Laura strolled into Sloane's office.  He smiled at her as he hung up the phone.  "Is something wrong, Laura?"

She tossed the paper down in front of him.  Eloise Kurtz's smiling face looked up at them both.  "You retired her, didn't you?"

Picking up the paper, Sloane sighed.  "Echo Park can be a dangerous place for a girl to go alone."

"She was a new promotion here, Arvin," Laura snapped, crossing her arms.

Sloane became deadly serious.  He threw the paper down.  "Whether or not I retired is not really the pressing question, is it?  No, that question is why did you send her to talk to a reporter without running it by me first?"

Laura's stomach turned, even though she realized what had happened as soon as she saw the obituary this morning.  "I wasn't trying to hide it, Arvin, but Will is--"

"Will Tippin," Sloane said, sitting down.

"Yeah, Will," Laura sighed.  She rubbed her forehead.  "He's a friend of Sydney's.  He was looking into the name Kate Jones, one of her aliases.  I gave Eloise Kurtz the task of leading him down a dead end so he'd drop it."  Now she had lost that chance.

"Laura," Sloane said, his laser eyes focused on her.  "You underestimated Tippin and Agent Kurtz's lack of field experience.  You put us all at risk.  Why were you using a junior agent?"

At least she had an answer there.  "You'll have to ask McCullough that, Arvin.  I used her because of his assessment of her field ability.  He gave her his highest rating."  She sighed and looked at him.  "I had contingencies, Arvin."  She waved her hand.  "All of which are irrelevant now."

Sloane leaned forward.  "Tell me something.  How did Tippin get a lead on the Kate Jones alias in the first place?"

Laura kept her face passive through years of training.  She was treading dangerous water.  "I don't know, but I am looking into it."

"Well," Sloane said, leaning back in his chair.  "Your efforts notwithstanding, that reporter may be a casualty of his own curiosity."

"That's a last resort!"  She took in a deep breath.  "I know you want what's best for Sydney, and if at all possible, we should spare her the pain of losing someone else.  Besides, another death may draw Jack's attention, and we don't need that to happen."

Sloane nodded.  "True.  So, how do you suggest we proceed?"

She leaned against the desk.  "Let me handle it, Arvin.  In my own way.  I'll get Will off the story."

"And if you don't?"

His eyes studied her.  She didn't betray herself with as much as a flicker of an eyelash when she lied.  "Then I'll kill him myself."

***

Laura was still worrying about Will when her daughter flew past her.  "Slow down!" she said automatically and then winced.  Sometimes it was hard for mothers to remember to not act like mothers.

Sydney stopped and stared at her.  Laura watched her daughter's face, saw the slow recognition.  "Sorry."

"You are angry."

"Very," Sydney snapped.  She stared down at something wrapped in her hands.

"What's happened?"  Surely, Sloane had not gone ahead and ordered Will's murder?

Sydney took in a shaky breath, and Laura realized her fears were wrong.  If Will was dead, Sydney would not have stopped.  She would have gone for Arvin Sloane's throat.

"I had a tracker."

Laura's eyebrows rose.  "What?"

"I spotted a man following me, and I confronted him.  Found out he was a tracker," Sydney said through gritted teeth.

Laura felt someone walk over her grave.  McCullough assigning a tracker to Sydney was not a good sign, especially considering some of her daughter's actions lately.  Could she have been a part of the CIA's--No, if the CIA knew, then Jack would know.  And, if Jack knew, he would have already confronted her, demanded answers.

"If you'll excuse me, I've got a debriefing--"

Laura put her arm on Sydney's shoulder.  "I know this isn't a good time, but I was wondering if we could do a girl's day tomorrow."

"A girls' day?"  Sydney sounded like she had never heard of it before, and then she grinned.  "A girls' day.  We haven't done one of those in a long time."

"No, we haven't."

Sydney looked towards Sloane's office.  "Let me talk to Sloane, do my debriefing, and then why don't we use the rest of today as a girl's day.  I have a paper that needs fixing."

Laura stared at her daughter.  "Fixing?"

Sydney shifted one her feet like a guilty teenager.  "I got a 'D'!"

"A 'D'!  Sydney--" Laura stopped herself.  "Sorry.  It's hard for me to leave the mother behind on some days.  Go to your meeting.  I'll get some paperwork done while I wait for you."

Sydney grinned and rushed away.  Laura could see the anger returning as her shoulders tensed and her stride became a march.

***

Sydney sat in the briefing room and wished she were somewhere else.  She was still furious about the tracker.  Furious and scared.  Sloane was right; they did give up privacy when they joined.  However, she had never had a tracker before now.  The occasional watching by Security Section, but nothing as intense as a tracker.

Sloane began the meeting.  "The clock you retrieved was designed by Giovanni Donato."  Even though Sydney hated helping SD-6 in any way, she had to admit she was happy that she had retrieved that clock.  Right out from beneath Anna's nose.

