Chapter Seventeen

Weiss and Jessica had left two weeks ago. Sydney was sitting in the living room with her laptop on her lap, typing up notes on their future op.

"Syd, when do you think we can leave for Zurich?" she heard Sark yell from the study.

"I just have to finish these notes, and write an email to my dad! Oh and then I have to make a quick phone call." she told him.

"Are you all packed?" he asked.

"Of course."

He walked into the room and smiled when he saw her. She was completely immersed in her email to her father. She was wearing her glasses, which he had never seen on her before, she looked adorable. She paused for a moment and bit the inside of her cheek, contemplating what to write. "Julian!" she yelled.

"What, love?"

She nearly dropped her laptop when she noticed him behind her, "Did I scare you?" he brushed his hands along her shoulders.

"A little," she admitted.

"So, what is it?"

"What should I tell my father?" she asked him.

"The truth," he looked at what she had written already, "You should tell him that we're trying to bring down Sloane, and that's where you are right now. And you can leave out the part about being my love slave, I think that would kill him."

"I think it's more like you being my love slave," she giggled, "But don't worry, I won't say a word."

"So when you're done that, we can leave?"

She nodded her head and then kissed his cheek.

"I'll be right back then."

"'kay"

She finished the email and sent it off. When Julian returned to the room he had something around his back. "What have you got there?" she asked curiously.

He took a small jewellery box from his hands and put it in hers.

"What is this?" she asked while opening it.

She looked at it and stilled, "Why are you giving me this, Julian?"

"My last mission was in Greece. When I was there, I had some time to look around, visit the markets… Well, one woman showed me this necklace and told me a story behind it. It's called an 'evil eye' and it's meant to protect the wearer. It's been said that it watches over you and gets rid of evil. I want you to wear it, so I know that in some way, when we aren't together, you are protected. I know it doesn't look all that special, but…"

Sydney cut him off with a passionate kiss. "I think it's beautiful. And I just don't what to say…"

He reached behind her neck and placed the necklace on her. "I need you to be safe Sydney."

She nodded and stood, "We should go. We don't want Sloane to wait now, do we?"

He laughed and shook his head, "That was a fast subject change."

"You should know better than anyone, I like moving fast," she said seductively. Julian swallowed hard and took her arm, leading her out of the house.

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Sloane had a meeting in a nightclub with a man named Arthur Menalda, an arms dealer who was one of the head members of the Covenant. Sydney was dressed in a green dress that was flowing just below the knee, just so she could move around in it if she had to. Julian was wearing his signature black Armani suit. They walked into the club as if they owned the place. They were perfect together, Sydney hadn't realized it until that moment, but when he had said before that they were destined to work together she hadn't found how true that was until now.

"I see them," he whispered to her.

"Wanna dance?" she asked him.

They began to sway to the music on the dancefloor, "I think you like dancing, Maria."

"We seem to do this a lot, don't we, Andrew?"

He nodded and she put her head on his shoulder. "What do you think will happen once we've brought them down?" he asked.

"I don't know yet. But we have plenty of time to figure that out."

"Yeah," he said breathlessly.

A few moments, he whispered to her, "They're exchanging the package."

"Let's move," they now had their full game-faces on. There was no fooling around now.

Sydney reached down to her garter where her gun was placed and discretely pulled it out and carried it hidden behind her handbag.

Sark walked up to the pair and sat down, Sydney was still hiding within the massive crowd of dancers. "Ah, Mr Sark," she heard Arthur say.

"Mr Menalda, Arvin," he nodded his head curtly at them. "What are you two doing here?"

"Just an exchange Julian, nothing to worry about," Sloane said.

"Just checking up to see what my money used to be funding."

"Yes, we did notice that Mr Sark. Your money was doing us some good then" Menalda stated.

"Well, I didn't like the way business was being done, what can I say? I like to know where my money is going."

"I had heard you had left this world behind, Julian. What on Earth could have brought you back into something like this?"

