Vaughn and I didn't talk after everyone found out about Lauren. I was sent
on an op the same day and was grateful for it. All that went though my mind
after Dixon told everyone was that it was insane and I wished I could just
not think about it. If only I knew how spectacularly worse it was about to
get.
The Covenant captured me and after trying, yet another time, to use torture to interrogate me they decided that threatening me with a horrible death would be more effective. Drowning was their method of choice. They put me in a sealed off room surrounded by ten inches of bullet proof glass. The memory of it being filled and being underwater is a bit fuzzy. They said that I was completely submerged for almost seven minutes so the lack of oxygen probably accounts for my lack of memory. Though some parts, the ones I'd rather forget, remain as clear as day.
I remember the moment I decided I was going to die. I remember seconds later when I felt the water shift and realized the room was draining. I remember my first breath. I remember simply standing in the room, soaked to the skin, looking on in pure shock as I realized what had happened. I remember how empty both my mind and my heart felt at that moment.
I truly didn't know what I felt other than complete dismay. How could fate be so morbid, so cruelly ironic?
I remember crying myself to sleep that night, not caring that my dad was lying in the cot next to me and I knew he could hear me even though I was trying to be quiet. Worst of all though........I remember every day since then and how much things have changed without really changing at all.
********
It took us about 36 hours to track her down after she was captured. The Covenant held her in a facility on an island off the Philippines. Our team interrupted them just as they were trying to drown her in some sort of water filled chamber. Of course, we didn't know that until after they had already been alerted to our presence outside and fled.
I don't know how but I managed to, not only get separated from the rest of the team, but also be the one who found the chamber first. The water level had risen to about two feet from the ceiling of the room when I arrived. Sydney was treading water, trying to remain at the top near the air as long as possible.
I searched for any kind of control that might shut the water off. The only thing in the room was a remote shaped device that about the size of a key chain. As I started toward it I hoped that it controlled the water, and knew it did when I was hit from behind the moment I touched it.
My gun slid across the room out of reach as I fell and once I got up I found a very familiar face standing over me. I hadn't seen her since before I found out that she worked for The Covenant. Dixon said she must have been tipped off somehow because she disappeared just before the CIA discovered that she shot Lazaray.
I looked toward the chamber once I got up. The water level was now less than a foot from the ceiling and filling rapidly. I told her to give me the control, yelled at her to. She looked at my with a stare that was cold yet at the same time wavering and said, "I have my orders. The Covenant wants Sydney Bristow dead."
We didn't talk anymore. The determination in her eyes left no doubt in my mind that talking wouldn't get her to give up the controls, so I went for force instead. I went lightly at first. My intent was simply to get the remote, not to beat the hell out of her. However, I soon figured out that if I eased up even one inch it resulted in her beating the hell out of me. It was never going to be a simple fight, it was do or die from the beginning whether I wanted to be or not.
She fought even harder to keep the control away from me. I pinned her down twice but each time I'd reach for it she'd use the opportunity to slam me with a punch that nearly broke my jaw or shove me off her with a kick in the abdomen. I don't know how much time passed but I knew that the chamber must have fully filled by then. With every second that passed I became more and more anxious, more and more desperate to get that remote.
Once I managed to pin her down a third time I was determined to not lose the opportunity again. I felt like it must have been at least ten minutes by then, maybe more. How long could Sydney hold her breath in there? Good agent or not it doesn't give you the ability to breathe underwater. All I could think about was that if I didn't get the remote it would be too late. She held it in her hand out away from her body and as I reached for it I felt her beginning to move free again. I put my effort back into holding her down and tried again to reach for the remote. I hit her hand against the floor, tired to pry it out, I did everything I could but she refused to let go.
She just wouldn't let go! And more time was still passing! Sydney was going to die if I couldn't get Lauren to let go of the remote!
I didn't think about anything other than that. I simply watched her hand clutched around the remote and thought about Sydney, until finally her grip released. I dove forward and shoved the button down. A noise filled the room as I looked up and watched the water begin to sway and drain out of the room. I saw Sydney push her way to the top to reach the newly formed air pocket. It worked. She was going to be okay.
The rest didn't hit me until later. The strained gasps and gurgles. Hearing her gasp out my name at one point. Feeling her struggling becoming increasingly desperate underneath me. Feeling the struggling stop. Feeling my hands around her neck.
