Chapter 6
She could smell the faint aroma of disinfectant when she came round and no longer felt the cold surface of metal against her back, but a soft mattress. A bed, she thought, but who's? Sark couldn't have got her off that boat single handed and even if he had he would have had a hard time moving her unconscious to a bed. Not wanting to aggravate her pounding head she gingerly rose to sit up on the mattress. It was then she saw that the surroundings of the room did not match the comfort she had just woken from.
It was not a room bathed in morning light, for there were no windows. The ground was composed of harsh brown tiles, met by the solid large bare bricks of the three walls, which surrounded her. She knew exactly where she was now, and in that moment she wanted to die.
Slowly, she turned to face the section of the room where there was no wall, only a bullet proof shield of glass separating her from the man who was stood before her now, peering in at her. She'd never felt so much like a caged animal before that moment. "Kendall." She sighed deeply.
"Agent Bristow." Kendall remained at a distant level with her. It was easier to allocate blame to her that way. "I apologise for your surroundings, but we need to talk."
"And you thought putting me in a cell would help with that?" Sydney spat, feeling a sudden surge of energy pass through her as she sat straighter.
"I felt it was an appropriate course of action given the current situation." He stood firm, folding his arms in a burly manner.
"And exactly what situation would that be the part where you accused me of stealing from the CIA or when you had the FBI sedate me?" Sydney couldn't help the sheer frustration, which welled up inside her and felt more comfortable meeting him with a much more defensive pose, stepping forward to the glass to mirror him.
"It would be the part where you refused to cooperate with the CIA and pursued the case, which may I remind you was never yours to begin with, against my requests!" Kendal retorted. He had never been one for striking arguments, but he certainly knew how to handle himself when being cornered.
"Right, because we both know you would have taken my word that I didn't steal that file!" She raged.
"You know all too well how it works, Sydney; we would have taken an in depth statement from you and it wouldn't have taken long for us to verify."
"Long enough for the disc to reach The Covenant and for them to destroy it! You know going after it then was the only option I had to clear my name! Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same in my situation."
"I find that point irrelevant to what's at hand here." He drew in a deep breath, letting his superior façade fall away and spoke to her as a respected agent. "Sydney, just tell me where the disc is now and you'll be free."
"You're blackmailing me?" She scoffed.
"What, you think I'm just going to let you walk out of here without you telling me everything you know about the whereabouts of that disc? May I remind you that I also have a boss to answer to." Sydney made no attempt to reply. "Listen to me, we've got enough evidence to show that you were in pursuit of that disc without authorisation fro the CIA. The question is how long you want to be in that cell."
"I don't believe this." She muttered, and then reacted to what he had just told her. "Evidence, what evidence?"
Kendall leaned back recalling everything he had noted on her so far. "CCTV from the airports, which prove you were running a freelance operation with intent of concealing yourself from the CIA, and we recovered your bag from the ship the FBI, intercepted you on..."
"My bag..?" Surely if they had found hers they had also found Sark's, which meant she was in deeper demand of an explanation.
"Yes. We found various items in there, which has lead us to believe that you were on the tail of a man who goes by the name of Mr. Jawlenski. Now are you going to tell me what the hell you were doing or do we have to do this the hard way?"
Resting her hands on her hips in a frustrated manner she took a deep sigh of reality, craning her head round to look at him once more.
"Now I'm going to ask you once more…" Kendall said sharply. "What were you doing in London?"
Realising it was the best of her options to actually tell him what she was up to she looked at him directly, making the glass shield non existent between them. "Fine. I was following Jawlenski." Was all she said, yet the pang of guilt and frustration hit her like an icy breeze.
"Tell me something I don't know." Kendall prodded sarcastically.
Reacting unconsciously to his brash attitude she stood taller, more defined as she reminded herself of the fact that she was in the cell and the glass came hurtling back before her. "I was following him. That was it." Seeing the expectant gaze of her senior officer she continued. "I was under the impression that he was in possession of the disc and conducted a solo operation in an attempt to retrieve it and return it to the CIA, with which I could then prove it wasn't me who stole it."
Kendall stood back for a moment digesting her story and knew it was solid. He then unfolded his arms, letting his superiority deflate slightly. "We know it wasn't you."
