Chapter 20

Jack's eyes went fraught with dire concern. Sydney. It was Sydney. She'd killed Sloane. Jack shook his head at the idea. Was there even concrete proof, he thought? But then again, she suspected him of being the head of The Guildiya, of being their enemy and after everything he had done to her it would take a lot of strength for her not to kill him. Jack pondered over this for a moment as Vaughn immediately questioned Eric.

"There must be a mistake!" Vaughn stated desperately. This was Sydney. Syd. She would never do anything like that except in self-defence. She was above Sloane. Above murdering him. There must be more to it, Vaughn thought nervously.

"There's surveillance footage that clearly shows her entering and exiting his property at the time of his murder. And the guards saw her. She had been in his office for awhile before leaving," Eric explained.

"But they didn't see her? If she killed him, why wouldn't they have intervened?" Vaughn questioned.

"She was alone with Sloane in his office. Sloane had welcomed her in. And as she left, she told them he had asked not to be disturbed. Its not exactly like they would consider Sydney a danger. They believed her. I know it makes no sense, but the evidence is pretty concrete," Eric continued, a fraught look on his face. He too didn't want to believe it. He was also thinking of Nadia. She didn't know yet. She was expected in soon though and he asked to be the one to tell her. Sloane was her father and Sydney was the sister she loved with all her heart. It wasn't exactly something she would take even remotely easily.

"Jack, this makes no sense," Vaughn said turning to him.

"Vaughn, I don't want to believe it either, but its true. Look, Nadia's gonna be here any minute, I need to be there when she arrives." Weiss stated direly. Jack nodded and Eric left.

Jack turned to Vaughn with a hard look on his face, "I'll review the footage and talk to the guards personally. Keep looking for Sydney."

Vaughn sighed hard and nodded to Jack as he left to pursue any trace of a lead he could find.

As Jack arose from his chair, he felt a sick pain in his stomach. He could only hope there was a mistake as he headed towards Marshall to review the footage. His face was marked with a grave expression as he headed around the corner of APO into the tech room. As Marshall noticed him, he gulped nervously. He himself knew it wasn't a mistake as unbelievable as it was. Syd had killed Sloane.

Nadia swiftly entered APO with a tired look of concern on her face. They had called her in, her pager indicating she needed to get there immediately. She thought of Sydney, trying not to let emotions overcome her, as she readied herself for the bad news. They hadn't found her. They had and she was hurt critically. They had and she was dead. Nadia's stomach churned as she walked in.

Eric stood at the opening to the office. His face portrayed a deep sorrow on it as he saw Nadia walking towards him. As she noticed him, she quickly rushed over to him, a questioning look on her face.

"Sydney?" she asked. Her eyes trying to hold back the worried tears.

"Uh, we haven't found her yet," Eric stated, his voice tired and beaten by what he was about to say. "Its your father."

Nadia's face turned into a whole new grim. She hadn't entirely trusted him. To find out he had betrayed them, it was not something she could bare to take. He was her family, her father, he loved her. And she felt compelled to love him back. Nadia's eyes widened as she looked into Eric's.

"What?" she asked anxiously. Her stomach was filled with fluttering sickness.

"Um, why don't we go over here." Eric said, leading her to a quiet corner of APO.

"Eric, what is it?" She asked desperately.

"He was killed."

Nadia's eyes went dark with pain and swirling emotions. She immediately looked down to the depth of the ground as her eyes brimmed up with tears. Her tears fell right away, hard, splashing to the ground. She didn't know what to think. All she could think was it hurt.

"Nadia," Eric whispered quietly as he lightly put his hand on her shoulder in comfort. She looked up at him, her eyes desperately sorrow filled.

"What..." she stuttered, "What happened?"

Seeing the pain in her eyes, Eric looked away, not wanting to cause her any more with the grimness as to how her father had died, as to who had killed him.

"Eric?" She insisted, her eyes red and puffy.

"Sydney."

"What about her?" Nadia asked with confusion.

"It was her."

"What do you mean?"

"She killed your father." Eric said finally, swallowing hard as he waited for her tears to worsen, for the flood of pain to overcome her.

Nadia stared at Eric, her eyes confused at first, then filling with more tears. Looking at him deep in the eyes, she started shaking her head and uttering no... no... quietly

Eric quickly pulled her into a tight but gentle hug and rubbed her back softly with feather hands. She whimpered into his suite, choking on her tears, her cries. At that moment, she felt completely lost and desperate. It made no sense. After a moment, Nadia pulled out of the hug and looked at Eric, wiping her tears away.

"Eric, it doesn't make sense. Why? Why would Sydney kill my father?" Nadia asked broken heartedly.

"I don't know," Eric responded, shaking his head.

"I know she hasn't been well, been acting strange, but this? I mean its not something she would do. Despite everything my father has done to her, she would never just go out and kill him." New tears began to fall as Nadia's heart filled with confusion.

"Nadia, I'm sorry," Eric said gently, stroking her back. Nadia nodded exhaustively, not knowing how to process any of it. Her father was dead. Sydney had killed him. He was dead and she'd killed him. Nadia's heart ached.

Sitting up from her cozy spot in the sand, Sydney yawned. The moonlight cast an eerie glow over the water as waves gently crashed against the shore. Looking at her watch, she realized it was only a few hours past midnight. Stretching out her arms and yawning some more, Sydney realized she should probably get off the beach before day break, before someone found her there alone and realized she had spent the night there. She didn't really know where to go though.

As Sydney got up off the beach and brushed the sand off her clothes, she noticed a figure standing over her. Darkness crowded around the person's face, not letting Sydney know their identity. Her heart raced as she thought it could be a cop or someone from The Guildiya after revenge for killing their leader. Sydney gasped as the person put their hand on her shoulder and quickly went to run.

They knew, she thought, and they were there to get her. The Guildiya, Sloane's henchmen, someone. She was caught.