Believe

Chapter Five

Appearances

            Sark checked into the hotel Irina had made reservations at.  His alias was Stephan Hanson, 27-year-old investment banker, traveling to the Isle of Capris with his son, Rogan Hanson.  Rogan didn't seem to even understand what was happening, content to walk with Sark and hold onto his brand new books.  Rogan jumped on the full sized bed after dropping his small backpack that Sark had purchased for him.  Sark resisted the urge to scold him for jumping on the beds.  If that made Rogan happy, he would allow it.  Especially since he had kidnapped him.  Sark cursed the new conscience he seemed to have developed.  He liked to think it was because he had some kind of feelings for his mother, but he wasn't so sure if that was the only thing.  He wasn't going soft, though.

"Sark?"

Sark turned his attention on the small boy who had tired of bouncing on the mattress and ended up flopping into the overstuffed pillows. 

"Yes, Rogan?"

"Where is my mommy?"

"She's probably still on her vacation."

Rogan's lower lip protruded slightly, a pout that looked so much like his mother's.  Rogan seemed like the regular three-and-a-half year old boy.  Not at all like the object of some famous prophecies written by a fourteenth century genius that also happened to be his father.  Sark sat down on the side of the bed and Rogan crawled to him.  Sark tensed, hoping the boy wouldn't want to sit in his lap.  He didn't.  He just sat beside Sark, as if he realized the discomfort he provided Sark with.  He looked terribly sad and Sark recognized that look.  It was the same look he had had when his mother had moved them around so much and he'd ended up without any friends except for her. 

"Do you miss Sydney, Rogan?"

"Mhm.  She said she would come back fast, but how will she fin' me if I'm not at home?  Did you tell her?"

"No.  I didn't tell her.  But someone will tell her.  I'm sure."

"Promise?"

Sark paused.  He didn't usually promise.  Then again, most people didn't ask him for promises.  A small smile touched Sark's lips as he nodded.

"I promise."

Rogan seemed satisfied at that.  He watched Sark carefully, who seemed to be considering something deep.  He left Sark to his thoughts, being the perceptive boy he was.  Rogan recognized moods like that.  Sydney sometimes went through dark spells where she seemed to be wrapped up in her own little world.  He always knew when he should be an extra-good boy.

"Rogan, you're going to meet some new people soon."
"Am I gonna get some new frien's?"

Sark seemed unsure of how to answer that.  They definitely weren't going to be his friends, but how was he supposed to explain that to him?

"Well…they both know your mother.  They've been wanting to meet you for a very long time, Rogan, because you're so special."
"Mommy says I'm speshial.  Are they Mommy's friends?"

"Not exactly.  Listen, Rogan, I need you to obey me."
"Okay."

"You need to be careful of those people.  Don't go anywhere with them, unless I'm with you.  Can you promise me you'll stay with me all the time?"
"Mhm.  Mommy says don't go anywhere wif strangers."

"Yes, that is a good rule to follow.  Rogan, these people may tell you bad things about me, but don't pay them any heed.  And they may ask you some fairly odd questions and I won't make you answer them, unless I think you need to.  Do you understand?"

"What's heed?"

Sark realized he was talking more like he would regularly, than making sure a three-year-old would understand him.  Rogan was intelligent, but that didn't mean he knew the entire English dictionary.

"Don't pay any attention to them when they tell you about me.  They won't always be telling the truth."
"Why would they lie?"

"Because they feel it's necessary at times."

Rogan seemed completely confused by this and Sark couldn't help but admire the child's innocence.  He was still so perfectly unmarred by the world and it's evils, evils that were found in his grandmother and Sark himself.  Sark knew that this would end up changing Rogan.  And he felt immensely guilty about it.  Innocence destroyed was impossibly hard for him to accept in one so young, but there was no way he could change it.  Rambaldi lived on in this child and it was almost in his genetic make-up to lose that innocence.  Rogan would survive.  He was a strong lad.

"Mr. Sark, didn't you hear me?"

"I'm afraid not.  I was philosophizing."
"Feel-off-sizing?"
Sark let a small chuckle emerge from his throat.  He ruffled Rogan's hair and shook his head.

"No.  I was philosophizing.  I was thinking."

"Feel-off-I-sizing."

"Close.  What did you say?"

"Will you tell me a story?"

Sark seemed taken aback by that request.  He could deal with any question except that.  He didn't invent stories.  He didn't have any idea what was appropriate for a child to hear.

"What kind of a story?"

"About you and Mommy.  Or you when you were little."

"When I was little?  I don't know if I even remember that."

Actually, he remembered.  He just tried not to.  But he looked down into Rogan's wide brown eyes and found that it was impossible to say no to him.

"When I was a young lad, I lived with my Mum.  We lived in Whitechapel, England…"

To a casual observer, the father adored the son and the son adored the father.  Of course, that wasn't true.  Because the man had kidnapped the child.  But who knew that?  Appearance was everything.

            Sydney was sure her eyes were open, but she couldn't seem to shake the fogginess in front of her.  Slowly, outlines started to darken into actual people.  She saw Weiss and Vaughn standing to the side worriedly, her father front and center, watching her in a bed.  How had she gotten to the bed?  The last thing she remembered was sitting on the plane, discussing McKenas Cole's disappearance from the 21 Club. 

