here's the next chapter...sorry it took so long...again. ::bows and apoligizes:: anyways, here is it, quite lengthy and sort of slow and fast at the same time. hopefully i get the next chapter up...soon. ^_~ read and review!
Chapter Twelve
"The team says they're to begin surveillence soon."
"Good, good..."
"Yes, sir."
The commander raised his hand and played with his gold ring that sat on his right ring finger. He then looked up at the younger agent and asked, "Is there any word from Folken?"
"No, sir."
He waved his hand and sighed heavily. "Very well. Mark him as MIA and tell Lion Leader One to commence at once."
"Yes, sir."
"At last, something is going right according to plan..." He watched the agent leave the room as he leaned back on his chair and fiddled with his golden ring. "Arvin, Arvin, Arvin, what are you going to do about this crisis this time around?"
"How you dealing with the situation, Mike?" Weiss asked as he strolled into Ops with his hands jutted in his pant pockets, whistling as he walked.
Vaughn looked up from his strategics papers and frowned. Weiss was taken aback for a moment because Vaughn looked like a total wreck. His eyes were getting bloodshot. Near and around the table was littered with paper cups that had been once filled with coffee. "Eric, what are you doing here?" he asked hoarsely.
"Oh, just making sure you didn't kill yourself yet," he stressed, leaning over the table.
Vaughn rolled his eyes. "I wish."
"That bad, huh?"
Vaughn sighed, standing up and walking a bit away from the desk. "I feel so helpless sitting here in this damned Ops office," he fumed, tossing another paper aside and leaning on the desk as well. "I mean, even my own niece has something more interesting and more helpful to do! And what do I get to do? I wind up babysitting that reporter who happens to hate my guts!"
"Aren't you being all touchy," Weiss remarked.
"Hey, you'd be pissed to, if you were in my position!"
"Would I?" Weiss asked truthfully.
Vaughn sighed. "What do you mean, Eric?"
Weiss couldn't help grinning as he stood up straight and looked straight into Vaughn's tense and confused look. "Okay, Vaughn, I got to admit, as a friend, that you're taking this a little too to the heart. I mean, I haven't seen you like this since you got evidence pointing that Jack Bristow was your father's murderer."
"I guess I have been," Vaughn admitted tightly.
Weiss leaned forward, his face dead serious. Vaughn felt uncomfortable under his friend's stern gaze. "Something's going on between you and Bristow, isn't there?" he finally asked. When Vaughn turned away, Weiss sighed heavily. "Dammit, Mike, you really did a true touchdown, didn't you?" he asked, whistling off-key.
Vaughn turned to Weiss with a serious look. "You can't tell anyone, you know that."
Weiss shrugged casually, like he always did. "Just keep this information from Haladki and you're on safe turf," he told him with a wary smile. "I will not breathe a word of this outside. But Michael, man, you know how the head honchos don't approve of these kinds of romances, if you know what I mean."
He whistled lowly again and winked at his friend. "Man, you are in for some hot water. And I mean hot water."
"You'll keep Haladki in check, right?" he asked warily.
"Of course," Weiss replied modestly, "it's become my duty."
Vaughn couldn't help grinning. In fact, he knew that Weiss would keep a check on Haladki. Ever since what had happened when Haladki took Weiss's call, Weiss had held a grudge against the loudmouth. He had carried the mutual feeling for the both of them, since Vaughn was preoccupied with the rest of the world. He was grateful for Weiss's help.
"Thanks, Eric," Vaughn said earnestly.
Weiss grinned and slapped Vaughn's arm manly. "Hey, you hang on here, okay? I'll go and deal with the rest of whatever and I'll come back later and bring a pizza or something." He then got up and strolled out of the office, whistling off-key.
Vaughn sighed and got back to work.
Yalila was walking in the parking level of Credit Dauphine. She had finished her workload that had been screaming for attention all day and even stayed in late just finishing the stack off. She still did not finish her paperwork and decided to pack up and call it a day. She was one of the last to leave; of course, everyone knew that Marshall was the last to exit the building.
She clutched the flapping edges of her dusty green jacket and lugged her heavy briefcase as she headed to her thrashed 1993 Honda. It was a musty blue colour and she didn't have the time to go and buy a new car. Oh well, she thought ruefully.
Just as she was about to insert the key into the car when someone grabbed her from behind. She dropped the heavy briefcase and she did not stop to react. Yalila's arms were out and lashed out against her unknown attacker, the key slashing flesh. The attacker stumbled back for a brief moment before lashing out again. They grabbed her arms and thumped her face down on her car's front hood. Her chin slammed onto the hood sharply and the pain was only numbing. Her attacker hissed, "Hurry up!"
She heard footfalls from a pair of heels. Yalila did not look up to see who it was as she slid her foot underneath and flipped her attacker over. His hands were briefly loosed from her arms as she pushed her attacker away. She did not see his face for he had stumbled onto his face and slid across the pavement of the floor. Blood was splattered on the floor.