"He died in 1503," Sloane continued.  "His initials are engraved on the bottom.  Now, Donato was a master clock-maker, but more importantly, he was the one man Milo Rambaldi ever collaborated with.  There is a single reference to Donato in our Rambaldi archive.  Apparently, Rambaldi commissioned the clock himself."

Sloane's fascination with Rambaldi was getting annoying.  "And because of Rambaldi's involvement, you think it's more than just a clock."

"That was Rambaldi's style," he answered.  "Hiding codes in designs within his artwork.  Go, Marshall."

Marshall stood, looking uncomfortable.  He smiled.  "Um, now, I know we're all a bit hungry for lunch, so I'll try to use the maximum amount of brevity possible.  And, okay, now, as a clock, this piece was far ahead of its time.  Margin of error less than one second per decade, and the weirdest part about it is this gear assembly.  I mean, part of it is that it doesn't seem to have any real purpose."

Sydney examined the clock.  "This number on the back--What is it?  A date?"

"Well, we're analyzing that.  You know what we found so far?  Nothing happened that day.  Literally.  It's the one day in history that is basically zero things occurred."

Sloane retook control of the briefing.  "We have a very good reason to believe that this clock will reveal another piece of the Rambaldi puzzle.  The problem is: the clock doesn't work.  Without specific instructions, we can't risk damaging it.  We've located a direct descendant of Donato in Positano.  Luckily, he went into the family business.  Your mission, Agent Bristow, is quiet simple.  Take the clock to Donato, get him to fix it, and bring it back."

Sydney was amazed; she couldn't remember the last time she had an assignment that was so easy.  "That's it?"

Sloane smiled.  "That's it."

***

"What's wrong?" Laura asked Linda.  The woman might only be support staff, but she always had a knack for knowing what was going on.  Laura had been careful to cultivate a friendship with her over the years, and the frown on Linda's face told her something serious was about to happen.  She was usually smiling and laughing.

After taking a sip of her coffee, Linda replied, "Carl Dryer's coming in to upgrade the biometric scanners."  Laura bit back a groan.  "Go ahead," Linda said.  "I won't tell anyone."

"What?"

Linda smiled.  "I know you want to either groan or curse.  Feel free."

Laura smiled back.  "I'm too professional for that."

"Well, I'm not," Linda replied.  "I can't believe I have to work with that bastard again."

Laura poured her own cup of coffee.  "Surely, after last time, Sloane wouldn't--"

"Sloane wouldn't?"  Linda laughed and Laura winced.

"Damn.  Do you want me to talk to him?"  Laura doubted he would listen, but maybe she could make him see reason.

Linda shook her head.  "No thanks, Laura.  You and I both know that if I don't face my punishment in this way, then he'll just find something else much worse."

He would, too.  Sloane loved making points.  Assigning Linda to work with Dryer again after what happened last time would be an affective reminder to Linda what her place in the organization was; Sloane had to know that many people had admired Linda for her daring.

"I'm sorry, Linda."

Her smile was tight and small.  "I know you are, Laura.  Don't worry about me.  I'm going to the store tonight to buy one of those punching bags that look like a man's body.  I'm going to paste Dryer's face to it."

Laura grinned.  "I might have to come over and use it a few times while he's in."

Sighing, Linda nodded.  "I'm hoping it will last for his visit.  If it is anything like the last time, I'm going to have a line outside my door waiting to hit it."

Laughing, Laura walked back towards her office.  Her smile disappeared as soon as she walked inside.  Dryer coming made every instinct in her body scream.  If Sloane was suspecting a double, Dryer would the man he'd turned to sniff the double out.  Everyone in the building would be given a functional imaging test, a lie detector test that was far more accurate and far harder to fool than standard tests. 

Laura thought about what happened when Sydney had been in Romania.  Marshall had noticed some computer abnormalities.  Since nothing had been said about it, Laura had assumed that it was a system error.  She had been in this business long enough to know better, but she thought she had Sloane's trust.  But maybe her daughter was a suspect, and maybe SD-6's network had been compromised.

"Hey, Mom," Sydney said as she walked in behind her.  Laura turned to look at her.  "Are you okay?"

She forced herself to smile.  "I'm fine, honey.  I just found out that Carl Dryer is coming in to upgrade the biometric scanners.  Which means we will all probably be getting new functioning imaging tests done."

"What's that?" Sydney asked, sliding the strap of her purse back up her arm.

"Lie detector test.  Only it's more accurate and much harder to deceive," Laura told her.  She realized then that she was warning her own daughter; she was suspicious of her own daughter.  "It monitors variations in blood flow to the brain."

Laura realized that she didn't care about being suspicious.  She wanted her daughter to be safe.  She would look at the evidence later and realize how flimsy it was, that Sydney would never betray her that way.  Sydney was not the type to go to an enemy power, even if she did know that SD-6 was not what she had thought it was.

"Doesn't sound like fun," Sydney said, shrugging it off.  "Let's go have some fun."  Laura nodded and reached for her purse.  Sydney smiled as they walked out of the office.  "You're not going to believe my assignment."