"This should be simple, ladies," Sark said as the trio entered into Underworld, one of the hottest nightclubs in Paris.
"This should be fun," Lina added. Her British accent had gotten a little thicker. A sign that she was nervous Sydney decided.
Sydney was still skeptical of the fact that this trendy nightclub was one of the Covenant's facilities. But Sark kept telling her that his intel was one hundred percent correct. The club was definitely not her scene. It vaguely reminded her of the mission she and Vaughn had gone on to that sex club in Berlin, and not in a good way. At least her dress wasn't skintight rubber.
"On second thought," she considered, "maybe skintight black isn't that much better. And my shoes are a good inch higher than the ones before."
"Let's go over this again," Sark said as they made their way to a vacant table. "Sydney and I are going to go into the back rooms, find a Covenant terminal, and locate my money. While we're doing that--"
"I distract the majority of the club," Lina finished. "Though I have to say you could have picked out a better wig for me, Julian. Purple spikes? Who has hair like that?"
"I had to wear a wig like that once," Sydney supplied.
"Okay. Who besides international spies has hair like that?"
Sark laughed. "Are you ready for this?" he asked both of his companions. When they both nodded, he grabbed Sydney's hand and pulled her to the dance floor.
"Typically a guy asks a woman to dance. They don't act like cavemen and drag them onto the floor," Sydney said.
Sark pulled her incredibly close to his body and whispered in her ear, "It wasn't a matter of permission."
Sydney swallowed loudly as they began to move to the music. She knew that Sark was subtly moving them into position near the doors to the rooms in the back of the nightclub, but it still seemed to her like there was something else going on in there dancing together.
"Now," he whispered pulling her into the back hallway as he saw Lina get up onto the stage.
Sydney almost did a double take as she heard a female voice begin to sing. "That was what you had meant by distraction?" she asked. She had expected Lina to start a fight or something, not get up on the stage and perform.
Sark didn't respond until they had found a room that seemed to be their objective. It didn't fit in with the trendy nightclub mystique so it was a good bet that it was affiliated with the Covenant instead.
"I never explained about the first time you and I met face to face, did I? You were sang to me and Khasinau in that night club to keep up the premise of your alias."
Sydney smiled at him as she took a seat in front of the computer. "I had you hanging onto my every word."
"Yes, you do. But not for the reasons you think." Sydney gave him a doubtful look. "Well, maybe it was partially because of the reasons you think. But another part was you reminded me of my sister. Before she got mixed up in my life, she used to be a singer at a nightclub."
"Very interesting," she replied as she tried to locate the file detailing the distribution of the Covenant's funds.
"Have you found anything yet?" Sark asked as he stole a look out the door and down the hallway.
"Got it!" she exclaimed. "Technically, your money hasn't even been touched. The Covenant spent the majority of it, but then replenished it using the funds provided to them by Taylor Cummings. I don't know why they would do that, but they did."
"Stand up," Sark said, motioning her out of the chair. He began typing furiously.
"What are you doing?"
"You found my money. I'm not about to let the Covenant keep it."
Sydney watched as he initiated a money transfer to a bank in the Cayman Islands. "Isn't that easily traceable?" she asked.
"Not the way I'm doing it. This is just the first transfer that's going to be made. I set up this account for a specific purpose, and that's to keep the money deposited in it from being traced. The money will stay in that account for about thirty seconds and then it will hop straight into another. This will go on for about thirty accounts, effectively scrambling any tracers put on it."
"How long will that take?" she asked.
"I should have the money in about a week. It will keep bouncing back and forth through these thirty accounts through that whole time. It takes a while, but it's worth it to know that the whole exchange will be completely secure."
"Did anyone ever tell you that you sound amazingly sexy when you talk shop?" Sydney joked.
"All the time," Sark said as he took a disk out of his pocket and popped it into the computer drive.
"I'm not enjoying all this hidden agenda stuff you're springing on me. What are you doing now?"
"I didn't want to worry you about all this if we couldn't even locate my money or if it was completely gone."
"Thanks for the consideration. Never do it again," she hissed.
"I'm injecting a virus into the Covenant's system. While we're here, we might as well deal the Covenant a blow."
"I think stealing eight hundred million dollars is a pretty big blow."
"Well, then call it a cherry on top," Sark said. He popped the disk out of the computer and put it back into his pocket. "Let's go."
They made it halfway down the hallway when Sark's cell phone began to ring. He scanned the hallway and pushed Sydney into what turned out to be a maintenance closet.
As she tried to get untangled from the mop that Sark had shoved her into, she hissed, "Do you really have to answer that right now?"
Sark just gave her a look and flipped the phone up. "What's wrong, Leeny?"
Sydney saw him noticeable pale as Lina told him whatever new development had happened. After a minute, he flipped the phone closed and turned to Sydney.
"Bad news. It seems the CIA couldn't keep Taylor Cummings in their custody for that long. He's free, and he's warned all the Covenant cells to be on the lookout for us. It seems like when Lina got done doing her set, which she said mesmerized the crowd, she got a call from Cummings himself."
