"Sydney!" Lennox was still calling down to her from the lower window.
Suddenly a thought flashed in her mind.
Sark.
She would need to get him out, if only to question him later as to why he was here.
"I'll be there in just a sec!" she shouted down to him. Lennox gave her a look, but nodded.
She jumped to the opposite fire escape, jumped again, and she was there. Sark was still unconscious. An explosion flashed dangerously close above her head.
"SYDNEY!" Lennox yelled.
Crashing through a window on her way, she swung down to meet him, Sark in tow.
Back on the ground once more, she immediately started running. Get away from Lennox. Sark's body weighed down on her, but she kept moving.
"Sydney!" Lennox cried, running after her. Is that all he knows how to say?
At this rate he was bound to catch up with her. He didn't have the 185- pound Sark burden. So she turned a corner, and waited to surprise him.
Lennox ran in the alleyway, and was immediately met with her foot in his face. A surprised look flashed across his face as he was knocked to the ground. He should have known I would try to fight, she thought. When he picked himself up again, however, she could tell he was aware of his place now.
Lennox threw a punch, which she easily ducked. A second fist came her way which she deflected, but just barely. With the drugs still present in her system, she was bound to be slower on the uptake. A sense of foreboding took precedence in the pit of her stomach.
Releasing the tension and panicked energy, she gave a yell and kicked twice, once in Lennox's stomach, and once across his cheekbone. As he fell down, he managed to sweep his leg under hers. Her head fall back onto the blacktop. Reaching up to rub out the pain, she felt her head sticky with her own blood. Blackness swam at he edges of her vision.
Lennox was still on the ground, but was starting to stand. In an effort to get out of his hitting range, she staggered to her feet, but found the blackness and blurred images began to coincide completely. She could feel the wind in her face as she fell again, before the blackness overtook her completely.
__________________________
As soon as he saw Sydney get to her feet, he knew she wouldn't remain conscious long. Positioning himself behind her, he just managed to catch her when she fell a second time. Now, what was he going to do with her? And Sark for that matter? He would have to get them secure in a hotel and then decide.
Ten minutes later, he had them both next to him in the back of a grungy taxi.
"Two raw eggs with milk and plenty of water, that's the cure for even the worst hangover! You make sure you tell them that when they wake up, and they'll be as good as new in an hour!" The taxi driver was giving Lennox tips on what he clearly assumed was a drinking problem.
"Thanks, I will." He said cordially, paying the man and getting them in to the new hotel. It was slow going, and he got more than one strange look from the maids in the halls. Everyone else was asleep for the night, luckily.
Lennox unlocked the door. Two beds and a love seat. Perfect. He dragged them both in, and tied them up securely for their own safety when they awoke. At least, for Sydney's safety. He really didn't give a damn about Sark. Gently scooping her up, he laid her the bed softly, and gently handcuffed her tied hands to the bedpost.
After Sydney was secure, he dragged Sark by the arm into the bathroom, and tossed him into the bathtub, handcuffing him to the temperature knob. Quick and easy, with a lesser chance of escape. Plus, he could come in occasionally and spray water in Sark's face. Lennox smiled at the thought and shut the door.
Lennox sat awhile, enjoying the silence and pondering what he was going to do about them. When he finally did hear the groans of someone waking, the sounds came from the bathroom, not from Sydney on the bed.
Double checking to make sure Sydney was secure, Lennox opened the bathroom door with a gun trained on Sark's head the moment he entered. Apparently, Sark had awoken and smashed his head into the faucet first thing. Sark looked at him in between grimaces, and rubbed his head in his tied hands.
"You couldn't find a more convenient place to stow me than the bathtub?" his voice remained cool, as normal.
"It seemed like the only place to put you." Lennox bent down, gun still at Sark's head, and uncuffed him from the tub. Sark stood, and calmly waited until Lennox had put the cuffs back on his hands again.
"That was way easier than I thought it would be with you." Lennox asked inquisitively as they walked out of the bathroom.
