Chapter 14
Sydney’s heart was beating rapidly as she lay there trapped in the MRI machine that surrounded her body, giant magnets rotating around her head and hammering sounds deep into her brain. Finally, after 20 minutes, the table retreated from the machine’s horizontal tube. She took a deep breath and quickly looked through the glass at the adjacent room for Sloane. He was gone.
“Where is he?” Sydney asked distressfully.
“Dr. Jain is in the other room,” the nurse answered as she helped Sydney sit up.
“No, not him,” Sydney replied with frustration as her eyes darted around the room for any sign of the man she despised.
“Agent Bristow, no one else has been here,” the nurse spoke. Sydney peered at her with bafflement.
“Sloane?”
“He hasn’t been here,” the nurse responded. Sydney looked around one last time and then back at the nurse. What did she mean he hadn’t been there. She must be lying, Sydney thought.
“Who do you work for?” Sydney asked with determined accusation.
“I work for The CIA, for APO. Why are you asking me this?” The nurse answered with confusion.
“Who asked you to lie to me?” Sydney asked in a forceful tone. Her eyes went stone cold.
“Agent Bristow, I don’t know what your talking about. I did not lie to you.” She replied defensively.
“Sloane was here. I heard him when I was in the machine.”
“Agent Bristow, the machine is loud. There is no way you could hear anyone in the other room. I assure you, he wasn’t here.” The nurse explained with resentment at the accusation. Sydney peered at her with harsh eyes.
“We’re all done here. Why don’t you get dressed,” the nurse requested trying to get away from Sydney’s glare. Sydney got up quickly and left the room, giving the nurse a nasty look as she went.
***
Sydney quickly made her way up to her father's office, briefly peering around for Sloane on her way. She couldn't see him, but she had no doubt he had been there. Meanwhile, Jack was sitting in his office thumbing through some files.
"Dad, we need to talk," Sydney said as she breezed through the door.
"Sydney, if this is about the tests, I was only looking out for your best interests." He replied stubbornly not wishing to fight with her about it anymore.
"Its not that," Sydney said as she turned her head around, looking for any sign that anyone else was there. No one was. At that, she walked up to him, coming within inches of him and whispered to him in a low tone. "Its Sloane."
Jack's eyes opened wider at the utterance of that name. "Let's go somewhere else." He cautioned and they briskly walked down to the parkade together, getting inside Jack's car. As he started the car and pulled out of the building, he began to inquire more.
"What about Sloane?" he asked.
"He's the head of The Guildiya, dad. And he's planning something," she spoke with interest.
"Where did you get this intel?" Jack asked with skepticism.
"Sark." She replied.
"You went to Sark in prison?"
"No," Sydney replied with confusion, shaking her head, "Sark's not in prison."
"Yes, Sydney, he is." Jack replied confidently. He hadn't received any reports of Sark escaping and he was sure he'd know the minute such a thing happened.
Sydney looked at Jack with deep confusion. She remembered. He was captured months ago. She shook her head, she couldn't understand it. How had she seen him, met with him.
"He must have escaped," she asserted.
"Sydney, I would have heard."
"I have to go," she replied with haste. Sydney quickly started to get out of the car that had been pulled over at an empty lot of warehouses.
"Sydney, wait," Jack said, getting out of the car after her. He grabbed her arm and she swung around to face him.
"Dad, I really have to go!" She exclaimed desperately.
"Where? where are you going to go?" He said with frustration.
"I just need to go figure some things out."
"What things?" He insisted. Sydney met his eyes with a desperate confusion. She didn't understand it. She needed to see him - Sark. To contact him. To know he was real.
"Can you just give me a ride back to my car. I... I'm really tired. I just want to go home." Sydney explained, trying to allay his worries. Jack was skeptical. He knew she was up to something, but he couldn’t really do much with her refusing to talk about it.
“Fine.” He replied. He would figure out another way to find out what she was hiding. He got back in the car with a distasteful look on his face. Sydney followed his lead and he drove to her car, which was parked in the APO parkade. The car ride was silent.
As soon as the car pulled up beside her own, Sydney got out with haste and headed towards her own car, grabbing the car keys out from her purse.
