AN: Music for this chapter (on repeat): Here With Me- Dido, A Small Measure of Peace by Hans Zimmer the Last Samurai Soundtrack, Malleus Maleficarum by Hans Zimmer from The Da Vinci Code Soundtrack.


FIFTY-ONE

o

"Sonofabitch!" Jack screamed and clenched his trembling fingers into fists, "I knew this was going to happen! I knew it! I had a bad feeling about her leaving this morning! Goddamnit! Why didn't I listen to myself!?" He ranted to himself and Vladimir felt helpless on the other side of the phone. "How the hell could this happen? I thought she was supposed to be in an armored limo with four security cars around her?" He rapidly flung clothes out of his drawer searing for a shirt.

"She was, Jack. Nineteen members of the twenty member detail were all killed…one, is missing as well, and we can only assume at this point that the guard missing was working for whomever ambushed them. He had to have been, for shots to be fired inside her armored limo and kill Yuriy and the driver." Vladimir was growing angrier by the second thinking about one of his own countrymen turning on their Tsar, undoubtedly for money. "We have no idea who took her…no demands have been made which is usual when a high ranking political official is abducted…which to me suggests-"

"She wasn't abducted for ransom, but revenge." He gulped knowing of one man who would go to such great lengths to get to Irina...

"Yes." Vladimir sighed quietly.

"I'm on my way." Jack fumed as he threw on his socks and shoes. He stormed down the hallway and threw open Sark's door, blasting the light on and making the young man bolt upright in bed.

Sark didn't need to hear the words to know something had happened to Irina by the look on Jack's face.

"Cuvee ambushed Irina's team on the way from the airport in Moscow. Irina and Lena are both missing, everyone else is dead. We're going to Moscow." Jack gulped and Sark flew out of bed instantly, wearing only his boxers and started searching for some clothing immediately, feeling the panic rise in him at the thought of Irina alone with Cuvee after what he'd seen on the tapes and the baby!

'Oh God the baby!' He swallowed hard trying not to think of the fact that she was with Cuvee as well.

Jack bounded down the steps with great speed and flew into his office, throwing the files on Cuvee he'd been looking at into his briefcase and removed his guns from the bottom of his false bottom drawer, placing them inside as well. He paused when his eyes caught Irina's smiling face in the photo from their wedding day and his heart felt like shattering as his mind filled with her screams for help from the Kashmir tapes and what Cuvee was doing to her. He grasped the picture and put it into his briefcase along with the one of her and Lena with the baby sleeping on her chest. He latched it closed and met Sark at the door.

Within minutes they were flying down the freeway towards Sydney and Vaughn's with Jack on the phone relaying to Kendall what had happened and setting up a plane from Van Nuys to take them to Moscow tonight.

Jack stood stone still as he rapt on the door and rang the doorbell repeatedly in the middle of the night on his daughter's doorstep.

Vaughn sleepily answered the door wearing only boxers with messy hair and groggy eyes that went wide seeing Jack dressed at his doorstep and looking deadly serious at an ungodly hour of the morning. He didn't have time to ask before Sydney came up right behind him with wide panicked eyes.

"Dad? What happened?" She gulped as tears were already forming in her eyes seeing her father's face and Sark in the car waiting.

"Cuvee ambushed your mother's security detail. All of the security personal were killed including Yuriy. Your mother and sister are missing." He said rapidly and softly, his heart breaking all over watching the tears flood his daughters' eyes. "We're leaving for Moscow, now."

"Oh God," Sydney flew back to her bedroom with Vaughn on her heels as Jack waited for them in the dark entryway. She was sobbing as she tried to put her clothes on and Vaughn struggled to keep it together himself seeing her so distraught.

"It's going to be ok, Sydney. We're going to find them." He tried to reassure her as he pulled on his shirt.

"Vaughn, you saw what he did to her!" She sobbed loudly and struggled to breath as she pulled on her pants and whirled to get her shirt. "And now he has both of them."

"Syd, we're going to find them!" He said more soundly and grabbed her upper arms, forcing her to look at him.

"Vaughn, you weren't there! In Moscow when Cuvee and Sloane kidnapped me for bait. You didn't hear what he said to her! What he told her he would do to her once he had her again…" She sobbed and her face contorted in pain and her breath caught.

"Don't think about that." He pulled her to him, his own breath coming in short spurts trying not to think of it himself, "We'll find her before the bastard can lay a finger on her, all right? Now let's go." He kissed her softly and intensely, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the bedroom. "We're ready." Vaughn squeezed Sydney's hand and followed Jack to the car.

The trip was made in silence as everyone was lost in their own thoughts and all were surprised when they arrived to find Kendall and Weiss standing at the plane.