"Someone, actually."

"And who might that have been?" Sloane asked curiously.

"That's for another time."

Menalda got up and was about to leave when Julian suddenly took out his gun and shot him in the head. His body collapsed to the ground. Sydney tried to get to him, but was forced back by the screaming crowd. She ended up waiting for him by the front door.

"Sloane got away," was the first thing he said to her after looking her over for any injuries.

"We'll get him soon," she said, caressing his face lightly.

They got into their car and drove off into the night.

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"Sydney!" Sark called from the study.

"You yelled?"

"Can you be ready in an hour?"

She looked at him confused, "Ready for what?" she asked.

"To move in on Sloane."

She took in a deep breath and smiled, "Of course."

"Let's get ready, then."

He took her hand and they went to the bedroom to pack. "He's going to be meeting all of the Covenant cell leaders to try and replace Menalda."

Sydney scoffed, "Don't you think that's stupid? I mean, why don't they just post a bulleten, "CALLING ALL ASSASINS, WE'RE HERE!" with an arrow pointing to their location?"

"That's basically what they have done. And I've done my own investigation, it's not a trap."

"Good to know."

They finished packing and found that they sill had forty minutes until they had to leave.

"Well, you're a fast packer," Julian teased.

"We have some time to spare… whatever shall we do?" she said as she brushed her hand against his groin.

He coughed, "Syd, are you sure you don't want to go over the mission specs?"

"No, I think I want you."

She kissed him hard and fast, thrusting her tongue into his mouth and began to softly caress his tongue with hers. He pulled off her clothes quickly and she pulled off his, all the while snogging to no end.

They collapse onto the bed and he thrust himself into her. Their pace was frantic, skin moving upon skin. Moans would have been heard all through the house if anyone else had been there, but thankfully it was empty.

Their pace continued to quicken before they exploded into a world of passion.

They looked over at the clock and found that twenty minutes had passed, "That passed some time," Sydney giggled.

Sark looked at her and softly brushed a piece of hair out of her face, "It did," he whispered. He kissed her softly and grinned, "I just need to go check something in the study, and then we can leave."

Sydney nodded and watched him get dressed and leave the room. She walked over to her purse and took out her cell phone, dialling a familiar number.

"This is Agent Bristow," she said cautiously when the phone was picked up.

"Agent Bristow, you're late."

"I understand sir, I haven't had a chance to call until now."

"You will be happy to hear that your plan has been approved by Langley. All you need to do is get Mr Sark here, and you'll get what you want. Remember that you must complete this mission before you bring him in."

"I know sir. There shouldn't be a problem. He told me that he's out of the business."

"I guess we'll be seeing you soon. Do what you have to do to get him here."

"Yes, sir. I'll bring him in. Thank you sir."

She hung up the phone and sat down on the bed, sighing. This is going to be tough, she thought.

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Julian was finished in the study when he was walking back to the bedroom. He heard Sydney talking to someone on the phone. When he heard some interesting words.

"There shouldn't be a problem. He told me that he's out of the business."

"Yes, sir. I'll bring him in. Thank you sir."

So, she was going to sell him out. She was using him. I can't believe her, he thought, I loved her and she's turning me in! It's not going to work, my love.

He took a deep breath and walked into the room. Sydney turned to him and smiled. "Hey," she said.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked her blankly.

"Yeah. I'll just grab my purse."

He took her arm and walked out the front door.

When they were in the car, Sydney grasped his hand gently and began to soothingly rub his hand with her thumb, "What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Nothing. I'm just thinking about the mission."

She nodded and looked ahead, wondering what could be making him act this way.

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They arrived in Paris an hour later. They checked into a hotel and unpacked all of their mission gear. "So, care to tell me what is going to happen on this mission?"

"You have to go in and 'interrupt' the meeting between Sloane and the other Covenant leaders."

"I got that, what are you going to do, and how am I going to interrupt the meeting?"

