Chapter 36

The next morning, Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss and other agents were aboard the CIA plane that was en route to Barcelona.

On purpose, Vaughn had sat in front of Sydney, allowing himself the freedom to look at her during the long flight. Weiss had sat beside Sydney, while the other agents were a little further down the alley.

But ever since they had gotten in the air, Vaughn had become aware that Sydney seemed tense when he spoke to her. Sadly, he noticed that she avoided looking at him directly. He had been relieved that their first chat after 'the kiss' had felt perfectly normal. Their banter had been as easy as ever... But that had been online. Maybe in seeing him again for the first time, she was feeling uncomfortable?
While he was making himself miserable with these thoughts, Weiss was enjoying Sydney's company and vice-versa.

"Sydney, do you like magic tricks?" he asked, extracting a card deck from his carry on bag.

"Yeah, I do," she replied enthusiastically.

Weiss shuffled the cards and then presented them to her.

"Okay, pick one, don't show it to me."

Sydney obeyed and then Eric offered Vaughn the deck.

"Want one?"

Vaughn wasn't in the mood at all, still torturing himself, wondering if Sydney would ever feel at ease with him again.

"No, thanks," he grunted.

"What, you don't like magic?" Eric replied a bit irritated.

"Eric, this is no magic."

"You're just jealous of my talent."

Vaughn let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, come on."

"Just," Weiss started, waving his hand as if to push his friend away, "… just let me show Sydney the extent of my abilities."

"I swear if you take out your yo-yo I'll lock you up in the baggage compartment."

An amused laugh escaped Sydney's lips and they exchanged a look while Eric just made a face. Any vexation in Vaughn's features disappeared instantly as he tried to hold her eye contact, but she turned away quickly to give Weiss her full attention as he resumed his trick.

Weiss and Sydney really seemed to get along and Vaughn was glad to see her that relaxed. Studying her face, he was discontented to notice dark circles under her eyes that her make up hadn't quite concealed. She probably hadn't sleep at all last night, thinking about the information she would possibly get on her mother. Poor Sydney. She had so much to give, even after enduring such emotional hardship growing up! Still, these days, in spite of the cruel truths being revealed to her, she had remained sweet natured.

Such an amazing person shouldn't have to risk her life on a daily basis, he thought. He wished she could be something other than a spy, although he couldn't imagine her doing anything else. Even if she studied to be a teacher, he wondered if she would really be happy being one. Vaughn couldn't help smiling widely as he imagined what a student defying her would be up against! No, he wouldn't envy him…

"What's so funny?" Weiss asked, bringing Vaughn back to reality.

"Uh… I was just thinking about some silly joke I heard… That's all."

Weiss leaned back in his seat, put his hands on his knees and said:

"Okay, let's hear it."

Vaughn was frozen for a second. Did he know any jokes? Think fast, Mike, think fast.

"This grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says: 'hey, we have a drink named after you.' And the grasshopper says…"

"You have a drink named Doug?" Sydney continued, briefly gazing into his green eyes.

He grinned and maintained his own gaze, waiting to meet hers again.

"Well I was going to use Phil."

Suddenly it was like Weiss had just disappeared. She lifted her head slowly and met Vaughn's eyes, as though she knew he'd been waiting.

"Phil is certainly no funnier than Doug," she stated, dimples in full view.

Pretending to be embarrassed, although his smirk said otherwise, Vaughn said:

"I know, I'm sorry. It's a non-humorous…"

Weiss sighed very audibly and Vaughn was reminded of his watchful presence and the fact that his friend was aware of his feelings for Sydney.

"Uh… yeah," he added uncomfortably.

But Sydney continued looking at him and Vaughn's discomfort morphed back into a killer smile.

They had yet to break eye contact and Weiss was feeling unsettled by what was unfolding before him. Earlier, they had been exchanging one word answers and Sydney could barely look at Vaughn, but this was tension of a different sort. He decided to try and break the spell:

"Your jokes are almost as bad as your pick up lines!"

The oblivious two were unmoved, so Weiss tried again:

"Hey, Mike, do you have the turtle?"

Suddenly blushing at the memory, Sydney finally broke eye contact. Yet the remark didn't quite have the effect Eric had intended.

It had only caused Sydney and Vaughn's smiles to grow wider.

XXX

It was a gorgeous day in Barcelona. The sun was shining, the temperature was pleasantly warm and the sky was an amazing shade of blue.

For long minutes now, the CIA agents had been waiting in various locations on the dock for the arrival of Khasinau's man, Borgine, and the other operative that they had nicknamed 'The Courier'.

Positioned in a warehouse, scrutinizing the pier with her binoculars, Sydney let her thoughts wander back over the flight from Los Angeles. Although she had mentally prepared herself to be with Vaughn, to act like nothing had changed, she had quickly found that she was incapable of doing that.

Just looking at him or hearing his voice caused her heart to race. After his joke, on the plane, they had slipped into a comfortable silence until she had caught herself reliving every second of their little flirting session. Knowing this was just wrong, certain that she shouldn't be thinking about another man while she was in a relationship with someone else, she had just gotten up under the pretense of going to the bathroom. She just needed to escape his presence to be able to think clearly…

And there she was again, all her thoughts focused on her handler. Trying to report her attention back on the job, she asked, over the comm. link:

"Anything?"

