Jack sat impatiently in the driver's seat of the van. Will sat next to him, dazed from all that had happened.

"So, where's Sy…" began Will.

"Not now Mr. Tippin."

Will sank lower into his seat.

Jack knew Sydney and Vaughn should have met them here at the rendezvous point by now. 'Time for plan B,' thought Jack.

"Mr. Tippin," Jack said coarsely.

Will was startled out of his daze.

"I am going in to extract Sydney and her partner. I know you are Sydney's friend, but if you move from this vehicle, I will make sure that you cannot move for a long time. Understood?"

"Yes sir," mumbled Will.

Jack quickly exited the vehicle and jogged, gun drawn, into the shadows.

Sydney knew that she had mentally translated Irina's orders correctly, but still she doubted herself. She had been talking about a man who needed new clothing. OK, could it be Will? No, Sark and her father should have made the exchange hours ago. Her father? Why would he need new clothes? Oh… No. She couldn't let herself believe, hope. Well, he had been a field agent before, he is pretty resourceful… could Irina have been talking about Va. . . 'No. No way. Don't even set yourself up for that fall,' Sydney told herself. That would be too much to hope for…

Jack heard two guards joking with each other from around the corner as he snuck through the maze of underground passages. He could faintly hear the club music pulsing in the background as he tried to guess which way Sydney and Vaughn went (or were taken.) His Russian was rusty, but he knew that the guards were merely exchanging dirty jokes, nothing useful. Jack heard the guards round the corridor's far corner and he crept on down the hall.

His green eyes opened to see a small room with assorted crates stacked haphazardly. A single bulb lit the room, leaving large, shadowy corners. As he inhaled consciously for the first time in hours, he was thrown into a coughing fit. 'It'll be a while before I go swimming again,' he thought to himself. As his brain became more alert, he realized that he was tied to a chair, soaking wet and miserably cold. So much for this mission going smoothly. The door was then unlatched and a man with a stack of clothing entered the hole of a room.

"You change, we guard you," the guard ordered in broken English as he tossed the pile of clothes on Vaughn's lap. Another guard then entered the room and pointed his automatic rifle at Vaughn, just to let him know that there would be no hesitation if he tried anything funny. The first guard then went behind the chair and began to untie Vaughn. Vaughn wondered why "The Man" cared if he were comfortable, or why he even had him saved from drowning, but he began to undress anyhow.

Jack peered around a corner in time to see two guards enter a room. One was holding a pile of clothes, the other a rifle. 'Strange," he thought. Then he heard one of the guards order someone to change. 'How odd. Since when does Khasinau care about a prisioner's well-being and comfort?' This seemed too easy - only one armed man? 'Well, it's now or never,' Jack thought as he quietly approached the open door…

A/N: Well, I hope you are enjoying it so far. I just had to write one of my own after reading all the great ones that are posted every day! Please review, good and bad comments are both welcome. Criticism can only make it better! [A little praise doesn't hurt either though! ;-) ] And yes, if you were wondering, there is a reason that 1 letter in each chapter title is capitalized; by the end of my story, they will spell out a very obvious observation!