Chapter 5 – Interlude – Vaughn
Notes: See Chapter 1.
[LONDON – early evening, blocks away from Hartley House]
She walks by a trendy boutique and stops to check her makeup in the reflection of the window. She glances casually around to see if anyone has been following her. So far, nothing suspicious has appeared on her visual radar. Adjusting her backpack slightly, she checks her watch. She has 40 minutes to get inside the server farm before data backup begins.
Further down the block she spots the license plate tags of the CIA van. She reflexively touches the clip-on diamond stud earrings she is wearing, delivered to her hotel room hours before with a note from Vaughn:
"These diamond earrings will act as your comm link. Press the studs lightly once to turn them on. When we need to talk to you we'll send you an encrypted audio transmission through the earrings. The surface of the earrings will pick up what you say, encrypt it and transmit it back to the van.
It's a remote possibility, but we don't want the link to be picked up so press the studs again to turn them off before going into the building. If you get in a tight spot, take them off and rub them together in your hand. It should set off a small exothermic heat reaction to fool any infrared sensors into thinking the earrings are the heat signature of an actual person.
Who says diamonds aren't a girl's best friend?
V."
She smiles a little, remembering the little smiley face he put next to his initial on the note, and then reaches up to press the earrings once to turn them on. She hears a light clicking noise and knows she's ready to communicate with the CIA van.
[CIA van, same block]
"I have her on visual and she's live." Weiss turns the night-vision monitor towards Vaughn.
Through the green monochromatic screen, he sees her walking briskly about 5 car lengths away. Weiss puts on his headset.
Vaughn does likewise and speaks into his headset. "Guimauve*, do you read me? We have you on visual."
She flashes a quick smile straight ahead, not aimed at anyone in particular as she closes to within 2 car lengths of the van. "I copy, though I do have major reservations about the person that comes up with these hokey codenames," she says dryly through their headsets. "Everything going as scheduled?"
Vaughn looks as Weiss, who nods. "Yes."
She passes the van. "Any unusual activity around the building or area?"
"Negative on that, it's been quiet all evening," Weiss answers.
"Sounds good. Thanks guys. I'll contact you again when I'm a block from the building."
"Copy that," Vaughn replies. They watch her get to the end of the block and take a left turn around the corner. Weiss watches Vaughn take off his headset. Things are silent in the van for a few moments before Weiss speaks again.
"She doesn't know that you and I—" Weiss begins.
"—have had a falling out? No. If she did know, she probably wouldn't have requested the both of us." Vaughn lets out a long sigh and then a half-laugh. "You know what? Knowing her, if she did know, she probably would have still requested the both of us just so we could patch things up."
"Mike—"
Vaughn almost spits out each word. "This wasn't my idea. This was her idea, and the perfect reason for Devlin to approve it. So you can keep tabs on me and report back to him."
Weiss's silence is all the answer Vaughn needs to confirm his suspicions.
But before he can say anything more Weiss speaks up again. "Mike, I know we've argued about protocol time and time again. You know where I stand on this. If you're not able to keep yourself in check, the responsibility of the Agency is to make sure you are kept in check so you can do your job the way it should be done." He pauses. "And the Agency isn't placed in any more risk than it needs to be."
Vaughn is shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you are saying all of this."
"Mike, I'm doing this for your own good. You got promoted to a position where any officer with your speciality would have worked 8 to 10 years to get--just because a double agent demanded that you get promoted. You've gotten away with stuff that nobody else could, because you're Sydney Bristow's handler and Sydney Bristow also happens to be the daughter of the legendary Jack Bristow.
