COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Eyghon

Author's notes: Thank you so much for the reviews, you have no idea how happy it makes me! Plus it's really helpful in my writing, it gives me ideas from what you are expecting, what you want, and that counts a lot.

Chapter 5: Conscious

When you wake up, sometimes you are disoriented, you wonder what day it is, where you are, at what time you have to get up, what things you had planned to do… For a few seconds, you are in utter oblivion.

That is how Sydney felt the next time she woke up, except that it lasted several minutes for her, thanks to the drugs she had been given earlier, but she didn't know that… yet. She couldn't figure out where she was, what day it was, and the most disturbing, what had happened before she went to sleep.

Her awareness grew by the minute though, she could feel her body now. Her hands were tied above her head and she was laying on a comfortable king sized bed. That set her off, her reflexes kicked in. She turned her head from side to side, trying to clear her mind from the fog that had settled in. Everything came back to her at that moment: The mall, Francie being hit over the head, the car ride… She was vaguely aware that she had awakened on a plane at some point. Her maiden flight, too bad she couldn't remember a thing about it.

The people who took her had a Russian accent, she was sure of it, it was unmistakable. She had heard on a documentary that some people kidnapped young girls and brought them to foreign country to make porn movies… and Russia was on the top of the list. She tried to rationalize, such things existed in America too, and she was 18 now, was that considerate "young" by those people? No, that couldn't be the reason… Still, she was lying on a bed, maybe there were cameras not two meters away from her and she wouldn't know… God she had to open her eyes, now! Why couldn't she!

Taking a deep breath, she tried to feel her environment, like they teach you in those yoga classes. She managed to get past the awful headache that was pummelling her skull and felt someone else in the room.

She was not a fearful girl, she didn't close her eyes while watching horror movies, and she didn't feel the need to turn on the lights wherever she was going in her house. Call her naïve but she didn't turn around when hearing steps behind her at night, she slept with the window opened if it was hot outside… But here, today, lying on that bed, at an unknown location, with total strangers, having no idea of what they wanted from her… She was helpless, literally at their mercy, and it scared her. She could feel her palms getting wet, her breathing shallow… So that was fear? Pure fear? That was what it felt like to be scared to death?

"I know you are awake."

She gasped and feebly jerked against her restraints, startled. "Argh." Her headache was back full force, not that it had left at all actually, it's just that now she could actually hear some kind of pounding "bam bam bam…" She swallowed hard.

She felt the figure move around the room to come back and sit back near the bed.

"Can you hear me?" inquired the mysterious voice, which Sydney couldn't even identify as a man's or a woman's. She groaned. After several attempts, she managed to get her eyelids to move up, finally! Her sight was blurry and the room was so dark, there were no lights on actually. She could vaguely make out three faces facing her, but it was weird. It must have been the woman or the guy from before, and his/her two clones… Man, it was worse than a hangover, she was completely fucked up!

"Wha… Where…" She felt the darkness claim her one more time and left herself drift off to another world.

"She still out?" Asked Nikolai, not concerned but rather annoyed.

"Yeah."

"It's been 24 hours, we should phone Probulov and give him the go ahead."

"No. I would prefer it if we waited for the drugs to completely wear off before taking any step forward with Agent Bristow."

Nikolai nodded distractedly and left the room.

Certain that Sydney was out for good and that Nikolai wouldn't come back, she laid down right beside her daughter. It's the closest she had ever been to her, save for carrying her earlier. She tentatively reached out and brushed a strand of hair behind her hear. She touched her face, so smooth, just like when she was a little girl. She wanted to observe her fully, see what she had created out of love so long ago. Her baby girl, so grown up!

Anyone from Irina's youth could tell both women were related. She looked like Irina at her age, and like her sister, Katya. There was no denying she was a Derevko. She had the brown eyes, brown hair, and high cheekbones… And from what she saw in Los Angeles, she had the family character: stubborn, strong, independent.

Ten minutes later, Sydney started to stir, so Irina carefully removed herself and quietly regained her place on the chair by the bed, as if she hadn't moved. She could tell the young girl was still having a hard time moving or focussing.

"Are you in pain?"

"Neck… hurts…" It seemed that the drug's magic was wearing off, she was feeling even more awful than before. Instead of being numb, every part of her body ached. It felt like she had been crushed by a truck or something, and her neck was on fire… She felt hot tears stream down her cheeks, she was free to think and feel again, but what an agonizing pain!

She still didn't get a good look at her captor but she was pretty sure that she recognized her voice, and her accent. It was the woman from before. She jerked away when something made contact with the stinging in her neck, making it worse.

"Easy, it's ice, just hold on a minute it will numb the area and I'll clean it up." Irina felt so bad for using that taser on her little girl. She knew from personal experience that it was rather painful, but so efficient. She had had to do something, otherwise they would have been seen, and who knows what Nikolai would have done to cover their tracks. It was better this way, she had done the right thing. Who was she kidding? The right thing? There was no right and no wrong in this world. It was not black and white. It was a matter of survival. No matter what she would have to do, Jack and Sydney would survive this. But at what price? How far would she have to go to insure her family's survival? It would be a high price, she knew, she had known the second the idea popped into her head… But what other choice did she have? What if? What if? What if? She had to stop tormenting herself with those questions, what is done is done, period.

Sydney was clenching her teeth, seething, she had had enough. She couldn't do anything, couldn't go anywhere, and couldn't even avoid that damn ice cube. She was trapped, and she had no clue why.

Her neck felt numb, her kidnapper was right. It must look so ugly, it felt like a burn and a scratch at the same time. She was dying to touch it but couldn't reach out with her handcuffed hands. Yup, those were handcuffs, no rope, she wouldn't be able to bite the knots like they do in those movies.

She cringed when she felt the sting of disinfectant on the ugly bruise, but it was not as bad as she thought it would have been, thanks to the ice. It still felt like a scratch and a burn, one above the other.

"There you go, all patched up," said the woman, putting on a white band-aid.

"Where are we?" She let her gaze wander around her, She was in what seemed to be a nice bedroom, spacious and comfy.

"Russia."

"My eyes… I can't… it's blurry…"

"Don't worry, it's only temporary, an after effect of the drugs I gave you. You should rest now." She got up and went for the door.

"No… Wait… I have questions…" mumbled Sydney, who was already dosing off.

"It can wait." With that, she was gone, and Sydney went limp from exhaustion before the door was even closed. Hopefully, next time she would wake up, she would feel better and finally get a good look at her captor.

On the other side of the door, Irina knew the confrontation was soon to come and inevitable, but she wasn't sure that she was ready for it.

Would she ever be?

TBC