A/N: Sorry about taking so long to update. I've had midterms and finals are coming up in about a week and a half. I hope you like this chapter, I think it's a bit longer than usual. This is a transitional chapter because it's heading towards a different phase in Sydney's life.
Chapter 8
The door opened slowly, her heart began to beat faster and quickly she turned on her earpiece subtly in hopes that her mother would be able to help her. She held her breathe for a second until she realized who it was. As the door opened further she recognized the man who was opening it. It was Michael.
He walked in and closed the door behind him. "Julia Thorne."
She wondered how he found out her alias. One thing her mother had always insisted on was to keep her true identity secret from the world. Few people knew her as Sydney Bristow, she could count all of them on one hand. Those who worked with her mother knew her as Julia Thorne, and the rest of the world knew her as whatever alias she chose that day.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I'm here to take you into CIA custody."
She smiled, she couldn't help it. He was seriously underestimating her, or overestimating himself if he thought he could arrest her on his own. "You're arresting me?"
"Not exactly. You're in danger and the CIA can't afford to let anything happen to you at this moment. I'm here for your safety"
"I don't need your protection."
"Sydney, listen to me. A guard spotted the man you are with. They're looking for him as we speak and two guards are heading towards you." Irina said.
She ran through every scenario possible in the few seconds she had. She made up her mind, she couldn't bring attention to herself, she had to get out of this another way. She walked towards Michael quickly and pushed him up against the wall, and quickly kissed him. He didn't push her away, he just stood there, probably in shock from her unexpected actions. She wrapped her right leg around him and put her arms around his neck, she wanted to make it as real as possible. To her surprise he began to kiss her back. He was a great kisser, she had to give him that.
He stopped responding to her kiss for a second. He backed off of her kiss and simply looked at her. She looked into his eyes, those beautiful eyes, and smiled at him. She continued to kiss him and this time he kissed her back with the same intensity that she was kissing him with. He put his hands on her waist and caressed her back.
The door opened and they both turned to look at the men who came in. It was the two guards that her mother had warned her about. Sydney began to giggle as she placed her leg back on the ground.
"Oh my god. I am so embarrassed." she said continuing to giggle.
"You are not supposed to be here." the guard said sternly as he looked at her from head to toe.
"I'm sorry. Champagne really gets to me, we'll leave right away sir." She grabbed Michael's tie and pulled him so he would follow her. The guard put his hand out and they both stopped.
"Are we in some kind of trouble?" she asked sweetly.
"Make sure this doesn't happen again."
She smiled at him and placed her right hand over her chest. "I promise."
Sydney continued to lead the way down the stairs, still holding his tie.
"Let go." he said as he grabbed her hand. She smiled at him once more and let go of his tie.
"Now what do we do?" she asked
"Sydney, follow him for now, when you're at a safe distance I'll get you." Irina said over the comms.
"Now you come with me." He took her arm and lead her away from the crowd and outside of the mansion. Michael put his hand over his ear and spoke out loud to no one, or so it seemed."I got her. Meet me at the Rendezvous point."
"Copy that boy scout. I'll be right over." Weiss answered back.
They stopped a short distance from the mansion. They weren't out of the estate yet but they were far enough not to draw any attention to themselves.
"You seem angry Michael." she teased.
"Why would I be angry?"
"Perhaps because you thought that the kiss was real. Perhaps I should have warned you that the guards were coming. You said earlier I was in danger, danger from what?"
"That's classified, I'm not authorized to tell you."
"A woman like me is always in danger Michael. I'm sure that whatever it is you're trying to protect me from, I can protect myself."
"You don't know who's after you, otherwise you wouldn't be so sure about your ability to protect yourself."
"Why don't you enlighten me."
"Like I said I'm not authorized to say. Once you've been debriefed by the CIA, they'll tell you what is going on."
"Alright Sydney, I'm here. I'll take care of this agent and then we can leave. Do you have the Rambaldi artifact?" Irina asked.
"Yes, well that's the problem you see. I won't be debriefed by the CIA, so unless you tell me I won't know."
"What do you mean you won't... Agh!" Michael touched the back of his neck and managed to pull out a tranquilizer dart that had hit him, but not in time to prevent it from taking effect. He looked at Julia and watched as darkness consumed everything in his sight.
