CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

His call was merely that of courtesy. He asked about several things related to the mission—something that he could have asked Vaughn and Sydney— before asking her if the knife wound was serious. Why can't he just ask her directly if she's okay? These are one of the instances that make her want to smack Jack in head. But there is this little voice inside her head that says that she mustn't assume too much.

Irina looked around the plane. Nathan had immediately fallen asleep when they took off from the airport. Sydney and Vaughn are across him, also asleep. Weiss is at the far end, reclined on the chair, while Dixon who's the nearest to her, was awake and reading a draft of their report.

'He's a hardworking man.' She thought and leaned back on her seat. The action a few hours ago flashed in her mind again.

"Groznyy… Demarkov mental institution… I brought them there myself."

Radetskii's voice echoed in her head. They have a definite location, at last. They need to act fast or else they might lose this lead.

She then closed her eyes to meditate. Sleep was not an option. She cannot afford to have a nightmare at such an inappropriate time.

But after a few minutes, the steady humming of the plane sent her to sleep.

-x-x-x-

"You are not going."

She looked at him incredulously. Jack was busy jamming papers in his briefcase, as if he was in a hurry to leave.

"And why not?" Irina asked. Her jaw was set and her determination was very palpable in her stance. She tucked strands of her hair behind her ear before she crossed her arms in front of her and waited for his answer.

"I have operational control of the mission and I decide on whom to include. And unfortunately, you're not one of them." he answered impassively and looked at her.

Her eyebrows knotted, "Jack, I am perfectly capable of-"

"That's not it." He said, cutting her off. "Sydney will be monitoring the rescue mission here. You're welcome to join her if you want." He took his briefcase and started to leave.

"Stop right there." Irina tried to block his way, "Don't you dare try to pull of a bureaucratic move on me."

"Who says I'm doing bureaucracy here?" Jack asked in a challenging tone, "I don't want you there. That's it. I will, however, include Nathan in the mission. He will be disabling the control room from the inside." He let out a deep breath and started to walk past her.

"I'm not going to kill the people who took my daughters, Jack. I'm not that reckless."

He turned to look at her, "Nothing can change my mind, Irina. You're staying. As acting Director of APO, I am ordering you to stay."

"I don't care if you're God." She snapped. "I want to be in this mission." The defiance in her tone cannot be missed. She readied herself for a fight.

He's starting to get exasperated with her stubbornness, "Sydney wants to be in this mission too. But she's going to stay here with Marshall—as with you. We're dealing with Rambaldi followers, Irina, and this is for your safety."

"I can't…" she trailed off and let out a sound of frustration. This was going nowhere.

"Stop being stubborn. You're not going." Jack said with finality and left his office.

Irina suddenly felt that surrendering to the CIA was a big mistake. She hated being ordered around, especially if that person was someone her equal or someone lower than her. She hated being the underling.

She flopped down the chair and shook her head in irritation. She couldn't do much if she's here. She must send someone to help in the rescue, to help Jack and Nathan.

Irina watched Jack walk away from her when an idea suddenly popped in her head. She then stood up from the chair and hurried out to follow him.

-x-x-x-

Martin Seraphim reviewed the map of the city and memorized the roads and the alleyways. Irina called him yesterday and asked if he could assist Jack in retrieving Nadia and Sofya. He didn't have to be asked twice when he agreed. He and the agents, plus Nate, met him in the CIA safe house a few miles away from the mental institution. He's going to be the driver.

"Are you all set?" he looked up and found Agent Dixon standing in front of him.

He put down the map, "Yes, I am." He stood up from the chair, "Are we going?"

"Yes." Dixon answered, "I hope you that the time we gave you were enough to memorize the escape route."

"Oh, it was more than enough." Martin answered casually as he walked beside the agent, "I'll do anything for Irina and her kids."

Dixon looked at him, interestingly, "Your unwavering loyalty is fascinating."

"Irina changed my life drastically. If it weren't for her, I'd probably be dead now. I thank her for that." Martin stared at him as they walked towards the garage, "She's the kind of person who inadvertently instills loyalty to the people she employs."

The CIA agent nodded his head, "I guess she does."

"Paladin, turn to your right."