"I guarantee you Sydney will be much more of a challenge." He said, opting to not enlighten Lennox to the reason for his behaviors.
"Why didn't you fight me?" Lennox asked again, this time direct.
"I have some business to discuss with Sydney."
"If you think for a minute that I'm gonna leave you alone with Sydney. . ." A groan emitted from the bed where Syd slept. Lennox shoved Sark down in a chair.
"Stay there, or whoever cares enough to even go to your funeral won't have a body to look at." Sark nodded and waited, never losing his calm. It was unnerving how cooperative Sark was being. Lennox was more suspicious of this behavior than of defiance.
Keeping his hand on his gun and casting one more look at Sark, Lennox went to check on Sydney.
*******************
She woke up to fuzzy vision and hammers banging in her head. Before even opening her eyes she groaned at the pain. Voices were coming from somewhere, but for now they seemed to be more another source of pain in her head rather than intelligible words. She hadn't had a hangover this bad since her first year of college. And it hadn't helped that Lennox had thrown her to the ground a few times prior to her unconsciousness.
Lennox.
Her eyes flew open to see him approaching her. She finally became conscious of her tied hands and feet. Cuffed to the bed. She struggled in panic and let out the longest string of swear words she'd ever uttered in her life. It was so loud that Lennox stepped back a moment before approaching.
"Let me go, you son of a bitch!!" Sark laughed out loud in the corner. What was he doing here? Shouldn't he be handcuffed to some furniture somewhere too? He was the enemy- she just wanted to get out.
"I've never seen her like this; it's quite entertaining." Sark was deliberately trying to irk her, as always.
"Listen, Syd. . . . I just need to ask you some questions." Lennox started.
"About what? I don't know anything! I haven't known ANYTHING for years! I'm not Sydney anymore," she added to her angry outburst. "What are you going to do with me?"
"Shouldn't it be obvious at this point?" Sark piped in again.
Lennox just stared at her face, saying nothing. She paused a moment. Why had she even bothered asking?
"Never mind. I already know the answer. It's back to LA with me right?" Her face was contorted with anger and shame. "After all, as weapons go, I'm pretty much defective now, right?"
Lennox opened is mouth to speak, but she continued before he even had the chance. Three years of suppressed anger and emotion were spewing forth, and she'd be damned if Lennox tried to hold it back.
"No! Don't even tell me that the CIA wants me back as an operative." She laughed sarcastically at the thought of such sincerity from such a corrupt government.
"After all, it's not like they missed my company or anything. . . . No, I know what they'll do the minute I get off the plane in LA. There'll be guards to subdue me, guns pointed at my head. . . . Devlin will just be happy that he got the situation under control finally. I won't be a danger anymore; not that I ever was." She paused to catch her breath in mid-rant.
"After all, we can't forget what Rambaldi said about me, now can we? I wasn't that big of a deal before, but now. . . . well, now I'm prophesized! My coming has been heralded as the end of the world! Fuck, to them, I'm bigger than Jesus Christ!" Silence followed her words as they sank in.
"Don't tell me I'm not correct." She gave a condescending look to Lennox, then laid her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes. ". . . and I'm not answering any of your pointless questions."
Lennox responded with silence.
"Jesus, my head hurts." She whispered.
"You want me to make you some raw eggs in milk?" Lennox asked.
"What?"
"Never mind." Lennox shook his head, and put a blanket over her. "Just relax for awhile and your headache might get a bit better."
******************
Sydney didn't speak again, but Lennox could tell she was listening. He turned his attention over to Sark, who was still sitting oh-so-quietly in the corner. A spider silently baiting the flies.
"What about you? Why are you here?" Lennox said, sighing. This entire process was getting tiring.
Sark motioned towards Sydney with his shoulder. "Her."
Lennox should have known he would try to stay as vague as possible. He tried again.
