Little Child Lost
Chapter Eight
Furtive
Sydney wore black pants and a turtleneck. She pulled her coffee colored hair back in a slick ponytail and then sat down to wait for Sark to come out of the bathroom. Sark emerged a few moments later, his hair still wet from his shower. A few residual drops fell onto his forehead as he loaded several of the guns he'd taken from Irina.
"We'll break in through the roof. Room 47 holds all the records and The Covenant's main server."
"Room 47." Sydney said incredulously. "You have no idea how sick I'm getting of that number, 47. What makes it so special?"
Sark gave her a tight-lipped smile before tossing her one of the handguns.
"We should only have to take down a couple of guards. As far as I know, everyone else is gone by midnight."
"By take out, you mean…"
"Sudden qualms about murdering people now?"
Sydney blanched, but quickly covered it.
"Yes. I have absolutely no reason to kill these guards."
"I did mean just take them down temporarily."
Sydney nodded, fighting the urge to be embarrassed for asking that question. This was Sark she was talking to here. It was a possibility that he intended to kill the useless guards. She raised her eyes to meet Sark's and they were completely clouded. She'd fallen off that pedestal men seemed to place her on; she was no longer the center of his respect and admiration. She was just another assassin/spy to him now. Someone so much like him, as much as they both hated to admit it. She almost felt sad for losing that respect. Sydney could feel the loss emanating off Sark, only it wasn't Sark. He was Julian Lazarey; the lost little boy who saw his mother murdered in front of him and was deserted by his father. She shouldn't be dissecting Sark's behavior a few minutes before a mission. It would do her absolutely no good.
"Bloody Hell, Sydney, are you listening to a word I've said?"
She'd gotten lost in his eyes and she'd forgotten he was going over the mission specs.
"I heard." She answered, though both of them knew she was lying.
"Is your head in the game?"
"This isn't a game to me, Sark, this is my life."
She stood, realizing she hadn't really answered his question, just added a statement. Sark seemed to take her words at face value, lucky for her. He opened the door from the hotel room and they hurried away.
Irina stood on one roof alone, though she could make out Jack and Weiss' figures across the street. They had decided to scout the area, waiting for Sydney and Sark to make their grand appearance. They decided it would be easier to spot them form an aerial view. They'd split up, but each had a high tech walkie-talkie to keep them in contact with each other. All three of them blended into the darkness, perhaps because they belonged there. That was a little too philosophical for Irina right then. She should be focusing on the objective. The wind blew in strong gusts and Irina glanced up at the sky to judge the weather. The clouds were dark gray and Irina hoped desperately it wouldn't rain until after this was done. All her hope was dashed when the sky opened up into a downpour. She was soaked in an instant and she cursed the cold precipitation. She imagined Jack was doing the same. The heavy torrents of rain would impede their vision; maybe even make them miss Sydney all together. They were being sneaky and the rain would help wash away any sign of them. Granted, it would help Sydney's mission, but not Irina's.
Irina! Are you all right?
Yes. This is going to make finding them a horrid mess.
I know. Just keep watching
Irina didn't answer, only turned her eyes back on the road. Two figures walked down the street, each completely silent and quite furtive.
Jack! I see them!
Where?
They're heading towards the textile mill.
Did you hear that, Weiss?
Loud and clear, Bristow. I'm on my way down.
Me too! Irina chimed in. She jogged away from the ledge and made her way slowly down the fire escape.
Sydney crept across the roof stealthily and stopped in the center. The rain put a crimp in their plans because it would make it harder to cut open the roof for an entrance. She hated using equipment in the rain like that. She hated not knowing what happened to her even more. She pulled out the saw and prepared to make the first incision. A loud clap of thunder accompanied the cut, so it covered the additional noise. Maybe the pounding rain would be helpful. The sawing might not even alert the guards if the storm kept blowing. She shivered, despising the wet and cold that Kosovo brought. Finally, the hole was cut, so she glanced up at Sark. He had been watching her work with a faraway look covering his face.
"Sark! Come on!"
He snapped out of his daze, even tried to cover that he had been lost in his thoughts. He tied a rope to the ledge and shimmied his way down the opening. Sydney followed suit and landed roughly on the ground. She surveyed the room for any guards and she half expected the James Bond theme song to play in the background. Dun dun dada dun dun dada dun dun dada. Sydney smiled at the thought while waiting for Sark to slide the messenger bag over his shoulder. He motioned for her to follow him. Sydney did so as they walked through a door and down a narrow corridor. Sark stopped in front of a white door, a small black plate next to it on the wall that read 47. Sark removed a descrambler from the bag and placed it next to the keypad. The code sprang up and he quickly punched in the numbers. He held up his arms before Sydney could enter the room, blocking her path.
"There's an infrared alarm that will go off if we enter the room. I need to disarm it before we go in there."
Sark slipped in through the corners of the room, staying close to the wall, where the rays didn't hit. He reached up to the camera-looking object and removed the casing. He snipped the red and yellow wire, than called to Sydney.
"It's clear. We have eight minutes until the guards will be on this floor doing their regular checks."
Sydney rushed into the room, going straight for the filing cabinets. Sark and Sydney had agreed he would download the computer files while she looked through the papers. Sark was better on computers than she was, even she admitted that. Sydney picked the lock, coinciding with Sark hacking into the computer system. He slipped a disk into the drive and began to download the files. Sydney flipped through folder after folder until she saw one labeled LAZAREY. She pulled out the miniature camera hidden in a compact and snapped photographs of every page inside the file, including the one about Julian Lazarey.
"I've got the disk ready. Let's go."
Sydney shut the cabinet, careful to relock it.
"There wasn't anything on Julia Thorne."
She sounded completely disheartened. Sark wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. He wasn't used to trying to make others feel better. In fact, the only person he ever remembered trying to make sure they were happy was his mother.
"There might be something on this disk, Sydney."
Sark slipped it into a protective cover and placed it inside his jacket.
"Two minutes." Sydney dashed out of the room, Sark following after shutting the door and they hurried back to the opening to the roof.
Sydney was the first one back up to the outside. She turned to wait for Sark to emerge, but was shocked to find her father, her mother, and Weiss standing in the pouring rain, seemingly waiting for her as if this were the most normal occurrence in the world.
"Daddy!"
Sark's hand slipped from the edge of the hole when he heard that Jack was up above. Sydney heard him curse and she knelt down to grab his hand and make sure he regained his hold. Sark pulled himself up and glanced around.
"Well, isn't this just the perfect family reunion?"
Sydney shot him a look that clearly told him to shut up or she'd throw him off the roof. Sark replied to that look with a condescending smirk that they all knew so well.
"What are you doing here?"
"Your mother told me where you were headed. I wanted to make sure you were okay, Sydney, especially since you were with Sark."
"I'm fine, Dad. We're looking into my past."
"I heard."
Sark glanced at his watch as the seconds ticked by.
"I'm sorry about running away, Dad. I'm sure you got a lot of heat for it."
"Actually, no, I didn't. Agent Weiss here did. Sark did escape under his watch. He still managed to defend you as well even after he had to defend himself."
Sydney turned towards Eric, throwing her arms around her friend. "Thank you, Weiss."
Weiss opened his mouth to speak, but Sark cut him off.
"As much fun as this conversation is, we should move it elsewhere. Out of the rain and away from the guards who are making their way to this room right now."
The others realized what Sark said was true, so each climbed their way down the roof and followed Sark and Sydney to the hotel room.