Haunting Memories

Author's Note: I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever. School's gotten really busy for me, and I barely have time to breathe, let alone write for fun... Enjoy the new stuff and I hope you haven't forgotten the old!

Chapter Twenty Four

Sydney pulled her arms tightly against her body as she wandered down the snowy streets of Moscow. She had been to many cold places in her time working as a secret agent for both SD-6 and the CIA, but this was ridiculous. Her breath was practically freezing in the air in front of her face, and snow was continually blowing into her face, making it impossible to see more than two inches in front of her face. She had determined this whole situation was a little ridiculous, but there weren’t many other options to go with.

Vaughn had been conscious for over two weeks now, and still no one really knew why what had happened to him happened. There were no leads, no further investigation. They had nothing to go on except for the man in question’s crazy theory about his deceased ex-wife. Nothing really promising there.

Which served as the half-explanation why she was willing to wander from street to street on the coldest day in Russian history, waiting for her contact to greet her.

“Contact,” she muttered to herself with a laugh. That was almost funny.

Meeting up with Peter Connelly, Sark’s old mentor and father figure, was incredibly ironic, bordering on completely insane.

Sark was the one who had come up with idea the night before when she was telling him how frustrated she was by the CIA’s lack of forward motion on discovering more information about Vaughn’s illness. He explained that the reappearance of Connelly in his life couldn’t be coincidence. Maybe during his two missing years, he had gotten into contact with the man who had taught him almost everything.

“It made sense,” Sydney thought as she paused at a street crossing. If Sark had decided that she needed to be killed, he would only want the best helping him meet his objective. And obviously, the man who had trained him could be placed in that category.

“Hello, Ms. Bristow,” said a deep, male voice from behind her in Russian.

She turned to see a fairly attractive man with eyes that irritated her skin. There was something inherently creepy about the way they bored right into her and made her feel like she was standing in front of him naked and not in ten layers of clothing. He was a few inches shorter than her but made up for it in the large presence he had. She would have written him off as another guy hitting on her while she was on the job if he hadn’t addressed her rather directly by name.

“How do you know me?” she asked back in Russian, still looking him over in an attempt to figure out more information on who he was without actually having to ask him for it.

The man switched to English. Sydney immediately noted the slight British accent present in his voice. “I met you in Korea. You were trying to steal my warheads.”

Sydney was proud to find herself stifling the gasp which was on the tip of her tongue. “Peter Connelly?”

“Yes, Sydney. Can I call you Sydney? I hate these stupid formalities we have to go through in the field.”

“You can call me Sydney. But I want to let you know that charm doesn’t go very far with me. I need information.”

“Right to the point. No wonder Julian chose you.”

She almost let loose the huge smile when he said those words. So, there was a connection between Sark’s decision to have her killed three years ago and what’s happening to the people she loved now. “Chose me?” she asked, playing dumb.

“For his lover.”

Her heart sank. Connelly was just talking about her personal life. This had nothing to do with Vaughn and absolutely nothing to do with Sark‘s motivation for joining the Covenant. At least it had nothing to do with those things that she could see up front. “I figured it was more like I chose him.”

“Maybe you chose each other.”

“Why the hell are we talking about this on a cold street corner in Moscow?” she asked shrewdly.

“Excuse me, Sydney. My car is a block away. It has a wonderful heating system.”

Nodding, she followed him in silence as he led them down the street and into the car. When they had both climbed inside and relaxed slightly, he let out a large sigh. “That’s so much better.”

“Let’s get down to business.”

“Yes. What is your business with me?”

“I need information. Did Julian contact you three years ago to discuss the subject of eliminating me?”

“You go right for the jugular. A trait to be admired.” Connelly looked her over. “Nice costume by the way.”

Sydney unconsciously adjusted the ends of the small blond wig which were sticking out from underneath the extremely warm hat. “The same could be said of you. I really thought you were balding when we met in Korea. Makes me wonder if maybe you’re still in costume.”

Connelly laughed. “Would you like to feel my hair? Or will you take my word that it’s real? That I’m real? Because I didn’t show up in any sort of disguise. I want you to trust me, Sydney.”

“Why?”

“Because your trust can come in handy down the line.”

Sydney glared at him. “Let’s get one thing straight right now. I am not going to give you my trust, and I am not going to be indebted to you. You’re going to tell me what I want to know because that’s the only way you can insure I won’t kill you.”

“Oh you won’t kill me, Sydney. You need me.”

“Do I? Because all you’ve been giving me so far is some unwanted flirting and banter that I could get from home. I need information. I don’t need you.”

Connelly began to smile that large, wicked grin that Sydney had already begun to hate. “Yes. You are a spitfire. Just like your mother.”

This time, her glare turned into a rolling of the eyes. “If you think invoking my mother’s name is going to get you any farther, you are wrong. Every one I encounter in the field says that I’m just like my mother. I don’t know if it’s supposed to make me feel closer to them. Perhaps they use her in an attempt to gain my trust. Or maybe they just want to unsettle me a little so that they can gain the advantage. Either way, it doesn’t work. I just get pissed off.” She leaned in close to his ear, pressed the gun she had pulled into her hand a moment ago against his side, and whispered, “In case you didn’t pick up on it, I’m very, very pissed off right now. Talk, Connelly.”

“Now, now, Sydney. There’s no need to bring firearms into this situation.”

“I think there is a need,” she said, although she did ease back and pulled the gun away from him and down to her side in a relaxed position that still offered her the ability to shoot him with ease.

Peter Connelly stared at her for a moment before saying, “Sark did hire me to help him with his little situation.”

“Why? What exactly was the situation?”

“You two really don’t know anything about what went down.”

She groaned. “We were making progress there for a moment. You were talking. I was resisting the urge to kill you on the spot. Why did you have to screw it up?”

“I’m sorry. I just find this whole thing so intriguing. What happened to make you forget all that?”

Here eyes locked with him, and it was her lips that spread into a wicked grin this time. “There’s something you don’t know either, I take it. Because it was never really a secret why Julian and I don’t remember the events leading up to our work together for the Covenant. But obviously, a man of your stature isn’t privy to that kind of information. It’s sad, really. I thought you might be a little more of a player in this game. Obviously, I was wrong.”

“I suggest a little information exchange. I tell you what you want to know, and you satisfy my curiosity.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Agreed. Start talking.”

