Love is One Big Lie~ Chapter 16
Covenant agents stormed into the building, shooting and knocking down anything in their paths. There only goal was to find Sydney and Nadia. They would stop at nothing until they did. The C.I.A. agents took cover behind desks, chairs, and anything else they could use. They fought back, knowing the consequences they would have to face if they let the Covenant agents walk out of here with Nadia.
“Ignore them! Take out the ones the bar your path, and leave the rest! Our real objective is to abduct the Bristow sisters, not defeat the entire C.I.A.!” Sark told all his men.
He wasn’t sure of where to look, but he knew that Sydney and Nadia must be around here somewhere. They would be in a morre protected area, away from the gun-fire.
“Split up! A team, you cover the south end! B team, the north! C team, you’ll take the west end, and D team, you’ll come with me and cover the east!” Sark shouted into his ear com.
“They’re getting away! We have to block them!” Dixon shouted.
The C.I.A. agents ran in the way of the Covenant agents, and got ready. Sark tried to shoot one down, but he realized her was out of bullets. He attacked Dixon head on, in a hand-to-hand combat.
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“They’re here! They’re coming!” Nadia shouted, grabbing Weiss and running deeper into the dark, cold basement.
They kept running until they came upon a tunnel.
“Where does this lead?” she asked him.
Weiss tried to remember back to when he was first recruited into the C.I.A.
***FLASHBACK***
“If you are ever in trouble, the tunnels downstairs in the basement will lead you out the back entrance of this building, into the ally” Agents Baroc explained to the new recruits.
***END OF FLASHBACK***
“It leads to the ally! We might be able to make a clean escape through that way!” he shouted.
Nadia and Weiss continued down the tunnel, which was pitch black.
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Sydney wiped the sweat off of her forehead. She had been at this for 6 hours so far, and she was only starting to make progress.
“Only 57 pieces to go…” she mumbled, as she continued working.
She hadn’t slept since she had been shot with that tranq dart and taken to the Covenant HQ, and that was two days ago. She was tired, and ready to close her eyes and sleep. She took a sip of her coffee, which her father had brought her an hour earlier. By now, it was cold, and tasted awful, but it still helped keep her awake.
She let out a deep sigh, and leaned back into her chair. She closed her eyes for only a moment, and tried to process everything that was happening.
“How did this all start, anyway? Let’s see… Oh yeah! Vaughn made me mad, and I went out for a walk, then the crew started looking for me, and my mom found me. After that Bomani shot me with that dart, and I woke up in the Covenant HQ, and I escaped with Nadia. I went into that big room 47, and I was able to see into the past, and the future. Then, Nadia woke up and we made a run to escape, and there was Lauren…”
She remembered back to her fight with Lauren. Sydney had the advantage from the beginning. Lauren was simply out-classed. She started off good, reading all of Lauren’s moves, dodging them, and countering them with a few of her own. Then, out of nowhere, Lauren became vicious. She attacked Sydney, and started to strangle her. It looked like Lauren had her, when something hit her. Something snapped, and Sydney couldn’t hold it back anymore. All the pain, all the rage, all the fear, everything. She was backed into a corner with no way out. It made her fear for her life, and her will for survival was too strong. She refused to die that way. Not then, not at such a place and for such a cause. Something clicked, that Sydney had never felt before. Something… amazing… and powerful. She was able to easily defeat Lauren after that. Sydney felt… terrible. Even though Lauren had it coming, she couldn’t believe out how merciless she was. She felt like… her mother. So cold, so ruthless, so brutal. It made Sydney think. If Irina Derevko was really as cold as Sydney thought, why did she come all the way to save her daughters? Why did she hold Sydney close, and try to protect her with everything she had. Maybe Irina Derevko wasn’t as evil as she led others to believe. A heart of stone couldn’t feel love towards her family. Deep down, Sydney loved her. Ever since Sydney was a child, she loved her mother so dearly. When she died, Sydney never stopped loving her. Even when she found out the truth. She felt betrayed… upset… but she still loved her. More then ever. When she say her mother’s face for the first time in twenty years, she was angry, but relieved. Relieved that her mother was alive, and well. Oer the time that Irina spent in C.I.A. custody, Sydney came even closer to her mother. Closer then she was before. She realized that Irina and her had much in common, and their stories were similar. Now, back to the fight.. She beat Lauren into a pulp, laughed at her, and probably would have killed her if Nadia wasn’t there.
“Then Sark came, and he fought with Nadia. Lauren hit Nadia with a tranq dart, and while I was trying to help her, I got knocked out too. I don’t remember anything after that, except for waking up and seeing my mother, and Vaughn, and my father. Then we went back to the office, and dropped Nadia off, and went back to dad’s house. I found the artifact, and here I am now”
She opened her eyes again, and let out another sigh, before she continued assembling the puzzle.
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“So, Rina, why aren’t you with Sydney and Nadia?” Elena asked.
“I’m going back to them. I needed reinforcements” Irina explained.
