Chapter Three- Knowledge

Los Angeles

Freeway

After a long while, Sloane finally was able to look at his daughter. "Audrey, I'm only going to tell you this once. Do not get yourself mixed up in SD-6."

Audrey sighed and glanced at her father, "But Dad, how can you say that? How can you not want me to work with you? Think about it! Father and daughter, working side by side for the greater good."

Audrey trailed off and was interrupted by her father, "This life is not for you! I can't spend every day of my life wondering if you are safe or somewhere being hurt. There are bad people in this world, Audrey. People who will kill you without thinking twice about it. I will not have you brought into that kind of a life."

Audrey opened her mouth to respond but was quickly cut off by an upset Sloane, "No! I'm not going to hear it! After your mother's funeral you will go back to London and work for that magazine. Never, ever mention SD-6 again. Do you hear me? NEVER!"

Audrey tearfully responded, "But isn't this what you want, me at SD-6? You can't tell me that you want me to spend my life thousands of miles away from you. You're all I've got. Besides when I was recruited…"

Audrey was interrupted by a sharp glance from Sloane, "Recruited? When in the hell were you recruited? And by whom?"

Audrey looked at her father and incredulously replied, "I can't believe you don't know. I'd always thought you were the reason why I was brought into SD-6."

"Audrey do you really think that I would ever bring you into this life? Just tell me, when and by whom were you recruited," Sloane questioned, already making mental preparations for the murder of whoever had dragged his little girl into this.

"It was sophomore year at Oxford. In October of that year, I think."

Sloane interrupted her with a question, "Why did you keep this from me for three-and-a-half years?"

Audrey shrugged and responded, "When I was first recruited I was told never to mention my dealings with SD-6 to anyone. Dreyer told me my training was classified," Audrey laughed nervously and continued, "Besides I always thought you knew and didn't want to mention it.  If I had been aware that you didn't know…"

Audrey paused awkwardly and the silence was filled up with an angry Sloane asking, "WHO was it that brought you into this?"

Audrey glanced up and saw that they were pulling up to the driveway of their house, "It was Agent Dreyer."

Sloane responded, "That bastard! I'll deal with him later. Right now I think we need to start calling some of your mother's friends," he paused as he opened the car door, "This conversation isn't over."

Los Angeles International Airport- Runway

Sydney stared out the window of the plane as it landed. She was lost in her thoughts. She'd spent the past few hours thinking about everything that had happened in the last two days. Her feelings were a mix of relief and fear. At least Will had arrived in Los Angeles safely. Sydney felt an enormous amount of guilt that her problems had been the cause of everything that had happened to him. When it came down to it, Sydney was responsible for the fact that Will had been kidnapped. If it weren't for her, Will would never have gotten mixed up with SD-6 and wouldn't have been harmed. At least Will was going to be all right; even though he had been badly beaten he was still alive. This fact comforted Sydney. But Vaughn was another story. He was yet another person Sydney had dragged into this whole mess.

"Why did I let him come with me? How could I have been so stupid?" Sydney asked as the plane touched down.

Jack sat watching Sydney, "Sydney, Agent Vaughn is a grown man. He made the decision to go to Taipei with us. No one forced him into doing anything."

Jack's speech was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. Before he answered it he added, "This is not your fault."

Sydney got up to exit the plane, holding back the tears that threatened to flow every time she thought about Agent Vaughn's fate.  Sydney paused at the door, hearing Jack react to the phone conversation, "God, I'm so sorry. I can't believe this happened… Yes, of course I'll tell Sydney. Tuesday at eight PM. We'll be there. And again, I'm so sorry… Goodbye."

Jack took his daughter's arm and led her towards the seats, "That was Sloane, just then. I, um… there really isn't any other way to say this, Emily is dead."

Sydney gasped with shock as the emotions she had been trying to fight for hours finally overwhelmed her. She began to cry.

Jack continued. "It happened early this morning. Sloane said she just went to bed and never woke up. The wake is on Tuesday and the funeral is the next day. I'm so sorry, I know how close you two became after your mother left. I really don't know what else to say Sydney."

Sydney looked up into Jack's eyes and took a calming breath before speaking, "Sloane did this. He killed her. I know it."

Jack gave a disgusted sigh, "I wouldn't put it past him. He'd do anything for a spot on The Alliance's board of directors."

As Sydney got up to leave the plane, Jack grabbed her arm, "Look Sydney, I know you're upset, but don't do anything rash. Keep your suspicions to yourself. At least until after the funeral. Don't do it for me, do it for Emily."

Sydney nodded. "I know Dad. I'm not going to do anything stupid, don't worry. Right now I just want to go home." Sydney got up and exited the plane.

