Chapter 9 – The Escape – Take 2
Notes: See Chapter 1.
[CIA van, blocks away from Hartley House]
Vaughn absently fingers Aunt Trish's hanky in his pocket. "How long has she been in there?" Weiss asks him. Vaughn makes a movement to slide his shirt cuff away from his watch so he can tell the time, but stops, and watches Weiss laugh. "Mike, you've been staring at your watch every minute for the last 50—"
"56," Vaughn corrects him.
"Ah…*56* minutes. My mistake."
Vaughn is exasperated. "Will you cut it out? Yes, I'm nervous that we haven't heard anything from her in that long…and yes---" he pauses, "---she could be in there for a while yet," he finishes absently, feeling suddenly uneasy. He catches himself staring at one of the night vision monitors.
"What's the matter?" Weiss prompts him.
"I don't know. I thought I saw something move on that screen right there, aimed at the rooftop of the building across from here---" Vaughn begins, pointing. They both jump in their seats as they suddenly hear her voice burst into their headsets.
"Guimauve…to base, do you…copy?" Vaughn can hear her panting--she must be running full tilt from Hartley House.
"Base, we copy. Stand by," Weiss says, trying to figure out what it was that caught Vaughn's eye.
"I think we may have company," Vaughn mutters darkly, as he spots another movement from the same screen as before. "Guimauve, what's your status?"
"I have the take. I'm a…block away, coming back…the way I came. Had no problems…getting out…"
Vaughn watches Weiss shift around in the back of the van to ready the wireless data-storage device. After fiddling with it, Weiss gives Vaughn the thumbs up.
"We copy. Guimauve, there may be unfriendlies in the vicinity. The operation might have to abort."
He hears her footsteps slow very slightly; she must be surveying her surroundings. He can almost feel the tension vibrating from her, through his headset.
"No, we're not going to abort this operation," she begins slowly.
"It's too dangerous—" he starts, but she cuts him off.
"Base, I mean to complete this mission, unfriendlies or not," she says, with a ring of steel in her voice. "Am I within range yet?"
Vaughn finally sees her appear on the night vision monitor, walking briskly. The momentary feeling of dread he had experienced when she said she'd finish the mission quickly dissipates as he views her now, unharmed. He watches her take her backpack off and open it to retrieve her PDA/data-extractor. She palms it to her right side, the gadget face side up towards the van.
Vaughn watches Weiss mouth '3 car lengths'. "Negative," he relays to her. "Another 3 car lengths." Within 5 seconds, the green light on the wireless device begins to flash. "Okay, you're within range now. Transmit."
"Transmitting…now."
[A rooftop of an abandoned, boarded-up building, across the street from the CIA van]
He had considered leaving his perch 5 minutes earlier to get the Master File from her just as she left Hartley House. But that would have put the both of them at risk of being shot at by the Alliance's Security Section. And that was a complication he could ill afford.
So he had watched and waited to see if she would end up coming back the same way as she came, and as expected, she did. But what surprised him was when she slowed down part way down the block and tilted her head down as if she was listening to something. Or someone.
She had to be receiving instructions from someone else. Like the CIA. He watches her take out a device from her backpack. She must be attempting to transmit the Master File. His eyes sweep up the length of the block, and then down again. The nondescript van.
Standing up quickly, even after a few hours of inactivity, Sark takes his night vision goggles and makes for the door to the roof. Time was of the essence, no time for anything else but to get that File.
[CIA van]
Watching the green light on the wireless device turn red, Weiss nods to Vaughn. They are now in possession of a copy of the Master File.
"Base to Guimauve, we have the take," Vaughn starts. "Repeat, we have the take." He knows he should be feeling elated right about now, but he is more worried about getting Sydney out of the area than anything else.
"I copy." He can only see the back of her as she walks down the block, but he can hear the smile in her words.
"Well done. Now get the hell out of there before Mike goes and calls for a not-so-subtle CIA escort for you."
Vaughn glares at Weiss. They both hear her snort. "Thanks you guys. Guimauve---"
Sark has suddenly appeared in front of her, holding a gun. Sydney is stopped in her tracks, holding her hands up.