"He had no idea that Lina was your sister?"
"Obviously, our clever ruse of changing her last name to Beck fools even the smartest of people."
"What did Cummings have to say?"
"He seems to think that you and I are going to break into the Covenant's nightclub cell in Paris and try to extract my stolen money."
"He obviously has a good source of intel," Sydney said. "What do we do now that everyone's aware we're either already here or on our way?"
"Get out as soon as we can." Sark paused and looked out to the door. "Which may be a while. There are agents flooding the hallway. You and I might just have to fight our way out of here."
"I've seen us fight," she said confidently. "They have no chance at all."
"I'm glad one of us is confident. We're going to have to take an alternate route out of the club."
They waited until the hallway cleared and then made a dash down the hallway. As they turned to the right, they ran headfirst into two men. Sydney didn't waste any time with questions or friendly fight banter. She just punched the man on the left hard in the nose and kicked him in the groin. One kick to the head put him out for the count.
She was happy to see that Sark had neutralized the second agent while she was fighting. "Let's get going again," he said, grabbing her hand.
The next corner they turned put them face to face with their third accomplice.
"I thought I told you to get out of here, Lina!" Sark hissed.
"I know you too well, Julian. You need my help if you're going to get out of here." Lina directed them into one of the rooms off the corridor. "The Covenant has sealed off all of the exits anyway. Cummings is going to know I'm working with you when he figures out that I was at Underworld when he called. I mean, I have been missing since Sydney captured him."
"So what do you propose?" Sydney asked.
"I propose that you all turn around and put your hands up," said a voice from behind them.
All three turned at the exact time to see six Covenant agents holding guns on them. Hesitantly, they did as they were told and put their hands in the air. Sark subtly shifted over closer to Sydney. As the Covenant agents started issuing more commands, he whispered in her ear. "When I make my move, I want you to run past the agents into the hallway. Don't stop until you're out of the building."
"I'm not leaving you and Lina behind," she whispered back.
"If you know what's good for you, you will. These men have seen Lina with us. We can't just knock them out. I would prefer if you weren't a part of what I'm about to do."
Sydney's eyes widened in comprehension of what Sark was planning on doing, and she nodded her head slightly in agreement.
Sark let what was about to happen sink in for another moment and then he made him move. Two agents were taken out with the gun he had concealed in his suit jacket before they knew what was happening. He sighed in relief as he realized that Sydney had followed his instructions and was nowhere to be found. Lina followed his example and was fighting a couple agents of her own.
He returned his attention back to the two remaining agents. It only took him a minute to neutralize them. Turning his attention back to his sister, his heart dropped into his stomach. There was only one agent left, but that agent was holding a gun to his sister's head.
Before the agent had a second to speak, Sydney came back into the room.
"There were a few guards outside. They… aren't a problem anymore." She stopped when she saw Lina with a gun to her head.
"Time to chose," the agent said in a French accent. "You can save yourself and this amazingly radiant, beautiful woman." Sark tightened his fists in anger at the way this man was eyeing his partner. "Or you can try to save Ms. Beck here and she'll probably die in the process. I would suggest you just leave her behind. Mr. Cummings should be pretty lenient even though it seems she's been helping the people who kidnapped him."
"If you think for one minute he's going to abandon her--" Sydney began. She was quickly interrupted by Sark.
"This might change your mind," the agent said pointing to the doorway. Another agent had appeared and was now holding a gun to Sydney.
"Great," Sark muttered under his breathe wondering what he could do to get all of them out of this one.
"Looks like you're going to have to choose, Mr. Sark. You'll only have time to save one of these women."
The momentary lapse in his calmness was gone in seconds. "There's one flaw in your little plan here. I couldn't care about Ms. Beck. I have no further use for her."
Before his words had sunk in, Sark had taken out the agent holding a gun to Sydney. He forced her out the door and down the hall. "We still need to get out of here," he finally said.
"You're not going to comment on the fact that you just abandoned your little sister?" Sydney exclaimed.
"This was one of the reasons I didn't want you to know that Lina was my sister. I wanted to save you from having to know how difficult decisions like this would be."
"It didn't seem that difficult in my opinion."
They kept running down corridor after corridor until Sark saw a massive group of agents turn the corner in front of them. He shoved Sydney into the first door he saw and locked it behind them.
"Great. A bathroom," she muttered. "Nice choice."
She was surprised when he didn't snap a sarcastic remark back at her. For the first time, she noticed how distraught he looked. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought he was on the verge of crying.
"God, I'm heartless," Sydney said as she moved to stand beside him. "I'm yelling at your for making such a hard decision without thinking about what it's doing to you. I'm sorry."
"I didn't want to abandon her. I thought she would be able to take care of herself. Don't you think she'd be able to take care of herself?" He leaned against the bathroom counter.
Sydney sat on the counter top right next to where he was leaning. "If she's anything like you, I'm sure by now she's already found a way to get away from that stupid agent and out of this club."
"She's much better at this than I am," Sark said. "She was always much better than me at everything. It's one of the most frustrating things about her."