She turned around, ready to pack up and leave before her attacker got up when a boot just lashed out of nowhere, slamming her right at the nose. The pain shot right up and she cried out loud, grabbing her nose in pain. Strong hands gripped her again and she was slammed onto the car's front hood. Yalila could've sworn she just added another dent into her hood. She heard her second assailant call out to their (probably) assistant, "Dad! You okay?"
Suddenly, Yalila knew who it was. "Sydney?"
From the ground, Jack Bristow slowly got to his feet, wiping the blood from his cheek. "I'm okay," he announced in a grim voice.
"Sydney, what the hell are you doing?" Yalila managed to say.
Sydney tightened her grip once she knew that her father was going to be all right. "I don't know," she replied. "I was going to ask you the same question." Jack slowly limped over and joined his daughter as they both glowered down. "Like, what the hell you're trying to do to all of us."
"I…I don't know what the hell you're talking about," she replied tightly.
"Like hell you don't!" Sydney gritted angrily, leaning over. "You're a mole in the agency. You've been spying on us for months for whoever the hell you're working for. You're receiving all those fluxes from our server and distributing them on our servers. Dammit, you probably even knew that I was being tracked down!" She was tired and she was pissed and even her own father couldn't stop her from biting out those words.
Yalila didn't say anything.
"Well?" Sydney demanded, pressing Yalila towards her hood even further.
"Okay, okay, dammit!" she cried, struggling in Sydney's strong grip. "I did it! You caught me! I was the other end! I was the receiver! Just…just don't bust my car any further!"
Jack finally intervened and pried Sydney away from Yalila before it got out of hand. He knew that Sydney was incredibly pissed about the entire situation, especially this late in the night. The two of them managed to hack the security feed but he didn't know how long it was going to last. And with Marshall still in the building…he couldn't risk it.
"Go, Sydney," Jack murmured in an unquestioning tone as he struggled through his jacket and revealed some handcuffs. He opened them and began to clip them onto Yalila's sickly thin wrists. He clasped them and secured them before giving Sydney a serious look. "We need some new intel from HQ. Go and regroup…find out whatever you can that will give us some idea who she's working for---"
"You'll never find out!" Yalila spat.
"We'll see about that," Jack said coolly. "I ought to hand you over to Sloane."
"Why don't you?" she challenged.
Jack narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Sydney knew that Jack was planning to hand Yalila over to the CIA and let them deal with her but he wasn't too sure. Besides, he knew what Sloane was going to do with Yalila once she was under his jurisdiction. This was treason and mutiny and Sloane wasn't going to take it easy just because she was a girl.
"I'll take care of this," Jack whispered to Sydney. "You go."
"You sure…?"
"Yes. Go."
Sydney took once last glare at Yalila's direction before she headed towards her van.
"You okay, Will?" Jenny asked softly as she cuddled with Will. They were both lying in bed, the blankets covering their nude forms in the motel. Will had insisted that they take a motel instead of staying with Jenny's relatives. He told her that he didn't feel comfortable in someone else's home, especially since he was a reporter and all. But what he didn't tell her was that he was afraid that that person was still on his case. He didn't want Jenny to tag along with him, but after dinner at her relatives, things just---happened.
Will blinked, his eyes still on the ceiling. "What do you mean?"
She propped herself up to see his face, her long hair dropping onto his chest and her intent eyes on his face. He felt like he was being interrogated. "Well, you've been uneasy since we got here," she pointed out. "I mean, this was supposed to be a vacation for you, but you've been on edge, as if your mind is on something else. And when we were….you know….doing it….you didn't seem to be there."
"You read too much into things," Will said, shifting uncomfortably.
"I'm serious, Will," she said, her long hair tickling his skin. "Something's up."
"Nothing's up," he replied, still no looking at her.
Jenny frowned. "You lie," she replied huffily. "Why can't you just tell me?"
Will wanted to blow up and yell that if he told her, she would then suffer the consequences, such as perhaps dying. He was protecting her from his own ordeals, why couldn't she get that? She was persistent enough to be a reporter herself. Don't get her any ideas, he warned himself cautiously. That's the last thing you need on your mind.
"It's about her, isn't it?"
Why does it always comes back to Sydney? Will wondered to himself miserably.
Jenny got up, clutching the blanket to her body and threw a fluffy pillow against him. The pillow hit Will's face. Will threw the pillow aside and looked up at Jenny, half-irritated. "What was that for?" he demanded.
"It's always about her!" she wailed angrily, searching about the room for her underwear. "God, Will, I thought we would be alone all this time! I mean, screw work, forget about everything back at L.A. for just one damn moment and just look around! Smell the ocean air and have a walk! With me! Why can't we just do that?" The question came out as a plea.
