Sark sat down on the couch next to his daughter. It was four in the morning, but he had finally gotten every single person to clear out of his house. Once he had come in to find his daughter distraught and his wife gone, he had called in both of Sydney's parents.

The house had been swarming with officially sanctioned and unofficially sanctioned agents, trying to turn up any clue that was present. Now there were only a handful of agents positioned around the perimeter of his home. If it were up to him, no agents would be there. But it had been the only way to get Irina to agree to leave him "alone" with his daughter.

Sark sighed. There was so much to do. He was going to have to call in all his old, unused favors to get his wife back. It wasn't really a matter of wondering if he would get her back. He knew he would get her back. The only unanswered question was how long it would take him.

"I want to help," Hope said, softly, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" he asked, playing dumb.

"I'm fourteen, Dad, not an idiot. You and Mom work for Grandma Irina. You do something shady for the government, unlike Grandpa Jack who doesn't do anything shady."

"That's arguable." Sark took a deep breath and turned to face his daughter. "So, you finally know what your mom and I do for a living."

"I've know since I was ten," she pointed out. "You guys weren't that secretive."

"We really thought we were."

"I want to help," she repeated.

"I don't see how you can. This is a dangerous world that Syd and I work in."

"I can help," she insisted.

"You're not qualified," he said, pulling Hope into his arms. "I wish you could help, darling, but you're just not…" His voice trailed off. "I'll get her back, you know that right?"

"Yeah, I know that, Dad."

Sark relaxed slightly as he sensed the truth in her words. She believed him. At least he had that right now.

It was obvious that the Covenant had played some part in his wife's abduction, but Sark still couldn't find any leads. There was no evidence of who had taken her in the massive chaos that used to be his bedroom. She had been gone for twenty-four hours, and all he could think of to do was pace back and forth in their room searching for clues.

"There has to be something," he whispered to himself. His eyes landed on the scratches where Sydney had tried to flip on their 'panic light'. Shuddering, he walked out of the room before the reality of what must have happened to her sank in.

The house was quiet ever since he sent Hope to stay with her grandmother. In a time like this, Irina was really the only person he trusted to keep his little girl safe. The world would self-destruct before she let her granddaughter get hurt in any way.

Hearing his cell phone begin to ring, he took the last few stairs in one giant leap and ran to the front hall where it was sitting on a table. "Tell me something good."

"It's Will."

"How are things over the pond?" Sark asked, trying to allow himself to relax slightly in order to keep Will on the line as long as possible. At this point, any sort of human contact was good in distracting him from his complete lack of action. Things were beginning to seem hopeless.

"I'm not there right now. Irina has me working on figuring out some more information in this whole Rambaldi mess, and she asked me to come to the States for a little while until my assignment is complete. Anyway, the reason I'm calling you is I think that Sydney's disappearance might have something to do with some new developments I've come across."

"Lay it on me," Julian said, sitting down on the couch in the next room.

"I found out that the Covenant has been digging around in some of Sydney's past. It seems like they've had a man following different people in her life including myself. Most interestingly, it seems the Covenant has renewed the interest they've had in California. They seem to be preparing for some influx in activity in the area."

"I don't know why. There's nothing changing over her anytime soon. Sydney and I have been running all the menial missions for Irina so that we can watch over Hope. She seems to have integrated herself nicely into her school. She's even made some friends."

"That's good to hear. Hope deserves to have a normal life."

"I know she does, but I don't think that's something that any of us can really give her on a permanent basis. Especially right now, considering her mother was abducted. Why don't you tell me more about why this new information is leading to Sydney being taken?"

"I think the Covenant thinks they can get their hands on Hope by initiating an exchange of her for Sydney. They're banking on you loving your wife enough to give up anything and everything."

Sark shook his head. "They obviously don't know Sydney. She would literally murder me if I traded our daughter's life for hers."

"I thought you might want to know in case the Covenant contacts you to set up the exchange."

"I hope they do, Will. Because then I might be able to trace where their communication is coming from."

"Good luck, Julian."

"You'll let me know if you get more information that I need to know?"

"Will do."

Sark closed his phone and flung it at the chair opposite him. So, the Covenant thought he would trade away his daughter after years of giving his life up to protect her from falling into their hands. He was going to have to think this development over and find a way to use it to his advantage.

Sighing, he sat up and retrieved his phone. There were a few phone calls he had to make first, though.

Hope groaned and flung her book across the room. It hit the wall with a resounding smack.

"What is wrong, young lady?" Irina said, sticking her head into the kitchen of her house.

"This math assignment is ridiculous. Why couldn't I have to compose a story or something interesting instead of having to do these stupid algebra equations?"