"I just wanted to make sure you had everything you need before you left, Jack." Kendall looked absolutely ashen with hands on hips and finding it hard to swallow. "If you need anything, we're here. We'll help in anyway we can." His own mind flashing to the horror of the Kashmir tapes and to the recent reveal of Irina's many pregnancies by rape and forced miscarriages from the man who had her captive now…

"I'm coming with you." Weiss said resolutely with unshed tears in his eyes, scared for Irina and his God Baby.

Jack nodded at him, sharing his pain but not allowing anyone to see it.

"Jack, Putin's agents just called our office." Kendall shifted uncomfortably as everyone paid close attention to him, "The blood they found inside the car on Irina's side matched her DNA…and Lena's."

"Oh my God…" Sydney gasped covering her mouth as tears sprang forward and Jack swallowed hard as the pain and rage swirled inside of him.

"How much blood?" Jack asked quietly, trying to assess possible injury to both of them.

"More of Irina's then Lena's." Kendall answered just as quietly, severely disturbed by the thought of a baby's blood being spilt. "Lena was taken from her car seat. They found a small amount of her blood on the strap, some glass shards in her seat from a drinking glass and on her yellow bear." He gulped having been the one to give her the bear when she was born…a bear he never saw her without these last few weeks. His eyes forcing back tears when he saw a fresh wave of tears in Sydney's eyes. "Irina's blood was on the window, head rest and on the sides and top of Lena's car seat. The Russian agents concluded that she was probably leaning over Lena trying to shield her from whatever chaos was happening around them." His heart felt heavy and saddened at the mental picture that gave him and everyone else; an injured Irina, bleeding and leaning over her baby trying to protect her. "They think its from a head wound. Irina's head hit the side window as the cars spun out and collided, which would explain why there is so much blood with a face or head wound. They don't think she's been shot, Jack." He watched as the pain and worry raced across Jack's face with rapid torment.

"We'll call you when we land." Jack nodded and flew up the steps of the plane, followed by everyone else and Kendall stood and watched until the plane was in the air.

"Oh, Dear God, please let them find her in time." He looked skyward with a big sigh before jumping into his car and heading back to Ops.

"Dad?" Sydney sniffled with puffy red eyes as she came to sit beside him hours later on the flight, her father had been staring at the picture of her mother and sister for the last two hours. She didn't know what to say or what to do, so she just wrapped her arms around him and cried.

Jack was tense at first from keeping his emotions under lock and key but feeling Sydney melt in his arms and her warm tears against his cheek and neck he slowly wrapped his arms around her as well letting his own tears well but forced them back vehemently. He had to be strong for all of his girls. There was no time for him to cry or get upset, not when two of them were out their in the hands of a mad man.

"Dad, I am scared for her. For both of them," Sydney sobbed into him softly, "Why would he take Lena, too? Why would he want a little baby?" She knew why, her brother came to mind and she cried harder trying to push those thoughts out of her mind. "He's going to use her against Mom." She sobbed and shook in his arms and Jack closed his eyes fight for control over his emotions as he held her, knowing she was right.


Sometime later he looked over to where Sydney had fallen asleep with her head on Vaughn's lap as he stroked her hair, the picture of Irina from their wedding day looking absolutely gorgeous was clutched tightly to his daughter's chest. His eyes looked up and met Vaughn's sympathetic gaze for a moment before looking away.


*Here With Me*

When they landed in Moscow they went straight to the scene of the crime, which was blocked off and off the beaten path enough that the abduction hadn't been publicized, which was a good thing and working in their favor at the moment.

Jack felt like vomiting when they approached the mangled cars with blood pools around them and white chalk outlines from where the guards bodies had laid before being removed. Police, SVR and FSB agents were all present, taking pictures and measuring out the crime scene.

The limo carrying his wife and child lay crushed against the side of one of the guard's cars when it had been rammed and slammed into the side where Irina was sitting. The interior glass had been cracked from where her head had hit, that was plain to see and her bloodstains were now drying down the window and over the headrest.

Jack knelt down and about lost it when he saw Lena's car seat with Irina's blood covering it, the tiny strap with his baby's blood and her little yellow teddy bear with blood sprays on it. Carefully, he removed the soft bear and held it in his hands knowing they had what they needed and he already knew who took his wife and baby. Slowly he stood with the tiny bear clutched in his hands and walked towards Sydney, Sark, Vaughn and Weiss who were talking with the Russian Agents.

Sydney saw the tiny bear in her father's hand and tears instantly came to her eyes once more seeing her sister's blood on the tiny plush object that had kept her company in her dreams.

"What have we got?" Jack asked the lead detective in Russian.

"There were apparently a pair of witnesses who saw something that we are currently trying to track down. A couple of homeless teenagers were heard talking about fantastic car crash and then killing and abduction a few blocks away. They apparently thought it was a mafia hit and are now in hiding thinking they will be killed as witnesses." The Russian guard inhaled on his cigarette with his eyes burning as he looked over his notes.

"Where are you looking for them?" Jack was losing his patience out of his own fear and worry.