Will went cold to him stomach. He lifted his hand towards her. "Jenny, I…"
But she wasn't done yet. "But noooo….you always had to have her on your mind, don't you?" She snatched up her underwear and began to pull them on underneath the thick blanket. "I don't ask for a lot Will, but this is getting crazy!" She switched open the lights and began to pull on her skirt back. Will squinted at the harsh lights as she continued. "But I guess that can't be, now can it? Go grovel back to your true love…just don't come back to me in the end. I don't care." She yanked on her blouse and headed for the door.
"Jenny, wait!" Will yelled.
Outside the motel room where Will Tippin was staying was a car parked just near his window. Inside, the man smoked his cigarette, gusted out some smoke and threw the butts out the car window. His beady eyes remained on the window, where the familiar silhouettes of a man and a woman were playing out some sort of scene.
He coughed, spat some saliva out the window before picking up his radio unit. "Red Leader, this is Black Tiger," he said to it. "Subject appears to be having a fight with his girlfriend…no threat whatsoever to us. Copy."
The radio spat out some static. "Roger that, Black Tiger."
The man leaned back and continued to smoke his cigarette, watching the subject stand motionless by the window. "Lucky bastard," he grunted as he drew a whiff from his cigarette and grinned to himself. "Rather her than us…"
Sydney was grumbling to herself when she had entered the warehouse. She knew she was about an hour late and she prayed that Vaughn hadn't left already. She was thinking up a bunch of excuses for being late. She was physically exhausted ever since the entire ordeal had came up and she wanted to collapse in weariness. And she also needed a friendly face to help her through; she had gone so far with his help.
She could see a figure up ahead behind the chain-linked fence. She frowned slightly; Vaughn wasn't that short. Why could she see more of him now? As she got closer, she realized that it wasn't Vaughn. After all, since when did he get darker hues of hair?
"Hurry up, dammit," came the voice. "I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to."
Sydney scowled in realization as she opened the chair door. "Nadia?"
Nadia looked up. She was in black garb and she appeared to be reading some sort of textbook in the dim lights. Her eyebrows cocked slightly as she said sarcastically, "Who did you expect it to be? The Easter bunny?"
"Where's Vaughn?" Sydney asked, ignoring the sarcasm.
"Couldn't make it," she replied quickly. "He's been ordered to do some strategic stuff." Nadia then quickly explained the situation to Sydney.
Sydney furrowed her brows. "So what do I have to do?"
"You've got to convince Sloane that there's a situation up there and that you're up to it."
"How? There's no evidence…"
"Already taken care of," Nadia replied immediately. "I got that covered already. Look, this is an emergency. Whatever is up there that's linked to SD-6 is under the possibility of attack by whoever these dudes are, you got me? These dudes aren't afraid to show their big guns. There's something important up there and it could be sabotage, it could be some sort of attack, I don't know. It's your job to ensure that it's not to happen."
"But this is SD-6 we're talking about, not some innocent group of people here!" Sydney explained with a certain coldness in her voice. "We would be helping them! Trust me, saving Sloane's ass is the last thing on my agenda…besides, wouldn't these guys be helping us out in our jobs anyhow?"
"Or making the job a lot harder," Nadia pointed out wearily. "We don't know what this fraction is capable of doing. They can be a lot ruthless than Sloane or his merry men can be and trust me, I do not want to see these dudes' big guns at all costs. You got to go there and plug it up. Goodness knows what can happen if you just leave them alone…I doubt we'd feel very proud of ourselves."
Sydney fell silent. Nadia had a good point and frankly, she didn't expect that from someone as young as she was. And she hated the fact that she was right; she didn't want to help Sloane out and doing this just made her feel worse. She was helping out the bad guy---how could she be the good guy if she was helping the enemy?
"Look," Nadia said exasperatedly, "I know this is all hard to process at the moment, but we've got a pretty clear objective right now. You are to stop these bastards and whatever's in plan right now…I understand that you are clearly disgusted at the prospect of helping SD-6 and your boss…but think about it. If that place they are going to foil just happens to be some missile site or some sort of experiment station with chemicals or that sort…we could all be in danger."
Sydney nodded, finally clear on the entire situation. Bitter thoughts of helping Sloane evaporated as she gave Nadia a determined look. "Okay, so I'll go tell him tomorrow," she told her. "Is the evidence all set?"
"Yeah," Nadia replied with a sly twinkle in her eye. "It's almost set but it'll be pretty convincing evidence, since, after all, it is based on the truth." She grinned for a brief moment, showing her more younger side before returning back to her serious expression.
"Do I want to know?" Sydney asked.
"You'll find out eventually."
"Great."
Silence.
"How's Vaughn?" Sydney suddenly asked. She knew this was all business, but she couldn't help wondering. Did the CIA do this purposely? Did they find out about the exchange between her and Vaughn? She hoped not; she didn't want to lose her handler for the second time. Especially now, out of all the times in the world. Besides, Nadia knew Vaughn pretty well and she was secretly hoping that she would spill some information about him.