Vaughn was the one to answer, making Sydney's stomach flip a bit.

"Not yet."

He paused for a second.

"So, hey, there are some good restaurants in Barcelona," he then said playfully.

Finding that it was much easier bantering with him when she couldn't see him, Sydney replied, with a smile in her voice:

"Yeah, I know."

Obviously enjoying this, Vaughn went on to ask:

"You know what I was thinking?"

"I think I do!" she replied, grinning, without stopping checking the area. Was he going to ask her out again, she wondered?

"If we could actually be seen in public together, we'd get the Bible and get a bite."

"Yeah, can the whole team come? Cause we're starving," grumbled Weiss, tired of this inappropriate flirting.

Neither Sydney nor Vaughn replied, because at this moment a black sedan arrived on the dock. Sydney immediately identified the man sitting in the driver's seat. It was Khasinau's man.

"Okay, we've got Borgine."

Just a few seconds later, it was the turn of a Hummer to drive into the pier area.

The Courier.

"Everyone hold position. Get ready to move," announced the CIA agent leading the team, Agent Johnson.

Slowly, unaware of the CIA team watching his every move, the Courier stepped out of the Hummer, holding a briefcase. He walked to the driver's door of the black sedan.

"The Courier's got a briefcase. It's got to be the Bible," Sydney said.

The driver's window lowered down and the Courier handed Borgine the briefcase. As that went on, Johnson announced:

"We move in on three. Everybody into position. One… two… THREE!"

Promptly, a group of CIA agents surrounded Borgine and the Courier. But just as the agents closed in on the Bible, rifle shots were fired. Immediately, the CIA team scattered and took cover.

"Who the hell is firing?" Weiss wondered, looking around himself but seeing nothing.

While everyone was attempting to figure out the same thing, Borgine escaped with the Bible, but Sydney wasn't going to let him escape her. She didn't waste a second following him.

From where he was standing, Vaughn saw her. As much as he would have liked to back her up, he knew he had to find the sniper. Rapidly descending the stairs, at the top of which he had been perched, he yelled:

"Weiss! I'm going after the shooter! Cover me!"

Weiss did as his friend directed while the team leader gave his orders:

"Bravo Team, take the dry dock from the west, Charlie Team, you take the east!"

Carefully, Vaughn was moving in the shots direction, until suddenly he heard a brief squeal of pain. Like in slow motion, he saw Eric falling to the ground. He was the one who had just been hurt.

"Weiss!" he yelled as he scrambled over to him. Seeing blood on his vest, Vaughn frantically opened it to find the wound and realized Weiss has been shot in the shoulder. From what he saw, the injury didn't see life threatening. Well, that was if they could get him treated before he lost too much blood.

"It's okay. Relax," he tried to reassure his friend who seemed on the verge of panic.

As he asked for medical assistance over the comm, he couldn't help but have a thought for Sydney. Would she be okay?

XXX

Sydney was running as fast as she could.

She had to get her hands on that Bible, she had never wanted anything more than she wanted to know where the woman named Irina Derevko was hiding.

In front of her, Borgine opened a door and ran into a warehouse. She followed him inside, on her guard. From the corner of her eye, she saw him just has he was about to fire at her. She grabbed his arm and he dropped the gun.

But the man knew how to fight and Sydney had to use all of her skills not to be knocked out by him, which would probably have meant death for her. One well placed kick and he finally dropped to the floor, unconscious.

She bent down, just about to retrieve the briefcase containing The Bible when she was violently hit from behind. As she fell, she caught the sight of her assailant, but she couldn't do anything. Everything went dark.

XXX

Having left Weiss to the good care of the medical team, Vaughn wasted no time. He had to find Sydney.

Maybe in that warehouse? Carefully, he entered; ready to fire… that's when he saw her, lying on the floor. Next to her was Borgine, dead.

An intense fear submerged him. She had to be alive, please let her be alive!

"Sydney!"

Her eyelashes fluttered and Vaughn felt immensely relieved. Gently, he brushed a wisp of hair from her face.

"Syd…" he said softly.

This time, her eyes opened. Recognition flickered in them as she touched her head and winced.

"Are you okay? What happened?" he asked. Seeing she wanted to sit, he added:

"Don't try to sit."

"I'm okay…" she said, doing just what he had told her not to do. That's when she saw Borgine lying in his own blood. It seemed to wake her up completely.

"Vaughn, I saw her!" she exclaimed.

Puzzled, he asked:

"What? Who?"

"My mother! She was the one that hit me!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! It must mean she is involved in all this! She must have come as back-up! The operative served as bait, she was here in case something went wrong!"

"Oh, Syd…"

"She killed him, Vaughn, she killed him because he was unconscious! She didn't want him to talk…"

At this moment, another agent arrived and Vaughn quickly explained what had happened. Not wanting to leave out any possibility, they carefully searched the warehouse, but it was no use.

The Bible and Irina Derevko were gone.