Chapter 9
The warehouse was dark and smelled like gas. Walking inside, Sydney carefully scanned the area. Michael Vaughn appeared to be alone. Her senses in alert, she walked toward the fenced area where he was standing, holding what looked like a DVD.
He seemed tired and she felt a bit guilty when she saw the side of his face. The old bruise was now kind of green, while the one she had inflicted on him earlier that evening had turned purple.
"Hi, Sydney," he greeted her with a small smile.
"Mr. Vaughn," she said coldly.
"I'm glad you came."
"Show me the tape", she asked, needing to know once and for all what was really going on. She and her father had agreed on a secret password to use in such a situation and she couldn't wait to watch the tape…
"As you wish."
Vaughn turned around and inserted the DVD into a portable DVD player that was sitting on top of a nearby crate. Sydney approached and, without a word, Vaughn pressed the "play" button.
Jack Bristow appeared on the screen.
"Sydney, if you see this, it means I'm either dead or gone into hiding. Either way, I need to explain why. But before I do, I have to tell you that your old «Alice in Wonderland» book is still at my place. Go and get it whenever you want."
Puzzled, Vaughn looked at Sydney. Her eyes were filled with tears. "Alice in Wonderland" was the password she had been waiting to hear.
So it was true.
Her knees weak, her heart beating furiously, she tried to get a hold of herself because Jack was keeping on with his explanations. Vaughn was looking at her curiously but said nothing.
"… so I became a double agent for the CIA. On October 1st, you retrieved a list of the Alliance members, which Sloane later erased. I was the one who told the CIA about that list. I knew it was a risky mission, but I hoped it would succeed. That way the Alliance would have been brought down in no time and you would have been free…"
Sydney's face turned white. She had just realised she was the reason the CIA had failed to bring down the Alliance. She was the reason her dad had been discovered. This must be a nightmare… If only she hadn't met Vaughn at the bar, he never would have opened the door and…
Vaughn was also feeling really bad. If he had been able to resist Sydney… if she hadn't been so adorable…
"Darling, the CIA will place you on the Witness Protection Program. You'll be safe. Please, get out of this life while you still can. While you can still do something with your life. I love you, Sydney."
The screen became black and Vaughn turned the DVD player off. He then looked at Sydney. Determination was evident in her eyes.
"Alright, Agent Vaughn. The CIA just got itself a new double into SD-6."
Apparently calm and resolute, Sydney really just wanted to throw up. How could Sloane use her like this? There had been times over the past years when she had considered he and his wife Emily to be the parents she no longer had. Rage was burning inside of her. Sloane was going to pay.
Defying Devlin's orders, Vaughn couldn't help but try to change her mind.
"Syd… I mean, Miss Bristow, you can't do that. It's too dangerous. Sloane is probably after you and-"
She interrupted him.
"I'm a big girl. I know what I'm doing. If I go into the WPP, I'll never see my father again. You can't bring the Alliance down without me. So I'll have to convince Sloane I'm loyal to SD-6."
Somehow, looking into her eyes, Vaughn knew he wouldn't be able to change her mind. Stubbornness seemed to run in the Bristow family…
"Okay then. Agent Lambert will contact you early in the morning."
Sydney raised an eyebrow.
"Who? Lambert? Why?"
She didn't seem too happy with the news.
"He'll be your handler."
She didn't try to understand exactly why she didn't like that idea. All she knew was that ever since she had met Vaughn, her instincts had urged her to trust him. She wanted him to be her handler. End of the story.
"Why can't you be my handler?"
Embarrassed, Vaughn explained:
"My boss, Devlin… He wants someone more experienced… This case is too important…"
Sydney shook her head.
"Call your boss. I want to talk to him."
Oh, god.
"But… Don't…"
"Make that call."
A moment later, Vaughn was handing her the phone, hoping things wouldn't turn out too bad.
"Mr. Devlin. I'm Sydney Bristow, your new double into SD-6..."
Devlin was very pleased to hear such thing. Vaughn had done his job. Maybe giving him that promotion hadn't been such a mistake after all.
"This is great news, Miss Bristow. I'm-"
"… under one condition: Agent Vaughn will be my handler."
"No, no. We can't-"
"Oh, yes, you can. He's the one I trust. Don't waste your time trying to replace him. If you do, you'll have to find yourself another double. Because I'll disappear and you'll never see me again."
Devlin sighed. Were all those Bristows that inflexible?
"Alright. Agent Vaughn will be your handler."
"Thanks."
Sydney didn't wait for Devlin to answer back before hanging up. She then handed the phone back to Vaughn who was looking at her in utter amazement. That woman really was something.
He smiled at her and said:
"Thanks for your trust."
She avoided his gaze. She hadn't planned to let him know she somehow trusted him already.
"No problem. So, how does this work?"
Sitting on crates, Vaughn took a few minutes to explain to Sydney what was really SD-6, what role her father had played… When he showed her a map of the Alliance, she gasped: she would never have had suspected it reached that far, had so many ramifications. Her father had been working for years to take the Alliance down and hadn't succeeded. Now she understood why.
"This is not about cutting off an arm of the monster. This is about killing the monster," Vaughn explained, and she felt a wave of discouragement washing over her. She was in this for the next century at the very least.
Vaughn rolled up the map and put it aside before continuing:
"For a few weeks we're going to have to be extra careful. Sloane will probably try to know if you're a double agent or not."
"Okay."
"You'll have to contact me whenever you get a new mission, and we'll see how we can use it to the CIA's advantage."
"How do I contact you?"
"Well, when I need to contact you, I'll call you up pretending it is a wrong number. I'll ask for… uh…"
"Joey's Pizza," she suggested, unaware that Vaughn had really been he one calling that night.
Vaughn felt his cheeks burning, wondering if she had recognized him over the phone. But she wasn't smiling or anything, so he guessed she hadn't.
"Okay. Joey's Pizza. When you need to see me, use this number and we'll meet here, same time," he said, handing her a business card.
She briefly looked at it and gave it back to him.
"You should memorize it," he said, surprised.
"I just did."
Wondering if he just wasn't way out of his league, he put the card back in his pocket. Yes, this girl was good. Very good.
"So, Sloane called me earlier this evening. There is a meeting in the morning. He said we needed to discuss how my father working for Khasinau will affect us."
"Okay… You'll go to this meeting, but be careful. Sloane will try to test you. Then report back to me."
"Understood."
There was a short silence before Vaughn asked:
"Sydney… Are you okay about all this? I mean, with your father being away?"
His eyes expressed such concern she had to look away to avoid breaking into tears. She wasn't going to break down now. Not in front of him.
"I'm okay."
Vaughn didn't know how she could really be okay, but didn't add anything. Of course she wasn't going to confide in him.
"So I'll talk to you tomorrow, then."
"Yes."
She took a few steps towards the door, but then turned around:
"Sorry to keep hurting you," she apologized.
Vaughn smiled and replied:
"I'm okay. The bruise to my ego is worse. I'm going to be the laugh of the office. The guy that gets beat up by a girl."
She briefly smiled too, turned around and left.
