mr. Parker's sperm. And you gladly did it so that you could have your own, personal Catherine Parker..." Sydney looked deeply into Jarod's eyes, waiting for Jarod to make the leap. And suddenly the truth hit Jarod, hard. "Oh my God...you didn't use Mr. Parker's DNA." He sat down next to Sydney, studying the man's chestnut eyes. "You used yours."

And Sydney stared into the dark eyes of his protégé, neither admitting nor denying a truth that was still far too dangerous a thing to possess...

The End