I got tired of trying to get the laptop to cooperate… so, I retyped it all. Sorry it took so long! Also, it's about twice as long as usual… so you better enjoy it!
"We have nothing to talk about, Sark," I said slowly. He had attracted my interest, that much was true, but I truly saw nothing we had reason to converse over.
"On the contrary, Mr. Vaughn. We have plenty to discuss."
"Oh really? Such as…?" I could see by the look he gave me- he thought I was an idiot for even asking that question.
"I think you know what I'm referring to." I thought briefly. It was true, I did know. But I wanted to her him say her name aloud. I wanted to know precisely what he was after before I would commit myself to anything, even a simple conversation. So I replied antagonistically.
"No… no, I don't think I do." In the blink of an eye, his manner changed completely.
"Do you think this is funny, Agent Vaughn? Some kind of game, perhaps?"
"I don't, but you sure as hell seem to."
"This is not a game to me. Not in the least."
"You sure haven't proved it."
"There is nothing I need to prove to you, nor anything I could do even if I wanted to. You've made up your mind about me, that much is obvious, and nothing will ever dissuade you." Before I could formulate a reply, we were interrupted.
"What is going on here?" Irina demanded irately. Sark and I glared at one another.
"Just a bit of a disagreement," Sark stated.
"I noticed," Irina said dryly. "We could hear you all the way down the hall, in my office."
"I apologize," Sark said stiffly, before brushing past me and proceeding towards a private room.
"What was that about?" Irina questioned.
"I don't know," I replied truthfully.
"How can you not know? You were here the whole time, weren't you?"
"Yes," I said through clenched teeth.
"So what went on?"
"I don't have a clue, I told you that once! Apparently, you don't believe me, but it's true- I have no idea what just happened. I've already told Jack this, and now I evidently need to tell you as well: I am tired of answering questions left and right, and I'm not going to do it anymore." I waited for her to challenge me. Instead, she merely inclined her head slightly.
"Fine."
"Fine? You're not going to argue?"
"We can't force you to answer anything, can we? Therefore, there is no reason for me to attempt to reverse your decision when your mind is quite obviously made up, quite firmly. I will, however, encourage you to rethink your decision." I almost sighed in relief, though a nagging doubt remained.
"We land in half an hour," she called over her shoulder as she walked away. I looked around wearily, then returned to a seat by the window to watch for the approaching land.
"Seems like you've spent half your life in a plane. I would hate that," Francie notes absently. She doesn't seem to realize she's said it out loud, interrupting me again in the process, until she notices that I haven't resumed the story.
"Oh… sorry. Just a little observation…" she says hesitantly. I smile slightly.
"Don't worry about it. This isn't the exciting part anyway. And yes, there was a stretch of time where I never went near LA, and not just because I was avoiding Kendall. Even if it was Irina's private jet, after all that time, you start to realize how much planes really do…" I pause to search for the word I want.
"Suck?" Francie suggests. I almost laugh.
"That sounds about right. But as it turned out, our time in the skies wasn't over quite yet…"
An hour after my confrontation with Sark, the four of us were waiting cautiously for Rikishi Maivia to show his face. When he finally did so, it was with an amount of caution and trepidation equal to ours.
"You are here for the information?" he questioned nervously.
"We're here to find Sydney Bristow," Jack replied authoritatively. I could see his tactic- Maivia was obviously skittish, and it wouldn't take too much effort to frighten a confession out of him if he had anything to hide.
"I don't know where she is," he began hesitantly. Jack took a deliberate step forward, and Maivia stumbled back.
"I don't know, I swear! But I am supposed to give you instructions to reach your next contact."
"Another contact?" Sark said angrily. Irina gave him a silencing look.
"Just how many contacts are we supposed to have before we find someone with real information?" she demanded.
"I do not know. The source must cover all tracks."
"The source? What the hell is this, Charmed?" I had lost all patience as well by that point.
"You watch Charmed?" Sark asked. I shot him a scathing glare, and he shrugged uncaringly. I turned back to see Jack giving Maivia a warning.
"Do not move a muscle," he said slowly. The Maldivian nodded, and Jack faced Sark and myself, Irina at his elbow.
"You two can not keep on like this. You don't get along, and you likely never will- that's acceptable. What is, however, unacceptable is the way you continually put my daughter's very existence in danger with your senseless bickering. The fact that you both want her back safely makes it even more ridiculous. The next one of you to start a petty argument will soon find himself with a broken jaw. Are we clear?" I had the distinct feeling of having just been reprimanded by a teacher or parent. Jack hadn't waited for an answer from either of us, choosing instead to turn his focus back to Maivia who, true to his word, had yet to move an inch.
"Where do we go from here?"
"Germany," Maivia said confidently, as if expecting the information to please Jack and Irina. It had just the opposite effect.
"Germany?" Irina questioned. Maivia nodded.
"Yes. Munich, more specifically."
"Are you telling me that we just flew from Greece to the Maldives just to have someone tell us to turn around and go back to Europe?" I began to wonder if Maivia would live through this.
"Not quite," he said quickly.
"Explain," Jack demanded tersely.
"You must fly a different route- you cannot go direct."
"Well what's the alternate route?" Sark queried impatiently.