I didn't remember any of it. Not until I looked down and saw her gray eyes wide open staring up at me, contrasting abnormally with her skin. Pale......cold......dead.
The Covenant captured me and after trying, yet another time, to use torture to interrogate me they decided that threatening me with a horrible death would be more effective. Drowning was their method of choice. They put me in a sealed off room surrounded by ten inches of bullet proof glass. The memory of it being filled and being underwater is a bit fuzzy. They said that I was completely submerged for almost seven minutes so the lack of oxygen probably accounts for my lack of memory. Though some parts, the ones I'd rather forget, remain as clear as day.
I remember the moment I decided I was going to die. I remember seconds later when I felt the water shift and realized the room was draining. I remember my first breath. I remember simply standing in the room, soaked to the skin, looking on in pure shock as I realized what had happened. I remember how empty both my mind and my heart felt at that moment.
I truly didn't know what I felt other than complete dismay. How could fate be so morbid, so cruelly ironic?
I remember crying myself to sleep that night, not caring that my dad was lying in the cot next to me and I knew he could hear me even though I was trying to be quiet. Worst of all though........I remember every day since then and how much things have changed without really changing at all.
********
It took us about 36 hours to track her down after she was captured. The Covenant held her in a facility on an island off the Philippines. Our team interrupted them just as they were trying to drown her in some sort of water filled chamber. Of course, we didn't know that until after they had already been alerted to our presence outside and fled.
I don't know how but I managed to, not only get separated from the rest of the team, but also be the one who found the chamber first. The water level had risen to about two feet from the ceiling of the room when I arrived. Sydney was treading water, trying to remain at the top near the air as long as possible.
I searched for any kind of control that might shut the water off. The only thing in the room was a remote shaped device that about the size of a key chain. As I started toward it I hoped that it controlled the water, and knew it did when I was hit from behind the moment I touched it.
My gun slid across the room out of reach as I fell and once I got up I found a very familiar face standing over me. I hadn't seen her since before I found out that she worked for The Covenant. Dixon said she must have been tipped off somehow because she disappeared just before the CIA discovered that she shot Lazaray.
I looked toward the chamber once I got up. The water level was now less than a foot from the ceiling and filling rapidly. I told her to give me the control, yelled at her to. She looked at my with a stare that was cold yet at the same time wavering and said, "I have my orders. The Covenant wants Sydney Bristow dead."
We didn't talk anymore. The determination in her eyes left no doubt in my mind that talking wouldn't get her to give up the controls, so I went for force instead. I went lightly at first. My intent was simply to get the remote, not to beat the hell out of her. However, I soon figured out that if I eased up even one inch it resulted in her beating the hell out of me. It was never going to be a simple fight, it was do or die from the beginning whether I wanted to be or not.
She fought even harder to keep the control away from me. I pinned her down twice but each time I'd reach for it she'd use the opportunity to slam me with a punch that nearly broke my jaw or shove me off her with a kick in the abdomen. I don't know how much time passed but I knew that the chamber must have fully filled by then. With every second that passed I became more and more anxious, more and more desperate to get that remote.
Once I managed to pin her down a third time I was determined to not lose the opportunity again. I felt like it must have been at least ten minutes by then, maybe more. How long could Sydney hold her breath in there? Good agent or not it doesn't give you the ability to breathe underwater. All I could think about was that if I didn't get the remote it would be too late. She held it in her hand out away from her body and as I reached for it I felt her beginning to move free again. I put my effort back into holding her down and tried again to reach for the remote. I hit her hand against the floor, tired to pry it out, I did everything I could but she refused to let go.
She just wouldn't let go! And more time was still passing! Sydney was going to die if I couldn't get Lauren to let go of the remote!
I didn't think about anything other than that. I simply watched her hand clutched around the remote and thought about Sydney, until finally her grip released. I dove forward and shoved the button down. A noise filled the room as I looked up and watched the water begin to sway and drain out of the room. I saw Sydney push her way to the top to reach the newly formed air pocket. It worked. She was going to be okay.
The rest didn't hit me until later. The strained gasps and gurgles. Hearing her gasp out my name at one point. Feeling her struggling becoming increasingly desperate underneath me. Feeling the struggling stop. Feeling my hands around her neck.
I didn't remember any of it. Not until I looked down and saw her gray eyes wide open staring up at me, contrasting abnormally with her skin. Pale......cold......dead.