A/N

Thanks everyone for all their reviews!!!!
Rai: Poor Weiss is right hunh!
Natalie: Sorry I love to write cliffhangers, yet I hate to read them. But alas its so much fun!

Kathryn: You guessed it! Update Reaper soon and Hideaway and well all of them!!!! Pretty Please with a cherry on top?

AnnaSun: Me thinks Anna missed the bit on the end of the last chapter so I recapped lol Enjoy and as always thanks for all the reviews!!!

Recap:
Jack remained silent for a few moments as he made a beeline for the door. He stepped out into the bright sunshine squinting at the sudden contrast.

"Did you hear me? I said our daughter is alive."

He could only utter two words. "I know."

Redemption

Chapter 27

TWO DAYS EARLIER

Just keep going, just keep going

Kat repeated over and over in her mind as she ran down the long hallways her bare feet smacking against the cold cement with every step she took. She could hear the guards running behind her; they were getting close. Rounding another corner she spotted a good hiding spot and she slipped the gun she'd swiped from one of the guards in the waistband of her pants. Her fingers scraped against the concrete as she tried to climb up onto the ledge. She was unable to grip the wall and fell back landing hard on her side. Her body screamed in pain as she tried to get up, and her lungs felt like they would burst, she couldn't seem to get enough air. She stumbled and reached out to grab the wall feeling like she would pass out. They hadn't given her, her shot that day and if she did pass out, it would be all over and she couldn't. She had to focus. It was the only way she could get out of this alive. She tried again and this time managed to pull herself up onto the narrow ledge. She lay still holding her breath as the guards ran past and then slowly let it out. She lay on the ledge for some time trying to gain control of her breathing.

She'd lost track of the days. Had it been three or four days now, she wasn't sure, but then again it could have been longer than that. After her argument with Jack she'd left the JTF and unable to think clearly she began walking without paying any attention to where she was going. It didn't matter where she went, she just needed to get away; needed to clear her head and to concentrate and to think. But it wasn't easy. All that was going through her mind was what he had said to her. He was her father. There must have been some kind of mistake, he couldn't be her father, it just wasn't possible. Her vision blurred with tears and completely distracted she hadn't noticed that someone was following her until it was too late. She'd been walking down a side street when she'd felt this sharp stabbing pain in her back and turning around she saw a man pointing a tranq gun at her. There was nothing she could do and slowly she fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

When she'd come to she was on a plane. They'd taken her to Mexico City first and then a small plane somewhere else. She'd been brought to a room at the end of a long hallway. She tried to run but the guard tackled her to the ground and injected her with something, truth serum, she decided later as it made her legs weak and numb and she couldn't walk. She was hooked up to a lie detector machine and asked questions. Over and over again they asked her about The Contessa and over and over again she gave the same responses. The guard had tried beating it out of her, but his efforts were futile, it didn't matter how much he hurt her, how much he slapped her or kicked her or hit her, she never said a word. After all what could she say. Finally he stopped; she barely had time to catch her breath before they injected her with something else and she blacked out once more.

Kathryn woke several hours later her arms and legs strapped to the metal table she lay on. The guard unstrapped her and dragged her over to another man whom she could only guess was in charge. She recognized him. He was one of the men who had tried to grab her at the safehouse. He was the one who'd broken her arm and then gotten away. When he pointed the gun at her, he called her Katarina, she felt the coolness of the steel against her skin, she knew she was going to die. He pulled the trigger and she remembered nothing after that.

Hours later she woke. She thought at first she was dead but the guard quickly confirmed that she wasn't. How was that possible? He'd put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger, she'd felt the pain and her hair was covered in dried blood. The guard just laughed at her, taunting her until the man who called her Katarina came back. He sat her in a chair handcuffed her hands behind her back and faced her. They stared at each other for a long time both silent not saying anything. By this time she was shaking violently and she could barely keep her eyes open. The effects of the different drugs they'd given her along with her low blood sugar were making it difficult to stay awake. Sometime later a few guards came and uncuffed her, they were careless and she used it to her advantage. She took the first guard down easily with a simple drop kick. The second and third proved to be more difficult and she managed to get a hold of one of their tranq guns and shoot each one. This all led her to where she was now; lying on the ledge hiding from the men who would probably kill her first chance they got.

