kidblink83
Cadet
Sydney sat at the desk in her bedroom holding a glass of whiskey in her right hand. She had been staring out the window for the last few minutes in an effort to decide if what she was about to put into motion was the right thing. Lily was sleeping the night away in her room down the hall, and hopefully there would be no bad dreams to wake her up that night. Checking the clock, she groaned when she realized that the sun would be coming up in a couple hours.
“I’ve put this off too long,” she said. She reached into the desk and took out a stack of blank paper and a pen. Within seconds, the first piece was sitting there ready for her to write on.
The night before, when Lily found that bunch of flowers on their front stoop, Sydney had been thrown off completely. She couldn’t remember a time when she was that confused, excited, and terrified all at the same time. It had taken her all that night and the rest of the next day just to be able to process all the different possibilities this delivery created in her mind.
When she had finished going over the options, she was left with one thing. The understanding that it was soon going to be time to tell Lily what exactly happened to her Aunt Nadia. She had to cover all of her bases.
With a sigh, Sydney picked up the pen and began to write...
The day began with a simple phone call from her father with the pretext of wishing Lily a happy fourth birthday. After Lily had spoken with her grandpa for a bit, she handed the phone back to her mother.
“Thanks for calling, Dad,” Sydney began. “It makes Lily happy to hear your voice even when you can’t be here. Where are you now, by the way?”
“The CIA has me stationed in Belize for another week, but then I’ll be home to see my two favorite girls.” Jack had been spending more and more time on missions that called for more than a snatch and grab. He had been in Chile for a month, the Congo for six weeks, and Turkey for eleven days already that year, and it was only May.
Sydney could tell that her father was being a little more distant than normal. He was keeping something restrained inside him. “Is something wrong?” she asked, not wanting to delay the inevitable.
“It’s your sister, Sydney.”
Her heart froze at the mention of Nadia. Everyone tried to mention her as little as possible. The situation with her hadn’t gotten any better in the last few months. In fact, it had gotten worse.
Sydney paused in her writing, thinking of how she could tell her daughter about the issues that she had been facing at the time. Obviously, she couldn’t blurt out to Lily that her mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, and all the other various pseudo-aunts and uncles she had were all part of a crazy world of spies. It might be time to tell her that Nadia isn’t alive somewhere in India, but it certainly wasn’t time yet to tell her the whole story of Sydney’s life.
“I wonder if she’d believe that Nadia worked for an evil bank...”
“What is going on with Nadia?”
“She resurfaced a few days ago in Chicago.”
Nadia had been missing, presumed dead, since an altercation she had had with the Chinese government a month earlier. Sydney and her father hadn’t believed for one moment that Nadia had died at the time. So it was no surprise to find her up and kicking.
Since Sark’s funeral, Nadia had begun to distance herself from her family. At the time, the reason why was not clear.
“Now it makes perfect sense,” Sydney muttered as she refilled her glass with more whiskey.
Nadia had been meeting with her father on and off, though at the time no one knew it. It seems that she had finally given up on having any semblance of a normal life. Sydney still wasn’t sure what went on between Sloane and Nadia during these times, but she attributed all the strain in her relationship with her sister to it.
Looking back, Sydney realized that maybe her sister was just crying out for a little attention. She had been so wrapped up in figuring where her life was heading now that Sark was no longer with her that she hadn’t paid any attention to Nadia. She should have been more concerned for her seeing as she had gone through many different upheavals and life-changing events in her few years with the CIA.
“Maybe if I had listened, I could have gotten her a job with the CIA or something more exciting, something to keep her occupied and out of Sloane’s evil grasp.” She set down the empty whiskey glass and took a deep breath. “I really need to stop blaming myself for everything that’s ever gone wrong.”
She picked up the pen and started to write again...
Sydney processed the new information that Nadia was alive and kicking. Finally, she said, “So what?”
“Don’t act like it means nothing to you, Sydney,” her father warned. “We both know what day it is today.”
“I don’t believe the Rambaldi prophecy,” she said firmly.
“Just because you don’t believe it doesn’t mean it might not come to be. Milo Rambaldi has never been wrong when it comes to our family. I admit that for the first few prophecies we found, I was as skeptical as any other man would be, but everything he’s said has come true. You were the woman in the prophecy on Page 47. Even when we tried to prove that wrong, we couldn’t succeed.”
“How were we supposed to know that there are hundreds of mountains named Subasio in that damn country? It was impossible to succeed.”
Jack cleared his throat. “Back to the subject at hand. Milo Rambaldi prophesized that you and your sister would engage in a fatal fight on the fourth anniversary of your life’s meaning. At the time we first encountered it, we had no clue what that meant.”
“That was before Sark died, and you and I both realized that Lily was the only thing I was living for.”
“She’s the meaning to your life, and she’s turning four today, Sydney.”
“So you think Nadia is going to come bursting in here to kill me?” She laughed. “That isn’t even close to being likely. Nadia is a free spirit. She’s not going to do something just because some man who died hundreds of years ago said it would happen. In fact, if I know my sister, she’ll be sure to rebel against the idea.”
“That’s the point. No one really knows your sister. She hasn’t exactly been open to talking about her life before we found her and her connection with Rambaldi.”
“It’s funny how, even though she’s not your daughter by blood, she still inherited your aloofness.”
“You need to stop joking and start getting serious,” Jack warned.
