Chapter 28

"They're still here!" Sydney yelled into the phone as a few shots rang out. Dropping the phone, she turned around, grabbed her gun, and, unwittingly stepping on her phone, fired at Sark and Lauren. Sark managed to jump out of the way in time, but Sydney saw a small squirt of blood as the bullet entered Lauren's body. Sark rolled out of his hiding place and fired back. Sydney shot twice more at him. Both shots missed. Sydney knew that a fire fight taking place with the door to the panic room open wasn't safe for J. D.

Although it was risky, Sydney turned and caused the doors to close again. Turning around, she saw Sark rushing for her. He was quickly closing the gap between them. Casting a glance at her bedroom door a short distance away, she turned again and ran in, jumping on the bed, rolling to the other side and grabbing her cane. Sark was in the doorway when Sydney's hand finally closed on the handle of the cane. Instead of rolling back to face Sark, Sydney rolled off the bed as two more shots rang out. She heard the boards at the end of her bed creak, letting her know that Sark was trying to sneak around to her. Aiming her gun, she shot his kneecap when she saw Sark turn the corner.

As the middle of his leg matted with blood, he looked up as Sydney brought the cane down on the top of his head with all of her might. After the impact, Sark collapsed.

Knowing she needed to secure both Sark and Lauren, Sydney quickly grabbed the handcuffs on the dresser and affixed them around Sark's wrists. Even though she had managed to secure Sark, Sydney knew that she needed to secure Lauren too, assuming that she hadn't escaped already. Having used her only pair of handcuffs on Sark, Sydney quickly considered how to secure Lauren. Considering the idea of duct tape, Sydney started to head for the garage, passing by the open door of the closet. Spotting the shoebox that Vaughn had placed on the top shelf to keep it hidden, Sydney remembered the contents of that box included two pairs of handcuffs. Quickly grabbing the box and pushing aside the objects inside, minus the fur-covered handcuffs, she walked out to the living room to take care of Lauren.

"I'm hitting bone," the guard told the nameless torturer in the room.

"Stop," Vaughn heard the man say in response. The knife was taken away from Vaughn's finger. Although he wanted to curse, Vaughn kept the long chain of obscenities inside.

"Are you ready to tell me who you work for?" the torturer asked.

"Yes," Vaughn said nodding.

"Who do you work for?"

"I usually don't know. I'm a freelancer. My jobs come courtesy of an anonymous contact. They wire money to my account, provide the necessary equipment, and I do the job for them. We never use names, on the off chance that something goes wrong, that nothing can be traced back to either of us."

"Why were you protecting this information earlier, if you really don't know who hired you?"

"Because," Vaughn started, "this one time, I managed to find out who hired me."

"Who?"

Vaughn thought as quickly as he could, trying to ignore the pain on his left hand.
"Irina Derevko," he blurted out when he felt the knife again digging into his finger.

"Irina Derevko?" the torturer asked.

"Yes," Vaughn nodded.

The man was silent. "I guess it makes sense," he said when he finally spoke. "Me, I thought it was Arvin Sloane."

"What made you think that?"

"Because of what the device you tried to steal is supposed to do."

"What does it do?"

"It's rumoured to help the father of The Passenger locate her."

"What? What's The Passenger?"

"It's a woman. The daughter of Arvin Sloane and Irina Derevko."

"They had a daughter?"

"According to Rambaldi, yes."

"So that's why Irina wanted it. To help locate her daughter."

"No," the guard stated. "It wouldn't reveal her location to her; only to him."

"Why do you care?"

The man walked up close to Vaughn. "Do you recognize this?" he asked, shoving his hand into the little light there was, allowing Vaughn to see the O tattooed on his hand.

Vaughn had to think quickly. He knew what that was, but if he was just a freelancer, odds were that he wouldn't know. "No," Vaughn answered. "What is it?"

The torturer laughed. "It indicates that I am a member of the Magnificent Order of Rambaldi."

"Who's Rambaldi?" Vaughn asked, settling in for the long explanation that followed.

After about three hours of history on Rambaldi, Vaughn finally spoke again. "What's the use following his works? He's dead."

Looking at both of the guards, the man smiled. "Not necessarily."

"You think he's alive?"

"I don't know."

"What make's you think that he might be alive?"

"Rambaldi was fascinated with immortality. Several believe that he managed to find the secrets of it, and that he walks among us."

"That sounds kind of sci-fi doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does. However, I choose to believe that it's possible."

Vaughn nodded.

"Could you initiate contact with Ms. Derevko?" the man asked.

"Yeah," Vaughn responded.

"Set up a meeting. I wish to speak with her."

"Okay."

"Then, in good faith, I will allow you to take The Hourglass."

"Great."

Vaughn felt the restraints loosen, and then the guards helped him up.

Kendall was leading the small squad of cars that pulled in front of Sydney's house. As he was about to knock on the door, it flew open, revealing a dishevelled Sydney. "They're in the kitchen," she said, gesturing towards it with her thumb.

The CIA agents rushed into her kitchen and escorted Sark and Lauren out to the cars waiting outside.

"Good work, Agent Bristow."

"Thanks. You called me earlier saying that there was a problem. What was it?"

"Vaughn was captured. We're drawing up a plan to help rescue him."

"I'm going."

"Agent Bristow, you just had a baby."

"I'm going."

"Who's going to look after your child?"

"Jack volunteered after J. D. was born. I'm going."

Kendall sighed reluctantly. "Fine. Go see Marshall for the op-tech."

"I will. I need to go check up on J. D."

"What do you think about all this Rambaldi stuff," Vaughn asked the guards as they helped him up the stairs.

"I don't have an opinion," the guard on his left responded.

"And you?" Vaughn said turning to the other one.

"He doesn't speak English," the other guard said.

"Oh, okay."

"Here," the guard said, handing Vaughn his cell phone. "Make the call."

Bill watched through the binoculars from the building across the street. "Way to go, Mike," he muttered quietly to himself. Seeing another non-descript guard coming running from the club with a suitcase, Bill watched as, when he caught up with the others, the guard opened the suitcase and pulled an object.

When more was revealed, Bill recognized it immediately. "The Hourglass," he said in a hiss. Watching as it was put back in the suitcase and closed up, he realized that there would never be a better time than now to apprehend it.

They could never find The Passenger. Dialling his phone, he uttered one simple phrase. "We have an opportunity to get The Hourglass."

The man on the other end of the line voiced his approval. Bill rolled his eyes as he thought about the man he had just talked to. "He actually managed to convince them that he turned good," Bill said with a snicker.

…TBC…