Nadia sighed heavily, kicking into thin air. "He's working," she replied after a brief moment of thought. "He's working overtime, I reckon. Sometimes the work gets to him and he wouldn't sleep on ends." She shrugged helplessly afterwards.
"Does he do this often?" Sydney inquired.
"Yeah," she replied. "Half the reason why he broke up with Alice…" Nadia blushed sheepishly when she mentioned her name. "Oops…I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. Do you…do you know about Alice?" she asked curiously.
"I saw a picture of her in his office the day I met him."
"Oh…that pic…" She seemed to be slightly disgusted with it.
"Why?"
"Can I be frank?" Nadia asked immediately. When Sydney nodded, the younger girl sighed heavily, as if she was relieved from some burden. Sydney wondered for a brief moment what the young girl was about to say. She was shocked when she heard Nadia blurt out, "She was such a bitch!"
Sydney cleared her throat, trying to understand. "What…What makes you say that?"
"She would be so cloy and sweet with Uncle and when it came to me, she'd be some mean and rude," she explained, a new wave of emotion forming on the girl's youthful face. "I swear, when she first saw me, she thought I was his daughter! And when she thought that, she looked like she was going to go insane. When she then found out that I was just under his guardianship, she looked so relieved. Ever time she was over at his place, I made every possible excuse to get myself the hell out of there. She pissed me off…and I think I did the same to her. I tried to show Uncle Mike her wicked witch side, but I guess that thing he had for her made him pretty blind…"
"How long were they…together?" Sydney asked.
"About two years…can't remember," Nadia replied demurely, shrugging off her hair to her back. Sydney felt herself go cold deep inside. It was two years ago that she had met Danny. She looked down onto her hand, where Danny's engagement ring once sat secure. "I could've sworn that they were on their way to the altar. I don't know what stopped them…aside from Uncle's work. They were drifting apart for a while…I guess they came across more speed bumps than expected…I just wish I knew what the other part of the reason was for breaking up."
"Did…she notice?"
Nadia thought for a moment, her eyes cast far away in the warehouse. "Well, sort of," she replied. "She bitched a little more than usual during their last few months together…nagging, whining, complaining. I swear I wanted to kick her ass out of that door! She pissed me off so much…she sounded more like a twit than a woman…" She sighed. "Yeah, the last few days were the rocky ones. I wanted to stay out of the war as much as possible…I stayed at my dorm that time."
"Dorm? I thought you lived with your uncle!"
"Sometimes," Nadia replied, flipping back her hair. "But during my school time, I'm at my dorm." She shrugged. "Okay, I know where you live so…tomorrow, in your mailbox, before you go to work, there'll be a package. You are to take it and show it to Sloane as conclusive proof that something is going on in the Yukon, got it?"
"Yes."
"Okay," Nadia replied warily, heading towards the chain-link fence. Before she stepped out, she turned her head sideward, casting a glance at Sydney. "And Sydney?"
Sydney looked up. "Yes?"
"We never had this…conversation."
Sydney nodded, knowing precisely what she meant.
Nadia smiled tiredly and left the warehouse.
At the same time, Sydney's phone went off. She picked it up and opened it. "Hello?"
"Sydney?" came a timid voice from the other end.
"Francie!" she cried in realization as she made a quick exit from the warehouse. She quickly clipped through the maze layout of the warehouse until she got out. A stiff breeze came over her as she walked quickly towards her red van. She looked around, checking if Nadia had left, but she didn't see nor hear the younger girl. She flipped over her keys from her pocket as she said, "What's up?"
"Why aren't you home yet?"
"I'm sorry," Sydney apologized as she opened the door to her car, "work and all."
Francie oohed and aahed as if it was interesting, when in fact, it was ticking her off a bit. Sydney could feel the vibes even from her end of the conversation. Man, this can be freaky sometimes, she thought as she revved up the engine. "Look, before I hit the sacks, I wanted to tell you that Will isn't going to be in for the next few days," Francie told her seriously.
"Why not?" Sydney asked, waiting for the engine to heat up.
"Something about a vacation."
Sydney didn't say anything. She remembered Will's crushed look when he saw Vaughn in the house a few days ago. And she knew it wasn't coincidence that Will just happened to be in the neighbourhood this morning when she was at Vaughn's place. She closed her eyes; did he just go on vacation because of her? She felt so bad.
Then again, he was so jealous and so nosy at times.
"Syd?" Francie asked, breaking her train of thoughts.
"Oh, I see," Sydney said slowly, as she realized that the car was warm enough. "Look, I'm on my way home, so I'll see you tomorrow or something, okay?"
"Um, yeah, sure."
"Okay. Bye."
"Later, Syd."
