| �I just wanted to inform you as to Sydney�s whereabouts.� Jack told the man sitting behind the desk, looking at him with cold, hard eyes. �And?� Sloane respoded curious. �She and a friend of hers were in an accident on Tuesday.� �Is she alright?� He asked as he watched Jack�s every gesture. �Yes....She�s recovering and asked me to inform you that she�s taking time off.� Sloane had had his fingers intertwined and resting in front of his chin. He dropped them to his arm rests and cleared his throat. �Why didn�t she inform me of this herself?� He asked her father. Jack shifted slightly, but undetectibly. �She�s exhausted....its been a long couple days recovering. Her freidn was also injured fairly severly....I�m sure she was a bit pre-occupied to come in personally.� Jack told him flatly. �I see.� Sloane said, pushing himself closer to his desk as if to begin another task. �Thank you for informing me. Let me know when she is feeling better?� He told him as he looked down and picked up a pen to write on a piece of paper, his signal that he was finished with the current conversation. �Of course.� Jack replied, and turned to exit. When he reached the door, he paused. He turned back to Sloane and spoke. �How....is Emily?� He asked finally. Sloane looked up from writing, he hesitated, his eyes looking down at first, then back up to Jack. �She passed away Wednesday.� Jack stood for a moment in silence. �I�m sorry.� He finally said. Sloane nodded slightly. �It was....peaceful.� He said quietly. Jack just nodded slightly in response and turned around and exited his office. Sloane watched him leave, and stared at the door after it had closed behind him. ~~~~~~~~~ Sydney exited the club swiftly. It took a bit of....persuasion, but she now had the information she sought. She walked all the way back to the car. A quick change, and she was dressed in all black. Sydney got back into the car and drove off, heading to the location she now knew. ~~~~~~~~ PART 7 The car stopped abruptly. Sydney knew she was about a half a mile from the old building she was seeking. She quickly emerged and reached back into the car. She pulled out a gun. Not exactly her weapon of choice, however she felt she might actually need it this time. She tucked it into the back of her pants and pulled the shirt down to cover the handle which stood out. She closed the door gently and proceeded to walk towards her destination. ~~~~~~~~~~ She reached the small lake relatively quickly. She glanced around into the darkness for a moment, before carefully making her way down the small four foot slope into the shallow water. She stood in front of the large grate that was used as a filter for the drainage pipe. She reached up and placed her fingers through the openings, though her left hand not as strongly as her right. She pulled hard several times, jerking it, trying to pull it off, but it wouldn�t budge. She stepped back, feet submerged a bit more in the cold water. Sydney then stepped back forward and grabbed the grate once more. This time, she placed her foot onto the thin rim surrounding where the grate was held on for balance. She pulled once, twice, three times, and nothing. Finally she gave it her all and pulled with all her strength. The popped off, sending her falling back into the shallow water. She hit hard and breathed heavily as she lay on her back in the three inches of water, with her hands holding the great right in front of her face. She sat up in the water and looked at the large grate in her hands. She sighed and tossed the grate back into the water behind her. She looked at her dirty glove covered hands and was clearly agitated. She pushed herself up and shook her hands a bit, trying to get some of the water and grime off. Sydney put her hand onto the top of the circular rim of the opening an looked in. All there was was darkness. She pulled out and stood back up straight, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a tiny flashlight. She turned it on and aimed it into the tunnel. Though it was small, it created enough light to be able to see a few feet ahead of her. She placed the flashlight in her mouth and climbed up and into the tunnel. She began to crawl slowly. ~~~~~~~~~~ The dark figure watched from behind a bush several yards away. They watched as the woman entered the tunnel. For an instant they remained still, then after waiting several minutes, the figure stood and began follow. ~~~~~~~~~~ Sydney felt mushy grime beneath her knees and hands as she made her way down the long tunnel. Lately she had gown increasingly tired of situations such as the one she was in now. Some days, Francie would come home and complain if a co-worker spilt a glass of wine on her. She would act as if was the end of the world, a ruined blouse. She always swore she was going to quit and do something more with her life. If only she knew how small such an occurrence was. If only she knew the feel of filth and grime on her hands and in her hair. If only