"I've finished decoding it. I think you'll find this… rather useful."
Sark made his grand entrance with those words, holding in his hand what was obviously the decoded information from the mysterious packet.
"What's in it?" I questioned anxiously. Sark shut the door behind him and took a seat before launching into his explanation.
"The code, when printed out, tallied four pages total. When I got to work deciphering, however, it turned out the majority of the letters were nulls- that is, ciphers that were put in place for the sole purpose of mangling the true meaning of the code. With my third run through, I managed to discard all of the nulls, and the four page message was cut down to seven words." He held up the pages mentioned, and we could see various markings made by him. He then held the papers out to Irina, who looked them over quickly.
"Proceed to Germany. Your contact is waiting."
"That's all it says?" I asked. She nodded briefly, handing the pages off to Jack. He studied them longer, seemingly double-checking Sark's work, before passing them to me. Sure enough, those were the only words that made any sense.
"It all looks in order to me," Jack noted in response to my as yet unvoiced question. I gave him a brief nod before returning the papers to Sark.
"Ok, so what happened to the original plan? In the Maldives, Maivia told us to go from there, to New Zealand, then Alaska, then Germany. Why remove the Alaskan leg altogether?" I wondered, not truly expecting an answer.
"Perhaps that was yet another null… just tossed in there, no real value, simply to throw us off," Sark suggested.
"It's entirely possible," Irina agreed.
"I'll tell the pilot to prepare for takeoff," Jack said, excusing himself from the room.
"We know we're going to Munich, but when we get there, how do we know where, exactly, we're supposed to land?" I asked.
"Same way as we knew where to land in Wellington- someone will make contact with my pilot, and he'll relay the message on to me," Irina replied. I nodded, having missed that part of the New Zealand trip. Jack returned moments later, and we filled Sark in on what had taken place while he was deciphering the code.
"Anna Espinosa was here?" he repeated. I nodded in response, and he stood up and walked out. Looking concerned, Irina followed him. For lack of anything better, Jack and I both followed her. We found him looking out a window, to the area in which Anna had been shot down by Irina.
"Please tell me I'm not the only one sensing some kind of connection here," he said dryly.
"No. Definitely not," Jack replied. We all took our seats as the pilot announced takeoff; a short time later, we returned to Irina's private office, still with no clue what the connection was, or what it all meant.
"We've got a long flight ahead of us, and no idea what to expect once we reach Munich. Everyone needs to get some rest while you still can," Jack stated in a tone that brooked no argument. I suddenly realized how exhausted I felt, and with a nod to my companions, I exited Irina's office and went to a more comfortable, isolated seat. For a short time- perhaps a minute, perhaps an hour- I stared out the window, watching the clouds pass by against the bright New Zealand sky. I finally fell asleep, until I became aware of someone seated near me. I opened my eyes and saw Jack staring out the window intently. He quickly noticed that I was awake, and turned to face me.
"We've left New Zealand airspace," he noted.
"How long was I asleep?" I yawned.
"No more than an hour," he replied.
"Did you need something?"
"No… I just needed to be away from Sark and Irina for a while." I nod and turn to look out the window again. We were over some random land mass, that was all I could tell. The sun was just beginning to set, and I stared out at it pensively. I was getting tired of planes. My thoughts veered from Sydney to Sark to Irina and back to Sydney again. Soon I chose to watch the faded world outside of the window rather than allow my fears to overtake me.
A light pink glow reverberated over the sky, illuminating the clouds and seeming to wash the encroaching night with a warmth that didn't spread to any of the planes inhabitants, especially me. Despite that, it was a truly spectacular sight. I could see the lights of a city far below, beneath the sparse cloud cover. Also visible was a long, winding system of lakes and rivers, stretching endlessly across the vast horizon. Jack's voice broke into my thoughts.
"Michael, are you doing all right?" I retract my gaze from the window and glare at him briefly.
"Just dandy." With that, I stand up and go in search of something to drink, feeling his eyes on my back all the while. When I return to my seat moments later, Jack had disappeared, as had the gorgeous window view. I sighed, feeling alone despite the fact that I had been the one to drive Jack away. That changed a moment later as Sark appeared, sitting near me, but not entirely close. He didn't speak, nor even look at me, merely sat there and stared at nothing in particular. Eventually, the sky outside darkened to the point where it was impossible to see anything. I made myself as comfortable as possible and allowed my eyes to drift shut, slowly slipping back into a world as dark as that on the outside of the plane, but a world in which Sydney was still within my reach. I heard Sark finally begin to speak, but whatever he may have said was quickly blocked by Sydney's voice. I was already drowning in her, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Again, I know it's really short, but I wanted to get this up now in honor of the one year anniversary of this fic, December 5th. After this, updates will return to their normal length, I promise!
Kaley and Jen: Thank you both for reviewing, I really appreciate you sticking with me here!