Believe

Chapter Four

Missing

            Sydney placed her long black hair into a sheet that covered most of her face.  She couldn't be recognized by the security cameras.  She and Weiss were going to be searching McKenas Cole's office while he was at the 21 Club in downtown Lima.  Vaughn was going to watch him while the other two searched for any kind of papers or anything that would link him to Bomani's death.  If they found what they wanted, they could pick Cole up and take him into CIA custody.  But if the security cameras caught her in Cole's office, that could be the end of the whole mission.  Now if she were a Peruvian janitor caught on camera; that was a whole other story.  She glanced up at Weiss who wore the same blue jumpsuit she did.  She smiled at the sight of the two of them wearing identical costumes.

"You ready for this?"
"Si, Senorita."

Sydney rolled her eyes and handed him a large mop and bucket.  "Why don't you start mopping the floor, buddy."

"As soon as you start washing the windows."

Sydney chuckled as they entered Cole's office area.  She kept her head low, as if she were fascinated by the basket of cleaning supplies she held in her hand.  Weiss had his own head down, pushing the bucket and mop on into the office.  As soon as they shut the door, they let the supplies go and began the search.  Sydney took a deep breath, the scent in the air quite familiar.  It smelled like Sark's cologne.  She would recognize that scent anywhere.  He always wore this overpriced fragrance that was made especially for him in Paris.  Now for him, that was completely normal, particularly since he had the 799 million dollars he held in gold bullion.    And it was always specific to him, one of the ways his presence would be announced.  She bit her lip, denying the thought of Sark being in Cole's office.  He wouldn't have been here.  She walked to the computer left sitting on the table.  She began her search of the hard drive's contents and found that the security tape streamed to the computer.  She downloaded the last week's surveillance and popped the disk out of the computer.  She found Weiss buried in several files in the filing cabinet.

"Did you find anything?'
"Nothing incriminating.  A file on you, a file on Sark, a file on Rogan, a file on me and Vaughn and your father and a select few at the CIA.  Nothing that is really illegal.  Just information."

"He has information on my son?"
"His age, vital stats, the name of his school, that kind of thing. Doesn't even mention The Passenger."
"No.  He wouldn't leave a paper trail.  Even if he did, my mother would clean it up.  That's what she does."

Weiss made copies of the files he'd found, not that they would really help.  But just in case they weren't seeing something that someone else might pick up on.  Sydney took one more survey of the room.

"It's weird."
"What is?"

"That he doesn't have a safe or anything.  I would think that a guy like him would have a safe in his office."

"To hide all of his illegal things?"
"Yeah.  I don't know.  Nothing in here looks like a safe.  In fact, his office is hardly even decorated on the walls.  I find that even more odd.  McKenas Cole is one of those extravagant men who have a need to display old tribal masks and shrunken heads."

"Shrunken heads?'

"Well, you get the idea.  It's like he's going overboard to prove he doesn't have any secret safe.  Like if the place got broken into, people would look on the walls for a safe."

"So you think that the safe could be somewhere else."
"Yeah.  Like, in the floor maybe. Under one of these expensive leather chairs."

Weiss sighed and got down on his knees and began to feel around the area.  There was a rug underneath two chairs and the desk, so he rolled the rug up.  He smiled triumphantly as he pushed the two chairs out of the way.  There was an electronically protected safe set in the center of the floor.

"Now I know why you're a superspy."
"Aww, I'm blushing, Weiss."

"Can you hand me the watch Marshall gave you?  It's supposed to bypass any electrical coding system we ran into.  It should open the safe."

Sydney slipped the silver watch off and handed it carefully to Weiss.  While Weiss attached the watch to the keypad, Sydney contacted Vaughn through their comm. links.

"Everything okay on your end, Vaughn?"

"Just lovely.  I'm drinking champagne and watching McKenas Cole hit on women who want nothing to do with him.  It's fun."

"A little mean, but it's probably better than a soap opera."

"I'm sure Dixon will be ecstatic to know what time off has done for you and that you're now associating spying with soaps."

Sydney laughed quietly as she turned to see how Weiss had progressed.  The safe was open and a firebox stared back at him.  Weiss removed it carefully and scanned it for any kind of traps. 

"Weiss found a firebox.  Stand by, Vaughn."

"Standing."

Sydney knelt next to Weiss and handed him her duster.  He removed the feather part to find a lock pick.  He picked it open and slid the top off.  They looked in, hoping for the best and found the worst.