"You've told me you've made the decisions that you have because you feel responsible for her safety, because you feel that her life is in your hands every time she does a countermission for the CIA. Have you ever considered that your life is in her hands every time too? That if something goes wrong for her, your existence could be in as much danger as hers? That's why the protocol is there, so you don't ever get to that point. Only, *you're* way past that point now," Weiss sighs resignedly. "You'd better hope she values your hide as much as you do hers or else—"
"She got me out of Taipei," Vaughn says quietly, effectively cutting Weiss off. "She could have left me behind with her mother. I would have likely been beaten and tortured to death by now if she hadn't come to free me. She went against Jack's advice and she came back to the lab. We barely made it out in one piece…" (he still has the faint yellowish bruises from the kidney punches that Sark gave him in the brawl that ensued during the escape) "…but at no time did she ever second-guess herself or express regret in making her choice. She took a huge…leap…for me. She said she had done it for me because I had done it for her so many times."
Weiss looks at Vaughn for a moment, and then averts his gaze, looking equal parts chastened and embarrassed. "I…didn't know about the last part. Why she got you out."
"Do you understand where I'm coming from now, Eric?"
Weiss nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. Only it's going to make me keeping tabs on you tougher now. It's not going to be easy---"
A corner of Vaughn's mouth quirks up. "Then find a way."
Despite the fact that he just had his own words thrown back at him weeks before, Weiss starts to laugh. And it's not long before Vaughn joins in as well.
"I'm still gonna be a hardass, just so you know," Weiss says, after he's managed to stop laughing.
Vaughn leans back in his chair and stretches his arms out, and then puts his hands back in his jacket pockets. He fingers Aunt Trish's red hanky in his right jacket pocket and shoots Weiss a look.
"I know. But if this mission goes off without a hitch, you may not have to be for much longer."
They spend the next few minutes surveilling the area and still can't find any clues of suspicious activity.
Sydney's comm link suddenly comes on again. "Guimauve to base, do you copy?"
Weiss & Vaughn put on their headsets.
Vaughn speaks. "We copy Guimauve. What's your status?"
"I'm a block away from the building. I'm going to go quiet in about 30 seconds. Any updates?"
"Negative. You're clear."
"Good."
"Guimauve…good luck." Vaughn visualizes her smiling at how ridiculous he probably just sounded.
She gives out a small laugh. "Thanks. Guimauve out."
And with that they hear the comm link go dead again.
Note: *guimauve is French for marshmallow. Cheesy, but what the hey… :D
Notes: See Chapter 1.
[LONDON – early evening, blocks away from Hartley House]
She walks by a trendy boutique and stops to check her makeup in the reflection of the window. She glances casually around to see if anyone has been following her. So far, nothing suspicious has appeared on her visual radar. Adjusting her backpack slightly, she checks her watch. She has 40 minutes to get inside the server farm before data backup begins.
Further down the block she spots the license plate tags of the CIA van. She reflexively touches the clip-on diamond stud earrings she is wearing, delivered to her hotel room hours before with a note from Vaughn:
"These diamond earrings will act as your comm link. Press the studs lightly once to turn them on. When we need to talk to you we'll send you an encrypted audio transmission through the earrings. The surface of the earrings will pick up what you say, encrypt it and transmit it back to the van.
It's a remote possibility, but we don't want the link to be picked up so press the studs again to turn them off before going into the building. If you get in a tight spot, take them off and rub them together in your hand. It should set off a small exothermic heat reaction to fool any infrared sensors into thinking the earrings are the heat signature of an actual person.
Who says diamonds aren't a girl's best friend?
V."
She smiles a little, remembering the little smiley face he put next to his initial on the note, and then reaches up to press the earrings once to turn them on. She hears a light clicking noise and knows she's ready to communicate with the CIA van.
[CIA van, same block]
"I have her on visual and she's live." Weiss turns the night-vision monitor towards Vaughn.
Through the green monochromatic screen, he sees her walking briskly about 5 car lengths away. Weiss puts on his headset.
Vaughn does likewise and speaks into his headset. "Guimauve*, do you read me? We have you on visual."
She flashes a quick smile straight ahead, not aimed at anyone in particular as she closes to within 2 car lengths of the van. "I copy, though I do have major reservations about the person that comes up with these hokey codenames," she says dryly through their headsets. "Everything going as scheduled?"
Vaughn looks as Weiss, who nods. "Yes."
She passes the van. "Any unusual activity around the building or area?"