"I understand your desperation, Agent Bristow, we love her, too." The agent blew out his smoke and spoke softly of his Tsar, "We're trying as hard as we can to get anything on the Empress's whereabouts and those kids but you've got to understand, Moscow is a big place and if those kids are terrified for their lives. They know where to hide and not be found. It's going to take awhile to find them. I'm sorry."

"She doesn't have 'awhile,' Agent Andrekov!" Jack fumed quietly with tight lips squeezing the bear. "Find them!" He stormed off and the other's followed.

"Now what do we do, Dad?" Sydney asked when they climbed into the car.

"We start looking for Cuvee on our own." Jack turned his head towards the window staring at Moscow and then to the bear in his hands. He wouldn't stop looking for her; he wouldn't sleep until he found them.


*A Small Measure of Peace*

Irina's head felt heavy and her eyelids like giant weights. The metallic sting of blood bit at her tongue and she felt its warm stickiness against her eye and down her face but she couldn't open her eyes. Her body ached and felt like dead weight and she was lying on a hard, cold floor with her hands chained together. In the distance, through the fog in her mind she could hear her baby crying and wondered if she was only dreaming it or if it really was Lena. The crying became louder and she struggled to make her eyes open as her head pounded furiously.

"Wake up, my Little Minx!" She heard Cuvee's voice pierce through her thoughts and Lena screaming nearby. Cuvee saw her eyes fluttering and smiled, leaning over and yanking hard on her hair and arm until she as in sitting position, pushing her back against the wall she was chained to and he slapped her hard. "Wake up!"

The concussion she suffered in the accident had knocked her out for hours. Irina, though, really had no idea how long she was out and his hand connecting with her face sent a tsunami of pain straight through her head.

"Wake up!" He screamed at her again, shaking her, "That bump to your head really knocked you out." He laughed when her eyes finally opened into slits and then wider, the blood streaming into her left eye causing it to stick shut and Cuvee reached up and wiped it with his hand gently, looking into her eyes with a smile. "It's good to see you again, Irina." He smiled at her, cupping her face and Irina tried to turn out of his grasp, her senses coming around again and she realized, she was in some serious trouble.

Her ears picked up the screams of Lena again and her eyes darted around the room for her baby, hearing in her voice that she was almost hoarse from crying for so long, so hard, and Irina's panic took over.

"Ah, I see you're looking for your little bastard." He smiled widely as his hand brushed up her thigh exposed by her dress and then over the swells of her chest. "She's been screaming for these gorgeous beauties for hours now. Not that I can blame her. They are fantastic to suck on."

Irina cringed at the memory she was assaulted with.

"Where is she?" She finally croaked out and squinted trying to focus, still finding it difficult with her vision faulty.

Cuvee stood and walked to a big steel door and opened it, turning around the corner he leaned over and scooped the baby into his arms. Her body and head red with rage and her screams reduced to hoarse gasps, as she lay stiff in his arms from exhaustion and hunger.

"Shhhhh. There, there now, little Bastard Duchess." He cradled the baby in his arms as he walked towards Irina, kissing her little cheek with a sick gleam in his eyes. "I know you must be hungry by now…starving really."

Irina wanted to scream out and beg him but she knew that's what he wanted from her and it would only make it worse. She tried to focus on her baby and saw the blood on her little face and arms.

"What did you do to her?" Irina seethed with anger, her voice a mere growl.

"I didn't do anything to your 'precious little seed of Satan,' Irina." Cuvee walked towards her and knelt down in front of her, "She was cut by a glass in your bodyguard's hand when the shots rang out. Just a few minor cuts. So, do you want to feed the screaming bastard or not?" He smiled seductively at Irina's breasts and intentionally kept calling Lena a bastard, just as he had with Sydney twenty years ago.

"You're actually going to let me feed her?" Irina looked at him with disbelief, knowing there was more to this then he was saying.

"Of course, I'm not the monster you think I am. She is quite beautiful for a bastard spawn. So much like her mother I see." His fingers trailed down Lena's face and arms as the baby trembled beneath his touch, having cried none stop for hours now. "But, I'm also not stupid and your chains stay on. So, I suppose you'll need help pulling that dress down and exposing your ravishing breasts?" His sick smile widened as he set Lena on the side of the bed and moved his finger's over Irina's chest, moving over her shoulders and dropping the straps before pulling it down and exposing her fully; his eyes lit up and Irina felt the bile rising in her throat as he caressed and kissed her body.

She wanted to head-butt him, bite him…anything to get him to stop but she knew if she did, her baby would suffer. His tongue darted out and flicked her nipple while his hand fondled the other one, grasping and cupping at their full weight with heated breath and a small laugh of enjoyment.

"If I had known your breasts would be so enormous and fantastic after having a baby, I might have considered letting you carrying one to full term. Just so I could enjoy these beautiful things." He groaned and covered her nipple with his entire mouth as Lena continued to scream beside Irina on the bed while he fondled her mother. His teeth grated over her and felt like acid burning her flesh she was so reviled and screwed her eyes shut trying to block it out when his tongue flicked at her peak and sucked lightly, making it erect and producing milk in stimuli for her baby.

