Hey everyone… remember this here fic? :whistle: Yes, I know it's been a while since I updated… but it actually gets even better. Would you believe I had half of this chapter typed… but just never finished and posted? Special…

Last chapter…

"Let me tell you what's going on here, Agent Bristow: you are under arrest for so many crimes, I don't even know where to begin listing them." Sark and I exchanged shocked looks.

        "Kendall?"
~~~~~~~

        "Thought you'd gotten rid of me, didn't you Bristow?" Kendall asked angrily.

        "I didn't want anyone to get hurt," I shot back.

        "Yeah, that's what everyone says when they storm through the Joint Task Forces office with guns blazing."

        "How the hell did you survive?" I demanded, straining to see him through the blinding floodlight.

        "You only hit me once." I thought back to that day, what I'd seen.

        "But… there was so much blood…" I trailed off, not sure what to think.

        "Yeah? Most of that was from when you blew Dr. Barnett's heart straight out of her chest." I felt my stomach twist violently, but struggled to rein it in. Kendall continued talking, each word serving to further increase the knots I felt.

        "I hope you're proud of yourself, Bristow. Do you know how many agents died that day? I'll tell you- 27. Including Marshall Flinkman. You do remember him, don't you? Or have you just wiped people like him out of your memory in favor of people like Mr. Sark here?"

        "You bastard," I whispered. He laughed humorlessly.

        "Oh, it gets better. CIA Director Devlin… do you remember him?"

        "Of course I do," I retorted.

        "That's good… he died that day too." I gasped.

        "He… he was at the JTF?"

        "Oh, no… no, he died of a stress induced heart attack just a few hours later." I felt about ready to collapse, until Sark's steadying hand made its way to my lower back. Kendall finally shut off the floodlight, turning on the regular lights in the room.

        "And now, former Agent Bristow, we're going back to America… and you'll be the next one to die." I was surprised to realize that he didn't look at all happy with this turn of events, but was resigned to see it through. He motioned for one of his agents to cuff Sark and myself both, as well as our backups. Before they got near enough to do that, the door behind me flew open.

        "That's not how this is going to end, Agent Kendall." With those words, my mother opened fire. Sark and I ducked, grabbing the guns we had dropped earlier before rolling out of the way. Kendall and his men put up a fight, but the element of surprise was on our side, and the fight was over minutes later. I made my way over to Kendall and checked for a pulse.

        I found none.

        Standing up, I observed the carnage in the room. All of Kendall's men were dead, as were quite a few of our own backups. We had entered with ten; we were down to three.

        "What now?" I asked, trying not to notice all of the blood that was spattered about.

        "My way was a dead end. We continue this way." At her signal, Sark took the lead as we left the bloodbath behind.

        "I don't understand… how did Kendall get here? How did he know we'd be here?"

        "There's only one possible answer," my mother replied. I nodded, knowing that was what she'd say.

        "Sloane." Sark glanced back at us.

        "You think Sloane tipped him off?" he questioned.

        "It's the only logical explanation I can come up with," my mother replied.

        "But isn't Sloane on the shoot to kill watch list?"

        "Yeah, but if he struck some kind of deal with Kendall, that'd be negated," I said.

        "And is- excuse me, was- Kendall stupid enough to believe that Mr. Sloane would allow himself to be taken?" Before either of us could reply, a brief, loud noise sounded on the other side of the wall to our right. We all stopped walking immediately.

        "There must be a door around here somewhere…" I said.

        "Lets find it," Sark stated, moving down the hallway again. After a lengthy search, I discovered a rectangular outline, but no visible way of getting through it.

        "It's over here… there must be a lever or something somewhere…" I called quietly. My mother began pressing on spots around the door, and after a few failed attempts, it suddenly sprang open. We all jumped back, exchanging nervous glances. Sark clicked his flashlight on and entered the newly uncovered room. I followed suit, gun in hand, only to discover yet another empty room.

        "Should be one more floor to go," Sark announced after quick calculations. My mother nodded her agreement.

        "We've only descended one level thus far, and we entered on the 2nd floor. Judging by how this looked from the outside, and what we've seen inside to this point, there should be one more way down, and then we'll be within the true complex."

        "Then we'd better find the next ladder or elevator or whatever we're looking for," I said decisively.

        "It's most likely somewhere within this room," Sark noted. My eyes were drawn to a pile of boxes in the corner, and one glance at my mother confirmed my guess. As a group, we all crossed the room and shoved the boxes aside, revealing another trap door. I quickly yanked it open to reveal a staircase, which I started to descend until my mother grabbed my arm, a concerned look on her face.

        "It's all… too perfect," she said slowly.

        "Too perfect?" Sark repeated dubiously.

        "Yes… very little resistance, hidden doors that aren't that difficult to figure out, no surveillance equipment… if this isn't the most obvious set-up I've ever seen, I don't know what it," I answered.

        "This is the only option," my mother stated. I nodded quickly.

        "Of course it is. So long as he has them, nothing else matters." My mother turned her attention to Sark.

        "You have no personal stake in the matter," she pointed out. He acknowledged the veracity of that statement with a brief nod.

        "I suppose this is true, technically. However, I am and always have been loyal to you, Irina. So long as you have reason to be here, I do as well."

        "I do not want you killed on my behalf," she said quietly.

        "That's not your decision to make," he replied.

        "Don't be blinded by misguided loyalty," my mother warned.

        "I see two possible outcomes here: I either leave this building with you, as well as your husband and Agent Vaughn once we've recovered them; or I die here. This can't go any other way, Irina." I felt as though I was intruding upon a very private conversation, but I had no way to remove myself from it. After a moment, Sark looked towards me.

        "Shall we?" I led the way down the staircase, which turned into a long, dark hallway. There were two doors, one on either side of us.

        "Which one?" I questioned. Sark headed for the one on the right, so my mother and I went into the other one, leaving our three remaining backups to guard the hall. The room was empty, and showed no signs that it had recently been occupied by anything.

        "I don't like this," I muttered as we walked back out into the hallway.

        "I know, sweetheart… neither do I." Before I could reply, Sark poked his head out of the other room, his eyes intense and his voice heavy as he spoke.

        "Sydney, Irina… I think you'll want to come see this."