Sloane made his way out of the room leaving the other three to follow. Allison went first, then Sydney, leaving Sark for last. They went silently down the corridor.
Sydney glanced back at once, a worried expression on her face. What would happen now? She just hoped that she could handle this.
As Sark made his way, he couldn't help but think that this could be the worst thing that could happen. He was worried about the effect seeing the machine would have on Sydney. But, as there wasn't much he could do about it, he kept his silence. At least he would be there, should anything happen. He glanced at his watch, noting the time. 9:47. A little over an hour before Jack would attempt escape. Sark knew that Jack would find a way to get himself and Irina out, but he was still concerned about it. Sloane stopped ahead of them and punched in a security code, which opened a door for them. As they stepped inside, Sark saw Sydney noticeably stiffen for a moment. She hid her anxiety quickly. Good girl, he thought. Never let them see you unnerved.
Sloane turned to see Sydney's reaction to the machine. He couldn't help but think that it was lucky that most of the video footage he had of Sydney wasn't when she was hooked up to Il Dire. Otherwise, this would be more difficult. She would never believe he had nothing to do with it, had that been the case. He stepped back to let her have full view of the machine.
Sydney walked toward the machine as Sloane stepped back. It was rather unassuming looking, and much smaller than she had imagined. The oddest thing about it was the two handprints on the front. Sydney had to keep herself from laughing. This was just striking her as ridiculous. It was as if it were one of those stupid machines, where you place your hands on the prints and it tells you how hot your love life is. As soon as she thought of that, she was literally laughing so hard inside that tears started to slide down her cheeks.
Sark mistook her tears for apprehension until he glanced at Sydney's eyes. Barely controlled merriment had made its way into them. What was going on? Was she losing it? There was definitely nothing to laugh about here. He turned his attention to Sloane as the man started to speak.
Sloane took her tears at face value. Of course, he would not look deeper than appearances. "I see that you are overwhelmed, Sydney. That is to be expected. This machine holds the key to the future. Not just your future, but all of ours." He held his hand out to her, offering her assistance to step closer to Il Dire.
Sydney sobered herself quickly and looked at Sloane. Inside, she was full of loathing, but she knew that she could not show it. Instead, she took his hand and moved even closer to the machine. As she looked down at it, she couldn't help but think that after all of these months, and her missing two years, she might be able to remember more. She knew there wouldn't be much, for Sloane had her the entire time, but she would like to know what she had been subjected to that wasn't on the tapes. She glanced back at Allison and Aidan, who were standing near the door watching her and Sloane. "I don't understand," was all she managed to say, her throat constricting with nervousness.
"All in good time, Sydney, all in good time," consoled Sloane, his voice oily and his facial expression a mask of concern. "First, maybe you want to examine it?"
Sark started to object, but realized that he couldn't do that. Instead, he stepped a little closer to the two, motioning for Allison to do the same. He stood, rigid, his eyes moving from Sydney to Sloane as he observed the details of the situation.
Allison did not pay attention to the two standing in front of her. Instead, she kept her eyes on Sark, noting that he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to her. He was focused on Sydney. She was getting really angry with Sark. How dare he just ignore her. They were close once, and she cared for him. She wondered if it might be time to take him down a notch or two.
Sydney stood still and stared at the machine. Il Dire. The object of Sloane's obsession and what tied her and Aidan to the prophecy. She moved to place her hands on the prints, and felt a surge of current pass through her. She saw a flash of light and immediately had a vision of herself standing at the machine like she was doing now. She realized that this was a memory, that this truly wasn't happening at the moment, but it was disconcerting. She let it take over. She felt pressure on her arms and looked down to see two pairs of hands, forcing her to touch the machine. She glanced to her sides, but she couldn't make out the faces. She looked up and saw Sloane standing there, a smirk on his face. She struggled to get free, but it was useless. The memory started to fade, leaving Sydney shaken, as she blinked, trying to refocus. She glanced over at Sloane, but he apparently saw nothing amiss.
"What do you think, Sydney?" Sloane said as he saw her staring at him. He wasn't sure what was going through her mind. She seemed almost frozen in place, now concentrating on the machine again.
Sydney thought about her answer. She decided the safe thing would be to say nothing about her memory. "I don't know what to think. It seems that this is just a silly machine. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing." At least that was honest enough. She was almost afraid to touch it again, but she welcomed the memories from a past that she couldn't remember, even if they were painful. She moved every so slightly, making contact with the machine again. The next memory that flashed to her was Sloane telling her about how everyone had moved on with their lives. How they thought she was dead and they didn't care. She felt so defeated, she almost wanted to give up, but she couldn't let that happen. She felt so much pain in her heart and mind. That was the last thing she remembered before she collapsed onto the floor.
Sark saw that Sydney was about to fall, and moved toward her, but it wasn't soon enough. She fell to the floor, unconscious. He realized now what must have been happening to her. The machine had triggered memories and the pain was too much for her to physically deal with. He was angered that Sloane ordered a guard to take her upstairs, but hid it behind his usual cold stare. The three followed the guard as he made his way upstairs.
*******
Jack paced the room. He looked at his watch. 11:01. Just a few minutes more until it would be time to move. He trusted Sark, as crazy as that sounded, and he knew that he could count on the cameras being on a loop. He knew Irina was being held down the hall, and he had a gun. Luckily Sloane's men hadn't found the set of picks that he had on him. They would certainly come in handy. 11:12. Jack worked with the lock silently until it gave. Just one more minute now. It was time. He silently slipped out, holding ready the gun that Sark had left him. After glancing right and left, he made his way down the hall. He lightly knocked on the door to where Irina was being held. When an aged doctor opened it, Jack did not hesitate to knock the man out. No reason to kill the man, he thought. He had saved Irina's life, after all.
Irina lifted her head and looked at the man who had entered. She knew that Jack would find a way. After all, he always did. She started to rise, but he was there and in one swoop had her in his arms and was on the move. "Jack, I can walk, you know," she lightly protested.
"Now is not the time for your stubbornness, Irina. We must get out of here, or else there will be no hope for Sydney." He realized that by carrying her, he would not be able to shoot, so he gave her his gun. "I trust that you're a good shot," he said, smiling wryly.
"Yes. That I am," Irina stated, holding the gun ready, taking out a guard as they rounded the corner. "You're lucky that I'm here." She smiled at him as he made his way down the hall.
"You'd better make me believe that is a true statement," Jack said as 3 more guards appeared in front of their escape route. He didn't flinch as Irina shot each one before they had a chance to fire. By his calculations, they should just have one more door to go. This time, he did flinch as an alarm sounded. He should have known. One of the guards must have set it off before coming to see what was going on. He picked up speed, and didn't look behind them when he heard running footsteps.
"Get out of the way!" Sark had heard the alarm and was luckily first to arrive. He had left Sydney upstairs and ran to see if there was a way that he could help. He shot the guard pursuing Jack and Irina, and kept watch as he motioned for Jack to get out. If he was lucky, he would be able to convince Sloane that Jack had got away despite his own efforts to stop him.
Jack was grateful that Sark had shown up when he did. When he and Irina had made it outside, he set her down, and they continued to run together. Luckily, there was a safe house a few miles away. If they were lucky, they would make it in time.