Chapter Three
LOS ANGELES
Sydney ran a hand through her hair, immediately after seeing herself about to be shot in the chair her breathing had become more erratic, the voice of the Doctor eased her fears and her eyes snapped open. She looked dazed at first, her breathing was normal now and she looked around to see her father on one side of her and Vaughn on the other, both wore matching expressions of worry. "That was intense...I felt like I was right there...reliving every moment" she took in the faces of the two men. "I'm fine though." She quickly told them everything she saw; as if worried that she would forget everything in a few seconds. "I want to go back," Sydney then announced.
"Out of the question" Jack answered straight away, his voice stern. He was concerned for her as father but if he needed to he would pull rank, though he knew she would be furious. It would be for the best, at least for now.
His daughter did look immediately frustrated, Vaughn placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and he succeeded in keeping her calm. "Dad, I can handle this! I lived through it once I can do it again, especially as this time I know nothing can happen to me" she argued. She sat up in the chair.
"Sydney, maybe your father is right" the female Bristow looked at Vaughn with a look of surprise. Jack kept his hidden. "At least wait a day or two, you don't want to rush into another session...what you've given us so far should keep us busy until then." Jack was half glad that Vaughn had intervened and made Sydney think about changing her mind – but at the same time he was irked that she would listen to him and not her father.
The Doctor walked into the room and waited for the three agents to finish speaking. "Come back in a couple of days, Agent Bristow" she said, agreeing with the two men. "We don't want to over do this."
Sydney nodded, though she was quite willing to stay for a few more hours and get all of the memories out of her system so they could begin to analyze them all the sooner. She rose from the chair "I want to know how he found out about me. And I'm still here...and there was no way I was getting out of that chair on my own, someone must have helped me" and maybe that someone was still out there. Questions were flooding her mind and only she had the ability to answer them, and she was being told to wait two days to find the answers that she so desperately wanted, not wanted – needed.
ITALY
The mansion had almost been completely destroyed around a year and a half ago; after Julia Thorne had made her presence known to it's few occupants. The murder had been made to look like a burglary gone wrong and so many of the items had been taken out, probably sold at auction or a pawn shop, the building had been ransacked. Peter had arrived in Italy the day before and had stopped by the mansion a few hours earlier, there were guards but they were hidden, it wouldn't have looked particularly inconspicuous if outsiders saw men patrolling the grounds and he was going for uttermost secrecy. The Covenant did not know he was there; to them Peter was in hiding somewhere in Africa. In fact he had planned on staying in Italy, but he had known a job would be waiting for him. The German had been correct in his assumption. He was going to LA.
LOS ANGELES
JTF BUILDING
"I'm assuming here that Ashford was killed by whoever helped me" Sydney hated all the assumptions, especially when she knew that a few minutes drive away was all it took to get answers. "Until the second session we can't know for sure though" she hinted. It had been eight hours since her first session had ended, and she was itching to go back. Directly afterwards they had called Dixon to give him an update, the Director had given Sydney direct orders to get a few hours' rest before returning to work, in the hope that maybe the session would have brought forth more memories.
"And you've had no more dreams?" Dixon asked her. Sydney shook her head that was also maddening. It was like her mind agreed with Vaughn and her father that she needed a rest from the memories, as though was fighting herself. "Do you think you could handle another session so soon?"
She nodded, looking less eager than what she felt. "I'm positive. What I can't handle is waiting for another day or two" Sydney stressed; Jack and Vaughn were not in the office, she felt certain that if they were they would have been insisting she wait.
"Okay" Dixon answered. "I want you to promise me that if you start to get uncomfortable or that you can't handle anymore, just stop and try again in a few days' time" he told her firmly. Sydney smiled gratefully and nodded her head before thanking him and leaving the office.
Will met her on the way out. His eyes were flashing as though he had just found the story of a life time "hey, I've been looking all over for you."
"I was just telling Dixon what we had so far, it isn't much but it's better than what we had before. What's up?" she could tell he was dying to tell her something.
He dove right in. "I did some more research, this time on Peter. I checked out old records and there was information on an explosion in Africa...anyway, I found out he's alive" he quickly got to the point. There was a lot of other data but that could wait until later. "And I know how to contact him."
Sydney pulled Will to one side, out of earshot of the other people in the rotunda. "How?"
"Peter regularly meets up with a man called LeBatelier, the same LeBatelier that the CIA uses sometimes. If anyone will know how to contact Peter it's him!" he grinned, almost giddy that he had found something concrete that they could actually use.
Sydney felt like hugging him, actually she felt like jumping up and down and waving her arms around shouting 'I'm not crazy!' "That's great..."
"Well let's go tell Dixon" Will started off in the direction that Sydney had just come from. She however, stayed still, looking slightly guilty. "Well?" he waited for her to follow him, a few seconds passed before it hit him. "No Syd, you promised your dad and Vaughn that you wouldn't go back there."
