A/N: Thanks for the reviews! :-) -Ashni
****CHAPTER FOUR****
Sydney could feel all eyes on her as she made her way through the crowded SD-6 office. "Not now," she said as Dixon stood up at his desk and opened his mouth to speak.
He ignored her, hovering by her shoulder as she stalked to Sloane's office. "Sloane said you were on vacation," he whispered.
"He paged me. Why?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see his lips tighten. "There was a break-in at the office last night," he said, looking around. "Sloane assured us that nothing was stolen, that the intruder was scared away in time, but...Syd, something's not right. And now, you tell me he paged you. I have a bad feeling about this."
*Sloane assured us that nothing was stolen.* She had left the file cabinet wide open; Sloane must have noticed the missing files. What did he have to gain by covering it up? "So do I," she muttered.
They reached Sloane's door. "If I find anything out, I'll let you know," she assured Dixon as she reached for the handle.
The door opened before she touched it and she jumped back, startled. *Calm, Sydney.* She took a deep breath to compose herself and looked Sloane in the eye. Underneath her calm exterior, her emotions roiled. Knowing that he was her father had changed everything. It both stoked her hate and tempered it.
"Sydney." His voice was cold, dispassionate. He was too disciplined to give anything away in his manner, but she would be a poor agent indeed if she had worked with this man for seven years without learning anything about him. That brief flash in his eyes when he saw her-the robbery last night had made him suspicious and he was looking for something. Something that her appearance here had just confirmed.
"You paged me."
"I expected the drive from Tahoe to take more than half an hour," he said, an expectant, feral smile twitching his lips.
Dixon looked around at both of them uncomfortably and made a motion to leave. "I should get back to my work," he murmured. Sloane didn't even spare him a glance as he all but ran from the suddenly tense hallway.
"There were complications," Sydney replied, allowing no emotion to creep into her voice. "I never reached Tahoe. Someone broke into my house last night and on my way back to check on things, another car slammed into mine. Hit-and-run. The police are still tracing the license plate."
"I see." Sloane's eyes ran over her cuts and bruises and his brow knit. When he looked up to meet her eyes again, his face was full of nothing but polite concern. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said coolly.
"Good." He moved out of the doorway and down the hall to the briefing room. "I'm sorry to have called you back from vacation, but something terrible has happened and I'm expecting you to set it right."
"Dixon told me about the break-in last night--"
"That's not it. But your concern is appreciated. Thankfully, nothing was stolen." He placed a light stress on the last words: just enough warning before he turned smoothly around to examine her expression. She let nothing show and took a seat at the table as if she couldn't feel the intensity of his scrutiny burning into her.
"Thankfully," she echoed.
"Nothing was stolen last night, but last week K-Directorate took over one of our buildings in England, a converted laboratory that we were planning to abandon soon. Normally they would not dare such a move. Somehow they found out that our forces are spread too thinly for a counterattack."
"You want me to find the leak," Sydney hazarded.
Sloane handed her a folder. "No. I want you to retrieve the one piece of information in that building that cannot, under any circumstances, fall into K-Directorate hands. There is a map there with the location of every cell of SD-6. With this map, K-Directorate could launch an all-out assault that could wipe us out."
She looked carefully at Sloane. There was nothing in his expression to hint that this may be a trap, but she felt sure it was. Her heart sank. This was all just a clever way to murder her quietly, out of the country where no one would ever know.
But the way he watched her made feel there was something more to this. A test, perhaps, instead of an assassination.
Before she could think more about it, Sloane had switched on the computers and a picture of a squat, rectangular building stared up at her from the screen. The walls were stark white, but windows stretching almost completely from corner to corner saved it from any illusion of severity it might have otherwise presented.
She looked up. "There's nothing but open landscape for at least two hundred meters around there. How am I supposed to get in?"
"Through a series of underground passages I ordered dug two decades ago." Sloane pressed a button on the remote and a dimly-lit forest appeared on the screen. "At the edge of these woods is the entrance into these passages. Inside the folder"-he gestured-"you'll find a set of photos. Memorize them. They are the path to the entrance. There is also a limited schematic of the tunnels that will lead you to the room where the map is being held."
Sydney flipped through the papers inside briefly to make sure the pictures and schematic were in there. Satisfied, she turned back to Sloane. "How do we know K-Directorate doesn't already have the map?"
"It's under the strictest surveillance. K-Directorate might have been able to bypass the alarm system, but the sensors around it are impossible to turn off. We always know if someone's removed it, authorized or not."
"Right." She nodded, filing away that bit of information for future reference. "If that's it, I'll go tell Dixon."
"Dixon won't be going."
Sydney looked at him incredulously. "I can't handle something of this magnitude alone."
"I didn't say you'd be working alone. You'll have backup, but I don't feel Dixon is fit for this sort of mission." Sloane leaned back in his chair, watching her intently.
"Then who's going with me?" she asked cautiously.
"I'm sending your father and one other secret agent whom you've never met." He nodded, eyes focused on some point beyond her head. Sydney heard the door behind her open. She turned around and barely stifled the instinctive cry that came to her lips.
