Title: Le Disparu
Author: Krys
E-Mail: firerebellion@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/playingwithfire
Category: Sydney/Vaughn, Sydney POV, AU
Rating: R
Spoilers: Up to and including "A Higher Echelon"
Timeline: A year into the future
Summary: One year has passed and SD-6 has been destroyed. But the real danger
is just beginning.
Disclaimer: If I honestly owned Alias, do you think I'd be writing these little fanfics when I could just make whatever I want happen on the show?
Notes: "Le Disparu" means "The Disappeared One" in French, in case any of you were wondering. This is my first Alias fanfic, and feedback is more than welcome.
Chapter 1
Run.
My mind screams the word over and over, leaving me unable to process anything else. The color crimson flashes repeatedly before my eyes, perfectly in tune with the pounding inside my skull. Faintly, I hear the never-ending techno music in the background. My body has switched into attack mode, prepared to get the hell out of there or kill. Or perhaps both, if need be. Although I am focused on the enemy's movements and the nearest escape route, I become slowly aware of a dull throbbing in my temple. Lifting a hand, I feel the sticky wet blood on the right side of my head. Fuck. Just what I need. I make a mental note to have Dad check that out later. Right now, my only priority is to make it outside alive.
My heart pounds in my chest loudly. My breathing has become ragged, and I find it struggling to take a deep breath. For some odd reason, I can't remember becoming this afraid in a long time. Even during countless missions in the past, I've never been like this. There was always a sense of danger and uncertainty, but now there seems to be something else. Something unknown, not unlike a paralyzed feeling. It seems as if I've lost confidence in my abilities as a spy, and anyone who is one can tell you that will lead to your downfall. Once you no longer believe in your instincts, you stop relying on them. And then the fear settles in, grabbing a hold on you and not letting go. By the time you do actually decide on a move, by then it's too late. Because you're already dead.
*
Running.
The hammering against the cement echoes throughout the narrow alley. The darkness makes it hard to watch where I'm heading. The rain pounds the earth in a fury, leaving me freezing and drenched to the core. Judging by the other footsteps I now hear, my enemies must not be far behind. I feel fatigued from all the distance I have been running. My body screams in pain, my mind begging me to stop and rest for just a little moment. But they are getting closer; I can feel it deep in my bones. I try to remember my destination. A flashback suddenly appears in my head.
"Sydney, the extraction point lies in Moscow. You will head there by foot after intercepting the concealed document. There will be four guards located on the top floor of the club, where the clandestine meeting between a KGB operative and an unknown Alliance member will take place. You are to take out the first guard, posted by the stairwell, then take out two other guards located in front of the meeting room. Plant the device which will release a gas when the code '9320' is entered into this cell phone. That cell phone will also work as a descrambler to enter the back door of the room, which leads you into one of the offices of Yudin, the KGB director. Hack into the safe located behind the bookcase using the cell phone again and steal other documents which could possibly be useful to us. Your partner for this mission, Agent Leonov, will be attending the meeting. He's a CIA double agent undercover as KGB. He will call you on your cell phone, pretending to confirm the exchange of the document to Yudin. Yudin will in fact be in Moscow to plan an attack against the CIA, which is where I will be located. Once you receive Leonov's call, release the gas and enter the meeting room with a gasmask. Steal the document and exit through the south stairwell with Leonov. There you will part ways. I shall meet you in Moscow. Good luck."
The whole scenario plays out in my head vividly. I see myself entering the club, entering the meeting room, stealing some documents from the safe, receiving Agent Leonov's phone call, putting on my gasmask, and then entering the room. And that is where everything fades to black, as the butt of the pistol is smashed into my right temple. In what felt like hours – perhaps even days – later, I had awaken, to find myself in the same meeting room with someone who I can only assume is Leonov since the other two men were nowhere to be seen. His face had on the gasmask. My mind screamed at me to run. I instantly switch into attack mode, ignoring the pain in my head. There was something that felt different about this mission; something that I couldn't quite place.
It was then that Agent Leonov took off his mask, smiling cruelly.
It was then that the fear settled in, seeping coldly through my veins.
Gripping my lungs until I was suffocating, gasping for a breath of air.
For the first time, I seemed to had forgotten everything I learned as being a spy for three years. And that scared me even more. It was all because that person – Agent Leonov – was someone I knew. He was someone I had trusted for years. A person I thought I would never see again. Yet here he was. And here I was. Running.