“Listen, Dad. I refuse to live my life in fear. I did that for months after Sark was killed, and it got me nowhere. I’m not going to keep looking over my shoulder for the day Nadia decides it’s time to take the power that Rambaldi unwittingly bestowed upon me.”
Jack could tell when his daughter was getting frustrated. “That’s fine, Sydney. I’ll let you go and celebrate with Lily, then.”
“Thank you.” Sydney sighed, knowing that the best thing to do was just to hang up the phone now. But she knew that wasn’t what she was going to do. “There’s something else, though. You better tell me.”
“The reason I’m in Belize is because your sister has been running her operations with Sloane here. We didn’t recognize it was her at first since she was operating under an alias. I didn’t connect her to it until a few hours ago.”
“Which is the reason why you called in the first place.”
“Yes. You see, the alias has a connection to you, and I thought that might be evidence at first to her still being emotionally tied to you. I think it was meant to upset you and send a message.”
“The only thing that would upset me is if it had something to do with Sark.”
“Well, I don’t think it does. But I think she picked the codename to let you know that she was ready to come after you. She fully intends to carry out the Rambaldi prophecy.”
Sydney was getting a little tired of beating around the bush. “Just tell me the name, Dad.”
“She’s been going by the codename Lotus. Does that mean anything to you?”
“No,” she lied. “I have to go. Lily’s calling me.”
Sydney paused and set the pen down. She remembered the end of that phone call like it was only yesterday. At the time, she had no idea why her sister had selected Lotus as an alias name to work under. It was near impossible for her to know that Nadia had been taunting her inability to save Sark on the day that he died.
She wouldn’t piece together the last bits of the puzzle that started on the day Sark died until a few months after she had her confrontation with Nadia on the day she was currently trying to commit to paper. It was hard to believe that the sister she had grown to love had always been so heartless and cruel. Nadia had done such a good job of pretending otherwise that no one had quite realized what she was capable of until it was too late.
The clock was still getting on her nerves as she realized that the first part of the story had taken her nearly forty-five minutes to write. She was just going to have to accept the fact that she would be getting no sleep that night...
Trying to put the phone call, and her sister in general, out of her head, Sydney went upstairs to get her daughter dressed for the pool. Vaughn was coming by with his daughter to take Lily out for a little birthday swim. Really it was just to get her out of the house so that Sydney could decorate, but the gesture was nice all the same.
She checked the answering machine quickly before going to her daughter’s room. She had really expected Will to call Lily on her birthday, but he hadn’t been the most reliable person in her life for years. Which was ironic, considering he used to be the only reliable person.
“Lily? Are you ready?” she called through the open doorway.
She smiled to herself as her four-year-old daughter hopped out of the closet in a little pink party dress and snow boots. Like a true Bristow, she had a knack for fashion. “Honey, I thought I told you that you were going to the pool with Uncle Mike. I don’t think you’re going to want to get your new dress wet.”
“I wanna!” Lily screamed, putting on her pout face.
“I’m sure you do. But I think there might be something better for you to wear.” Sydney pulled a package out from behind her back. “What is this?”
Sydney grinned at the memory on her daughter’s face as Lily opened up the new bathing suit she had bought her. It had taken her a few months, but on that day, she had finally figured out how to get Lily to wear the correct clothes for the occasion. Simply wrap up the old ones like they’re a new present, and give them to her about fifteen minutes before they are supposed to leave.
Placing the sixth page filled with words on top of all the others, she grabbed a new sheet and skipped ahead to after Lily had left with Vaughn...
The house was a complete disaster zone. She had approximately one hour to clean it up and one hour to decorate before people would start showing up for the party. She poured herself a glass of iced tea and took a survey of the messy living room. With a sigh, she set the glass down on the table by the window and got started.
“Well, I always did best under pressure,” she said, rummaging through the closet for the vacuum.
“You could say that again, sis,” came an all too familiar voice from behind her.
Sydney froze in horror as she realized that her father had been right. Hoping this wouldn’t end the way she thought it might, she turned to her sister. “Nadia. I’m sorry. Lily’s gone to the pool. You’re going to have to wait to wish her a happy birthday.”
“Cut the felgercarb, Syd. You and I both know that I’m not here to wish my niece a happy birthday.”
“Right. If I’m correct, you’re here to kill me?”
“You got it.” Nadia slid a gun out of her coat. “I didn’t really want it to come to this, Sydney.”
“It wouldn’t have had to if you had just stayed hidden. I mean, how can a prophecy come true if I don’t know where you are?”
“I have a feeling that if I didn’t show up today, you would have found yourself taking an unexplained and unexpected trip to Belize. Maybe to see your father for his granddaughter’s birthday?”
“I wouldn’t have done that. If you were watching me as closely as you should have, you should know that I would never take Lily out of this city.”
“Afraid the boogieman is going to come and take her away just like he did your husband?”
Sydney glared at her. “Leave Sark out of this. He has nothing to do with what’s between us.”
“Oh, I think he has everything to do with this situation. Everything.”
She threw the pen down. This was getting progressively harder to do. There was no good way to tell your daughter that you had killed her aunt without a thought to the consequences.
“I think a break is in order,” Sydney said.
She walked across the hall and was pleased to see that Lily was still asleep in her bed. There wasn’t a happier sight in the world than her daughter sleeping soundly without nightmares. Nights like these were few and far between.