"Ah…Miss Bristow…a pleasure it is to meet you again, as I'm sure you'll agree."
"Actually, no I don't agree, Sark," she replies sarcastically.
Weiss and Vaughn witness the exchange with bated breath. Weiss shoots Vaughn a look and he can tell by the grim look on his face that Vaughn is plotting to get Sydney out of there by any means possible.
"Mike…" Weiss whispers, (even though there is no need to) "…she can take care of herself. She knows we can't help her."
"Unless she's in extreme danger, Eric. I'd say this situation qualifies for it---"
"---Shhh, I can't hear what Sark's trying to say," Weiss interrupts. Vaughn ceases to speak and they both listen to Sark continue his talking.
"---watching you. Your mother has sent me to retrieve the File. So let's just be adult about this and get it over with, shall we?"
"What if I don't want to give you the File?" Vaughn can see her, standing firm, tilting her head up to face Sark's pale, ghostly image on the screens.
"She authorized me to retrieve the File from you at *any* cost," Sark emphasizes, but Sydney shakes her head.
"We both know how high the stakes are. You'll only get the file over my dead body," she says, with clenched teeth.
The sound of the safety being flicked off the gun is deafening. Weiss tugs hard at Vaughn's arm to keep him from leaving the van.
"That, my dear, can be arranged," Sark says, his lips curling slightly upward. He raises the gun so that it is pointing at her head. "You have 60 seconds to give me the File or you die."
"You never call her anything but my mother…" she suddenly asks him, trying to stall him. "Why?"
"Because I know that she is your weakness, as much as you are hers. However, she is willing to sacrifice you for this File. You would not if your positions were reversed. Though, if I were to terminate you, she will truly have no weaknesses left." He looks slightly discomforted at that thought. He raises his empty hand, palm up, outstretched towards her. "Give me the File."
"No," she tells him. He sighs.
"Perhaps I could persuade the gentlemen in the CIA van over there to give me their copy, then?"
Weiss and Vaughn still, as they realize their cover has been blown.
"You leave them out of this," she begins. "The deal is between you and me."
"No no no….Sydney, don't do this---" Vaughn barks into his headset, ripping it off and managing to get by Weiss.
"You're going to get yourself killed!" Weiss hisses, as he watches Vaughn load a clip into his gun, and then burst out the back doors of the van. With a resigned sigh, Weiss grabs his gun, and quickly follows Vaughn out.
"My, this is becoming quite the party," Sark drawls, as Weiss and Vaughn approach with guns drawn.
"Walk away from here, Sark," Vaughn growls.
"I don't believe you are in any position to negotiate, Mr. Vaughn. I have a gun pointed at Miss Bristow here and she has something I have been ordered to retrieve. Unless you are willing to give me your copy of the File, I will take hers. Over her dead body if I must. You have 30 seconds."
Suddenly they hear a car fast approaching from the opposite end of the block. Vaughn watches her look at the car, and sees her eyes widening with surprise.
"That must be SD-6 Security Section," Sydney explains. "They must have been expecting me to show up at my checkpoint the past hour. They will kill us all if any of you are seen with me. Let's discuss terms after I pass the checkpoint." She makes a movement to sidestep Sark but is prevented by him.
"All the more reason for you to give me the File now." He takes a step to get within arms length of her.
"Do *not* take one more step towards her." Weiss calmly orders.
Sark sighs. "So be it. I tried." He lowers his gun, looking resigned. But just as soon as Weiss and Vaughn momentarily lower theirs, Sark raises his and manages to squeeze off several shots in their direction before diving between 2 parked cars.
Surprised he had the reflexes to hit the ground that fast, Weiss manages to crawl between some other cars just as he watches Vaughn quickly sprint past him on the sidewalk. "Sydney! Mike! Get down!" he yells. He slides across a station wagon bumper to get a good vantage point to see where Sark might be. He peeks his head out to look and jerks back just as the SD-6 car (coming up the block) opens fire—right where he last saw Sark.