"Mmm." He licked his lips, enjoying her sweetness. "I always wondered what you would taste like. " He moved his mouth to kiss the other and then between her breasts up her scar line and over the puckered flesh from his bullet wound. "So, I see I've left another mark on your gorgeous body." He smiled pleased as Irina turned her head violently to the side and away from him. "You left quite the mark on mine too, you Little Minx." He rocked back on his heels and touched the scar across his neck. "Our games are always so dramatic, so fun. I promise you, Irina, this will be the best game of all." His sick and twisted smiled unnerved her as he placed the baby in her chained arms.

"It's ok, shh, shh, shh." Irina spoke softly to her daughter, trying to comfort her but not give too much away for him to use against her later.

Lena was so exhausted and traumatized she had no strength to stop crying or turn her head or realize she was in her mother's arms and with Irina's arms chained together, she couldn't help her.

"I think she needs some guidance." Cuvee's smile radiated vile disgust and yet sexual rapture when he cupped Irina's breast and turned the baby's face into it, watching with ill pleasure as she slowly began to latch on and suck with her little quivering hand palming her mother's breast. "Well, isn't that just a lovely sight... the whore feeding the bastard." He sat back and watched, getting off on the image and feeling himself growing hard beneath his pants. Slowly he began to stroke himself and Irina knew what he was doing but focused solely on Lena inspecting her body for any other damage.

The cuts on her little head, face and arm were bad enough but the sheer exhaustion in her eyes and how weak and limp she felt in Irina's arms was almost her undoing. Her little dark eyes, filled with tears, were staring into Irina's with such a sad haunted look that it tore Irina to pieces…a look that asked, 'Why didn't you come for me…why didn't you feed me and keep me safe…I was scared…and you let me cry, why?'

Cuvee unzipped his pants and started yanking on his cock, grunting with his eyes locked onto Irina's chest and the baby sucking at her breast. When he finally came he groaned, 'Oh fuck, Irina' and laughed when she refused to look at him.

"Is that what you're beloved Jack does? Beat off to the sight of you feeding his spawn?" He laughed, shoving his deflating dick back into his pants, "Or does he just fuck you at the same time?"

Irina took a deep breath, keeping her rage in check and her mouth quiet, thankful when one of his men interrupted them. They whispered in the corner while the man, Irina now recognized from her Security Detail, stared wide-eyed at her exposed chest while she fed the baby. He quickly looked away when she caught his eyes and Cuvee lit a cigarette, nodding along to whatever the man was saying. Irina couldn't see well enough yet with the blood matting her swollen eye and lashes shut to read their lips. Her concussion making it hard to focus her vision.

The guard suddenly left and Cuvee turned back to Irina with a lechorous smile, inhaling deeply as he leaned against the far wall watching her.

"You know," He exhaled dramatically, "I could never really picture you as a mother until just now. Quite fascinating really." He smiled with an evil gleam, knowing he had her just where he wanted her, had her weakness at his disposal, and for now he would play.

His hand reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved a rolled magazine, walking slowly towards her against the wall with his cigarette dangling between his lips.

"I remember your pleas for your other daughter in Kashmir. But we broke you of that concern for twenty years, and then what? You saw her again and suddenly felt like you were a mother again?" His eyes narrowed at her, though his lips carried a hidden smile, "You threw everything away for the bastard American child you left behind. I don't know how you've managed to fool the world, Irina, but I see through you. You aren't a woman of strength, but one ruled by her weaknesses, and I know what they are." He reached his hand out to graze against her cheek and she turned away quickly, making him laugh. "Sydney always worked so well against you in the past." He held up the magazine smiling as his fingers traced the suggestive outlines of Sydney' thigh, arm and chest in the Russian magazine's engagement announcement and Irina's eyes went wide, her heart pounding.

"I have to take care of something. " He stubbed out his cigarette on Sydney's chest in the photo gracing its cover…throwing it down at Irina, "And then I'll be back," He moved towards the door. "To play." His leer cast over her body once more before he left the room.

"Oh baby, I'm sorry." Irina leaned her head way down to rest her cheek against her ravenous shaking child who was so hungry and weak she was barely moving, trying desperately to keep her tears from falling thinking about how much danger both of her girls were in. "I'll get us out of this somehow. Daddy will find us. I know he's probably looking for us now."

'Dear God Jack, please keep Sydney by your side.' She looked heavenward as her tears fell silently down her cheeks.


*Moscow Wind Up*

Sydney sighed, frustrated and exhausted going over every file in front of her for the tenth time in the last few hours.

They were currently sitting in the middle of a conference room in the SVR Headquarters, both governments agencies having thrown secrecy and politics aside to work together and bring Irina and the baby back as fast as possible.