The dial tone went on as Sydney shut her cell phone and pulled out of the warehouse's parking lot, still thinking about everything around him.
Chapter Twelve
"The team says they're to begin surveillence soon."
"Good, good..."
"Yes, sir."
The commander raised his hand and played with his gold ring that sat on his right ring finger. He then looked up at the younger agent and asked, "Is there any word from Folken?"
"No, sir."
He waved his hand and sighed heavily. "Very well. Mark him as MIA and tell Lion Leader One to commence at once."
"Yes, sir."
"At last, something is going right according to plan..." He watched the agent leave the room as he leaned back on his chair and fiddled with his golden ring. "Arvin, Arvin, Arvin, what are you going to do about this crisis this time around?"
"How you dealing with the situation, Mike?" Weiss asked as he strolled into Ops with his hands jutted in his pant pockets, whistling as he walked.
Vaughn looked up from his strategics papers and frowned. Weiss was taken aback for a moment because Vaughn looked like a total wreck. His eyes were getting bloodshot. Near and around the table was littered with paper cups that had been once filled with coffee. "Eric, what are you doing here?" he asked hoarsely.
"Oh, just making sure you didn't kill yourself yet," he stressed, leaning over the table.
Vaughn rolled his eyes. "I wish."
"That bad, huh?"
Vaughn sighed, standing up and walking a bit away from the desk. "I feel so helpless sitting here in this damned Ops office," he fumed, tossing another paper aside and leaning on the desk as well. "I mean, even my own niece has something more interesting and more helpful to do! And what do I get to do? I wind up babysitting that reporter who happens to hate my guts!"
"Aren't you being all touchy," Weiss remarked.
"Hey, you'd be pissed to, if you were in my position!"
"Would I?" Weiss asked truthfully.
Vaughn sighed. "What do you mean, Eric?"
Weiss couldn't help grinning as he stood up straight and looked straight into Vaughn's tense and confused look. "Okay, Vaughn, I got to admit, as a friend, that you're taking this a little too to the heart. I mean, I haven't seen you like this since you got evidence pointing that Jack Bristow was your father's murderer."
"I guess I have been," Vaughn admitted tightly.
Weiss leaned forward, his face dead serious. Vaughn felt uncomfortable under his friend's stern gaze. "Something's going on between you and Bristow, isn't there?" he finally asked. When Vaughn turned away, Weiss sighed heavily. "Dammit, Mike, you really did a true touchdown, didn't you?" he asked, whistling off-key.
Vaughn turned to Weiss with a serious look. "You can't tell anyone, you know that."
Weiss shrugged casually, like he always did. "Just keep this information from Haladki and you're on safe turf," he told him with a wary smile. "I will not breathe a word of this outside. But Michael, man, you know how the head honchos don't approve of these kinds of romances, if you know what I mean."
He whistled lowly again and winked at his friend. "Man, you are in for some hot water. And I mean hot water."
"You'll keep Haladki in check, right?" he asked warily.
"Of course," Weiss replied modestly, "it's become my duty."
Vaughn couldn't help grinning. In fact, he knew that Weiss would keep a check on Haladki. Ever since what had happened when Haladki took Weiss's call, Weiss had held a grudge against the loudmouth. He had carried the mutual feeling for the both of them, since Vaughn was preoccupied with the rest of the world. He was grateful for Weiss's help.
"Thanks, Eric," Vaughn said earnestly.
Weiss grinned and slapped Vaughn's arm manly. "Hey, you hang on here, okay? I'll go and deal with the rest of whatever and I'll come back later and bring a pizza or something." He then got up and strolled out of the office, whistling off-key.
Vaughn sighed and got back to work.
Yalila was walking in the parking level of Credit Dauphine. She had finished her workload that had been screaming for attention all day and even stayed in late just finishing the stack off. She still did not finish her paperwork and decided to pack up and call it a day. She was one of the last to leave; of course, everyone knew that Marshall was the last to exit the building.
She clutched the flapping edges of her dusty green jacket and lugged her heavy briefcase as she headed to her thrashed 1993 Honda. It was a musty blue colour and she didn't have the time to go and buy a new car. Oh well, she thought ruefully.
Just as she was about to insert the key into the car when someone grabbed her from behind. She dropped the heavy briefcase and she did not stop to react. Yalila's arms were out and lashed out against her unknown attacker, the key slashing flesh. The attacker stumbled back for a brief moment before lashing out again. They grabbed her arms and thumped her face down on her car's front hood. Her chin slammed onto the hood sharply and the pain was only numbing. Her attacker hissed, "Hurry up!"
She heard footfalls from a pair of heels. Yalila did not look up to see who it was as she slid her foot underneath and flipped her attacker over. His hands were briefly loosed from her arms as she pushed her attacker away. She did not see his face for he had stumbled onto his face and slid across the pavement of the floor. Blood was splattered on the floor.