Satisfied that Lily was all right, Sydney made her way downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing a drink from the refrigerator. Next she picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.
“Hello?” Will answered groggily.
“Hi,” Sydney said. “I’m sorry to wake you.”
“No problem. Is something wrong with Lily?”
“No, nothing’s wrong.”
“Are you drunk, Syd?”
“Not entirely. God, I wish I was though.”
She could hear him sit up in bed on the other half of the line. “Okay. Tell me what’s going on right now before I feel obligated to hop in my car and break the speed limit getting over to your house.”
“I think that I’m going to have to tell Lily about Nadia’s death soon. So I thought maybe I should write it down. Compose my thoughts a little so I’ll be prepared when she starts asking questions. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Until you started writing it and now all you are is upset.”
“Right.”
“Do you want me to come over and spend the night, Syd?”
“No, there’s no point. I’m going to be up the whole night trying to write this all down anyway.”
“Okay. Just checking. You can call me again later if you’re still upset.”
“Shouldn’t you be too busy with that?” she teased. “I mean, the Will Tippin I know wouldn’t be alone in his bed right now.”
“I’m a pretty pathetic bachelor. Imagine me spending a night alone.”
“Thanks, Will.”
“For what?”
“For coming back to me.”
“Oh now you’re going to make me cry, Syd.”
“Good night,” she said hanging up the phone with a laugh.
Knowing that she hadn’t really needed to call Will, that it was just a product of procrastination, she grabbed her glass and went back upstairs. She quickly reread the word she had written down and tried to think of way she could explain to Lily what happened next...
Sydney’s eyes narrowed at her sister’s obvious job at knowing something she didn’t. “What do you mean this has everything to do with Julian?”
“Oh come on!” Nadia laughed. It scared Sydney. “You honestly haven’t been able to put two and two together. It’s been four years, sis. I would have thought that would be plenty of time.”
“Time for what?”
“Time to realize that I was the one who killed your precious husband.”
Nadia’s words chilled her to the bone even to this day. Remembering them was one of the hardest things she had ever done. Sydney knew that she had to keep going, though, if she wanted to get it all down on paper. Another delay would cause her to stop completely...
“That isn’t possible. You weren’t there that day,” Sydney said. Oblivious to the fact that Nadia still had a gun trained on her, she walked across the room and sat down on the couch.
“Oh, believe me. I was the one who fired the bullet that pierced his heart.” Nadia laughed when she saw her sister begin to cry. “You really had no clue, did you?”
Blinking back the tears, Sydney stood up and walked over to Nadia. “Why the hell did you do it? What was so important that you needed to ruin my life to get it?”
“Funnily enough, it was you. I didn’t want to have to face the tough decision of whether or not I should kill my sister.”
“So you killed her husband instead? That is the worst logic I have ever heard. And the idea that you did it to try to save me is complete bulls***.”
“No, it’s not. I never wanted to have to kill you, Sydney. Since the moment you saved me from the prison, you have been nothing but good to me. When I was little I had always wanted a sister and surprise, surprise, I had one. So naturally I didn’t want to kill you.”
“You got over that one quickly.”
Nadia ignored her comment. “I knew the prophecy said that you and I were going to fight over your life’s meaning, whatever that was. So I figured the only way to avoid that was to get rid of your life’s meaning.”
“You’re trying to tell me that you destroyed my whole life for my sake?”
“Well, when you put it like that.”
Sydney took a break just short enough to pour herself another glass of whiskey. The previous two had begun to wear off, and she knew she needed the buzz. She sat down and got back down to work, praying silently that Lily wouldn’t wake up...
“I really thought I had gotten it right when I decided to hire those men to kill Sark. I had never seen a woman care for a man as much as you did for him. He seemed to be your whole life.” She smirked. “Turns out I got it wrong. It wasn’t him. It was the little brat.”
Nadia pushed the tip of her gun into her sister’s side and forced her down onto the couch. She then took a seat next to her. “You see, I had planned on having them both killed that day. Just to be sure, you know. I hired those men who were supposed to go in and do it.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Don’t you know things never work out that way?”
“I’m learning.” Nadia relaxed the gun a little. She knew that Sydney was too distraught to try anything right then. “The plan was simple. They were supposed to kidnap your daughter and bring her to me. Then, they were to shoot Sark and sent you on your way. Simple as that, I wouldn’t have to kill you down the road.”
“My life would have been destroyed completely.”
“It’s been destroyed numerous times. You would have rebuilt a new one in no time. It was the perfect plan to make sure that you and I never had to do this. But it didn’t work.”
“Because of Sark,” Sydney said finally understanding. “He figured out what was going on long before you expected him to. I think he may have even tried to warn me.”
“I think he did try. Good thing I was watching from above. It gave me a perfect shot to kill him. I was satisfied. I mean, I really didn’t think that Lily was the meaning of your life. Not when you loved that bastard so much.”
“You were wrong,” Sydney said defiantly. She got up and walked over to the window.
“There’s no one there for you to cry out to,” Nadia warned.
Sydney turned and gave her sister a look that sent shivers down Nadia’s spine. “I’m not the one who’s going to need help.”
Nadia had barely any time to react before Sydney had launched herself at her. They ended up on the ground, Sydney straddling her sister with her hands clutched hard around her sister’s throat. Nadia tried without success to break her sister’s tight hold, but it wasn’t working.