As soon as he hit the ground Sydney looked around for any sight of her mother. She saw that her mother was standing by a tree nearby and quickly ran towards her.
As soon as Sydney was close enough Irina threw her arms around her and held her tightly. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine mom." Irina released her tight grip on her daughter and they began walking towards her car. As soon as they got in Sydney turned around to take one last look at Michael. By then Eric had already come to his side. She watched as Eric looked around and at not finding her he went back to the aid of his friend. Irina drove off quickly and as soon as they were at a safe distance from the mansion turned to look at her daughter.
"What is it Sydney?"
"Just wondering, what do you think that was about?"
"What?"
"He said they didn't want to arrest me, that the CIA wanted to protect me. Why would they want to do that?"
"I'm not sure but we should look into it. Perhaps for once the CIA may know more than we do. Sark asked about you."
"I don't know if I want to talk to him."
"You can't be mad forever."
"No, but that doesn't mean I have to talk to him."
SD-6
Sark opened his eyes to find himself in a strange windowless dark room. His neck was sore and when he tried to massage his neck he found that his hands were tied to the chair. He tried to remember the last thing that happened to him. He remembered the fight with Sydney. How angry she looked that night. He wished so hard that things could be alright between them. The way they used to be. When they first met things seemed to be perfect. Everything was perfect. Until his job had interfered. He had to keep things from her. Her mother had protected her too much. Sydney was not accustomed to the cold-bloodedness of this job. To her it was all about the excitement of missions, not so much the cause that the rest of them believed and followed blindly.
But how did he get here? He remembered walking to the hotel after their fight. He woke up the next morning and called Irina, tried to talk to Sydney but she wouldn't answer. He had then gone to meet a man about a possible lead on a Rambaldi artifact. That's it! He remember the meeting. It was then that a strange smell had caught his attention, but before he could react everything had gone black and now he was here. Alone in the dark wondering what would happen.
The light turned on. A man walked in.
The man sat in front of Sark. "Mr. Sark. A pleasure to meet you."
"Sloane."
"I wasn't aware you knew who I was."
"My employer has made it a priority for us to learn the faces of our enemies. I know all about you."
"What do you know about me?" Sloane smiled.
"I know you run an operation for the alliance called SD-6. I know that the men who work for you believe that they work for the CIA and as my employer put it, and I quote, you're 'a heartless son of a bitch who intoxicates the air you breathe'."
"Well here's a little something your employer might have left out. I like torture. I like to watch men break and tell me everything that I want to know." His smile was now gone, all that was left was one cold look that sent chills to Sark's spine.
"No, my employer was kind enough to let us know that little fact. We're all aware of what we're in here. Not to worry, my loyalties are flexible. Even the Man would understand."
"I'm glad you feel that way."
"Yes, well, I'm not too fond of pain."
"You're employer, how can I find him?"
"Quite difficult. You can't find the Man, the Man finds you. The Man has a secure line, few of us know that number, but the ones who do call him and tell him that they need to meet. The Man puts the conditions to that meeting and they must be followed to the letter otherwise the meet is over."
"Who is Julia Thorne?" Sark's blood ran cold. How did he know about Julia?
"Another agent."
"Yes I know she's another agent. What I want to know is what's so special about her?"
"There's nothing special about her. She works for the Man, that's it."
"I'm not a fool Sark. I know that there is something you aren't telling me. Just do yourself a favor and tell me what I need to know."
"Julia Thorne is no more important than I am. She has no more knowledge than I do. You don't need her."
Sloane stood up. He walked up to Sark and looked him in the face. Sloane punched him once. After only a moment he punched him once more.
"Tell me what I need to know or you will regret it."
"I told you, she is of no importance."
"Is that so, and here I thought that she was your lover."
"It's true. Julia and I are close, but that has nothing to do with her involvement with the Man."
"No, but it's the reason why you aren't telling me everything. Mr. Sark, I have tortured better men and gotten what I've wanted. I will find out what I need to know, it's up to you how much you suffer in the process."
Sark closed his eyes. He loved Sydney. He couldn't allow himself to break. He had to be strong otherwise she would suffer. "I'm telling you the truth."