“Julian contacted me with an offer. I help him move himself up the hierarchy of spies, gain more power, get more say in what’s happening in the world, and he would make sure that I wasn’t bothered for the rest of my life. I’m getting old, in case you didn’t notice. It’s time for me to bow out with grace and dignity and let the younger kids take over.”

“And you have Sark, your little protégé, to carry on with the good fight.”

“Exactly. I trained him for years just for that moment. So, naturally, I agreed. When he explained that all he needed from me was help in killing one spy, a woman, an American, I practically laughed in his face. The trade he proposed was far from fair.” Connelly turned purposefully so that he could look her in the eye. “I’ll admit I wasn’t familiar with your work at the time. If I had been, I would have realized that the short end of the stick was on my half and not his.”

“So, how did you help him?”

“I convinced him that the only way to kill you was to first gain your trust.”

“That’s the first thing we learn when studying how to get into a mercenary’s mind. Tell me something I don’t know, Connelly.”

“You can call me Peter.”

“I don’t want to,” she said, continuing to scowl at him.

“Okay then. We’ll just move on. Julian told me everything he knew about you. It took a long time since the boy seemed to be such a great fan of you. Not only did he know about every mission you had ever gone on with any of the agencies you worked with, he also knew every single detail of your personal life, right down to the way you eat a sandwich. That was what gave me the idea on how to gain your trust. I told Julian that all he had to do was convince you that he was secretly in love with you.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Her cool demeanor was beginning to falter. Sydney couldn’t understand why her romantic relationship with Sark had anything to do with his motives. They hadn’t even gotten involved with one another until both of them were submerged in the Covenant with no way of getting out. Connelly wasn’t making any sense.

“Doesn’t it make sense? I would have thought you’d be quicker to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Maybe I have overestimated you.” He waited for her snappy comeback and was disappointed when she just stared at him. “The boy was already halfway to love at that point, and he hadn’t even spent that much time in the field with you. I figured if anything was going to shape him into the super spy that I needed him to be, it would be killing the woman he loved.”

“There’s always the death of the woman the man loved in the stories,” Sydney volunteered. “That’s nothing new. What I don’t see is what went wrong in our particular situation. He did love me. I’m not going to doubt that, no matter how much I think you want me to. But he didn’t kill me. He didn’t even try.”

“No. He didn’t. The only thing I can think of is maybe he figured it was more beneficial to keep you alive for a bit. I don’t doubt that he was going to kill you at some point. But somehow you found a way out of the Covenant and his clutches. You were a worthy adversary.”

“So my escaping the Covenant was the only reason he didn’t kill me?”

“I have known Julian since he was little. He doesn’t let his emotions get in the way of his job. It’s what makes him so good. When Julian sets his mind to something, nothing and no one can deter him from that objective.”

“What you’re telling me makes no sense.” She shook her head at him in disbelief. Never in a million years had she thought this would be the information that Connelly had for her.

“Sydney, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but I really don’t think Julian ever decided to not kill you. He’s just biding his time until the situation arises where he can get away with it. That was why I wanted to gain your trust before getting into the nitty gritty. I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

The words stung her to her core. It was something she had always been afraid of, a nagging fear in the back of her mind. A little voice whispered to her every morning before she was fully awake that she was stupid to let Sark that close. The man was a cold-hearted killer once, and things like that don‘t change easily. “You’re trying to tell me that he’s still trying to kill me even as we speak?”

“Let me ask you this. Has he tried to make a lasting commitment with you?”

“Yes,” she said, defiantly, sure that he was expecting her to say no.

He nodded. “Then you are really in trouble. Commitment makes an agent sloppy. Forgetting what their job is and the dangers it entails is the quickest way to get you killed. He’s distracting you with everything he has. Has he started to attack your friends and family? I don’t mean outright. But has there been weird unexplained occurrences involving the people you care about?”

Sydney’s mind flew to Vaughn. It made sense. If Sark was trying to kill her, hurting Vaughn would keep her distracted enough to finish her off.

The problem with that was, somehow, even though they had that rich history between one another, she could no longer picture Sark hurting Vaughn. Somewhere, somehow, they had developed respect for each other. Mostly she thought that it was due to her presence in both their lives, but now she wasn’t sure. Sark could just be calculating that his reformation into one of the good guys would keep her guard down, making it easier for him to complete what he had started three years earlier.

“Now, I have shared some information with you, given you my trust. I would like to see something in return.”

She wiped the tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes away as quickly as possible. “You wanted to know why Julian and I don’t remember the specifics about his position in the Covenant during the time I went missing? Well, obviously, I didn’t know because it seems he’s been hiding anything and everything from me. Skilled killers never let their victims in on their plans, you know.”

Connelly nodded in agreement. “The movies get that wrong every time. Telling people too much information is a juvenile mistake that no one makes anymore.”

“So, obviously, the reason I’m in the dark is because Sark has kept me there.”

“I did know that,” Connelly agreed.

“So, now all you want to know is why Sark is so confused by his newly materialized motives.” Sydney wiped another set of tears away. The absurdity of the situation made her spit out a small laugh. She had just found out that the man she loved had planned on killing her and still intended to kill her, and all the person brave enough to tell her the truth wanted in return was to know why Sark wasn‘t carrying through with his plans.

Taking a deep breath, she prepared to answer Connelly. “He told me that we both needed to get our memories of our time together erased. He said that it was the only way to protect ourselves and the ones we loved. So he took me to some specialist he knew in Zurich. I guess that was all a sham, too?”

“No, I think he really did have his memory erased. He must have let something slip when he was with you. Given you some sort of hint to what he was planning on doing. The Julian I know would go to any lengths to meet an objective he had set.”

“Even erasing his memories?”

“He only erased up until the point where you two worked together in the Covenant. He still remembered his objective to terminate you.” Connelly watched her face pale as she realized that he was right. “What? You object to my using of that word?”

“It’s so cold,” she managed to spit out in his general direction. Her mind was racing with the possibilities that Connelly’s words created. If Julian had intended to stop himself from killing her, he would have erased his memories back far enough to do just that. Somewhere inside of him, he chose not to give up his decision to kill her. “Terminate is a brutal word, Connelly.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “You need to accept that that’s how he thinks of you. Cold and detached. You‘re really nothing to him except another mission to carry out.”

Sydney’s face lit up in realization and pain as the tears continued to pool in her eyes. “He did say something odd to me right before we got into the car accident on my last mission working with the Covenant. I asked him if he was mad that I had been working with the CIA during the last part of our partnership. He told me that in the end it didn’t matter. At the time, I chalked it up to him saying that he had faith in what was between us. But, come to think of it, after that moment, he was a little distant.”

