Notes: Once again thanks for your reviews. After this chapter the Sydney/Sark scenes really pick up. Thanks to my betas and to the Sarkaholics who whether they know it or not helped me come up with the ideas and plot you are starting to see form. I also took the signed review thing off so anyone can review now.

I gave the best of me
and now that's all I've got
I've given in to live the same routine
--- Routine by Luckie Strike

~

Syd lifted herself out of her seat with a heavy sigh and walked over to the conference room. The sight was the same one she had seen for the past few years. Marshall and Jack were sitting there patiently waiting for Sloane's arrival. Marshall was playing with some electronic device on the table and her father seemed to be lost in thought. Jack had not been the same since Sloane cut his confidences off. It seemed like he believed that he had failed in his duties to the CIA.

She walked over to the table, sat down next to Marshall and began waiting. She could not believe that Marshall was the same man she knew from all those years ago. He was no longer the enthusiastic young tech geek she had once known. The years had mellowed him and he seemed more comfortable in his own skin.

A minute before the meeting was supposed to start the door opened and Sark and Sloane walked in. Even after all of this time, Syd knew that Sark's skin crawled in Sloane's presence. She never fully understood why he of all people would behave so. Sark quietly took his normal seat next to Jack on Sloane's left side, as Sloane opened up the meeting.

"As you know Rambaldi placed pieces of a codes on eight different silver coins disguised to look like Corinthian currency. We now have six of the eight in our possession. Once we get the last two we can figure out the secret location of Ramibadi's final manuscript. We..."

Sydney was long ago tired of hearing the name of Rambaldi. She was starting to feel that he was just some genius with far too much time on his hands and who thought it would be funny to set up some huge practical joke for greedy suckers like Sloane in the future. Final manuscript? They thought that three manuscripts ago. Why, if he was so worried about this prophecy did he write down the directions on how they could be made?

"Sydney!" Her head snapped up at the sound of her father's voice. She could see everyone was staring at her.

"Sorry I have been having an off day."

"Well we don't have time for 'your off day' so I would advise you to listen," Sloane grumpily responded. "You and Mr. Sark will go to Greece where the coin is being kept at the Corinth Museum. You will be going as Daniel Wilson and Kathleen Marcis, two art historians, who are visiting to see a new Corinthian statue that was found. This should give you access to most of the backrooms of the museum. The coin is located in a special vault in museum because this coin this thought to be one of a kind. Even most employees of the museum have never been in the area it is kept. The security system is not the hardest you have had to get through but it is far from being the easiest. You should also watch out for the two armed guards walking the area."

Sloane looked over to Marshall giving him the cue to begin. "Ok the security system is not that big a deal. I will just modify the scrambler you used on the one in Lithuania and your're in. It should take around one minute for the alarms to be shut down. As for the guards I will give you these very professional nifty notebooks. Not that you will be really studying the statue but I thought it would be a nice touch."

"That is lovely and all, but what is the notebook for?" Sark asked tired of hearing about the details.

"Oh yeah, the important part. Um, well see you need to get close enough to the guards while they are standing still and place the notebooks on the floor near them. Before you walk away you push this button,? Marshall pointed to a tiny bump of the cover. ?An odorless gas will be omitted knocking them out cold. Just make sure you are 10 feet away after a few seconds or you will be out too. Cool huh?" Marshall added grinning.

Sark was less impressed. "Would it not be easier to just fight them?"

Marshall looked slightly hurt but before he could answer Sloane said, "If you need to fight them than fight them. Just get the job done. Ok, that will be all."

Everyone got up and started to head out the door. Sydney smiled at Marshall trying to make him feel better. Jack was waiting by the door when she finally left.

"Sydney can I speak with you?"

Jack started to walk to a more private area they used when they did not want to be over heard. When Sydney had caught up with him he took out his pen that blocked out any bugs that could be listening.

"It is impossible to get information from Sloane when Sark is second to him and I don't even know why I am in these meetings any more."

Sydney gave her father a sad smile and said, "Because you need to get all the information you can get to tell to the CIA."

"Yeah well you could do that if you were listening. Is there something wrong?"

She thought for a moment before giving her answer.

"Sark."

"What did he tease you again," Jack said with one of his rare smiles.

"Dad!"

"Well I don't trust Sark either but the CIA does not want to see him as a major threat."

The pen beeped so Sydney could not respond. When they turned around to go back to work they saw Sark standing a few feet in front of them.


end of chapter 3

Thanks for reading again.