"What?" Sydney couldn't help the shock escape her.
"Shortly after we bought you back here we received valid Intel that a Mr. Julian Sark was in possession of the disc. I'm afraid you were after the wrong man." He added.
It was either a cunning set up for her or she had the best of luck to have the CIA think that Sark took the disc. Thinking about it, she figured he deserved to have the CIA after him, as he had stolen the disc from her, not to mention left her to get caught. She hadn't expected more of him, she was all too aware of how much of a coward he was, when the threat of being caught was in the air. "So what fresh information have you gained that wouldn't allow you to rule me off the list before I went risking my ass?" She spat, secretly desperate to know exactly how they knew.
"I'm sure you'll appreciate the fact that I cannot reveal the names of others involved to you for many reasons, but some of our field agents managed to locate Sark due to an intercepted phone call to a free lance Russian operative, who we know is interested in any information he can get on Rambaldi."
"He set up a trade?" Sydney said it most to make herself hear it. That son of a btch, she thought. How could he have worked with her so far only to take the winnings for himself? All she could to was imagine the damage she would do to him when she next saw him, and she believed it would be sooner than he thought. "Does this mean I can go?"
"Unfortunately no, Sark must have been aware of our interception and called the meeting off. So we're left with nothing…except for you that is."
"You're not going to let me go are you?" She furrowed her brow expectant of an honest answer.
"No." He replied bluntly, and she respected him for his truthful response. "At least not until we have something solid on Sark. Do you have any information on him that we could go on?"
The short pause she took before answering seemed like a lifetime. She couldn't believe she was about to lie to protect Sark. She told herself it was to protect herself, but there was some underlying alarm bell, which told her she was in too deep now. "No."
Recoiling from her answer, Kendall nodded his head and with that he left the corridor. Sydney let her guard down and slumped onto the rigid mattress of the pathetic attempt of a bed. When she had joined the CIA she could never have imagined she would be the accused locked up in a cell. Then again a lot had changed since then…a lot. For now though, all she could think about was how badly Sark was going to get it from her.
It had only been a day, yet it felt so much longer to Sydney. No one except the guards had visited her to hand her meals, although she hadn't really felt like eating. She knew the lack of visitors was due to Kendall; he had most likely ordered no clearance for anyone to see her. It would surprise her if he had even let his team know that it was actually her that was in the cell. She was meant to be dead after all. It made no difference to her as she did not have to face them and answer the endless questions they would have for her. For now all she could do was wait.
The night had closed in fast and although there were no windows in her cell to determine the sky, she could hear that the skeleton workers in the guards' office down the hall had been left to their shift, and knew it would be another quiet night. Without a last thought she slowly and hesitantly slipped from reality into a seemingly peaceful slumber.
i There was emptiness in her mind as she fell. It seemed like an eternity as she tumbled gracefully through the sky, letting her fears tumble out from beneath her and for a while she was peaceful. Then the falling became faster and the sky turned a menacing shade of grey as the air spiked at her like icicles.
It was then that she saw that the ground taking form below her and she was approaching fast. In a spray of panic Sydney attempted to turn direction unsuccessfully and she fell faster. The pain of the branches that whipped at her body was all too real as she tumbled down a shaft of dirt. And then everything was still…
Still and motionless. It seemed like she was lay there forever, drifting in and out of consciousness and then she heard a rustle of leaves all around her, which quietened to slow footsteps approaching her from her right, yet she could see no one. Unable to move or make any sound she lay there in the dirt ready and afraid.
The footsteps did not close in on her any further, yet circled her in and out the shadows surrounding her. Then it came; the voice. At first couldn't make out the words it spoke, yet it became clearer as it grew louder, closer. Still she could see nothing. There was a familiar origin in the accent of the voice and she knew she should recognise it, but could not think above the whispers it droned around her.
She tried to speak, but nothing escaped form her throat and her attempts to move were useless. In her peripheral vision she could see a figure crossing from shadow to shadow and was desperate to launch herself to her feet and defend herself, yet she was so helpless in her own skin. Just as she focused her mind enough to move an arm the figure was upon her.