“Sydney,” Jack said. She looked at him wanting to say so much but being unable to tell him the truth. Her eyes were regretful as they met his concerned stare. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Dad, I’m fine. I’m just tired.” It wasn’t a lie. Jack nodded as she got into her car. He watched her pull out of the parking spot and quickly got into his own car intending to follow her.
***
Sydney drove around, not completely sure where to go. She couldn’t remember how she had contacted Sark. She wasn’t even sure if she had or if it was him who had contacted her. After about an hour of driving, she found herself driving down a long stretch of highway out of the city. Suddenly she saw him. He was leaning up against his black jaguar at the side of the road. No one else was around. Sydney pulled up behind him and proceeded to get out of her car.
“Sydney.” Sark smirked suavely.
Sydney looked at him with anger and confusion, “I don’t understand how you’re here. You were in prison. This... this makes no sense,” she spoke with an exhausted confusion in her voice.
“Sydney, you must know me better than this,” Sark asserted with disappointment.
“Explain it to me!” She exclaimed, tired and irritated.
“That’s not me in prison, Sydney. Its a double,” he explained. After a moment he smiled. “I always thought you, Sydney Bristow, would have figured that out sooner.”
Sydney sighed. She wasn’t crazy, she thought. He was there in front of her. Sark. The real Sark.
“Fine. What info do you have for me?” she asked, moving on.
“Sloane’s in Saint Petersburg meeting with a man named Alexander Miranov over some Rambaldi artifacts.”
“Do you have any idea what his end game is?”
“Sydney, Rambaldi itself is an endgame for him. You must know this.” She nodded. It was true.
“Do you know anything else?”
“Not right now. I’ll get back to you the minute I do.”
“Fine,” she replied in a dead tone as she started getting back into her car.
“Sydney, you know you’re eventually going to have to pay back this favour,” Sark said with a callous smile. Sydney eyed him coldly as she got back into her car.
Meanwhile, Jack was sitting in his car that was pulled over on the same stretch of highway. He watched her from around a bend, his car hidden in the shadows cast by the hillside. He watched her. She was standing there by herself, her car pulled over in the middle of nowhere. He could see her animatedly talking. But no one else was there. Jack’s eyes grew with worry. He quickly got out his cell phone and called Dr. Jain.
“Hello?” Dr. Jain said answering the phone while he sat there looking at Sydney’s MRI.
“This is Jack Bristow. We have a problem.”
Chapter 15
Sydney arrived home in the late afternoon to find Vaughn's car still parked in her driveway. She sighed knowing he was probably wondering where she had been all day since she had left around noon only to quickly pick something up at the store. She grabbed her shoulder bag and walked into her home, her eyes entrenched with dark circles and tired lines. She immediately noticed Vaughn who was talking on his cell phone. His expression was a bothered one as his eyes conveyed the seriousness of the conversation. As she walked in, he saw her and quickly hung up.
"Sydney, I've been wondering when you'd get back," Vaughn said to her immediately, coming up to her and giving her a light kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, yeah, I um... got side tracked," she replied, not really knowing what to say. She was too worn out to think of a good cover story.
"Right." Vaughn nodded to her as he concealed the fact that he had just been on the phone with Jack. "You look tired, why don't you go lie down." Vaughn smiled warmly as he lead her to her bedroom.
Sydney immediately sensed something was wrong, "What are you doing?" she asked with an agitated tone.
"What do you mean? I'm just trying to be nice," he spoke, trying to keep a smile on his face to coax her into resting.
"No, you're hiding something," she snapped at him in a harsh tone. "Who were you talking on the phone with?!"
Vaughn looked down and sighed. "Your father."
"My father? Why?!" Her eyes were mad with fury.
"Sydney, you're not well," he replied trying to reason with her.
"I'm fine! Can't everyone just understand that I am fine!" Her face went red as she screamed at him.
"Sydney, calm down!" Vaughn exclaimed.
"Don't tell me what to do! I can't believe you. You go behind my back to my father!" she yelled.
"I did what I had to do. Sydney, we're both worried about you," Vaughn replied, trying to calm his tone.