Then, for some reason, Sydney’s grip loosened a little. Nadia seized the opening to punch her sister hard in the jaw. The blow sent Sydney sailing off of her and onto the ground. Nadia began to cough as air flooded back into her lungs again.
Her eyes caught on the abandoned glass of tea that Sydney had gotten before this whole thing started. She grabbed the glass and gulped the whole contents down without a thought. The cool liquid felt amazing on her sore throat and neck. “Thanks, sis,” she said throatily.
“No problem,” Sydney said as she got to her feet.
Nadia picked up the gun she had temporarily dropped when Sydney had tackled her and pointed it at her again. “Well, that was a fun little break to the monotony of me killing you.”
She stretched out for a moment, now that she had gotten through most of the hard part. It was strange how in retrospect she found her sister’s confession a lot harder than Nadia’s actual death.
“It’s almost like I knew it was coming. Like it was inevitable,” she said to herself, trying to work this new thought out. “I think I might have believed the Rambaldi prophecy all along. Strange.”
Her eyes locked on the lotus flowers that she had put in a vase next to her bed. They were still a mystery to her.
“A mystery that I don’t have time to figure out right now,” she reminded herself. “Back to writing...”
“One question before we get into this,” Sydney said. “My father told me today that you’ve been going by the codename Lotus. Why?”
“I thought it was a nice throw back to your wedding. Remember the flower I picked out for you to put in your hair?”
Sydney nodded. So, it looked like her sister didn’t actually know the significance of picking the name Lotus. That it was Sark’s favorite flower. That it was Lily’s middle name. “Why would you want to remind me of my wedding?”
“I wasn’t reminding you. I was reminding myself. You and I were happy then. We had a good relationship.”
“That was before you got in too deep with your father. Before you gave up any chance at happiness.”
“I still have a chance.”
“No, you don’t. You never really did. And I’m sorry for that.”
“You’re happy so why can’t I be happy? I mean, at least my life has never been destroyed.”
“Your life was destroyed when you were little and our mother resigned you to being another one of Rambaldi’s pawns. You’ve spent every second since then trying to get back that life. I don’t think it’s possible, Nadia. You need to give up.”
“And you need to stop stalling. No one’s going to whisk in here and save you this time.”
“I don’t need anyone to save me. I can save myself.”
“You don’t have a gun.”
Sydney smirked. “I don’t need a gun.”
At the time, she hadn’t been surprised at her sarcasm and bravery. It always seemed to pop up when the situation got tough. Looking back on it now, she couldn’t understand how she had made it through. She didn’t know how she had found the courage to kill her only sister...
Nadia laughed at her sister as she clicked the safety off the gun. “I thought you would be a little more scared than this. I was even hoping for a few pleas for mercy. You do realize it’s over, Sydney?”
“Oh, it’s been over for a few minutes now.”
Nadia looked at her in confusion, unsure of what that comment was supposed to mean. “You puzzle me, Syd. I don’t know what to--”
Her voice cut off as her throat constricted slowly. She dropped the gun and brought both her hands up to her neck in an unconscious gesture to try to fix the situation.
Sydney summed up all the strength she had to smirk. “You think that I wasn’t ready for you, Nadia? I’m not stupid. I might not believe that Rambaldi was right. I might not have believed that you would actually be stupid enough to show up here expecting to take me down. Hell! I might not have believed that you were actually capable of it. But I wasn’t just going to sit there and let you walk all over me.”
“What did you do?” Nadia managed to choke out.
“I figured that you would be sloppy. I mean, killing your own sister isn’t something that’s easy.” Sydney pulled a jar out of her pocket. “It’s cyanide. My father gave it to me before he left for Belize. He picked it up during his time in the Congo. You know that Africa is just chock full of cassava root. All you have to do is ground a little bit up into a powder and you’re all set. My father was concerned that you’d come after me at the time. I have to remember to thank him.”
Nadia looked at her sister in fear. She couldn’t believe that Sydney didn’t seem affected by this act of murder.
As if reading her mind, Sydney smiled. “I know what you’re wondering. You’re thinking how someone who you thought was inherently good like myself could be capable of doing this to you. Well, I’ll tell you.” She took a seat next to her sister who was still gasping wildly for air. “Losing Sark has changed me quite a bit, Nadia. I had to die a little inside in order to move on with my life. I think I understand why my mother turned out the way she did now.”
Sydney rested her hand for a moment. Taunting Nadia had felt good at the time. She was so mad at her for actually letting Rambaldi control her destiny.
She looked out the window and noticed the sun peeking over the horizon. “Time to finish this thing up...”
Sydney looked down at her sister’s near-lifeless body. “You know, I think that if you had trusted me, we might have been able to avoid this. If you had just shown me the faith that I showed you. I could have helped you.” She pushed the tears that had finally begun to fall out of her eyes. “I’m sorry, Nadia.”
She watched in silence as her sister’s eyes closed and she stopped struggling. It was done.
Sydney could remember standing up and just staring at the scene in front of her for over half an hour. She couldn’t process what she had just done.
Eventually, she pulled it together and called her father. He arranged for a CIA team to come in quietly and remove all traces of Nadia having been to Sydney’s house that day. She was able to clean up and decorate her house before anyone arrived.
No one knew until days later what had gone on that day.
Sydney was staring out the window when she heard a small creak in one of the hall floorboards. She looked up at the doorway to her bedroom and saw her daughter standing there, staring. “Good morning, sunshine.”