“Almost like he was measuring you?”

“Exactly like that.” Sydney let a new round of tears out, this time not stopping them as they fell down her cheek. “I can’t believe that Julian would do something like this.”

“He would, and he is. You need to be careful, Miss Bristow.” Connelly leaned across her and pulled the handle that opened the door. “It’s a cold, cruel world out there.”

“That’s it? You’re kicking me out? There’s so much more I need you to tell me.” She was in complete shock that he wanted her gone.

“I’ve said too much already,” he explained. “I don’t want you to get overloaded with all this new information. You need to stay focus if you’re going to stay alive.”

“Because he’s still trying to kill me,” she said out loud, mostly to remind herself. She stepped out of the car and turned to look back at Connelly through the open door. “Do you think he ever really loved me?”

Connelly grabbed the handle of the door. “Honestly?”

She nodded.

“No,” he said softly before shutting the door.

That final word made her last few defenses break down, and she sunk down onto the snow-covered ground. Hiding her face in her hands, she let the sobs take over. She could feel Connelly’s eyes watching her as his car sat for a moment before speeding away. She let herself cry for a few more moments before pulling herself together and standing up.

She watched as the car disappeared in the far horizon, knowing how dejected and pitiful she must look to him. Unable to help it, she felt her mouth twitch up in a slight grin.

“Obviously he underestimated you, love,” Sark said, stepping out from the doorway of the building behind her.

After brushing the snow she picked up on herself when she had sunk to the ground a few seconds earlier, Sydney pulled the ear piece out of her ear and tossed it to him. “The bastard lied to me, Julian.”

“You lied to him, too. I never said that you’re working for the CIA didn’t matter to me. I was bloody pissed off at you for going behind my back.”

“Yeah. But the lie, in addition to the broken heart and the crying, helped sell my story.” She pulled her hat and wig off in one motion, which also released the bobby pin that had been holding her real hair down. Separating the two, she dropped the wig onto the ground and placed the hat back onto her head. “Those wigs are itchy. I really need to talk to wardrobe about that.” She slipped her arm into his and started walking down the street. “So how much of that do you think was true?”

“A good portion. He had to use the truth to make it convincing. I think that I might have gone to him at some point for help in eliminating you as a way of getting into a better standing in the spy world. It sounds like something I would do.”

“So you think he told you to get me to fall in love with you so that my guard would be down and you could kill me?”

“It was a good plan. Too bad he didn’t think about its one weakness.”

Sydney leaned her head against his shoulder as they continued walking. “And what would that be?”

“The fact that I wasn’t supposed to give into to any sort of feeling I had for you. Knowing what I know now, that’s the most impossible thing to do. He might have thought I was half in love with you when we started this little endeavor, but he didn’t realize what a stupid thing it would be to let me go the other half of the way. I mean, even if he didn‘t know what a great spy you were, you have several attributes that a man couldn’t resist like the legs that go on for miles and the stunning ability to respond to anything with a sarcastic comment. ”

“Aw. I think you were actually being sweet to me there for a moment.”

He smiled at her. “Don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t.”

“Speaking of not telling anyone, I think your father is the only one who knows about our engagement.”

“Yeah. I’ve been dreading telling anyone else. They’re just starting to get used to the fact that you’re a big fixture in my life. I’m trying to ease them into it.”

“You have to tell them eventually.”

She lifted her head up and looked him in the eyes. “I know. I think it’s best to wait until we’re sure that you’re not still trying to kill me.”

Sark smirked at her and shrugged. “It’s only fair.”
 
Phew! That was a panicking chapter!

I wonder where Syd and Sark go from there though.. do they keep digging?

Thanks for the PM. Update soon! :smiley:
 
Wowie! That was a chapter I had to read more then once, just to understand it (english is not my first language) Sydney lied to Connely?! Still confused but I do love it! :D PM me next time you update!!!! :lol:
 
Chapter Twenty-Five

Vaughn sighed and pushed the food on his plate back and forth. His mind was obviously elsewhere.

“Earth to Michael Vaughn,” Weiss said, waving his hand in front of Vaughn’s face. “What is wrong with you? You just got cleared to leave the hospital today. You should be practically jumping for joy and enjoying every aspect of the free life.”

Vaughn’s expression shifted from blankness to concern. “Have you noticed something different with Sydney lately?”

“It always comes back to her, doesn’t it?” Weiss shook his head. Sydney had come to visit Vaughn in the hospital every day for weeks except for one about two weeks ago. She had seemed preoccupied most of the time, but that was nothing new when you thought about the context of her life. “No. Haven’t noticed a thing.”

“She keeps acting like there’s something she doesn’t want me to know. I think it has something to do with Sark.”

“That’s what you always say,” Weiss pointed out.

“I’m usually right.” Vaughn took a bite of the pasta in front of him. His face scrunched up in agony. “Oh god, this stuff is awful. Why is this junk the first meal I end up with once I finally escaped the dreaded hospital meals?”

“I thought you would enjoy a new restaurant.”

“I would. If it was a good one, that is.” Vaughn sighed, threw his fork down, and leaned back in his chair. “I can’t get past the idea that Syd would hide something from me. I know she’s done it in the past. But she knows how confused I am about everything since this whole memory alteration thing. I don’t know why she would be putting me through this.”

“Why don’t you ask her that yourself?” Weiss said, standing up.

Vaughn looked over his shoulder and saw Sydney approaching. When she recognized them, she gave a quick wave and jogged across the street to join them. “You’re looking well,” she teased as she sat down in the empty chair next to Vaughn. “I think it’s the real clothes. That hospital gown did nothing for your complexion.”

When her stupid joke got no response, she frowned. “Okay, boys. What is going on?”

“Vaughn has a question for you,” Weiss said, snickering as Vaughn shot him a dirty look. He merely shrugged his shoulders and feigned ignorance.

Sydney turned to him expectantly. “I’m worried that you’re hiding something, that’s all,” he explained.

“I’m always hiding something,” she said, unconsciously agreeing with one of Vaughn’s earlier statements. Realizing that he probably wouldn‘t let up on the verbal badgering until he had a definite answer, she continued, “I know that you probably shouldn’t know this and that you probably already do, but the CIA hasn’t really been getting anywhere when it comes to figuring out what happened to you.”