Sydney froze, and she could now have a reason for nothing to come from her mouth for the shock of the person now above her was genuine. Observing the soft blue eyes and the chiselled features of his pale face she could see that it was no other than Sark. "Don't worry, Sydney, I'll come back for you…" The British voice said clearly this time, yet Sark's lips did not move.
Unable to respond all she could so was stare. It happened very quickly and as she mustered the strength to jolt her arm from his grip he let her go and the ground came rushing back to her. With that she woke…/i
She sprung from her bed and shoved herself against the opposite wall, taking irrational gasps of air. Being in the cell itself wasn't to traumatic; it was the presence of Sark, which refused to disappear. There was no doubt in her mind that she would track him down when this was all over. The question at hand though was when would it be over?
Her thoughts were cut short with the sound of the corridor doors churning open to allow Kendal through, who came to face the glass. She quickly composed herself and it must have been convincing as he did not ask her why she wasn't asleep in the middle of the night. A guard accompanied him and set about opening the cell door.
"What's going on?" She demanded.
"There's no time to explain." He told her, making it clear that she should simply oblige.
"Wait, on the way to where?" Sydney quizzed as the guard cleanly handcuffed her and shifted her out into the corridor. With that, she was lead out of the CIA headquarters, into a CIA issued four wheel drive.
It had taken about forty minutes to reach their location and Sydney had been pressing questions on Kendall for the majority of that time. The fact that they were approaching the location didn't stop her from continuing to do so.
"The least you could do is tell me what the hell is going on!" She spat.
"For both yourself and the agency it's best if you know minimal about this operation", was all he told her.
She was about to rage further, but the sound of the engine shuddering to a silence had a similar effect on her. Kendall escaped the car and opened Sydney's door gesturing for her to do the same. She didn't need to though, as the guard helped her out, which was becoming rather annoying to her and she shook him off.
She followed Kendall round to the front of the car where he rested against the bonnet and waited. Although she wasn't sure what or who he was waiting for she joined him, still uncomfortable of the handcuffs. "Are these really necessary?" She asked.
Kendall saw her face and gestured to the guard to remove them. Experiencing the freedom of her wrists again she folded her arms and stood beside the car scanning the area. It was made more difficult by the night sky, yet she managed to clock a total of six agents spread around the perimeter of the wasteland.
She would have resumed to bombarding Kendall with more questions, but focused her attention on the faint glow of headlights approaching from the far side of the land. Slowly the car rolled to a halt a few yards away from them and the driver stepped confidently out onto the dirt, moving round to the front of his car. It was then that she saw it was Sark.
"You're trading me…with Sark!" Sydney whispered at Kendall, however, he did not answer. Instead he headed forward to the driver.
"Do you have the disc?" He demanded an answer from Sark.
The cocky Brit rose to his serious tone and casually slipped his hands into his pockets. "For my own safety I do not have the disc on me."
"Then our deals off." Kendall cut him off abruptly, as he began to walk away.
Making himself heard, Sark continued. "I have hidden the disc in a secure location and hold the instructions on how to find it. Assuming that you still want to continue with this trade I will happily hand over this information." The power he had over the high ranking agent was overwhelming and he revelled in it as he flipped a small piece of paper between his fingers.
"And what part of you thinks that I'm just going to let you walk out of here with her leaving me nothing but a piece of paper?" Kendall knew he was a great negotiator; it had been part of the training process to get him where he was in the CIA, but he knew a stitch up when he saw one.
With the mention of Sydney, or Julia as he was to refer to her as, he took the time to glance past Kendall to observe her. Finding it hard to resist letting a smirk appear on his lips he quickly shifted his sight back to Kendall. "It must be deeply aggravating for the CIA to let one of their best agents loose in the hands of The Covenant, especially when her loyalties don't lie with you…not any more that is."
"No, what bothers me is that I have to trade with sarcastic scum like you in order to claim back what was ours in the first place!" Kendall retorted.
"I admire your honesty." He quipped. "Now do we have a deal?" His tone suddenly dropped to a business manner.
The word "deal" stuck in his mind like a sour memory and hated that such a comment had to come from Sark. However, he knew his duties to the CIA and was all too aware of how vital this "deal" was. "Okay." He resigned, signalling the guard to bring Sydney forward. Sydney, of course made it clear she didn't need assistance and marched to meet him herself, making sure Sark saw her look of sheer hatred.