Nathan quietly turned right to one of the openings in the ventilation shaft. Marshall had been giving him directions for the past fifteen minutes.

"The shaft goes downwards after a few feet. Do you see it?"

The sleek night vision goggles Marshall supplied him indicated that he was ten feet away from the said hole, "Yes, Wizard. I'm ten feet from it." He whispered.

"Good. After going down, there will be three ducts. Uh, take the right one… cos, you know… anyway, it will lead you to the control room."

"Copy that."

He can feel his heart beating out of his chest. His hands were sweating inside his gloves and it felt like it might fall off his wrists anytime. He must finish this task or else, they will have a hard time rescuing his sisters.

A few minutes later, he saw light beaming from one of the ducts. He hastily, but carefully, crawled towards the opening.

Nathan peered into the room and found three men inside. He looked at his watch and realized that the shifts were about to end. He decided to wait for a few minutes so that he wouldn't be encountering any problems when he's disabling the security around Nadia and Sofya's rooms.

Time ticked by. Everything seemed to have slowed down. Nathan's thoughts began to wander. Sofya normally handles the crawling-in-the-ventilation parts of their missions. How could she have tolerated such long waiting?

After minutes of waiting, the guards stood up from their seats (rather joyously, he must add) and started to leave the room. There was a window of fifteen seconds before the guards in the next shift went in.

"Okay, Paladin. Do your thing."

He silently unscrewed the shaft and noiselessly lifted the metal. He took his tranquilizer gun and swiftly shot the three men who just went in. When he was sure that they were all sedated, he jumped in to the room and locked the door. He then took one big step towards the control panel, placed the device Marshall gave him and began to connect to APO.

"You're connected Paladin. You're good to go."

Nathan began to type several commands on the keyboard in an effort to find Nadia and Sofya's whereabouts in the entire building. After a few seconds, images of his sisters popped onscreen.

"Magician, Outrigger, Evergreen is in the first floor. Almost part of the first level of the sub-basement…" he proceeded to give them instructions on how to reach Nadia, "Raptor, Shotgun, Hyperion is in the third level, at the very end of the west wing…"

"Copy that."

"Copy that."

-x-x-x-

Weiss and Dixon briskly walked to their destination, always keeping their head down, trying not to have eye contact with the other workers. There were only handful of those men but it will not hurt to be cautious.

Their lab coats hid the tranquilizer guns and the other weapons they brought. They would have an easier access if they pretended to be doctors and this idea was better than the swoop and kill method Nathan suggested.

They reached a hallway that was being blocked by metal bars. It then rose up after a few minutes which allowed them to pass through. Nathan is running everything in the control room.

"That boy works fast." Weiss whispered as they walked.

The dreary corridors seem endless. They could hear the shrieks, the groans and the pain from the people behind the doors. The patients were suffering. How could a sane person endure this kind of insanity?

"Stop there. There's a door to your left. It leads to Evergreen's cell."

Dixon turned the doorknob, "It's locked." He inspected the door, "Biometric sensors."

"I think I can override it, wait a sec."

It took him a few minutes, but it opened. Weiss and Dixon carefully walked in and were welcomed by another hallway.

"Go straight and then turn right. There will be two men by her door. Two guns each."

They looked around the corner and saw the two guards sitting by the doorway. They were talking and seemed unprepared for any attack.

Weiss and Dixon looked at each other as they took their tranq guns. They raised their weapons and simultaneously shot the guards. As the men fell down their chairs, the CIA agents hurried towards the door and took a look in the glass window. Weiss saw Nadia strapped in the bed, asleep.

"Paladin, we have visual confirmation of Evergreen." Weiss said as they quickly went in. He began freeing Nadia from her restraints while at the same time checking for any injuries or marks of violence. She hadn't lost a lot of weight, but she seemed exhausted because of the dark circles under her eyes. There were red marks in her hands and arms but it didn't seem serious.

"Eric?"

Weiss looked at Nadia and found her staring at him, "Hey. You're going to be alright." He said and smiled at her. She blinked, as if not quite believing her eyes before closing them and falling unconscious again.

Dixon lifted her up from the bed. Nadia was not as heavy as he had expected.

"Paladin, we have Evergreen."

-x-x-x-

"Paddy, it's ouch." She said in between sobs as she showed her father her pointing finger.