"Well don't be!" she said in a low hard tone, her eyes portraying rage.
"Sydney, I need to be. Your behaviour, its cause for concern. A lot of concern."
"How would you know? Have you been following me?" she asked with anger
"No, I don't have to. Its right here in front of me. You look exhausted and-"
"So, I'm tired. That doesn't make me crazy!" she said cutting him off.
Vaughn continued, "You're irritable. You talk to yourself as if someone else is there."
"You're wrong," Sydney yelled in defence of herself.
"I'm not. I saw you. And then you're father saw you drive to the middle of nowhere and have a conversation with no one at the side of a highway."
"He followed me! You two have been conspiring against me?!"
"We're not conspiring against you Sydney. And that's another thing. You're paranoid and obsessed with The Guildiya case, for no reason I can understand," he explained in a frustrated tone.
"I have good reason! You have no idea what I know, Vaughn."
"I don't think you know anything Sydney. How can you when you're sources are imaginary people. You're loosing it Sydney and you need help."
"Go to hell!" she screamed as she grabbed something off her dresser and chucked it at him. It just missed his head and smashed against the wall into shattered pieces of sharp porcelain.
"Sydney... Sydney, just calm down," Vaughn said with a softer tone. Sydney stared him deep in the eye, her own eyes red with fire. After a moment, she looked away and shook her head.
"You know, this is just..." She couldn't find the words so she just stared at him as tears tried to form in her eyes. She forced them away.
"Sydney," Vaughn said softly as he approached her getting ready to put his arm on her shoulder gently. The minute he touched her, though, she swatted his arm away.
"Just leave!" she screamed, pointing to the door to her room. Vaughn stared at her with soft pleading eyes. She stared him down and screamed again, her voice turning shrill. "Leave!"
"Sydney, no. You're not okay. Can't we just sit down and talk about this?" he asked gently.
"Leave!" her eyes went dark with madness and she started shoving him out the door. "Leave now!" Vaughn refused, trying to stand his ground in the room.
"Sydney, please," he replied desperately. Suddenly, he found himself being swiftly thrust out of the room as the door slammed behind him. On the other side of the door, Sydney found herself brimming with tears as she sunk down to the ground against the door.
"Just leave me alone," she whispered. Her eyes stared forward hollowly as they watered up. Finally a single tear started to fall and then quickly, an army of tears fell, streaking her cheeks with fine shiny lines. Her eyes were puffy and red as she wiped away the tears. She took a deep breath and suddenly she couldn't hold back her cries any more. She tried to muffle them with her hand over her mouth, but she was sure Vaughn was standing on the other side listening to her.
"Sydney, please let me in," Vaughn asked gently through the door.
"Go away," she said crying.
"Please," Vaughn tried to open to door slowly.
"Go away!" she said louder as she pushed herself against the door.
"Sydney, I need to come inside," Vaughn pushed the door harder, but Sydney managed to pull the dresser that was beside the door against it, locking him out. "Sydney!" he said in frustration as the banging of him trying to push the door opened against the dresser could be heard loudly.
"Vaughn, just leave!" she cried louder.
"What's going on?!" Someone exclaimed behind Vaughn. It was Nadia, who had just come in from the front door to see him banging against Sydney's door.
"Sydney locked herself in here. She's... she's not well." Vaughn explained.
"Sydney?" Nadia asked softly as she knocked on the door gently. Sydney didn't answer. Instead she sunk down against the wall beside the dresser. She didn't know what to do. She was lost. She was truly lost, she thought as fresh tears fell from her sorrow stricken eyes.
Reality hit her hard as she sat there. She had locked herself in the bedroom from two people she loved as Vaughn and her father conspired against her. Or so she thought with paranoia.
She was so exhausted, but she couldn't let them get in the way of her fight against Sloane. Too much was at stake. She had to save the world from him, she thought. Too tired to sit up anymore, she slunk down to the ground, resting her head on top of her folded arms. Tears continued to fall, leaving little droplets on the floor below her. Sydney took a deep breath and let it out hard, staring forward, her eyes glazed over.