“So you took it into your own hands,” he finished for her.

“Unofficially, yes, I did what I had to in order to get information.”

Vaughn nodded. “So what did you find?”

“The contact I saw said that it had something to do with my relationship with Julian.” She was surprised when both men just nodded and neither said any sort of ‘I told you so’ type comment. “He thought that Sark would get at you, Vaughn, to hurt me.”

“You don’t buy that,” Weiss stated-matter-of-factly.

“Of course not. I think there might be a partial truth to it, though. I mean, the Sark I know right now wouldn’t hurt a hair on my head, but maybe this thing with Vaughn was set into motion years before I went missing. You two have never been the best of friends. I could understand why he might want to hurt you to get to me. We weren‘t exactly friends, either, in the past.”

Vaughn grasped Sydney’s hand suddenly, making her look him in the eyes with concern. She could feel his shift in mood from concern to something else, something indefinable. “What is it, Michael?” she asked.

“I want to thank you for doing that, Syd. I know it must have cost you a lot in some way or another.” He took a deep breath. “However, I know that isn’t what you’ve been hiding. Sure you haven’t been telling anyone of your extracurricular activities, but that is something you do all the time. So, why don’t you just tell me what it is, Syd? Please?”

“I think he might have an aneurysm if you keep him waiting,” Weiss pointed out. “So you better do it.”

Sydney shrugged her hand out of Vaughn’s and pushed herself as far away from the table and the two men at it that she could. “I’m not hiding anything.”

“Then why are you cowering in shame?” Vaughn asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“I’m not cowering.”

“You sure aren’t telling the truth,” Weiss pointed out. “I have to admit that I really thought Vaughn was imagining this whole thing, but now that I see you, you really are hiding something from us. Out with it, Syd.”

She shook her head, realizing that there really was no way out of this situation. “I’m getting married,” she said simply, shrugging her shoulders. “I didn’t know how to tell you, so I just didn’t.”

“Just to clarify. You’re marrying Julian Sark, right?” Weiss asked.

She rolled her eyes at Weiss. “Yes. I’ve never been found of marrying men I randomly pick up off the street, so he seemed like my best option at this time. Though I have to admit that homeless man across the road is looking mighty fine right now.”

“I just wanted to be sure that I had my facts right. You didn‘t have to get all sarcastic and mean with me, Syd.”

“When do you ever make sure your facts are right? You’re the one that’s always making the mistakes.”

“That’s harsh.”

“You’ve gotten yourself shot how many times now?”

“And how many times was that because of you or various members of your family?”

“Now that’s unfair. I can’t control my family.”

“No one can control your family. They‘re like a whole other species.”

Sydney rolled her eyes again and turned to Vaughn. “You’re awfully quiet.”

“It’s a lot to take in, Sydney. You just told us days ago that you were dating Sark, and now you’re marrying him?”

“It is a lot to take in. I didn’t want it all to happen this fast, but that’s how it’s going. I can’t change that nor would I want to.”

Vaughn nodded his understanding. “You know, if things had happened differently for us, Syd, you and I might be getting married right about now.”

Her heart stopped for a moment. She really hadn’t thought about her engagement that never really happened. At the time she had been so confused about both her feelings for Vaughn and her feelings for Sark. She wasn‘t sure that she was supposed to spend her life with either one. And now things were so definite. But there was still the idea that she had been inches away from choosing Vaughn over Sark at so many points. It wasn‘t that hard a stretch to imagine herself walking down the aisle to where Vaughn was waiting.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think at all, did I?”

“It’s okay, Sydney. I accepted the fact a long time ago that as much as I wanted it, you and I weren’t going to happen. I’m just surprised that you’re jumping into marriage with Sark so quickly.”

“It feels like an eternity.” She shook her head in frustration. “There’s no way I’m going to be able to explain to you why I’m doing this.”

“Try,” Vaughn demanded simply.

“I feel like no matter if I make this legal commitment or not, I’m going to spend the rest of my life with him. Things just fall in to place when he’s around. You would understand if you could have been there when I was missing for two years. He was rock.” She bit her lip in frustration. “You two have heard this all before, though. I’ve given you my speech about why he’s in my life. They’re the same reasons why I know I want him in my life for good.”

“He’s still the enemy,” Weiss pointed out. “At least officially.”

Sydney closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She really hadn‘t planned on having to do this. “You two have been crucial to my sanity for so long. I can’t thank you enough for that. Which is why I’m going to tell you some things that no one else knows, not even my father.”

“Sound ominous.”

“Julian and I found out a while ago that the reason he was working with the Covenant was because he had a mission he wanted to fulfill. That mission was to kill me.”

“And that’s the man you want to spend the rest of your life with?” Vaughn asked with a laugh. If it hadn’t have been for his light tone, Sydney would have started to feel nervous about continuing with her explanation.

“Well, he didn’t actually kill me, now did he?” she said somberly. “Something happened to make him change his mind. As corny as this sounds, he fell in love with me and couldn’t do it.”

“That is corny,” Weiss agreed.

“And so made-for-TV movie,” Vaughn added.

“He didn’t kill me. That’s all that matters. He’s been there for me when I’ve needed him.” She sighed and sat up in her seat. “We’ve been trying to get to the bottom of this whole unknown. It’s been so frustrating when neither one of us knows the answers. All we know is that at one point we both lived the answers.”

“Sounds very poetic and angsty,” Weiss pointed out.

“My whole life is ridden with angst. Sark and I think that his mission to kill me, our missing memories, and your faulty memory all are connected somehow.” Sydney sighed and leaned in to the table and closer to her companions. ““So now you know it all. I am going to be Mrs. Number One Most Wanted Spy By the CIA.”

“That’s a hell of a new last name,” Weiss joked.

“Oh believe me. I’m planning on keeping my own.”

“So that would be Mrs. Number One Spy?”

“Shut up, Eric,” Vaughn said, slugging his friend lightly on the arm.

“You guys aren’t angry with me,” Sydney said, staring at them. “You know, I really thought you’d be angry.”

Vaughn shared a look with Weiss before turning to Sydney. “We both had a feeling something like this was coming.”

“You did?”

“It was written all over the way you looked at him when you brought him to the hospital the day I woke up. For a spy, you can be really easy to read sometimes.”

“You’re not mad?” she asked again, just to be sure she had gotten it right. This was the man who had once believed she was the love of his life.

“It’s your life, Syd. Live it how you want to,” Weiss said. “We’re just along for the ride.”