"Your cover is a waitress. Your wardrobe is in there," he said pointing to the closet, "They are on a private floor. No guests will be able to get there, and there will be pretty heavy undercover security, so be careful."

"I always am."

He nodded curtly, "I'm going to disguise myself as one of the security operatives, I'll be meeting you upstairs when we'll take them down."

Sydney nodded, "How will we do that?"

"I'll be in contact with you the whole time through an earpiece. When you're up on the floor, I need you to press this button," he held up a tray with a small black button poking out from the plastic, "It will allow me to know when you're ready. I'll come in and we'll take them down."

Sydney nodded, "When is this happening?" she asked.

"We need to be in place in two hours."

"I'll go get ready then."

"Syd," he grasped her arm as she stood, "You're almost free."

She smiled and nodded, "I have to get changed."

"I need to talk to you," he said as she opened the bathroom door, "It's important."

"Sure," she said. She turned around again and sat in the chair next to him, "What is it, Julian?"

"Who were you talking to earlier?"

"What?" she was nervous now, "What are you talking about?"

"I know Sydney. I heard your conversation. I know you're going to bring me in after this mission."

"Julian you don't under-"

"When did you start whoring yourself for the CIA?"

She slapped his face hard, "What are you talking about?"

"This!" he screamed, "You and me, it's a lie. There was never anything between us was there!"

He was pacing around the room and then stopped when he saw his bag. He opened it and pulled out a gun, pointing it at Sydney he continued, "I'm not going to let you bring me in Agent Bristow."

Sydney's eyes were wide with disbelief, "It's not a lie," she whispered.

"Then explain it to me. Tell me why you were talking to your director about bringing me in," his hands were shaking and Sydney wasn't moving. She just stared at him.

"I can't tell you that. Not yet."

"Well, then I guess this is it," he took off the safety and aimed the gun.

"Please, Julian," she whispered. Sydney had tears running down her cheeks. When he saw them he faltered.

Suddenly there was a loud bang and Sark dropped to the floor. Sloane was at the door holding a gun, aimed at Sydney. She saw his finger tighten against the trigger and another shot rang out in the room. Sydney looked down at her shaking hands and noticed that there was no pain, no blood coming from her body. She saw Sloane drop to the ground with blood pouring out of his chest.

Julian was lying on the ground with his gun still pointed where Sloane's chest had just been, she ran to Julian's side and put pressure on his chest. "I shot Sloane," he whispered.

Sydney nodded, "I know. Why did you do it?"

"I couldn't let him," he whispered tearfully, "I couldn't kill you Sydney."

"Why not?" she asked him with her tears falling onto his chest.

"Because I love you," she gasped at his declaration, "I couldn't do it."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "You need to understand something. I wasn't setting you up."

He smiled at her, "It's alright Syd. You don't have to explain."

"I do, I need to tell you," she let one of her hands drift to her phone which was sitting on the table. She dialled her CIA contact and requested immediate extraction.

"CIA? I thought you weren't bringing me in," he said sadly.

"I am, but not for what you're thinking."

"I'm dying Syd. There's no point."

"You're not dying. You aren't going to die," she replied stubbornly.

"I am, you can't do anything."

"I got you pardoned," she whispered, "I needed to bring you in so you could sign it."

A tear fell from his eye, "Why would you do that?"

"Everyone deserves a second chance. Even if it's you," she saw his breathing slow, "Please hang on Julian, I need you to hold on."

"I'm sorry, I can't," Sydney whimpered and her hands were shaking more than ever, "I love you," he whispered before his eyes closed.

"NO!" Sydney screamed. The door slammed open and CIA agents along with paramedics entered the room. They took Julian's body and placed him on the stretcher. They checked his vitals quickly before leaving the room in a hurry.

"We need to get him to a hospital quickly, he's still got a pulse," Sydney heard one of them say.

Sydney got up and held his hand before they left. She was asked to stay behind with the agents and answer questions about the situation.

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