Escaping the Center

It was surprisingly easy to sneak out of the Center. The hardest part was actually getting past the Parker twins, boy and girl fraternal twins who lived in the Center’s maze of ventilation shafts. They were Mr. Raines personal project and few had ever even seen them. Jarod and Kyle knew them well, since Sydney and Jacob were two of the few men who didn’t scare them silly. The boy never talked and this was the first time Kyle had ever seen either of them not touching the other. Each of them had a small box that they shoved at Jarod and Kyle when they met in the shafts. It didn’t take long for either of the two Pretenders to see that they would only get passed if they took the boxes. Silently agreeing with his brother to take the boxes Kyle wasn’t surprised to see the twins latch on to each other’s hand as soon as the boxes were passed over.

“Secretes,” the girl whispered and then they scurried away. Jarod shrugged at Kyle’s questioning look and continued down the shaft. Whatever was in the boxes was important, that was easy enough to figure out. Jarod popped open the hatch that led into the main water drainage pipe that led down to the river. Their escape had been planned well, and Jarod found the two backpacks where Sydney had told him they would be. Inside were identification, money, maps, a change of clothes, a jacket, a laptop and the books that Sydney and Jacob had been reading to them at night. It was all that Kyle could do not to cry when he saw the book Jacob had left him. It was their habit on those nights when they weren’t having sex to read until Kyle fell asleep, something that Kyle had a hard time doing thanks to the nightmares that the Center had left in his mind. Jarod shrugged into the jacket and made Kyle put his on as well. It was going to be a long hike into the city and they had to go as quickly as possible. They didn’t know when their escape would be discovered.

Hours later they had made their way into New York City. Once they got into the city itself it was easy for them to blend into the background. If they hadn’t been running for their lives, they would have been tempted to gawk and stare and dive into investigating this new world the way that Sydney and Jacob had taught them. As it was, they headed straight for the building where Detective Benson lived. While they would have been much easier staying with Detective Stabler, he had a wife and four children. Neither one of the boys wanted to endanger them in any way, so it was Detective Benson’s apartment door Kyle picked. Jarod slipped the chain lock and they slipped inside. Only to find themselves face to face with Detective Benson who wasn’t asleep like they had thought.

“Umm, hi?” managed Jarod while Kyle just stood there in. Neither of the boys was really surprised or frightened by the gun she was pointing at them. They were more unsettled by the fact that she was the first woman they had really had close contact with and they weren’t sure how to act around her.

“Who are you and what are you doing breaking into my apartment?” Olivia asked the two teenagers in front of her.

“I’m Jarod and this is my brother Kyle. Our handlers gave you and your partner a disk last night. Have you looked at it?” Jarod said, deciding to treat the woman in front of him just as he would a man in the same situation.

“Your handlers?” Olivia asked, then dismissed the term. These two must be boys from the Center. “I don’t recognize you. Were you on that video?” That was vague enough that if they didn’t know what she was talking about, it would trip them up.

“We were both standing with the twins. Jacob and Sydney Green are our handlers. That video was filmed a long time ago, but it was the only security tape we could get a hold of without being caught copying it that showed what was in store for us if we’re caught. You and your partner needed to understand that we are facing what happened to Jason,” Kyle said flatly. “And you need to know that he wasn’t the only one disposed of that way. We didn’t want to endanger Detective Stabler’s family which is why we came here.”

“Besides,” Jarod added. “That was when our escape plans started. Sydney and Jacob wouldn’t allow them to hurt us if they could prevent it.”

Olivia put her gun back in her holster. She remembered the twins. They were the only ones trying to protect the boys that were with them in that video. The twins must be the whistle blowers. “Thank you for trying to protect them. We’ve been going over that disk all day. Would you boys like to crash on my bed for a few hours? I can take the couch.”

“No thanks, we won’t be sleeping for quite a while.” It was stated as a fact and both boys moved to either side of her coffee table, pulling laptops out of their backpacks. They set up the laptops and each opened a small box that was filled with small computer disks. Soon it became obvious that they were engrossed in sorting out the disks and weren’t going to pay any further attention to her.

“Well, I need some sleep boys, so good night. If you need anything, the kitchen is through there and the bathroom is through there. Feel free to help yourselves to anything you find in the kitchen, although I’m not sure you’ll find much. I wasn’t expecting visitors.” With that, Olivia went to crash in her own bed for a few short hours before she had to return to work later that morning.