She turned around, ready to pack up and leave before her attacker got up when a boot just lashed out of nowhere, slamming her right at the nose. The pain shot right up and she cried out loud, grabbing her nose in pain. Strong hands gripped her again and she was slammed onto the car's front hood. Yalila could've sworn she just added another dent into her hood. She heard her second assailant call out to their (probably) assistant, "Dad! You okay?"
Suddenly, Yalila knew who it was. "Sydney?"
From the ground, Jack Bristow slowly got to his feet, wiping the blood from his cheek. "I'm okay," he announced in a grim voice.
"Sydney, what the hell are you doing?" Yalila managed to say.
Sydney tightened her grip once she knew that her father was going to be all right. "I don't know," she replied. "I was going to ask you the same question." Jack slowly limped over and joined his daughter as they both glowered down. "Like, what the hell you're trying to do to all of us."
"I…I don't know what the hell you're talking about," she replied tightly.
"Like hell you don't!" Sydney gritted angrily, leaning over. "You're a mole in the agency. You've been spying on us for months for whoever the hell you're working for. You're receiving all those fluxes from our server and distributing them on our servers. Dammit, you probably even knew that I was being tracked down!" She was tired and she was pissed and even her own father couldn't stop her from biting out those words.
Yalila didn't say anything.
"Well?" Sydney demanded, pressing Yalila towards her hood even further.
"Okay, okay, dammit!" she cried, struggling in Sydney's strong grip. "I did it! You caught me! I was the other end! I was the receiver! Just…just don't bust my car any further!"
Jack finally intervened and pried Sydney away from Yalila before it got out of hand. He knew that Sydney was incredibly pissed about the entire situation, especially this late in the night. The two of them managed to hack the security feed but he didn't know how long it was going to last. And with Marshall still in the building…he couldn't risk it.
"Go, Sydney," Jack murmured in an unquestioning tone as he struggled through his jacket and revealed some handcuffs. He opened them and began to clip them onto Yalila's sickly thin wrists. He clasped them and secured them before giving Sydney a serious look. "We need some new intel from HQ. Go and regroup…find out whatever you can that will give us some idea who she's working for---"
"You'll never find out!" Yalila spat.
"We'll see about that," Jack said coolly. "I ought to hand you over to Sloane."
"Why don't you?" she challenged.
Jack narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Sydney knew that Jack was planning to hand Yalila over to the CIA and let them deal with her but he wasn't too sure. Besides, he knew what Sloane was going to do with Yalila once she was under his jurisdiction. This was treason and mutiny and Sloane wasn't going to take it easy just because she was a girl.
"I'll take care of this," Jack whispered to Sydney. "You go."
"You sure…?"
"Yes. Go."
Sydney took once last glare at Yalila's direction before she headed towards her van.
"You okay, Will?" Jenny asked softly as she cuddled with Will. They were both lying in bed, the blankets covering their nude forms in the motel. Will had insisted that they take a motel instead of staying with Jenny's relatives. He told her that he didn't feel comfortable in someone else's home, especially since he was a reporter and all. But what he didn't tell her was that he was afraid that that person was still on his case. He didn't want Jenny to tag along with him, but after dinner at her relatives, things just---happened.
Will blinked, his eyes still on the ceiling. "What do you mean?"
She propped herself up to see his face, her long hair dropping onto his chest and her intent eyes on his face. He felt like he was being interrogated. "Well, you've been uneasy since we got here," she pointed out. "I mean, this was supposed to be a vacation for you, but you've been on edge, as if your mind is on something else. And when we were….you know….doing it….you didn't seem to be there."
"You read too much into things," Will said, shifting uncomfortably.
"I'm serious, Will," she said, her long hair tickling his skin. "Something's up."
"Nothing's up," he replied, still no looking at her.
Jenny frowned. "You lie," she replied huffily. "Why can't you just tell me?"
Will wanted to blow up and yell that if he told her, she would then suffer the consequences, such as perhaps dying. He was protecting her from his own ordeals, why couldn't she get that? She was persistent enough to be a reporter herself. Don't get her any ideas, he warned himself cautiously. That's the last thing you need on your mind.
"It's about her, isn't it?"
Why does it always comes back to Sydney? Will wondered to himself miserably.
Jenny got up, clutching the blanket to her body and threw a fluffy pillow against him. The pillow hit Will's face. Will threw the pillow aside and looked up at Jenny, half-irritated. "What was that for?" he demanded.
"It's always about her!" she wailed angrily, searching about the room for her underwear. "God, Will, I thought we would be alone all this time! I mean, screw work, forget about everything back at L.A. for just one damn moment and just look around! Smell the ocean air and have a walk! With me! Why can't we just do that?" The question came out as a plea.