She couldn't hear the guards anymore and carefully she slipped off the ledge moving down to the end of the long corridor she spotted an air vent and made a beeline for it. She had almost gotten the top off when she heard the sound of a gun being cocked behind her and she froze.

"Agent Bristow, I'm surprised to see you here," a man took a few steps towards her, his accent was crisp, his footsteps light. "Drop your weapon, stand, and kick it back."

Defeated, Kathryn obeyed his orders and set the tranq gun on the floor beside her. She stood slowly stumbling slightly as a wave of dizziness swept over her but she stood her ground reaching out for the wall to steady herself and then kicked the gun back. She stood still, her back to him, hands down at her sides.

Sark cautiously walked towards her keeping his gun on her. He picked up hers and slipped it into his pocket. He raised an eyebrow as he walked towards her, prepared to fight her but she made no move. What was she up to? Why was Sydney Bristow espionage agent extraordinaire surrendering without cause? He was still a good ten feet away from her when he realized there was something different. "Sydney?"

Kat remained silent as he approached her.

He stopped several feet away. She barely came up to his shoulder, her entire body structure was smaller and she certainly made no recognition of him, but he'd seen her face on the security camera, or he'd seen Sydney's face on the security camera. Roughly he grabbed her arm and turned her around taking in her bruised and bloodied face. Her entire face was covered in a gleam of cold sweat, her eyes were tired-she had trouble keeping them open and he could see that she was shaking even struggling just to stand, "you're not Sydney. Who the hell are you?"

"I could ask you the same question," she decided to play it cool.

"You're just a child," he determined that she couldn't be any older than thirteen or fourteen and gripped her arm even tighter now and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. "What are you doing here?"

"And that makes you like what, twelve?" She winced as he pulled her towards him, her shoulder aching. "You don't have to pull so hard I don't-" she didn't get the words out as a wave of dizziness passed over her and she fell to the ground unconscious.

Sark nudged her with his foot a few times before he was satisfied that she was either unconscious or dead. He pocketed his gun and crouched down beside her. She had a pulse but she was covered in a cold sweat. There was clearly something wrong with her. He couldn't just leave her there. "Bloody hell," he sighed and lifted her into his arms. She was surprisingly light he noted as he made his way down the endless corridor back to the security room.

He could hear Melnikov before he saw him. His thick Russian accent shouting orders at the guards; he had his back to him.

"Have you lost something?" Sark asked.

"Ah Mr. Sark, I'm sorry to keep you wait---." Melnikov slowly turned and then seeing that Sark had his captive he walked over to him. "Knocked her out?"

Sark shook his head; "she passed out on her own. What's wrong with her?"

"Other than being a royal pain in the ass…," Melnikov reached into his pocket and pulled out a vile. He unscrewed it and passed it under her nose several times. Sark turned away from the wretched smell. She jerked to alertness managing to get one well placed kick in the general direction of Melnikov's groin before Sark put her down and the guard jerked her arms behind her back holding her still.

Sark stood back and watched as Melnikov slapped her hard across her face. Her head hung limply for a moment stunned by the sudden harsh blow before she raised it staring at him defiantly; blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. Sark had to admire her courage, her defiance. Melnikov gripped her chin in his hands. "Stop beating up my men."

Her response was well directed. She got leverage and spat in his face.

Sark smirked as he watched Melnikov step back from her and quickly wipe his face; he'd never been fond of the guy. "Take her," he nodded to the guard.

The guard pulled Kathryn back but she lifted her elbow and nailed him right at the base of his throat. He let her go and grasped at his throat unable to breathe. Kat used this to her advantage and kicked Melnikov in the knee. He went down quickly and she flew past him. She'd almost reached the end of the hallway by the time Sark got to her.

"Stop kicking me," Sark grimaced as she nailed him in the shin but he kept his grip on her and dragged her back to Melnikov. He passed her over to two guards, one of which immediately placed his gun to her head and she stilled locking eyes with him.

"Take her," Melnikov pointed to one of the rooms down the hall.

Sark reached his hand out cupping her cheek slightly. "It's been a pleasure." He thumbed away the traces of blood from her lower lip. "Perhaps we will meet again some time."

"In your dreams," she snarled as the guards drug her to the room Melnikov had indicated.

"She's quite the…..handful," Sark commented following Melnikov down the hall. They entered the room beside Kathryn's which turned out to be a two-way mirror.

