Chapter 12
"Oh Syd!" Vaughn exclaimed with relief as she walked through the doorway of her home. He quickly grabbed hold of her in a tight hug. "Are you okay?" He asked gently.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Sydney replied as he squeezed her. She pulled away from him as she saw Nadia standing behind them with a relieved but fraught look on her face.
"Syd," Nada said quietly and she walked up to her and pulled her into a gentle hug. Tears fell from both their eyes. "Sydney," Nadia started as she let go of Sydney, "what happened? Why did you run off?"
"I..." Sydney tried to start but Vaughn's green stare caught her eye. She looked down and swallowed hard. "I've been having these nightmares and when I'm awake, I'm just so tired that I get irritable... and confused." Sydney sighed as the partial lies seeped from her mouth.
Nadia took a strand of Sydney's hair and pulled it away from her eyes. She looked deeply at her as tears fell from Sydney's eyes.
"Syd, we're here for you, for anything you need. Next time just talk to us. We love you." Nadia gently said.
"Nadia is right Syd. We care about you and tonight you scared us deeply. Maybe you should see Dr. Jain about this. I know your father thinks its a good idea," Vaughn explained with concern.
"You talked to my father?" Sydney said with worry. She was trying to hide her anger at the idea. She didn't want her father to know any of this.
"I called him while you were sleeping tonight," Vaughn replied.
"Oh. I see."
"Syd, I'm sorry, but I was worried after what happened when we went out tonight."
"Its fine Vaughn. And really, you don't have to worry about me." No, he didn't. It was Sloane they all had to worry about, Sydney thought. "I think I'll go to bed. Its almost 2am." Vaughn and Nadia both nodded and left her to go to her room.
Sydney closed the door to her bedroom behind her as she stripped off her clothes and put on an old pair of grey sweat pants and a white tank top. She sat on the bed, sighing deeply and then lay down. She was so tired. She closed her eyes to fall into a world of darkness as her body went to sleep.
The road was black. Still hot with freshly laid asphalt. Above was the wavy air of the desert heat. The road stretched long into the distance as the California hillside enclosed it on each side. Sydney could see the trucks in the distance continuing to lay fresh road as she turned off the pavement and onto the dusty path cars seldom took. Sweat beaded from her pores as her old truck without air conditioning roughed its way through the desert. Half a mile down the road, she saw him there waiting for her. Her contact, the one who had inside connections to The Guildiya and would tell her more about Sloane.
Sydney pulled over and quickly got out of the truck. A blond man was watching her with a smirk on his face.
"Sydney, how nice to meet your acquaintance once again," his blue eyes captured the daunting light of the bright sun as he spoke in a British accent.
"Sark," Sydney replied in a dead tone. She cared little for pleasantries. She was here for one reason - info on Sloane so she could eventually take him down.
Sark smiled at her, "I suppose you don't wish to catch up on old times."
"You know why I'm here," she said insistently with irritation. "Sloane."
"Yes, The Guildiya," Sark began, "They began as a small terrorist faction on the rise. In hiring them for his own purpose Sloane ended up killing off their leader, Korsakov, and continued to use his name as an alias."
"What is his purpose?" Sydney asked.
"Do you really need to ask me that," Sark replied tilting his head to the side.
"Rambaldi."
"Yes. He convinced the members of The Guildiya of Rambaldi's significance, converting them to his so called faith." Sark continued to explain.
"And you?"
"Oh, I'm merely in it for the money," he replied with a smile, one Sydney didn't return.
"You're going to help me," Sydney spoke callously.
"Take down Sloane?" Sark asked with slight surprise. He'd never thought of Sydney as one to come to him for more than information.
"Yes." She replied plainly.
"And what's in it for me? I assure you, I am paid quite well as it is," Sark asked with skepticism.
"I wont kick your ass. How bout that for a start," Sydney answered seriously, her tone remaining dead. Sark smiled.
Sydney was about to speak when the heat waves of the desert air began swirling. The dizziness took over her as her head began to pound. Deep pains digging down into her skull and crippling her to the ground. She blinked. Sark was gone. Her eyes shut tight and she opened them again. The desert was gone. Suddenly she found herself sitting in her sedan pulled over on the shoulder as heavy traffic passed by her. She shook her head. She couldn't remember why she was pulled over or where she was going. She must have been coming back from the desert, she thought. She must have lost track of time.
Sydney released the brake on her car and pulled the gears to drive. She quickly swung back into traffic as a car honked at her. Her head still hurt. She swept her hand back over the top of her head and into her long brown hair, sighing hard. She drove home as the light pierced into her eyes and made her head pound worse. Finally she pulled into her driveway. There were no other cars. No one was home.
As Sydney walked into her house, she quickly went for the Aspirin. At first she took 2 but her head throbbed hard so she took 2 more and lay down on the couch. She felt exhausted.
Suddenly everything went blurry and then back. She sat up quickly realizing she was in bed. She wasn't sure what had just happened. She must have lost track of time again. She hadn't been dreaming, she insisted to herself. She was wrong.
As Sydney lay back down, she noticed Vaughn's sleeping body next to her. It was 5:58am. She couldn't remember how she'd gotten there. Lost track of time, she thought, lost track of time, she repeated again in her mind as she shook her head. She closed her eyes and let herself fall back asleep.
It was Sunday, she thought to herself. It must be for the alarm clock read 11:28am. Still, she didn't want to get out of bed. Her eyes felt strained just looking at the world, at the sun peaking in through her bedroom window.
Something felt wrong about today, she thought. After a moment she realized what it was. She felt hollow. Her life had become about someone else, about fighting Sloane, and she was doing it alone. She felt alone, hollow and alone. The truth was she had felt alone for awhile now. The loneliness seeped in the minute she pulled the trigger on him, on Vaughn. Everything else after that wasn't the same. He never showed it, but the feeling was innate in at least her. Sydney took in a deep breath and let it out as she heard footsteps coming into her room.
"Syd?" Vaughn said quietly, poking his head through the door.
"I'm awake," she replied in a dead tone. At that, he opened the door fully and walked into the room, seating himself next to her body on the bed.
"Do you want breakfast?" He asked with a smile.
"No." She replied unemotionally.
Vaughn raised an eyebrow as he noticed her apathy. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Sydney slowly got up and walked out of the room, not even bothering to change. She sat down on the couch and turned the TV on. After a moment, she felt fatigued and lay down. Vaughn, lifted her legs up and seated himself on the sofa next to her. He stared at her as her dazed eyes watched the news lifelessly.
"Syd, are you okay?" he asked gently.
"Vaughn, I'm fine." She replied with irritation, not breaking her gaze away from the multitude of colours coming from the TV.
"Fine," he replied with frustration as he took his eyes off her and set them on the TV. It bothered him the way she was acting that morning, but he figured it was because she hadn't been sleeping well. And after taking off last night in an emotionally fury, he figured she must have exhausted herself.
Sydney watched the TV with dead eyes. After a few moments of watching the news, she realized there was something odd about what they were saying, as if there was a message there. She peered hard at the TV, her ears tuning into it as well as she could. There was a sound, a dit dah dit dit dah sound coming from the TV. She followed it, realizing it must be Sark with a message for her.
dit dit dit dit dah dit dit
Her eyes came alive as she listened to the code.
dah dah dah dit dah dah dit dit
Sydney's eyes widened.
"Sloane" she whispered.
