Chapter 3- Betrayal
Flashback- 4 months before…
Wittenberg…
Tears lined Sydney's eyes as she looked her father. He stood there tall and his face emotionless as he said the words," Sydney you were never supposed to have found these,"
"Dad…" Sydney managed to get out. "Why did you…who are you…" she said between sniffles.
But Sydney never got to here her dad's response. Her world suddenly went black as she was shot with a tranq dart from behind.
"How long until the team comes in to pick us up?" Jack asked as he walked over to the table where the documents Sydney had just read lay. He picked the file up, and after carefully making sure all the papers were there, handed it to Irina.
"Five minutes. That should give us plenty of time to clean up here," Irina responded tucking the file into her jacket.
"Yes, it should, let's go." Jack said as he heard the sound of the helicopter wings just outside.
Katya Derevko inched her way toward the pit Lauren had just fallen down in. As soon as she reached the pits edge she peered inside and saw that Lauren hadn't fallen all the way to the bottom, but had in fact got her foot caught on some of the ropes hanging down. Katya smiled to herself. There was still some hope left for the girl.
Katya realized that in order to save the girls life for the sake of the mission, she would need to act quickly. She decided to climb down a rope to Lauren and set up a contraption to pull her up. She picked out a rope near enough to Lauren that she could reach her when she climbed down, but one far enough away so that her movement wouldn't cause Lauren to fall. Katya then climbed down and tied the ropes surrounding Lauren into a makeshift sling so that she could pull Lauren up. As Katya pulled Lauren's body up she started to stir.
"Who are you, what the heck are you doing with me," she mumbled as they got to the top. Katya didn't respond she just dragged Lauren out of the pit and called in the team.
The team arrived in 4 minutes flat. They quickly got to work on Lauren and soon had her wounds cleaned and bandaged. As soon as they had her put together slightly, they gently picked her up and put her into a car to bring her to the nearest Covenant hospital.
"How well is she?" Katya asked before they drove off.
"She might not make it," And then they were gone.
"What do you mean she might not make it, she is one our best agents, she better make it," Katya barked as they pulled into the Covenant run hospital parking lot. They rushed Lauren to the emergency room. Within hours a doctor emerged.
"Ms.Derevko Lauren is going to be fine, she will recover within a couple of weeks."
"Good." Katya replied as she turned and walked down the hall with a smile on her face.
Sark sat in his cell, repeatedly going over the days events in his mind.
"Bloody CIA!" he muttered angrily to himself then he heard a tap on the glass. Then a moment later a tap sounded on the glass. Sark looked up to see a rather nervous looking Agent Vaughn standing before him.
"Agent Vaughn what can I do for you?" Sark said as he stood up from his tiny cot.
"For starters I wanted to let you know Irina just contacted me, it seems she abducted Sydney from Wittenberg, and she won't tell me where they are, and the phone she was currently using was untraceable," Vaughn said.
"Whatever Irina's plan is, I can assure you I'm not privy to it," Sark replied.
"Enlighten me," Vaughn said.
"I've been in this cell for months, how can you expect me to accomplish anything in this piece of crap?" Sark asked rolling his eyes. Vaughn said nothing. "For two I don't know why the heck Irina would kidnap your precious Sydney," Sark said.
"Well then your about to find out, there will an exchange once I talk to Dixon about this matter," Vaughn said.
"Well then I say it doesn't make a bit of difference now if I knew about Irina's agenda or not, I'll be out of here in a matter of days," Sark said smirking.
"If your that lucky," Vaughn told Sark. Then he turned on his heel leaving Sark to contemplate the meaning of his words. What did the CIA have in store for him, and what exactly did go down at Wittenberg? Sark had some ideas of what was going on do to source, and knew of some farfetched Covenant plans but needed control over the exchange. A couple hours later Sark heard voices being raised.
"Well to get Sydney back, we're going have to make this exchange!" Vaughn shouted.
"We can't risk Irina escaping with both Sark and Sydney, he is also valuable to this agency!" Dixon shot back.