"Putting it mildly, damn bitch," he rubbed his knee grimacing.

Sark nearly laughed at the way the words sounded coming through in his thick Russian accent. Melnikov was a weak little bastard who was only a pawn in his employer's game; whomever his employer was.

"Who is she?" Sark pretended to be mildly curious as he leaned casually against the glass and glanced at the young girl who was handcuffed to a wooden chair. She looked like Sydney, surely too old to be her daughter but clearly close enough to be her sister. But surely if Sydney had a sister he'd have known about her. He'd worked for Irina for many years. She seemed familiar somehow but he was sure he'd never seen her before. One of the guards entered holding a syringe. He approached her and tried to get a grip on her arm but she pulled away screaming.

"Kathryn Sullivan," Melnikov sighed and leaned over and pressed the intercom button. "Stop fighting him, you know you need the injection."

Sark watched as the girl finally relented and allowed the guard to give her the needle. "What is it?" he asked.

"Insulin—she's rather uncooperative after missing a few doses. A good strong one will straighten her out."

"I've heard her name mentioned, but I can't seem to recall why. What is it that she knows?"

"Wouldn't we all like to know," Melnikov looked almost wistful as he walked towards the end of the window to watch from a better angle. "The Covenant took her several months ago, eventually she ended up in CIA custody."

"And you took her back. Why do you have her?" She was much calmer now, he noted. The medication had obviously taken effect; she seemed more alert, had stopped shivering and had more energy as she struggled against her constraints.

Sark wasn't sure whether Melnikov would take the bait. If he did, he was a bloody fool.

He took the bait.

"My employer, like The Covenant wants to know about The Contessa. She, it seems is the only one who knows what it is, though she pretends she doesn't."

"How are you so sure that she does know?

"She knows," Melnikov stated eyeing her. "She passed the lie detector test when we first took her, I'd hoped she would remember through force. She failed the one she took yesterday. Between then and now—she knows. Now we'll finally get some answers."

Sark looked to the door raising an eyebrow as The Dentist a man affectionately known to most as Suit and Glasses walked in. Kathryn looked at him as well. Sark saw the look in her eyes, she was terrified, she knew who he was.

As the dentist approached her Kathryn's eyes widened and she swallowed hard. She knew exactly who he was Sydney had told her about him when she told her the story of how she joined the CIA.

"We never got to meet last time," he pulled a chair over and sat in front of her, he cupped her cheek in his hand. "Such a young, pretty face."

"Gee, I'm heartbroken," she said sweetly. "Shouldn't you be in a wheelchair?"

"And smart too," he grinned pulling back from her. "Perhaps too smart for her own good?"

"Hardly. Anyone ever told you, you look like an owl with those glasses? I mean come on, gold glasses went out with the last century-"

"There are two ways we can do this, the easy way or the more difficult, much more painful way," he cut her off opened his case showing her the tools. Two of the guards approached her and latched their hands onto her body to hold her still. "Tell me Kathryn, what is The Contessa?"

The force of the men holding her down, pressing against her damaged ribs and aching face brought tears to her eyes and she swallowed hard eliciting a small cry from the back of her throat. She managed to shake her head as the tears fell freely down her face. It was clear that she was in a great deal of pain from the anguish on her face. "I can't," she shook her head.

"Yes you can," he coaxed her gently. "Tell me, where it is."

"No," her words came out broken as she struggled to maintain control. "You don't understand, I don't know what it is, I don't know where it is. I don't know what the stupid Contessa is. Why won't you believe me? I don't know anything."

"Then I'm afraid we're going to have to do this the hard way."

Her eyes darted to the table watching him as he picked up one of his instruments and held it near her mouth. "Wait, I'll tell you, do you have a pen?"

The Dentist pulled one out of his pocket along with a pad of paper. In the small room with the two-way mirror, Melnikov did the same. Sark glanced over at him; he looked about ready to jump right through the glass. He could see a hint of a smile on the girl's face and wondered exactly what she was up to.

"U…S…E…O…W…C…Y…R," she watched him copy down the letters. "Rearrange them."

The Dentist glared at her in recognition of this trick after he'd unscrambled the letters. Kathryn grinned, the ploy that she was revealing information had only been for her own amusement. She'd learned that from her sister. On the other side of the two-way mirror, Melnikov scrambled to decode her message.