“Morning, Mommy.” Lily walked into the room and climbed onto Sydney’s lap. “So what are we going to do today?”
“Anything you want, sweetheart. Anything you want.”
“I’ve put this off too long,” she said. She reached into the desk and took out a stack of blank paper and a pen. Within seconds, the first piece was sitting there ready for her to write on.
The night before, when Lily found that bunch of flowers on their front stoop, Sydney had been thrown off completely. She couldn’t remember a time when she was that confused, excited, and terrified all at the same time. It had taken her all that night and the rest of the next day just to be able to process all the different possibilities this delivery created in her mind.
When she had finished going over the options, she was left with one thing. The understanding that it was soon going to be time to tell Lily what exactly happened to her Aunt Nadia. She had to cover all of her bases.
With a sigh, Sydney picked up the pen and began to write...
The day began with a simple phone call from her father with the pretext of wishing Lily a happy fourth birthday. After Lily had spoken with her grandpa for a bit, she handed the phone back to her mother.
“Thanks for calling, Dad,” Sydney began. “It makes Lily happy to hear your voice even when you can’t be here. Where are you now, by the way?”
“The CIA has me stationed in Belize for another week, but then I’ll be home to see my two favorite girls.” Jack had been spending more and more time on missions that called for more than a snatch and grab. He had been in Chile for a month, the Congo for six weeks, and Turkey for eleven days already that year, and it was only May.
Sydney could tell that her father was being a little more distant than normal. He was keeping something restrained inside him. “Is something wrong?” she asked, not wanting to delay the inevitable.
“It’s your sister, Sydney.”
Her heart froze at the mention of Nadia. Everyone tried to mention her as little as possible. The situation with her hadn’t gotten any better in the last few months. In fact, it had gotten worse.
Sydney paused in her writing, thinking of how she could tell her daughter about the issues that she had been facing at the time. Obviously, she couldn’t blurt out to Lily that her mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, and all the other various pseudo-aunts and uncles she had were all part of a crazy world of spies. It might be time to tell her that Nadia isn’t alive somewhere in India, but it certainly wasn’t time yet to tell her the whole story of Sydney’s life.
“I wonder if she’d believe that Nadia worked for an evil bank...”
“What is going on with Nadia?”
“She resurfaced a few days ago in Chicago.”
Nadia had been missing, presumed dead, since an altercation she had had with the Chinese government a month earlier. Sydney and her father hadn’t believed for one moment that Nadia had died at the time. So it was no surprise to find her up and kicking.
Since Sark’s funeral, Nadia had begun to distance herself from her family. At the time, the reason why was not clear.
“Now it makes perfect sense,” Sydney muttered as she refilled her glass with more whiskey.
Nadia had been meeting with her father on and off, though at the time no one knew it. It seems that she had finally given up on having any semblance of a normal life. Sydney still wasn’t sure what went on between Sloane and Nadia during these times, but she attributed all the strain in her relationship with her sister to it.
Looking back, Sydney realized that maybe her sister was just crying out for a little attention. She had been so wrapped up in figuring where her life was heading now that Sark was no longer with her that she hadn’t paid any attention to Nadia. She should have been more concerned for her seeing as she had gone through many different upheavals and life-changing events in her few years with the CIA.
“Maybe if I had listened, I could have gotten her a job with the CIA or something more exciting, something to keep her occupied and out of Sloane’s evil grasp.” She set down the empty whiskey glass and took a deep breath. “I really need to stop blaming myself for everything that’s ever gone wrong.”
She picked up the pen and started to write again...
Sydney processed the new information that Nadia was alive and kicking. Finally, she said, “So what?”
“Don’t act like it means nothing to you, Sydney,” her father warned. “We both know what day it is today.”
“I don’t believe the Rambaldi prophecy,” she said firmly.
“Just because you don’t believe it doesn’t mean it might not come to be. Milo Rambaldi has never been wrong when it comes to our family. I admit that for the first few prophecies we found, I was as skeptical as any other man would be, but everything he’s said has come true. You were the woman in the prophecy on Page 47. Even when we tried to prove that wrong, we couldn’t succeed.”
“How were we supposed to know that there are hundreds of mountains named Subasio in that damn country? It was impossible to succeed.”
Jack cleared his throat. “Back to the subject at hand. Milo Rambaldi prophesized that you and your sister would engage in a fatal fight on the fourth anniversary of your life’s meaning. At the time we first encountered it, we had no clue what that meant.”
“That was before Sark died, and you and I both realized that Lily was the only thing I was living for.”
“She’s the meaning to your life, and she’s turning four today, Sydney.”
“So you think Nadia is going to come bursting in here to kill me?” She laughed. “That isn’t even close to being likely. Nadia is a free spirit. She’s not going to do something just because some man who died hundreds of years ago said it would happen. In fact, if I know my sister, she’ll be sure to rebel against the idea.”
“That’s the point. No one really knows your sister. She hasn’t exactly been open to talking about her life before we found her and her connection with Rambaldi.”
“It’s funny how, even though she’s not your daughter by blood, she still inherited your aloofness.”
“You need to stop joking and start getting serious,” Jack warned.
“Listen, Dad. I refuse to live my life in fear. I did that for months after Sark was killed, and it got me nowhere. I’m not going to keep looking over my shoulder for the day Nadia decides it’s time to take the power that Rambaldi unwittingly bestowed upon me.”
