Chapter 16: And Into the Fire

"You wont believe what I just found out." Will said excitedly rushing into the room.

"Where's my suitcase?" Asked Sydney.

"I've got something better."

"Yeah, but you're not the one wearing Sark's clothes."

"Oh good, I was hoping he'd tell you."

"You knew that Sark was going to come back here and you didn't warn me?

"Sark? No, I thought Vaughn told you. Where is he?"

"I'm sure he's off killing someone or making their life a living hell."

"I didn't know Vaughn did stuff like that." Said Will surprised.

"What? No I was talking about Sark, Vaughn will be back in a minute, he's calling a doctor."

"What's wrong? Are you feeling worse? I knew you should have stayed in bed." Will came over and tried to feel Sydney's forehead but she managed to avoid his hand.

"No, I'm fine, the doctor is for him. Sark paid us a little visit while you were gone and told us that Vaughn is going to get sick because of contaminated water."

Will put the water he was drinking down and looked at it suspiciously.

"He came into contact with it in Taipi." Sydney said smiling. "So what's your news?"

"Let's wait until Vaughn get's back. This stuff is big."

"What's big?" Vaughn asked as entering the room.

"Have a seat. So I went get Sydney's suitcase but I lost the key to the room so I went down to the lobby. Well I overheard these guys in the front talking about two people who died last night from the drug and how the jerk Frank Crowley shot himself after finding out he caused people to die. I checked with the medics if the two people that had died were either of the Mathews. They weren't. Here it gets interesting, though their names were on the list of people that needed to get the counteragent, they weren't checked as having received it. I told the receptionist that I was a doctor and that I needed to see the Mathews right away. They asked me if I knew the name and number of the doctor that had seen the Mathews last night since one of the receptionist thought he was hot. And get this, when I asked them what the person looked like I think they were described Sark. When I went to their room, they were there."

"Damn it you should have waited for me!" Vaughn said angrily surprising both Will and Sydney. Vaughn rarely lost his temper.

"Hey, I expected them to be dead when I got there. Well anyways Violet remembered me and we started talking. I showed her a picture of Sydney and she almost passed out. I didn't know how else to ask her about Sarah. I told her about Sydney, well the g rated version anyways."

"Did she tell you anything about Sarah?" Sydney asked burning with curiosity.

"The Mathews want to meet you."

"I can't meet them, not until we know that Vaughn is ok." Sydney said.

"What?" Will exclaimed surprised wondering what he'd missed. Less then an hour ago she'd been so anxious to meet them.

"We'll explain it to you later, tell us what you found out about Sarah." Vaughn ordered testily.

"Yeah right, her husband was some sort of genius who graduated first in his class at Harvard Med at the age of 15. He also graduated with PhD's in Psychology and Bio Sciences, and some other obscure studies. After two years residency at John Hopkins he went to work for.."

"We don't care about her husband, tell us about Sarah." Vaughn requested impatiently. He got up and started pacing.

"If you want to know how Sarah died, you have to know about the husband. Her husband." He paused for effect. "Worked for the FBI."

"What?" Both Sydney and Vaughn exclaimed.

"Yeah, he worked with Mr. Mathews. Though it's Violet who knew Sarah and her husband growing up. Apparently he was profiling a case involving a string of murders when his wife and child was kidnapped and his mother was killed."

"My god, the poor guy. What happened to him?" Sydney asked.

"He went crazy, he kept saying that his wife and child were kidnapped by a secret group calling themselves the Seekers. Supposedly they were a group that wanted to prevent something called the Prophecy from happening and that the women who died were being killed because they fit some kind of criteria of the prophecy."

Vaughn and Sydney looked at each other to wondering if the there was a correlation between Rimbaldi's Prophecy and Sarah. "So were the Seekers responsible?"

"Well, the FBI shrinks said that the conspiracy was fabricated by the guy's need to make his wife's kidnapping more then it was. He also wanted to believe that she was still alive. Apparently all the women that were killed all fit Sarah's exact description."

"Did they find the killer?" Sydney was starting to feel sick.

"No because after Sarah's death, the killings stopped."

"So what happened to her husband?"

"When no one at the FBI would believe him, he went to the CIA. They thought he was a nutcase and he said he'd find her himself. They found ashes of a body next to Sarah and they assume the killer had killed both of them a couple of days later."

"What was his name?" Sydney asked.

"Sebastian."

"Sebastian?" Vaughn grimaced.

"Violet said that he hated his first name so he went by his middle name, Alexander. Sebastian Alexander Radcliff-King. What a mouthful, I bet he got beat up a lot as a kid."

"I like it." Sydney said sadly, wondering about what kind of life Sarah and Sebastian 'Alexander' had before everything went to hell. "Wait a second, what happened to their baby?"

"Dunno, I didn't think to ask. They're waiting to meet you, you can asked them yourself."

"It doesn't make any sense." Vaughn broke in frustrated.

"What doesn't?" Sydney asked.

"Why would Sark give the counteragent to the Mathews when he doesn't want us to find out about the Radcliff-Kings? Why wouldn't he just let them die?" Vaughn stopped pacing.

"What makes you think it was Sark that gave them the counteragent?" Sydney asked confused.

"Sark, left here with two syringes of counteragent last night. The only logical explanation is that he gave them to the Mathews. But what doesn't make sense is why." Vaughn was getting increasingly agitated which worried Sydney.

"Are you feeling ok Vaughn?" Sydney asked

"I'm fine! Let's focus on Sark's link to the Radcliff-Kings and the Mathews." Vaughn's cell phone rang and he picked it up.

"We already knew that. What do you mean it was a suicide? What body? Who is it? Is it related to what happened last night? Find keep me updated." Vaughn turned to Sydney. "It looks like Mr. Sark got a little sloppy last night. Frank Crowly didn't commit suicide, he was murdered."

"How do you know it was Sark? It could have been any number of the reunion members." Sydney asked.

"I don't know how many psychopathic killers there are running around but if I had to bet, my money's on Sark." Vaughn said stubbornly. "You know what else? I finally figure out why Sark is so interested in you."

"You're wrong Vaughn, it couldn't have been him."

Vaughn voice the suspicion that Sydney had thought briefly and had half discarded. "I think that it was Sark that killed Sarah and Alex. Why else would he know about her? Why is he so obsessed with you? It's the only thing that makes sense."

"Sark's not obsessed with me. I don't know what the link between him and Sarah was but I don't think he killed her. You're forgetting the Prophecy and the Seekers Vaughn."

"You mean that there really is a group called the Seekers?" Will asked shocked.

"They were the ranting of a desperate man whose wife had been kidnapped. Why are you defending Sark?" Vaughn asked suspiciously. He backhanded a vase onto the floor.

"I'm not, I'm just saying that you're jumping to conclusions. It's not like you Vaughn. Let's go see a doctor." Sydney was worried, she wondered if this anger was a symptom of the illness that Sark had told them about.

"There's nothing wrong with me damn it. Why do you believe everything Sark tells you? He's a cold-blooded killer Sydney. He did it! I know he did." Vaughn was losing control quickly. His face was flushed and his hands were shaking. Sydney went to him but when she reached him he flung her away like a ragged doll. She flew headfirst into the table breaking it.

"Vaughn listen to me, we need to get you to a doctor." Sydney picked herself up with the help of Will. He helped her to the couch. She swiped her nose and was shocked to find that her nose was bleeding.

Vaughn took a step toward her and then his face became angry again. "You're trying to trick me, you're all against me." He ran out the door.

"Vaugh!" She tried to run toward the door but her legs were too weak. "Will, you have to follow him. He's sick!"

Will ran out the door.