Vladimir's knowledge from, and inner knowledge of the KGB was proving very helpful in opening doors that would otherwise have been slammed shut to any agents of the CIA, regardless it they were about to become the Imperial family or not…as long as they were still CIA, many things were still off limits. Vladimir had called in some of his old KGB comrades to help in the search, having intimate knowledge of Gerard Cuvee and possible places he might have taken them.

Sydney had called Katya and broke the terrible news earlier in the day and now she was on a flight from Rome; expected to arrive in Moscow within the hour.

They had just finished scanning the most recent photos of Irina, her wedding photo Jack had brought, and of Lena, the picture he took before they left yesterday morning, and sending them out to all police stations throughout Russia, the former Soviet Republics and even Europe…knowing that Cuvee could take them anywhere.

With her back aching and muscles tense, Sydney leaned forward, closed her eyes and massaged her temples trying not to think at all for a moment and clear her head. Her cell phone started ringing and Sydney reached for it instantly, thinking it was Katya announcing she'd landed.

"Hello?" She answered softly, standing up and moving out of the conference room for privacy.

"Agent Sydney Bristow?" The voice on the other end of the phone was a male she didn't recognize and he spoke with heavily accented English.

"Yes." Sydney's heart began beating rapidly.

"I have information on the whereabouts of your mother. Do exactly as I say or I'll hang up and you'll never find her." The man answered in perfectly stern English and Sydney looked around with eyes wide, trying to locate her father, knowing she had to tell him but afraid if she did, they would lose a potential lead on her mother whom she was desperate to find. "Do not look at anyone or speak to anyone. Walk out of the building, now." The voice commanded and Sydney did as told trying to swallow the lump in her throat. When she pushed through the doors she was greeted with the cold Russian night.

"Now what?" Sydney asked agitated but keeping her cool as she looked around for anyone who could be the caller.

"Walk to the end of the block and get into the black Mercedes on the corner." His voice hissed out and she could tell the man was smoking on the other end. She did as told and looked around cautiously before trying the door handle, surprised to find it unlocked and keys inside. "Drive through the intersection and keep heading east." The deep voice commanded again and Sydney followed his instructions, her heart thundering in her ears.

"Where did Sydney go?" Vaughn entered the conference room with two cups of coffee, looking to Weiss then Jack.

"I don't know; I haven't seen her but her stuff is still here." Weiss looked over to the stack of files and Sydney's bag in the chair.

"How do I know, you even know where my mother is?" Sydney's anger started to get the best of her as she drove into the depths of the city.

"Go take the baby from her. Leave the little bastard along the far wall out of her reach." Cuvee sneered at one his men over his shoulder, nodding in the direction of the door behind him.

"Excuse me, don't mean to interrupt but I saw the Grand Duchess on the phone talking with someone outside and getting into a car while I was on my way in." A young female agent gave them a small smile.

"You don't, Agent Bristow. But I am your only lead, take a right onto the industrial highway." He suddenly gave her the direction just as the car neared the on ramp access. Sydney fumed but did as she was told and drove on for a few miles. "Take the Leningrad exit and turn left."

Irina had just shifted Lena to the other side when a burly looking guard stormed through the door and Irina tried to hold the baby closer seeing his eyes on her child.

"A car? She got into a car?" Jack immediately stood, leaning over the table as his blood roared in his ears.

"Easy or hard?" The man looked down at Irina and the baby with his hand on his gun, speaking in a warning tone of what would happen if she didn't relinquish her baby.

"Yes, a black Mercedes on the corner." The woman nodded and the three men shared a look, jumping into action.

Sydney maneuvered the car through the nighttime traffic and pulled off where the stranger had said to.

"Now continue on the path crossing the railroad tracks. Park the car behind the yellow train car and walk north until you reach the old fabric factory."

Sydney saw the yellow train car and did as she was told while her stomach flooded with unease and nausea.

"Vaughn, get them to pull the security tapes and see if they can't pull up that license plate number!" Jack tried to keep his panic down. He could not let Cuvee get his hands on all three of them. "Weiss start talking to possible witnesses and I'll call Marshall and see if we can't get a read on her signal, find out where she's going?"

Irina drew in a deep shaking breath knowing she had no choice but to let the baby go for now or witness her child's execution. She let the man take Lena, watching him grab her roughly and walk to the other side of the room, leaving her in the corner on the cold cement floor as her baby began to scream again and Irina's eyes went wide, watching the man retreat quickly across the dingy room and close the door behind him.

The floor was freezing and rough, only making Lena's cries that much worse as her little body shivered and Irina's heart was breaking, pulling as hard as she could against the restraints but unable to reach her.

'This was his point.' Irina cried feeling her tears stinging and beginning to slide down her cheeks at being so close to her baby and unable to help her.

Sydney's eyes fell upon the enormous warehouse and factory before her that looked like it had been abandoned long ago and was barely visible in the dark of night without any working perimeter lights.