Jack could tell when his daughter was getting frustrated. “That’s fine, Sydney. I’ll let you go and celebrate with Lily, then.”
“Thank you.” Sydney sighed, knowing that the best thing to do was just to hang up the phone now. But she knew that wasn’t what she was going to do. “There’s something else, though. You better tell me.”
“The reason I’m in Belize is because your sister has been running her operations with Sloane here. We didn’t recognize it was her at first since she was operating under an alias. I didn’t connect her to it until a few hours ago.”
“Which is the reason why you called in the first place.”
“Yes. You see, the alias has a connection to you, and I thought that might be evidence at first to her still being emotionally tied to you. I think it was meant to upset you and send a message.”
“The only thing that would upset me is if it had something to do with Sark.”
“Well, I don’t think it does. But I think she picked the codename to let you know that she was ready to come after you. She fully intends to carry out the Rambaldi prophecy.”
Sydney was getting a little tired of beating around the bush. “Just tell me the name, Dad.”
“She’s been going by the codename Lotus. Does that mean anything to you?”
“No,” she lied. “I have to go. Lily’s calling me.”
Sydney paused and set the pen down. She remembered the end of that phone call like it was only yesterday. At the time, she had no idea why her sister had selected Lotus as an alias name to work under. It was near impossible for her to know that Nadia had been taunting her inability to save Sark on the day that he died.
She wouldn’t piece together the last bits of the puzzle that started on the day Sark died until a few months after she had her confrontation with Nadia on the day she was currently trying to commit to paper. It was hard to believe that the sister she had grown to love had always been so heartless and cruel. Nadia had done such a good job of pretending otherwise that no one had quite realized what she was capable of until it was too late.
The clock was still getting on her nerves as she realized that the first part of the story had taken her nearly forty-five minutes to write. She was just going to have to accept the fact that she would be getting no sleep that night...
Trying to put the phone call, and her sister in general, out of her head, Sydney went upstairs to get her daughter dressed for the pool. Vaughn was coming by with his daughter to take Lily out for a little birthday swim. Really it was just to get her out of the house so that Sydney could decorate, but the gesture was nice all the same.
She checked the answering machine quickly before going to her daughter’s room. She had really expected Will to call Lily on her birthday, but he hadn’t been the most reliable person in her life for years. Which was ironic, considering he used to be the only reliable person.
“Lily? Are you ready?” she called through the open doorway.
She smiled to herself as her four-year-old daughter hopped out of the closet in a little pink party dress and snow boots. Like a true Bristow, she had a knack for fashion. “Honey, I thought I told you that you were going to the pool with Uncle Mike. I don’t think you’re going to want to get your new dress wet.”
“I wanna!” Lily screamed, putting on her pout face.
“I’m sure you do. But I think there might be something better for you to wear.” Sydney pulled a package out from behind her back. “What is this?”
Sydney grinned at the memory on her daughter’s face as Lily opened up the new bathing suit she had bought her. It had taken her a few months, but on that day, she had finally figured out how to get Lily to wear the correct clothes for the occasion. Simply wrap up the old ones like they’re a new present, and give them to her about fifteen minutes before they are supposed to leave.
Placing the sixth page filled with words on top of all the others, she grabbed a new sheet and skipped ahead to after Lily had left with Vaughn...
The house was a complete disaster zone. She had approximately one hour to clean it up and one hour to decorate before people would start showing up for the party. She poured herself a glass of iced tea and took a survey of the messy living room. With a sigh, she set the glass down on the table by the window and got started.
“Well, I always did best under pressure,” she said, rummaging through the closet for the vacuum.
“You could say that again, sis,” came an all too familiar voice from behind her.
Sydney froze in horror as she realized that her father had been right. Hoping this wouldn’t end the way she thought it might, she turned to her sister. “Nadia. I’m sorry. Lily’s gone to the pool. You’re going to have to wait to wish her a happy birthday.”
“Cut the felgercarb, Syd. You and I both know that I’m not here to wish my niece a happy birthday.”
“Right. If I’m correct, you’re here to kill me?”
“You got it.” Nadia slid a gun out of her coat. “I didn’t really want it to come to this, Sydney.”
“It wouldn’t have had to if you had just stayed hidden. I mean, how can a prophecy come true if I don’t know where you are?”
“I have a feeling that if I didn’t show up today, you would have found yourself taking an unexplained and unexpected trip to Belize. Maybe to see your father for his granddaughter’s birthday?”
“I wouldn’t have done that. If you were watching me as closely as you should have, you should know that I would never take Lily out of this city.”
“Afraid the boogieman is going to come and take her away just like he did your husband?”
Sydney glared at her. “Leave Sark out of this. He has nothing to do with what’s between us.”
“Oh, I think he has everything to do with this situation. Everything.”
She threw the pen down. This was getting progressively harder to do. There was no good way to tell your daughter that you had killed her aunt without a thought to the consequences.
“I think a break is in order,” Sydney said.
She walked across the hall and was pleased to see that Lily was still asleep in her bed. There wasn’t a happier sight in the world than her daughter sleeping soundly without nightmares. Nights like these were few and far between.
Satisfied that Lily was all right, Sydney made her way downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing a drink from the refrigerator. Next she picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.
“Hello?” Will answered groggily.
“Hi,” Sydney said. “I’m sorry to wake you.”
“No problem. Is something wrong with Lily?”
“No, nothing’s wrong.”
