DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters (except for the original characters, of course…). JJ Abrams is God Almighty in the Alias world, not me. Thank you.

CHAPTER FOUR

My aunt stabbed Vaughn and she tried to shoot me.

Lauren suggested that my mother's dead.

Vaughn then killed Lauren.

And my father might very well be the person behind my disappearance.

These are the thoughts in Sydney's head as she sat in her car. She is still parked by the bank.

"You weren't supposed to know about this."

Her father's words rang in her head. He didn't give her an explanation, or anything that might make her believe that he's a good guy. Tears ran down her cheeks as she remembered what transpired just minutes ago.

"What's this all about? Am I just an experiment to you?! Was everything an act?! Do you even care for me as a person?!"

She screamed these words to her father. But he didn't give her any rationalization, any reason. Sydney cried harder as she remembered her father's stoic expression, his emotionless face and the cold, ruthless eyes that said nothing.

'The man's her father, how could he do this? Does her mother know? Is she still even alive?' Sydney thought as she wept.

Her phone rang.

She tried to ignore it but the ringing became insistent.

"Hello?" Sydney greeted when she received the call.

"Syd? Are you Okay?" It was Dixon.

"I'm fine." Sydney lied. She is now wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Can you come back to the operations center? It's important."

"Yeah… okay."

Sydney tossed her phone to the passenger seat and looked straight ahead. It was a long time before she started her car and sped off.

-x-x-x-

"Syd, are you okay?" Weiss asked the minute he saw her swollen eyes.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Do you know what this is all about?"

"Nope. Dixon was a bit… cryptic." Weiss answered.

"How are Marshall and Vaughn?" Sydney asked as they walked towards the conference room.

"They're doing fine. Vaughn's looking for you."

Sydney smiled a bit. After a few minutes, they were sitting on the chairs, waiting for Dixon to start. They were the only agents in the room.

"Nadia Santos left the safe house a few hours ago. We don't know where she is or who she's with."

"What do you mean, she left?" Sydney asked. Danger seems to be Nadia's middle name.

"The agents reported that it was she who disabled the alarms and the video surveillance. She ran off, and we're trying very hard to locate her." Dixon said, to assure Sydney. He knew that she is upset. Jack told him about the documents Sydney had 'discovered'. And Dixon knew that her father hasn't told her the whole story yet.

"But she's not the only one gone. Lauren Reed's body went missing in the morgue an hour ago."

"Lauren's dead body is missing?" Weiss repeated.

"Do we know where it is?" Sydney asked.

"No. But we know who took it." Dixon answered and showed them a picture taken by a surveillance camera.

Katya Derevko led the 'abduction'.

"Let me get this straight, the sister of my mother, took Lauren's body? Why?"

"Maybe they're going to resurrect her." Weiss suggested. "Your aunt is a Covenant member." He pointed out when Sydney gave him a weird look.

"What will they gain if they have Lauren's body?" Sydney murmured and looked at Dixon.

"We don't know yet. But I want you and Weiss to be ready when we have pinpointed a location. Jack has his hands full with tracking down Irina Derevko and you two are the only agents qualified enough to lead the team. We'll meet again in three hours."

-x-x-x-

"You know what, Ana? You have your father's famous killer glare and his over-protectiveness." Katya said to her niece as they drove off. Ana is being sandwiched by two burly men and is sitting across her aunt. Her hands are tied behind her.

Ana ignored her.

"I wonder what he'll do to your mother when he finds out about you and your brother." Katya continued, looking at Ana. Her brown hair, which she got from her mother, was a bit messy from the struggle with Katya's men.

"My father's dead."

Katya looked at her niece. Ana looks so much like her sister, even with the way they speak and tilt their heads. But when she looks you… even if the color of her eyes were nothing similar to Jack, it was like being stared by him.

"That's what you believe. But your mother didn't tell you anything about him, didn't she?" Katya replied.

The girl was taken aback. "Are you telling me that my father's alive?"

"Oh, I think that's up to your mother to tell you." Katya answered sweetly.

Ana glared at her. "So you've now switched to the sweet, old Aunt Katya we all know and love." She said caustically. "You are such a right hand of the devil."

"Now, now, Ana. Let's not get too emotional. I didn't bring along your asthma medication." Katya replied as she signaled one of the men beside her niece to tranquilize Ana. She watched as the girl's body became limp and slumped forward.

'I'm sorry.'

Ana stirred awake and groaned. Her whole body is aching. Especially her ribs. She pressed her lips together and tasted blood. Her face is bleeding and her hands are tied up in the aluminum chair.

"Ahh… you are awake. You know, you are the second person I met to withstand such beating." A creepy voice with a slight Chinese accent said.

She tried to open her eyes. She found out that her right eye is swollen shut from the blows she endured a few hours ago. Peering from her left eye, she saw a wheelchair bound, suit and glasses wearing Chinese man. There were two other men with them.

"You know, you have very lovely, gray eyes." He said as he wheeled away from her. He seems to be getting something in the counter. Something metallic.

"You also have a very lovely set of teeth." He murmured and turned around to face her. He was holding a dental instrument.

"When was the last time you went to the dentist?" he mockingly asked as he approached her.

Ana tried to speak but only managed a sound that could pass as a croak.

"When?" he asked again and motioned the men to go to her. They are going to hold her still when he pulls her teeth out.

"Now, I'm going to ask you once. To whom did you give the microchip?"

"What microchip?" Ana asked. She managed to summon her voice and lie at the same time. She knew perfectly well what he was talking about.

