False Pretenses



Sydney's grip on the gun loosened until the gun almost fell from her hand, when she tightened her hold just enough to keep it from slipping. She watched her mother crumple to the floor from the bullet wound.

One shot. Left shoulder. Like she did to me.

Sydney had purposely shot her mother in the shoulder not only for the irony factor but because she wanted to make her mother suffer, let her die slowly. Sydney glanced at Sark who had fallen to his knees and was attempting to dress the wound with his button-down shirt.

"Stand up," she commanded him.

Sark did as he was told and fixed Sydney with a death stare.

"Why did you do it, Sydney?" he asked.

Sydney's hands were sweating from being so nervous but she tried not to take notice and instead took a step towards Sark. She briefly wondered how the hell she was going to have the relationship she wanted with Sark now that she had just shot someone he trusted.

Trust. Speaking of which, Sark and I don't trust each other for shit. If we could somehow—

Sark's voice snapped her from her thoughts. "I'll ask you again. Why did you do it, Sydney?"

Sydney lifted her chin. "Irina Derevko betrayed the United States Government. She betrayed my father." Sark's eyes seemed to soften. "She betrayed me."

"Sark, tell her," Irina whispered hoarsely.

Sark gave a quick nod and Sydney narrowed her eyes at him.

Tell me what?

"Sark, what is she talking about?" Sydney asked, her voice rough.

Sark cleared his throat and pursed his lips. Though it was clearly not the time, Sydney thought for a quick second what it would be like to chew on Sark's adorably crooked bottom lip. This was the effect he had on her. At the most inappropriate times, he could make Sydney swoon.

"Sydney," Sark began, "your mother did not betray anyone."

Sydney scoffed, trying to keep her icy exterior in place so that Sark couldn't see the effect he had on her. "You are such a liar."

Sydney mentally slapped herself for blurting out that sentence.

What if he isn't lying?

"Sydney," Sark said again, nearly making Sydney melt because of his smooth tone, "your mother and I are working together to bring down Sloane."

"You're lying," Sydney whispered in disbelief.

He can't be serious. Sark and my mother working against Sloane? Granted, they worked together in the past, but this—

"Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?" Sark said with a smirk, unconsciously completing Sydney's unspoken thought.

Sydney felt her shoulders shaking. "You mean you had been pretending to be Sloane's ally this whole time? When in fact you were playing along and planning on coming up with a strategy to break my mother out of CIA custody?"

Sark frowned. "I worked with Sloane to gather all the information on Rambaldi that I could. I knew your mother did as well, and when I learned that she had recently obtained the Rambaldi book with his study of the human heart, I knew it was the perfect opportunity. It would be two against one, and we would be able to take down Sloane much easier that way."

Sydney swallowed hard, trying to grasp everything. "This may sound like a stupid question, but what exactly does this mean?"

Sark smirked. "Quite simply, Ms. Bristow, it means that not only did your mother not betray the CIA, it also means that you and I are not enemies. And frankly, that we never have been."

Sydney swore she heard angels singing somewhere.

Sark continued, "Why did you think that I was always trying to get to Rambaldi artifacts before you did? I knew that they would end up in the hands of Sloane."

Sydney nodded slowly. "As crazy as this is, it all makes sense."

"Perfect sense," Sark added.

"Just one question," Sydney said slowly.

"Yes?"

"Did you get Sloane?"

"No."

Sydney raised her eyebrows and Sark noticed and was quick to provide an explanation.

"Your mother and I were supposed to go to Stuttgart to retrieve the genetic database and then meet with Sloane in Zurich to give it to him. Sloane must have sensed that we were not loyal to him because he acquired it before we could. Knowing that he would probably return here with his wife, we came to try and trap him. But he wasn't here."

"Wait," Sydney started, "did you just say his 'wife'?"

"Yes," Sark said, irritation in his voice.

Sydney gasped.

"Why are you surprised?" Sark asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"I thought Sloane killed Emily to get a seat in the Alliance," Sydney told him.

"No, that was staged. He put together a whole charade to keep his wife alive, since he was in the process of taking down SD-6 and the Alliance," Sark explained.

"Jesus Christ," Sydney murmured, holding her forehead in one hand and letting the gun dangle down by her side in her other hand. "I can't believe this."

Sark spoke again, "You should also know that your mother and I were able to collect everything Sloane had regarding Rambaldi before he disappeared. I'm not sure how long he'll be able to continue his pursuit of Rambaldi without all of the information he had, so that should make it easy for us to find him."

Sydney nodded slowly and held Sark's gaze for a few moments, seeing his crystal-clear blue eyes staring back at her. She felt tears surge into her own eyes as her gaze fell on her wounded mother and she walked quickly over to her after tucking her gun back into her belt. She knelt down beside her.

"I'm so sorry, Mom," she choked out as sobs racked her body.

Irina had rolled over onto her back and reached up to touch Sydney's cheek. "It's okay, Sydney. You had no way of knowing. I don't blame you for this."

"We need to get her to a hospital," Sark said quietly, "before she loses any more blood."

Sydney nodded and stood up. "I need to find my dad and Dixon and tell them what's going on. Otherwise—"

She was cut off abruptly by her father's voice and the cocking of a gun. "Sydney!"

Sydney whipped towards her father and saw him raise his assault rifle and take aim at Sark. "Dad—no!"

Gunshot.