"As soon as the information is in our hands you and Julia are free to leave. I must point out the obvious fact that if what you hand me is false information we will track you down and you'll both be spending the rest of your years in a cell." Kendall reinforced his authority.
"I can only hope we'd be sharing a cell." Sark quipped, letting the faintest smirk slip.
Sydney recoiled at his comment and wanted so badly to tell him where to go, but reminded herself that Kendall wasn't aware that they had been working together and wanted to keep it that way by not showing any form of feelings towards Sark…no matter how much she wanted to rip his throat out.
Sark was also aware of this and respected her for biting her tongue. He could only wish he'd be able to do the same in such a close situation. Nevertheless he handed Kendall the piece of paper. Kendall unfolded it immediately and read it silently. "This is a combination code."
"Quite right." Sark answered smugly. "This disc is in a secured brief case at a bank you'll find if you follow those coordinates."
"What is this some sort of game?" Kendall scoffed.
"Hardly. It's more like my insurance. You see the problem with our little meeting here is that you could easily take the disc as well as Julia and I." He said it as if it was all that he expected of Kendall and it was true. He knew enough about the CIA to know that they're trained to get results. The only thing was at what cost they paid to get them.
"Well I can't say I entirely trust you either. In fact the shape of it is that I don't trust you at all." It was Kendall's turn to be smug now and he gave a curt nod. It was a signal; a signal to his team to close in on the pair of them. It took only seconds for the guns to be levelled at both Sydney and Sark
The two of them raised their hands in unison, however Sark's did not stay there for long, as in the next instant he abruptly hooked his arm around Sydney's neck, causing her to slump backwards into him and she soon felt the cool metal of a gun pressed firmly against her temple.
"What the-?" She began yet her own voice was quashed with the sharp tone of Sark's addressing Kendall.
"As it happens Director Kendall I'm not in the least fond of you or any patriotic moral you represent." He slipped his hand to lock a firm grip on Sydney's neck, getting the required response form Kendall. 'That's why I didn't hold high hopes on this little deal of ours ending well."
Sydney seethed silently, her mind racing wild, constantly searching for an opportunity to release herself. Then taking another second to consider the outcome of escaping his grip she came to the conclusion that it was safer to stay with him. It was either that or both of them would end up in a cell back at the CIA.
"Then tell me how you want it to end." Kendall said calmly holding his hands halfway in the air in a negotiable manner.
"You have eight agents with snipers on me as we speak." He saw Kendall's lack of recognition to his statement and elaborated for him. He was too clever to let a CIA Director fool him. Rolling his eyes he continued, "Three behind the bunkers, two on top of the sand bank and another three spread out in similar obvious locations."
Sydney couldn't help but find his skills impressive as she herself had only managed to clock six agents. What was more impressive was the way Sark had just unravelled the many layers Kendall kept himself wrapped up in to hide the truth. She found it hard to keep the smile from her face.
"I'm sure a man of your intelligence, Sark, understands the need to take necessary precautions." Kendall sighed slightly, not liking the way Sark had collapsed his closely considered tactical plan within a few minutes.
"I do indeed. That's why I now hold the life of one of your most valued agents." He couldn't help but savour the moment, flashing the tiniest of smirks across his crooked lips. "Now you're going to do as I say, or I assure you… Agent Bristow will suffer." Kendall looked surprised at the mention of her real name, but it didn't wash with Sark. "That's right. I know that she is still working for you. It doesn't take a trained eye to figure that one out."
Angry within himself Kendall gave in to Sark's obvious capabilities to rescue himself in any situation. "Okay, what do you want?"
"Tell your men to stand down. The information I have given you is genuine and I intend to walk out of here…with Sydney as planned. If I so much hear a shot being fired I can guarantee that the shot to follow will be that entering Agent Bristow's skull."
"Do it!" Spat Kendall to the minor field agent behind him, who then radioed to his colleagues. "Anything else?" He rolled off his tongue in a cocky tone.
Sark waited a beat, looking down at Sydney, full appreciating her features. The look on her face however was not so satisfying. "I think I've got all I need", and with that he forcefully took her with him back to where his car sat. "If you'd be so kind", he urged her to open the driver's side door.
