Title: Dancing Among Stars
Author: charmedgal005
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sequel to Sam. When a new force comes through killing the people closest to Samantha, can Samantha use the one thing that she has fought against for eight years to save Sydney and Vaughn?
Disclaimer: I sadly am a poor college student. I do not own much at all. Including, Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss, and the rest of the Alias gang. Samantha, Hayden and the other JIP children are my own characters, I do own them.
Author's Notes:This is a sequel to my fic, Sam. It is not necessary however to read Sam first. I have tried to make this first chapter a lot of review, for those just now climbing on board, and since it has been a long time since Sam. I still recommend reading Sam first though.
Dedication: This whole entire story is dedicated to my sis, Biba. She is the main reason that there is even a sequel to Sam. If it weren't for the fact that she challenged me to do this, there wouldn't be one. So I'd like to thank her for that, and dedicate this first chapter and the entire story to her. You rock my socks off Biba.
Author's Plea: I need a beta for this fic. I actually need a beta in general, but this is really the only fic I'm working on. So if you'd like to beta for me, drop me a PM or let me know. Please, please, please, please, I really need a beta.
The rain fell heavily on the howling frigid night. In the basement of an old storage building a middle-aged man was cuffed to a cold metal chair. He watched in wide-eyed fear as his captor dragged the dead and bloody body of his friend to the corner of the room. A trail of blood followed the body, still fresh from where she had thrown the knife into his heart. The man, still lucky to be alive, tensed as he expected his own fate to be the same. The door to the basement was bolted shut, and the only other way in was a small window, barely big enough for a child to climb through. And that was only if he could have escaped the chair. It has wisely been bolted to the ground, and it was well made. The only way that he would get out of the chair would be with the key to the handcuffs.
"Eu darei qualquer coisas que você quiser!" I will give you anything you want! He pleaded, the blood flowing freely from his lip where he had been punched just moments earlier.
Samantha Daily stood over him with a bloody knife and a gun, calmly loading it. "Eu não quero nada." I don't want anything. She answered. Her dark brown hair graced her shoulders as she gently bobbed her head. The lighter colored roots formed a ring around her head as if it was a halo. But Samantha was no angel. She had come prepared for blood. The thick black leather covered her from head to toe, allowing no room for fingerprints, no room for blood stains, and most importantly, it allowed for her to slip into the night without being seen.
"Dinheiro! Eu tenho muito dinheiro e meios para conseguir muito, muito mais." Money! I've got lots of money and the resources to get more, lots more.
Samantha was short. "Eu não preciso disso." I don't need any.
"Mas você quer dinheiro?" But do you want some?
"Não." No. Somewhere in the distance, a quiet and slow drip from a leak echoed in the basement, filling the tangible silence. Samantha put the bullet into the chamber. The gun clicked as it further sealed the man's fate. He panicked at the sound.
"Armas! Eu posso conseguir para você armas o suficiente para destruir uma cidade!" Weapons! I can give you enough weapons to level a city!
"Não. A única coisa que eu quero aniquilar é você." No. The only thing I want to destroy here is you.
"Informação! Eu posso conseguir qualquer coisa que você queira! Qualquer coisa que você precise! Por favor! Eu tenho uma esposa! E uma filha de três anos! Minha mãe está morrendo! Por favor!" Intel! I can give you anything you want! Anything you need! Please! I have a wife! I have a three year old daughter! My mother is dying! Please!
Samantha grabbed the man's hair. "Seu parceiro foi mais esperto que você ao não implorar pela vida e ele teve uma morta silenciosa e calma. Você gostaria que eu mudasse isso?" Your partner was smart enough not to beg and he went in silence and peace. Would you like me to change that for you? The man fearfully shook his head. "Além do mais, isso não é exatamente uma atitude de um cavalheiro." Besides, it's not like a gentleman to beg.
A large wind came from outside causing the small window to open and close with a bang and ring in the cement room. The gust brought with it the cool sting of the rain and a chill through Samantha's spine. Samantha whipped her head towards the window as she heard metal pipes bob around. Cautiously she crossed her feet as she walked towards the window with her gun at the ready. She paused in the silence, carefully listening for any whisper of a noise and keeping her eyes open for any shadow. Satisfied that there was nothing there, Samantha walked over to the window and shut it tight again, this time double checking the lock.
The man was overcome with fear as Samantha walked towards him, stopping just five small paces away. "Por favor! Não me mate! Eu não sabia o que eu estava fazendo! Eu tinha ordens para cumprir!"" Please! Don't kill me! I didn't know what I was doing! I had orders.
"Assim como eu." So do I.
Samantha carefully aimed.
Two shots rang out.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Sydney straightened her papers and stood up. Vaughn stood behind her, his serious and worried face mirroring his wife's. "You have her transportation all arranged?" Sydney asked.
