Chapter 11: Mission Part 3
Sydney jumped up as the guard charged into the room, aiming his rifle at her. She managed to kick it away, but couldn't predict the elbow to the side of her left eye. Stinging pain shot through her as her vision blurred slightly, and she shook her head vigorously to try and pinpoint where her assailant had gone. Rough hands grabbed her by the front of her tactical vest, hefting her off the ground and slamming her rib cage into the edge of a nearby countertop. She grunted, crying out in pain as she felt at least one of her ribs snap under the force.
She slid to the ground, watching the man above her with a dizzy expression. He pulled her up once more, and Sydney threw a right elbow into his nose before his knee connected with her stomach and injured side. Howling in pain, and spouting Russian with rage, he threw her across the room as her head connected with a glass door causing it to shatter.
"I am tired of your little game, woman." He snarled, blood seeping from his nose over his lips, trailing down his chin to drip onto the floor at her feet. Trying desperately to push herself up, she heard the sound of metal sliding over metal, looking up to see him brandishing a large hunting knife in his palm. She rolled quickly onto her back, putting her hands up defensively as she blocked the thrust of his arms. The knife came to a half mere centimeters away from her throat as the heavy guard jumped over her, putting all of his weight on the lower half of her body.
A gleam caught her eye, seeing another knife secured in the front of his vest. She let go of his arms, throwing her torso to the left as the blade met concrete, snapping away from the handle. He growled, the back of his hand coming into contact with her already swelling, bruised and bleeding cheek. His swing left him wide open, and she grabbed the knife. Before he could react, she plunged it into the side of his neck, blood covering her hands as he gurgled and collapsed next to her.
His sputtering breaths stopped after what seemed like an eternity, and she slowly forced herself into a sitting position. Her ribs were like a raging fire, squeezing every breath from her tortured lungs. She prayed that they hadn't been punctured, and rose slowly with her hand over her middle. The room spun slightly, and she held onto the counter for balance before turning and looking into a cracked mirror. A small river of blood flowed down her left temple, over the swelling lump slowly causing her eye to close millimeters at a time. A fairly good sized gash on her forehead above the hairline was to blame, and she quickly scrounged through some cabinets before finding a box of square gauze pads and some athletic tape. She bandaged it quickly, wincing as she took one last look around the room and walked with determined strides toward the door.
The hallway was empty, apparently only that single guard had been making his rounds through this half of the facility. Muffled sobs caught her attention and she flattened herself against the wall behind her, eyes darting maniacally back and forth in search of danger, though none seemed to present itself. With a frown, she followed the noises until the came to a room marked PATIENTS 15-16. She opened the wooden slat of the hidden window, peering into the dark room. She gasped when her eyes took in the sight of two small children bound together in the center of the room.
Pulling out the access card with shaking hands, she threw the door open quickly. One of them squinted at the harsh light from the hallway, trying desperately to pull away from the person entering the room.
"Shh…it's okay I'm here to help. My name is Sydney; I'm going to take you away from this place." She crooned with a light voice as she untied their bound hands. The child opposite from the smaller, whimpering toddler slumped to the ground, and tears sprang to her eyes knowing she was too late for him. The moment the small child was untied, he scooted away from the intruder and into the corner of the cell.
"No…don't hurt me…" he cried, tears streaming down his bruised cheeks as he waited for Sydney to punish him for crying openly.
Sydney picked the unmoving child off of the floor and set him on the single cot on the other side of the room. Her side protested vehemently, but she completed the process nonetheless. Picking up the single soiled and tattered blanket, she covered his small body from head to toe and turned to look at the crying little boy crouched in a corner. She sat on the cold hard floor, cross-legged, in an attempt to look unthreatening.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I want to take you away from here."
"Mad People live here…" he sobbed, and Sydney's heart broke for the young, defeated child.
"I know. That's why I came to get you. I'm going to take you away from the Mad People, I promise. But you need to come with me; you need to trust me. See? They hurt me too." Sydney pulled the small flashlight from her pocket, showing him the swelling bruise on the side of her head and the dried blood on her cheek.
Slowly, the toddler crawled from his corner and Sydney reached out a gentle hand to him. She patiently waited until he was close enough to touch her, but she made no move to hurry his actions. Timidly, his fingers brushed hers and he jumped back, waiting for her to strike him. When no such action came, he opened his eyes and saw her gentle smile, sobbing before throwing himself into her arms. His willowy arms wrapped tightly around her neck as he buried his face into her throat. She groaned quietly, her side taking the brunt of his actions, but she still whispered soothing words to the little boy before pushing him away. He reached out to her once more, but she told him to be patient and stood, grabbing the wall for purchase until she reached out to take his hand in hers.
"Follow me, okay? You need to stay right next to me. If something happens, I need you to run and hide, and not come out for anyone unless you hear my voice."
He nodded in compliance, his small hand gripping her pinky as she opened the door of the cell and checked the hallway before pulling him out to join her. She was still a bit disoriented, and fairly sure that it would take a little longer to find the entrance to the tunnel due to the fact that she more than likely had a concussion, but this little boy clutching her hand kept her grounded. If anything, she had to get him out; give him a life and a chance to start over with a loving family.
Thirty minutes later, she finally found a hallway that looked familiar. "Wait here…" she ordered quietly, seeing him nod as she went to walk away.
