A/N: for any of you who don't know, there is a Nice in France. If I had known there was a Nice, Italy I would have chosen another town. There is a reference to Irina's sister (not Katya, the other one). I can't remember if they reveled it in the show or not so I chose my own name, Rena. If they have reveled this sister's name please ;et me know so I can change it immediately!
Chapter 10
(5 years ago)
A battered and breathless Alandria stumbled into the British Intelligence office with a man in handcuffs around his wrists, and ankles. The handcuffs were so tight that a trickle of blood had erupted from wounds around his hands and feet. The man's face was bruised, swollen, and red. He wheezed heavily as he breathed. The man's clothes were ripped and torn. Although the man was twice if not three times Alandria's size, she managed to drag him all the way to the 21st floor to an office Dixon was using while he was in England.
"Alandria, who is this man?" Dixon asked agitatedly as soon as Alandria had caught her breath.
"Jonathan Doff. He's number 20 on the CIA's 100 Watched List." Alandria mustered to say before taking a sip of water. Sydney and Eric had been in the office at the time as she barged in. Like Dixon, their faces' obviously showed a look of shock at this revelation. Jonathan Doff was suppose to be one of the worst. He sold his 16-year old daughter to make a deal with a weapons dealer in Central America, and he used his wife as a guinea pig to test out a new weapon designed to kill you in the worst possible way, painfully and slowly.
The man on the floor looked up at Sydney and his eyes pleaded silently for her to end his suffering. No matter who he was a CIA agent should know better. This just wasn't right. Alandria should have found another way.
In a teary voice, Alandria began her sob story, "I had just finished some diagnostics that the British Intelligence had asked me to do. I knew that it was very hush-hush by the way they were acting; I was on my way to deliver it when he…" She began to cry.
"It's alright now, he's not going to hurt anyone." Eric replied.
With Eric's attempt at chivalry, Alandria wiped her tears off of her cheeks, smiled at Eric, and picked up where she left off, " he came out of nowhere, and slapped me. He grabbed for the diagnostics. Luckily, I had had fifteen years of Capoeira (fighting style). We fought for some time." Alandria burst into tears again.
"Eric, take Alandria to get cleaned up. Sydney, wait here while I fetch the head of British Intelligence." Dixon replied, and then left. Eric had his arms around Alandria as they walked out the door together.
"Help me please," the man said in a raspy voice as soon as he and Sydney were alone together.
"Who are you, are you Jonathan Doff?" Sydney questioned.
"Yes, do not trust Alandria. She and I knew each other when…" were the last words the man uttered from his dying lips before his eyes went blank.
Her father walked in to find Sydney hovering over the man's badly injured body, "Sydney, what happened?"
"He just died. He asked me to help him. He told me he was Jonathan Doff, and we shouldn't trust Alandria, because they used to work together and then he died." Sydney replied.
"He's number 20 on that list for a reason, Sydney; I don't think we can trust him. I saw her outside, she's pretty shaken up." Jack replied.
"What if that was just a façade? I saw the look on her face when she came in, she looked like a madwoman. When she realized the room wasn't empty her whole act changed! I must have been the only one who had seen it!" Sydney replied quietly.
"Keep this information cloak-and-dagger until you have proof. Her father is the prime-minister of England." Jack replied before slipping out of the room.
Sydney felt edgy and queasy, She had never gotten too close to the prime minister's daughter. Other's around the CIA office raved about how smart, quick-thinking, and loyal she was, including Jack. Sydney hadn't meant to dubious about Alandria's intentions, but there was something about her. She had a sweet as apple pie thing going on that Lauren had.
"Jonathan, where did you work with Alandria? Why shouldn't I trust her?" Sydney said softly.
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Present Time:
Apparently Rimini did something Nyah liked. Her father had a week before he came back from his business trip, and Rimini wasn't fired yet. In fact Nyah even began to speak English to Rimini! The two were just putting their suitcases in a Rolls-Royce because they were going to Disney World.
The air was crisp and cold; it was still fall, but it felt like Christmas time already. Nyah's chocolate-colored eyes reflected the joy and anticipation of any child's who had never been to Disney World before.
"I want to go on the tea-cup ride, and I want to go on the Dumbo ride, and I want to meet Goofy, and Donald Duck too. Donald Duck reminds me of daddy," The girl stopped talking at the thought of her father. She always missed him deeply when he left her behind.
"What's the matter Nyah?" Rimini asked.
"When I was talking to daddy last night I asked him if he could meet us at Walt Disney so we could spend the day together playing, and he said he couldn't; he said he had business." Nyah said with tears filing in her eyes.
"Nyah, do you know what you father does for living?" Rimini asked.
"He trades only the finest items from all over the world." Nyah replied proudly.
Rimini couldn't help but smile at the girl's innocence. She had no idea that if her father walked into the British Disney World, that cops would pick him up within ten minutes. Disney World was loaded with cameras for goodness sake!
Still for Nyah's sake, Rimini played along, "Yes, he has an important job, his last deal just must have run long. I bet he can't wait to see you as well!"