“Are you drunk, Syd?”
“Not entirely. God, I wish I was though.”
She could hear him sit up in bed on the other half of the line. “Okay. Tell me what’s going on right now before I feel obligated to hop in my car and break the speed limit getting over to your house.”
“I think that I’m going to have to tell Lily about Nadia’s death soon. So I thought maybe I should write it down. Compose my thoughts a little so I’ll be prepared when she starts asking questions. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Until you started writing it and now all you are is upset.”
“Right.”
“Do you want me to come over and spend the night, Syd?”
“No, there’s no point. I’m going to be up the whole night trying to write this all down anyway.”
“Okay. Just checking. You can call me again later if you’re still upset.”
“Shouldn’t you be too busy with that?” she teased. “I mean, the Will Tippin I know wouldn’t be alone in his bed right now.”
“I’m a pretty pathetic bachelor. Imagine me spending a night alone.”
“Thanks, Will.”
“For what?”
“For coming back to me.”
“Oh now you’re going to make me cry, Syd.”
“Good night,” she said hanging up the phone with a laugh.
Knowing that she hadn’t really needed to call Will, that it was just a product of procrastination, she grabbed her glass and went back upstairs. She quickly reread the word she had written down and tried to think of way she could explain to Lily what happened next...
Sydney’s eyes narrowed at her sister’s obvious job at knowing something she didn’t. “What do you mean this has everything to do with Julian?”
“Oh come on!” Nadia laughed. It scared Sydney. “You honestly haven’t been able to put two and two together. It’s been four years, sis. I would have thought that would be plenty of time.”
“Time for what?”
“Time to realize that I was the one who killed your precious husband.”
Nadia’s words chilled her to the bone even to this day. Remembering them was one of the hardest things she had ever done. Sydney knew that she had to keep going, though, if she wanted to get it all down on paper. Another delay would cause her to stop completely...
“That isn’t possible. You weren’t there that day,” Sydney said. Oblivious to the fact that Nadia still had a gun trained on her, she walked across the room and sat down on the couch.
“Oh, believe me. I was the one who fired the bullet that pierced his heart.” Nadia laughed when she saw her sister begin to cry. “You really had no clue, did you?”
Blinking back the tears, Sydney stood up and walked over to Nadia. “Why the hell did you do it? What was so important that you needed to ruin my life to get it?”
“Funnily enough, it was you. I didn’t want to have to face the tough decision of whether or not I should kill my sister.”
“So you killed her husband instead? That is the worst logic I have ever heard. And the idea that you did it to try to save me is complete bulls***.”
“No, it’s not. I never wanted to have to kill you, Sydney. Since the moment you saved me from the prison, you have been nothing but good to me. When I was little I had always wanted a sister and surprise, surprise, I had one. So naturally I didn’t want to kill you.”
“You got over that one quickly.”
Nadia ignored her comment. “I knew the prophecy said that you and I were going to fight over your life’s meaning, whatever that was. So I figured the only way to avoid that was to get rid of your life’s meaning.”
“You’re trying to tell me that you destroyed my whole life for my sake?”
“Well, when you put it like that.”
Sydney took a break just short enough to pour herself another glass of whiskey. The previous two had begun to wear off, and she knew she needed the buzz. She sat down and got back down to work, praying silently that Lily wouldn’t wake up...
“I really thought I had gotten it right when I decided to hire those men to kill Sark. I had never seen a woman care for a man as much as you did for him. He seemed to be your whole life.” She smirked. “Turns out I got it wrong. It wasn’t him. It was the little brat.”
Nadia pushed the tip of her gun into her sister’s side and forced her down onto the couch. She then took a seat next to her. “You see, I had planned on having them both killed that day. Just to be sure, you know. I hired those men who were supposed to go in and do it.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Don’t you know things never work out that way?”
“I’m learning.” Nadia relaxed the gun a little. She knew that Sydney was too distraught to try anything right then. “The plan was simple. They were supposed to kidnap your daughter and bring her to me. Then, they were to shoot Sark and sent you on your way. Simple as that, I wouldn’t have to kill you down the road.”
“My life would have been destroyed completely.”
“It’s been destroyed numerous times. You would have rebuilt a new one in no time. It was the perfect plan to make sure that you and I never had to do this. But it didn’t work.”
“Because of Sark,” Sydney said finally understanding. “He figured out what was going on long before you expected him to. I think he may have even tried to warn me.”
“I think he did try. Good thing I was watching from above. It gave me a perfect shot to kill him. I was satisfied. I mean, I really didn’t think that Lily was the meaning of your life. Not when you loved that bastard so much.”
“You were wrong,” Sydney said defiantly. She got up and walked over to the window.
“There’s no one there for you to cry out to,” Nadia warned.
Sydney turned and gave her sister a look that sent shivers down Nadia’s spine. “I’m not the one who’s going to need help.”
Nadia had barely any time to react before Sydney had launched herself at her. They ended up on the ground, Sydney straddling her sister with her hands clutched hard around her sister’s throat. Nadia tried without success to break her sister’s tight hold, but it wasn’t working.
Then, for some reason, Sydney’s grip loosened a little. Nadia seized the opening to punch her sister hard in the jaw. The blow sent Sydney sailing off of her and onto the ground. Nadia began to cough as air flooded back into her lungs again.