“Oh no you don’t! You blow up like a bomb in my face, and then expect me to help you? Forget it!” Katya said, before she stood up from her chair to leave the room.
Before she could leave, Elena grabbed her by the arm.
“Now Katya, little Irina needs our help. Remember what mama used to say? She said that family has to stick together. Family means one. We are all one. Now, if you won’t do this for Rina, do it for Sydney and Nadia. You can’t abandon them, can you?” Elena asked.
“Why not? Rina abandoned Sydney, and she’s her mother! Sydney could have been killed, and Rina never helped her. You never even told her that she had a sister!” Katya replied.
“Katya, please! I won’t loose my children! I need to help them, and the only way I can do that is with a little help from the both of you” Irina said.
“A little help? Darling, you mean a lot of help” Elena replied.
Katya paused for a second to think things over.
“Okay. But not for you, for Nadia, and for Sydney. As their aunt, I think that I am partially responsible for their safety” Katya replied.
“Thank you, my dearest sister”
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Nadia and Weiss continued running through the tunnel, until they came upon a dead-end.
“Now what?” Nadia asked.
“No. Baroc said that this tunnel led out of the building. There has got to be some sort of trap door, or other way out” Weiss said, banging on the cement walls.
Nadia decided to do the same, in hopes of finding some way out.
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“Mr. Sark! I don’t see them anywhere! We checked the entire building, and there is no sign of Sydney or Nadia” a Covenant agent said.
“Sydney is no fool. She must have known we were coming, so she must have gone someplace safe. The only question is, where? There is no place on this planet that is safe from us, so where would she go?” he asked himself.
“To Jack’s house”
Sark turned around, and saw Lauren holding a tiny disk.
“What is that?” he asked.
“Before I was discovered, I planted bugs all over the office. Some where bugs that let me see what was going on, and some where bugs that let me hear what was going on. This is an auditory bug. It records everything it hears” she explained.
She placed the disk into a computer, and sounds where picking up. People talking about pointless stuff, missions that were of no concern to them, and then, they heard it.
"Vaughn, I need to go to my dad's house" .
"What?!? You can't leave this building! It's too risky!"
"No. I think I may know how to stop the Covenant, but I need to go to my dad's house first. You can even come with me, if you want"
Pause.
"You, me, and you're father will go. Nadia, you will stay here" her said, getting back up.
"B-But I-"
"No! If we're ambushed, and they capture me, at least they still need to find you. We shouldn't be together until the Covenant is gone"
“So Sydney is at Jack’s house? That’ll be easy to ambush. The only question is, where is Jack’s house?” Sark asked.
“I know. He invited me over to dinner, a while ago. Along with a few others. I know exactly where it is” Lauren replied.
“Good. So, Nadia is still here? But if we checked the whole building and we couldn’t find her, then maybe she is outside somewhere. She knew we were coming for her, so it makes sense. Send a team to get rid of the rest of the C.I.A. operatives, and to patroll outside and inside the building. If she has left, she can’t be far. Especially in her condition” Sark said, leaving the room.
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Sydney rubbed her eyes, and tried to keep her head up.
“Only 20 more pieces. I can do this. Just a little longer…” she told herself.
As she worked, she began to think;
“I wonder if the others are okay… they said the Covenant was coming…”
She continued to work, when Jack and Vaughn barged through the door.
“Dixon just called. He said the agency was ambushed, and that there aren’t many survivors. Somehow, Sark and Lauren know we’re here, and they know Nadia is somewhere around the agency. They’re on there way here as we speak. We need to go now!” Jack explained, out of breath.
“I can’t… I have to… finish this…” she mumbled, as she continued working.
Jack walked over and shook her. It was as if she was in a trance. She could barely hear Jack, and she didn’t even flinch when she heard about the innocent agents dying because of her. This wasn’t his Sydney.
“Syd! Snap out of it! They’re coming! We can’t hold them off! If it’s just Sark and Lauren, we might be able to hold them off for a short period of time, but is the have a whole team, there is no way! We have to go, now!” he shouted.
“I can’t… I have to… finish this…”
“Finish it later!” Jack shouted.
“I can’t… even if I wanted to… I can’t move… I’m too tired…”
“Sydney! Now! We have to move!” Vaughn shouted.
Sydney ignored him, and kept on working.
“Sydney… get… up… off… this… chair!” Jack shouted, trying to drag her off the chair.
“Stop being… so… stubborn!” Vaughn shouted, trying to help Jack.
Then, they heard a car pull into the drive way. A big black van.
“Oh god… they’re here!” Vaughn shouted.
They watched three figures in black masks leave the car, break the door open, and run into the house.
“They’e inside!” Jack shouted, as he pulled out a gun, and headed down the stairs. Vaughn followed behind.
They met the black-masked men halfway down the stairs, and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight. Jack was able to knock one down the stairs, pin him. He bent over to take the mask off, and was surprised by who it was.