It must have been seconds instead of the eternity Weiss was feeling before he could muster the words to speak again. "Mike, you with me?" Silence. "Sydney?" More silence. Weiss's outstretched arms shake slightly as he rises with his gun. He knows he has to get up, and he dreads it because a thousand bad scenarios are already going through his mind.
"Mike? Sydney?" He steps onto the sidewalk and looks towards where Sydney was last standing. Sark is lying on the sidewalk, face down, bleeding and sprawled unnaturally like a rag doll.
Vaughn is sitting a few feet away, leaning against a lamp post, pale. Sydney is there, cradled in Vaughn's lap. Her eyes are closed, hand lax in his. Weiss's eyes fly to her face, then the rest of her. She had been shot once—a perfect shot to the heart.
"Mike?" Weiss hoarsely whispers. "Mike?"
30 seconds was all it took, Vaughn thought to himself. From when they were at standoff to now. Time gone in a blink of an eye. He can sort of see Weiss standing in front of him, then crouch down. He begins to speak.
"Eric…I…pushed her down…and covered her…but Sark got to…her first. I tried to…save her—I wanted her to…finish this…for all--" he said, finding it harder and harder to sound coherent. The intense pain was beginning to throb, almost in time with every fading heartbeat left in him.
"Mike, we gotta get you out of here," Weiss begins, seeing for the first time the massive wounds Vaughn took for her. He attempts to grab the red hanky peeking from Vaughn's jacket pocket to use it to staunch some of his wounds but Vaughn shakes his head and closes his eyes, his breath beginning to rattle. "No no, Mike, you hang on now."
"This is…not the…time…or…place…to finish this."
"You bet it isn't," Weiss says fervently, and as he looks down, he is surprised to feel tears roll down his own cheek.
"I can't…believe…it…this…hurts more…" Vaughn whispers.
"What hurts more?"
"Knowing that—she's gone…rather…than…knowing that…I'm dying..." Suddenly feeling cold--almost to the bone, Vaughn closes his eyes and musters his remaining strength to speak. "This isn't…how it should…end."
Notes: See Chapter 1.
[CIA van, blocks away from Hartley House]
Vaughn absently fingers Aunt Trish's hanky in his pocket. "How long has she been in there?" Weiss asks him. Vaughn makes a movement to slide his shirt cuff away from his watch so he can tell the time, but stops, and watches Weiss laugh. "Mike, you've been staring at your watch every minute for the last 50—"
"56," Vaughn corrects him.
"Ah…*56* minutes. My mistake."
Vaughn is exasperated. "Will you cut it out? Yes, I'm nervous that we haven't heard anything from her in that long…and yes---" he pauses, "---she could be in there for a while yet," he finishes absently, feeling suddenly uneasy. He catches himself staring at one of the night vision monitors.
"What's the matter?" Weiss prompts him.
"I don't know. I thought I saw something move on that screen right there, aimed at the rooftop of the building across from here---" Vaughn begins, pointing. They both jump in their seats as they suddenly hear her voice burst into their headsets.
"Guimauve…to base, do you…copy?" Vaughn can hear her panting--she must be running full tilt from Hartley House.
"Base, we copy. Stand by," Weiss says, trying to figure out what it was that caught Vaughn's eye.
"I think we may have company," Vaughn mutters darkly, as he spots another movement from the same screen as before. "Guimauve, what's your status?"
"I have the take. I'm a…block away, coming back…the way I came. Had no problems…getting out…"
Vaughn watches Weiss shift around in the back of the van to ready the wireless data-storage device. After fiddling with it, Weiss gives Vaughn the thumbs up.
"We copy. Guimauve, there may be unfriendlies in the vicinity. The operation might have to abort."
He hears her footsteps slow very slightly; she must be surveying her surroundings. He can almost feel the tension vibrating from her, through his headset.
"No, we're not going to abort this operation," she begins slowly.
"It's too dangerous—" he starts, but she cuts him off.
"Base, I mean to complete this mission, unfriendlies or not," she says, with a ring of steel in her voice. "Am I within range yet?"
