Chapter 21
Jack, Sydney and a few guards watched carefully as a tracking device was placed in his chest.
As if I don't have enough pain there already, Sark thought as the tracker was shot beneath his skin. Although . . . it did give him another chance to show off to Sydney.
They left him with a change of black fatigues, then escorted him out of the joint task force center. He couldn't help feel like the devil as he was escorted out. Agents and analysts, even secretaries, stopped in their tracks and just stared.
Forget the devil. He felt like a celebrity.
The CIA gave him no weapon, and he had two agents whose main priority was just to guard him. Even so, Sydney stayed by him. And Agent Vaughn stayed by Sydney.
Overprotective twit.
The flight to the target was long and quiet. Sark kept looking at Sydney, but she wouldn't look back. Any thing he wanted to say to her or to hear from her was out of the question with Agent Twit around.
They arrived outside the target building 10 minutes ahead of schedule.
"Okay, Sark will get us through the access point, while Agent Weiss overrides surveillance," Vaughn instructed in the van.
Oh please, Sark thought. They made the twit the team leader?!
They headed out. The sky was dark and cloudy, which worked well for invisibility. Sark led the way.
Two of Irina's men normally guarded the access point. They would be on full alert. The plan was to use a flash-bang to take them out, but that was ridiculous to Sark.
"Agent Vaughn, give me a tranq gun with two darts," he said. Vaughn gave him a are-you-kidding-me look. Sark sighed. "Why alert everyone to our presence? I can take them out as I enter the access code."
"There is no way I'm giving you any sort of gun." Sark rolled his eyes.
"Sark's right," Sydney jumped in. "We'll be right behind him, and he only asked for two darts. That'll take care of the guards, and no one else."
"Unless he just tells the guards we're right behind him," Vaughn objected.
"Agent Vaughn, Irina Derevko set me up to be captured by the CIA. Do you honestly think I'm eager to go back and work for her?" Sark pointed out.
"It made you not answer the CIA or NSA's questions," Vaughn shot back.
Sark sighed. "A man has to keep his pride somehow."
"We need to move, Vaughn," Sydney said. He nodded, with a sigh of his own.
Someone shoved a tranq gun in Sark's hands.
"Ready?" he asked the team behind him. In total, with Sydney, Vaughn, and the others, there were five agents.
Vaughn glared at him, but finally nodded.
"All right then," Sark said. He cocked the tranq gun and held it by his side as he jumped out of the van and walked quickly to the entrance.
As soon as he came to the access point, the guards saw him. Sark quickly raised the gun and shot both. They were down before they could level their guns at him.
"Entrance clear," he said into his comms piece.
The team filed in quickly, and Sark started on the access.
He punched in the code on a keypad, then laid his hand on a biometric scanner.
"Skavender dar svid," he said smoothly. The display blink a green 'clearance granted.' "Let's go," he said to everyone behind him.
The building was dark. That was Sark's first clue. "She knows we're here," he said softly.
"What?" Vaughn and Sydney said simultaneously. They checked the hallways.
"It's never this quiet or dark here. They know we're coming."
"How do we proceed?" Vaughn asked. Sark almost smiled at that. Can't think on his own.
"Cautiously. Irina will step up security," Sark said. "And given how quiet it is, they're waiting for us." That concerned him, more than anything because he had only an empty tranq gun.
"Where are the weapon and artifacts?"
"Up the stairs. Eighth level, in the middle of the floor," Sark answered. "Best way to get there is down that hallway," he said, pointing. "Expect guards at least on every floor, near the targets and the elevators."
Vaughn signaled for Weiss and the other two to go. "Sydney and I will be guarding you. Lead us to Irina's office."
Sark glared at him. "I need a gun." Before the agent could object, Sark cut in. "I'm as much as a threat to them as you are. I need to be able to protect myself."
"Vaughn, he's right," Sydney said. Sark loved it when she cut in on his behalf. He could almost kiss her for it.
Like you don't want to anyway. Sark shook his head clear. Not now.
