Chapter 28
"There's got to be 200 pounds here. Damn. It's enough to level the building," Vaughn said, his dispirited eyes not leaving the bomb.
He and Sydney were standing in front of the biggest charge of C-4 they had ever seen.
"It's a failsafe. Sloane has three of these rigged to the vault," she explained as she fumbled in her tool bag.
"Three?"
Vaughn couldn't believe a situation this grim had just tripled.
"Door opens and they all blow."
"Maybe they shouldn't open that vault," he commented dryly.
Sydney matched his tone:
"They, being the six men with machine guns."
Vaughn sighed.
"How long before they hack the code?"
"Soon. Did you study bomb defusion at Langley?"
"Just seminar style. Nothing field specific," he answered, wishing he had paid more attention back then.
"Does anyone learn anything in seminars?"
Enough with the discouragement, Vaughn thought. There had to be a way to get out of this mess. They just had to find it.
"Okay. Let's just take this one step at a time. This is a charge of C-4. I can tell because it says C-4 everywhere."
Pointing her flashlight at the mechanism, Sydney went on:
"There are eight black and yellow wires and six red, gold and black ones. Which of these fourteen wires do we cut?"
"Maybe none. What are those prisms?"
"I don't know. But there might be more than one lead splice to the firing mechanism."
Vaughn had noticed something. He took the flashlight from Sydney's hands and redirected it to see better.
"That pin."
"Where?"
"There. In the back."
"What is that?"
"It's a crystal. That thing is a radio receiver. That's probably how opening the vault triggers the C-4," he asserted with a glimmer of hope in his voice.
Sydney was impressed with Vaughn's knowledge.
"So all we have to do is pull out the crystal?"
Without a word, Vaughn gave the flashlight back to Sydney while she handed him the pliers. He was only two inches away from the pin when she stopped him.
"Wait, no, it can't be this easy."
"What, you think there's a tamper alarm?"
"Or a secondary trigger."
Vaughn handed the tool he was holding to Sydney and took a breath freshener from his pocket. For a split second he felt kind of embarrassed because she would now know that he was carrying this in his pocket. Would she think he had bad breath? Would she guess he always had one with him in case he met with her? Pushing those petty thoughts away, he sprayed towards the mechanism, revealing a laser grid.
"Now we know what the prisms are for. Spray it again."
He obeyed.
"You know, I think I can pull out the crystal without touching the lasers," he said, taking back the pliers, his fingers brushing against Sydney's.
"You want me to do it? My hands are pretty steady."
"Well so are mine," he said. But their gazes met and while his instinct was to be the one protecting her, he knew full well that Sydney was a highly trained field agent who dealt with split second life or death decisions on a weekly basis. And he trusted her with his life.
He wordlessly handed her the pliers and with her eyes glued to the crystal, Sydney said:
"One more spray on three."
"One."
"Two."
"Three," Vaughn finished, simultaneously spraying. Sydney deftly grabbed the pin.
They sighed heavily, in relief.
"One down," Vaughn said before they grabbed their tools and stepped back out into the corridor.
Hastily, Sydney took out the map Marshall had given her and showed it to her handler.
"The other C-4 packages are here and here."
"All right. We'll split up and each take one."
"The explosives are hidden behind steel plates that are bolted to the walls."
"Which you opened by yourself," he stated disbelievingly.
Hiding a flattered smile, Sydney only shrugged. She liked that he was impressed with her field skills, but now wasn't the time to play cute. There was a job that needed to be done.
"There are fire extinguishers at regular G points. Find one. Use the CO2 to freeze the bolts. But go easy or you'll run out."
He looked at her admiringly. This woman was incredible.
That Danny she was seeing would never know what a gem of a woman he was lucky enough to have, he thought bitterly. Never would he know how smart, strong willed and courageous she was. At least, not in the same way he had the opportunity to. Maybe he, Michael Vaughn, was the only one to know the real Sydney Bristow, he suddenly realized. That thought comforted him.
He handed Sydney the spray.
"Here."
"I memorized the laser grid," she said matter-of-factly before tearing the map in half. "Your C-4 is located along this corridor. You cross through engineering sub level to electrical. It's far, so run."
He nodded and she continued:
"Also," she said, pointing on the blueprint, "here's the surveillance room. That's where we'll meet when we're done."
She took a step back, ready to go, but Vaughn put his hand on her bare arm to stop her. The contact of his strong hand on her skin caused her to freeze. Her heart beating faster than it had a moment before, she looked at him questioningly.
"Be careful," he said, his eyes clearly showing that he meant it.
Trying to deny the fact that his touch had had a certain effect her, she only answered:
"You too."
Her gun firmly in hand, she ran towards another bomb to be defused at her life's peril. Vaughn felt his breathing becoming slightly shallow. He had sort of become used of seeing her leave for missions; of knowing she was in danger… But now, being in the field with her, knowing exactly what was going on, what the present risks were… He was just incredibly scared for her. He had promised himself he would never let anything happen to her and he hated the fact that right now, he could do nothing to protect her.
