Chapter 10

"Sydney's been gone for three weeks. I feel like the worst friend ever just sitting here and waiting for some clue to drop onto my lap!" Will grabbed a mini stuffed dog off of Weiss's desk and angrily made a fist around its neck.

"Hey! I know you're upset, but don't take it out on Ernie!" Weiss grabbed the dog out of Will's hands and whispered soothingly at its face before replacing it. He sighed and turned to Will. "Look, I'm going crazy too, but I don't know what more we can do. We've got all the agents we can spare on this. Sydney's dad has gone all Super Agent and works day and night. You know they'll find her. They just need more time."

"I just don't think she has more time, Eric. I mean you saw the tape. If Vaughn could do that… what else could he do?"

Weiss shook his head. "I really don't know, man. I still feel like that tape came from some warped parallel universe. I mean, Evil Vaughn and Victim Sydney? It just doesn't fit."

From across the room, the two men suddenly caught wind of a heated discussion. Both couldn't help but be surprised when they realized that Marshall was on the giving end.

"I know what I saw, Director!"

"Marshall, you're high on cold medication. You don't know what you saw. I told you to take the week off," Chase replied calmly.

"What is it?" Weiss asked, rushing over. "What did you see?"

"Sydney! I saw Sydney!" He replied without pause. I mean, seriously only blocks from here. I thought I was hallucinating at first, but I took my index finger and thumb and pinched that sensitive little area near the armpit? You know? Like you see them do it in movies. Let me tell you, I was not hallucinating!"

"Okay, whoa, whoa," Will said as he joined them. "Where exactly do you think you saw her?"

"They had her in a car. She didn't look… conscious… she was kind of leaning against the window of the car. There were two guys in the front. I didn't recognize either of them. I tried to follow the car but they lost me, somewhere near the McDonald's on 32nd street. I don't know where they went from there."

Will looked startled. "Wait… you mean here? You saw Sydney here, in LA?"

"That's what I'm saying!"

"He's deluded," Chase said, exasperated.

"Maybe but, we have to follow this, Director. I mean, what if he's right?" Will looked at her pleadingly and she finally sighed.

"Alright. Marshall, can I assume you got the plates and make of this car?"

As Marshall and Chase walked away to perform a search on the car's license plates, Will turned to Weiss.

"Can you believe this?"

"Honestly? No. I think Marshall's cracking up. He's taking this Sydney thing pretty hard. Says it's his fault that we didn't know about Vaughn—that because he has the highest IQ, he should be looking out for all those of us with 'weaker minds'".

"But if it's true… I mean, bringing Syd to LA after all of this… it's like they're mocking us. And I don't like being mocked."

"Ah," said Weiss wisely. "Brings back high school memories?"

Will glowered at him before smiling slightly. "Just high school? Try middle, high and college."

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Jack met Irina in a parking garage at precisely midnight. Beneath her clever disguise—with her short dark wig, heavy makeup and short skirt, she could have passed for a hooker on any Los Angeles street corner—Jack saw the woman he had fallen in love with several decades ago. She was still the same beautiful woman. He could have hated her. He could have killed her. But they shared the ultimate bond; something that had drawn him closer to her rather than farther apart—they both loved their daughter more than any other person on Earth.

"Jack." She breathed as she joined him.

"Irina. You're looking… trashy."

"You always did say the most flattering things." She replied, smoothing the front of her leather skirt. She smiled slightly up at him, and he gave a fleeting smile back.

"Have you heard anything?" She asked.

"There are rumours." He said simply. "An agent thinks he saw Sydney here, in LA, in unconscious in a car. He got the plates and car model. They're running the information as we speak."

"I think I know who it was." Irina told him. He looked at her suspiciously. "Oh, wipe that look off your face Jack. Just like you, I knew that Vaughn was not what he said. In fact, before he and Sydney left, I told him to tell her. But whereas you thought he was a double agent who had abandoned his former ties, I knew that was not the case.

"He would have, Jack. Believe me, he would have. He loves our daughter. I can only imagine how he was forced into helping to take her hostage."

"He hit her."

Irina gazed at her husband silently for several moments. "Take it from someone who knows, Jack. Sometimes it's easier to pretend to hate someone you love… rather than see the look in their eyes when you stab them in the back." She turned away from him. "No, he's protecting himself, and trying to protecting her."

"I don't care what your take on this is. This is still his fault, and I will still kill him with my own hands."

Irina sighed and continued talking. "They call themselves Group Sic. I don't know what they're endgame is, or what interest they have in Sydney, but they are Vaughn's… employers. I've known that for a while. I just didn't know that our daughter was somehow involved."

"Do you know how to get to them?" Jack demanded.

"I'm working on it," she replied. "I should have something in the next couple of hours." She turned to go, then hesitated and turned back.

"Jack… when you get to Vaughn, just remember what I said. She may only have been a job in the beginning, but he loves her. He is not going to let them hurt her. Right now… right now, the only person that he is a danger to is himself."

Irina left the garage. Jack stared mournfully after her.

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I know... I know... I'm still leaving you hanging from the previous chapter. No one ever said satisfaction would be quick in coming! But, I think this needed an interlude because the next few chapters are going to be turbulent ! Thanks so much for all the reviews, I'm glad people are getting a kick out of reading this, because I am getting a kick out of writing it...

Alias, the REAL season five starts in one week. Can't wait!