“Where do we go from here?” Vaughn asked after a few moments of silence.

“I’m not sure. I’m still working on the lead that Sark gave me. I’ve been talking with his old mentor, Peter Connelly on and off for the last two weeks--”

Vaughn interrupted. “I told you she’s been different for the past two weeks.”

“--and I’m making progress,” she finished, ignoring his comment.

“Thank you for this again.”

“I’m just as worried about you as you are about me. We’re partners, Michael. Always will be.” She stood up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are probably a few more people I should tell about my engagement before you two make it the choice office gossip of the day.”

“We don’t gossip,” Weiss said, feigning offense.

“He’s partially right. I don’t gossip,” Vaughn chuckled. “Only he does.”

“Get your facts straight, Bristow.”

“I’ll work on it, boys.” She paused to give both men a quick hug. “You two mean the world to me. Thank you.”

They watched her walk out of sight before turning back to one another. “I think that went well,” Weiss said.

“She told us the truth.”

“And didn’t put up much of a fight.” Vaughn began to dig into his food. He really was hungry. Now that his worry was mostly gone, he realized that the food wasn‘t as bad as he first thought.

“First time for everything.”

Between bites, Vaughn asked, “So what do you think about her theory of Sark’s reasonings for helping her out during their time with the Covenant and the problems inside my head?”

“I think it makes a lot of sense. I knew there had to be some good reason to make Sark keep her alive for such a long time. The whole falling in love thing is a good excuse, but it didn’t just occur suddenly. Those things take time. So, obviously, with him wanting to hurt her in some way, they would have had to stay close. But what remains to be seen is what happened when he made the decision not to kill our favorite spy.” Weiss shook his head. “All this thinking is making my head hurt.”

“I know. There’s still a lot that’s grey if the theory is true.”

“But at least it makes some sense.”

“It’s all we have right now.”

“I know that.”

“And it’s just too bad that we can’t mention it to anyone at the CIA. They’d laugh us straight out of our jobs and into the poorhouse.”

“Does anyone really still use that word? Poorhouse?”

“It’s vintage,” Weiss defended.

“You’re strange.”

“Why don’t you just shut up and eat your horrible food?”

Vaughn laughed and did as he was told.
 
As much as I wish I had time to keep up with this, I'm afraid I'm way too behind. -_- Could you take me off the PM list? Thanks hun. :smiley:
 
Nice chapter, that explained a lot (y) (y) Write more!!!
hmm.... if Sydney is marrying Sark it sounds like you'll end the story soon.

greets Verity
 
Heey, I just read the update, i loved it, so good they're not mad :smiley: A very nice update. But would you pm me next time you update, cuz this time you didn't :thinking:
 
Chapter Twenty-Six

Sark sat alone in the hotel room he had been renting since Sydney had decided to go through this charade with Peter Connelly. They had to convince his old mentor that there was some big rift in their relationship or there would be no more information to be extracted from him. At least that’s what she had said to him as a sort of explanation.

So, no contact at all was the plan. It had sounded like a good idea when it was still a theory. Now that it was in practice it didn‘t seem quite as exciting or worthwhile.

He sighed and stood up to look out the window, loosening his tie. The streets were deserted during this time, not quite day and not quite night. If Sydney had been around, he would have been sleeping by now. Her calming effect was desperately missed. Without it, he had become a jittery bundle of nerves, wondering what she was doing, who she was seeing, what progress was being made, every single second of every single day.

Shaking his head, he turned and flung his body onto the bed. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment when Sydney had become a staple in his life. All he knew was that it was a good thing they were going to make a permanent commitment because there was no one else for him. Fate had seen to that in the only way it could.

He shut his eyes and willed himself to remember what exactly Fate had done to shove the two of them together. His memories of the months leading up to his time with Sydney and the Covenant were still incredibly cloudy. Sydney seemed to remember all the events occurring in her life with Francie Calfo and Allison Doren. So it really confused him as to why he had erased more of his memories than Sydney had. What had occurred that had made him decide the right thing to do was get rid of so many memories? Was there something terrible that he was meaning to keep hidden?

It didn’t help that there were dozens of people waiting for the day when he would finally have that Eureka moment. Too bad it wasn’t coming. At least, it wasn’t coming soon enough.

He thought back to his time with the Covenant and the feelings he felt as he slowly fell in love with an agent from the opposite side. His feelings were vivid in his memory, but the actual pictures of them developing were still so unclear.

The image of a small hut on a beach flashed through his mind, and he clung to it, trying to figure out why it was there. It held no significance to him that he knew, but it really seemed as if it was somewhere he had been recently. Tensing his forehead, he tried to concentrate completely on that one mental pictures.

He could see it clearly in his head, right down to the last detail. He appeared to be walking along the beach to meet someone. No one else was around, so obviously his contact had done what he had asked and made sure the meeting spot was secluded.

In the back of his head, he felt himself wondering where these thoughts were coming from. His contact? A meeting spot? He couldn’t decide if this was a real memory or just a fictional account for the time he so desperately wanted to remember. It wouldn’t be beyond him to start to dream of possible solutions to the predicament he was finding himself in. At this point, he would probably do anything and everything to bring Sydney back into his daily life.

Going with this whole new possible memory, he felt like he was having an out of body experience as he raised his fist in his mind and knocked softly on the hut’s doorframe before entering the structure. Sark knew who was inside without even thinking.

“Hello, Peter,” he felt himself say.

“Hello, Julian. You asked me to come here, so here I am.”

He chuckled. “Silly man. Do you think I’ve forgotten the way you operate already? If I had been the one to initiate this, you would never have shown up. You don’t do anything unless it’s in your best interest. What I can’t figure out is how my request is in your best interest and why you want me to think it was all my idea.”

“It’s not everyday that my star pupil who I haven’t seen or heard from in years asks me to help him get a membership into one of the world’s top terrorist organizations, especially the organization you specifically requested. I wanted to hear in person your reasons for this absurdly strange request.”

“You told me once never to reveal my reasons.”

Sark watched Peter’s face spread into that all-too-familiar maniacal grin. “I know that tone, and I know that aloofness well. This is about a girl. Who is she?”

“An agent I want to keep a close eye on. Let‘s just leave it at that.”

“An agent with the Covenant? There’s no way I can leave that sly comment be. The last time I checked, you couldn’t be paid to take interest in your father’s organization, and now, you suddenly know about all the agents in his employ. And you want one in particular watched. She must be something special.”