The person standing at the door was Kesi.
****CHAPTER FOUR****
Sydney could feel all eyes on her as she made her way through the crowded SD-6 office. "Not now," she said as Dixon stood up at his desk and opened his mouth to speak.
He ignored her, hovering by her shoulder as she stalked to Sloane's office. "Sloane said you were on vacation," he whispered.
"He paged me. Why?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see his lips tighten. "There was a break-in at the office last night," he said, looking around. "Sloane assured us that nothing was stolen, that the intruder was scared away in time, but...Syd, something's not right. And now, you tell me he paged you. I have a bad feeling about this."
*Sloane assured us that nothing was stolen.* She had left the file cabinet wide open; Sloane must have noticed the missing files. What did he have to gain by covering it up? "So do I," she muttered.
They reached Sloane's door. "If I find anything out, I'll let you know," she assured Dixon as she reached for the handle.
The door opened before she touched it and she jumped back, startled. *Calm, Sydney.* She took a deep breath to compose herself and looked Sloane in the eye. Underneath her calm exterior, her emotions roiled. Knowing that he was her father had changed everything. It both stoked her hate and tempered it.
"Sydney." His voice was cold, dispassionate. He was too disciplined to give anything away in his manner, but she would be a poor agent indeed if she had worked with this man for seven years without learning anything about him. That brief flash in his eyes when he saw her-the robbery last night had made him suspicious and he was looking for something. Something that her appearance here had just confirmed.
"You paged me."
"I expected the drive from Tahoe to take more than half an hour," he said, an expectant, feral smile twitching his lips.
Dixon looked around at both of them uncomfortably and made a motion to leave. "I should get back to my work," he murmured. Sloane didn't even spare him a glance as he all but ran from the suddenly tense hallway.
"There were complications," Sydney replied, allowing no emotion to creep into her voice. "I never reached Tahoe. Someone broke into my house last night and on my way back to check on things, another car slammed into mine. Hit-and-run. The police are still tracing the license plate."
"I see." Sloane's eyes ran over her cuts and bruises and his brow knit. When he looked up to meet her eyes again, his face was full of nothing but polite concern. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said coolly.
"Good." He moved out of the doorway and down the hall to the briefing room. "I'm sorry to have called you back from vacation, but something terrible has happened and I'm expecting you to set it right."
"Dixon told me about the break-in last night--"
"That's not it. But your concern is appreciated. Thankfully, nothing was stolen." He placed a light stress on the last words: just enough warning before he turned smoothly around to examine her expression. She let nothing show and took a seat at the table as if she couldn't feel the intensity of his scrutiny burning into her.
"Thankfully," she echoed.
"Nothing was stolen last night, but last week K-Directorate took over one of our buildings in England, a converted laboratory that we were planning to abandon soon. Normally they would not dare such a move. Somehow they found out that our forces are spread too thinly for a counterattack."
"You want me to find the leak," Sydney hazarded.
Sloane handed her a folder. "No. I want you to retrieve the one piece of information in that building that cannot, under any circumstances, fall into K-Directorate hands. There is a map there with the location of every cell of SD-6. With this map, K-Directorate could launch an all-out assault that could wipe us out."
She looked carefully at Sloane. There was nothing in his expression to hint that this may be a trap, but she felt sure it was. Her heart sank. This was all just a clever way to murder her quietly, out of the country where no one would ever know.
But the way he watched her made feel there was something more to this. A test, perhaps, instead of an assassination.
Before she could think more about it, Sloane had switched on the computers and a picture of a squat, rectangular building stared up at her from the screen. The walls were stark white, but windows stretching almost completely from corner to corner saved it from any illusion of severity it might have otherwise presented.
She looked up. "There's nothing but open landscape for at least two hundred meters around there. How am I supposed to get in?"
"Through a series of underground passages I ordered dug two decades ago." Sloane pressed a button on the remote and a dimly-lit forest appeared on the screen. "At the edge of these woods is the entrance into these passages. Inside the folder"-he gestured-"you'll find a set of photos. Memorize them. They are the path to the entrance. There is also a limited schematic of the tunnels that will lead you to the room where the map is being held."
Sydney flipped through the papers inside briefly to make sure the pictures and schematic were in there. Satisfied, she turned back to Sloane. "How do we know K-Directorate doesn't already have the map?"
"It's under the strictest surveillance. K-Directorate might have been able to bypass the alarm system, but the sensors around it are impossible to turn off. We always know if someone's removed it, authorized or not."
"Right." She nodded, filing away that bit of information for future reference. "If that's it, I'll go tell Dixon."
"Dixon won't be going."
Sydney looked at him incredulously. "I can't handle something of this magnitude alone."
"I didn't say you'd be working alone. You'll have backup, but I don't feel Dixon is fit for this sort of mission." Sloane leaned back in his chair, watching her intently.
"Then who's going with me?" she asked cautiously.
"I'm sending your father and one other secret agent whom you've never met." He nodded, eyes focused on some point beyond her head. Sydney heard the door behind her open. She turned around and barely stifled the instinctive cry that came to her lips.
The person standing at the door was Kesi.