After leaving Sydney at the parking garage door, Vaughn slowly went back to his desk, oblivious to everything around him. He just felt so empty, so… stunned.
Okay, yesterday he had told her about the feelings he had for her. That was a lot to take for her, he knew it. But this morning everything seemed to be fine between them. Why did she snap at him that way? What happened to make her react that way?
Vaughn was taken out of his reverie when Marshall came by his desk.
"Agent Vaughn? Is Sydney already gone?"
"Yes."
"Oh, that's too bad. I had a gift for her… The other day she told me she was sorry she still hadn't had time to come and see Mitchell, my little guy, you know? So I took a picture of Mitchell and Carrie and put Sydney's face instead of Carrie's, that way it's like she came, but she didn't but, you know, I thought she would like it… I must say I'm pretty happy with the result. Too bad she's already left."
"How is the little family, by the way?" Vaughn asked, polite but his mind a hundred miles away.
A big smile appeared on Marshall's face.
"They're great. Carrie is such a wonderful mother. I don't know how she does it, but when Mitchell cries she just takes him and her arms and… bingo, he stops crying. He calms down and gets all peaceful again…"
Suddenly he knew. Mother… Peace… Irina. Irina means "peace" in Greek, he remembered that from his old school days at the French lycée of Los Angeles. Could that mean… Could Irina be the Passenger? Could that be the reason Sydney was so upset, because she could be a danger to her own mother? Like if he had just awaken from a coma, his mind was starting to work again.
Jack. Jack had talked to Sydney privately right in front of him before the meeting. Maybe they had came to the same conclusion he had just reached… That would make sense.
He jerked out of his chair, excusing himself from Marshall who was still singing the praises of family life. Spotting the older Bristow agent across the rotunda, he walked right up to him.
"Jack!"
"Agent Vaughn," said Jack, not even raising his eyes from the file he was reading.
Oops. They weren't really on a first name basis… But Vaughn continued:
"Do you know why Sydney is so upset?"
"Is she?" asked Jack as if he couldn't care less, still reading.
"Yes. And I think you know why."
Jack finally laid eyes on Vaughn.
"Well, you were there just like I was. She just learned that she was a treat to the Passenger. Do I have to remind you that we still don't know much about Rambaldi's scheme? How does Sydney fits in all this? How do you think she must feel, having no control over her life?"
"I know. But I think there is more. I saw you talking to her before the meeting. What did you tell her?"
"Agent Vaughn, that was a private conversation between my daughter and I."
"You suspect the Passenger is her mother, don't you?"
Jack looked at him in silence for a few seconds, impressed by the young agent's determination and sense of deduction.
"Yes, I do."
XXX*
"Sydney! What a pleasant surprise. Come in."
Why did Sloane always have to pretend she was an old friend coming to visit? She hated that. For that matter, she hated him, unable to forget about what he had done to Danny and Dixon's wife, unable to understand why this man was walking around free as a bird.
"Tell me about the Passenger," she said coldly as she sat down.
Sloane sighed and sat down in front of her, his gaze wandering outside the window. A minute went by before he spoke again.
"I guess it is time for you to know… Sydney, the Passenger... she is your destiny."
"How is she my destiny? As a friend, as an enemy, tell me that. Is the Passenger my mother?"
"Sydney… The Passenger is... your sister."
What? What was he talking about?
"I don't have a sister."
"Yes, you do. Sydney, I wish I didn't have to tell you but… A couple of months before your mother supposedly died, she and I…"
He didn't finish his sentence, hoping Sydney would understand without him having to say it out loud.
"You had an affair with my mother?" she said, her knuckles going white from holding on to her chair.
"Yes," Sloane confirmed.
She took a deep breath, trying to regain control. The last thing she wanted to do was to give Sloane the satisfaction of seeing her troubled.
"And the child that resulted from it, a sister I never knew I had, would be the Passenger?"
"I'm sorry it comes as such a shock to you. It did to me when I found out."
"Are you telling me you didn't know?"
"No, not until two years ago, while I was in a monastery in Nepal run by followers of Rambaldi."
"Go on."
