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He heard the door slam behind her and looked over to see if she was truly gone. "You played me, Lauren. Are you happy now? Are you? You destroyed my life all because you thought it would be a good career move for you. G-d. I can't believe that I let you con me. I was such a willing little pawn in your twisted game. You think you've won, sweetheart but you haven't. I caught you and your little boyfriend." His hands still hovered around his neck but he dropped them in sudden anguish.
He dropped his head down and shook in back and forth, "You almost made me stoop to your level, you pompous little bitch." He stood up and walked away from the group for a moment. "G-d." He ran his hands through the black hair that felt most unnatural. "I can't believe you. Well, I guess if our secrets are coming out…I only married you to get over Sydney. You were my rebound girl. I needed someone to stop the pain-stop the hurting and you were it. I blinded myself by my own caring and affection for Sydney and turned it into loving you. I guess we really are like Jack and Irinia. I played both parts and you just played hers. I fooled myself into loving you. For a while, it was a job. It was. In the beginning, that horrible honeymoon period, it was a job. I had to force myself to love you and then, it started to become easier and easier. Soon, I actually convinced myself that I did love you. And I still do, which make this all the harder. You played me, Lauren. But really, I guess I played myself." He lied to make himself feel better. Parts of it were true. He did love her. And she was the rebound girl but it was never a job. He always had legitimate feelings for her and saying their vows was not torturous. Neither was kissing her good-night.
He stopped and looked around the hotel room, catching his reflection in a mirror. "This has taken its toll and it's over. I'm done." He abruptly turned towards her, "If they don't kill you first, I'm going." He started to pace and realized this mid-stride. "Why did you do this to me? Why me? Why this? I don't understand this at all. I want you to make me understand."
He walked back, looked at his beautiful wife, and cringed. "I love you and you used me."
Sydney smiled satisfactory as the elevator doors opened back up to the floor. Everything was going as planned. All she needed to do was call Madison and she had already dialed the number. Things were beginning to go right for a change. The dress she wore floated around her and she felt freer than she had in a long. They captured the man that was trying to kill them, McKennas Cole a wanted man since his escape from federal prison, and Lauren Reed, a mole within the CIA.
Pigtails. That's what he nicknamed her. Pigtails. He was a dirty bastard that deserved whatever should come to him in the coming months. Hell, she almost hoped they found her mother, just so she could be put in a neighboring cell and torture the daylights out of him. Irinia Derevko had a way with people sometimes.
Sydney laughed softly to herself again as she realized that three of the most evil people on the face of the earth were lying in a hotel room, waiting to be taken into custody. If there was ever a good day, today was it. There were rare but she learned to treasure them.
She kept a careful eye on the people that walked by her but her heart couldn't have been fuller. Vaughn's lips had been brushed up against hers. His hands had been on her body. There were such chills running through her body. She and Vaughn be together….if she didn't chose Kilmer….but Kilmer was with Madison and they had a daughter together….but she could choose Vaughn….but did Vaughn want her?
"Hello?" Madison's voice whispered over the cell phone.
"Hey-it's me." Sydney bubbled, sans accent. "We did it."
"Oh thank G-d." Madison choked back her emotions. She was sitting a home, still dressed in her evening gown but beside herself with grief. Her tiny frame was shaking violently and she just wanted to die. It had never been a feeling she had felt but now she understood what it was like to regret her life.
"What's wrong?" The euphoria of doing things right had come to a crashing end. There was a dry sob in Madison's voice that sent chills through Sydney's body.
Madison wiped her eyes and hung her head low. Her body was deteriorating faster than she could truly think about it. Never did she ever think that this would ever happen. It had been her worst fear and biggest nightmare to come to this realization. The mascara had dripped down her face and left black spider-like veins in their wake. She was shaking. "I need you to get back home as soon as possible."
"What happened?" Sydney asked again, her hands swiping the electronic key through the door. She titled her head to the side and pushed the door open as the green light flashed, granting her access.
She stuffed the emotion back in her throat and choked hard on it. "They're gone."
Sydney let the door slam behind her and felt her blood run cold. Things were beginning to make sense. Why else would-no, no this wouldn't happen. "Who? Who's gone, Madison?" She placed her hand on the wall to steady herself. It was cold and smooth beneath her aged hands.
"Robbie and Layla. They're gone." Now the floodgates opened and she was no longer able to talk.
"We'll be back as soon as we can. Hang on, Madison. Just hang on. Don't do anything rash. Just sit there and wait for us." Sydney felt like she had been punched in the stomach. The jump in emotions was absolutely incredible and it still scared her that things could change that like so quickly. "Vaughn! Vaughn, they've taken Kilmer and Layla!" She shouted into the space and saw Vaughn starring over his unconscious wife.
