Disclaimer: same

A/N: Thanks again everyone for the reviews! Hope you all like the new chapter - trying to get some action going here, hope it works! Let me know what you think please!

OOOOO

As I made my way to Marshall's office, I saw Rachel again. She was pouring over some casework spread out on the conference table. I figured, she probably wasn't an official APO agent, so she didn't have a desk or anything, but she seemed comfortable in the conference room. I hadn't seen her again since our rather awkward encounter when I showed up at Sydney's apartment, and wanted the chance to try and apologize for that.

"Hey," I greeted her as I walked into the room. She looked up at me, smiling a little nervously.

"Oh, uh… Hi. Did you need the space?" she asked, immediately starting to gather her things to make a quick exit.

"No, you're fine," I assured her. "I just… I've run into you a few times now and it's been kind of awkward. I wanted to apologize for the other day. For making you take off like that."

"No, not at all," she replied, shaking her head. "I mean, Sydney just let me stay with her for a while. I was out looking for a hotel room or something. Apartments are expensive and it's not like everything's been sorted out here for me or anything, but…" She smiled a little again. "I kind of figured that you guys would like me out of there now that you're back."

"That's up to you guys," I replied with a shrug. Rachel nodded a little.

"Well, I'll talk to her later," she said, turning her attention back to the work she had to do. After a moment, she looked back at me. "Thanks. For… You know. Not hating me."

"Why would I hate you?" I questioned, confused.

"I know Sydney probably told you I'm the one that hacked into your files. I gave Dean your aliases, that's how he tracked you to Cape Town," Rachel explained. I just shook my head a little.

"You thought you were doing the right thing – I can't blame you for that," I stated. She seemed relieved at that.

"Thanks," she said. I nodded, letting her go back to whatever she was working on and going back into the hall. As I rounded the corner heading for op tech, I nearly ran head on into another guy.

"Woah. Sorry," he said, stepping back a little. He looked like he was probably about my age, maybe even a little younger, with close-cut dark hair. He looked at me for a moment. "Hey. You're Vaughn, right?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Tom Grace," he stated, extending a hand. I shook it, and he let out a low whistle. "Man, if I had a dime for every time someone died and came back to life, I'd be a rich man," he joked.

"Tell me about it," I agreed with a laugh.

"Hey, uh, Sydney was looking for you. I think she's still in op tech," Tom offered.

"Thanks." He nodded as I continued down the hall into Marshall's office. He was typing away on his computer, and Sydney stood beside him, looking at the screen over his shoulder. "Hey."

"Hey," Sydney greeted, looking back over at me with a huge smile. Marshall turned, looking happy to see me as well.

"You know, you guys have got to stop doing that. I mean, disappearing, leaving everyone thinking you're dead… It's very stressful," Marshall said. For a moment, I couldn't tell if he was joking or if he was being serious. Finally, he cracked a smile. "It's great you're back."

"Yeah," I agreed. "So, what's going on? That guy, Tom – he said you were looking for me before?"

"We might have actually found something," Sydney answered. I walked over beside her, looking at Marshall's computer screen. He had a picture of a young woman, maybe in her late twenties, with straight black hair and sunglasses on displayed on the screen.

"Who's this?" I questioned.

"Natalie Cho – she's Chinese intelligence," Marshall answered before Sydney could explain the same thing to me. "According to our files, she's known for selling information to the highest bidder, under an alias, of course."

"The Chinese don't know that she's been selling secrets," Sydney added.

"Right," Marshall agreed with a nod. "But, if anyone over there knows about a mole in their agency, someone that might have ties to the people Dean worked for, it would be her."

"How did we find out about her?" I asked.

"Sloane," Sydney answered. "Apparently, he used to go to her for Intel back when he ran SD-6 – he says she's reliable and usually gives pretty good information, but she's almost impossible to track down."

"Almost," Marshall threw in with a smile. "But not quite." He grinned like he always did when he was proud of his skills with his computer, spinning his chair back around and bringing up another photo. This one looked like a club somewhere in China – the lettering on the front of the building over the door was in Chinese. "This, my friends, is probably one of the more exclusive nightclubs in all of Shanghai. Which, coincidentally, is owned by one Yeong Cho – Natalie's father."

"We don't have anything that suggests she frequents the club, but apparently she just got engaged, and her father wants to throw the party at his club," Sydney explained. "It's tomorrow night."

"So someone has to go in and try and get her to talk," I finished.

"Right," Sydney agreed.

"And, considering that you were around Dean and his people for so long, well… Mister Bristow wanted me to ask you if you would feel comfortable going in on this," Marshall explained. "Since, well…"

"I can't," Sydney said with a small grin. "I swear, he'd stick me on analysis if he thought he could get away with it." I smiled at her a little, nodding to Marshall.

"Yeah, I'll go," I replied.