Taipei

Warehouse District- Club- Back Office

Sark gazed around the once nicely decorated room which was now strewn with the unconscious bodies of several soldiers and broken pieces of bric-a-brac and furniture.

He had to laugh. "It appears my father managed to knock me unconscious with a Hummel figurine," he chuckled. He was quickly joined by Khasinau.

Laura Bristow glared at the two men, "I don't see the humor in this. Not only has Jack managed to get away, but he took Sydney with him. Do you understand the ramifications of this? Our plan could be set back by months! We have get Sydney into our possession as quickly was possible."

Sark glanced down at the floor, "Oh, don't worry Mother, we'll find her. At least we still have him." Sark nodded at Agent Vaughn's wet and unconscious body.

He then turned his attentions back to Laura. "What are we going to do with Agent Vaughn anyway?"

"Up until a few hours ago I would have said kill him, but now it appears he will be a very worthwhile presence." Laura replied.

"You want to use him as bait." Khasinau asked.

Laura looked at her protégée and laughed, "Of course he's bait. Nothing will bring Sydney back here quicker than the man she loves."

Los Angeles

Sydney and Francie's House

Sydney walked into her house and dropped her bag onto the floor. She gave a deep sigh and went to look at the mail stacked on the hall table. She glanced up at her reflection in the mirror above the table and took a few deep breaths to compose herself.

"How could this happen?" She whispered to her reflection, "How could everything have gone so wrong?"

She walked over to the living room couch and sat down heavily as tears ran down her cheeks.

"Syd, you're home! How was your trip?" Francie walked into the room with a smile on her face. That smile quickly disappeared when she saw the state that Sydney was in.

"What happened sweetie? What's wrong? You know you can tell me." Francie wrapped her arms around her friend, trying to comfort her. Sydney hugged Francie back, sobbing uncontrollably, releasing the pent up emotions from the last few days.

When Sydney was finally able to compose herself, she replied, "When we landed in LA I got a phone call. My boss's wife Emily died last night."

Francie looked at her friend sympathetically, "Oh, Syd, I'm so sorry."

Sydney wiped the tears away from her eyes. "After my mother died, Emily became like a surrogate mother to me. She would take me out to the park or to the beach, trying to make me happy again. She was so wonderful to me. And I loved her so much."

Sydney's voice caught. "I can't believe she's really gone."

Francie grabbed Sydney's hand, "If there's anything I can do for you, just ask."

Sydney smiled at her friend, "Thanks Francie, but I'm going to try and contact Emily's daughter. She's all the way in England by herself."

Sydney got up to leave the room, but stopped when the phone rang. "Joey's Pizza."

Sydney felt her eye's fill with tears. "Wrong number."

Francie rolled her eyes at Sydney and said, "I know I've been saying this for a while now, but we have GOT to change our number."

Sydney managed a smile as she said, "You know what? I'm going to go for a drive. Clear my head. I probably shouldn't bother Audrey anyway. I'm sure she's making plans to come back to LA and I don't want to distract her."

Francie nodded, "That's a good idea. Do you want me to come with you?"

Sydney shook her head, "Thanks Francie, but I really need to be alone right now."

Abandoned Warehouse

Sydney walked into the familiar warehouse building, wishing that she was here to meet Vaughn instead of some random CIA agent. She walked towards their usual spot and gasped when she saw who was there. It was Will and Agent Weiss.

"Oh my God, Will! Thank goodness you're alright!" Sydney threw her arms around him, "I'm so sorry this had to happen. I wish I could have told you the truth about everything from the beginning."

Sydney let go of Will and looked him over. His face and jaw were swollen and he had a black eye and numerous bruises. "They hurt you so bad. I'm sorry."

Will managed to grin at Sydney, "You should have seen me before they let me change my clothes."

Agent Weiss interrupted Sydney and Will's reunion, "What happened with Agent Vaughn? We know that you and your father arrived home an hour ago, but no one knows anything about Vaughn. Is he alive?"

Sydney looked down, "He was when we left."

Weiss's eyebrows shot up, "When you left? You mean you left him there alone. How could you? What happened?"

Will interrupted, "Who's Agent Vaughn?"

Sydney looked at Will and responded, "Agent Vaughn is my handler. And friend."

She turned to Weiss, "You know we wouldn't have left him there on purpose.  We were attacked by a number of armed soldiers and had to get out of there as quickly as possible. He had been knocked unconscious and we were not able to reach him in order to take him with us."

Weiss exasperatedly threw up his hands, "This is unbelievable. They're going to kill him, you know."

Sydney shook her head, "I don't think so, my mother will see him as a bargaining tool in order to get me back."

Will's head shot up, "Your mother? I thought she was dead."

Sydney glanced at him and said, "That's a long story, suffice to say, she's alive and kicking. And The Man."