"Then I'm sure she'll be fine." Sydney grasped his hand lightly.
They sat in silence for a few minutes listening to people run back and forth in the hallway.
"It's probably going to be quite a while before we get out of here," she admitted.
"I'm sorry for getting you stuck in a bathroom in a Covenant cell/Paris nightclub. It's not what I intended."
"I'm glad to hear you sounding a little more normal there. You were starting to worry me. For a second there, I thought you might actually be feeling emotions." She exaggerated a shudder which made him laugh. "We should probably get comfortable."
She kicked off her shoes and insisted that he do the same. The whole time he complained that now if they had to make a run for it, they wouldn't have time to put their shoes back on. She just stuck her tongue out at him.
After that, they returned to silence until something occurred to Sydney. "Why did you save me and not her?"
"I told you she can take care of herself. She's been doing it for years."
"So have I. You've seen how proficient I am at taking care of myself, Sark. So, again, why did you save me and not your own sister?"
Sark paused for a moment to formulate his answer. "I had to make sure that you got out of this club okay."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I just had to."
Sydney reached up and turned his head so that he was looking her straight in the eye. "Seems to me like maybe you're having second thoughts about this keeping business separate from pleasure idea."
"What are you talking about, Sydney?" Sark asked, playing dumb. "I thought we agreed that this relationship discussion was over."
"You don't get an illogical need to protect someone unless you have feelings for her."
Sark rolled his eyes and stood up from where he was leaning. Sydney reached out and grabbed his arm to keep him from moving away from her.
"Don't try to avoid it. You're the one that brought it up this time."
"Get your hands off of me, Agent Bristow, before I do something we both will regret later. You know that I won't hesitate to hurt you."
Sydney was starting to get pissed off. "If I remember correctly, I'm the one who always seems to be doing the hurting."
Sark seemed to relax slightly until he heard her mutter "selfish bastard" under her breath. That set him off enough to swing a punch. Sydney swiftly dodged it and gave him a kick to his midsection.
Sark growled and threw his jacket onto the floor. "This has been a lot time coming, Bristow. So don't pull your punches."
Instead of responding, she punched him in the face. Hard. "Is that better?"
"Much," he said wiping the small trickle of blood off where his lip had been split open. He grabbed her ruthlessly and threw her against the wall. The impact didn't do much because she braced herself against the wall and threw another kick in his direction. This one connected with his left knee.
Sydney quickly went to punch him with her right fist, but amazingly he was attempting the same move. They both blocked with their left hands and stood at a standstill, just scowling at each other. Sydney seized the temporary distraction to kick him hard in the stomach again.
He dropped to one knee and braced himself with his hands on the floor.
"Had enough?" Sydney taunted from above.
In response, he rushed her and pushed her hard up against the wall. "No," he growled. Unexpectedly, instead of hitting her, he pulled her face to his and crushed her lips to his. "I'll never get enough of you," he whispered between kisses.
Caught up in the moment, Sydney grabbed his shirt and ripped. Buttons flew everywhere but neither one noticed. He picked her up and placed her on the counter, never breaking their frantic kissing. She felt his hands snake up to her back and begin to unzip her dress.
"You should be proud you've resisted me for so long," Sydney joked as her dress hit the floor.
"Oh, believe me. I am," Sark managed to get out before he gave in to the urge to lay kisses all over her neck.
Sydney pushed off the remains of his shirt and placed her hands on his chest. She could feel his heart beating at a rapid rate similar to hers. Her hands trailed down his body to the waist of his pants. She almost laughed when he jumped as she dragged on the buckle of his belt.
"Scared?" she asked hoarsely.
Sark didn't answer, just lay her down on the bathroom counter and began trailing kisses along her stomach. He could feel the heat radiating off her skin and her pulse begin to race as she softly started to moan. Desperate, she pulled his head back up to hers and kissed him forcefully on the lips.
In one smooth motion, he scooped her up and pushed her against the wall again. His hand trailed down her back and slowly unclasped her bra. It fell to the floor unnoticed. Before she could process what had happened, his mouth was on her breast, tickling and teasing.
She went back to the pants she had tried to unbuckle earlier, and this time she succeeded in unfastening them. Without much thought or effort, he kicked both his pants and boxers off.
"I need you now," she growled.
His breath stopped as he saw the desire in her eyes. As much as he wanted this moment to last forever, the intensity of it was getting to him. He threw her back down onto the counter and slipped off her underwear. Not wasting a moment, he plunged himself inside of her.
Her mouth was frantic and fevered under his, and her nails scraped wildly down his back before digging forcefully into his hips. His pace quickened as she ground herself against him and cried out rather noisily. Her hips bucked in a brutal plea for speed.
She groaned in pleasure when she felt him pick up the pace of his thrusts. Her body was practically shaking as she teetered on the edge. Hearing the sound of her name on his lips, they both plummeted over that edge together.
Panting with sheer exhaustion and rapture, she picked her head up from where it rested on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Well, that killed a little time. I wonder if the coast is clear now."
If the sounds they had been making didn't alert the agents to their location, she was pretty sure their sounds of laughter would.