Suit and glasses looked at her.

"You remind me of someone." He said, smiling. "Now, open wide."

The men forced her to open her mouth. Suit and glasses peered inside.

"Hmm… we're growing our wisdom tooth, aren't we?" he murmured as he inserted the dental instrument inside her mouth.

Just as he was going to pull out her molar, the lights went out.

This distracted the men and gave Ana an opportunity to escape the blasted place.

"Is this organization too poor to pay their electric bills?" Ana heard one of them mutter as she used all her strength to break her right wrist. Enduring all the pain, she slipped through the handcuffs and discreetly took one of the men's guns. Making do with the little light the room has, she aimed at the men.

"What the…?" Suit and glasses exclaimed when he heard the gunshots. He then felt his wheelchair falling backwards. Everything seems to move so fast that he doesn't know what hit him.

"Help…" he said as he felt the pressure of the aluminum chair in his chest. A wave of déjà vu went over him when he felt the girl search for the keys to her handcuffs.

"Poor old man. You already have glasses and you still can't see anything." Ana mumbled in Russian as she wobbly stood up.

'The lights might come back anytime.' She thought as she kicked her 'dentist' unconscious. She then moved towards the exit and tried to recall how she got in the torture chamber. She then remembered she woke up in the dingy cell before being knocked out cold again by the 'dentist's' boxers.

She was going to disengage the door when it swung open. She was shocked to see who opened it.

"Aunt Yelena?" she whispered.

"God, you look awful. Can you walk well?" Her aunt asked in Russian when she saw her niece. She handed her a handkerchief to clean up the blood on her face.

Ana nodded her head as she received it.

"Come along then. I have less than fifteen minutes to get you out." Yelena said and led her niece to the corridors.

"Is anything broken?" her aunt asked when Ana caught up with her.

"I broke my right wrist and two of my fingers in my left hand." Ana replied in Russian. She was wondering why there were no men in sight. "Where are the people?" she asked as she hobbled besides her aunt.

"This is a secret passageway. I disabled the electricity and its back up. They would think you escape." Her aunt replied. She was able to catch her niece when the girl stumbled. Yelena supported Ana all the way to the exit.

They were met by Byron, a friend and one of the three bodyguards of Irina. It was raining hard and he brought along an umbrella. He looked concerned when he saw Ana's bloody face.

"How are things?" Yelena asked in English. She still has a slight Russian accent. Irina's bodyguards don't know or speak the sisters' native language.

"Everything's in place, if that's what you mean." Byron answered as he covered Ana with a raincoat. "You look like you've come back from hell, little girl. I think you need some stitches on your pretty face." Byron said to Ana as Yelena gently passed her niece to him.

"Take care of her, Byron." Yelena said.

"Of course. Well then, say cheerio to you aunt, kiddo." Byron said to Ana.

"See you." Ana said as they turned away. Yelena watched them go.

'At least Irisha can sleep more comfortably now.' Yelena thought as she watched them disappear from sight.

-x-x-x-

Sark is sitting on the bed, staring into nothingness when Jack appeared in front of him. Jack didn't say anything, but instead stared at Sark.

"Jack Bristow, what a lovely surprise." Sark mockingly greeted as he coolly stared back at him.

Jack looked at the young man sitting in front of him. He is sometimes a bit disheartened to think that Sark would spend the rest of his natural life in jail. But then again, he deserves it.

"I tracked down one of your former employees. I believe you know her exact location." Jack said. He slept with Katya so that he can inject in her a transmitter that will be activated when she gets in contact with a person with the same genetic structure as she has. The transmitter went active two days ago and he located the source of transmission in Panama.

"Ms. Derevko?" Sark asked. "You're ex-wife?"

"You know who I'm talking about."

Sark looked at him. He is coolly measuring the man Irina Derevko will gladly lay her life for. 'What exactly did she see in Jack Bristow that she hasn't seen in any man?' he thought as he crossed his arms across his chest. Of all his employers, he felt a strong connection and loyalty to Irina. She practically raised him like he was her son.

"What do I get in return?" Sark asked.

Jack raised a brow. "What do you want?"

Sark surveyed his room. "Well, it is chilly in here at night."

"A blanket it is." Jack replied.

"If you can tell me what country she was spotted in, I could probably tell you an address I know." Sark secretly wished that Irina was spotted in a country where he would actually know where she is, if ever he is the one to look for her.

"Panama."

Sark smiled when he heard this. Irina bought a magnificent house near the beach and it's quite invisible to radars and satellites. Very few people know she has a property in that country.

"Give me a paper and pen. I'll write her location down for you."

"No."

"Suit yourself. You won't be able to find that bloody house, no matter what you try." Sark said sarcastically. Jack, a bit annoyed, passed a piece of paper and his pen to the young man.

Sark scribbled down the location and the address. Irina would probably have him executed if she finds out that he gave her location to Jack Bristow, of all people, but he knows that Irina's temper is better to deal with than her ex-husband's annoyance.

"That information in the wrong hands may spell annihilation to the Derevko's so I suggest you keep that to yourself." Sark said as he handed the paper and pen to Jack. "Or just between you and your daughter." He added.

Jack just looked at him with his poker face and placed the paper and pen in his pocket.

"The blanket will be delivered after the information's been confirmed." He said as he went out. Sark shook his head and smiled a bit after Jack left. He is a bit amused at what awaits the man if ever he comes to that 'mansion'.

'You're in for the shock of your life.' Sark said to himself as he thought of the Irina's teenager daughter and infant son.