"She'll be here in a few hours." Vaughn paused. "You know, she won't like this."
"No. But it has to be done. Is she still stable?"
Vaughn nodded, "But they had to put her into a medically induced coma for the transportation. She doesn't know that she's being transferred yet. They'll begin waking her after she gets here."
"Is Kendall ready for us?" Sydney nodded.
Vaughn put his arm around Sydney. "Are you ready?" Sydney gave a weak smile. It was strong enough to fool everyone else, but it didn't fool her husband. He saw right through her mask and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "She's strong, she'll pull through."
"I know, but it doesn't stop me from worrying."
The rest of the people had already assembled in the room when the two entered. Kendall started the meeting before Sydney and Vaughn had even sat down. Three pictures of Samantha were on every computer screen, and Sydney couldn't help but remember the last time she had seen her. The first was an old picture; Samantha was only three. Her hair was in pigtails swinging as high as she could, smiling up at the photographer, trying to show off every tooth she had. The second was the last one Sydney had seen of her, almost eight years before. Samantha was sitting on a couch, just sitting and looking around. Sydney could even remember that one being taken. Vaughn had taken a whole roll of candid shots, much to the anger of both Sydney and Samantha. The third showed a much colder Samantha. She had died her hair dark and she no longer had the carefree look that the first shot had, or the thoughtfulness of the second. Instead what Sydney saw was a cold Samantha, one that had lived her entire life full of pain, lies and deceit.
Kendall started talking. "Samantha Daily." He explained motioning to the pictures. "Twenty five years ago she was the victim of the JIP, Jordan Injection Process. Headed by Irina Derveko, they took young children and injected them with intelligence data to be retrieved when they turned 18. Samantha was in our protective care, not as a prisoner, but as someone we were protecting, when she turned eighteen."
Kendall nodded over to Vaughn and Sydney. Vaughn stood up. "Since then, we have kept tabs on the other JIP children. While over 100 children were given the injection, only 8 lived to be 10, 5 have lived long enough to have their information extracted, and currently only 4 of them are left." Vaughn explained. "Sydney and I have been keeping close tabs on them. Jed Kushner, Jordan Andrews, and Beth Bujack all reside within CIA safe houses. The fourth, Caleb Mankew joined the CIA and works out of Langley." Vaughn changed Samantha's picture to those of the four other JIP recipients, all of which were no longer children.
Sydney took over. "Since the CIA's discovery of the JIP they've formed a new division focused solely on tracking the JIP children and acting upon the information we were able to get from the JIP. Agent Vaughn and I head this division. While we are aware that none of the people affected by the JIP are children anymore, it sets them apart from the doctors. They were, after all, children when they were injected by Dr. Jordan. The information that each carries is highly sensitive. Weapons specs, vaults of intelligence, the location of some 15 previously unknown Rambaldi artifacts, and in the case of Samantha, an entire operations handbook."
"Samantha and the JIP were first brought to our attention when Julian Sark attempted to apprehend Samantha at her high school. This is what is now known as the Hillside Shooting. She was living with Vicktor and Abigail Derveko, the brother and sister-in-law of Irina Derevko. They were living under the aliases Jeffery and Karen Daily. After an attempted murder on Samantha, Abigail and Vicktor were taken into CIA custody. They are still in the Nevada detention facility. Samantha was brought into the CIA for mental therapy and some basic training until her 18th birthday and she was living here in LA with CIA agents." As much as Vaughn and Sydney wanted to admit that they were the ones that Samantha was living with they weren't allowed to and they understood why. "After her 18th birthday we also discovered that Samantha was programmed to protect her information. This has led her to react irrationally and there were times when she would not know what she was doing. This programming is likely to still be in effect.
"Samantha however is no longer in our custody. Just after turning 18, Samantha ran away with a request not to follow her." Vaughn continued. "For security reasons we could not follow that request and over the past eight years we've been following her. For the past four years Sam has been living in São Paulo, Brazil."
Vaughn changed the picture again, this time to a young man exiting a building. "This is Christopher Henriques. His exact relationship to Samantha is unclear. They have been spotted numerous times together and over the past year or so they have been inseparable. We are assuming he's her boyfriend. He was murdered two weeks ago by members of the Andadores da Noites, a small Brazilian rebel group."
"ADN." Sydney abbreviated.
Vaughn continued. "The Andadores da Noites are relatively new to our radar. They've mostly dealt with small arms deals and larger drug deals, but lately we've seen them getting more involved larger weapons and some intelligence. Samantha took it into her own hands, kidnapping the murderers and killing one of them. She was able to shoot the second before another ADN operative gained entry to the room and shot Samantha. He left both his own operative and Samantha for dead. She is currently listed in stable condition and we are flying her back to LA for more thorough treatment."
