Collision Course

"What are you doing here, Sark?" Sydney demanded, her weapon
trained on him. "Where is the boy?"

"The boy?" Sark asked, a slight laugh in his tone. He stood and
pointed to some photos on the refridgerator. "Your little boy seems
to be all grown up, Sydney. You're looking for a 21 year old man."

Sydney looked at the photos and caught the first glimpse of her son.
He was strikingly handsome, with dark hair and beuatiful eyes.
'Wow,'
she thought simply. She hadn't been sure how she would feel when
she finally saw his face, but now that she had- it was an amazing
experience.

Vaughn saw the transformation in Sydney's expression, and could only
guess at the thoughts going through her mind. He focused his
attention
on Sark. "You didn't answer the question. Where is he?"

"The last I had heard," said Sark, looking directly into Michael
Vaughn's
eyes, "Mallory Crawford kept a base of operations 50 miles southwest
of Madrid. My guess is thats he would take young Jan there."

"Let's go," said Sydney, but Vaughn put a hand on her shoulder before
she could make it more than a few steps.

"We have to go back first, Sydney. At the very least we need to
clear
this with Sloane and take him into custody," he said, nodding towards
Sark. Sark stood there, a smile on his face, and shook his head.

"I'm afraid that's not how it's going to work, Agent Vaughn," he
said,
calmly and cooly. "I'll cooperate with you, lead you to the
warehouse-
which by the way, you will never find on your own- but in return, I
have
to be in on this completely. We are going together, without
notifying
Arvin Sloane." He paused, and looked at Sydney as she exchanged a
look
with Vaughn. "Unless you want to find him after she's tortured him,
or worse. Up to you, Agent Bristow," he added, a smirk spreading
across his lips.

"Vaughn, we don't have a choice," Sydney said, knowing this was her
only way to find her son. "You can go back to APO if you want to, I
don't expect you to put your life and career on the line."

Vaughn's eyes softened as he looked at Sydney's expression. He
undertsood her need to see this through to the end. "If you think
I'm
leaving you alone with him, you're insane," he said, smiling.

"If you two don't mind, I think we should get going," said an
impatient
Sark. He smiled, and added, "Unless you need further discussion on
the matter?" Sydney shook her head and holstered her weapon, knowing
they couldn't walk outside with Sark at gunpoint. Vaughn did the same.

"If you betray us, Sark, I will make sure you suffer," Sydney said,
her
eyes cold as she and Vaughn led Sark out to their car.

"Sydney, in this case our needs are mutually exclusive. I don't want
to see
your boy hurt or dead any more than you do," he said, adding in
something
of a whisper. "He's no good to me dead, or dying."

Sydney heard the comment but decided to let it go, preferring to
focus on
the matter at hand. She would worry about Julian Sark's endgame
later.

The three rushed to the airport and boarded a jet to Madrid. Just as
they
were nearing Spain, the plane began to jump around from a bit of
turbulence.
Sark looked around, and sighed. "It's happening sooner than I
expected it to," he said to nobody in particular. Vaughn and
Sydney exchanged a confused look.

"What do you mean?" Sydney asked. Sark sighed.

"It the prophecies, about the meeting of the Chosen One and her
destiny- her child," said Sark, but before he could continue, there
was
the sound of a loud explosion as the engine blew out and the plane
toppled from the sky.

Vaughn tried to hold on to Sydney, but as the plane bumped around
he lost his grip on her. "Sydney!" he called out, but there was no
answer.
As he reached out for her, the seat in front was violently forced
forward,
cracking the bone in his forearm.

Sark was relatively unscathed, having remained still and a bit more
calm than Sydney or Vaughn. He helped Vaughn our of the wreckage,
then headed back in for Sydney. Vaughn's heart dropped as Sark
pulled
Sydney's lifeless body from the wreckage.

Sakr laid Sydney on her back, and attempted to get her pulse. He
felt
nothing. "No pulse!" he yeled to Vaughn. "She's not breathing!"
Vaughn
made his way to her, forcing the tears he felt pressing forward back
as he
looked at her body lying there. "I'll do CPR," he told Sark, but
Sark shook
his head.

"Not with that arm," said Sark. "I'll do it." He smirked a bit as
he pumped
a few times on Sydney's chest, adn couldn't help but antogonize
Vaughn
once more. "Remember when I tortured you? That time with Lauren?
Remember what I told you?" he asked Vaughn.

Vaughn nodded. "You said it was going to hurt," Vaughn replied.
Sark nodded.

"I also said I was going to enjoy it much more than I should," he
added,
smiling as he dipped his head low, and his lips met the lips of
Sydney Bristow,
breathing life back into her body.

************** END CHAPTER 9************************