"Negative on that, it's been quiet all evening," Weiss answers.
"Sounds good. Thanks guys. I'll contact you again when I'm a block from the building."
"Copy that," Vaughn replies. They watch her get to the end of the block and take a left turn around the corner. Weiss watches Vaughn take off his headset. Things are silent in the van for a few moments before Weiss speaks again.
"She doesn't know that you and I—" Weiss begins.
"—have had a falling out? No. If she did know, she probably wouldn't have requested the both of us." Vaughn lets out a long sigh and then a half-laugh. "You know what? Knowing her, if she did know, she probably would have still requested the both of us just so we could patch things up."
"Mike—"
Vaughn almost spits out each word. "This wasn't my idea. This was her idea, and the perfect reason for Devlin to approve it. So you can keep tabs on me and report back to him."
Weiss's silence is all the answer Vaughn needs to confirm his suspicions.
But before he can say anything more Weiss speaks up again. "Mike, I know we've argued about protocol time and time again. You know where I stand on this. If you're not able to keep yourself in check, the responsibility of the Agency is to make sure you are kept in check so you can do your job the way it should be done." He pauses. "And the Agency isn't placed in any more risk than it needs to be."
Vaughn is shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you are saying all of this."
"Mike, I'm doing this for your own good. You got promoted to a position where any officer with your speciality would have worked 8 to 10 years to get--just because a double agent demanded that you get promoted. You've gotten away with stuff that nobody else could, because you're Sydney Bristow's handler and Sydney Bristow also happens to be the daughter of the legendary Jack Bristow.
"You've told me you've made the decisions that you have because you feel responsible for her safety, because you feel that her life is in your hands every time she does a countermission for the CIA. Have you ever considered that your life is in her hands every time too? That if something goes wrong for her, your existence could be in as much danger as hers? That's why the protocol is there, so you don't ever get to that point. Only, *you're* way past that point now," Weiss sighs resignedly. "You'd better hope she values your hide as much as you do hers or else—"
"She got me out of Taipei," Vaughn says quietly, effectively cutting Weiss off. "She could have left me behind with her mother. I would have likely been beaten and tortured to death by now if she hadn't come to free me. She went against Jack's advice and she came back to the lab. We barely made it out in one piece…" (he still has the faint yellowish bruises from the kidney punches that Sark gave him in the brawl that ensued during the escape) "…but at no time did she ever second-guess herself or express regret in making her choice. She took a huge…leap…for me. She said she had done it for me because I had done it for her so many times."
Weiss looks at Vaughn for a moment, and then averts his gaze, looking equal parts chastened and embarrassed. "I…didn't know about the last part. Why she got you out."
"Do you understand where I'm coming from now, Eric?"
Weiss nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. Only it's going to make me keeping tabs on you tougher now. It's not going to be easy---"
A corner of Vaughn's mouth quirks up. "Then find a way."
Despite the fact that he just had his own words thrown back at him weeks before, Weiss starts to laugh. And it's not long before Vaughn joins in as well.
"I'm still gonna be a hardass, just so you know," Weiss says, after he's managed to stop laughing.
Vaughn leans back in his chair and stretches his arms out, and then puts his hands back in his jacket pockets. He fingers Aunt Trish's red hanky in his right jacket pocket and shoots Weiss a look.
"I know. But if this mission goes off without a hitch, you may not have to be for much longer."
They spend the next few minutes surveilling the area and still can't find any clues of suspicious activity.
Sydney's comm link suddenly comes on again. "Guimauve to base, do you copy?"
Weiss & Vaughn put on their headsets.
Vaughn speaks. "We copy Guimauve. What's your status?"
"I'm a block away from the building. I'm going to go quiet in about 30 seconds. Any updates?"
"Negative. You're clear."
"Good."
"Guimauve…good luck." Vaughn visualizes her smiling at how ridiculous he probably just sounded.
She gives out a small laugh. "Thanks. Guimauve out."
And with that they hear the comm link go dead again.
Note: *guimauve is French for marshmallow. Cheesy, but what the hey… :D