"What we need to do is find out more about this Henriques guy, and figure out why he was murdered by the ADNs. Umber, Mathews and Josiah, I want you three to take care of finding out more about the ADNs and what Henriques was murdered for. Weiss and Oberhoffer, I'm sending you two to São Paulo. Cover up whatever tracks were made for the murders and clear out Samantha's house. She was listed as Roberta Napier." Sydney instructed.
The others in the debrief room nodded and left. Kendall, Sydney and Vaughn were the only three left in the room. "Samantha will be landing at the airfield at 7:40." Kendall explained. "She'll be immediately transported from there to the hospital."
"Is there anything new in the investigation on the Andadores da Noite operative that shot Sam?" Sydney asked.
Kendall sadly shook his head. "No."
"And why aren't we performing our own investigation?"
"We don't have the spare resources right now. I'm already offering three extra agents to your team. There are no extra agents for you to perform an investigation with. Samantha and the Andadores da Noite are not highest on our priority list. And quite frankly, I don't know why I'm giving you two the resources."
"We'll do it on our own." Sydney suggested.
"Need I remind you Sydney that you have been on desk duty now for four years? You are not cleared for an investigation. And this was at your request as well. And Vaughn can't do it alone. And your whole team has just been tasked. If you two will excuse me, I have to go see how the search for the plasma bomb is going." Kendall marched out of the debrief room.
"I hate it when he is right." Vaughn said, putting his arms around Sydney. "I'll pull up whatever I can about the investigation for you later."
"Thanks. Do you mind picking up Hayden? I would like to stay here until Sam gets in. I'm going to be home late."
Vaughn checked his watch. "I'll have to leave really soon, but I'll do that."
"Before you leave we need a couple things from the store. I'll make you a list." Vaughn and Sydney stood up and returned to his desk. As Vaughn was getting ready to pick up Hayden and go home, Sydney wrote a short grocery list for her husband.
"Give Sam my best when you see her tonight." Vaughn asked his wife.
"She won't be conscious."
"They say people in comas can hear the voices of loved ones. Besides I know you'll be talking to her anyway. It has been seven years; you two have much to talk about."
"I'd be the one doing all the talking."
"Just send her my love and tell her that I want her to get better. I'll stop by the hospital tomorrow before work to see her."
"I can do that."
"Alright, I've got to take off."
"See you at home."
"Bye honey." Vaughn said.
"Bye." Sydney sat down at her desk, and started working again, only putting half of her effort into it. The other half was with Samantha in the hospital.
"Sydney," Agent Peter Josiah said, approaching Sydney's desk, "I need access to Samantha's file. The one with all of her past aliases and where she has been."
"I can't help you there. It is in the computer. Try either Samantha Daily or Samantha White. She's the one JIP child that I cannot answer current questions about."
"Why? Weiss said that you wouldn't necessarily be the one to ask, but Vaughn has gone home for the night."
Sydney sighed; the truth had to come out. "One of her last requests to me was not to follow her as she ran. For security reasons and such we couldn't do it, but I made sure that I stayed out of where she was as much as possible. I followed the other JIP children more carefully and handed Samantha over to Michael."
Oberhoffer nodded. "I understand. My sister tried running away when she was eight, but I knew where she was running to and I pretended not to know where she was for her sake, but I knew that she had pitched a small tent in some woods behind our house. When the time came I went and got her."
Sydney was about to open her mouth to speak when her phone rang. She rolled her eyes, annoyed at the timing of whoever was on the other side of the phone, before leaning over to pick it up. "If you have any problems with her file, come find me." Sydney instructed to Oberhoffer before picking up the phone. He nodded and left. "Agent Bristow-Vaughn." Sydney answered.
"Sydney." Weiss's voice came through.
"Hey Weiss."
"I got some bad news. Echelon just picked up on some hints that the ADN has set up a hit for Beth Bujack's husband."
Sydney sat down in her chair, trying to put all the puzzle pieces together. "You mean they're targeting JIP children?"
"I'd actually say they're targeting their families."
"Can you bring me what you guys picked up?"
"Yeah, I'll run it by your desk in a few minutes."
"Thanks Weiss." Sydney hung up, and quickly pulled up Beth Bujack's file. She was living under the very watchful eye of the CIA. For the past 7 years Beth had never been alone; there were always CIA personnel watching her from the street, through video cameras, behind her in line at the grocery market. The same was true of all the JIP children. Beth and Mark had been married less than a year and aside from the fact that they had two fully trained CIA agents following them and watching their every move and the moves of everyone they come in contact with, they were able to live perfectly normal lives.