“To start, Connelly, this agent is as good as they come. So I guess you could say that she’s pretty damn special considering. Secondly, the Covenant is not my father’s organization. He has been out of the terrorism business for over a decade and is now an almighty Russian diplomat stationed in some remote African location.”

“Your father still has connections.”

“I could care less about his connections.”

“And I could care less about discussing your father. But it seems the only way I can get information from you is by digging it out of you in a round about way. That’s always been the way we’ve played this relationship. Why change now? So, who is the special female agent you have so much interest in? Do I know her?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Isn’t it always?”

“She’s CIA.” Sark could feel himself well up with pleasure at the surprise in Connelly’s eyes. It wasn’t often that he could surprise the man who helped make him who he was today, but when it happened, it was good enough to last him at least a year or two.

“How did you get mixed up with the CIA?”

“They’re always trying to catch me.”

“And have they succeeded?”

“Only when I wanted them to. You taught me well.”

“The complimenting is too obvious,” Connelly pointed out. “It screams to me that you really must need my help. You want me to kill this girl before she causes you trouble.”

“Sydney Bristow is always trouble.”

“Sydney Bristow? I’ve heard that name uttered from a thousand different mouths of extremely important people. She seems to be the premier agent in this whole business. She’s the one you’re so interested in now?”

“Yes, she is. I’ve been mixed up with her for years now, and let’s just say that it’s time I took a more active role in her life.”

“Active role as in being the man who killed her?”

“Her death will cause me more trouble than it’s worth. I need to keep her alive.”

“I will think about,” Connelly said. His gaze shifted to the door. “You know your way out, Julian.”

“You’re calling this meeting to a close so soon? Don’t you want to know what I’ve been up to? You were always one for specifics.”

“I already know what you‘ve been doing with your time on this earth. It might be news to you, but you have been leading a high profile life for the past year, Julian. Every spy knows about what you’ve been doing lately.”

“Are you telling me to tone it down?”

“I’m telling you that it couldn’t hurt to brush up on the spy basics. You don’t want people to know your plans until they’ve been completed and a few months have passed. Otherwise, there’s a traceable trail left behind.”

“I know what I’m doing, old man,” Sark said, making his way to the door. “Let me know what you think about the deal by tomorrow.”

Sark could feel himself leave the room, but for some reason, he could still see Connelly sitting at the table. He must have stopped to listen to Connelly’s reactions to his demands. For a second, he wondered when he had decided this “memory” was really the truth. Maybe it was the realistic feel or something inside of him was remembering. Whatever it was, this felt incredibly real.

Sark snapped out of his thoughts as he heard his old mentor finish counting to thirty under his breath, and he could imagine Connelly pulling the cell phone out of his pocket. It was the same old protocol he had been taught by the man years earlier. A necessary precaution when one did not want to be overheard. At least a thirty second buffer must be used.

“This is Connelly. I think Sark can be used to our advantage. He’s infatuated with this CIA Agent that the Covenant has in their employ. Yeah. Sydney Bristow. How did you know? She’s really that important to you? Well, here’s what I’m proposing. I tell him that I’m going to help him keep her alive because for whatever reason that‘s what he wants right now. I gain his trust slowly over the course of a few years. I know it’s a long period of time, but usually the best of plans take a long time to come to fruition. The Julian I know won’t be able to know a woman that long without wanting to get her into his bed. It will kill him to have to keep his hands off her. Yes, he really is that stupid. Once he does get his hands on her somehow, once he really starts to care about her being safe and alive, we kill the girl. We need to destroy every inch of his life if he’s going to come back to work for me.”

Sark shot up with a start. He was still lying on the bed in his hotel room, only it was now seven in the morning. He had fallen asleep. “Hell of a dream,” he muttered.

The events that had run through his head came flashing back, and he let himself analyze them for a moment. He wouldn’t doubt if Connelly had been trying to con him into returning to his organization. That made sense.

It all sounded too easy, though. He wished he could call Sydney and run this new potential memory by her. Maybe she would have a clue about whether it was fact or fiction. At this point, he just didn’t know. Plus, Sydney would know what the next step should be.

“You’re on your own,” he told himself. “Time to stop relying on Sydney for knowing the correct thing to do. If you want her to marry you when it comes time, you’re going to have to learn to be able to judge for yourself.”

Throwing the covers back, he slipped out of bed and began to get dressed. He had a few things to work out before he could come up with who he should be talking to about this new development.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Sydney stared at Dixon from across the briefing room table. She had just dropped the whole engagement bomb on him and was waiting to see his reactions.

“What day is it?” he finally asked.

“March 15th.”

“Oh. For a moment there I really thought it might be April 1st.” Dixon sighed and rubbed his temples with his fingertips. “Could you please explain to me again why this is a joke you felt appropriate to try out on me at this time?”

“It’s not a joke, Marcus. I’m engaged to Sark, and I plan on marrying him as soon as we both have a free moment to breath. I felt like I should tell you.”

“Well, I’m glad that you felt that obligation. It gives me time to talk you out of making this mistake.”

“It’s not a mistake. I’ve thought about it a lot, and it might actually be the smartest thing I’ve ever done.” She held her hand up to stop him before he could even begin to argue. “I’ve come to depend on Sark. He brings out the best in me, and I know he’s been trying to change his less than perfect ways for me. That says a lot about the kind of man he is.”

“The kind who can fool you into thinking he’s the kind that can change?”

“The kind that really is willing to change the things that might keep us apart.” Sydney stood up from the table. “I just wanted to let you know so that when the rumor mill started buzzing, you would know the truth.”

Dixon nodded. “Thank you for that, even though it isn’t much.”

“You will learn to accept it someday,” she said softly as she backed her way to the door. “You’re going to have to.”

“Give me time.”

“We’re friends, Marcus. We always will be. I want you to understand where I’m coming with this, and you want you to eventually accept my decision. I’ll wait as long as you need me to. You have all the time in the world.” She nodded slightly and left the briefing room. All in all, that had gone better than she expected. She made it out of the meeting with her job still intact, so it worked out nicely.

Sighing, she grabbed her phone, wishing for the millionth time that day that she could call Sark. It would make his day to know that she had finally told all her friends about their engagement. The secretness of it had been getting to him more and more each day. For a man who lived the life of a spy, he really did hate keeping his personal life a secret.