"Algebra is important," Irina called as she walked back out of the room. "Keep at it."

"Keep at it," Hope mocked silently. "I don't see her using Algebra in her job. I guess being the head of a secret government agency might give you a free pass to having to do math, but still!"

Groaning again, she slid out of her chair and wandered her way down the hall. She caught the sound of her grandmother on the telephone and couldn't help but listen.

"You really think that the Covenant is going to try to pull an exchange, Julian?"

Hearing her father's name, Hope couldn't hold herself back and pushed the slightly closed door open in order to walk into the room. Irina wagged her finger at Hope but didn't tell her to leave. "Good thing I have Will assigned to be in California for a few more months. He's in a position to get us some information without the Covenant being the wiser. So, did Jack have any new information? Wait. What am I saying? Of course he doesn't. His little CIA minions never seem to get any of the information that we need."

Hope heard her father say something before Irina said goodbye and hung up the phone. She winced slightly and closed her eyes expecting her grandmother to start laying into her about entering the room while she was doing business. When no yelling came, she opened one eye an inch. "Aren't you going to yell at me?"

"No. I think you know that you should have knocked before coming in."

Sighing, Hope let out the breath she hadn't known she had been holding and walked over to where Irina sat at her desk. "What did my Dad have to say?"

"It seems your Uncle Will gave him a lead."

Hope waited for Irina to say more. When it didn't come, she frowned slightly.

"Don't start to pout. You know from experience that no one in your family will talk business around you. You're still too young."

"I want to help you guys find my Mom," Hope pleaded. "There has to be something I can do."

"You don't have enough experience to help us with this one, darling. This business might get dangerous real soon if we're going to get Sydney back."

"I have experience. I know all about what you do on your missions."

"No, you don't," Irina said, standing up and walking over to her granddaughter. "I'm sorry, Hope. But until you get a little older, the things your parents and I do are just not safe for you to partake in."

Hope shrugged off the hand Irina had placed on her shoulder. "Fine. I guess I'll just go back to my safe homework and let you guys handle the fact that my Mom is in danger out there somewhere."

"That's not what I meant," Irina managed to call before Hope slammed the door shut. "This is not good," she whispered taking a deep breath. "Not good at all."

Hope stalked down the hallway and back into the kitchen. "There has to be something I can do to help, no matter what everyone tells me. I know that I'm not too young to help."

The voices of her father and grandmother rang through her head, taunting her lack of experience, to the point that she was starting to form a headache. Frustrated, she flung the last remaining book that was on the table to the floor. "Fine. If they don't think I have enough experience, then I'll have to come up with a way to get it."

Suddenly, the perfect solution to her problems popped up in her head. "It has to work," she whispered, running the details through her head a few times. She had to be sure that this was the right move to make before she started. She grabbed a piece of paper and pencil off the ground and started mapping it out.

Ten minutes later, having decided that her plan was definitely foolproof, Hope dialed a familiar number. "Uncle Will. What are you up to?"

"Nothing besides trying to track down who your mother got herself kidnapped by this time. Has something happened?"

"No, nothing to do with my mom. I'm going a little stir crazy with Grandma."

Will chuckled. "It still makes me laugh when you call Irina that."

"She is my grandmother."

"I know that, squirt."

"Are you busy right now?"

"Depends on what you want from me."

Hoping that he would see through the slight lie she was telling, she started explaining why she called, "Grandma told me that you are working on a project here in California for her. I was wondering if I could come stay with you up North while you're here in the States. I figured Dad might be able to focus more knowing that I'm completely out of harms way while he searches for Mom."

"What else do you want because that sounds too self-sacrificing for your normal mode of operations?"

"Well, there are a few things you know that I think I should know."

"What's in this deal for me?"

"Remember a few years back when I found those old love letters you wrote my Mom? The ones you said you'd die from embarrassment if she ever saw?" Hope snickered to herself. "Well, turns out that I never really threw them away."

"That's blackmail, Hope," Will scolded.

"My Dad taught me well."

"All right, kid. As long as you can get your Dad and Grandma to agree to it and as long as it's not going to cause me to get into any trouble, you can come stay with me."

"And you'll teach me a few things?"

"I guess, you little brat."

"Thank you, Uncle Will," she squealed.

"Don't start in with the gratitude. You haven't gotten anyone else to agree with your little plan."

"They will. I have everyone wrapped around my finger," she said unabashedly. "See you soon."

"Yeah. See you soon, kid."

Hope hung up the phone and went running to go tell Irina what she had just gotten Will to promise. As she had said, she knew the secret to getting everyone to agree to this. She would just point out the benefits of having her out of the way where the Covenant doesn't know she will be.

"It has to work," she told herself. In her mind, there was really no other option.