Except for deactivating his C-4 charge. With one last look at her, he started to run in the opposite direction.
XXX
Sydney was running as fast and as silently as she could, praying that all of Cole's men were too busy with the hostages to be wandering around the SD-6 headquarters. As her feet were hitting the ground successively, her mind wandered to Vaughn. She still couldn't believe he was here with her. Not many handlers would have done the same, at least she knew Lambert wouldn't have, she joked to herself. Growing serious again, she wondered if Devlin had authorized Vaughn's presence in the Credit Dauphine building. Somehow, she suspected that Devlin would never have agreed to let him come here and put the CIA's operation at risk. Then what consequences could Vaughn be facing, if they made it out of here? She'd have to make sure he remained her handler, because more than ever, she knew she wouldn't be able to continue playing double agent without him. As the weeks had gone by, he had become more than a handler to her. She considered him a… How did she consider him exactly? As a friend, as someone she could lean on whenever she felt the need… But… was it more than that? She had never experienced this kind of connection with anyone before. Maybe extraordinary circumstances made for extraordinary bonds…
After running a few more seconds, Sydney turned a corner to the left. Her heart almost stopped when she came face to face with two intruders. Adrenaline kicked in and she was able to jolt the gun out of one of the men's hands before knocking him down.
She turned around to take care of her other opponent, but stopped dead when she heard a very unsettling sound by her temple.
The sound of a gun's safety catch being released.
XXX
Following Sydney's instructions, Vaughn quickly got rid of the steel plate that had been concealing the C-4 package. Then, after saying all the prayers he knew, he was able to pull out the crystal for the C-4 charge.
He exhaled loudly; so thankful he hadn't just caused an explosion that would have killed dozens of people. Devlin's fury would have been beyond the pale that time… But, well, that wouldn't have mattered because senior officer Vaughn would have been blown up to pieces as well. He smirked to himself and checked his map. His meeting point with Sydney, the surveillance room, was pretty far. Thinking it was a good thing he stayed in shape, Vaughn hurried in that direction.
He was first to arrive, which instantly caused him to worry. He seemed to remember that Sydney's C-4 was much closer to the surveillance room than his had been. Maybe she had had trouble with the bolts? Should he go and help her? He cursed when he realised he had no idea how to get to her.
Using the screens in front of him, Vaughn looked around, hoping he would catch sight of her somewhere.
And he did.
There she was, walking between two of Cole's men. Her hands were tied but she didn't seem to be hurt.
"Damn it!" he exclaimed. His whole body stiffened in anxiety. He should have stayed with her, that way they could have fought the men together… But there was no time to waste thinking about what they could have done differently. Had she had time to disarm the C-4? There was no way of knowing. He would now have to rely on the CIA team. He could do no more from the inside of the building: he decided to go back to the parking garage and wait for them.
XXX
"Get with the others," the man said as he pushed Sydney forward.
Slowly, rubbing her now free wrists, she walked towards her co-workers. She could see fear in many eyes and that caused her jaw to clench. No way would she let Cole get what he wanted, no way would she let him hurt those people she had gotten to know during the last 7 years. Most of them were patriots who had been fooled by Sloane. They didn't deserve to die, blown up to pieces by the C-4 bomb she hadn't been able to deactivate. Time was running out.
She had to do something.
Looking around herself, she saw Dixon, who gave her a comforting smile. A smile that was thanking her for her efforts and telling her that all hope wasn't lost. She returned his gaze, praying that Devlin would really send a team to assist Vaughn. She was afraid her handler would do something even bolder, surpassing all he had done that day…
From the corner of her eye, she noticed that someone was trying to get her attention.
Marshall.
Glad to see he appeared unharmed, Sydney tried to make sense of his movements. He seemed to be trying to draw her attention to an earring, that was lying on the floor next to her… Of course! A few days ago, he had shown her his new invention, an earring that was actually a flash bomb. Thanking God for creating Marshall Flinkman, Sydney discreetly picked up the device. None of this had been lost on Dixon, who made it clear that he was ready to act.
Knowing every second was precious, Sydney didn't waste any time and set off the bomb. Immediately, she and Dixon, followed by several other agents, joined their efforts to overpower their captors. The two men were taken care of without any casualties.
"Dixon! Try to find Sloane and get him to deactivate the failsafe! I'm going after Cole in the vault room!" she yelled to her partner as people were starting to evacuate the building.
"Okay, Syd, got it! Be careful!" she heard him say, but she was already running as fast as she could to stop McKenas Cole from making his final mistake.
XXX
Eric Weiss was sitting in the back of the CIA truck, talking on the phone, busy taking care of the last details of the imminent CIA operation at the SD-6 headquarters, when he got a call on the other line.
"Not now," he barked to his phone. "Frank, I got another line. Call me when it's done," he requested before checking the caller ID to see who was disrupting him. He almost dropped his phone in haste when he saw it was Vaughn.
"Talk to me."
"Where the hell are you?" Vaughn shouted, sounding desperate.
"We're on our way," Weiss said calmly, trying to reassure his friend.
But Vaughn was beside himself.