"First you must go to New Zealand- I hear you are familiar with the country- and then, to Alaska. From there, you may proceed to Munich."
"Why?" Sark questioned.
"Because Munich is where you make contact."
"I understand that!" Sark declared, his accent dripping with derision. "Why all the out of the way stops? Is there a point to them, or just more covering tracks for the source?" This last bit was said with a glance towards me.
"Yes, there is a point."
"What might that be?" Jack asked.
"Cannot tell."
"Excuse me? You're telling us to go completely out of our way, waste precious time and fuel, and you're not going to give us any explanation?" Maivia was definitely grating on my nerves.
"This is exactly what I tell you." None of us had a ready response for that. Jack sighed in resignation
"We have to play by their rules if we want to get anywhere. Where, exactly, are we going in New Zealand? Auckland?" Maivia shook his head.
"No. You must go to Wellington this time. You will find a packet waiting within your plane when you return to it." I narrowed my eyes; his demeanor had done a complete 180-degree turn, and it made me suspicious. I glanced briefly to the other faces around me, trying to get a feel for whether or not anyone else had noticed. I could see that they all had.
"I assure you, Wellington will be much more pleasant than your visit to Auckland late last year, though it will be no lighter on the surprises. You obviously wish to return to your plane and continue on the journey. However, may I suggest that you wait at least half an hour? It would be in your collective best interest." With a dangerous gleam in his eye, he slipped off down a side alley, leaving all of us completely baffled.
"What the hell was that?" I demanded.
"A fairly routine meeting in what promises to be a string of them," Irina replied. I nearly groaned aloud.
"I don't trust him," Sark declared. I bit the urge to reply, seeing the warning in Jack's eyes.
"You don't trust anyone," Irina noted dryly. I grinned to myself; she had stolen the words right out of my mouth.
"You're very nearly correct," Sark replied. "However, this man in particular struck me as odd. We can't take a word he says as truth."
"I don't take a word any of these people say without a grain of salt. On the other hand, it's all we have to go on, so it's what we'll have to go on," Jack said.
"So what now?" I questioned.
"Now, we find a quiet place to sit for the next 27 minutes, and we work through the various possibilities behind the plethora of stops between here and Munich," Irina decided.
"You don't mean to tell me we're actually going to do as he so kindly suggested?" Sark protested incredulously.
"We have no other options, Sark. There was obviously some reason for him to have said that. At this point, we can't take any risks. Remember, it's not just our lives on the line anymore," Irina said quietly. Sark nodded to her. We spent the next half hour engaged in thinking of as many options as possible. In the end, the majority of them were scrapped, as none of them seemed truly plausible. Jack and Irina concluded with a simple warning: proceed with caution. From there, it was back to the plane, and in the air to New Zealand.
When we boarded, we expected to see a manila envelope sitting on a seat. Nothing materialized. After half an hour spent searching every inch of every seat, I gave up. Jack was speaking with the pilots; Irina was searching her office; and Sark had disappeared. As I awaited news on the packet, or lack thereof, I once again busied myself with watching out the window. Before I realized it, I had fallen asleep.
"Sorry, I have to interrupt you again Michael. I understand everything you've said so far; I understand that you spent more time on a plane than any normal person should; but what I want to know- need to know- is did you ever find Sydney Bristow?"
"I'm getting there Francie, I promise. But I can't tell you right now. There are other things that have to be told first, or else-" she cuts me off angrily.
"I realize there must be some reason for everything you're telling me, and the order in which you're sharing it. I don't want you to skip right to the end- if there is even an end to the story- I just need you to answer this question for me." I remain silent for a moment, just long enough for her to get angry again.
"Michael Vaughn, this is not fair, and you know it. I deserve to know… I need to know. Just answer this one simple question, damn it, and I won't ask you any more about it until you reach that point. After Lithuania, have you ever again seen Sydney Bristow?" I'm silent one again, contemplating how best to answer the question. It seems a simple yes or no on the surface, but it's truly a multi-faceted question, and there are things I just can't overlook.
"Michael… please." The anger has gone out of her voice, replaced only by a quiet desperation. "I have to know."
"Fine. I can understand that. You want to know if I've seen Sydney since the incident in Lithuania? Ok, I can answer that question for you." I pause again, almost unwilling to go on, but her eyes urge me to continue.
"Yes. Yes, I have."
Europe was… interesting. Mostly good, some less than good, but I suppose that's to be expected. I'm (slowly) putting my Europe journal online, so if anyone actually wants to read it, just let me know and I'll stop being a bum long enough to dig up the link for you… and now, replies!
Jacky: Proper breakdown procedure? I didn't know there was one… I should remember that for my next breakdown.
Person without a name: Another demand for S/V shipperness…
Jade: You'll never give up… yeah, I'm starting to catch on to that… hehe. And believe me, I scouted plenty of fun places to ship them off to, as already evidenced with this update…
SAG: I'm holding you personally responsible for my sudden use of the word score repeatedly. Just FYI. :p Yeah, the Stalin av scares people… second only to Igor from Young Frankenstein… speaking of, it's av change time again!
Nancy: Ah, the joys of the easily amused… yeah yeah, I know… I shouldn't talk… hey, it's been like 3 weeks since we played that game… *ponders*
Ryanne: Heh, you already read this update over at SD-1… way to be ahead, lol.