Vaughn mumbled something unintelligible, which made Sark's victory that much more sweet. Sydney pulled out her spare and handed it to him. As she did, she held onto it, getting his attention before giving him the gun.
"Don't prove me wrong," Sydney warned him. Sark smirked at that.
"If any of us has a track record for double crosses, it's not me."
Sark took the gun and immediately checked it. He noticed Vaughn looked very twitchy as he did.
"Agent Vaughn, would you please not shoot me right now?" he said sarcastically. "Of all things, to be shot by an imbecile who's trigger-happy."
Sydney didn't look to happy when he said that. She'll get over it.
"You're one to talk about being trigger-happy," Vaughn said back. Sydney stepped between the two.
"Can we all focus please?" She looked like a stern mother, which automatically made Vaughn back off. Sark just smirked at that. "Sark, lead the way to Derevko's office."
He nodded. "Top floor, southwest corner."
He started up the south staircase. He looked up as he ascended. There were no indications of any guards, which to Sark was an indication in itself.
"Did your man deactivate surveillance?" Sark whispered after passing a camera and the third floor.
"Yes," he heard Vaughn answer.
They were outside the top floor, and still hadn't heard anything. Sark's pulse raced, something he rarely felt so consciously.
Something's wrong.
But he didn't know what. Outside the 14th floor, Sark nodded to Vaughn, who stood ready to pull open the door. Sark raised his gun at the door, though he was tempted to move it toward Vaughn.
The agent quickly yanked open the door, and Sark rushed into the hallway.
Left, right, everything was clear. He tried to steady his breathing, but his instincts had more control over his body.
Sark stalked quietly to the southwest corner. He consciously lifted up one boot-clad foot at a time, placing it one in front of the other slowly.
Just as he reached the door to Irina's office, he heard a struggle behind him.
Sark whirled around. Several men had converged on Vaughn, knocking him to the ground. They grabbed Sydney, and Sark raised his gun.
He heard something behind him, and before he could turn around, he knew they'd walked into a trap.
Sark ducked, and lashed out a kick directly behind him. He whirled around again, and found three men in front of him.
One was down, thanks to his kick, but the other two, one short, one tall, were ready for him. The tall one threw a punch, but went wide. Sark used the man's momentum and threw the punch into the shorter person. The first opponent was up again and raised his gun. Sark dove to the side.
He slid on the floor, hearing a gun fire behind him. Sark twisted his body so he continued the slid on his back. He saw one of the ambush team, and shot at him.
The man went down with a quick yell.
The other two that faced him were regrouping. He didn't know what was happening with Sydney or Vaughn.
"Put your gun down!!" someone yelled.
Yeah right. Sark huddled in the shadows. He saw someone creeping closer, and quickly fired.
The man didn't even make a sound as he fell to the floor.
"Do as he says, Sark," came a voice behind him. Sark almost jumped.
He recognized that voice. Irina. At the same time, he felt a gun pressed to his head. He froze.
Why didn't I see her? He didn't dwell on that.
"You know I would shoot you," she reminded him. Sark dropped the gun, and it clattered loudly to the floor. Irina pushed him forward, the gun still pressuring the back of his head.
Two shots rang out, and Sark saw two of Irina's men fall.
Sydney. She was still up.
She appeared in the hallway, gun aimed at the next target. She paused when she saw her mother and Sark.
"Careful, Sydney," Irina said, her voice soothed. "You don't want to shoot Sark." Sark frankly didn't want to test that theory, but Irina was using him as a shield and hostage.
"What makes you think that?" Sydney said as she slowly paced forward.
Sark could hear the smirk in Irina's voice. "I'm your mother. And I'm not blind; you feel something for him." Sydney glared at her mother defiantly.
"Yeah, it's called disgust," she said. Sark rolled his eyes.
"I am here, you know," Sark reminded them. "I can hear you."
"Shut up," mother and daughter said simultaneously.
"What do you want?" Sydney said. She was closing in, only 15 feet away.