She was lost.
Sydney’s heart was beating rapidly as she lay there trapped in the MRI machine that surrounded her body, giant magnets rotating around her head and hammering sounds deep into her brain. Finally, after 20 minutes, the table retreated from the machine’s horizontal tube. She took a deep breath and quickly looked through the glass at the adjacent room for Sloane. He was gone.
“Where is he?” Sydney asked distressfully.
“Dr. Jain is in the other room,” the nurse answered as she helped Sydney sit up.
“No, not him,” Sydney replied with frustration as her eyes darted around the room for any sign of the man she despised.
“Agent Bristow, no one else has been here,” the nurse spoke. Sydney peered at her with bafflement.
“Sloane?”
“He hasn’t been here,” the nurse responded. Sydney looked around one last time and then back at the nurse. What did she mean he hadn’t been there. She must be lying, Sydney thought.
“Who do you work for?” Sydney asked with determined accusation.
“I work for The CIA, for APO. Why are you asking me this?” The nurse answered with confusion.
“Who asked you to lie to me?” Sydney asked in a forceful tone. Her eyes went stone cold.
“Agent Bristow, I don’t know what your talking about. I did not lie to you.” She replied defensively.
“Sloane was here. I heard him when I was in the machine.”
“Agent Bristow, the machine is loud. There is no way you could hear anyone in the other room. I assure you, he wasn’t here.” The nurse explained with resentment at the accusation. Sydney peered at her with harsh eyes.
“We’re all done here. Why don’t you get dressed,” the nurse requested trying to get away from Sydney’s glare. Sydney got up quickly and left the room, giving the nurse a nasty look as she went.
***
Sydney quickly made her way up to her father's office, briefly peering around for Sloane on her way. She couldn't see him, but she had no doubt he had been there. Meanwhile, Jack was sitting in his office thumbing through some files.
"Dad, we need to talk," Sydney said as she breezed through the door.
"Sydney, if this is about the tests, I was only looking out for your best interests." He replied stubbornly not wishing to fight with her about it anymore.
"Its not that," Sydney said as she turned her head around, looking for any sign that anyone else was there. No one was. At that, she walked up to him, coming within inches of him and whispered to him in a low tone. "Its Sloane."
Jack's eyes opened wider at the utterance of that name. "Let's go somewhere else." He cautioned and they briskly walked down to the parkade together, getting inside Jack's car. As he started the car and pulled out of the building, he began to inquire more.
"What about Sloane?" he asked.
"He's the head of The Guildiya, dad. And he's planning something," she spoke with interest.
"Where did you get this intel?" Jack asked with skepticism.
"Sark." She replied.
"You went to Sark in prison?"
"No," Sydney replied with confusion, shaking her head, "Sark's not in prison."
"Yes, Sydney, he is." Jack replied confidently. He hadn't received any reports of Sark escaping and he was sure he'd know the minute such a thing happened.
Sydney looked at Jack with deep confusion. She remembered. He was captured months ago. She shook her head, she couldn't understand it. How had she seen him, met with him.
"He must have escaped," she asserted.
"Sydney, I would have heard."
"I have to go," she replied with haste. Sydney quickly started to get out of the car that had been pulled over at an empty lot of warehouses.
"Sydney, wait," Jack said, getting out of the car after her. He grabbed her arm and she swung around to face him.
"Dad, I really have to go!" She exclaimed desperately.
"Where? where are you going to go?" He said with frustration.
"I just need to go figure some things out."
"What things?" He insisted. Sydney met his eyes with a desperate confusion. She didn't understand it. She needed to see him - Sark. To contact him. To know he was real.
"Can you just give me a ride back to my car. I... I'm really tired. I just want to go home." Sydney explained, trying to allay his worries. Jack was skeptical. He knew she was up to something, but he couldn’t really do much with her refusing to talk about it.
“Fine.” He replied. He would figure out another way to find out what she was hiding. He got back in the car with a distasteful look on his face. Sydney followed his lead and he drove to her car, which was parked in the APO parkade. The car ride was silent.
As soon as the car pulled up beside her own, Sydney got out with haste and headed towards her own car, grabbing the car keys out from her purse.