"Great," he said with a smile. "Okay, I'll get this over to Jack and he'll run it through our analysis guys and we'll get cracking on this." Marshall started rapidly closing windows on his screen, saving everything onto a disk and taking it with him as he headed for Jack's office.

"You sure about this? Just going right back into the middle of everything?" Sydney asked me. I looked over at her, seeing the concern on her face. I smiled at her, taking advantage of our relative seclusion and kissing her.

"Yeah," I replied with a smile. "I'm sure."

OOOOO

The briefing with Jack didn't actually talk as long as I figured it would. I figured the main reason for that was because he was just as eager as the rest of APO to get back into the field and try to get a new lead on the organization Dean used to work for. I wasn't too surprised when Jack told me that Rachel would be my partner for this one, since Sydney wasn't supposed to fly this late in her pregnancy.

Marshall gave us some basic gear, and Jack told us we would be leaving in a little over an hour. Rachel immediately went off to get everything ready, and Jack and Marshall headed for their respective offices, leaving Sydney and I alone in the briefing room.

She asked me, again, if I was sure that this was a good idea. I assured her that it was a pretty easy mission. All we had to do was get into the party, find some way to talk to Natalie Cho, and get whatever information we could from her on the person that might be working for this organization from inside Chinese intelligence.

I ensured her that I would be safe on the trip, and Rachel and I boarded the plane for China. Tom and Dixon were there as well, as our support team.

The flight was quiet, which was kind of nice. When we landed, I started to get a little nervous. I didn't know what might happen if the person we were looking for was actually at the party. Had Dean passed my name on to the higher-ups in his organization? Were they expecting me to make an appearance at some point? Or did he keep my capture to himself, thinking he could use what information he got from me to his benefit?

"Are you all right?" I looked over, seeing Dixon watching me as we taxied down the runway. I nodded a little.

"Yeah," I replied, somewhat unconvincingly. Dixon just nodded, turning his attention back to his own file of information. Tom would be inside the party as well, trying to keep an eye on the guards to make sure they weren't aware of our presence. Dixon would stay behind and monitor everything from across the street, in an abandoned office building.

The plan was for Rachel and I to go in together, and split up and look around for Natalie. Considering how little field experience she had, she felt better trying to distract Natalie's father and her fiancé, leaving me to do the hard work of convincing Natalie to talk to us.

Dixon called back to APO, letting them know we were ready for the mission. I called Sydney, just wanting to make sure she was all right with this idea. She seemed okay, telling me to be careful and that she loved me before hanging up.

I got dressed, wearing a nice suit and tie that would help me blend in with the rest of the people at the party. I met up with Rachel again before we left the office building. She looked slightly uncomfortable in her dress, which was short and low-cut and backless.

"You ready?" I asked. She nodded a little, keeping her eyes locked on the club across the street. There were two guards standing outside, checking invitations before letting people inside.

"Let's go," Tom said before anyone else could say anything. He led the way across the street. He stopped at the door, looking at the two guards for a moment before half-stumbling back into the street. One man immediately went to his aid, catching his arm before he could fall back into traffic.

He threw the man's arm off, yelling loudly in English and generally causing a disturbance. Rachel and I waited near the door until Tom's antics drew the second guard away from the door.

"Now," I whispered to Rachel, the two of us slipping in past the guards. The music playing inside the club was a lot quieter than it would have been on a normal evening, which was nice. Being able to hear myself think was helpful.

"There she is," Rachel said, nodding over to the bar. I could see Natalie with her father and the man I assumed was her fiancé. The three of them seemed to be conversing about something, and Natalie kept glancing over her shoulder at her fiancé, trying to make sure he was still paying attention.

"This should be easy," I replied. Rachel smiled a little.

"I'll go see if I can distract them," she said, seeming to gain a sudden surge of confidence as she brushed her hair back over her shoulder and started off towards the bar.

"Be careful, Oracle," Dixon's voice said over the comms. "We've got at least three guards on the floor of the club, and two more in an upstairs office." Dixon had Marshall's help hacking into the video surveillance feeds at the club.

"Roger that, Outrigger," Rachel replied. "I'm just going to play to the wandering eyes of the crowd."

"Shotgun, there's a patio out back," Tom's voice chimed in. "If our target gets angry enough, that's where she'll head."

"I'll wait there," I replied, heading off to my right where the patio Tom mentioned was. As I headed out, he was heading inside, after going around the club and probably taking out one of the perimeter guards.

"You're good here," he said in passing, going back inside the party. I turned, watching as Rachel walked straight past the trio by the bar. Natalie's fiancé immediately followed her with his eyes. She turned, smiling seductively and tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder again.

Tom moved in, taking Rachel's arm and asking her what she thought she was doing. Natalie immediately whirled on her fiancé, apparently already annoyed with him for something, snapping at him in Chinese that I heard over the comms before spinning around and heading in the only direction that wasn't blocked by the bar or by Tom and Rachel – right for the patio.

I turned around again, looking out into the night like I was just minding my own business. A few moments later, I heard the door open and close, and I could hear high heels on the concrete of the patio.