Refraining from jutting her head back into his jaw, Sydney popped open the door with ease, still in his firm grip, the barrel of his glock still pressed accurately against her skull.
"Get in." Sark ordered, not allowing any moment for questions. Although his voice indicated he was threatening her, his actions gave a somewhat different message, for he gently released his grip around her throat and slowly offered a hand at the small of her back as she folded herself into the car.
Still biting her tongue, she flung both legs one after the other over the hand brake to pop neatly into the passenger seat. Sark had been quick to place himself in the driver's seat, swinging the car door shut and forcing the engine to life as he secured himself in the car. "I recommend you wear a seatbelt for this."
"I'll take my chances. It's not like you've got much of a challenge to get us out of here." She chose not to look at him, finding the anger inside herself all to present in that moment.
Casually ignoring her he leaned across to catch the strap of her seatbelt, which hung beside her. He then stretched it across her to click the clasp into place, rolling his eyes as he did so. It was so like her to be stubborn in at such a time. Surprised, Sydney found it hard to remain looking elsewhere with his hand almost touch her; she couldn't determine whether she wanted to take it in her own or snap his wrist in two, either way she became surprisingly uncomfortable in a way she hadn't felt for a very long time.
"And I suppose you trust your Director's word still?" He scoffed mildly, slipping the sports car into gear.
"Trust? What the hell does that have to do with-?" She would have finished her sentence had the car not jolted forward and cut sharply to the left causing them to skid dirt in the direction of Kendall and crew, no doubt that was Sark's intention. "Was that really necessary?"
"No", he answered truthfully, "but it was somewhat satisfying."
Sydney forced a deep breath, thinking logically about her situation. "So now that you've successfully traded me like some cheap bargain, along with reveal that you know I'm a double agent, what's your next big plan of action?"
Sark allowed a sarcastic laugh in her direction, not comfortable enough to let his eyes stray from the road ahead. "Firstly, Sydney, you were far from a "cheap bargain"! I could have used that disc for my own benefit instead of using as your get-out-of-jail free card." He paused for a second letting her absorb the facts and he was aware that she did not try to deny it. "Secondly, revealing my knowledge of you as a double agent was the only way to prevent Kendall from becoming suspicious and learning of our previous dealings."
Silence filled the car. It seemed like torture to Sydney. Partly because she wanted to scream everything and anything at him, but mostly it was because she knew he was right. There was one thing she could say about Sark and that was that he was always right. No matter how much she had tried to outthink him, outsmart him in the past he had always been one step ahead of her.
Sark was able to look at her now. "Oh and I would hardly call that successful!" He laughed.
As if something had snapped inside her Sydney turned quickly on him yelling, "You think this is funny! You've just managed to put me in the most danger I could possibly be in right now and you're making jokes!"
Sark controlled the car with such ease as he careened it round the dirt track leading them away from the rendezvous location and quickly drove a couple of miles through the acres of derelict land. Abruptly, he cut the steeing wheel to the left and ran the car up and over a grass verge, leaving it to roll as it did so.
The car continued to roll on it's own accord at high speed until it met another steep verge and crumpled at it's feet, leaving the chassis of the sports car turned towards to stars. Sark hadn't fully expected that to happen, nevertheless he managed to give Sydney a sarcastic look, noticing that she too was dangling upside down, with only her seatbelt to keep her there. "Hate to say I told you so." He quipped.
A little dazed Sydney gathered herself, only now aware that she was upside down and felt the pull of gravity through her body. "What the-?" She muttered. The windscreen of the car had shattered from the impact, leaving a spray of tiny jewels below her. With some surprising effort she released her seatbelt, causing her to drop directly onto the glass and she began to scramble out of the also shattered window frame of the door.
Composing herself as she stood tall out in the open, which seemed to be an endless stretch of waste land, and drew in a deep breathe. She felt the tiny pin pricks all over her exposed skin where the glass had peppered cuts all over her and she was thankful that no worse damage had been sustained. Just then she heard Sark escaping the car and rushed round to his side, dragging him out before she had fully approached him. "Are you trying to get us killed you son of a bitch?"