Now it was Weiss's turn to glance up, "Your mother is The Man. This is just wonderful. Look, Will  has a doctor's appointment to get to, so we have to leave, but Sydney, I'm warning you. Get in contact with Devlin immediately."

Sydney nodded at Weiss and reached over to hug Will, "Don't worry about anything, okay. Everything will be alright."

Taipei

Warehouse District- Club- Back Office

Sark pulled Agent Vaughn up from off the floor and laid him out on the couch. Then he bent down to examine Vaughn's head wound, "This doesn't look so good, Mother. There's a lot of swelling and he's starting to get awfully pale. I think he's shivering too. If you want to keep him alive I think he should be seen to by  a doctor."

Laura nodded at Sark, "Alexander has already called for one. He should be arriving shortly."

Sark looked up at his mother, "How exactly are we going to let Sydney know Vaughn is still alive. I myself am quite fond of a phone call while the captive screams for mercy in the background, but since he's unconscious we obviously can't do that. So what do we do now, a videotape perhaps?"

Laura shook her head at her over eager son, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, we need a doctor to come. Agent Vaughn is no good to us if he's dead."

Los Angeles

Arvin Sloane's Home

Audrey stood outside the door to her father's office. He was on the phone yelling at somebody. Audrey sat down in the hall while she waited for him to finish his conversation, cringing as she took in the tone of his voice.

She muttered, "I'd hate to be that guy."

Sloane continued yelling at the unsuspecting underling on the phone. "I don't care what you are doing. Find him for me NOW! I don't have to tell you why I want to speak with him… Yes, you do that. And let Agent Dreyer know that if he doesn't contact me IMMEDIATELY there will be hell to pay."

Sloane slammed the phone down and leaned back in his chair. "How could I have let this happen? I should have known I couldn't trust Dreyer."

Sloane stopped muttering to himself when he heard a knock at the door, "Come in sweetie."

Audrey tentatively approached her father's desk. "If you're busy I can come back later."

Sloane gestured for her to sit down in the chair across from him, "Nothing is more important than you. Is something the matter?"

Audrey nervously looked at her father, "Well, in the car you said that you wanted to finish our conversation, so here I am."

"I need you to tell me everything you know about SD-6. Tell me how you were contacted, how you were trained, the names of other agents you have been in contact with. Don't leave anything out." Sloane leaned forward, staring into his daughter's eyes.

Audrey began. "Well, lets see. As I said I was first contacted in October of my sophomore year. I was coming out of one of my classes. I think it was Greek and Roman Architecture, which was one of my favorite classes, by the way. The subject matter was just fascinating. Did you know that the Parthenon was…"

Audrey stopped talking when her father sighed, "Um, sorry. That's a conversation for another day. Anyway, I was coming out of that class when a man came up to me and asked me if I wanted to join the CIA. I, of course, didn't believe him. He seemed like one of those desperate guys who will say anything to get lai… a date. So when he started telling me all about you and Credit Dauphine, I knew he was telling me the truth."

Audrey took a breath and was interrupted by Sloane, "What did this man say about Credit Dauphine?"

"Well basically he explained that Credit Dauphine was a front for SD-6. He said that SD-6 was a clandestine branch of the CIA and that with recommendations from various members of the CIA and SD-6, he had come to recruit me. I, of course, was still skeptical, but he told me things that led me to believe he was telling the truth." Audrey stopped for a minute to think.

"What kinds of things did this man tell you? I need to know specifics." Sloane asked.

Audrey continued. "The bulk of what he talked about was SD-6's involvement with K-Directorate. The little cat and mouse game you all have going with various pieces of information and weaponry. And the FTL, which I understand has been dealt with of late."

Sloane got up and began pacing across the room, "And this man, who was he? Was it Dreyer?"

Audrey shook her head, "No I met Agent Dreyer a few days later. The man I first met was named Agent Wright."

"Well I've never met him." Sloane replied. "Tell me about your training."

Audrey made herself more comfortable in her chair and continued, "I was trained in a number of the martial art forms; Jujitsu was where I excelled though. Kickboxing was another favorite. Apparently all those years of ballet training helped me with my balance and stamina. Since I was already fluent in Spanish and French but only had an adequate grasp of Russian, I was given lessons. I also took up learning Japanese in my spare time."

Audrey stopped talking when she saw the look her father was giving her. "Anyway, then there were the lessons in problem solving and things of that ilk. I wasn't very fond of them, but I was told that they were mandatory."

Audrey trailed off and looked at Sloane expectantly, "Did they tell you anything else about the operations of SD-6?" Sloane questioned.

Audrey shook her head, "Nothing about your field work, they said I would learn that when the time was right. But I do know that Sydney Bristow works for you."

End episode three.