"Nothing.  There's nothing here.  He must have taken it with him."
"Vaughn!  He may have something with him that could be incriminating.  Watch for a dead drop or a meet.  Anything."

"Watching."

Sydney sighed loudly, disappointment rushing over her.  She had hoped to find whatever she needed tonight, the proof that The Covenant still existed, evidence that they were or were not after Rogan.  Weiss grasped her hand and squeezed it, understanding her dissatisfaction at what they hadn't found.  Weiss cared for Rogan.  Weiss was like Rogan's naughty uncle, almost. 

"We need to get out of here, Syd."

"All right."

Weiss put everything back into its place and handed Sydney her feather duster.  She put it back in her basket of cleaning supplies as Weiss took the mop and bucket back into his hands.  They walked out of the office and headed to the extraction point.

            Sark was feeling out of sorts.  He hadn't had much sleep in the last 48 hours.  Switching from Peruvian time to Los Angeles time was bad enough.  It would be night there and it was early in the morning here.  Plus the fact he had gone from Montreal to Peru, so his days were quite mixed up.  He would deal with it, though.  And after he met with the contact he'd been assigned to, he would catch up on all the missing time zones from his psyche.  Irina's phone call had been a surprise.  He had been expecting a phone call from McKenas Cole to inform him of the whereabouts of the Council's meeting.  Instead, Irina had called him and told him to fly back to Los Angeles immediately.  He had to admit, following Irina's word unquestioningly was annoying.  He had left that behind so many years ago, but here he was doing it again.  He enjoyed being independent.  He'd always been freelance, but freelance and independence were two completely different things.  Freelance meant he was still doing the bidding of another.  Independence meant that he was doing his own bidding.  Still, the pull of Rambaldi had been far too strong to resist joining The Council.  The secrets he could uncover, the truths he could be told.  He would be a major player in the Rambaldi game and that was important.  And he would be able to find out what Sydney's role in Rambaldi's play was.  He would take the package back to Irina and Cole in Sicily and find all of that out in one simple meeting.  Sark tried to contain his excitement.  He had to put on his professional face, though it was hard being this close to Sydney, yet so far away from her.  She couldn't know he was in the city, but all he wanted to do was stop by her house and envelope her in arms and kiss her hard.  Of course, that wasn't an option.  He wouldn't be able to see Sydney again, not until this was all over.  He straightened his jacket as he neared the bookstore he was to meet that contact at.  He needed to get his head in the game before meeting the contact.  He walked inside the store and found the children's section.  He scanned over the titles, Curious George, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom.  A whole slew of titles that he wondered if Rogan would like to read them, if he was even reading yet.  He ran his fingers over the bindings and jumped when he heard the voice.

"Mr. Sark, it's an honor to meet you."
"And you are…"
"Black Dove.  Really, I'm Delainia Ambrose."

"Lovely, Miss Ambrose.  I am to pick up a package from you."
"Well, I hope they didn't expect me to wrap him."

She glanced over at the beanbag chair where Rogan sat, absorbing Where the Wild Things Are.  Sark's face nearly lost its expert nonchalant look.  He hadn't been expecting Rogan to be his pick up.  He hadn't even been expecting a child.  Kidnapping Rogan was out of the question.  Sydney would have a heart attack and he couldn't do that to her, despite what it could mean for him.  Delainia watched him, sorry that her joke had gone over like a lead balloon.

"How did you take Bristow's child?" Sark asked abruptly.

Delainia smiled proudly.  "I was his pre-school teacher.  She started looking around for preschools and Irina had me placed in the one she chose.  The other teacher was unfortunately sent to the hospital only two days before Rogan began."

Sark's face hardened.  He had warned her not to send Rogan to pre-school.  He had told her it wasn't safe and she had ignored his warning.  It almost served her right to have Rogan taken from the preschool.  He glanced at Delainia, who seemed to be awaiting a congratulations or a 'job well done' from him.  He ignored her and walked to the beanbag chair.  He knelt down in front of Rogan and asked him gently, "Do you remember me?"

"Yep.  You're Mr. Sark, Mommy's fren."

"Yes, I am your mother's friend.  How would you like to go on a vacation, Rogan?"

"Like the vacation Mommy went on?"

"She went on a vacation?"
"An 'dults-only one.  She said it was gonna be worse than not ever watching cartoons."

"Ah.  Well, the one we go on will be more fun."

"Can I have this book?"

"Yes.  Why don't you pick out a couple of others?"

