Weary to the bone, with aching arms so rubbery she didn't know if they could carry her up one more rung, Sydney finally reached the manhole cover, the last obstacle to blessed freedom. With all the strength she could muster, Sydney gave a mighty push and popped the disk out of its resting place.

Night had fallen and the moon was high in the sky as Sydney hoisted herself up through the circular opening. Thankfully, she wasn't in the middle of the street in front of oncoming traffic, but she was surprised to find herself sitting along the edge of St. Peter's Square. She was glad there were not too many people about and even if it was questionable to see a woman suddenly pop out of the ground, at least she looked the part of a sewer worker.

Sydney rested for a few moments and took several deep breaths of the crisp clean air, wanting to rid herself of the stench and fumes that lay in the sewer below her. If she never had to go through that kind of experience ever again, she would die a very happy woman.

She looked up to gaze at St. Peter's Basilica as it loomed above her. It truly was a magnificent sight to behold and in spite of her dire circumstances, she could actually appreciate it for what it was worth. For all the times Sydney had come to Rome, she had only been inside once, but she remembered being awed by the marvelous sculptures and artwork and architecture. In one of her fantasy daydreams, she had actually given thought to the fact that she'd like to come back with Vaughn one day--not as a thief, of course--but simply as a tourist who wanted to enjoy it for the beauty that it held.

Michael. Sydney bowed her head and the blasted tears started up again. She wondered what they had done to him. Would they lock him in prison and throw away the key? She hoped he had been able to contact Devlin by now and she prayed that he would get out of this mess relatively unscathed.

Just then, Sydney heard an ominous click behind her and her whole body tensed. She recognized the sound for what it was. Every nerve ending stood at attention as she turned her head slowly to see Sark standing over her. Her first reaction was confusion as to what he was doing there. Then she saw what he was about to do and her second reaction was fear.

Sark pointed at her with the gun in his outstretched hand and fired.

*     *     *     *     *

Vaughn was taken through a narrow, stuffy hallway towards the Office of the Security Director. God, didn't these people believe in air conditioning? He was sweating bullets as the two armed security guards ushered him into the office, but it wasn't because he was distressed at his predicament; no, he was worried about what was happening to Sydney.

He hoped she had kept her word and hightailed it out of the vault the moment she had heard the raised voices. If she managed to make it safely back to the van, then he didn't care what happened to him. They were separated for the moment, but he would find his way back to her somehow. 

Two men were seated in front of the desk, their backs to him as he entered the room. Vaughn paid them no mind as he was more concerned with the Director of Security, who was big and beefy and at the moment, shooting him a rather intimidating glare. The swarthy, dark-haired man rattled something off in Italian.

"Is this the man?" Vaughn was able to translate.

The two men turned around in their chairs. "Eric! Jack!" Vaughn cried out. Weiss had an elated look on his face, but Jack was implacable as always.

In truth, Jack Bristow was extremely relieved to see the younger agent. It had not been an easy road to get to this point. He and Weiss had experienced numerous delays in their sojourn to Italy, from bad weather to flight delays to an overly suspicious Director of Security. But they had persevered and it looked as if they had arrived just in time.

"Where's Sydney?" Jack asked, his manner brusque and businesslike.

"I hope she escaped." Vaughn replied, stunned to see the two familiar faces from home. "Were you on your way to Rome when Sydney talked to you last night, Jack? How did you know we would be here?"

"We received a tip." Weiss told him.

"A tip?" Vaughn frowned.

"It was called in anonymously a few days ago." Weiss informed him. "Whoever it was used a voice-distortion box, so we don't have an ID."

"Then how did you know it wasn't a trap?"

"We tracked you based on the isotope solution I gave to Sydney in Taipei." Jack replied.

"But that was a week ago!" Vaughn blurted out. "Why didn't you find us when we were in Taipei? Weren't you trying to look for us before?"

Jack gave him an exasperated look. Did the man honestly think he would just be sitting around twiddling his thumbs instead of out searching for his only child? "The satellite was malfunctioning and we couldn't get a clear read on you until just this morning." His frosty tone put Vaughn properly in his place. "I assure you, Agent Vaughn, that it wasn't a simple matter of tightening a loose screw." Vaughn gave him a chastened look.

"Now I am assuming our mysterious caller was someone within Khasinau's organization." Jack said crisply. "Vaughn, since you were recently admitted into The Man's inner circle, do you have any knowledge that might substantiate this theory? Did you observe any dissension in the ranks? Is there someone who would have good reason to get rid of you and Sydney?" Jack turned a hawk-like gaze on him.

One name jumped to the top of the list, but Vaughn hesitated to let it be known. Once it was out there, he would have to explain himself and he didn't exactly relish the thought of having to tell Jack that his presumed-dead wife had been their actual captor these past few weeks. He had always expected that Sydney would be the one to tell her father about Irina. That way, Jack wouldn't be tempted to shoot the messenger.

Unfortunately, he didn't see any other way around it except to tell the truth. "I believe it was Sark." He finally admitted.