Will went cold to him stomach. He lifted his hand towards her. "Jenny, I…"
But she wasn't done yet. "But noooo….you always had to have her on your mind, don't you?" She snatched up her underwear and began to pull them on underneath the thick blanket. "I don't ask for a lot Will, but this is getting crazy!" She switched open the lights and began to pull on her skirt back. Will squinted at the harsh lights as she continued. "But I guess that can't be, now can it? Go grovel back to your true love…just don't come back to me in the end. I don't care." She yanked on her blouse and headed for the door.
"Jenny, wait!" Will yelled.
Outside the motel room where Will Tippin was staying was a car parked just near his window. Inside, the man smoked his cigarette, gusted out some smoke and threw the butts out the car window. His beady eyes remained on the window, where the familiar silhouettes of a man and a woman were playing out some sort of scene.
He coughed, spat some saliva out the window before picking up his radio unit. "Red Leader, this is Black Tiger," he said to it. "Subject appears to be having a fight with his girlfriend…no threat whatsoever to us. Copy."
The radio spat out some static. "Roger that, Black Tiger."
The man leaned back and continued to smoke his cigarette, watching the subject stand motionless by the window. "Lucky bastard," he grunted as he drew a whiff from his cigarette and grinned to himself. "Rather her than us…"
Sydney was grumbling to herself when she had entered the warehouse. She knew she was about an hour late and she prayed that Vaughn hadn't left already. She was thinking up a bunch of excuses for being late. She was physically exhausted ever since the entire ordeal had came up and she wanted to collapse in weariness. And she also needed a friendly face to help her through; she had gone so far with his help.
She could see a figure up ahead behind the chain-linked fence. She frowned slightly; Vaughn wasn't that short. Why could she see more of him now? As she got closer, she realized that it wasn't Vaughn. After all, since when did he get darker hues of hair?
"Hurry up, dammit," came the voice. "I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to."
Sydney scowled in realization as she opened the chair door. "Nadia?"
Nadia looked up. She was in black garb and she appeared to be reading some sort of textbook in the dim lights. Her eyebrows cocked slightly as she said sarcastically, "Who did you expect it to be? The Easter bunny?"
"Where's Vaughn?" Sydney asked, ignoring the sarcasm.
"Couldn't make it," she replied quickly. "He's been ordered to do some strategic stuff." Nadia then quickly explained the situation to Sydney.
Sydney furrowed her brows. "So what do I have to do?"
"You've got to convince Sloane that there's a situation up there and that you're up to it."
"How? There's no evidence…"
"Already taken care of," Nadia replied immediately. "I got that covered already. Look, this is an emergency. Whatever is up there that's linked to SD-6 is under the possibility of attack by whoever these dudes are, you got me? These dudes aren't afraid to show their big guns. There's something important up there and it could be sabotage, it could be some sort of attack, I don't know. It's your job to ensure that it's not to happen."
"But this is SD-6 we're talking about, not some innocent group of people here!" Sydney explained with a certain coldness in her voice. "We would be helping them! Trust me, saving Sloane's ass is the last thing on my agenda…besides, wouldn't these guys be helping us out in our jobs anyhow?"
"Or making the job a lot harder," Nadia pointed out wearily. "We don't know what this fraction is capable of doing. They can be a lot ruthless than Sloane or his merry men can be and trust me, I do not want to see these dudes' big guns at all costs. You got to go there and plug it up. Goodness knows what can happen if you just leave them alone…I doubt we'd feel very proud of ourselves."
Sydney fell silent. Nadia had a good point and frankly, she didn't expect that from someone as young as she was. And she hated the fact that she was right; she didn't want to help Sloane out and doing this just made her feel worse. She was helping out the bad guy---how could she be the good guy if she was helping the enemy?
"Look," Nadia said exasperatedly, "I know this is all hard to process at the moment, but we've got a pretty clear objective right now. You are to stop these bastards and whatever's in plan right now…I understand that you are clearly disgusted at the prospect of helping SD-6 and your boss…but think about it. If that place they are going to foil just happens to be some missile site or some sort of experiment station with chemicals or that sort…we could all be in danger."
Sydney nodded, finally clear on the entire situation. Bitter thoughts of helping Sloane evaporated as she gave Nadia a determined look. "Okay, so I'll go tell him tomorrow," she told her. "Is the evidence all set?"
"Yeah," Nadia replied with a sly twinkle in her eye. "It's almost set but it'll be pretty convincing evidence, since, after all, it is based on the truth." She grinned for a brief moment, showing her more younger side before returning back to her serious expression.
"Do I want to know?" Sydney asked.
"You'll find out eventually."
"Great."
Silence.
"How's Vaughn?" Sydney suddenly asked. She knew this was all business, but she couldn't help wondering. Did the CIA do this purposely? Did they find out about the exchange between her and Vaughn? She hoped not; she didn't want to lose her handler for the second time. Especially now, out of all the times in the world. Besides, Nadia knew Vaughn pretty well and she was secretly hoping that she would spill some information about him.