"Dad?"
"Sydney.  How are you feeling?"

She was surprised by his concern because he seemed truly just that.  Concerned.  Had she been injured?  Had the plane crashed?'
"I'm fine.  Dad, what's wrong?"
"You don't remember?"  He glanced back at Weiss and Vaughn and exchanged an apprehensive look.  It was hard to miss and it made Sydney try to focus harder on what had happened on the plane.  She remembered receiving a phone call.  It hit her suddenly, her father's words.

"Rogan?!  Have you found him?!  How long have I been out?  What happened to me?  How could you let Rogan get kidnapped?"

Jack tried to calm her down as the flood of questions escaped, but there wasn't a way to slow her down.  Once she remembered that her baby was gone, she couldn't do anything but ask questions.  She had so many.  So many questions and so many regrets.  If she had stayed home, Rogan would be safe.  She would have been able to protect Rogan from the men who took him.  She would have been there.

"We haven't gotten a location on Rogan yet, Sydney.  We're working on it.  I need you to tell me where Sark is."

Sydney jerked away from her father's gentle hand, sitting up with her knees under her chin.
"I don't know where he is.  I haven't seen him in a while.  I haven't talked to him since-"
She broke off as she remembered his words about sending Rogan to preschool.  Suddenly, all she could hear in her head was his warning, "You're burying your head in the sand if you think The Covenant isn't still after Rogan."  He had been right.  But was it because he had been involved?  Did he know what was going to happen and that was his subtle way of forewarning her? 

"Since when, Sydney?"
"Since he killed Sloane.  He called me sometimes, but he never came to see me."

She hoped that her face looked innocent enough for her father to believe her.  Talking to her father was almost like being hooked up to an impossibly hard lie detector test.  He was studying her with his steely gray eyes, but Sydney refused to look away.  If she did, that would tell her father that she was lying.

"Why do you want to know where Sark is?"
"He matches the description of the person who took Rogan from the preschool."

"Appearances can be deceiving, Dad.  A lot of people have blond hair and blue eyes."
"And a lot of people have British accents as well.  But how many would go after Rogan?"
"Sark wouldn't go after Rogan."
"I refuse to blindly trust a known terrorist, liar, and killer, Sydney.  I'm a little concerned that you will."

"I'm not blindly trusting him.  I know Sark, more or less.  He wouldn't take Rogan from me.  I know it.  We spent too much time together a year and a half ago.  He helped me find out the truth of my past and he helped me save Rogan from Sloane.  I won't believe that he would take Rogan."

Jack stood up abruptly as an angry look flashed across his face.  Her usually stoic father was becoming emotionally involved.  She glanced over at Weiss and Vaughn who seemed to be on her father's side.  Weiss seemed more sympathetic to her case than Vaughn, but he didn't seem to believe her when she said that Sark wouldn't do that.

"You never answered me about how long I've been out.  Or what happened."
Weiss took Jack's place at the edge of the bed and smiled gently.

"Almost a day.  You passed out after hearing the news about Rogan and then you were sedated.  You don't remember waking up?"

"When did I wake up?'
"We had just landed.   You woke up, raving and combative.  We had to sedate you to calm you down.  You've been sleeping since then."

"You let me sleep away valuable time that I could be looking for my son."

"We let you sleep so you can find Rogan with good sense and a clear mind.  You can help us compile a list of possible suspects that could have taken Rogan."
Hope filled Sydney.  Maybe she had misjudged Weiss' facial expression.  Maybe he was on her side completely.

"You don't think Sark did it either?"
"I think we can look at all possible suspects.  I also think that if Sark has Rogan, he'll be safe for the moment.  Sark does care for you. I've seen it.  So I think he'll protect Rogan if he has him.  And if it was Sark, he may have had a good reason for taking him.  Maybe he heard that someone was going to try to take Rogan and beat them to it.  There are a hundred explanations, Sydney."

Sydney felt a little better at Weiss' comment.  Of course, Jack and Vaughn didn't agree with it.
"Come on, man, you can't really believe that."

"Actually, Vaughn, I do believe that.  You never know-"

Sydney didn't hear Weiss speaking anymore.  She remembered when he left her at the playground how his last word had been, "Believe."  Was that his way of telling her to believe in him?  She remembered being so confused after he had said that.  What had he meant?  A small surge of hope hit her.  She would call Sark as soon as everyone left.  He would answer her questions.  He would.

"Why don't you all go on to the Operations Center.  I'm going to take a shower and get ready to go, and then I'll meet you there."

"All right."

Weiss squeezed her hand and walked on to the door.  Vaughn offered her a half-smile before following Weiss.  Jack came over to Sydney and kissed her head.

"We'll find Rogan.  Are you sure you will be all right here alone?"

"Yes, Dad.  I'll be fine.  Go on."

"Okay."

Sydney watched her father's retreating form before sinking back down into her bed.  She would call Sark soon.  Because her father couldn't possibly be right.  Could he?