"Climb the east fence."

She turned walking through a small field of tall grass of overgrowth and spotted the rusty chain link fence. She slipped the phone into her pocket and scaled the fence, landing with a soft thumb onto her feet on the other side. She knew she was walking into a trap…but she wasn't about to let her Mom go through this alone either. She only hoped her father or Vaughn had caught on to her disappearance and were already looking for her.

"Damn it, Sydney!" He hissed under his breath in frustration and worry, knowing his daughter too well when he watched the video feed of her receiving the phone call, her obvious nervousness and hesitation before she walked outside, paused and then headed towards the car that was waiting.

"It's ok Lena, Mama's here! I'm not leaving you!" Irina called out to her baby trying to give her some comfort and Lena turned her head towards the sound of her mother's voice, her big dark eyes filled with tears as the sight of Irina only made her more upset in that she was staring at her mother and she wasn't helping her. Irina's chest felt like it was about to explode with the pain in her child's eyes and cry and in her own heart at her helplessness and she continued to pull as hard as she could against her restraints.

"There is a broken door up the gray metal steps to your left…go inside."

Sydney's hair on her arms and the back of her neck was standing on end but she couldn't le her mother down. She pulled on the old door and walked cautiously inside, hearing the squeal of a rat as she stepped on his tail and made her jump, looking around and seeing hundreds of pairs of beady eyes looking at her. She didn't have time to hear the rest of the man's instructions when she felt the sharp pain to the back of her neck and the instant wave of dizziness before falling to her knees and then onto the floor.

Irina couldn't take it anymore, her baby had been screaming bloody murder and shaking, real tears rolling down her face as she looked to her mother for help for over the last twenty minutes and Irina had rubbed her wrists raw to bloody messes with her efforts of trying to pull out of her shackles. With one last tug the metal dug deeply into her flesh hitting bone and she bit back a scream of pain and of realization she wasn't going to get out of them and stopped pulling, turned back to Lena and let her tears fall, as she began to sob stretching as far as she could trying to reach her baby.

"We can't pick up her phone's signal. It must be Off." Marshall gulped starting to sweat on the other end of the line with Jack Bristow.

Jack started rubbing the bridge of his nose with his eyes screwed shut, knowing Sydney would never shut her phone off during an emergency like the one they were having now with Irina and Lena. tTe only reason it would be 'Off'…is if someone else turned it off.


*Malleus Maleficarum*

"We've brought you a visitor," Cuvee smiled brightly, barging through the door and leering down at Irina as Lena screamed on the other side of the room, and Irina cried. Right behind him through the door came two guards carrying an unconscious Sydney and Irina's tears only fell harder as she gasped for breath, her nightmare only getting worse. They shackled Sydney to the wall to her right and injected something into her arm to bring her awake again.

"What a heroic little tale." Cuvee slapped Sydney's face repeatedly bringing her around. "You come to save your bastard baby in Moscow almost a year ago and now here we are again, only she came to save you, Irina!"

Irina tried desperately to hold back her flood of tears at the thought of Sydney coming to rescue her and ending up in hell with her. Sydney's eyes began to flutter feeling the stinging of her cheeks and the taste of blood inside her mouth from his efforts.

"Well hello, Sydney, nice to see you again." Cuvee cupped her face, brushing his thumb over her face. "Still as beautiful as ever." Her head felt heavy from the drugs effect and she heard her sister's hoarse scream coming from the opposite corner.

"Lena? Mom?" She gasped her eyes finally focusing on her sister lying in the corner and her mother shackled and bleeding to the wall beside her, obviously crying.

"Yes, Grand Duchess. your royal whore of a mother and bastard sister are here, too." He smiled seeing the flash of panic and sadness race through Sydney's eyes. "We've been waiting for you to start our little party."

"You're a fucking bastard!" She spat at him unafraid and he laughed deeply.

"Oh Irina, she is your daughter!" He glanced back to Irina, "Same age, same looks, same fighting spirit that you had when you arrived in Kashmir! This will truly be fun!"

"If you touch one hair on her head-" Irina seethed in anger and she pulled roughly against her chains making them snap when they reached their length in attack mode.

"You'll do what, Irina? You are in no position to make demands now. You're not 'The Man' here! This is my game!" He moved to her quickly with his own anger building mixed with his lust and ripped her head back with his hand tangled into her hair, and pressed her roughly against the wall pinning her with his groin and ravaging her neck with his mouth as she fought against him.

Sydney's eyes instantly flooding with tears seeing the horrid monster attack her mother again.

Irina bit his lip hard, drawing blood instantly.

"Bitch!" He spat the blood at her and backhanded her hard across the face, knocking her face against the cement wall with a treacherous smile. "Let the games begin!" He said in a low and deadly tone, watching the new blood seep from Irina's forehead wound, her lips and nose.

