A short time later, I was sitting on the luxurious leather couch in Irina's private office, slowly working on a cup of coffee. Seeing that picture had eradicated my appetite. I sighed to myself, glancing cautiously at Irina, who was working away at her computer. Jack stood next to her, pointing things out every so often. I didn't know what they were working on, and I didn't really care.

Syd was still alive. That was all that mattered.

I thought back to the picture that had been found in the file. I had studied it for quite a while, going so far as to request that Irina print it out for me. Even under all my scrutiny, I couldn't determine anything for certain, just that it was Sydney. There was no doubt about that. But it was too small, too dark, too blurry for me to be sure of anything else… what condition was she in? Was anyone around her when the picture was taken? If we were to be completely honest with ourselves, Jack, Irina, and myself couldn't even truly say for certain that she was alive when it was taken.

But she was. I couldn't explain it; it was a gut feeling. But I knew it was true.

I fell into silent contemplation, trying to think through the various positions. As Irina had once noted about Jack, a good tactician doesn't make a move until he's seen all the angles. It was becoming obvious to me that I wasn't much of a tactician; there were still too many open-ended questions that I couldn't even begin to grasp.

"Michael?" Jack's voice, somewhere between concern and annoyance, broke through my reverie, and I quickly glanced over to find him and Irina staring at me.

"I'm sorry, what?" They exchanged glances.

"Are you all right?" Irina asked quietly.

"Did you need something?" I sidestepped her question, not feeling capable of truly answering it.

"We're approaching New Zealand now, thought you might want to know. We should be there within 45 minutes," Jack replied. I nodded.

"Ok. What's the plan when we get there?"

"The three of us will disembark at a private airfield in Wellington. Sark is going to stay here and continue deciphering the packet- he's cracked the beginning of it, which is how we know where we're going in Wellington, but apparently it has a few different codes within it, so it's going to take longer than anticipated to figure the whole thing out. Another contact is supposed to meet us at the airfield, but we don't know who or why."

"And after that?" I pressed. Irina picked up for Jack.

"We don't know what happens next. It depends on what Sark finds, and what our contact tells us. All we really know for now is that we'll be there for at least half an hour."

"Why's that?" Jack shrugged in response.

"It's the rules."

"From the packet?" I questioned dryly. Jack nodded.

"Of course," I muttered as I stood up.

"Where are you going?" Jack questioned.

"Find some food… or something," I replied vaguely. He nodded again, and I stepped out of the office. As the door shut behind me, I glanced down the hall, wondering where, exactly, Sark was doing his work. Glancing at my watch, I saw that we still had 27 minutes until we reached Wellington. That didn't give me enough time to attempt to locate Sark, so I dropped that idea. However, I still wasn't hungry so food wasn't at all appealing to me. Noticing a small stack of books, I headed for it and searched for something to read. I came up with a book of poetry, which I sat down and began flipping through. I'd just gotten through the Sylvia Plath section when Jack and Irina appeared.

"Five minutes," Jack said as they walked past me. I took that to mean that was how much time we had before landing, so I returned the book to its prior location and got myself settled in. Ten minutes later, we were on solid ground again.

"Where is he?" I questioned anxiously.

"Calm down, Michael. We are, after all, six minutes early," Jack said.

"Well in that case, he should be early too." Jack gave me a scathing look before turning to survey our surroundings.

Irina spotted it well before either of us; a slight, dark figure approaching fast, but obviously trying to stay concealed as much as possible.

"That's gotta be him, our contact," I said certainly.

"Most likely. Remember, Maivia may have implied that we'll be surprised by whatever we learn here today, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's nothing of real value." A moment later, our contact finally came into clear view, and I could see that 'he' wasn't a he after all. She observed us guardedly as she approached, giving us a long, appraising look before she spoke.

"You're the ones looking for Bristow?" she questioned in an accent so heavy, it was hard to distinguish.

"Yes, we are," Irina replied.

"Good… I'm Lucy. I have some information for you, and without it, I doubt you'll be able to-" she paused suddenly, interrupted by the sound of a single gunshot. Everyone looked around frantically, but no source could be determined, and no further shots were heard. Then, before any of us could even move, Lucy collapsed to the ground. Jack was at her side instantly, rolling her over to reveal a large, and still spreading, bloodstain on her lower back. A second later, he looked up at Irina and myself.

"She won't make it," he said quietly.

"We need that information," Irina urged.

"Let's get her on the plane, we can try to get her info then," I suggested. Jack nodded; he and I began to pick her up when another shot was fired, followed by two more. All three of us ran for the plane, taking cover inside.

"What do we do?" I asked. Irina slipping past us and heading for her office barely registered with me, so intent was I on locating the shooter.

"We have to find some way to get Lucy on the plane so we can either ask her what she was going to tell us, or search her body for any clues." I cringed slightly, but nodded my understanding. Irina reappeared then, sniper rifle in hand.

"Where are the shots coming from?" she asked.

"They had to be from that direction to hit Lucy in the back," Jack replied.

"That's very… general. Don't suppose you can narrow it down at all?" she questioned.

"I can," I muttered, before rushing off the plane and back to where Lucy lay dying.

"Michael!" Jack barked. As soon as I reached Lucy's side, another shot was squeezed off. I became certain they weren't trying to kill any of us; it hit the dirt not four inches from my foot, and I knew they could very easily have killed me. I reached out and searched for a pulse. I found nothing.

"She's dead," I called to Jack and Irina.

"You will be too in a minute, if you don't get back up here!" Jack shouted.

"No I wont," I replied. Another shot was fired, this one hitting Lucy's throat right next to my fingers. I jumped back as blood flew out. I heard yet another shot, and looked around to find where it had hit, only to see Irina lowering her own rifle.

"Now, let's see what we can find," she said matter-of-factly.

"Think it was a set up?" I asked as we began searching for anything of interest.

"I don't know," Jack replied. "It obviously was, to some extent. The shooter had to know where we'd be in order to get into position. But as for whether or not Lucy was in on it, and was just the sacrificial lamb, I couldn't say."

Jack and I continued searching through Lucy's pockets, in search of something we weren't even sure of. Irina, in the meantime, had made her way over to where the shooter had fallen. I watched as she rolled the body over, and then looked towards us. Catching my eye, she nodded slightly.

"I think you might want to see this."

On to the reviewage… thanks to all of you who just keep coming back, to those of you who are just joining the fun, and especially to those who have a bit too much fun with that review button- you loons never fail to crack me up. ;) You're all absolutely awesome, and I appreciate it so much.

There's one thing I think I need to address now though, as it's been brought up before, and I'm sure it will be asked again: when is this thing going to end? {sorry rin, I know this concept is foreign to you…} Honestly, the answer to this is: I just don't have a clue. I'd originally envisioned maybe 10 chapters and done. Since then, it's taken on a life of its own, and no matter how many times I think it's getting there, something new invariably comes up. Believe me, I'm as surprised as anyone else at how long this has gotten- I'll post some of the fun and exciting stats below- but there's still a lot to be done before it can end. I realize it's getting insane, and I'll be anti-surprised if I lose some readers due to this, but that's just how it is. Thank you to whoever sticks with me here.

And now for the fun and exciting stats I promised. This is all in Word, size 13 font.

Pages: 89

Words: 34,936

Paragraphs: 1010