Nadia sighed heavily, kicking into thin air. "He's working," she replied after a brief moment of thought. "He's working overtime, I reckon. Sometimes the work gets to him and he wouldn't sleep on ends." She shrugged helplessly afterwards.
"Does he do this often?" Sydney inquired.
"Yeah," she replied. "Half the reason why he broke up with Alice…" Nadia blushed sheepishly when she mentioned her name. "Oops…I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. Do you…do you know about Alice?" she asked curiously.
"I saw a picture of her in his office the day I met him."
"Oh…that pic…" She seemed to be slightly disgusted with it.
"Why?"
"Can I be frank?" Nadia asked immediately. When Sydney nodded, the younger girl sighed heavily, as if she was relieved from some burden. Sydney wondered for a brief moment what the young girl was about to say. She was shocked when she heard Nadia blurt out, "She was such a bitch!"
Sydney cleared her throat, trying to understand. "What…What makes you say that?"
"She would be so cloy and sweet with Uncle and when it came to me, she'd be some mean and rude," she explained, a new wave of emotion forming on the girl's youthful face. "I swear, when she first saw me, she thought I was his daughter! And when she thought that, she looked like she was going to go insane. When she then found out that I was just under his guardianship, she looked so relieved. Ever time she was over at his place, I made every possible excuse to get myself the hell out of there. She pissed me off…and I think I did the same to her. I tried to show Uncle Mike her wicked witch side, but I guess that thing he had for her made him pretty blind…"
"How long were they…together?" Sydney asked.
"About two years…can't remember," Nadia replied demurely, shrugging off her hair to her back. Sydney felt herself go cold deep inside. It was two years ago that she had met Danny. She looked down onto her hand, where Danny's engagement ring once sat secure. "I could've sworn that they were on their way to the altar. I don't know what stopped them…aside from Uncle's work. They were drifting apart for a while…I guess they came across more speed bumps than expected…I just wish I knew what the other part of the reason was for breaking up."
"Did…she notice?"
Nadia thought for a moment, her eyes cast far away in the warehouse. "Well, sort of," she replied. "She bitched a little more than usual during their last few months together…nagging, whining, complaining. I swear I wanted to kick her ass out of that door! She pissed me off so much…she sounded more like a twit than a woman…" She sighed. "Yeah, the last few days were the rocky ones. I wanted to stay out of the war as much as possible…I stayed at my dorm that time."
"Dorm? I thought you lived with your uncle!"
"Sometimes," Nadia replied, flipping back her hair. "But during my school time, I'm at my dorm." She shrugged. "Okay, I know where you live so…tomorrow, in your mailbox, before you go to work, there'll be a package. You are to take it and show it to Sloane as conclusive proof that something is going on in the Yukon, got it?"
"Yes."
"Okay," Nadia replied warily, heading towards the chain-link fence. Before she stepped out, she turned her head sideward, casting a glance at Sydney. "And Sydney?"
Sydney looked up. "Yes?"
"We never had this…conversation."
Sydney nodded, knowing precisely what she meant.
Nadia smiled tiredly and left the warehouse.
At the same time, Sydney's phone went off. She picked it up and opened it. "Hello?"
"Sydney?" came a timid voice from the other end.
"Francie!" she cried in realization as she made a quick exit from the warehouse. She quickly clipped through the maze layout of the warehouse until she got out. A stiff breeze came over her as she walked quickly towards her red van. She looked around, checking if Nadia had left, but she didn't see nor hear the younger girl. She flipped over her keys from her pocket as she said, "What's up?"
"Why aren't you home yet?"
"I'm sorry," Sydney apologized as she opened the door to her car, "work and all."
Francie oohed and aahed as if it was interesting, when in fact, it was ticking her off a bit. Sydney could feel the vibes even from her end of the conversation. Man, this can be freaky sometimes, she thought as she revved up the engine. "Look, before I hit the sacks, I wanted to tell you that Will isn't going to be in for the next few days," Francie told her seriously.
"Why not?" Sydney asked, waiting for the engine to heat up.
"Something about a vacation."
Sydney didn't say anything. She remembered Will's crushed look when he saw Vaughn in the house a few days ago. And she knew it wasn't coincidence that Will just happened to be in the neighbourhood this morning when she was at Vaughn's place. She closed her eyes; did he just go on vacation because of her? She felt so bad.
Then again, he was so jealous and so nosy at times.
"Syd?" Francie asked, breaking her train of thoughts.
"Oh, I see," Sydney said slowly, as she realized that the car was warm enough. "Look, I'm on my way home, so I'll see you tomorrow or something, okay?"
"Um, yeah, sure."
"Okay. Bye."
"Later, Syd."
The dial tone went on as Sydney shut her cell phone and pulled out of the warehouse's parking lot, still thinking about everything around him.