Her body was getting weak from lack of insulin and no food for too many hours and she struggled to stand upright with her concussion and the new forceful hit across her face. As Cuvee backed up, Irina dropped to her knees and head lulled.

"Mom!" Sydney screamed over Lena's cries from her restraints with tears in her eyes seeing the state her mother was in. "She needs insulin! You're going to kill her!" She hissed at Cuvee and he smiled at her in return.

"That is the point, my dear Sydney." He replied calmly and wiped the blood on his lip with the back of his hand. "But…because I want this to be as long and as torturous as for her as possible." He paused removing a syringe filled with clear liquid from his jacket pocket, "I will give you what you need for now." He tapped the needle getting the air bubbles out and kneeled down to Irina's level as her body hung to the floor, her arms suspended in the air by her chains. "I heard about your new ailment, Irina." He clicked his tongue like he was ashamed and shook his head with a smile as he slid the needle into Irina's exposed thigh and injected her while Sydney gained a fresh round of tears watching the sick man with his twisted games. "Now, let the fun begin." He stood back up and walked to the corner where Lena was screaming and picked her up gently.

Irina's heart was breaking and she had no strength to stand as her tears began welling in her eyes.

Sydney went into full-blown panic mode seeing the man holding her baby sister, especially after learning what he'd done with her brother as a method of torture for her mother. He removed a long stiletto from his jacket and traced it lightly down the front of Lena's chest while she was in his arms crying hysterically.

"Oh God…" Irina gasped softly as a whimper when he stood along side Sydney.

"Leave her alone, you sonofabitch!" Sydney's eyes burned with tears seeing her sister.

"You know, I learned something about how to break your mother from her time in Kashmir. I'm sure it will be just as effective on you." He looked pointedly at Sydney and then Irina as he slid the knife up the middle of Lena's clothes cutting them off of her.

"I will kill you! I swear to God!" Irina seethed on the verge of losing consciousness, watching as he slid the back of the knife over Lena's exposed belly and chest.

"I've heard that before." He laughed mockingly, "Now, Sydney, back to what I learned about your mother." He turned his attention to her eldest daughter and placed the blade against her neck, pressing just enough to pierce the skin and create a thin red line of blood. "She, herself can withstand great amounts of pain with no tears at all but she cannot stand to see others punished for her." He slid the knife slightly, barely touching Lena's skin. "That is the greatest torture of all for her. This is where you come in and your bastard sister." He leered down at the baby nestled in his arm and quivering from crying so hard, so long. "I think you must be the same. Let's test that theory."

Cuvee stepped backwards with a smile, watching as both Irina's and Sydney's eyes widened, and he opened his arm, letting Lena fall as Irina and Sydney both screamed watching her fall to the hard tiled floor only to have him grasp her tiny arm before her full-body could hit the ground, with a sickening tiny snap as her collarbone broke. The baby screamed bloody murder as he pulled her back up to him, slowly and by one arm.

"You motherfucker!" Irina screamed in sheer anguish hearing the baby's bone snap and hearing her blood curdling screams on pain.

"Oh my God…" Sydney cried, not believing what she just saw the man do to her baby sister all the while smiling at the sheer torment it was for her mother. "Leave her alone! She's just a baby!"

"That makes no difference to me. She is the bastard daughter of a KGB whore who failed her mission miserably by falling in love with the enemy!" His piercing gaze never left Irina's, "And obviously, she's in need of some conditioning you choose, Irina."

"Choose what?" Irina screamed and could barely breath or take her eyes off of her baby who was holding her arm at a funny angle against her side, crying loudly in pain as the tears rolled off her cheeks. Irina's rage could hardly be contained as she fought to stay conscious.

"You choose which weakness that will join us in our game." He looked between the baby and Sydney. "Your little bastard baby?" He ran his knife down Lena's chest and stomach, piercing her flesh just enough to create a thin red line of blood and cutting her diaper clean off, as Sydney chanted, 'Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!' "Or your gorgeous bastard Sydney?" His knife swiftly went through Sydney's shirt, slicing it up the middle and cutting it and leaving her body exposed; the knife trailing along the swell of her breasts behind her black bra with a lecherous smile.

Irina sobbed knowing that he would ravage whatever daughter she chose and she couldn't do it. The thought of what he would do to them, unbearable.

"You can't expect me to choose between my daughters! Gerard…please! I'll do anything you want! Just let them go!" She begged and Sydney's tears flushed her face.

"No Mom!" She saw her mother laying herself on the sacrificial altar and couldn't bear to think of what that would mean. "Choose me! She's just a baby! I can handle it." She sobbed trying to find her mother's gaze seeing the blood running into Irina's glazed eyes knowing what she was volunteering for.

"No…no, I can't do it. I can't do it to you, Sydney." Irina shook her head, sobbing having no idea what to do; let one daughter be cut into small pieces in front of her or let the other be ravaged as he raped her and then killed her as well when he was through. There was no 'win' in this situation.