"No, no, no…." he whimpered, reaching frantically for her hand as he tried to stop her from leaving him.
"I'm not going to leave you here. I promised, and I never break a promise. I need to see if this is the way we should go okay?" At his reluctant nod, he slid down the wall and pulled his legs up tight against his chest. He hid his small face in his knees and Sydney made her way around the corner to peer into the window of the security room. All three guards were still knocked out on the floor, but she knew they would wake soon. She turned back around, seeing him crumpled on the floor. Running a comforting hand through his hair, he looked up at her with brilliant green eyes and a worried expression.
"Let's go." He took her pinky once more, and she led him out of the hallway, through the passages until they reached the tunnel's entrance ten minutes later. He began to lag behind, telling her that he was tired so, contrary to the pain from her rib cage, she picked him up and told him to stand on a pipe jutting out a few feet from the ground. As he stood on shaky, twig-thin legs, she turned her back to him and he jumped on. His hands wrapped instantly around her shoulders, hanging on as he swung his legs around her waist.
Her side protested, but she reminded herself that all she had to do was get through the tunnel, then to the side entrance of the warehouse, and finally into the Jeep hidden fifty feet away in the trees of the surrounding forest. She chuckled quietly, beginning the trek.
She had been sitting in the car, pouring over maps for fifteen minutes until she decided on the best route to take to get to Moscow. Navigating through the side streets and off-roading most of the trip wasn't going to be pleasant. Her breathing was labored as she gulped down the rest of one of the many bottles of water stored in a survival kit from the trunk, taking four Advil® along with it. The little boy was asleep in the front seat, his head on the arm rest and his fingers still clinging to the pinky of her left hand. She smiled gently, knowing that even if they managed to get little or no information on the weapon and the location of the Anderson's, she saved this child's life. That was enough for her.
She jumped when her cell phone rang, and she fumbled around the pockets of her discarded vest until she found it.
"Hello?"
"Baby…I can't believe you made me leave you behind. I'm dying here…are you okay? Have you made it to the safe house yet?" Vaughn's worried voice cracked her vigil resolve, and she sobbed into the phone. "Sydney? Please…don't cry. Tell me what happened. Are you all right?"
"Vaughn...the children; they…"
"I know, Syd, I talked to Jack. He said you hadn't checked in for nearly two hours after hanging up on him from the morgue."
"I got out just fine. A couple broken ribs, probably in need of a few stitches and a definite concussion, but I'm alive. And I've got cargo."
"What kind of cargo?"
"One of the kids. He was the only one alive that I could find, so I managed to get him out with me. He hasn't said much…I don't know his name or his age, but I'm assuming he's around four years old." Sydney looked down at the sleeping child, her foggy mind trying to remember the number on the door of his cell.
"Did Nadia bring all of the adoption papers from the warehouse?"
"Ya she did."
"Let me talk to her."
"Okay...but…but don't hang up. I want to talk to you when you're done." She could hear the desperation in his voice and promised she wouldn't end the phone call after speaking with Nadia. She heard shuffling around on Vaughn's side, and after a few moments of silence her sister's voice came through the cell.
"Sydney, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Listen, I need you to look up one of the files on the children. I found one of them still alive, and it's either Numbers Fifteen or Sixteen. The two children were together, but one had…had already died. I need the basic information on the second."
"Okay…give me a minute and let me grab the files. Vaughn told me what Jack said…were they really testing it on children?"
"Yea…" Syd's voice was quiet and pained, and she sighed while waiting for Nadia to find the information she'd asked for.
"Well, Number Fifteen was six years old with dark black hair."
"Not him. The one sitting next to me has sandy brown hair and green eyes. He looks to be around four and a half or so…"
"Number Sixteen. His name is Daniel R-I-E-N, pronounced Ryan. Aged four and a half. You know what? He looks a lot like a little Vaughn in my eyes." Sydney could hear Nadia's smile and laughed lightly.
"Well, I'm going to take him to the safe house with me. Let me talk to Vaughn, and I'll see you when I get home."
"Take care, Syd, come home in one piece."
She waited quietly, her fingers absently running through Little Daniel's hair as Vaughn called her name over the phone.
"Here's what's going to happen. I've got a contact in Moscow. I'm going to arrange to have him at the safe house by the time you get there. He's a doctor, certified Red Cross, the whole works, so he's going to bandage you both up. He'll have two passports waiting for you; we're hooking up Marshall's computer and scanning in the picture of Daniel to make him one as well. Tomorrow he'll take you to the airport; you'll be under the aliases of Sydney and Daniel Vaughn, returning from a visit to a sick family member in Moscow."
"Vaughn…I doubt I can pass myself off as a good mother. We're both covered in bruises, people are going to question."
"Just…just say you were in a car accident and had to leave three days early. I'll be waiting for you at L.A.X."
"You don't have to…"
"I want to." He cut her off, before quieting his voice.
"Vaughn…how do we know this source is reliable?"
"He's my cousin, Maurice. He purchased a summer home in Moscow, so I know he'll be there. Believe me, he's reliable. Besides, he owes me a favor. You just head to the safe house and call me when you get there. No matter what time it is, you call me. I need to know that you're alright."
"I promise. I love you Vaughn…you know that right?"
"Yea…I love you too. I'll talk to you soon. Drive safe."
With that, the conversation ended and she started the engine, pulling away from the warehouse and heading back to the road that would lead her toward Moscow.
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