Story: Beyond All Limits
Author: Steph (stephanie406@juno.com)
Disclaimer: Don't own Alias, or any characters thus portrayed. It all belongs to JJ Abrams, Bad Robot Productions, ABC, etc.
Rating: PG-13 (for now)
Spoilers/Summary : post "After Thirty Years"; Vaughn's alive, and Sydney's been captured
Okay, so this ass has probably been following us since we left the warehouse. It didn't surprise Sydney at all that that woman would be monitoring the local SD-6 warehouse for signs of her escapee daughter. She should have been more careful about monitoring for potential tails.
But if it was the case they'd been waiting for Sydney to show up, then why hadn't they made a move there? It was confusing, considering they'd chosen following her, knowing that there was a chance they could lose her. She was very good at doing that. They had to know it, didn't they?
Sydney let out a frustrated sigh, knowing that she couldn't let them know yet that she knew they were following her. But still. She had to find a way to shake them, even if she had to be more inconspicuous about it.
Which was going to be hard to do, considering where they were—on a deserted highway, mostly residential with the occasional gas station and grocery story sprinkled in between. The sun had just risen over the horizon. Only the early commuters would be out this early.
"GPS in the glove box" she told Vaughn. "Find where we are and help me shake this bastard." She hadn't meant it to come out as harsh as it had… but, circumstances being what they were… Vaughn would forgive her.
Sydney heard him mumbling from the passenger seat, plugging info into the handheld device. He was also relaying their position as best he could to her father over the phone.
"Take a right immediately after the next light" he finally told her. Sydney did as she was told, abruptly pulling off the road. He followed with more instructions, finally leading her onto a main street with considerably more traffic than the previous street had had.
Thank God.
Sydney was back in her element, switching lanes quickly, weaving in and out of traffic, passing people. She was speeding, going just a little faster than all the vehicles around her, enough to move quickly but not attract too much attention to herself. The methods of a spy…
Her jaw was clenched in concentration, her teeth clenched tightly together—the only visible apparent signs of her worry.
She took another hard, fast right turn, quickly backing into a long shadowy, tree-lined driveway. And held her breath.
Sydney couldn't help but think about how much easier the mouse got away from the cat in these games in the shadows of the dark. She hated playing 'cat and mouse'. But wasn't that pretty much her job description?
She and Vaughn were crouched low over in their seats. Sure enough, the black sedan that had been following them sped down the street. They both breathed sighs of relief. Sydney even dared to flash him a quick smile as she started the car and cautiously crept back out onto the street.
Once back on the main street, Vaughn got busy plugging coordinates again. And then he relayed good news from her father. If they could get to a certain meeting point, an extraction team would be there to retrieve them within the hour.
Sydney knew how excruciating an hour's wait could be when it was your life on the line. But they didn't have any other choice right now. Now that they were aware that their escape was known, they had to lay low, and stay away from public places like the airport that were probably full of black sedans and suited men who wouldn't hesitate to pull their guns on Sydney.
She couldn't risk that. Not when it was no longer just herself she had to think about. There was Vaughn too.
"Uh… Syd?" the person she'd just been thinking about's voice broke into her thoughts. "You've got an incoming call" he told her.
"So answer it" she told him. Only her father and the CIA knew that number. Well, at least until whomever the mole had been had leaked the information to Sark.
She heard Vaughn answer the call. And then all she heard was silence. Sydney quickly looked over at him quizzically, puzzled when he just silently handed her the phone. He looked pale, she observed, her stomach suddenly tied in knots.
"Who is this?" she asked. She wasn't going to beat around the bush, not if the look in Vaughn's eyes was anything to go by.
"Hello Sydney" came the bone-chilling reply. Sark. Again.
This couldn't be good. He never could be good. He was never up to anything good.
Sydney closed her eyes briefly, the pain that had washed over her during their last phone encounter washing over her anew.
Sydney Bristow was scared. Her mind incessantly repeating one word: shitshitshitshitSHIT. What else could she think? Something was wrong, she could sense that. Terribly, terribly wrong.
"You see, Sydney, love" he started. Sydney involuntarily shivered at the pet name. "There were suspicions about your quiet compliance earlier. Even your friend, Mr. Vaughn, knows you well enough to know you don't just take things quietly and move on. No, Sydney, love, you take action, whatever action your devious little mind can think up. So based on your, shall we say, colorful past behavior to date, we decided it would be in our best interests to collect some collateral, if you will."