She didn't say anything as she walked up to the railing, brushing her hair back out of her eyes and sighing as she leaned over onto the rail. I stood up a little, looking over at her but waiting for her to say something first. She glanced over at me after a moment, smiling a little.

"Why is it always the teeny little blondes that men go for?" she questioned, her accent barely noticeable over her words. I didn't reply, and she sighed again, shaking her head. "Sorry."

"Not at all," I replied, feigning a British accent. After all, it would be more convincing to come off as British in Shanghai than American – there were more British people in China than there were Americans anyway, especially ones that would know about this particular party.

"You must be one of Yang's friends," she stated with a sigh. "You work at the firm?"

"Something like that," I replied, nodding a little and looking away. She at least seemed curious, which was half the battle. Now I just had to find out how to get her talking about her work.

"This ought to show my father to throw parties for me," she stated, turning and leaning back on the railing with her elbows. I glanced over at her again.

"What do you mean?" I questioned. She sighed again, more for effect than anything.

"He's not even having any fun," she replied. There was a pause, and she looked over at me once more. "Why do I get the feeling you weren't exactly on the guest list for this party?"

"Maybe I wasn't," I shot back with a smile. She smiled back; apparently curious as to why I snuck into her party like this.

"Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you might have some kind of agenda," she replied. I stepped away from the railing, turning to face her. "You aren't really here for the party, are you?"

"No, I'm not," I replied, dropping the accent. The smile fell from her face, but she didn't seem surprised. "I need some information."

"So much for thinking I'd actually have some fun here tonight," she muttered under his breath. "All right. What do you want and how much are you willing to pay?"

"Careful, Shotgun," Dixon warned me. "She might have what we're looking for, but she might be one of the people we're after."

"Does the name 'Gordon Dean' mean anything to you?" I questioned. Natalie looked over her shoulder at me, seeming a little surprised at that.

"Who are you?" she questioned.

"That's not the issue here," I replied, glancing back at the party. I could see one of the guards watching the proceedings on the patio, and knew it would only be a few moments before he headed our way. "I know there's someone inside Chinese intelligence – someone involved with whoever Dean was working for."

"If you think I'm telling you that, you're insane," Natalie continued, narrowing her eyes and looking annoyed. "You can't pay me enough for that kind of information." She started for the door, but I caught her arm before she got very far.

"Fine, don't consider it a matter of money." She cut me off before I could say anything more.

"You need a name, you'd better look elsewhere," she snapped, pulling her arm away from me. I watched her disappear back inside, sighing in defeat.

"Guys, I think we've got a problem," Rachel stated, suddenly interrupting my thoughts. "One of the guards – I think he noticed something."

"She's right," Tom threw in. "Shotgun, it looks like he's headed your way." I glanced back into the club, seeing the guard I'd noticed near the bar before. Just as Tom said, he was headed straight for the patio.

"Sidewinder, now might be a good time for a distraction," Dixon stated, sounding a little nervous about how we were all going to get out of this one without making a huge scene.

"I'll do what I can," Tom replied. Before he could move, however, the patio door opened again and the man I saw standing by the bar walked out. I tried to keep my cool, figuring maybe he just came out here for some air or for a cigarette or something. He walked up to the railing right beside me, leaning over on it as well.

"You were right to suspect Miss Cho," he stated. He had an accent, but I couldn't quite place it. I looked over at him, realizing he was talking to me. "Just not for the right reason."

"I'm sorry?" I questioned, turning a little to face him. It took me a moment to realize he wasn't a guard at all. He wore a nice tailored suit so that he fit in better with the other guests of the party. His hair was dark and a bit long, all slicked back over his head. He had a short beard as well.

"The information you're looking for is dangerous," he stated. "You'd do well to back off now."

"Oh really?" I asked, keeping my remarks guarded just in case. I didn't know who this man was, but something about him just didn't seem right. He looked over at me.

"Your release from Dean's cell in Prague was authorized by higher means," he said flatly. "The information you have has no value outside Gordon Dean, but continue to press matters and you will be stopped." I clenched my jaw, suddenly realizing what who this man was. He was one of the higher-ups in this mess.

"Call me crazy," I started, my tone completely serious. "I'm through making deals with you people, so you can shove it." He looked at me for a long moment, finally smiling a little.

"I'm not looking for a deal, Mister Vaughn," he replied, shaking his head a little. "I'm just providing a warning. If you continue from this point, there will be consequences." Before I could respond, he turned and went back into the club.

I let out the breath I didn't realize I'd been holding, relieved that he just came to 'warn' me and then disappeared again.

"Shotgun – what was that about?" I heard Tom ask me over the comms. I shook my head a little, glancing down at my watch. Marshall hadn't planned to give us a whole lot of op tech for this particular mission, but I insisted on having something with a camera in it, just in case. Now, I was glad I did.

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "But we'll find out soon enough."