"S C R E W Y O U."

Melnikov swore and threw down his pen down and Sark struggled to refrain from laughing out loud. The girl certainly knew all the right buttons to push. Her scream caught his attention and he looked back at her. She was struggling against the guards who held her still as the dentist began pulling her teeth.

Sark turned back to Melnikov; "shall we conclude our business?"

"Yes, of course," Melnikov nodded. "Do you have the disk?"

"Do you have the diamonds?"

Both men produced the desired trade item and after each confirmed that the item was authentic, Sark glanced back once more at Kathryn. The Dentist pulled three of her teeth now and all she could do was cry in tormented pain refusing to speak. She hadn't revealed any valuable information. She was stubborn and she was strong, but she was fading; she wouldn't be able to take much more. He left Melnikov's facility quickly with only two immediate goals. The first was to find out who Kathryn Sullivan was and to contact Derevko and the second was to find out what The Contessa was and why the forces of their business were working to find it.

~ ~ ~

There had been a sense of urgency in her voice. She'd tried to hide it of course but he heard it and as Vaughn drove towards the warehouse he couldn't help but wonder why Sydney had wanted him to meet her at the warehouse. They hadn't been to that warehouse in over a year, not since SD-6 was taken down and alliance had been disbanded and he found himself missing it As he drove into the underground parking he noticed a car in front of him and another following. He wasn't worried; he recognized the cars.

"What are you doing here?" he asked seeing Marshall and Will step out of their cars.

"Sydney called, she wanted me to meet her," Will said confused and looked at Marshall who nodded in agreement.

Vaughn shrugged but all three men turned when they heard another car approach. Weiss stepped out of his car confused to see the others there. "Syd called you too?" Vaughn asked as Eric closed the car door.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "Sounded kinda urgent but she wasn't crying or anything," he hadn't seen her since Kathryn's wake the day before.

Vaughn pulled open the large sliding door and they all walked into the warehouse. There was definitely something up, as they neared the chain linked area both Sydney and her father were in the enclosure deep in conversation.

"Hey," she looked up as the four men entered the enclosure. "Thanks for coming. And Marshall thank you I know you've had a long couple of days, how's Carrie?"

Marshall was practically glowing with pride. "She's fine, tired and cranky but she came home from the hospital yesterday, the baby too."

"Congratulations, I can't wait to see her," she smiled and gave him a quick hug. Carrie had gone into labor shortly after Kathryn's funeral the day before and Marshall was now the proud Papa of a seven-pound six-ounce baby girl.

"Syd what's going on?" Weiss interrupted.

"I know you're all wondering why you're here—it's difficult to explain—sit down," she gestured to the aluminum folding chairs surrounding the table and they all took their seats. "The reason we asked you guys to come is that we need your help, it's about Kathryn-"

"What about Kat?" Will asked.

"She's alive," Jack said calmly.

"What?" Weiss nearly shouted.

"That's not possible," Marshall shook his head. "Is it, I mean we all saw her in the video, she was there, they shot her--she was dead, she-the DNA test was a match, she-"

"I know what your thinking," Sydney sighed seeing their stunned faces. "I never lied to you. When we told you that Katy was gone, it was the truth." Her voice trembled slightly as she continued. "We went to Rome, identified her body and brought her home, I never lied to you about that. We thought she was dead." The four men remained silent allowing her to continue as they absorbed what she was saying. "The day before her funeral I went to the funeral home to bring her clothes and some things I wanted her to have when I noticed something strange."

"What was it?" Vaughn asked.

"Her earrings, she wasn't wearing any of course but the guy he said he couldn't get the ones I gave him in, her holes were almost closed."

"And why is that strange?" Will asked.

"Because when they took her she was wearing earrings." She glanced up at their confused faces. "Katy had her ears pierced when she was three or four. It would take several months of not wearing earrings for her holes to close up. That girl hadn't had pierced ears for more than a week, the holes were still red and swollen. So I looked at her closer and I remembered her scar." Sydney pointed to a spot on the back of her neck just below her hairline. "She had a scar right here about two inches long. Her foster mother hit her with a broken beer bottle when she was eleven. That girl pretending to be my sister, she didn't have that scar."