Nyah was now wearing a smile on her face, "Can we bring a camera? That way we can take pictures and it will be like he was there!"
"I've already got one. Hope in so we can go!" Rimini called. In a few minutes the two were off.
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Present
"Of all the places to put something important, why Osaka, Japan?" Eric asked wearily, "It's the second largest city in Japan."
"The monk said it would be in the heart of the city." Sydney called to Eric. She was just as anxious to get there as he was. The heart of Osaka was the government building, or more specifically the mayor's office.
The two were in a van across from the government building, "Syd do you know what to do?"
"I'm going in with the tour and I will separate from the group once we reach the mayor's office." Sydney replied.
"Okay, the tour about to start!" Weiss called out. Sydney took her cue to leave.
"Good morning!" the tour guide called in Japanese, " This is the Osaka museum that was built in 1870. Some people find it hard to believe, but the structure itself has never been renovated…"
It was about thirty minutes before the tour reached the mayor's office. There was a mahogany desk in the center of the room with a irori (fire pit) to the left of the desk. The drapes around the window were a forest green color, and the floor was a pine wooden floor painted to match the color of the desk. The rest of the room was bare, save for a green couch, a picture of Mount Fiji, a computer and four chairs strategically placed around the office to allow maximum walking space.
The tour guide was about to lead the group into the next room, "Ma'am, please catch up."
"I'll be there in a minute, I just want to take a picture of this fascinating room." Sydney lied.
The tour guide smile artlessly, "Sure," she turned her attention back to the group, the next room has served as our bunko, or local center library for children. We have story telling in here five nights a week…"
Sydney chuckled silently to herself; naï vety came to a point where people were stupid. Sydney had to do this quickly. If she were Rambaldi, where would she put it? Then an idea hit her!
"This office wouldn't have been here, right outside the window sounds like a good idea. I'll come back tonight." Sydney said silently to herself, then she hurried up to catch the tour group.
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Present
Reiji, the monk, was a little unnerved after he saw Sydney for the first time. She seemed so familiar to him.
"Have I met her before? Those eyes look so memorable, almost like I'd seen it before."
He went and took out a picture of his family and stared at them for a while, "Olecia, I couldn't have asked for a better wife, or a soul mate. My son, Sabre, I bet you would have made a great man, one who would have moved heaven and earth if you had lived long enough to have the chance. You were taken away from me when you were 5."
His eyes moved towards a forgotten daughter, one whom he failed to remember to mention to Sydney, "Rena, you shouldn't have died at 3 weeks old. Katya, my love, mi amour, I'm sorry you had to grow up with out a father and a mother, and my dear sweet Irina…"
Reiji stopped talking as he stared into Irina's eyes. They looked just like Sydney! Then the truth hit him like an 18-wheeler truck. Why hadn't he seen it before? The two look so much alike!
"Sydney's Irina's daughter; my granddaughter!"
"Well, well, well," a young female's called from behind him.
He turned around to come face-to-face with a surreal Nadia.
"I'm Irina's other daughter, Nadia. Don't worry gramps, I'm here on official business from my father."
"Who is your father?" the monk asked.
"Uh-oh, I thought you knew everything. Isn't that what you wanted Sydney to believe? My father funds this monastery. He is you contact, Mr. Arvin Sloane."
"How did you know your sister was here?" Reiji asked bemused.
"Because dear grandpa, there isn't one square inch of this place that doesn't have a hidden camera. Oh, don't worry, your not in trouble, but my father and I need your help now!" Nadia explained.
"Help, with what?" Reiji asked bewildered.
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Present «
It was midnight In Osaka before Sydney and Eric tried to dig up the information hidden by Rambaldi hundreds of years ago.
From the start things hadn't gone the way the two had planned; the dirt outside the mayor's office window was as hard as concrete, it began to rain heavily and never seem to stop, and there were about five guards in the government building that night and every 20 minutes one would come into the mayor's office and have to have a look around.
Still Eric and Syd persisted on, and at 2:30 in the morning they finally dug a hole deep enough to find what Rambaldi left them. The two didn't take chances reading the message here, but rather waited until they got back to their hotel room. Although they were hot, sweaty, dirty, and tired, they had to find out what was written down.
They had retrieved a tin round sphere, the size of a gulf ball. Over a large 34-oz cup, Sydney poked a hole into the tiny sphere. A blue liquid oozed into the cup and a piece of paper landed onto Eric's hand. He passed the note to Sydney for her to read it aloud.
"By the time you read this note the chosen one will already be the mother to the woman who will win the war. The woman who will win the war's sire is Julian Lazaray." Syd read.
Eric and Sydney stared at each other for a while before Sydney spoke again, "Eric, I don't have any kids."
A little light bulb went off in Eric's head after 20 minutes of staring at the floor, "What about your eggs that the covenant took? We thought we burned them all, but Sark escaped. What if he took one with him?"
A new determination was born in Sydney at that very moment, "Eric, we have to get her back!"