"Would you care to elaborate on this with the rest of us?" Sark tilted his head slightly, giving the aire with which one would talk to a child.
"My official orders from Sloane were to find Sydney and retrieve her, but my intent is to discuss some business with Sydney not concerning Sloane. I was trying to find Sydney for outside business reasons."
"What kind of business reasons? Are you saying that you've decided to betray Sloane?" Lennox was going at rapid fire pace now.
"I never had any allegiance with Arvin Sloane in the first place. My loyalties have only ever been held by Irina Derevko, who was killed by Sloane almost two years ago," Lennox heard Sydney catch her breath. It struck Lennox suddenly. She hadn't known all this time that her mother had died during her disappearance. It was almost like him waking up to Sydney all those ages ago, asking for his wife and finding out she'd been dead a week without his knowledge. . . . An acute feeling of the unbearable and unbelievable. . .
Lennox looked up a moment to see Sark looking at his face with a patronizing glare. Sark was too much of a nomad to mention anything, but Lennox could tell that he was getting annoyed. Good, he thought, I need him to loosen up.
"So then what were you doing all these years with Sloane if he held no value to you?"
"I was continuing Irina's research by honing in on Sloane's data files. The man's too smart to write everything down, but I definitely know more than I should about the Rambaldi prophecies. I made copies of all the files for Rambaldi, and other files Sloane kept, without his knowledge.
"Where are they now?"
"In a safety deposit box in Switzerland."
"If you want to be cooperative, you'll help us to access those files. I guarantee you that that will save your life once you're in the custody of the American government."
"I'll get you the files, but I seriously doubt that I'll ever get as far as government custody. I'll be gone before that step takes place."
"What makes you so sure?" Damn, this kid was cocky, Lennox thought.
"You haven't turned us in yet, have you?" Sark cocked his head again as he said it. He had to say, Sark had a point there.
Just then, a clicking sound emitted behind them. Both men turned to look, expecting to see a gun cocked in their face. Lennox's eyes widened.
It was worse. Sydney had picked the lock, and was now standing on the floor, unbound and pissed off.
Sark.
She would need to get him out, if only to question him later as to why he was here.
"I'll be there in just a sec!" she shouted down to him. Lennox gave her a look, but nodded.
She jumped to the opposite fire escape, jumped again, and she was there. Sark was still unconscious. An explosion flashed dangerously close above her head.
"SYDNEY!" Lennox yelled.
Crashing through a window on her way, she swung down to meet him, Sark in tow.
Back on the ground once more, she immediately started running. Get away from Lennox. Sark's body weighed down on her, but she kept moving.
"Sydney!" Lennox cried, running after her. Is that all he knows how to say?
At this rate he was bound to catch up with her. He didn't have the 185- pound Sark burden. So she turned a corner, and waited to surprise him.
Lennox ran in the alleyway, and was immediately met with her foot in his face. A surprised look flashed across his face as he was knocked to the ground. He should have known I would try to fight, she thought. When he picked himself up again, however, she could tell he was aware of his place now.
Lennox threw a punch, which she easily ducked. A second fist came her way which she deflected, but just barely. With the drugs still present in her system, she was bound to be slower on the uptake. A sense of foreboding took precedence in the pit of her stomach.
Releasing the tension and panicked energy, she gave a yell and kicked twice, once in Lennox's stomach, and once across his cheekbone. As he fell down, he managed to sweep his leg under hers. Her head fall back onto the blacktop. Reaching up to rub out the pain, she felt her head sticky with her own blood. Blackness swam at he edges of her vision.
Lennox was still on the ground, but was starting to stand. In an effort to get out of his hitting range, she staggered to her feet, but found the blackness and blurred images began to coincide completely. She could feel the wind in her face as she fell again, before the blackness overtook her completely.
__________________________
As soon as he saw Sydney get to her feet, he knew she wouldn't remain conscious long. Positioning himself behind her, he just managed to catch her when she fell a second time. Now, what was he going to do with her? And Sark for that matter? He would have to get them secure in a hotel and then decide.