Vaughn finally sees her appear on the night vision monitor, walking briskly. The momentary feeling of dread he had experienced when she said she'd finish the mission quickly dissipates as he views her now, unharmed. He watches her take her backpack off and open it to retrieve her PDA/data-extractor. She palms it to her right side, the gadget face side up towards the van.
Vaughn watches Weiss mouth '3 car lengths'. "Negative," he relays to her. "Another 3 car lengths." Within 5 seconds, the green light on the wireless device begins to flash. "Okay, you're within range now. Transmit."
"Transmitting…now."
[A rooftop of an abandoned, boarded-up building, across the street from the CIA van]
He had considered leaving his perch 5 minutes earlier to get the Master File from her just as she left Hartley House. But that would have put the both of them at risk of being shot at by the Alliance's Security Section. And that was a complication he could ill afford.
So he had watched and waited to see if she would end up coming back the same way as she came, and as expected, she did. But what surprised him was when she slowed down part way down the block and tilted her head down as if she was listening to something. Or someone.
She had to be receiving instructions from someone else. Like the CIA. He watches her take out a device from her backpack. She must be attempting to transmit the Master File. His eyes sweep up the length of the block, and then down again. The nondescript van.
Standing up quickly, even after a few hours of inactivity, Sark takes his night vision goggles and makes for the door to the roof. Time was of the essence, no time for anything else but to get that File.
[CIA van]
Watching the green light on the wireless device turn red, Weiss nods to Vaughn. They are now in possession of a copy of the Master File.
"Base to Guimauve, we have the take," Vaughn starts. "Repeat, we have the take." He knows he should be feeling elated right about now, but he is more worried about getting Sydney out of the area than anything else.
"I copy." He can only see the back of her as she walks down the block, but he can hear the smile in her words.
"Well done. Now get the hell out of there before Mike goes and calls for a not-so-subtle CIA escort for you."
Vaughn glares at Weiss. They both hear her snort. "Thanks you guys. Guimauve---"
Sark has suddenly appeared in front of her, holding a gun. Sydney is stopped in her tracks, holding her hands up.
"Ah…Miss Bristow…a pleasure it is to meet you again, as I'm sure you'll agree."
"Actually, no I don't agree, Sark," she replies sarcastically.
Weiss and Vaughn witness the exchange with bated breath. Weiss shoots Vaughn a look and he can tell by the grim look on his face that Vaughn is plotting to get Sydney out of there by any means possible.
"Mike…" Weiss whispers, (even though there is no need to) "…she can take care of herself. She knows we can't help her."
"Unless she's in extreme danger, Eric. I'd say this situation qualifies for it---"
"---Shhh, I can't hear what Sark's trying to say," Weiss interrupts. Vaughn ceases to speak and they both listen to Sark continue his talking.
"---watching you. Your mother has sent me to retrieve the File. So let's just be adult about this and get it over with, shall we?"
"What if I don't want to give you the File?" Vaughn can see her, standing firm, tilting her head up to face Sark's pale, ghostly image on the screens.
"She authorized me to retrieve the File from you at *any* cost," Sark emphasizes, but Sydney shakes her head.
"We both know how high the stakes are. You'll only get the file over my dead body," she says, with clenched teeth.
The sound of the safety being flicked off the gun is deafening. Weiss tugs hard at Vaughn's arm to keep him from leaving the van.
"That, my dear, can be arranged," Sark says, his lips curling slightly upward. He raises the gun so that it is pointing at her head. "You have 60 seconds to give me the File or you die."
"You never call her anything but my mother…" she suddenly asks him, trying to stall him. "Why?"
"Because I know that she is your weakness, as much as you are hers. However, she is willing to sacrifice you for this File. You would not if your positions were reversed. Though, if I were to terminate you, she will truly have no weaknesses left." He looks slightly discomforted at that thought. He raises his empty hand, palm up, outstretched towards her. "Give me the File."
"No," she tells him. He sighs.
"Perhaps I could persuade the gentlemen in the CIA van over there to give me their copy, then?"