Mostly she just attributed the impatience to his wanting to get married as soon as possible. She knew that because the same impatience was inside of her, struggling to get free.

The phone on her desk rang loudly. “Bristow.”

“Ah. Agent Bristow. How is the CIA life treating you?”

“How did you get this number, Connelly?” she hissed, scanning the room to see if anyone was paying her any attention. This was her private line and a number that wasn’t handed out idly.

“I am as resourceful as they come. I want another meeting with you, Sydney.”

“Are you ready to let me know more information?”

“I think you’re ready to hear it now. Haven’t been crying yourself to sleep lately, have you?”

Knowing that, even if he wasn‘t away of it, that comment hit close to home, the harshness of her mood came out in the tone of her voice. “You are a complete bastard.”

“But I’m a bastard you will meet at the Carousel in the park down the street from your offices.”

“As long as you have information I want, I’ll show up.”

“Good.” Connelly hung up before Sydney could try to fish any more information out of him.

For the millionth and one time that day, she wished she could call Sark and ask him what she was supposed to do.
 
Aah I loved your update, thanks for the pm. I think it's great that they're finally finding out what happened to them, you're very in describing that :D :P
 
Chapter 25-

Phew... well its about time she told everyone! :rolleyes:

And how can pasta ever be horrible in a restaurant? :confused: :P

Chapter 26-

Geez, why cant they just pick up the phone and call each other? Its frustrating! But i guess its the authors job to make it frustrating :P

I hope Sydneys not going to go see Peter without any backup or Sark. :thinking:

Great updates, thanks for the PM's ^_^

P.S Sorry for reviewing late.
 
Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sydney sat on the park bench next to the Carousel, waiting for Connelly to show up. She had no idea what information he would have for her. The little bits of information she had pried from him had taken a lot of poking and prodding on her part. The idea that he was now willing to volunteer information was bordering on ludicrous.

That was adding to the frustration of not being able to bring Sark in on the progress she was making with Connelly. But they had to keep up appearances so that meant no contact, not even a short phone call.

She closed her eyes for a moment and felt the wind blow across her body. There was something in the air that was making her uneasy. The situation she found herself in had been bogged down with dead ends and failed initiatives. It was an endless, fruitless search, but she had a feeling that something was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon.

“Miss Bristow, you came,” Connelly’s voice called from behind her, interrupting her thoughts.

“What do you have for me, Peter?”

“You called me Peter. We are making progress. I think this calls for a drink.”

“Hell would have to freeze over before I would choose to spend any more time with you than I already have. Now, why am I here?”

“Now, now. Must we rush straight into business?”

“Yes. That’s all I’m here for. What do you know?”

“Julian never mentioned to me how all business, all the time you are.” Connelly shrugged. “To each their own, I guess. It just hurts because although I know that you’re incredibly impatient, you should still probably be a lot nicer to me considering how large a help I am being to you and your journey of personal discovery.”

“All you’ve managed to tell me so far is that Sark wants me dead, which is pretty much old news. The man has tried to kill me more times than I can count.”

“He came to me, Sydney, with the idea that killing you was exactly what he needed to work his way up the chain of command. It wasn’t ludicrous or out of this world. He really is a practical man.”

“I’m getting real tired of you trying to steer this conversation off track. If you don’t get to a point, I’m going to leave you alone here in this park.”

He rolled his eyes. “Like I said, impatience. As I was saying, Julian knew there was a margin of error to his plan, and that was the real reason why he brought me in.”

“He wanted you to create a Plan B.” Sydney nodded her understanding.

“Exactly.” Connelly sat down beside Sydney and pulled her hand into his in a move that was so intimate that Sydney wanted desperate to punch him on the spot. “Tell me. You really care for your Michael Vaughn, your partner at the CIA, don’t you?”

Disgusted but still in control of her temper, she yanked her hand away and slid as far down the bench as she could without falling off the end. “Vaughn is my partner, and he means a lot to me. That‘s all I’m going to say on that subject. ”

“All I’m saying is that anyone doing research on you could find that out. First thing I teach my students is to understand your weaknesses and eliminate them. Michael Vaughn is one of your weaknesses.”

“Are you trying to convince me to kill my partner or do you actually have the information you promised?”

Smiling, he winked at her. “I like it when you’re sassy. It’s so attractive. The reason I asked you to come here today was I thought it was time I stopped lying to you.”

“How did I know that you had been lying to me this whole time? You are truly scum and a complete waste of my time.” Sydney got up to leave.

Connelly grabbed her arm roughly and shoved her back down onto the bench. “I wouldn’t be so hasty, Sydney. I never really lied to you. I just omitted a few details where I thought you might not be able to handle the whole truth.”

“Like what?”

“I was the one who tampered with your partner’s memory.”

Sydney’s eyes widened. “Were you behind all of this mess?”

“In a way, yes. But in the way I think you’re specifically alluding to, no. It was my job to make sure that if Sark didn’t go through with killing you, if you found some way to dig your claws into him, that I provided an out. So that’s what I did. Vaughn’s predicament should have distracted you enough to give Julian time to come to him senses and leave.”

“But he didn’t. He stayed and continued to lie to me.”

“A pity, isn’t it? It seems that not even I can get him to leave you alone.”

Sydney stood up again, and this time Connelly did not stop her. “I’m really tired of playing this game of run around with you. Your flirty banter is lost on me, and to be honest, it sickens me. I’m tired of having to listen to you talk on and on about things that are not even slightly significant to me. I have real things to be finding out. So I think it’s time that you just told me all the information you have, and we can terminate this little relationship we have going. It’s for the best that we get this done as soon as possible and get out of each others‘ lives.”

“It’s in my best interest to keep myself useful to you, Sydney.”

“What do you want from me, anyway? I just don’t understand what’s in this for you.”

“You keep pushing me to play my ace in the hole. I’m not sure if that’s very wise for either one of us.”

Sydney leaned over so that she was hovering over him, placing her eye to eye and nose to nose with him. “Really, it’s been fun, but I’m ending this. It’s over.”

A slight movement leading to the click of a safety being taken off a gun and a poking sensation in her abdomen made her freeze immediately. “Nothing’s ever over, Miss Bristow.”

She continued to look at him with determination, not letting this shift in control falter her. “So, this is new. Why the gun all of the sudden, Connelly? Are you really that scared of me when I get frustrated? Because you really don‘t want to see me in the middle of a mission.”