"Director Dixon do we just leave Sydney to fend for herself, and hope she makes it out of Irina and Jack's hand alright?" Vaughn said through clenched teeth.
"Agent Vaughn, I am the director of this agency, now-" Dixon started but was cut off.
"I will not just let her stay there, you don't know their true intentions of whether they will kill her or just make her suffer," Vaughn snapped.
"You suggest Agent Vaughn that I let a terrorist like Sark have control over this whole exchange, I'm not dumb, do you realize he'll have the power over everything!" Dixon yelled.
"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear your argument about me-" Sark started.
"Shut up and stay out of it if you know what's best for you," Dixon snapped and turned back to Vaughn. "The answer is no!" he yelled with anger and stormed off down the hall.
"This is not going my way," Vaughn mumbled under is breath.
" I take I am not leaving my cell now." Sark said putting on another trademark smirk.
"Is this your idea of small talk Mr. Sark," Vaughn said with annoyance.
"No Agent Vaughn, I'm just stating the obvious," Sark replied with another smirk.
"I suggest you drop the sarcasm right now or you'll find yourself on death row," Vaughn snapped.
"You have no authority to do that," Sark replied stifling a laugh.
"No, but I can certainly threaten it," Vaughn replied and then took his leave.
"Was that supposed to be a comeback?" Sark scoffed to himself at Vaughn's receding back.
Vaughn was working at his desk when Weiss came by.
"What did Dixon say?" he asked
"No ex-" Vaughn was about to say when Dixon interrupted him.
"Alright Vaughn I thought this whole situation over and I'm willing to go with this, but if Sark and Sydney are both captured, you will regret even making this exchange." Dixon said and walked away. Weiss turned to Vaughn with a worried look.
"You have this under control right?" Weiss asked.
"Would I have proposed this exchange if I didn't?" Vaughn questioned.
"No…but Vaughn Dixon-" Weiss started.
"Weiss, I got this ok?" Vaughn said.
"I know, I know…" Weiss said then turned and headed for the mountain of paperwork that was just set on his desk.
5:00am
Sark was Handcuffed by Vaughn.
"Ah, good morning Agent Vaughn." He said smirking.
"Shut up." Vaughn replied.
"A little feisty today aren't we Agent Vaughn."
"I suggest you keep your mouth closed unless you want your death wish to come early, now let's go!" Vaughn snapped shoving Sark out the back door and into the van. Once in the van Vaughn cuffed Sark to the metal chair.
"I suppose we should say our goodbyes now?" Sark asked. Sarcasm could easily be heard in his voice. But all he received was a glare.
"Oh, you know you're going to miss me. Just like you missed your wife." Sark commented, purposely trying to anger Vaughn.
"I wouldn't do this if I were you. I could break that other arm if you would like." Vaughn said sternly.
"It's still so sad that you had no idea your wife was betraying you, especially in other ways such as that lovely affair." Sark replied smirking.
"How about you just shut your mouth, it would make things a whole lot easier." Vaughn snapped. Sark said nothing but a smirk lined his face. They drove the rest of the way to the switching site in silence. 20 minutes later they neared the site and Vaughn began to uncuff Sark from the chair. The van came to a screeching halt. Guards came around the back and opened the van doors. Vaughn grabbed Sark roughly and dragged him out by the warehouse. Not only a few moments later did a dark blue car arrive and Jack stepped out of the car followed by Irina. Vaughn followed Jack with his eyes as he let Sydney out of the car. Her dark brown hair was swept up in a long ponytail. Irina grabbed a hold of Sydney's wrist's and began to unlock the metal handcuffs. Vaughn began to do the same. Soon both prisoners were uncuffed, Jack held up his hand to signal the exchange. Vaughn raised an arm and shoved Sark forward. He walked slowly and stopped in the middle as Sydney approached.
"Good day Agent Bristow." Sark greeted, the corners of his mouth began to turn up into one of his trademark smirks.
"Out of my way." Sydney growled and then looked over her shoulder and glared at him.