"Fine. Have it your way." Sloane left the room, moments later coming back accompanied by an older looking man carrying a small case. The older man sat in front of him and opened the case revealing several knives and sharp instruments that Sark could only imagine what they would be used for.
"You may begin." Sloane left the room, leaving Sark alone with the man who would in seconds become his torturer. He walked down the long hallway that was underneath the SD-6 office. Before he left he smiled at the sound of Sark's screams. Soon he would have all that he wanted.
Hours Later, SD-6
"Jack, we've made great progress." Sloane said over the phone.
"Do we know the location of Sark?"
"I have Sark. He's told us everything we need to know. Julia Thorne is the Man's daughter. We have a possible location for her. A condo in New York. If she's there we'll have her in a matter of hours."
"What's the address?"
"Don't worry about it, I have everything covered."
"Either way, I'll be back in the office in a short while."
"There's no need for that Jack. You've been working too much. When we have Julia I'll let you know."
"Good then."
"Goodbye Jack."
"Goodbye Arvin."
CIA Office, Los Angeles
Michael sat at his desk, still searching for any more possible leads to finding Julia. He had been working almost non-stop since his return from China.
"Mike, you need a break." Michael turned around to see his best friend who had just come into the office.
"What I need is to find her."
"You need to stop punishing yourself. There was a second person. It wasn't your fault. We had practically no intel, you can't blame yourself."
"Jack doesn't seem to think so."
"What do you mean?"
"He just came into the office ten minutes ago. When he was walking past me he gave me this look. He looked pretty mad."
"Jack always looks mad."
"It was worse today. He's been in Devlon's office since he came in."
"Maybe it's good news."
"Right." Michael smiled at the mere thought of good news and Jack combined into one sentence. He looked up and realized that both Devlon and Jack were heading their way.
"Sloane has a location on Julia Thorne. It's likely that they'll have her in their custody soon enough." Devlon said as soon as he was close enough to Michael and Eric to be heard.
"If Sloane has a location on her, can't we get it too?" Eric asked.
"No, it's too risky. First of all Sloane won't give me the address, I've already tried. Getting it some other way would be too risky especially considering the fact that he is the only one who has it." Jack said, his face serious and annoyed.
"How did he get her location?" Vaughn asked.
"Sark contacted a man who's been under the careful watch of Sloane. When Sark went to meet him a gas was released into the room which caused Sark to blackout. When he awoke, he was tortured for information. He told Sloane that Julia Thorne was in fact very valuable, she is the Man's daughter. He gave Sloane a location as well." Jack informed them.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Vaughn asked in frustration.
"We had our chance to get her, it's gone now. All we can do is wait. For now we have no other options. If Sloane captures Julia, we'll have to come up with a way of extracting her, or preventing the alliance to gain control of SD-6." Vaughn couldn't help but frown at Jack's words, which were so obviously accusing him for Julia's escape.
Sydney's condo, New York
The sun woke her up, she looked at her alarm clock and hesitated to get up. It was late, almost noon, she was usually up by seven. The mission last night had drained all of her energy. She recalled the events of the night before and wondered what Michael was doing at this moment. He was probably at work by now... probably having to explain what went wrong the night before. Was he angry at her? She hoped not. She liked him, she couldn't pretend otherwise. She put her fingers to her lips and remembered the kiss they had shared. She sighed and closed her eyes, a smile forming on her face. The smile quickly faded as she heard the door of her apartment break open. She sat up quickly and watched as several men entered her bedroom. They were all heavily armed, she knew she didn't stand a chance. She was unarmed, she was alone. She didn't stand much of a chance, not with this many men. She held up her hands, and stood up. She was wearing a knee length silk nightgown. Completely inappropriate for fighting these guys. As one of the men came up to her and tried to handcuff her, she grabbed his arm and twisted it back, turning him around and using him as a shield. She used his gun and shot at two of the other men. Shots were fired all over the place, as she tried to kick the man closest to her, she felt a bullet grace her shoulder. That didn't stop her however. She threw the man she had been using as a shield and used his back to jump up and kick the man across from her. She hadn't realized that through the chaos of the fight another man, one she would later know to be a man named Dixon, was able to stay clear of the shots she fired. He was behind her and in one quick move he shot her. She turned around and looked at him before passing out and dropping to the floor. By then only three agents were left unharmed.
