Chapter Nine
A/N: Ok… here is Chapter Nine! Took me sometime on this… but all the answers are here… tell me what you think… the next chapter is coming up very soon. Review and tell me what you think… even if you're not registered… I enabled anonymous reviews.
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"Sydney, the reason I came is because I been contacted by the man who abducted Tracy." Jack broke the confused silence that had settled between him and Sydney after they left Edward Richard's holding room.
"Did you get a trace?" Sydney asked.
"No he used a secure line, and he didn't talk for much." Jack replied.
"There has to be a way to find out where they're keeping Tracy, if she's even still alive." Sydney said frustrated.
"Tracy is alive, Sydney, and he wants to keep her that way. But while she may be alive, she will not be well… not with this man." Jack said a hint of concern in his voice.
"Do you know anything about him?" Sydney said, interested.
"I know more than I'd like about this him." Jack said as he pushed the door to the living room.
Everyone in the room seemed to be starring at Jack for a long second, and then finally he spoke.
"I've found who the man who took Tracy is." He said and sat on a coach.
Keen faces starred back at him, and he went on.
"The man has contacted me in Los Angeles, to let me know that he has Tracy. He is an old partner of mine, with a familiar last name. the name of the man who took Tracy is Turner Maxwell."
At that second all the jaws seemed to hit the floor.
"Maxwell?" Sydney asked, to make sure she heard it right.
"Yes, he is Tracy's father. And until he called, I assumed that he died 15 years ago." Jack said with a grave look in his eyes. "he came to take his daughter back."
"What do mean? take his daughter back in what sense?" Sydney asked.
"I was paired up with Turner when we were experimenting with projects Christmas, we were good friends. As you all know, Sydney was part of project Christmas, and so was Tracy. However, Turner took more drastic measures in his training. He was so obsessed with it he was willing to try everything on his child. This was like nothing you have ever seen, I'm talking about permanent psych damage." Jack said, looking around at all the speechless faces.
"I confronted Turner about it, told him that he should stop it, he didn't listen to me. All that mattered to him at that point was to turn his daughter to unstoppable force." Jack continued. "When the CIA found out his methods, they took his daughter from him, and put her in witness protection. He spent almost two years looking for her, he couldn't find her. He finally gave up and went back to the field, the first mission he was on after returning, he never came back. He was declared dead."
"What happened to Tracy after his father went missing?" Nadia asked
"She was pulled out of witness protecting and was given to her Aunt Gloria Brown. She was 10 years old around that time, but she was always withdrawn, she avoided confrontation. I found out that her father had did some real damage. Tracy avoids confrontation because with enough stimulation, it turned in mortal battle. Her father 'programmed' her in a way that she will not end a fight until she or her opponent are eliminated." Jack continued his grave tale, and everyone was more shocked by every word he said.
"You mean she's a human killing machine?" Vaughn asked, a little satisfaction in his voice, he was right about Tracy.
"I managed to counter some of the programming, but under extreme circumstance, there is no controlling what she could do. I'm afraid Turner knows this, he will be reconditioning her. We need to get her back as soon as possible." Jack concluded.
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Not again! Was the first thing that Tracy thought when she began to regain consciousness. When she tried to open her eyes this time, light assaulted her. The room was so bright, it stung her eyes.
She groaned and began to sit up, when at last she managed to it, she saw a man on the other side of the room looking at her. He was waiting patiently for her to regain herself.
"Back to the living I see." He said, his voice sent chills down her spins.
"Who are you? Did the boss send you too?" Tracy asked her voice still groggy.
"No, I wasn't sent by the boss. I am the boss." He said as he lit a cigarette arrogantly.
"What a damn honor!" Tracy said with bitter sarcasm.
"You're a very interesting person Tracy… I'm looking for a little partnership deal between us."
That guy has guts, Tracy thought angrily.
"It depends on what you mean by partnership… and besides you seem to have an advantage on me; I doubt you'd let me walk out of here if I said no."
"I don't think refusing my offer would be good for your well-being." He took a deep drag from his cigarette. "So I suggest you have some time to think about this."
"No need" Tracy cut him off. "I'm not gonna say no… I'm going to go with a hell no!"
"Auntie Gloria wouldn't be too happy with your language." The man looked at her with a cold stare.
Tracy jumped up and knocked the man out of his chair. She held him against the wall by the neck.
"Don't you talk about my family you son of a bitch!"
"That's not the way you should talk to your father young lady." He said, with a smug smile on his face.
"My father is dead!" she slammed him against the wall again.
"So are you Tracy…aren't you dead? Isn't there a head stone out there with your name on it?"
"How the hell do you know me!" She said angrily now, her patience was running out.
"I know a lot about Tracy, I know that your mother died half an hour after you were born. I know that were part of a certain program when you were a child. I know that you have a tattoo on your left shoulder of you initials."
Tracy's mind raced, no one knew about that tattoo, she had it removed. The only people that knew about it were Jack and her father.
"I don't have a tattoo, jackass!" Tracy said angrily and exposed her left shoulder.
"You make me proud, Tracy. Removing anything that would link you to me… that's smart." The man said in a strange tone.
"You make me sick!" Tracy had her face up in his.
"Like I said I would give you sometime to think about my proposal." He said calmly. "Being my daughter and all."
Tracy wanted to kill that man. but she felt a little prick in the back of her neck, she let the man go, and looked back. A guard with a tranquilizer gun.
This is really getting old, she thought as she fell to her knees.
"And don't worry about calling me 'daddy' just call me Turner." The last thing was the man fixing his shirt and looking down at her, then the darkness came again.
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Jack walked back into the idle make-shift command center in the safe house, there just wasn't any intel right now.