“Sydney,” Jack said. She looked at him wanting to say so much but being unable to tell him the truth. Her eyes were regretful as they met his concerned stare. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Dad, I’m fine. I’m just tired.” It wasn’t a lie. Jack nodded as she got into her car. He watched her pull out of the parking spot and quickly got into his own car intending to follow her.
***
Sydney drove around, not completely sure where to go. She couldn’t remember how she had contacted Sark. She wasn’t even sure if she had or if it was him who had contacted her. After about an hour of driving, she found herself driving down a long stretch of highway out of the city. Suddenly she saw him. He was leaning up against his black jaguar at the side of the road. No one else was around. Sydney pulled up behind him and proceeded to get out of her car.
“Sydney.” Sark smirked suavely.
Sydney looked at him with anger and confusion, “I don’t understand how you’re here. You were in prison. This... this makes no sense,” she spoke with an exhausted confusion in her voice.
“Sydney, you must know me better than this,” Sark asserted with disappointment.
“Explain it to me!” She exclaimed, tired and irritated.
“That’s not me in prison, Sydney. Its a double,” he explained. After a moment he smiled. “I always thought you, Sydney Bristow, would have figured that out sooner.”
Sydney sighed. She wasn’t crazy, she thought. He was there in front of her. Sark. The real Sark.
“Fine. What info do you have for me?” she asked, moving on.
“Sloane’s in Saint Petersburg meeting with a man named Alexander Miranov over some Rambaldi artifacts.”
“Do you have any idea what his end game is?”
“Sydney, Rambaldi itself is an endgame for him. You must know this.” She nodded. It was true.
“Do you know anything else?”
“Not right now. I’ll get back to you the minute I do.”
“Fine,” she replied in a dead tone as she started getting back into her car.
“Sydney, you know you’re eventually going to have to pay back this favour,” Sark said with a callous smile. Sydney eyed him coldly as she got back into her car.
Meanwhile, Jack was sitting in his car that was pulled over on the same stretch of highway. He watched her from around a bend, his car hidden in the shadows cast by the hillside. He watched her. She was standing there by herself, her car pulled over in the middle of nowhere. He could see her animatedly talking. But no one else was there. Jack’s eyes grew with worry. He quickly got out his cell phone and called Dr. Jain.
“Hello?” Dr. Jain said answering the phone while he sat there looking at Sydney’s MRI.
“This is Jack Bristow. We have a problem.”
Chapter 15
Sydney arrived home in the late afternoon to find Vaughn's car still parked in her driveway. She sighed knowing he was probably wondering where she had been all day since she had left around noon only to quickly pick something up at the store. She grabbed her shoulder bag and walked into her home, her eyes entrenched with dark circles and tired lines. She immediately noticed Vaughn who was talking on his cell phone. His expression was a bothered one as his eyes conveyed the seriousness of the conversation. As she walked in, he saw her and quickly hung up.
"Sydney, I've been wondering when you'd get back," Vaughn said to her immediately, coming up to her and giving her a light kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, yeah, I um... got side tracked," she replied, not really knowing what to say. She was too worn out to think of a good cover story.
"Right." Vaughn nodded to her as he concealed the fact that he had just been on the phone with Jack. "You look tired, why don't you go lie down." Vaughn smiled warmly as he lead her to her bedroom.
Sydney immediately sensed something was wrong, "What are you doing?" she asked with an agitated tone.
"What do you mean? I'm just trying to be nice," he spoke, trying to keep a smile on his face to coax her into resting.
"No, you're hiding something," she snapped at him in a harsh tone. "Who were you talking on the phone with?!"
Vaughn looked down and sighed. "Your father."
"My father? Why?!" Her eyes were mad with fury.
"Sydney, you're not well," he replied trying to reason with her.
"I'm fine! Can't everyone just understand that I am fine!" Her face went red as she screamed at him.
"Sydney, calm down!" Vaughn exclaimed.
"Don't tell me what to do! I can't believe you. You go behind my back to my father!" she yelled.
"I did what I had to do. Sydney, we're both worried about you," Vaughn replied, trying to calm his tone.