"Choose, Irina!" Cuvee hissed, thoroughly enjoying this show before him and disgusted all at the same time for Irina's love for her daughters and them for her.

"I can't!" She wailed, "Don't make me! Just take me, I won't fight you!" She begged, "Gerard, please!"

"Look at you." He shook his head in utter disgust, "Now you're begging. Choose, Irina!"

"I can't!" She screamed at him in rage and pain, completely helpless in this situation and barely able to keep sitting upright.


"Jack," Katya burst through the door into the conference room with terror running rampant across her features. "Have you heard anything?"

"No." Jack said quickly as his heart raced with unfathomable speed.

"Jack, the things he did to her!" Katya sobbed with tears streaming down her face, "We have to find her. Quickly!"

"I know, Katya!" He snapped with his own frustration and then quickly placed his hand on her arm with apologetic eyes, "I'm sorry. Sydney is gone too. We think he has her as well." He added softly and watched the horror and shock spread across her face.

"All three of them." She answered barely above a whisper and fell back into the chair, losing all ability to stand.


Gerard's anger flared when Irina didn't answer and he gripped Lena's upper arm in his fist and snapped it quickly as another tiny sound of her bone breaking echoed off the cement walls, as did the screams of Irina, Sydney and the baby.

"I will keep going unless you choose!" His eyes pierced Irina's with a haunting blackness of pure evil coursing through his veins, his hand on Lena's other arm, ready to break it as well.

Irina sobbed loudly looking at her baby and the sick angle her tiny arm was now in, shaking with pain and crying uncontrollably, his hand ready to do more damage to her little body. He started to grip Lena's arm tightly, out of patience when Irina started screaming 'No!'

"I choose…Sydney." She sobbed barely above a whisper looking at the floor in disgust with her self. "I'm so sorry, Sweetheart." Her blurry eyes met with her oldest daughters as they both cried for what had happened and what was about to come. "I'm so sorry…"

"It's ok, Mom…It's ok." Sydney tried to comfort her mother even as they stood on the threshold of the depths of hell, knowing her mother had made the only choice she could and that Lena would be dead shortly if she hadn't have chosen Sydney.

"Good choice, Irina." Cuvee smiled widely at her, turning his sickening stare to Sydney's exposed body, "I think I'll have much more fun with Sydney then with this little maggot." His gaze fell to the baby in his arms and he walked to the corner setting her naked, bleeding, broken body back on the ground with a disturbing gentleness and a smile. "It's time to go, ladies!" He turned and lit a cigarette as four guards entered the room, two each grabbing a hold of Sydney and Irina.

"What do you mean? Where are we going?" Irina asked in utter horror with her eyes flashing between her girls. "What about Lena?"

Cuvee inhaled deeply as a smile slid into place, watching as two of them unsheathed syringes and plunged them into Sydney and Irina's arms.

"We're going on trip and the little bastard will stay here…let rats eat her. I'm sure they'll smell the fresh blood and come running once we're gone." His smile widened as Irina fought against the guards screaming and crying hysterically before the drug took effect and she dropped, as did Sydney. "All right, let's move. We don't have a lot of time." Cuvee told the guard who had betrayed Irina and watched the men de-shackle her and Sydney as he continued to take long drags on his cigarette. "Get them into the van. Is the plane ready and waiting?"

"Yes Mr. Cuvee, the pilot is on stand-bye." The man looked from where they were carrying the two women out of the room to the baby in the corner, bleeding and crying hysterically, her legs tense and sticking straight out but her arm, lifeless at her side. "What about the baby? What do we do with her?" He asked Cuvee disturbed by the scene before him.

"We leave her for the rats," Cuvee blew his smoke in the man's face, annoyed with the concern he saw floating in his eyes, "Just as I said." He dropped his cigarette on the floor and pushed past the man to get into the van waiting for them.

The man looked from the door back to the baby and his guilt was eating at him; he'd done this. When he agreed to help Cuvee for money, he had no idea they would take the baby as well. No idea what the man had planned for Irina. He thought he would hold her for ransom, being the Tsar of Russia, and give her back when they were paid. Now he realized, too late, that this man was mad and he wanted no money in exchange for the Empress, he wanted revenge and planned to torture and kill her slowly. His mind raced with what to do.

The baby would be dead within the hour if he just left her in the condition she was in. He grabbed the shirt that had been cut from Sydney and laid its fragments over the hoarse, wailing baby in attempt to give her naked body some warmth. He pulled Sydney's cell phone out of his pocket, having taken it off of her when they grabbed and searched her. He flipped it open and pressed 'Power,' his finger hovering over the 'Send' button for a moment as he looked down at the baby and to the door. With a sad flash of guilt, he pressed 'Send' and hoped that whomever the last person Sydney called answered. He lay the open phone next to Lena and ran quickly for the stairs, jumping in just as they finished loading Sydney and Irina.