Sydney quickly pulled the car off the road, shifted into park and shut the engine down. It was deathly quiet when she finally bit out a reply. "What have you done now, you sick, twisted son-of-a-bitch bastard?" The sick feeling of impending and very close doom had settled over her whole being now.
Momentary silence. And then Sydney heard the familiar sound that a scared individual makes—erratic breathing, whimpering… "Oh God" Sydney whispered, horror overcoming her as awareness dawned on her. Francie. She whispered her friends name quietly, questioningly, ever hopeful that she was wrong.
"Syd?" came her best friend's scared and timid voice. "Oh God, Syd" she choked on a sob.
"Francie, sweetie… I'm so sorry, baby. I love you. It's gonna be okay" Sydney whispered in what she hoped was a soothing voice. She wasn't as sure of herself as her words sounded to her ears.
Francie's sobs faded into the background. Sark was back on the phone. "What do you want?" she asked. Normally, she'd demand. But this little surprise had hit hard, and low, and all Sydney wanted to do was do whatever it took to get Francie out of this unscathed.
And maybe she hadn't demanded. But Sydney was starting to see red. She was getting very, dangerously angry. It just wasn't enough that SD-6 had killed Danny. That they'd almost killed her, and she'd put herself on the line time and time again getting back into their good graces. Oh, no, never ever enough. Then she'd been taken into custody on that God-awful witch hunt spawned by the Rambaldi document that should have sent them scurrying after the very woman who was now responsible for risking Will's life and kidnapping Francie.
Where would the line be drawn? When would enough be enough?
"You'll meet us at the airport, which I'm quite sure is where you were headed anyway" came Sark's voice. Sydney struggled to keep herself in check. "We'll be waiting. You in exchange for you friend. A simple exchange really. And as soon as you are secured, Agent Vaughn will be allowed to escort your friend back to the States." And then the call disconnected and Sydney was back on the line with her father.
"There's been a change of plans" she informed him, turning the key and letting the engine roar to life. The tires squealed in protest as she peeled out of the parking lot and back onto the street. "Get me to that damned airport now!"
"Syd, what the hell…?" Vaughn trailed off questioningly. Her father was sounding much the same.
"They have Francie" she said quietly, her tone of voice belying her inner turmoil. Both men were quiet momentarily.
"What are their terms?" her father asked, back to business.
"They want me in exchange for her."
Vaughn and her father exploded into noisy protestations at the same time.
"Absolutely not" came her father's voice.
"Syd, no…" came Vaughn's reply.
"I'm doing it. I'm the reason they have her, so there will be no limit to what I'm willing to do to secure her safety. Now stop trying to change my mind" she ordered, glaring sideways at Vaughn, who had the good graces to blush guiltily. "Now, Vaughn, get me to that airport. Dad, inform the extraction team of the exchange of plans. We'll wait for them before the exchange occurs. I want to be assured of their safety above all else."
Sydney shot Vaughn another glare to quiet his protestations before they started, as she knew he invariably would. Instead, he held her gaze. What about your safety, Sydney? They seemed to silently plead.
Let me worry about that she let her eyes reply. His gaze broke from hers first, his hands busying themselves with the GPS system.
"Dad…" she said hesitantly into the phone. "Whatever happens, I love you," she whispered, then quickly pulled the phone from her ear and disconnected her father, not giving him a chance to reply. She dropped the phone onto the seat next to her.
Back to business. "So, where are we?" she asked, and proceeded to follow Vaughn's directions to the airport, in the meanwhile, valiantly fighting the tears swimming her eyes that threatened to spill over in a virtual flood.
This wasn't going to end well. She knew that already. That was her gut feeling, literally, since her stomach was tied in even more knots than it had been before.
Acting on impulse, Sydney reached over the distance that separated them and grasped Vaughn's hand tightly in hers for the remainder of the way, fighting the lump in her throat now too.
AN: so I'm turning into a feedback whore. So sue me… wait, don't take me up on that offer! Lol. And yes, as I said before, I have up to chapter 15 written, and also as I said before the problem being is that it's handwritten at the moment. And note to the person that left the little comment about the marshall quote reference in chapter 3: it has now been deleted, seeing as how it really was unnecessary and all that… anyway, feedback and you shall have your precious next chapter in short time!