"Is she going to be okay?" one of the men asked.
"I used a tranquilizer gun, she'll be fine. Get someone over here to take these agents to the hospital, I'll get her over to Sloane."
SD-6
Sydney had been hanging from a chain for the past thirty minutes. Her hands had been handcuffed to the chain that had her hanging a few inches above the ground. She had been alone since she had woken up. She had no idea where she was, or who had her. This must have been what Michael had tried to warn her about. The room was cold and she felt as if she might freeze anytime soon. She wished she was wearing something warmer, something other than the silk nightgown she was still wearing. The door opened and an older man came walking in, carrying a small case he set down on the table that was nearby, a second man accompanied him, he was carrying a video camera.
"Hello Julia. You and I are going to spend some time together."
"What do you want?"
"Don't worry about that. Just make sure to look at the camera. Someone very dear to you will be watching this soon."
Sydney closed her eyes and tried to block out the pain that would soon be inflicted upon her. She knew what this was. Someone had found out that she was the daughter of The Man. She was going to be the bait. She kept her eyes closed as the sprinkler above her head soaked her in cold water. The water kept running down her body, she was shaking uncontrollably now. She felt a shock of pain pass through her entire body and she couldn't help but scream in pain. Her body was now shaking more violently, almost as if she were convulsing. The sharp pain finally stopped, but the aftershock still remained. Her body kept shacking, and she felt pain all over. She tried to take slow breathes but she couldn't. She didn't know how long it was before they shocked her again, it seemed to happen so quickly. This process was repeated several times until the thought she could take no more. They uncuffed her and sat her down in the chair. They strapped her arms and legs. The next thing she knew they were pulling out her back teeth. She screamed for a long time until she finally passed out from the pain.
New York, Irina's home
Irina replayed the security tapes of the outside of her daughter's condo for the tenth time in the past hour. She sat quietly in her desk, watching as two men dragged her unconscious daughter out of the building and into an unmarked van. She had hoped that she might find a clue as to who had taken her but she had found nothing. Her cell phone rang breaking the trance-like state she had been in since she had found out that Sydney was missing. She looked for her cell phone and realized that it was not her usual cell phone that had rang, instead it was her emergency cell phone. It was an untraceable phone with a voice modifier. It was a phone number she had given her operatives in case they were found and tortured for information. Only five of her operatives knew that number, one of them was Sydney.
"Yes?"she asked, fearful of what she was about to hear.
"I presume I'm speaking to the Man." a familiar voice said.
"You are correct, and who am I speaking to?"
"Arvin Sloane." A feeling of disgust filled her. He had her daughter, she knew it.
"What do you want?"
"I have sent a little gift to your daughters condo. It should have arrived by now. When you get it, call me and then we can talk." The line went dead. Her heart was pounding fast. She picked up her other phone and called one of her operatives.
"Hello." the man answered.
"I need you to go to Julia's apartment. Tell me what you find."
"I'll be over in a few minutes."
"Don't contact me, I'll contact you."
Irina waited for what seemed like forever. She called her operative once again.
"What did you find?"
"It's a tape."
"Go to Julia's office. You can transmit the feed to my computer there." She hung up the phone and waited for her computer to accept the feed.
The tape began to play. It was Sydney, she was handcuffed and being electrocuted. Irina began to tremble with anger and pain as she watched as her daughter was tortured continuously. She forwarded the tape to the end and watched as her daughter screamed in pain and then finally passed out. Irina's eyes were watery now. She held back her tears and picked up the phone which Sloane had called and called him back.
"Hello." Sloane answered calmly.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"I want you to give yourself up to me. I want full control of your operation."
"Fine. We'll meet in a secure place where we will each be accompanied by twenty agents, no more no less. You will bring my daughter and hand her over to one of my men. Once I know that my daughter is safe I will go with you and give you full control of my operation."
"Where do you suggest we meet?"
"Tonight at midnight, at the Drake Stadium."
"I'll see you then."
Irina hung up the phone and closed her eyes. She was filled with dread, and a million questions. Would Sloane double cross her? Would he try to kill her? What would happen to Sydney?