"Well don't be!" she said in a low hard tone, her eyes portraying rage.
"Sydney, I need to be. Your behaviour, its cause for concern. A lot of concern."
"How would you know? Have you been following me?" she asked with anger
"No, I don't have to. Its right here in front of me. You look exhausted and-"
"So, I'm tired. That doesn't make me crazy!" she said cutting him off.
Vaughn continued, "You're irritable. You talk to yourself as if someone else is there."
"You're wrong," Sydney yelled in defence of herself.
"I'm not. I saw you. And then you're father saw you drive to the middle of nowhere and have a conversation with no one at the side of a highway."
"He followed me! You two have been conspiring against me?!"
"We're not conspiring against you Sydney. And that's another thing. You're paranoid and obsessed with The Guildiya case, for no reason I can understand," he explained in a frustrated tone.
"I have good reason! You have no idea what I know, Vaughn."
"I don't think you know anything Sydney. How can you when you're sources are imaginary people. You're loosing it Sydney and you need help."
"Go to hell!" she screamed as she grabbed something off her dresser and chucked it at him. It just missed his head and smashed against the wall into shattered pieces of sharp porcelain.
"Sydney... Sydney, just calm down," Vaughn said with a softer tone. Sydney stared him deep in the eye, her own eyes red with fire. After a moment, she looked away and shook her head.
"You know, this is just..." She couldn't find the words so she just stared at him as tears tried to form in her eyes. She forced them away.
"Sydney," Vaughn said softly as he approached her getting ready to put his arm on her shoulder gently. The minute he touched her, though, she swatted his arm away.
"Just leave!" she screamed, pointing to the door to her room. Vaughn stared at her with soft pleading eyes. She stared him down and screamed again, her voice turning shrill. "Leave!"
"Sydney, no. You're not okay. Can't we just sit down and talk about this?" he asked gently.
"Leave!" her eyes went dark with madness and she started shoving him out the door. "Leave now!" Vaughn refused, trying to stand his ground in the room.
"Sydney, please," he replied desperately. Suddenly, he found himself being swiftly thrust out of the room as the door slammed behind him. On the other side of the door, Sydney found herself brimming with tears as she sunk down to the ground against the door.
"Just leave me alone," she whispered. Her eyes stared forward hollowly as they watered up. Finally a single tear started to fall and then quickly, an army of tears fell, streaking her cheeks with fine shiny lines. Her eyes were puffy and red as she wiped away the tears. She took a deep breath and suddenly she couldn't hold back her cries any more. She tried to muffle them with her hand over her mouth, but she was sure Vaughn was standing on the other side listening to her.
"Sydney, please let me in," Vaughn asked gently through the door.
"Go away," she said crying.
"Please," Vaughn tried to open to door slowly.
"Go away!" she said louder as she pushed herself against the door.
"Sydney, I need to come inside," Vaughn pushed the door harder, but Sydney managed to pull the dresser that was beside the door against it, locking him out. "Sydney!" he said in frustration as the banging of him trying to push the door opened against the dresser could be heard loudly.
"Vaughn, just leave!" she cried louder.
"What's going on?!" Someone exclaimed behind Vaughn. It was Nadia, who had just come in from the front door to see him banging against Sydney's door.
"Sydney locked herself in here. She's... she's not well." Vaughn explained.
"Sydney?" Nadia asked softly as she knocked on the door gently. Sydney didn't answer. Instead she sunk down against the wall beside the dresser. She didn't know what to do. She was lost. She was truly lost, she thought as fresh tears fell from her sorrow stricken eyes.
Reality hit her hard as she sat there. She had locked herself in the bedroom from two people she loved as Vaughn and her father conspired against her. Or so she thought with paranoia.
She was so exhausted, but she couldn't let them get in the way of her fight against Sloane. Too much was at stake. She had to save the world from him, she thought. Too tired to sit up anymore, she slunk down to the ground, resting her head on top of her folded arms. Tears continued to fall, leaving little droplets on the floor below her. Sydney took a deep breath and let it out hard, staring forward, her eyes glazed over.
She was lost.