His head whipped around, "What? When?"
"I don't know. I just got off the phone with Madison, she sounds horrible, and she said that they're gone. They took the little girl." Her hand flew up to her mouth and she gasped. "And if it's Covenant, they're going to kill her."
"Then we need to get back."
"In all honesty, I could give a crap what you do to me. But if you hurt my daughter, I swear to G-d that I will rip you limb by limb." Madison spat angrily. She fought against the restraints that bound her to the metal table.
The man walked around her in silence. He seemed completely devoid of emotion and was unwilling to speak. His blonde hair had been cut unusually close to his scalp and part of him was still debating whether or not he liked it.
"What? Are you afraid to speak to me?" Madison grinned evilly. "Afraid you may say something you might regret?"
The man turned abruptly so that he was standing behind the chained agent and threw down the release. Madison's made was lying flat against the table, running parallel to the floor. With one swift motion, he delivered four quick blows to her face. Expecting some sort of reaction, he stopped.
Madison ran her tongue over her bloodied teeth, tasting it instantly, "That the best you got?" She had one thing going for her. She knew when to get her attackers riled up. But it was okay. She knew what she was doing-she hoped she knew what she was doing. It might be the last thing she ever has to do.
"Don't you want to know where your daughter is, Agent Perkins? Or maybe your partner?" His cocky British accent made his words sound that much crueler. "I know you love both of them and hate to see them hurt." He bent down next to her and whispered softly in her ear. "So why don't you just tell me what you want and I won't be forced to kill your little girl."
"I will kill you." Madison hissed. Never mess with a mother and her daughter. She felt the anger and rage pent up inside her, dying to be released. "I will make sure that you burn."
"Tell me what I need to know then."
"Screw you."
"Yes, yes screw me. Do you know how many times I've been told that, Agent Perkins?" He round the other side of the table and stood beside her, surveying her body. "It's a casual thing. I've been called much worse." He turned away from her and motioned into the darkness of the warehouse. A man came forward, dressed in black head to toe, carrying a toddler. "This must be Layla."
"Sark, I swear to G-d, don't you hurt her! Please!" Madison yelled again, pushing hard on her restraints until she felt her limbs start to bleed.
Sark took the babe into his arms and rocked her gently, "Despite popular opinion, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for children. Especially little girls. Especially this little girl."
"I'm surprised you have a heart at all." Madison softened her voice, knowing the affects this incident may have on the little girl.
"Well, I do." He smiled sadly. He turned towards Madison, rocking gurgling Layla in his arms. "Girls grow up into women and women, I find, are the best in this business. Their powers of-" he titled his head to one side, scanning Madison's body cloaked in a royal purple cocktail dress, "seduction tend to be the most effective. I myself have fallen victim to many women's attempts. I think this little one will be one of the best. Just like her mother."
Madison felt her blood run cold. Was it possible that she had been made? No, Sark was smart but he wasn't possibly that smart. There was no way in hell that he could possibly know.
And yet, there was that possibility.
"What do you want from me?" Madison relinquished to his threats.
"I want you tell me everything you learned from Agent Robert Adam Kilmer." He watched the black haired beauty struggle with this for a moment. She would betray everything she had been taught all for the life of her daughter. She would even sacrifice her future and her life. "Agent Perkins, I do mean this with the utmost respect-"
"Damn your respect, Julian." Madison whispered, fighting an internal battle whether to divulge secrets.
"If you refuse, you will never see your daughter again. If you refuse, she will grow up under my care and I will turn her into a truly great agent. It's in her blood. You know and I know that-"
"Julian!" Madison shouted to stop him.
" Is that what you really want, Madison? I know it isn't. I know you better than you know yourself." He started to tell his story, something he rarely did with people. "Maddie, don't you remember what is like back in-"
"We don't to go there, Jules. That was the past. We were teenagers. How the hell were suppose to know that we'd end up in lives like this. Past or not, I-"
"Maddie, look at your daughter." Sark pleaded. "I don't want to have to do this. Just, just tell me what you know about Kilmer and we can put this whole mess behind us."
"How do I know that I can trust you?"
"You don't. Have faith in your instincts. I know you, Maddie. Just tell me." He leaned in close to her and with his sparkling blue eyes, urged her on.