"I didn't promise anything" she responded slightly indignant. "They made the decision for me. I talked to Dixon and he agreed" Will looked dubious. "It'll be fine, okay? I'll be back in a couple of hours" she began to walk away until she heard Will run after her.
He halted in her path. "Fine, but I'm coming with" there was absolutely no changing his mind, and Sydney was glad because she wasn't going to try.
The Doctor was visibly apprehensive about beginning another session so soon after the last, but after fifteen minutes of fast talking persuasiveness, she changed her mind. She knew that Agent Bristow was strong mentally and that she could probably withstand another session, she just didn't want to push it. It could be dangerous.
Sydney once again occupied the leather chair from earlier. Will shifted from one foot to the other while he watched, he felt strange being there again, the place certainly hadn't left him with warm fuzzy feelings the last time. But this was for a good cause; he continued to remind himself. "I want you to go back to the room Sydney, you are tied to the chair..."
Sydney didn't need to hear anymore, she cried out as she had in the last lesson, the familiar fear of earlier returned in full force. Again she gripped the chair arms. Will stepped closer to the glass as though narrowing the distance by a few centimeters might help Sydney. "God, he hates me. He's calling me a traitor.... that the Covenant would reward him for killing me. He doesn't care about them he just wants money and glory!" Sydney sounded, rightly, disgusted. Her head moved to the side as in her mind the gun was pressed to her temple, she shivered and her face became a steel mask suddenly, with no emotion. "He knows about Peter...he going after him next, he's telling me what he'll do to him!" she scrunched her eyes closed as if trying to block out the images. Only these were in her mind, not in front of her and no matter how tightly she closed her eyes the images would never be blocked out. A tear rolled down her cheek and then another, the emotions she had felt on that day so long ago returning and flowing free in the sterile white room of LA.
"Can't you stop this or something?" Will asked the Doctor, sounding distressed for his best friend. Seeing her in pain and knowing he could do nothing was torture.
The Doctor leaned into the mike. "Sydney, I want you to come out of it. I will count to --."
Sydney interrupted her, her voice fierce and daring the Doctor to go against her wishes. "Don't! I want to know what happens next. Otherwise we'll just keep coming back to this moment and never get passed it!" she shouted out. Before the Doctor could say anything else she forced the memory to continue, going with it and remembering every tiny detail. She had come this far; there was no way she would give up now. "Ashford, he's stepping back. He's about to shoot..." now this part she remembered all too well.
The door burst open, an explosion knocked the door off its hinges and it hung there, squeaking for a second or two before Ashford reacted. Too slowly he moved as the black clad intruder fought to wrench the gun from his grasp. The gun went off and Ashford slumped against the slim figure. His weapon was tossed to one side and a knife instead was held in the hand the gun had occupied.
"I don't believe it" Sydney whispered. Her head moved back as though someone had lifted it back.
Sydney stepped passed her, she was grateful for Irina's help, but she couldn't forget that her mother should not have known she was there. She couldn't be trusted and so Sydney let that mistrust shine through in her face and actions; she picked up Ashford's discarded gun. "We will have to make time. How did you know I was here? Are you working for the covenant? Did you betray them and they're coming after you? Do they think I'm working with you?"
Not for the first time Irina wished Sydney had not inherited the too familiar stubborn trait. "I am not working for the Covenant; your father and myself have been trying to find you, we thought you were dead...I'm not working for the enemy --."
"You are the enemy! In case you forgot" though her daughter had reason to believe that were true, it still hurt. During Irina's time in CIA custody they had finally, after so long, gone forward and after her escape, they had taken so many steps back again.
"And you have every reason to believe that...I will tell you everything that I know but we do not have time for that now" Irina looked back through the doorway but so far all was clear. She looked at Sydney beseechingly "the Covenant will find out about your deception if you do not leave here now."
The hand holding the gun wavered until her arm fell to her side. She felt exhausted and so confused. "How did you know I was here?" her voice was softer now, in this new life where everything was different and so wrong, she wanted to believe in someone from her past; so much.
Irina walked the few steps towards Sydney, shortening the gap between them; she took the gun from Sydney and set it down on the chair beside them. "Peter contacted me, he found out that Ashford knew the truth about you..." again she looked around and again the coast was clear. "You have to leave." Sydney nodded and wiped her eyes, she made to walk past but stopped beside her mother, to Irina's surprise and happiness her daughter flung her arms around her and hugged her tightly, as if she believed this was all a dream.
Sydney wiped the tears away; she wanted to stay in that chair for hours more to remember more memories, to recall that one back once more. But there was no time, an hour had passed and in the distance she could hear the Doctor calling her back to the present, Sydney clung onto that last moment, cherishing it. Her mother had come for her. What kind of enemy would do that? The memory began to fade until she was squinting against the brightness of the room, Will was beside her and she realised with a feeling of dread that Jack was in the doorway. He did not look pleased.