Her eyes caught on the abandoned glass of tea that Sydney had gotten before this whole thing started. She grabbed the glass and gulped the whole contents down without a thought. The cool liquid felt amazing on her sore throat and neck. “Thanks, sis,” she said throatily.
“No problem,” Sydney said as she got to her feet.
Nadia picked up the gun she had temporarily dropped when Sydney had tackled her and pointed it at her again. “Well, that was a fun little break to the monotony of me killing you.”
She stretched out for a moment, now that she had gotten through most of the hard part. It was strange how in retrospect she found her sister’s confession a lot harder than Nadia’s actual death.
“It’s almost like I knew it was coming. Like it was inevitable,” she said to herself, trying to work this new thought out. “I think I might have believed the Rambaldi prophecy all along. Strange.”
Her eyes locked on the lotus flowers that she had put in a vase next to her bed. They were still a mystery to her.
“A mystery that I don’t have time to figure out right now,” she reminded herself. “Back to writing...”
“One question before we get into this,” Sydney said. “My father told me today that you’ve been going by the codename Lotus. Why?”
“I thought it was a nice throw back to your wedding. Remember the flower I picked out for you to put in your hair?”
Sydney nodded. So, it looked like her sister didn’t actually know the significance of picking the name Lotus. That it was Sark’s favorite flower. That it was Lily’s middle name. “Why would you want to remind me of my wedding?”
“I wasn’t reminding you. I was reminding myself. You and I were happy then. We had a good relationship.”
“That was before you got in too deep with your father. Before you gave up any chance at happiness.”
“I still have a chance.”
“No, you don’t. You never really did. And I’m sorry for that.”
“You’re happy so why can’t I be happy? I mean, at least my life has never been destroyed.”
“Your life was destroyed when you were little and our mother resigned you to being another one of Rambaldi’s pawns. You’ve spent every second since then trying to get back that life. I don’t think it’s possible, Nadia. You need to give up.”
“And you need to stop stalling. No one’s going to whisk in here and save you this time.”
“I don’t need anyone to save me. I can save myself.”
“You don’t have a gun.”
Sydney smirked. “I don’t need a gun.”
At the time, she hadn’t been surprised at her sarcasm and bravery. It always seemed to pop up when the situation got tough. Looking back on it now, she couldn’t understand how she had made it through. She didn’t know how she had found the courage to kill her only sister...
Nadia laughed at her sister as she clicked the safety off the gun. “I thought you would be a little more scared than this. I was even hoping for a few pleas for mercy. You do realize it’s over, Sydney?”
“Oh, it’s been over for a few minutes now.”
Nadia looked at her in confusion, unsure of what that comment was supposed to mean. “You puzzle me, Syd. I don’t know what to--”
Her voice cut off as her throat constricted slowly. She dropped the gun and brought both her hands up to her neck in an unconscious gesture to try to fix the situation.
Sydney summed up all the strength she had to smirk. “You think that I wasn’t ready for you, Nadia? I’m not stupid. I might not believe that Rambaldi was right. I might not have believed that you would actually be stupid enough to show up here expecting to take me down. Hell! I might not have believed that you were actually capable of it. But I wasn’t just going to sit there and let you walk all over me.”
“What did you do?” Nadia managed to choke out.
“I figured that you would be sloppy. I mean, killing your own sister isn’t something that’s easy.” Sydney pulled a jar out of her pocket. “It’s cyanide. My father gave it to me before he left for Belize. He picked it up during his time in the Congo. You know that Africa is just chock full of cassava root. All you have to do is ground a little bit up into a powder and you’re all set. My father was concerned that you’d come after me at the time. I have to remember to thank him.”
Nadia looked at her sister in fear. She couldn’t believe that Sydney didn’t seem affected by this act of murder.
As if reading her mind, Sydney smiled. “I know what you’re wondering. You’re thinking how someone who you thought was inherently good like myself could be capable of doing this to you. Well, I’ll tell you.” She took a seat next to her sister who was still gasping wildly for air. “Losing Sark has changed me quite a bit, Nadia. I had to die a little inside in order to move on with my life. I think I understand why my mother turned out the way she did now.”
Sydney rested her hand for a moment. Taunting Nadia had felt good at the time. She was so mad at her for actually letting Rambaldi control her destiny.
She looked out the window and noticed the sun peeking over the horizon. “Time to finish this thing up...”
Sydney looked down at her sister’s near-lifeless body. “You know, I think that if you had trusted me, we might have been able to avoid this. If you had just shown me the faith that I showed you. I could have helped you.” She pushed the tears that had finally begun to fall out of her eyes. “I’m sorry, Nadia.”
She watched in silence as her sister’s eyes closed and she stopped struggling. It was done.
Sydney could remember standing up and just staring at the scene in front of her for over half an hour. She couldn’t process what she had just done.
Eventually, she pulled it together and called her father. He arranged for a CIA team to come in quietly and remove all traces of Nadia having been to Sydney’s house that day. She was able to clean up and decorate her house before anyone arrived.
No one knew until days later what had gone on that day.
Sydney was staring out the window when she heard a small creak in one of the hall floorboards. She looked up at the doorway to her bedroom and saw her daughter standing there, staring. “Good morning, sunshine.”
“Morning, Mommy.” Lily walked into the room and climbed onto Sydney’s lap. “So what are we going to do today?”
“Anything you want, sweetheart. Anything you want.”
:mellow: 
:money: 
:king: :kissme: 
:run: 