"Sark?" Jack frowned. "For what reason would you suspect him?"

"He considered Sydney a threat to his position within the organization."

"I don't understand why that would be the case." Jack gave him a penetrating glance. "I was under the impression that Khasinau trusts him implicitly and Sark has always given the appearance that he is unswervingly loyal to The Man."

"Yes, Sark would do anything for his boss." Vaughn agreed.

"So did something happen recently to make Khasinau suddenly shift his confidence from Sark to Sydney?" The older agent asked incisively.

"It wasn't exactly recently, no." Vaughn said hesitantly. "It was more or less decided almost thirty years ago."

Jack was quickly losing his patience. "Vaughn, you're not making sense."

A muscle in Vaughn's jaw twitched. "Jack, I didn't want to be the one to have to tell you this, but it looks as if I have no choice." He swallowed the huge lump in his throat. "Khasinau is not The Man. That title belongs to Sydney's mother, Irina Derevko AKA Laura Bristow." Vaughn shot Jack an uneasy glance as he steeled himself against the inevitable onslaught.

Surprisingly, Jack didn't lash out at him. Instead, he was more or less stunned into silence.

Hmmm, Jack Bristow finally speechless for once, Vaughn thought to himself. I wonder how he'll react when he finds out about me and Sydney.

Weiss wisely took up the slack in conversation. "The Man is really a woman?" He whistled. "Whew, we never saw that one coming!" Weiss' attempt at diffusing the tension in the room with a bit of levity was well-intentioned, but ultimately ineffectual as Jack Bristow didn't even acknowledge that he had spoken.

"It was a shock to all of us." Vaughn replied and then turned to Jack. "Jack, I'm sorry I had to blurt it out like that, but I didn't see any other way." He looked apologetic.

"Laura is alive?" Jack uttered, a look of bewilderment on his face. "Why didn't Sydney tell me?"

"Irina forbade it." Vaughn explained. "She still wanted everyone to think Khasinau was The Man, so that no one's focus would be on her."

Jack nodded resignedly. "So what were her plans concerning Sydney?"

"She wanted Sydney to join forces with her to take down SD-6 and thwart the CIA in the process."

"And Sydney agreed to that?" For a split second, Jack worried that Laura had somehow turned Sydney's head.

"No!" Vaughn said sharply. "It was not by choice that we went to work for her. I did it to stay alive and Sydney did it to buy us some time until we could find a way to escape."

"Mike, why didn't you contact us when you got to Rome?" Weiss asked.

"We tried! We called Headquarters in L.A., but you were both gone and Devlin was in Washington." He gave his friend a helpless look. "Without someone to back us up, we didn't think we'd have much credibility if we tried to contact the Embassy or one of the CIA branch offices in Europe."

"We weren't in L.A. because we were on our way here." Weiss told him. "After the call came in, we hopped on a plane as soon as we could."

"Vaughn, you said you suspect Sark made the call to Weiss." Jack spoke up. "Why would he deliberately sabotage your mission?"

"Because getting rid of Sydney was more important to him." Vaughn replied matter-of-factly. "Irina had ideas of installing Sydney as her second-in-command--maybe even taking over for her eventually--and Sark was vehemently opposed to that."

"Sydney's her daughter." Jack pointed out. "Not that I believe she ever would have accepted, but it would only be natural for Laura--I mean, Irina--to want to hand over the reins of her organization to her offspring." Jack silently cursed himself for his flub. He had to start thinking of Sydney's mother as Irina. Laura had just been an illusion created solely for his benefit.

Vaughn groaned inwardly. Sydney, where are you when I need you? "Sark thought that he deserved to be next in line." He hesitated briefly. "Because he's her son." Vaughn said the words softly, but Jack heard him loud and clear. Weiss gaped at him.

"Her son?" Jack repeated. "Laura had another child?" He had slipped up on her name yet again, but didn't notice this time because he was so shaken by Vaughn's revelation.

"Yes." Vaughn replied, silently hoping against hope that Jack wouldn't ask him what he was about to ask him.

"Sark looks to be several years younger than Sydney." Jack observed, the blank expression on his face a mask for how he was really feeling inside. "Would you happen to know how old he is?" His tone was abrupt and to the point.

Damn it! "I think Sydney told me once that he was in his early twenties." His words came out stiffly. "Maybe twenty-one or twenty-two." Vaughn could almost see Jack's brain quickly figuring out the math and he watched as a stunned look came over the senior agent's face as the older man came to the realization that it was possible for Sark to be his son.

Thankfully for Vaughn, Jack did not have a chance to badger him with any further questions.

Because they heard the gunshot.

Somewhere in the bowels of St. Peter's Basilica, Michael Vaughn suddenly felt very cold.

To be continued…

Author's Note: Come on, guys, what would Alias be without a good cliffhanger? (grin)   The finale is finally here, so I had to keep you interested somehow.

Seriously, all you wonderful readers out there, please keep checking in with your reviews and you just might get the resolution to my story sooner than you think!

See ya later!