He too had a sporadic display of tiny cuts across his face and hands, which he used to unsuccessfully catch himself as he tumbled out onto the dirt. He began to push himself up, but she was upon him again, driving him to the ground. This time he was prepared and used her momentum to drive her to the ground also, allowing him to gain the upper hand as he rushed to his feet.
"No." He answered simply, collecting himself as he watched her scramble to her feet. "But I'm beginning to think you want me dead."
"Personally I'd rather see you in pain!" She retorted, hauling a fist his way to crack hard against his jaw.
He recoiled back, feeling the full impact of her blow, somewhat shocked at her strength. "Well I must congratulate you on your success." He shot back, spitting blood out onto the ground. His recovery timing was just quick enough so that he saw her fist flailing towards him again and moved his arm up to stop it with his palm. "Unfortunately I don't like to be beaten so…" Pausing mid-sentence to swing her arm down and around her back to grip her in an arm lock "…we can either fight until I win or you can listen to what I have to say."
"I'm really not seeing the better option here." She quipped, managing to jolt her head backwards, feeling the crack of his nose against her skull. Still, she could not release herself. His grip remained firm.
"There's a perfectly good reason for this Sydney." Sark's voice never hinted at anything but calmness as it was soft and Sydney found it almost reassuring, but she wasn't about to fall for that one.
"You're trying to kill us?" She guessed sarcastically, still struggling for freedom.
"If you'll just listen…" He reasoned with her. "You have to trust me."
Grimacing silently at those words she remained silent. Then hesitantly she let her limbs relax, offering a deep sigh. Sark, happy with her calmed state, slowly slackened his grip. It wasn't until he felt a tyre of the car pressed hard into his chest that he saw that as a mistake. This time is was Sydney restraining him.
"You see where trust gets you, Sark?" Sydney spat through gritted teeth, wanting so badly just to knock him out. Instead she chose to give a quick short jab to the back of his head 'causing his nose to crack once more against sheer solidness, increasing the damage sustained to it.
Sark silently wailed in agony, yet he did not try to break free; he simply waited for his chance to speak. "Are you suggesting that you live a life without trust, Sydney?"
"It helps when it comes to people like you." She reasoned sarcastically, pushing his arm further up where she had it restrained.
"People like me." Sark echoed. "You mean people who play an active role in aiding you to bring down an evil organisation such as The Covenant?" He chimed.
"You're actually making yourself sound righteous there Sark." She inched his arm further still, satisfied with his growing discomfort.
"Regardless of my morals..." He paused, struggling to talk through the stabbing pain surging through his arm. "I still chose to help you…" another pause. This time it was to let his words sink in to her and her silence was enough for him to know that she couldn't argue that. "More to the point…you let me." He added, unable to resist a slight chuckle. "Now correct me if I'm wrong but that constitutes as trust."
Refusing to let that thought invade her mind, Sydney let go of his arm only to grip both of his shoulders, ready to fling him once more to the ground. However, she paused mid-action when she heard a low grumble of an engine in the distance. It grew louder, closing in on them…fast.
Sark on the other hand was not in the least surprised and simply looked down at his watch. "Right on time."
Reminded of what she was about to do, she slammed Sark heavily into the dirt, this time allowing him up. "Who is it?" She demanded.
"A friend." He told her matter of fact.
"You actually have friends?" She couldn't help but mock the idea.
"He's more like an acquaintance."
The engine grew louder still and Sydney could now see the blur of headlights rolling over the mounds of dirt. She guessed it was some for of 4x4 to be travelling at that speed. "He!" She was frantic with which option she could take; either to run or to stay and find out who the driver was. No matter what she chose she wasn't going ot be happy, so she decided she would opt for the least strenuous.
"A Mr. Zackary Sharpe actually. I thought we could use some help...as much as you'd like to deny it."
"Are you crazy! Letting someone else in on this could compromise the whole thing!"
"And attempting it on our own is a sure path to getting one of us…if not both of us killed." Sark retorted.
Take a deep breathe was all Sydney could do as the car was now upon them, coming to a dramatic grind on the dirt. "Hey!" A surprisingly enthusiastic voice emerged from the car. "Am I interrupting something?"