"I just got off the phone with Director Chase, she gave clearance to tell our detained friend about APO. She said he might be of some help, and there wasn't any way we can put him back in the CIA after he saw Sydney and I obviously doing some intelligence work." Jack announced to everybody.
"You mean we're going to tell this guy that Tracy is alive?" Weiss asked.
"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying, and believe when I tell you that we're going to need all the help we can get when up against Turner Maxwell." Jack said with a grave expression.
"What's to tell us that Tracy doesn't turn once she gets equated with her Daddy?" Vaughn asked, always the skeptic when it came to Tracy.
"Mr. Vaughn I know Tracy, and she hates what her father has done to her, I'm sure that Sydney could relate to that." He gave a quick glance towards Sydney who shifted uncomfortably.
"I would like to remind you, that I would have to answer to no one about this, since I got Sloan's and Directors Chase go ahead." Jack said forcefully, Vaughn was annoying him more than usual today.
Jack didn't say another word and walked towards the hall, no one said a word. When Jack got to the door, he stopped for a second and straightened himself. This wasn't going to be easy. Finally, he unlocked the door and walked in.
Edward had his head again, and Jack was sure he was asleep. Jack cleared his throat and Edward's head shot up, his eyes were unfocused and puffy, obviously he had been crying. But his confused look was soon replaced by an angry one. Jack wondered how long this man would hold a grudge.
"How are you Edward?" Jack asked, setting the pace for a slow conversation.
"What do you care!" Edward shot back.
"I may not care, but Tracy does, so it matters to me. It hasn't been a pleasant couple of months for you." Jack said smoothly, making sure he kept the frost bite out of his voice.
"That's gotta be the understatement of the century." Edward said, too drained to fight.
"Edward, there is a lot of explaining for me to do. But you're going to have to let me talk."
"What is there is to explain… I don't think anything you can say to me will make me feel better." Edward voice was dripping with bitterness.
"You'd be surprised." Jack approached Edward and removed his restraints. Edward rubbed his wrists.
"I'm sorry about all this Ed, but we didn't know what to expect, you have to understand." Edward said nothing so Jack continued. "I'm sure you have heard that I left the CIA just after Tracy went on her mission. I was recruited by the new Black-Ops. The mission that you stumbled on, was our, we are the ones that set up the meet with Vladimir."
"So it wasn't real?"
"No, it was, for us. But we were set up." Jack said.
"Why would Vladimir set you up?" Edward asked "Was Tracy's cover already blown before she died? So he kills her, then set up a meet to find out who she working with?"
"Vladimir didn't kill Tracy, and her cover wasn't blown." Jack answered. "That's why we thought he set up the meeting… we thought he was looking for his niece after having reason to believe she survived the attack on his brother's command center."
"Why would he have reason to believe that?"
"Because she did." Jack said calmly.
Edward gave a little confused laugh.
"No Tracy died that night, the CIA said so. We had a funeral."
"You buried an empty coffin, Edward."
"They told me that it would be too risky to get her body, she died when an unidentified group raided Sergey's HQ." Edward answered, baffled. What was jack getting at? Tracy was dead. Why would the CIA lie.
"The mission that took down Sergey's HQ was originally an information gathering mission. In and out. But when the operative was exposed, the mission turned sour, and a take down took place." Jack said. "I know this because it was a black ops mission, and the operative was my daughter. Tracy saved her life in there."
"Tracy died protecting your daughter?" Edward said his anger becoming obvious now.
"Edward… I'm afraid the hit received on you head has hampered you ability to think!" Jack said. "Tracy isn't dead! She was extracted by the team, and she has been working with us in Los Angeles. She was taken yesterday."
"Tracy is not alive! She is dead! Is this some sort of psychological torture or something! I'm not buying it." Edward was standing now.
"Edward sit down! I have no reason to lie to you!" Jack said forcefully.
That when the door opened and Sydney walked in. Jack got up and walked to wards her.
"What does she want!" Edward complained.
"I see you're having no luck with Mr. Congeniality over there." Sydney whispered to her father.
"No, he doesn't believe me." Jack whispered back.
"Do you mind if I talk to him, I have something that might get him to believe us."
"Be my guest." Jack gave a little shrug, and turned back to Edward. "Edward, this is my daughter Sydney, she say she has something that she says might be able to convince you that I'm telling the truth."
"I doubt it!" Edward snapped.
"You can at least give a chance to explain, Mr. Richards." Sydney said calmly.
"You threatened me and kept me up all night, now you're going to lie to me… I think you can call me Edward!" He said bitterly.
"Fine, Edward. I'm not going to say much. I'm just gonna show you these two things." Sydney pulled out the ring and the paper. She handed them over to Edward.
It cant be, Edward thought when he saw the ring he gave Tracy a month before she went on the mission, and in his other hand was his name on a piece of paper, with her neat penmanship.
"Where did you get these?" Edward asked still a little confused.
"Tracy gave them to me, she told me she wanted you to have them back, she wanted you to move on." Sydney said in sympathetic tone. "Did you love her?"
"I knew she was the woman I'm gonna fall for the first time my brother brought her over to dinner. I didn't love her, what we had was more than love." He said in a quiet.
He felt the ring in his fingers then noticed that there was a carving inside it.
"'When I get lost in space I can return to this place, 'cause you're the one'" he read the words carefully. "She loved that song, she use to whisper these words to me every time she went away. She never said it before she left the last time."
"We'll she's saying them now. We wanna help us get her back." Sydney was kneeling next to Edward now, he let a single tear fall to his left cheek.
He nodded his head then looked up at Jack.
"When all this is over, I want out. Me and her… new names, new homes, the works. We don't belong here anymore."
"You have it." Jack said affirmatively.
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A/N: Tada! So tell me do you like, do you not like it… REVIEW!