Unwilling to let her ease the tension out of the fact that she had a gun poking into her, Connelly stood up, pushing the gun into her just hard enough to make her wince. “You’re a descendent of Rambaldi. That makes you lethal. And that makes me a cautious man.”

Sydney‘s eyes lit up in surprise. No one was supposed to know about that little detail. She and Sark had single-handedly confiscated and destroyed the proof that Milo Rambaldi had been one of her ancestors. Only the two of them should be privy to that factoid. Staring at him suspiciously in case this was just a good guess on his part, she asked, “How do you know about that?”

“It all goes back to the love of your life. The man can’t keep a secret.”

“That’s a lie. The last time you spoke with him, Sark had no idea that I was descended from Rambaldi. At least no more than the rest of us did.”

“It was always a suspicion of everyone that you were connected somehow.”

“That’s stating the obvious. Why are you trying to pin all my problems on Julian? Why is it so important that you keep us apart, Connelly?”

Frustrated with her constant questioning, Connelly forcefully turned her around so that she was no longer facing him and could therefore not look at him accusatorily. “Get walking before you manage to draw more attention to us. We have places to be.”

“If I didn‘t know better, I would have thought this was a planned kidnapping. But you wouldn‘t really be that stupid, now would you?”

Connelly didn’t answer. Instead he just led her down a few pathways in the park and straight to a black car parked on the curb. “Get in. We have much to talk about.”

“I’d be more willing to talk if you got rid of the gun,” she suggested while opening the back seat door.

“Not a chance.” Connelly shoved her hard into the car and slid in after. “So, I’m sure, despite your calm demeanor, you’re just dying to know what’s going on.”

Sydney shrugged her shoulders. “Not really. I knew you would pull something like this eventually. I just thought that I could wrangle a little more information out of you before you actually physically pulled a gun.”

“Well then, you obviously underestimated me.” Connelly glanced out the window for a moment as the car pulled away from the curb. “I guess we should follow the standard protocols of an unexpected abduction. That means I should start with the part where I break through your calm collectedness and make you finally realize what a pickle you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“Go right ahead,” she dared him.

“Where to begin?” he said with a chuckle. “First, there are a few things you need to know. God I love that phrase. It just rubs your face into the fact that there are things that I know that you don’t, and I’m still not sure if I want to share.”

“Could you do me a favor?” Sydney asked seriously. “If you fully intend to kill me at the end of this kidnapping, would you just do it now? I don’t know how much more of your theorizing and babbling I can take without going crazy.”

“I’ve known you were a descendent of Rambaldi long before Sark came to me with a plea for help in killing you. He wasn’t the one that kept you alive. That was me.”

“You’re trying to tell me that Sark kept trying to kill me during our two years at the Covenant and you were the one preventing him from succeeding?”

“No. I was the one who made sure he fell in love with you so that he would protect you from himself. Less work for me that way.” Sydney nodded, and he continued. “Like I’ve said before, the man was halfway in love with you already. It wasn’t that hard to nudge him over the edge.”

“Why did you want to keep me alive?”

“So that I could bring you around to my side, by force or by words. I need the only living descendent of Rambaldi to be on my side.”

Sydney felt herself stiffen slightly at that statement and forced herself to let go and keep up the appearance of not caring. “So, you want to work with me? You really only had to ask. Kidnapping at gunpoint was not necessary.”

Connelly rolled his eyes. “I also needed you to be distanced from the people who care for you most. Looks like I didn’t even have to worry about that. All your friends at the CIA are avoiding you because they don’t know how to handle your new engagement.” He chuckled when he saw Sydney’s surprised expression. “Didn’t think I knew about that one, either, did you?”

The car pulled over in front of a large apartment complex. Connelly unlocked the door and stepped out onto the pavement. “I trust I don’t have to bring the gun out again.”

“No, you’ve intrigued me. I want to see where you’re heading with this.” Sydney tried her best to look brave as she followed Connelly into the building. He was right about her becoming unnerved. She had grossly underestimated him, which was ridiculous considering she knew him to be the man who formed Sark into the perfect spy. Peter Connelly knew a lot more about what was going on than she gave him credit for, and she had a feeling that the revelations for that day weren’t over.

Connelly pushed her into the elevator and hit the penthouse button. “I figured that after today, you and I won’t have many secrets between us. I might as well show you where I live.”

“That’s extremely stupid reasoning. Which is why I guess I won’t be leaving this building alive if I don’t agree to whatever you want me to.”

“A very perceptive woman. Every day I realize why Julian is so madly in love with you.” The elevator doors opened straight into the penthouse. “Welcome to my humble abode. Now let’s get back to that kidnapping protocol. As I was in the middle of telling you in the car, you really don’t have anyone to turn to right now, thanks to me. All your CIA friends are terrified by the idea that their best spy could be in love with their greatest adversary. Then there’s said adversary. You currently aren’t talking to him right?”

Sydney scowled at him. “Because you told me he was still trying to kill me.”

“Which you pretended to believe. In reality, there was no way you would still believe that Julian Lazarey wanted to kill you. So, instead, you’re pretending to be estranged from him, even though you’re telling all your friends that you plan on marrying him. Sloppy details, Sydney. They’re what ruins the perfect lie. And sloppy lies lead to trouble. How is Sark supposed to know that you’re in this predicament when you aren’t even allowed to contact one another? Looks like your personal savior might not be able to rescue you this time.”

Holding his hand out, Connelly motioned for Sydney to enter one of the rooms. “I’m just going to leave you in here to think things over for a while. Then we’ll start negotiating.”

Sydney nodded and stood in the center of the room while Connelly shut and locked the door behind her. She took a quick scan of the room and realized there really wasn’t much to work with. This was obviously where Connelly always kept his “special guests”. It was a small room with no windows, and there wasn’t even any furniture for her to break and turn into a weapon. It was just a blank room with doors that lock from the outside. There was no surveillance equipment either, which either meant Connelly was incredibly sloppy or incredibly smart.

She knew that she should probably be freaking out right now. It would be expected. “Probably would be having a nervous breakdown if you hadn’t slipped up,” she chided Connelly, even though there was no way he could hear her.

Connelly had made only one mistake, but it was huge. Earlier, in the car ride, he had referred to her as the only Rambaldi descendent. That meant that he had no idea that Nadia existed. Sydney wasn’t sure how it would help her in this situation, but she knew this was all she had right now. Because Connelly had been telling the truth about one thing. She was probably the only one that could get herself out of this mess.
 
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