"I told you its hot." Her father said and placed a cold compress on it, "Don't do it again, okay?"

She nodded her head and then pouted her lips, "But Natey made me do it."

Her hands were tightly fisted by her side. Her childhood memories, a lot of it with her father, began to play slowly, almost excruciatingly. It was as if her subconscious is taunting her for forgetting.

Suddenly, it changed. Her father's smiling face was replaced by the menacing grin of a man, holding a small metal stick.

"See, this, little girl?" he asked in Russian, "If you don't go fast enough, I'll have to hit you with this." He made swift whacking motions with the rod to prove his point.

She understood little of what the man said, but she knew that she had to finish the puzzle they gave her as quickly as she could—this she surmised with the help of little thing with numbers on it which buzzes even when she's not yet finished.

"No." she said as defiantly as her three-year old self could. She doesn't want to be here, to be in this dark and smelly place.

The rod hit her fingers. The pain was astounding.

She shrieked out in pain and pulled her hands towards her chest. She began to cry.

"No talking."

The guards by Sofya's room were sprawled in the floor, unconscious. The door, however, was locked and was still being disengaged by Nathan.

Jack peered in the room and found Sofya curled in the bed, her back turned against the wall. He could see her sobbing in her sleep.

The door made a clicking noise and opened. Both Vaughn and Jack burst inside and went towards the girl.

The timer rang. Six pieces were left unattached to the puzzle. She squeezed her eyes shut as she knew what was going to come.

"Aww… try better next time."

When the rod hit her fingers, she began to wish that this was just another story her mother told her before sleeping. Her paddy will come and get her; she's sure of it.

Jack touched Sofya's shoulder gently. As soon as he did, her eyes flew open. Terror and confusion suddenly appeared on her face but when she saw him, it changed into relief (but still with slight disorientation).

"Paddy?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

He couldn't explain what he felt, but it felt like warmth. He nodded his head and gave her a small smile.

"Can you walk?" he asked before he motioned Vaughn to check the corridors. Nathan had informed them that there was someone heading their way.

She shook her head and tried to sit up. Jack assisted her and held her like she's made out of glass. Sofya looked like she might break into pieces if she made any attempt to stand up.

She began to feel her strength beginning to fade away. She had become dependent on the serum to give her energy.

"Nadia…" she trailed off. Even saying her sister's name took all her strength.

"She's alright." Jack answered. He could see Sofya's eyelids fluttering and he could feel her wilting in his arms. In the corner of his eye, he saw Vaughn drawing his tranquilizer gun and firing.

He lifted his daughter off the bed and headed out the room.

"What do we do with him?" Vaughn asked and showed Jack the face of their 'visitor'. He was better dressed than the workers they have encountered and seemed like a college student.

Nathan's voice resounded in their ear pieces, "That's Miguel Calderon, the son of the leader of the Shining Sword."

"Take him with us." Jack said. According to several intel, the Shining Sword is loosely affiliated with Leo Deretoskiev. They might be able to get something viable from him.

Vaughn lifted the young man from the floor and dragged him as they went towards the rendezvous point. Nathan will be the last to reach it since he has to travel through the ventilation shafts again.

"See you in fifteen."

-x-x-x-

"The device I gave Nate detected another transmission coming from here." Marshall said, "It was a few minutes before Calderon crossed the security cameras.

Sydney crossed her arms in front of her, "Can we pinpoint its direct source?" she asked, "I mean, can we know whose cell phone transmission it came from?"

"That's tricky. But it's challenging. I like that." Marshall remarked and grinned, albeit sheepishly, when he saw the expression on Irina's face, "It might take a few hours, though."

Sydney turned towards her mother, "They're not going to the safe house, are they?"

"No." Irina replied, shaking her head, "Martin's going to drive them to one of my houses in the area."

Sydney sighed, "Okay. I need to call Chase to tell her that the rescue mission went fine." Her worry has been alleviated and she couldn't explain the extent of her relief. Nothing went wrong, even if the whole mission seemed half-baked from the beginning. Nadia and Sofya are okay—as with her father, Nathan, Vaughn, Dixon, Weiss and Martin.

She smiled brightly as she walked towards her father's office.

This nightmare is over.