It was then that Sydney could see the man sat ready behind the wheel. He was seemingly short, or maybe it was the size of the car, that she now saw to be a Jeep, which dwarfed him. She must have been lingering on her stare as he then wafted a hand in the air saying, "Hi, you must be Sydney. I'm Zack."
"So I've just been told…" She murmured in the direction of Sark.
Sark, appreciating the absence of her violence, took the time to prod at his bloody nose to asses the damage. For what he could tell it wasn't broken, but it sure as hell hurt, so bad that the throbbing caused a headache to surface.
"Man, what happened to you?" Zack asked in astonishment. Sydney concluded from the grimace Zack displayed on his face that he was not field trained. iGreat/i she thought sarcastically.
"We were just catching up." Sark left his nose alone now and stepped closer to the car, walking around to look in the trunk of the Jeep. "Did you bring everything we discussed?"
"Yeah yeah, I got it all man. All what you asked me to." Zack clambered out of the driver's seat to meet them on the dirt now. He walked with a noticeable relaxed manner, and it seemed very contagious as Sydney appeared to warm to him as he approached her.
"So I guess I'm the last to know about this arrangement." She mocked herself. "Like always…" She added quietly.
Zack fumbled in his step, turning in surprise to Sark. "You didn't tell her?"
Sark was tolerable of a lot of things in life, but he could not stand for anyone questioning his methods and he suddenly remembered why he liked to work alone. "It would only have lead to more complications." He continued to inspect the items in the trunk.
"That's harsh man." Zack chuckled.
"I employed you to do a job…not pass judgement." Sark quipped, now a fair degree frustrated.
"Hey that's fine by me." Zack raised his hands from out of his pockets in defence as he spoke.
The laid back tone was cut sharp as Sydney marched over to Sark, demanding him to look at her. "Complications?" She prodded. "You mean if I had a clue what the hell was going on it would have been more complicated?"
Sark almost laughed, rolling his head round to her. "Don't pretend that if I'd have told you about me hiring Zack you'd have happily obliged, Sydney. We both know that if I had, we wouldn't be here right now."
"If I'd have done a lot of thing I wouldn't be here right now…" She muttered.
"Sydney…" Sark lowered his voice so only Sydney could hear. "I know you don't trust me. At least not enough to place your life in my hands, but in the game we play…you have to trust someone."
Sydney would have spoken if only she had something to say, but she found herself deep in a wild turmoil of thoughts, recalling the past few days where the only person she had allowed herself to work alongside was Sark; the least likely person in the world that she thought she would ever become so involved with. They shared a secret, a secret that only they knew…for now, not to mention Zack or course. She wondered just how much Zack did know… "So it's all about trust right? Do you trust him?" She gestured over to where Zack stood, unsure of what to do as they talked.
"To a certain extent, yes." He did not hesitate with his answer, but what she asked next, he was completely unprepared for.
"Do you trust me?" Her voice was serious, no falter in her gaze.
How could he possibly answer that with a simple 'yes' or 'no'. Considering the question deeply, he was baffled over what he actually felt. Did he trust her? She had tried to kill him on so many occasions, yet he was still alive. She worked for the very organisation that makes it their objectives to hunt him down, yet here she was…with him. It was the one time in his life where he did not see things as black and white anymore and it shook him inside. Refusing to give her a direct answer he simply replied, "Isn't that what it's all about…trust?"
Taken aback at how he could not give her a straight answer she drew back slightly. "You tell me…"
Perfectly on cue Zack met them round the back of the vehicle, a little unsure around the two obviously trained spies. He had no idea of the world they had to live in. All he was educated in was technology; as long as it was programmed, he could deal with it, but seeing the state of Sark's nose made his gut wrench. More to the point he was now very wary of Sydney.
"It's okay." Sydney assured him, noticing the flicking glances between Sark's nose and her. "He deserved it." She flashed him a wide grin.
"Mind letting me in on what it was exactly that you did...so I can remember to NOT do that?" He chuckled, though it was clear that there was some seriousness to his tone.
"He pissed me off." Sydney cut in, not allowing for any answer from Sark.
"Man, and you look so-", he stopped himself as he saw her pleasantness fall away with what he was about to say. "I'd benefit from not finishing that sentence wouldn't I?"