she knew what it felt like to be submerged in freezing water so cold the blood in your veins hardens, if only she knew how it felt to feel your own blood trickle down your face as pain and injury are inflicted.....For Sydney, it was not wine which stained her hands, but rather blood....the blood of enemies....the blood of colleagues.....the blood of friends.....of lovers. At least Francie had the ability to bring it all to an end. She did quit. She was starting her own restaurant....she was starting a new life. If only life was that simple for Sydney. After crawling for what felt like approximately twenty yards, she came to a drop-off. She stopped, and took the light from her mouth, pointed it ahead of her more and stuck her head out to have a look around. The light revealed an area, small in size, but tall enough for one to stand in. The ground was a few feet from where she was, so she shifted in the small tunnel so her legs were in front of her. She then dropped out of the opening and landed in about a foot of water. She stood up straight and pointed the light, turning slowly all the way around, so to check out her surroundings. In doing so, she saw that there were two openings in front of her. One on the left, one on the right. Both were large enough for her to be able to walk upright through. She looked back and forth several times, before deciding to go with the one on the right. She paused at its opening, looked back at the other one, then stepped into it and began walking. ~~~~~~~~~ The grate slid across the hard stone floor as Sydney�s hands guided it aside. She peeked up and checked for security, then pushed herself up and pulled out from the hole. Once in, she stood up. She no longer needed the flashlight, as the room she was in was dimly lit by small filthy bulbs that line the walls. She was in an underground facility of some kind. Pipes were everywhere. She began to creep slowly around them and towards the other side of the long area. Sydney finally reached a set of iron rungs from a wall ladder and looked up. It was about eight feet tall and led into a small opening on the ceiling. She paused, and took a breath, then began to climb up. It only took a few steps before she emerged into yet another dark room. This one was a clearly used as some kind of utility room as there were old buckets and cleaning materials with Chinese writing on them which sat on shelves lining two of the walls. To her right was a door. Sydney looked at it for several moments and then approached it and placed her hand on the knob. She slowly and quietly turned it. The door opened slowly and Sydney hesitated before poking her head out just enough so she could check both directions. She saw no one, however down the hallway to her left, she could see it opened up into the main foyer. She quickly ran down the hallway in the other direction. She glanced from side to side as she saw door after door. Clearly, this used to be a hotel. It was very old, with dirt and peeling paint on all of the walls. She even saw cobwebs in the corners where the ceiling met the wall. Eventually, she reached the end of the hallway. There, she forcefully opened the door and began to ascend the stairwell. Once she knew she was to the third story, she exited the stairwell carefully into another hallway. She walked on until the reached the other end. There, it also opened up into a main foyer. She heard voices down below. Kneeling, she crept slowly towards the railing. She slowly raised up, so she could see over it. She looked down. There she saw four men, all seated around a table in the middle of the large foyer. They sat, one of them with a gun over his shoulder, the other three with them hanging from the backing of their chair. They smoked and laughed as they played cards. Sydney looked al around them. There appeared to be no one else in the near vicinity. She began to walk, while bent down to the left so she could see more. Once she stopped, she looked around again. No one else. She figured the situation was one of two things. Either these were all of the guards, or at least most of them, and her mother and Vaughn were somewhere else, or, there were a dozen or more guards placed throughout the building that could come running at a moments notice. Sydney paused. She decided it was worth it to take the chance. She knew she could hit at least two of them before they would know what was happening. She knelt down all the way, facing the wall, reached around behind her and pulled out the gun. She then turned around and leaned against the wall, holding the gun up. She took several deep breaths and then jumped up. The first bullet hit the one with his back turned towards her. It struck him directly in the head and he immediately fell forward. The second bullet struck the man who was now left facing her, exposed, square in the chest. He fell backwards in his chair from the impact. The other two panicked, grabbing their guns and jumping up to face the direction