Sydney remembered the last time she had visited Beth and Mark. Part of Sydney's job was to visit the JIP children and make sure that they were doing alright mostly. As life got easier and the children had adjusted more their little visits had become more social visits than work related. The last time Sydney visited the newlyweds was just over a month before and they had shared a bottle of champagne. An entire year had gone by without a single threat on Beth's life. They had toasted to another threat-free year. As they took their sips Sydney could tell they were all thinking the same thing. It was only the calm before the storm.
Sydney jumped when Weiss approached her. "Echelon picked this up just 45 minutes ago. It took a while for it to be processed." He admitted. "We gotta get those guys to be faster."
Sydney scanned the paper. "An email?"
"Yes. Between someone from the ADN and to an unknown marksmen."
"Have they set a date for the hit yet?"
"Not that we know of. Just that they've hired a guy to do it."
"How do we know its ADN?"
"We don't have a lot on the ADN, but what we do know is that Simon Stoppa is somewhere up on the chain."
"Stoppa, where have I heard that name before?"
"He was part of the former Alliance"
"And now he's working for ADN? Seems like a step down."
"ADN is now getting international attention with them dragging Sam and the JIP children into it."
Sydney began to bark orders at Weiss, but he was ten steps ahead of her. "We have already fed Stoppa's name into interpol and there are warrants for his arrest in 10 countries. Unfortunately, Brazil is not one of them."
"Fix that."
"Already on it."
After reading over the email again, Sydney picked up the phone. She spent several minutes arguing with Beth and Mark about why they had to leave before she finally was able to convince them to start packing. She then had to dial Beth and Mark's details in New York to help them. "You need to get Beth and Mark out of New York as soon as you can get into their house." She told him.
"Where should I take them?"
"It doesn't matter. Get them to Chicago or Washington. Stick to the big cities where there is a CIA branch nearby. And get out of New York. I also need you to run emergency plan 721 B. There should be new passports and driver's licenses and enough cash for three weeks at that location."
"Alright."
"And do it now."
Sydney read over the email one more time and shook her head in frustration, fear, and stress. She then picked up the phone and put Jed Kushner, Jordan Andrews, and Caleb Mankew under alert, hoping that they wouldn't have to take off and hide like Beth and Mark did. They were both unmarried and neither had a serious girlfriend.
"Have we received any threats on Jed, Jordan or Caleb?"
Weiss shook his head. "This is the first one we've seen. I'll have someone look into old communications and see if I see one on Sam or her boyfriend. I've got to leave for São Paulo in a little bit. "
Sydney nodded. "Weiss, tell me something." Sydney said as she looked over the communication for the umpteenth time.
"What?"
"Why the husband? Why Sam's boyfriend? If they are JIP hunting, why not go after the JIP children?"
Weiss sat on the corner of Sydney's desk as he thought. "There could be any number of reasons. What about just a threat? To bring them in so they can pick their brains."
"That doesn't make sense. Why would they kill them? Why not just threaten them? Beth and Sam would be much more cooperative if it was a threat and Mark and Henriques would be returned to them. I know that Sam would feel like she had nothing to lose and come after them with a vengeance like she did."
"It could be persuasion to join. The regular 'join us or we'll kill him.'"
"No. Again, why actually kill them rather than kidnap them? The ADN's can't win the humanitarian of the year award, but they've remained off our radar for so long that they can't be that brutal yet. Plus, we would have gotten more communication than just this mark. Besides, most JIP children have no training and. although they hold military secrets in their heads, they really don't have any special skills unless they are provoked."
For Weiss, the whole thing suddenly clicked. "Syd, what would happen if someone came after your family?"
"I would come after them. Make sure to set an example of whoever it is. No one threatens Vaughn or Hayden and gets away with it. Why?"
"You and Sam are a lot like each other right? Both stubborn? Both hard set on your ways? Both protective of everyone you love?"
"I'd say so." And then Sydney understood. "They're trying to unleash the programming."
"It worked for Sam."
"That's why she killed those men. She felt threatened and she went into her programming and didn't know what she was doing."
"Wouldn't hold up in a court room, but for here, at the CIA, its a pretty good theory."
"Weiss, I want you to do some extra research while you're in São Paulo. I need as much stuff as you can get me on the ADNs. I want to know why they're JIP hunting. I want to know what kind of information would be valuable to them." Sydney instructed. "And I want to know why they want to waken the programming!"
Weiss understood and began to walk away. Just a few paces away from Sydney's desk Weiss stopped and turned around, "Syd, we'll do our best to protect Sam."
"Thanks. And can you do me a favor Weiss?"
"Yeah sure."
"If Sam still collected pigs in São Paulo, could you do me a favor and bring some of them back? I know how much she missed her collection when she moved here."
Weiss gave a smile. "You know what Bristow, you've turned soft." Sydney smiled for the first time since she found out about Sam.