"You're funner than Mommy.  She only lets me have one."
"Yes, fun I am."

Rogan toddled off to find two more books while Sark turned quickly to Delainia.

"You understand the importance of this mission, do you not, Miss Ambrose?"

"I do, Mr. Sark."
"When Miss Bristow finds that her son is missing, she will grill everyone, including you.  Will you be able to withstand that interrogation?"

"Yes, Mr. Sark."

"Then it was delightful doing business with you, Miss Ambrose."

Rogan was at his side again, clutching three books.  He raised them up so Sark could take them.

"You're such a bright boy, aren't you, Rogan?"

"You said that to me last time."
"So very bright."

Sark ruffled his hair and Rogan took Sark's hand.  Sark glanced down, a little uncomfortable with the contact.  He wasn't used to such affection.  But he could get used to it, if he wasn't careful.  Rogan was a very winning child.  Kind of like his mother.

            Vaughn was watching Cole almost obsessively now.  He couldn't let Cole out of his sight.  The man seemed a little more fidgety than usual.  A tall, beautiful woman strolled into his area and sat down next to him on the couch.  Vaughn tried to move closer to hear what was being said, but the pounding music prevented it.  Cole removed a plastic tube from his coat and handed it to the woman.  She tossed her blond hair back and slipped the tube into her purse.  She gave Cole a kiss on the cheek and stood to leave.  Vaughn couldn't let that happen.  He moved in, hand ready to pull the gun, when someone grabbed his arm. 

"Dance with me?" She asked as she turned him to her.  He didn't recognize her and wondered briefly if it were just a diversion.  She moved sensuously with the music to distract him, but he jerked away from her.

"No." Vaughn turned back to the area where Cole had been sitting, but found both Cole and the woman gone.  Vaughn cursed quietly under his breath.  He'd lost Cole and the drop. 

            The CIA trio was in the air on the way back to Los Angeles.  Vaughn was telling them what he'd seen at the club and about the mysterious woman who had accepted the package. 

"I've never seen her. At least I don't think I have.  She may have been in disguise.  I never got a good enough look at her.  She was too far away.  Then, when that woman stopped me on the way to the couches, I-"
Sydney's cell phone went off, breaking into Vaughn's story.  She smiled apologetically as she flipped the phone open.

"This is Bristow."

"Sydney.  I don't know how to explain this to you…"

"Dad?"

"Sydney, Rogan's gone."
Sydney's heart dropped into her stomach.  She started shaking her head erratically as she unbuckled her seatbelt.  She stood and began to pace.

"What do you mean Rogan's gone?"  Her hands started to shake and she didn't know how to control it.  This couldn't really be happening.  She must have fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of Vaughn's story.  She pinched herself but found that there was no arousing from a deep slumber full of a mother's worst nightmare.

"I mean I left him at the preschool and at 9:30 this morning it was held hostage by men with guns.  Rogan was taken by a man, the teacher described him as about six feet with blond hair and blue eyes.  Sydney, the man sounded like Sark."

"No.  No.  No, no, no, no, no, nonononononononono."

She repeated the word as everything around her seemed to blur away, whether by tears or by another cause, she wasn't sure.  Before anyone knew what was happening, Sydney had dropped the phone and crumbled to the floor in what seemed like a fainting spell.  Weiss and Vaughn both jumped from their seats to rush to Sydney's side.  They tried to shake her awake, but she wouldn't respond.  Vaughn picked her up and took her to a row of airplane seats and stretched her out.  Weiss picked her phone up.

"Jack?"
"Rogan was taken this morning at his preschool by armed men.  One seemed to be Sark, according to the description.  You know Sydney can be blind where Sark is involved.  I think it's shocked her, along with the stress of Rogan's kidnapping.  We'll talk more when you arrive at the Op Center, Weiss."

"Yes, Sir."

Weiss was ready to hang up the phone when he heard Jack's voice once more.

"Agent Weiss?"
"Yes?"

"Take care of Sydney."

"I will, Sir."

Weiss hung the phone up and turned to Vaughn.  He glanced down at Sydney, who seemed to be wrought with pain.  He bit his lip, wishing there was something he could do.  There wasn't, except tell Vaughn what he knew.  Vaughn seemed to already assume the worst, so there would be no surprising him.
"Rogan was taken.  This morning."

Vaughn sighed and looked down at Sydney.  He didn't know if she would be able to handle this.  Not after everything that has happened to her.  This could be her breaking point.