* * * * Over the course of the next several months, as Kendall became more convinced of Sark’s usefulness and less leery of his unpredictable allegiance, the boy began to be a familiar figure in the field even as others were seen there with less frequency. To Jack’s consternation, control of these missions was gradually being eased out of his hands. Sark’s skills were being diverted to other, more vital projects in the director’s eyes and Jack’s attention was being redirected as well.
To be honest, he had been expecting this sooner or later. He had only hoped that it would be later. He couldn’t blame Sark though, or even Kendall, he grudgingly admitted. The shift of focus in Sark’s new assignments was merely a reflection of the growing belief within the Agency as a whole that Jack’s personal crusade was becoming an increasingly hopeless cause. It had been a year since Sydney’s disappearance and no one - not even Sark - had been able to come up with a single solid piece of evidence indicative of anything. In the prevailing view, which was close to becoming the official view, Sydney Bristow was presumed dead. Much as Jack hated it, most of the agents who once knew his daughter were gradually coming to the same conclusions - including the heartbroken man who sat in his office now.
“I don’t think I can do this anymore, Jack,” Vaughn said quietly.
Jack still couldn’t quite fathom why the younger agent had assumed that Sydney’s disappearance had brought them closer together. Perhaps it was because they both had been closer to her than anyone else that Vaughn felt more comfortable opening up to Jack. It didn’t make Jack feel any more comfortable. Although he supposed that he had been half-preparing himself to accept Vaughn as a son-in-law one day, he didn’t see how that translated into their presumed connection now.
Their fragile bond became even more strained as their views began to diverge. After a year of utterly fruitless searching without a single lead, Vaughn was beginning to accept what everyone else already believed. He had fought as hard as Jack to keep the search going for months after most people had already begun to give up, but Jack had seen how it was killing him. Vaughn might have still harbored some hope, but the doubts were slowly eating at him as well. Jack had pushed his own doubts down as far as he could. He tried hard to imagine the younger man’s position. He did believe that Vaughn truly loved his daughter. He could understand his desperation and frustration. He could even empathize with the pain he’d once felt at believing that he had lost the woman he loved. But he had very little understanding of Vaughn’s growing fatalistic acceptance of that loss.
He was never exactly at ease with these personal conversations, always eager for them to be over nearly as soon as they’d begun. His impatience today was not helped by the glimpse he was sure he’d had of a certain blond wraith in the hallway outside his door. When Vaughn left at last, the boy slipped into the office and the recently vacated chair.
“He’s an idiot,” Sark began conversationally.
“He’s still in love.”
“Then we’re in agreement. That’s an incredibly stupid thing to do in this business… as you well know.”
It may have been intended as a dig, but Jack could see something in his darkened eyes that he doubted the boy had meant to reveal. He suspected that Sark had not learned this lesson the easy way either.
“Didn’t anyone ever teach you that eavesdropping is impolite?” he asked, unable - or perhaps unwilling - to mask how thin his patience had been worn already today.
“Blame it on my poor upbringing,” the boy shrugged carelessly. “I was actually raised to believe that sort of behavior should be positively encouraged.”
“I assume by the fact that you’re skulking the halls without a leash this afternoon that Kendall is sending you on another mission soon.”
“I’m offended,” Sark said, not looking so in the least. “I do not skulk. If anyone should ask, I’m currently locked in the terminal room on seven, reading up on the recent activities of the LTTE in Sri Lanka. I believe my minder has gone on a coffee break,” he added. “I don’t think that they’re nearly as afraid of me as they used to be.”
“Is there a point to this visit or were you just bored?”
Sark straightened in his chair, becoming professional at last. “Bellamare,” he said. “Ring any bells? What about Rakoczy?”
Jack shook his head. “Why should they?”
“A few days ago I ran across a single passing reference to a Project Bellamare in one of the satellite tap transcripts that Kendall has me going over. Context was unclear, but it stuck with me. Yesterday I found a mention of a Rakoczy in Pyongyang, somehow involved with an off-book research program. You don’t spend as much time as I have among the Rambaldi-obsessed without becoming attuned to every major and minor underground conspiracy theory there is. There is some sort of significance to those two names suddenly appearing in such close proximity.”
“Can you come up with any plausible rationale for making it worth my effort to understand where you’re going with this? Do you suspect that there is a connection to Sloane?”
“Possibly. Possibly not. As you know, I’ve always maintained that Sloane and Derevko are not the only two potential abductors of your daughter.” Even in his weary and frustrated mood, Jack didn’t fail to note the boy’s detachment. “Sydney would be a valuable addition to anyone’s organization,” Sark continued. “And there are many of them with the capability to recruit her… by any means necessary. Project Bellamare seems to be some sort of training program. More than that I can’t gather with my present resources.”
“You think that this could be a re-training program as well.” It was more a statement than a question and the boy’s nod confirmed it.
“Possibly,” Sark said again. “Kendall’s keeping a fairly tight rein on where I go and what I look into. Well, he won’t let me divert a Sri Lankan mission into North Korea anyway,” he amended, with a slight grin at Jack’s bland look. “And that’s what I need - ground intel. I haven’t been able to pick up anything else from any of the surveillance data I have access to. And yes, that does include some sources that I’m sure our dear director never approved.”
“I’m not sure that I can get you into Pyongyang any time soon,” Jack said slowly. “Especially not with such insufficient confirmation that there’s even anything to investigate.”
“There’s something there,” Sark assured him. “You’ve given me this chance because you know I can see things that your agents don’t. Trust my instincts on this. Even if it turns out to be another dead-end on Sydney, there is still something in Project Bellamare worth the CIA’s investigation.”
* * * *
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