"She was doubled wasn't she. Project Helix, just like Francie-" Will rubbed his eyes wearily as he processed everything Sydney had just told them.

"That is our first assumption," Jack spoke up. "As it stands, it's the only reason I can think of."

"You're sure it's not her?" Weiss said skeptically.

"Positive." Jack looked around the table at their expectant faces. "Yesterday I received Intel confirmation. As of two days ago, Kathryn was seen alive in the custody of a man named Viktor Melnikov in Moscow." He passed around a photograph of her abductor. "Former KGB and K-Directorate, and we have now confirmed that The Covenant is not responsible. For all intense purposes Melnikov wanted everyone to think she was dead, including The Covenant, K-Directorate, CIA, whoever knew of her existence and anyone who knew of her reappearance. Either he knows more about The Contessa than The Covenant or he's working with someone who does."

"Why not work through the agency?" Will asked curious as to why they'd all met in secret.

"The CIA wouldn't sanction a high risk extraction of a civilian based on the source of the Intel we've received."

"Well who'd it come from?" Marshall asked oblivious to the fact that the others had already guessed.

"Irina Derevko."

"Oh."

"So we're going in to get her?" Weiss confirmed.

"If you'll help, yes," Sydney nodded. "We'll need to hire a few freelancers but if you're willing to come than we need you. We're just waiting on more Intel and the specs about where she's being held-"

"You don't even have to ask Syd," Will shook his head. "I'm in," he looked around at the others who nodded in agreement. "We're all in."

"Thank you," she smiled briefly blinking back a few tears that were attempting to break their way through. "I'm sorry that we couldn't tell you yesterday before the funeral but there were probably people watching-"

"It was imperative that Melnikov, The Covenant, even the CIA continued to believe that we believe she was dead, for her own safety." Jack interrupted.

"Syd- it's okay," Weiss said uncertainty. "She's alive and that's all that matters. Now what's the plan?"

~ ~ ~

Light, sunlight. Kat could feel it on her face warming her cheek, pulling her out of the darkness of a restful slumber. She cracked open one eye and glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. 7:30, "too early," she sighed stretching in the comfortable bed before flopping over on her side. She was not met with comfort but with pain. She cried out touching her cheek gingerly as her body screamed out in protest. The realization hit her and she sat up abruptly. At first she'd thought she was home, at Sydney's but she wasn't. What had happened, she searched her memory trying to recall what had happened last.

She was trying to escape; she'd found an air vent and was almost inside when the guy had found her. Tall, blond, British, cocky, with those incredible blue eyes. He looked like a nice guy but she was almost certain he wasn't. He'd brought her back to Melnikov. Then the Dentist came. Gently she touched her jaw again remembering the painful experience. Then he'd given her something, and she'd passed out.

She looked around the room, it certainly didn't seem like she was in the same building. How long had she been sleeping? Hours? Days? She was in a bedroom. Her hands were free, her feet were free. She slept in the middle of a huge bed, the blankets kicked to her feet. She scooted to the edge and slid her legs over slowly standing up. She was wearing a long-sleeved, long, white nightgown and socks. Where had it come from? Who had dressed her. She was so confused, tired and hungry. She ran to the door, tried to open it but it was locked as she suspected.

She moved to the window and gazed out. It was barred with heavy black steel but she could see fields. She was in the countryside, in what looked to be a large old house. She pulled at the bars but they wouldn't budge and there were no buildings to be seen.

She stood surveying the room. It was barren, save the tall bookcase filled with novels of all sorts. Peeling wallpaper tore at the corners of the room and heavy curtains hung from the canopy bed she'd slept in. She tried the dresser, all the drawers were empty and then the desk as well, but there was nothing. On the bedside table she noticed a tray of food. Scrambled eggs and toast and orange juice. It was still warm and she was starving, but she couldn't eat it; they might have done something to it. An oval mirror stood near the closet and she moved to it, now more confused than ever as she glanced at her reflection. Her mouth was still swollen and it ached, her face patterned with bruises and scrapes but she was clean. Someone had even washed her hair and cleaned the blood from her face, but who?

She heard footsteps in the hallway and ran to the door pressing her ear against it. She started backing away when she heard the key in the lock. She took small steps backwards as the door opened and the person finally came into view. At first she couldn't speak as she looked up at him but finally her lips managed to form the word.

"Papa?"