"Sydney, the revelation that I had a child was overwhelming. I spent every possible moment from that day on searching for my child. The DiRegno heart, Il Dire, they gave me an individual's DNA, and the word "peace"."
"Which, in Greek, translates into Irina."
"I did a DNA test to confirm that I was the father of the child. Sydney, that's why I created Omnifam. While I was inoculating millions of people against diseases, I was simultaneously able to gain access to medical databases that identified people through their DNA. And I hoped that it would help me find my daughter. I failed," he explained, his voice breaking. He was now on the verge of tears.
"I know the Covenant is after her. Sydney, I want to protect my child. Help me."
XXX**
As soon as she got out of the Omnifam building, Sydney grabbed her cell phone and dialled her father's number.
"Dad?"
"Sydney. Have you seen Sloane?"
"Yes. I just left his office."
"Did he tell you anything?"
"Dad… He told me my mother was not the Passenger… He said my sister was."
"Your sister?" repeated Jack. For once, there was a sign of emotion in his voice.
"I'm sorry to break it to you like this, but during your marriage to mom, she and Sloane had an affair. My sister is the product of that indiscretion. Maybe that's why mom's name was linked to the Passenger. Maybe because she had another child..."
There was a silence on the other end of the line.
"Dad? Are you okay? I know this is hard-"
"I'm okay. Go on."
"Sloane told me about a Rambaldi artifact known as the Hourglass, that turns out having been recently sold at auction to a man named Masa Raidon. According to Rambaldi's manuscript, the Hourglass will only reveal the location of the Passenger to one man. Her father."
"Sloane."
"Yes. We have got to retrieve the Hourglass."
"Has it occurred to you that your half-sister might be a danger to you?"
"Yes, of course. But it's equally possible that I can help her. She could be an innocent victim."
"With Irina Derevko and Arvin Sloane as her parents, somehow I don't think so."
XXXXXX*
Dixon had just briefed Vaughn with the new information Sydney had gotten on the Passenger when his cell phone started to ring. Still shaken by the news, wondering how Sydney was taking all this, he answered.
"Agent Vaughn?" said a deep voice at the other end of the line.
"Yeah, who is this?"
"Thomas Brill. I was a friend of your father."
Vaughn's jaw clenched. He had had a bad experience with the last person having claimed to be a friend of his father's… Still, he could learn something about his dad and that was one of the reasons he was in Los Angeles. "Maybe now the only reason…" he thought, still heartbroken over his fight with Sydney.
"What can I do for you?" he said politely.
"There are some things you need to know about your father. Meet me at the Transatlantic building, fourth floor, by the freight elevator."
"Okay, I'll be there. Thanks."
Without thinking things further, unmindful of the danger that might lie ahead, Vaughn jumped in his car and headed to the meeting point. When he got there, twenty minutes later, a short black man was waiting for him.
"Mr Brill?"
"Agent Vaughn. Glad you could come," the man said, looking at him intensely.
"What?" asked Vaughn, a little irritated of being scrutinized that way.
"I'm sorry. It's just amazing how much you look like William. Last time I saw him, he was about you age," Brill sighed. It was obvious how attached he had been to Vaughn's father.
"What did you want to tell me?" asked Vaughn, not wanting to become emotional.
"Well, I told you that I worked with your father. But what I didn't tell you is I was with him on his final mission."
"I know how my father died," said Vaughn defensively.
"You don't have a clue," replied Brill calmly. "He was working on something, an operation that wasn't sanctioned by the CIA."
"My father would never go against the CIA."
"He was a follower of Rambaldi."
"That's impossible."
"He died protecting the little girl. The followers knew she was the Passenger. He broke her out of KGB custody, but he didn't trust the CIA either, so he took her somewhere where she would be safe, with other Followers."
"The man you're describing is not my father."
"Your father was the best man I've ever known. He gave his life to make sure that little girl would be safe. Now if you don't stop what's happening, his sacrifice will be for nothing. And you've got to know… The prophecy also says that the Passenger and the Chosen One will fight and that… none of them will survive."
"Sydney?" asked Vaughn, his heart skipping a beat.
"Yes. Now you know what you've got to do. Just make sure that they don't get to her."
"Why did you come to me?"
"Because it's what he would want me to do."