Ten minutes later, he had them both next to him in the back of a grungy taxi.
"Two raw eggs with milk and plenty of water, that's the cure for even the worst hangover! You make sure you tell them that when they wake up, and they'll be as good as new in an hour!" The taxi driver was giving Lennox tips on what he clearly assumed was a drinking problem.
"Thanks, I will." He said cordially, paying the man and getting them in to the new hotel. It was slow going, and he got more than one strange look from the maids in the halls. Everyone else was asleep for the night, luckily.
Lennox unlocked the door. Two beds and a love seat. Perfect. He dragged them both in, and tied them up securely for their own safety when they awoke. At least, for Sydney's safety. He really didn't give a damn about Sark. Gently scooping her up, he laid her the bed softly, and gently handcuffed her tied hands to the bedpost.
After Sydney was secure, he dragged Sark by the arm into the bathroom, and tossed him into the bathtub, handcuffing him to the temperature knob. Quick and easy, with a lesser chance of escape. Plus, he could come in occasionally and spray water in Sark's face. Lennox smiled at the thought and shut the door.
Lennox sat awhile, enjoying the silence and pondering what he was going to do about them. When he finally did hear the groans of someone waking, the sounds came from the bathroom, not from Sydney on the bed.
Double checking to make sure Sydney was secure, Lennox opened the bathroom door with a gun trained on Sark's head the moment he entered. Apparently, Sark had awoken and smashed his head into the faucet first thing. Sark looked at him in between grimaces, and rubbed his head in his tied hands.
"You couldn't find a more convenient place to stow me than the bathtub?" his voice remained cool, as normal.
"It seemed like the only place to put you." Lennox bent down, gun still at Sark's head, and uncuffed him from the tub. Sark stood, and calmly waited until Lennox had put the cuffs back on his hands again.
"That was way easier than I thought it would be with you." Lennox asked inquisitively as they walked out of the bathroom.
"I guarantee you Sydney will be much more of a challenge." He said, opting to not enlighten Lennox to the reason for his behaviors.
"Why didn't you fight me?" Lennox asked again, this time direct.
"I have some business to discuss with Sydney."
"If you think for a minute that I'm gonna leave you alone with Sydney. . ." A groan emitted from the bed where Syd slept. Lennox shoved Sark down in a chair.
"Stay there, or whoever cares enough to even go to your funeral won't have a body to look at." Sark nodded and waited, never losing his calm. It was unnerving how cooperative Sark was being. Lennox was more suspicious of this behavior than of defiance.
Keeping his hand on his gun and casting one more look at Sark, Lennox went to check on Sydney.
*******************
She woke up to fuzzy vision and hammers banging in her head. Before even opening her eyes she groaned at the pain. Voices were coming from somewhere, but for now they seemed to be more another source of pain in her head rather than intelligible words. She hadn't had a hangover this bad since her first year of college. And it hadn't helped that Lennox had thrown her to the ground a few times prior to her unconsciousness.
Lennox.
Her eyes flew open to see him approaching her. She finally became conscious of her tied hands and feet. Cuffed to the bed. She struggled in panic and let out the longest string of swear words she'd ever uttered in her life. It was so loud that Lennox stepped back a moment before approaching.
"Let me go, you son of a bitch!!" Sark laughed out loud in the corner. What was he doing here? Shouldn't he be handcuffed to some furniture somewhere too? He was the enemy- she just wanted to get out.
"I've never seen her like this; it's quite entertaining." Sark was deliberately trying to irk her, as always.
"Listen, Syd. . . . I just need to ask you some questions." Lennox started.
"About what? I don't know anything! I haven't known ANYTHING for years! I'm not Sydney anymore," she added to her angry outburst. "What are you going to do with me?"
"Shouldn't it be obvious at this point?" Sark piped in again.
Lennox just stared at her face, saying nothing. She paused a moment. Why had she even bothered asking?