"The place is wired to blow. Three packages of C-4. We deactivated two. Sydney was supposed to deactivate the third. I don't know if she did," he said speedily.
"Okay. Can you get to it?"
"I don't know where it is. They've got everyone including Sydney. As soon as they open the vault the C-4 is going to go off."
"How soon is that?"
"Soon. Hurry up!" Vaughn said frantically.
There wasn't much for Weiss to say.
"Got it."
XXX*
Carefully, Sydney gazed into the vault room. Luckily, there was only Cole and one man, armed with an automatic weapon.
She couldn't take them both without risking losing Cole, so she decided to ruse. She took an extra ammo clip she had in her pocket and threw it towards the end of the corridor.
In the vault room, the two men heard the noise and exchanged a look.
"I'll check it out, boss," the man said.
Cole nodded before staring again at the sequence of numbers changing quickly on his screen. There was only one number left to find. Cole congratulated himself, unaware that the whole building would blow up, should he enter the combination into the vault keypad.
The guard stepped into the corridor. But unfortunately for him, Sydney was ready. She grabbed him from behind, her arm wrapped around his neck. She pressed just enough to cause him to lose consciousness and was about to put him down on the floor, when he dropped his gun.
Sydney swore under her breath and grabbed the weapon, certain Cole would have heard.
She was right. As she approached the vault room, she heard Cole ask what was going on. Of course she wasn't going to answer; she would have to hurry to catch him before he got too suspicious.
Cautiously, she entered the room, pointing her gun in the direction Cole had been. But he wasn't there.
Just as she realised that, she felt a sharp pain on her head. She collapsed, struggling to stay conscious. She then saw Cole running to the vault keypad with a satisfied grin on his face. He had found the combination. They would blow up in a second if Dixon hadn't succeeded in finding Sloane.
She opened her mouth to warn Cole and tried to get up, but it was too late. He punched the last number, and to Sydney's relief, the door opened without any explosion being triggered. Thanking Dixon inwardly, Sydney was finally able to get up on her feet, but it was too late to stop Cole. He had already found what he was looking for in the vault and was escaping.
As fast as she could given the hit she had just suffered, Sydney ran after him.
XXX
Vaughn was going crazy, exploring one crazy possibility after another to go and save the hostages himself, when the CIA team finally arrived.
"Mike! Are you okay?" Weiss asked.
"I'm fine. Let's not waste any more time!"
"Okay," agreed Weiss before giving the signal to prepare to enter the building. From the corner of his eye, he then saw Vaughn reload his gun.
"Mike, you're not thinking of going back in?" he questioned in surprise.
"Of course I am," Vaughn answered resolutely.
"You're not dressed for the job, man."
"It doesn't matter."
"Mike, at least put on a protective vest. I don't want to have to visit you in the hospital… or the morgue."
At this moment, they heard the sound of someone running towards them. All eyes and all weapons converged to the spot where a second later, a tall man appeared.
"Hey, it's Cole!" Vaughn exclaimed.
"Get him!" Sydney yelled as she entered the parking garage, running behind Cole.
But in the end she didn't need their help. Seeing the CIA agents materialize before him, Cole hesitated. That short pause was all Sydney needed to get him. She delivered what was without a doubt, one of her hardest punches and he dropped to the floor.
While Weiss and other CIA agents ran up to Cole, an impressed Vaughn walked up to Sydney and noticed the nasty bruise on the side of her head.
"Syd, you're hurt… Let me get you checked out," he said immediately, his forehead creased with worry lines.
"Vaughn, I'm okay. Really."
He didn't get the chance to argue as an agent walked up to them and gave him the object that had caused all this commotion.
"What is it?" Sydney asked, as she got closer to Vaughn.
He opened the protective case and discovered it was actually a small vial of liquid.
"What is that, perfume?" she joked.
"Whatever this is, we have it now and they don't, because of you," he said with admiration.
"Not just me."
He regarded her intently.
"Because of you."
Sydney felt herself blush and she looked away for a second to regain her composure.
"Then it better be good perfume."
But Vaughn was serious.
"I'm not kidding. Think about it. What you do. You're doing an amazing job."
Her eyes locked into his, she only said:
"We make a good team."
She was never going to let him win, he thought, grinning briefly.
"What's happening upstairs?"
"I think everything is taken care of. We got lucky," she replied.
"I've got to get my guys out of here. SD-6 will never know we were here."
He was about to turn away when Sydney put her hand on his arm. He stopped and their eyes met.
"Thanks for coming," she said, her eyes conveying how grateful she was that he had risked so much to help her.
Vaughn was so caught up in the moment that he didn't see Weiss walking up to them.
"Hey," Eric said to Sydney.
"Hey," she replied with a smile.
"We should go. Let's go," he reminded Vaughn.
"Okay," he told Eric before facing Sydney. "Bye."
"Bye," she said, watching them leave. With a sigh, she headed upstairs, knowing she needed to see Sloane to tell him her side of the story. But the good thing was that although the CIA was now in possession of the artefact, SD-6 believed that Cole's break-in was successful.
CIA: 1, SD-6: 0.