"You really would." Sydney chimed as she brushed passed both him and Sark to walk round to the passenger side of the Jeep.
"Okay…but just for the record I was gonna say cute." Zack called after her before he too walked off to return to the driver's seat and clambered in.
Sydney managed to crack a laugh as she took it upon herself to claim the front passenger seat; she hated riding in the back of cars. Plus, she really wanted to create some distance between herself and Sark right now. Things had strangely gotten a little too complicated for her liking…and she wasn't sure how it had happened, which was the worrying aspect of it all.
Sark stood where he was for a moment, wanting so much to grind his teeth at Zack's comment on Sydney. Then he became more curious as to why he felt that way. Surely he couldn't be jealous. Not dwelling too much on the idea he picked out a bottle of antiseptic and a cloth rag from one of the first aid supplies he had asked Zack to bring. He then hopped into the Jeep himself, aware that Sydney had chosen to sit up front…and it was clear that Zack was too. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have hired him after all.
Zack wasted no time in starting the engine and they quickly fled the scene, leaving the smashed car behind, along with Sydney's principles, but what were they to her these days. "Where are we headed?" She asked.
Sark stepped in, speaking from behind her. "A safe house just outside of Los Angeles." He resumed to drenching the cloth rag in the antiseptic to at least wash away some of the blood from his face, as he did he felt the tiny stings from where the tiny drops of glass had cut his skin. He would have offered Sydney the same treatment but thought better of what reply he would be asked for.
"Isn't that a bit risky being right next door to the CIA? Surely they'll find us. Kendall will want me found." She returned just as fast with the question.
"Being right under their noses makes us less predictable doesn't it? Like that's the last place people ever think to look right?" Zack added.
"Something to that effect." Sark grimaced as he applied the drenched cloth to a raw part of his nose. "You cannot be found if you don't want to be."
"And you work for the CIA…seriously!" Zack continued, addressing Sydney.
"It's tricky right now, but to save you the complicated answer…yes I do." She adopted a position to stare out of the window into the dull of the night.
"…But you also work for The Covenant…?" Zack couldn't help but see how far he got with the questions.
Sydney could relate to his eagerness to know everything, but she knew all to well that the less he knew the safer he was. "Yeah", was all she told him.
"So you're like the under dog; playing the bad guy but really you're the good guy all along. That's a classic!" Zack beamed as he steered the car and then he frowned turning to her once more. "Assuming that you are the good guy…" He grew slightly worried at her lack of reply, but seeing her face was all the answer he needed for she offered a small withering smile. "Sorry. I know I'm asking a lot of questions here, but it's just that…working with…for you guys is just like so awesome. I mean you're both spies! That's just too cool!"
"You might wanna not go shouting that around." Sydney chuckled slightly as she observed his awe around them. It saddened her inside that if he knew what being a spy was ireally/i about he wouldn't be so keen.
"Oh yeah, sure…I can keep my mouth shut." There was a brief pause before he spoke next. This time he addressed Sark. "So are you work for the CIA too?"
Before Sark could answer Sydney cut in saying, "So what about you Zack…what is it that you do?" The last thing she wanted was for Zack to freak out with the knowledge that Sark was an assassin by profession…more to the point that he chose to be that way.
Aware of the subject change, Zack chose not to follow it up. "I'm a freelance systems technician…but not you're usual straight lace kind. I know I shouldn't be telling this to a CIA agent but I mostly do off the record jobs like hacking into major alarm systems in buildings like big business corporations, casino's, banks…you name it I can probably get you into it."
"That was one of my guesses." Sydney nodded.
"And your other guess..?" Zack ventured.
"Well I figured you might have been in the engineering business…but by the way you handle this thing…" She chided.
"That's harsh man!" He laughed.
Sark also couldn't help a smirk creep across his lips. From his encounters with Sydney he had found that she had never been one to hide her opinions…and that wasn't about to change.
"What you wanna take over?" Zack gestured the wheel to her.
"Thanks, but I don't have a clue way we're going." It was clear that her comment was directed at Sark.
"It wouldn't be as fun if you knew would it?" Retorted
"For you maybe…" She grunted.
"Maybe…" Sark smiled, yet the darkness was his only witness.