"Never mind. I already know the answer. It's back to LA with me right?" Her face was contorted with anger and shame. "After all, as weapons go, I'm pretty much defective now, right?"
Lennox opened is mouth to speak, but she continued before he even had the chance. Three years of suppressed anger and emotion were spewing forth, and she'd be damned if Lennox tried to hold it back.
"No! Don't even tell me that the CIA wants me back as an operative." She laughed sarcastically at the thought of such sincerity from such a corrupt government.
"After all, it's not like they missed my company or anything. . . . No, I know what they'll do the minute I get off the plane in LA. There'll be guards to subdue me, guns pointed at my head. . . . Devlin will just be happy that he got the situation under control finally. I won't be a danger anymore; not that I ever was." She paused to catch her breath in mid-rant.
"After all, we can't forget what Rambaldi said about me, now can we? I wasn't that big of a deal before, but now. . . . well, now I'm prophesized! My coming has been heralded as the end of the world! Fuck, to them, I'm bigger than Jesus Christ!" Silence followed her words as they sank in.
"Don't tell me I'm not correct." She gave a condescending look to Lennox, then laid her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes. ". . . and I'm not answering any of your pointless questions."
Lennox responded with silence.
"Jesus, my head hurts." She whispered.
"You want me to make you some raw eggs in milk?" Lennox asked.
"What?"
"Never mind." Lennox shook his head, and put a blanket over her. "Just relax for awhile and your headache might get a bit better."
******************
Sydney didn't speak again, but Lennox could tell she was listening. He turned his attention over to Sark, who was still sitting oh-so-quietly in the corner. A spider silently baiting the flies.
"What about you? Why are you here?" Lennox said, sighing. This entire process was getting tiring.
Sark motioned towards Sydney with his shoulder. "Her."
Lennox should have known he would try to stay as vague as possible. He tried again.
"Would you care to elaborate on this with the rest of us?" Sark tilted his head slightly, giving the aire with which one would talk to a child.
"My official orders from Sloane were to find Sydney and retrieve her, but my intent is to discuss some business with Sydney not concerning Sloane. I was trying to find Sydney for outside business reasons."
"What kind of business reasons? Are you saying that you've decided to betray Sloane?" Lennox was going at rapid fire pace now.
"I never had any allegiance with Arvin Sloane in the first place. My loyalties have only ever been held by Irina Derevko, who was killed by Sloane almost two years ago," Lennox heard Sydney catch her breath. It struck Lennox suddenly. She hadn't known all this time that her mother had died during her disappearance. It was almost like him waking up to Sydney all those ages ago, asking for his wife and finding out she'd been dead a week without his knowledge. . . . An acute feeling of the unbearable and unbelievable. . .
Lennox looked up a moment to see Sark looking at his face with a patronizing glare. Sark was too much of a nomad to mention anything, but Lennox could tell that he was getting annoyed. Good, he thought, I need him to loosen up.
"So then what were you doing all these years with Sloane if he held no value to you?"
"I was continuing Irina's research by honing in on Sloane's data files. The man's too smart to write everything down, but I definitely know more than I should about the Rambaldi prophecies. I made copies of all the files for Rambaldi, and other files Sloane kept, without his knowledge.
"Where are they now?"
"In a safety deposit box in Switzerland."
"If you want to be cooperative, you'll help us to access those files. I guarantee you that that will save your life once you're in the custody of the American government."
"I'll get you the files, but I seriously doubt that I'll ever get as far as government custody. I'll be gone before that step takes place."
"What makes you so sure?" Damn, this kid was cocky, Lennox thought.
"You haven't turned us in yet, have you?" Sark cocked his head again as he said it. He had to say, Sark had a point there.
Just then, a clicking sound emitted behind them. Both men turned to look, expecting to see a gun cocked in their face. Lennox's eyes widened.
It was worse. Sydney had picked the lock, and was now standing on the floor, unbound and pissed off.