She sighed, feeling the tears of yesteryear reemerge. "Agent Robert Adam Kilmer is a special agent within Project Dying Rose. He's been undercover for twelve years and one of his assignments was working with high class intel. That's how he got recruited to the CIA from SD-6. Arvin Sloane had tasked him to research Irinia Derevko and her whereabouts." She cleared her throat and continued, "After he was pulled from SD-6, he did the same research from the CIA."
"How do you fit in the picture, Madison?"
She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, "I was sent by the CIA to work with him, seduce him, and discover if he was leaking any information. There was a while that they thought he was."
"So you were given access to all of his files?"
Madison nodded, shutting her eyes firmly, allowing one tear to escape. She was startled when she felt a pair of lips kissing them away. Her eyes shot up and there was Sark, lips to her temple. "Jules, we can't repeat the past."
"Just tell me what you know about Project Dying Rose." He urged on, removing one hand from around Layla and to the face of her mother. "Maddie."
"I don't know." Madison confessed. She pulled against her restraints once more, now trying to get a hold of her emotions. "Jules, I've told you everything. Let me go. You have no use for me. Let me hold my daughter."
Madison let out an angry sigh and was tempted to smack everything off the table with her bare arm. She had been playing and replaying that scenario over and over in her head. She had been crying, something very unprofessional. She had been all made up, perfectly applied make-up with batting eyelashes and plump lilac colored lips. Her long black hair was replaced with even longer brown hair with thick twenty-pound bangs. Her body was wrapped in a long purple strapless dress that trained behind her as she walked. Her body was aching as she thought further about her daughter in imperious danger. "G-d." She whispered hoarsely as she watched the door, waiting for it to open.
And not soon enough (about an hour and a half later), it swung open. "Madison!" Sydney pushed the door open and practically flew into the apartment. She gathered her skirt in her hands stumbled in with Vaughn close behind.
Madison picked her head up from her hands and saw Sydney standing near the doorway. She motioned for the two agents to come in towards her.
Sydney found herself sitting next to Madison near the couch, cradling her hands in her own. "What happened?"
Madison reached out towards Sydney and found herself crying all over again. "They-they-"
Sydney gripped her hands tightly and looked at her with sympathetic eyes, "Madison, please."
Madison was beyond emotional control, "Robbie went to drop Layla off at Anastasia's and he never came back. It's been three and a half hours. What could have happened? It normally only takes twenty minutes and it's been three and a half hours. It's because of the project! It's all their fault! It's all my fault!" The tears started to flow freely now and she found herself collapsing into Sydney's arms.
Sydney looked desperately back at Vaughn and wished for some support. She searched his green eyes for some sort of response and wished they were anywhere than where they were. She wanted to be safe in her old apartment, wrapped in her old clean sheets, with Vaughn's arms slung around her waist. Her colored contact eyes blinked slowly and saw him mirror the same sentiment. "We'll get them back. Don't worry. Vaughn and I can-"
"We need to start working on a plan, Syd." Vaughn said hoarsely from his stance at the door. He walked in slowly and hunched down besides Sydney and Madison. He discreetly or indiscreetly, depending on how you view the entire situation entirely, placed his hand on the small of her back. Sydney felt her blood run pale.
"Madison," Vaughn's raspy voice caused her to pick her head up, "I give you my word that we will find Kilmer and Layla and get them home safe."
"Just get my baby home safe, please." Madison pleaded through her tears. She reached out and touched Vaughn's face, "Get my baby home, please."
Vaughn nodded in solemn understanding and started to rise. Sydney took the hint and helped Madison up to her feet. She took her under the arms and ushered her over to the couch and settled her down. "Right now, we need you to stay here and keep yourself together, alright?" She watched Madison bury her head in hands before looking to Vaughn for support. Her heart was breaking for two reasons, both of them obvious but one of them selfish. Sydney felt her stomach turn with the sickness of her own desires. The cool calm façade was fading slowly as she thought that she and Kilmer might actually be together. If they did ever find Kilmer, alive, he would have to leave Madison, who observably loved him. And he would have to leave his darling daughter. The idea of that made her stomach turned. She would never be responsible for breaking up a steady, happy marriage. That's why she never pushed Vaughn since her return and was distant and unsure on how to react to Vaughn separating Lauren. Divorce or not, traitor or not, she was still his wife. This made her so incredibly sick.
Vaughn patted her softly on the shoulder and walked over to the kitchen, waiting for Sydney to follow. She smiled politely to Madison and tried hard not to burst into tears right then and there. Instead, she pushed to her feet and walked over to him, who ushered her over to the corner of the apartment. Actually the kitchen to be precise.
Vaughn kept his back to the rest of the apartment and kept his head down. With one hand on his hip and the other going through his hair, he managed to force out a whisper, "This can't end good."