Chapter 5: Impossible
Disclaimer: Alias isn't, nor has it ever been, mine.
"Sydney Bristow," Sark said decisively. "And Michael Vaughn."
He ordered the frantic agent to shut of the monitor, that he didn't need to see it again to know who they were.
Sark, as the founder of the Calling, had been summoned as soon as they'd determined that the child had been taken beyond their reach. He had promptly abandoned the business he was attending to in the US to return to their headquarters in a remote region of Russia.
"CIA agents," Sark informed the impromptu assembly. "They're most likely holding her in a facility in LA."
"CIA?" one of the higher-ranking operatives spoke up. "They will make it nearly impossible to retrieve the girl."
"Yes," Sark agreed, a part of him looking forward to going up against the infamous Sydney Bristow again. "Nearly."
They were not supposed to have the child. Kelly, they called her. What kind of a name was that for one prophesied by Rambaldi?
However, the prophecy had specified that the child of the Chosen One and the Great One must be kept away from both of her parents if she was ever to possess the great power Rambaldi foresaw. Already, he feared, the child had spent too much time with her mother, and certainly too long with her father. Something had to be done. And, of course, it had to be done before the medical testing began. She was under heavy security now, but if it was discovered that she was a relative of an agent, she would become untouchable to everyone but a few. It would be impossible to extract her without coming under suspicion.
Suspicion, he could handle, but more importantly, no one could even suspect he was still a devout follower of Rambaldi.
A blood-curdling shriek pierced the quiet and jarred Sydney from a deep sleep. It took only a moment to acquaint herself with her surroundings and to realize the series of shrieks was emanating from Kelly.
"Shh…" Sydney whispered soothingly, shaking her gently as she disentangled Kelly from the blankets.
Without a thought, Sydney gathered Kelly close and rocked gently, talking softly to draw her back to reality.
It took several minutes before Kelly stopped screaming and struggling, stilled, then dissolved into sobs. She clung to Sydney, and Sydney held her tightly.
"You're okay, baby, you're okay, it was just a dream," Sydney murmured over and over.
Kelly finally quieted, and Sydney thought she'd gone back to sleep. But when Sydney laid Kelly back down, she sat up and scooted to lean against the wall and tucked her knees under her chin. In the dim light, Sydney saw Kelly duck her head as if waiting to be chastised.
Wanting to lesson the height difference, Sydney sat down on the cot beside Kelly.
"What's wrong?" she asked, keeping her voice soft and gentle.
Kelly cocked her head to one side.
"I'm not in trouble?" Kelly asked, her voice trembling in anticipation of something.
"No, sweetie, you're not in trouble. Why would you be in trouble?"
"I screamed. And I cried."
"Honey, you had a bad dream. I'm not mad at you. You were scared."
"I'm not supposed to be scared."
"Everybody gets scared sometimes," Sydney crooned. "Can you tell me what was scary in your dream?"
Kelly remained quiet for a long time, so long Sydney wondered if she'd fallen asleep.
"The gun," she finally whispered.
"The gun?" Sydney prompted after a moment.
Kelly nodded.
"It kills people."
"Kelly, people kill people with guns. The guns don't do it by themselves. Those people that use guns to kill people are what you need to be afraid of," Sydney explained.
Kelly looked at Sydney with newfound fear.
"You had a gun. And so did he…Vaughn."
"But…" Sydney quickly decided a white lie would be better that the full truth. "But Vaughn and I don't use our guns to kill people."
"No?"
"No."
"They did."
Sydney sighed.
"I know they did. They aren't nice people."
Shifting a little, Sydney pulled Kelly into her lap, and Kelly didn't resist. She seemed to feel the same strange connection between them that Sydney felt. She'd never felt so irresistibly drawn to another human being.
Sydney remembered then that Kelly looked so much as she herself had looked as a toddler. May be…
No. That was crazy. Yes, the Covenant had surgically stolen her eggs to attempt to create some sort of super Rambaldi child. But she'd destroyed their lab, and her eggs with it. She would not even think about the possibility that Kelly could be her…
No!
It was simply impossible.
It was seemingly impossible. After the Lauren Reed incident, as it had come to be called, Dixon had really knuckled down on the protocol of high-priority cases. No one but Marcus Dixon, Sydney Bristow, and Michael Vaughn, and doctors and psychiatrists were allowed anywhere near the child, and the latter only with a chaperone from among the former.
Dixon knew the child was special, and he wasn't letting her out of his sight.
Which made it very difficult for Jack to accomplish anything. With no small amount of annoyance, he'd discovered upon arriving that morning that, even with a higher clearance than either Vaughn or Sydney, he couldn't even access the case file for the child. The file had been locked by Dixon.
Of course, Jack could have hacked into the file anyway, but there was too great a chance that he'd trip an alarm in doing so. He was not that reckless.
He hadn't spent years of the CIA's time and resources controlling the life of his only daughter to have it blow up in his face now. Sure, the director at the time had been convinced SAB47 was his idea, but Jack knew better. All along, Jack had used the CIA to do what he could have, if necessary, done on his own.
So, he'd simply have to endure watching Sydney ruin the child until she could be extracted and taken somewhere safe--somewhere under lock and key, far away from the influences of her parents. Where he could control her development exactly.
Children, he'd heard, were resilient of mind. Surely the three-year-old could recover completely from her relatively brief encounter with her parents, under the proper supervision.
Oooh, evil Jack…Now we begin to understand SAB47...Review, please…tell me what I need to explain about SAB47...