Chapter 28: Charles Francois

As everyone in the room sat in stunned silence at Sloan's loss of temper and exit from the room, Sark sat down in Sloan's now unoccupied seat at the head of the table.

"Since, it looks like Arvin is otherwise occupied, it comes to me to explain the next mission." Sark said bringing the group's focus back to the business at hand.

"Have you already picked the person for the position you spoke about earlier as a liaison between our two organization?" Dixon asked carefully avoiding Sydney's gaze.

"Are you volunteering?" Sark asked hiding his surprise.

"Yes, I'm interested." Dixon avoided looking at Sydney. Ever since he'd turned her in, he hadn't been able to get rid of the guilty feeling that surfaced whenever he saw her. In this dangerous business, if you didn't trust your partner one hundred percent, you would fail or worse die.

"Dixon, no!" Sydney said sadly.

"Hey, it's not like I'm moving to Siberia. Am I?" Dixon asked looking at Sark.

"No, SD-1 headquarters are located in the U.S." Sark replied vaguely.

"Ummm, excuse me, didn't Mr. Sloan say that he wasn't going to exchange any one of his agents?" Marshall asked slightly confused. "I'm pretty sure that I heard that but sometimes, I wake up from a dream and then I go through the entire day and then I wake up and find out it was all a dream. Is this one of those dreams?" Marshall asked slightly babbling and then pinching himself hard. "Ow! I guess not."

Sark sent Sydney a look asking if Marshall was usually like this. She couldn't help but smile and nodded. "Dixon, we can discuss this further after the mission briefing." Sark said ending the discussion.

"What about Sloan? I'm sure that he'd have a problem with you leading this briefing." Sydney reminded Sark.

"I will deal with Sloan later." Sark replied not going into detail. He pressed a button to show the first picture on the monitor. It's showed an old man lying in bed hooked up to a dozen machines looking as if he was going to die any second. "This is Charles Francois. He is 95 years old and one of the richest men in France. He inherited millions from his father but he became a billionaire by buying and selling rare art on the black market. He is currently living in the U.S. being attended by the best doctors in the world. His doctors have told him that he only has a few more weeks to live and his lawyers are in the process of itemizing his possessions. In his private collection he is rumored to have Leonardo Da Vinci's missing notebooks filled with never been seen drawings, along with art confiscated by the Nazi's during WWII. Most importantly, intel has informed us that in the itemized listing of his possession Francois claims to have 2 Rembaldi notebooks." Sark spoke quickly and clearly.

"Are they authentic?" Dixon asked referring to the notebooks.

"That's what we'll find on this mission." Sark answered.

"Why is this even our mission? Can't SD-1 do this?" Sydney belligerently asked. She was upset at Dixon's decision to leave and she directed the ill feelings toward Sark. It was Sark's fault that Dixon was given a choice to leave. She forced herself to focus and listen to the rest of the mission briefing.

"Francois has no biological heirs but in his will, drafted two days ago, he states that only the one who looks like this women will inherit everything he owns." Sark clicks to get to the next picture. It was a picture of a woman who looks eerily like a slightly younger Sydney.

"That looks like Sydney!" Marshall exclaimed, stating the obvious.

"That's what we're counting on. Sydney's alias is Sarah Radcliff and this will be an intelligence gathering mission only. I've set up an appointment for Sydney to meet Nicholas Boyer, Francois's attorney and right hand man. Under the guise of claiming the inheritance, we will be meeting at Boyer at his office. Marshall, I will need you to monitor all calls and activity going in and out of that office. Dixon, you'll be backup."

Sark gave some more details and then concluded the meeting. Sydney waited until the others left before confronting Sark.

"You need help Sark." Sydney said shaking her head.

Sark activated a bug killer on the button of his cuff. "I don't hold any delusions that you're Sarah. What I said and did when I was under the influence of the drug was unfortunate and when taken out of context can be easily misconstrued." Sark stated trying to explain his drug induced actions and words at the Korean military lab. "In the hospital."

Sydney interrupted him. "I was under a lot of emotional stress, it will never happen again." Sydney ignored the slight rise of his left eyebrow. "There's nothing to discuss, it's over and done."

"So be it. What I left out in the briefing is that Charles Francois was the son of a founding member of the group called the Seekers. I'm sure that your father told you something about them." Sark said abruptly changing his subject.

"He didn't tell me much, only that they were founded in 1921 after a Rembaldi notebook regarding the Prophecy was found in Waterbury, Connecticut. Wait a second, does my father know about this mission?" Sydney asked remembering her father's warning about staying away from the Seekers.

"He'll be to busy to pose a problem." Sark said cryptically, and before she could respond he ended the discussion and gave a parting shot before leaving the room. "If I remember correctly, I heard you make a promise to Ms. Calfo that you'd be returning to the opening as soon as possible." He clicked the bug killer off and exited the room.

To Sydney's annoyance, Sark had said the only thing that would have made Sydney drop the subject.

Sark walked down the hall and knocked on Sloan's door before entering. He was met with stunned silence. Jack and Sloan stood up as Sark closed the door.

"This enmity between us is a waste of time. I can either be a great asset or a drain on your time and resources." Sark said calmly to Sloan. It sounded suspiciously similar to the speech he had made to Jack at the hospital.

"What do you think you can do for me?" Talking with Jack had calmed Sloan down considerably so Sloan kept his fury carefully contained. He sat down in his leather chair and both Jack and Sark followed suit into chairs opposite him.

"I came with a proposal from Irina. She knows that your status within the Alliance is perilous at best. With Irina's and Jack's backing you'd be made one of the key players." Sark said confidently, slightly changing the topic.

"That is if I'm made an Alliance partner." Jack cut in stressing the word if.

"As of 3:02 today, you were made a partner, tomorrow's proceedings will just be a formality." Sark said in his usual enigmatic way.

"You were able to procure 5 votes?" Sloan hid his surprise well but Sark and Jack were trained to notice what others usually don't.

"Four votes, Irina assumed that you'd vote in Jack's favor." Sark corrected.

"More blackmail?" Jack asked not surprised since he knew first hand that Irina always made the impossible seem so easy.

"Blackmail has its uses, but I find that it's easier to attract flies with honey." Sark answered with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He reached into this jacket pocket and handed the cd with the current mission briefing on it to Sloan. "I will need Sydney's help procuring a collection of priceless art and possibly two Rembaldi notebooks regarding the Prophecy." Sark finished.

Jack's eyes narrowed in warning but Sark dismissed it. Sloan missing the by play, sat back in his chair and laughed. "Do you really think that I'd be stupid enough to believe that the Prophecy books exist? The entire thing was fabricated by foolish men who were paranoid that their success would be taken away by a mere women."

"The Prophecy?" Jack asked playing dumb, he wanted to know how much Sloan knew.

The next 20 minutes was spend discussing The Prophecy and the Seeker. An 30 minutes after that both Sark and Jack left the room satisfied, Sark because Sloan had eventually agreed to his mission and Jack because he realized that Sloan had no clue about either The Prophecy or the Seekers.