the fire was coming from. Sydney was about to fire again, but saw one of them was about to fire at her. She began to run right, ducking slightly. A bullet struck a decorative cherub head on the edge of the railing, which blocked it from striking Sydney�s head which had been right behind it at that exact moment. It exploded from the impact and Sydney ducked, realizing how close it was to hitting her. She panted heavily as she waited as the bullets fired away from their ak-47s. She jumped up and ran again, firing two shots off as she ran, one of them hitting on of the men in the shoulder. She had now run nearly way around the third level balcony overlooking the foyer and fired about 3 more shots, none of which were successful. Sydney let the clip emerge from the gun, she checked and saw she had one shot left. She locked the clip back in and waited as bullets fired all around her. ~~~~~~~~ The figure stopped abruptly from climbing the ladder when they heard gunshots ring out in the distance. They reached and grabbed their own from behind their back and climbed quicker. ~~~~~~~~ The gunfire stopped, the guard needing to reload. It was just long enough for Sydney to stand up straight and fire one single bullet at the guard. It struck him in the abdomen, sending him falling slowly to the ground. Then, there was silence. She quickly made her way around the last corner and ran swiftly down the main staircase. She dashed to the nearest guard and took the handgun from its holder at his waist. She stood in the center of the foyer and looked around. To her left she saw an opening into a large room. She entered it slowly, gun ready, but saw no one. Sydney found herself to now be in a large dining room area. At the other end of the room, she saw a pair of metal double swinging doors with a small round window on each. The kitchen. She walked, carefully and quietly placing each foot in front of the other as she slowly approached the doors. About a foot away, the door flung open, knocking Sydney to the ground. The gun she held slid away to her left on the tile floor. She tried to regain the breath that had been knocked out of her quickly and reached her left hand over to grab for the gun. A foot stomped hard on her left hand which was only inches from obtaining what it sought. Sydney yelled out in pain. Underneath the black leather glove already broken bones ground into each other. Her eyes became enraged from the pain, and her teeth were gritted. She twisted her body to swing around and kick him in the back of the leg, causing him to fall to the ground. She pulled her hand back and jumped up quickly as did he. He swung at her with a large right-handed fist which struck her hard in the face, causing her head to turn. She swung back with a backhand which impacted to his own cheek. She then followed it up by spinning swiftly around and kicking him with her left foot in the chest. She rushed forward and kicked straight forward, sending him flying through the swinging doors and into the kitchen. He lay on the ground and grunted and groaned briefly, with his eyes closed. He then opened them and started to try to sit up, by first raising his head from the floor, but he was met by the dark barrel of a handgun a foot from his face. His eyes went wide, but within a second, the blood splattered from his forehead as the metal impacted with his skull. His limp head fell back to the floor with a thud. Sydney lowered the gun slowly back to her side. She held her left hand to her stomach, as it was now numb. She tasted the blood on her lip where the stitches had been torn. She blinked lazily, feeling as though she could have collapsed right then and there, but something in her wouldn�t allow it. She looked up ahead, next to the large walk-in freezer, she saw a doorway. She walked slowly towards it, left hand still tucked up by her stomach, right lifted with the gun. She turned the corner and entered....and inside, was a small hallway, curved hallway. She slowly kept going. As she emerged into a room, she recognized it immediately. It was the same room she had been held in days earlier, the same room, where she sat, tied to a chair, with blue hair and looked into the dark eyes of her mother. A noise made Sydney turned spin around. There, in a corner, leaning against a wooden crate, lay Vaughn. �Vaughn!� She whispered in shock. She rushed to hit, squatting next to his slumped beaten form. He was still in the clothes she had last seen him in, though they were wrinkled and covered in dirt. She reached down and gently tilted his head so she could see his face. He had been beaten fairly severely. He his eye was very swollen, cheek and chin bruised and his temple had dried blood on it. His lips were severely chapped and cracking. He must have not been provided water....nor food, for she noticed his closed eyes looked very worn and face looked like someone who hadn�t eaten in over six days. |
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