Thank you c j tiesto, grouchy, Katydid1388, Eva, Karone Evertree, truglasgowgal,
gymnastkozy, SuP3R G1R, and Anders122 for the reviews! I'm glad you're all
enjoying the story. And now, without further ado, here's Chapter 4. :-)
Sark still had dozens of questions for Sydney; only now, he was hesitant to ask them. He
wasn't sure how much more he wanted to know about his former self. Was it true what
she had said? Was he really a killer? Maybe he didn't want to remember his past after all.
Sydney also remained silent, lost in her thoughts. She recalled a time following her own
amnesia when a terrifying aspect of her past had come back to haunt her. It began when
Jack found a surveillance video of Sydney during her missing years. The video contained
footage of Sydney viciously killing an unarmed man, a man by the name of Lazarey. For a
long while afterwards, Sydney had to live with the fact that she had killed an innocent man.
Though the video later proved to be a fake, she never forgot the horror she had felt after
learning that she was a killer. She wondered if Sark was now experiencing a similar
emotion.
After a few more minutes, Sark broke the silence with a question. "Do you know of an
organization called the Child Liberation Agency?"
The question took Sydney by surprise. "No, I don't believe so. Was this another part of
your dream?"
Sark nodded, grateful that Sydney was stilling willing to listen. "In the dream I'm at a
restaurant, and a man hands me an envelope containing classified documents."
"Do you know the name of this man?" asked Sydney.
"Wesley. His name was Wesley. Heavy-set bloke. Dark, thinning hair and a navy-blue suit.
I think it was Armani."
Sydney rolled her eyes and grinned. "Oh that you remember," she said sarcastically.
A tiny smirk formed on Sark's lips. "Do you want to hear my story or not, Agent
Bristow? I haven't all day you know."
"No," replied Sydney without missing a beat. "You don't want to miss your allotted ten
minutes in the exercise yard."
Sark had to bite his bottom lip to keep from laughing. He was amused to find that Sydney
had a sense of humor quite like his own.
"As I was saying," he continued. "On top of each document were the words 'Child
Liberation Agency.' Both were dated 1985. The first document referred to an Adrian
Lazarey..."
Sydney inhaled sharply and Sark paused, intrigued at her apparent reaction to the name
'Lazarey.' He himself had no recollection of such a person. When Sydney made no
further movement, Sark went on with his story.
"The document indicated that Adrian Lazarey was given a child, a child by the name of
Julian Sark. I assume then that Lazarey is my father and that I was adopted. Is this
correct?"
Sydney shook her head in disbelief. "I had no idea. The CIA has no record that you were
ever adopted."
Sark found this news intriguing. He knew from his dream that he had not been aware of
the adoption either. Why had such a thing been kept secret?
"There's more," he said, unsure as to whether he should disclose the rest. "There was
another child adopted on that same day." He took a deep breath and then stated the words
verbatim, his eyes never leaving Sydney's face.
"A second child was also liberated on this day. The liberator is Jack Bristow. From this
day forward, the child will be known as Sydney Bristow."
Sydney stared at him, stunned. She half expected him to laugh and say that it was just a
joke, but he didn't. Was he serious? Did he actually expect her to believe that she was
adopted?
"That's impossible," she replied, her voice noticeably colder than it had been only
moments before. "I wasn't adopted." The more she considered the absurdity of the idea,
the angrier she got. "How dare you tell me such a thing! You have no right!"
"Sydney, I'm sorry," Sark insisted, seeing his only chance for help slipping away. "I
thought you knew."
By then, Sydney had made her way to the cell door and was shouting loudly for the guard
to return.
"Sydney, please!"
The guard hurriedly ran over and unlocked the doors so that Sydney could exit.
"Is there a problem Agent Bristow?" The guard glared threateningly at Sark.
"No, there's no problem," responded Sydney, her mind a blur of thoughts and confusion.
"I just need to leave now."
She made her way down the long, dreary corridor, aware that Sark was watching her every
move. Though she tried to ignore it, a single question repeated over and over in her mind.
If Sark had no memory, how had he known her father's name?
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Sydney spent the next few hours walking and thinking. Having no particular destination in
mind, she wandered about the city streets, stopping now and then to rest. The warm
summer breeze and the constant drone of passing vehicles helped to clear her mind. Upon
reaching a park, she stopped and sat down on an empty bench. She closed her eyes and
tried to focus on her earlier conversation with Sark.
He had implied that Jack was not her real father, but the idea was preposterous. Sydney
had never doubted that Jack and Irina were her parents, even if their family situation was
somewhat unusual. And now there was Nadia. Was she truly to believe that her long-lost
half sister wasn't really her sister after all?
Sydney thought back to all the things she remembered about her childhood. She recalled a
memory of her father taking her to the zoo when she was eight. Then there was the time
she had fallen off her bicycle and broken her leg.
"That happened when I was seven," Sydney mumbled to herself. "Why can't I remember
anything earlier?"
It troubled Sydney that she couldn't recall any memories from before the age of seven.
Though she still didn't believe Sark, she found that his words were causing her to doubt
things, things that she'd never doubted before. What she needed was proof. Once she had
proof that Jack really was her father, she could put all her worries to rest.
Sydney knew what she had to do. She pulled out her cell phone and searched under her
contact list for the right number. After a push of a button, the phone started ringing.
"Hey Syd!" answered a familiar voice. "What a strange coincidence! I was just talking to
Dixon about you. Not that we were saying anything bad of course. Except Dixon did
mention that he saw you and Vaughn in sort of a heated discussion before, but I told him
that you were probably just having a normal discussion because Vaughn always has that
expression where his lips are really tight and it looks like he's frowning. Not that Vaughn is
always angry because…"
"Marshall, I need you check something for me," interrupted Sydney, too anxious at the
moment to focus on her friend's ramblings.
"Sure Syd. What do you need?"
"I need you to look up my birth certificate. I know it's an odd request but I'm asking you
to just check on this for me. Ok?"
"Umm, no problem Syd," replied Marshall. Though he thought that it was indeed a strange
request, he knew enough to keep from asking questions. "I can check on it right now. Just
give me a minute to search the database."
Sydney waited patiently until Marshall returned to the phone.
"Umm Syd? There's sort of a problem."
A feeling of dread washed over Sydney. "What is it Marshall?"
"Well it's the strangest thing. Your birth certificate doesn't seem to be on record. Usually
the CIA doesn't overlook things like that. I mean I found my birth certificate, Vaughn's
birth certificate, even Sloane's birth certificate is here, but yours is just…nonexistent. If
you want, I can ask Jack if he has a copy…"
"No, that's ok," Sydney quickly replied. "You don't have to bother him with this. I'm
sure that the CIA just made a mistake. Thanks Marshall."
"No problem Syd. Anytime."
Sydney ended the call and realized that her hands were shaking. She found that she had
more and more questions and very few answers. Why had she never seen a baby picture
of herself? If she and Nadia were half sisters, why did they look so different? The more
Sydney thought about it, the more she became certain. Sark had been telling her the truth.
Next chapter, things get interesting between Syd and Sark. You'll see what I mean.
;-) Questions? Comments? Feel free to review!