Weiss and Vaughn still, as they realize their cover has been blown.
"You leave them out of this," she begins. "The deal is between you and me."
"No no no….Sydney, don't do this---" Vaughn barks into his headset, ripping it off and managing to get by Weiss.
"You're going to get yourself killed!" Weiss hisses, as he watches Vaughn load a clip into his gun, and then burst out the back doors of the van. With a resigned sigh, Weiss grabs his gun, and quickly follows Vaughn out.
"My, this is becoming quite the party," Sark drawls, as Weiss and Vaughn approach with guns drawn.
"Walk away from here, Sark," Vaughn growls.
"I don't believe you are in any position to negotiate, Mr. Vaughn. I have a gun pointed at Miss Bristow here and she has something I have been ordered to retrieve. Unless you are willing to give me your copy of the File, I will take hers. Over her dead body if I must. You have 30 seconds."
Suddenly they hear a car fast approaching from the opposite end of the block. Vaughn watches her look at the car, and sees her eyes widening with surprise.
"That must be SD-6 Security Section," Sydney explains. "They must have been expecting me to show up at my checkpoint the past hour. They will kill us all if any of you are seen with me. Let's discuss terms after I pass the checkpoint." She makes a movement to sidestep Sark but is prevented by him.
"All the more reason for you to give me the File now." He takes a step to get within arms length of her.
"Do *not* take one more step towards her." Weiss calmly orders.
Sark sighs. "So be it. I tried." He lowers his gun, looking resigned. But just as soon as Weiss and Vaughn momentarily lower theirs, Sark raises his and manages to squeeze off several shots in their direction before diving between 2 parked cars.
Surprised he had the reflexes to hit the ground that fast, Weiss manages to crawl between some other cars just as he watches Vaughn quickly sprint past him on the sidewalk. "Sydney! Mike! Get down!" he yells. He slides across a station wagon bumper to get a good vantage point to see where Sark might be. He peeks his head out to look and jerks back just as the SD-6 car (coming up the block) opens fire—right where he last saw Sark.
It must have been seconds instead of the eternity Weiss was feeling before he could muster the words to speak again. "Mike, you with me?" Silence. "Sydney?" More silence. Weiss's outstretched arms shake slightly as he rises with his gun. He knows he has to get up, and he dreads it because a thousand bad scenarios are already going through his mind.
"Mike? Sydney?" He steps onto the sidewalk and looks towards where Sydney was last standing. Sark is lying on the sidewalk, face down, bleeding and sprawled unnaturally like a rag doll.
Vaughn is sitting a few feet away, leaning against a lamp post, pale. Sydney is there, cradled in Vaughn's lap. Her eyes are closed, hand lax in his. Weiss's eyes fly to her face, then the rest of her. She had been shot once—a perfect shot to the heart.
"Mike?" Weiss hoarsely whispers. "Mike?"
30 seconds was all it took, Vaughn thought to himself. From when they were at standoff to now. Time gone in a blink of an eye. He can sort of see Weiss standing in front of him, then crouch down. He begins to speak.
"Eric…I…pushed her down…and covered her…but Sark got to…her first. I tried to…save her—I wanted her to…finish this…for all--" he said, finding it harder and harder to sound coherent. The intense pain was beginning to throb, almost in time with every fading heartbeat left in him.
"Mike, we gotta get you out of here," Weiss begins, seeing for the first time the massive wounds Vaughn took for her. He attempts to grab the red hanky peeking from Vaughn's jacket pocket to use it to staunch some of his wounds but Vaughn shakes his head and closes his eyes, his breath beginning to rattle. "No no, Mike, you hang on now."
"This is…not the…time…or…place…to finish this."
"You bet it isn't," Weiss says fervently, and as he looks down, he is surprised to feel tears roll down his own cheek.
"I can't…believe…it…this…hurts more…" Vaughn whispers.
"What hurts more?"
"Knowing that—she's gone…rather…than…knowing that…I'm dying..." Suddenly feeling cold--almost to the bone, Vaughn closes his eyes and musters his remaining strength to speak. "This isn't…how it should…end."