"Yes!" Sydney exclaimed, grinning and doing a spin on the ice.

"Lucky shot," Vaughn replied smiling. When he had asked Sydney to come to the ice rink with him, he hadn't expected her to say yes.

"Vaughn, you know that was true talent, not just luck," Sydney said holding her hockey stick.

"Well if that was…," Vaughn's sentence was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Sydney and Vaughn's head both turned in the direction of the sound, to see Julian Sark standing just at the edge of the ice wearing a suit as usual, with his hands in his pockets, a small smile on his face.

"It's wonderful to know how dedicated you are to protecting this country." Sark said sarcastically. Sydney and Vaughn both started to reach for their pagers to contact the CIA. Sark noticed them. "Just so you know, under this ice is 25lbs (or whatever u call it) of C-4 ready to detonate at the press of a button." Sark pulled a black square from his pocket, smirking slightly.

"What do you want Sark?" Vaughn asked calmly.

"I'm here to propose a deal."

"Why in the world would we make a deal with you?" Sydney asked incredulously.

"Because it involves your friend, Mr. Tippin."

"What?! What have you done to Will?"

"Easy Ms. Bristow, Mr. Tippin is just fine at the moment. He's in the hands of some of my colleagues."

"Sark, just tell us what you want, now," Vaughn said sharply, glancing worriedly at Sydney.

Sark took a long look at Sydney before turning back to Vaughn. "It's simple… I would like you to demolish the Russian Embassy."

"Why the hell would we do that?" Vaughn asked.

"There's three reasons actually. One, I'm holding your fate in my hands. Two, your friend Will's life is also under my control."

"What's the third one?" Sydney asked.

"I'm afraid that's need to know," Sark answered suspiciously. "It would be very wise of you to accept this offer," he stated levelly.

Sydney and Vaughn exchanged quick looks with one another before sighing in defeat. "We'll do what you want Sark," Sydney said after a moment.

"Excellent. In approximately ten minutes there will be a car outside to take you to Covenant headquarters." Sark turned and started walking away. "Oh, one more thing, if you leave before the allotted ten minutes, a silent trigger will be activated detonating the C-4." Sark smirked and disappeared out the door.
"I really, really don't like him," Vaughn said after a moment.