"I want you to come back," Irina answered. "Stop right there, Sydney." Her warning made Sydney slow her pace, but not stop it.
Sark heard Irina whip out something metallic and felt her press it to his throat. Knife—great.
"You're killing him, Sydney." Irina increased the pressure of the blade on him. Sark held his breath.
Sydney stopped in her tracks. Sark heard other footsteps approach. More of Irina's men.
"You think I would come back?" Sydney started, ignoring the newcomers. Her skepticism was clear. "You left me years ago. You betrayed me and Dad, and you betrayed our country!"
"I did what I was trained to," Irina said loudly. "Sark has done what he was trained to. And yet you can forgive him, but not me."
Sydney glared back. "Hardly. You went on and became a constant enemy to the United States."
Irina laughed at that. "Do you think I was going to just retire and sit around? Do you think Sark will when he's free?"
That made Sydney think, and that scared Sark. He was losing her.
"Why would you trust me again?" Sydney asked. Is she actually considering this?!
He heard Irina's breath catch in her throat. She was getting hopeful, which was more evidence that Sydney was thinking about the proposal.
"If you can trust me again, I can certainly trust you," Irina replied. Sydney started to lower her gun.
"Sydney, no!" Sark shouted, ignoring the knife for now. "You couldn't possibly do this—" He shut up except for a slight cry of pain. Irina's knife was cutting into his flesh.
"Mom, no!" Sark saw Sydney raise her gun and fire.
It was high, but on purpose. Irina ducked, releasing Sark in the process. Out of the corner of his eye, Sark saw one of Irina's men take aim at Sydney.
He didn't hesitate. Sark took one step and lunged for Sydney.
He heard the shot as he felt something rip through him. His body hit hers to the floor. Another shot rang out, but Sark heard Irina protest. Her voice faded away, as if she was on the run.
He saw Sydney jump up and fired after her mother and her men. Sark moved to follow, but fell back to the floor. Stinging pain shot through him, like an electrical fire. He gasped, and clutched the wound.
The bullet hit his right shoulder. Sark tried to ignore the pain and think. I should go. Escape.
I've been shot.
Run.
Sydney.
He heard footsteps, and suddenly found Sydney standing over him.
"Are you all right?" she asked. He nodded, but didn't believe himself. He tried to sit up, and only succeeded because Sydney helped.
"What now?" he asked. "Are your men all right?"
Sydney shook her head. "Two are dead. Weiss is coming up from the eighth floor. He survived that ambush." She paused. "Vaughn's unconscious."
Sark tried to look appropriately upset by that.
Sydney shook her head, and started examining his wounds. Her fingertips trailed over his neck.
"Your neck's fine. It shouldn't even scar," she commented. She focused on his shoulder. "The bullet is still lodged inside."
"That would explain it," Sark said aloud, more to himself than Sydney. She stopped poking at him, and looked deep into his eyes.
Sark returned the gaze.
"You saved my life," she said softly. He smiled at that.
"Then we're even."
She shook her head, and quickly stood up. "No, not yet." With that, she pulled him to his feet. Sark groaned as she did.
"You have to go, quickly," she said, whispering. "Before Vaughn wakes up and Weiss gets here." Sark just stared at her. She gave him a slight slap on the face. "Focus, Sark. There's a taser in the van. Get it, and shock yourself to kill the tracker."
"You're letting me go?" he said finally. She nodded.
"But you have to hurry." With that, she pushed him towards the stairs. At the door, Sark stopped her. He saw something in her brown eyes, and felt something he didn't dare hope for before.
"Sydney, I—"
"Syd, Mike?!" Agent Weiss had arrived somewhere on the floor. Sydney glanced around, then proceeded to push Sark to the stairwell.
He stopped her again and used his good arm to put a hand behind her head as he kissed her fiercely. It was only seconds, but the elation he felt from it made the pain in his shoulder almost dissipate.
He wanted to say so many things, but there was no time. With a long glance back at her, Sark escaped down the stairwell and out of the building.