Chapter Seven~ Sydney's POV
"Hey, Syd. You're back. How was your trip?" Francie greeted me as I walked through the door with my suitcase the next day.
"Boring. And tiring. What else did you expect?"
Francie put her hands on her hips. "I'm starting to agree with Will about this whole bank thing…"
"Oh, not you too, Francie. Please," I pleaded.
"Alright. But I do think it's taking way too much out of you. I'll leave you alone though," she gave me a quick hug. "Welcome back."
I smiled. "Thanks."
She left the room. I put down my bag and picked up my cell phone. There was one call I had to make before I called Josie. And I can't say I was dreading it, either.
"Vaughn," the voice on the other end answered.
"Hey. I'm back," I said.
"Great. The pier in 15 minutes."
"Sure," I agreed, trying to hold in a laugh of joy. The pier. My favorite place to meet with Vaughn. Although meeting Vaughn anywhere, even in a ditch, would make me happy.
So I hung up. "Francie?" I called into the other room.
"Yeah?"
"I'm going to take a run before dinner, okay?"
"Mmm-hmm," From her distant tone I could tell she was on the phone with a guy and didn't want to be interrupted, so I left quickly, shutting the door behind.
When I reached the pier, the bright orange California sun was just beginning to slide behind the purple rimmed clouds. The periwinkle afternoon sky faded to a pale pink, and streaks of color began to burst out as the sun dropped lower and lower.
I leaned on the wooden rail, awaiting his arrival. As I watched a stripe of lavender sky fade to royal purple, I heard a voice next to me. "Hey."
How long had he been standing there? I'm always so captivated by sunsets; I don't think I realize anything else exists around me while I'm watching one.
"Hey," I answered.
"Your mission went well?" he asked.
"Yeah. Fine," I smiled at him, taking pleasure in the way the surreal colors reflected off the emerald green of his eyes. "So, you want to tell me anything more?" I decided to try one more time before I made the call.
"About what?" he asked flatly.
"Fine. Keep it all secret. You don't have to tell me."
Staring out at the ocean, he replied "Syd, you don't have to know everything."
I nodded. "Okay… so, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. But I just… I have to go. Don't worry about me and this whole Josie thing. You have enough to worry about already." He began to walk away.
I grabbed his hand. "Wait. You know you can tell me anything, right?"
He smiled. "Yes. I just… this is something I should've put behind me a long time ago. I don't want it brought about again." Taking my other hand, he said quietly, "I should move on…"
We stood still, the ocean waves crashing on the shore and the last bits of the sun disappearing behind the clouds, the sky darkening to midnight blue. A star peaked out and glittered, and we knew we had to go.
Walking away, I knew making the call was a good decision, whether Vaughn would've wanted me to or not. If there was something bothering him, I deserved to know. He'd do the same for me. So I stared at him as he walked away, went to the store to get the "few things" I'd told Francie about, and then rushed home.
At home, I went inside my bedroom and shut the door. I picked up my cell phone and dialed the numbers. "773…471…12…47" I recited to myself.
As it rang, I took a deep breath and rehearsed what I was going to say. If Vaughn was so hesitant to tell me anything, chances are Josie won't be too opened up either.
"Hel…hello?" a quiet, nervous voice answered on the third ring.
"Good evening. This is Sydney Bristow with the Los Angeles Register," I lied. "Am I speaking to Josephine Geller?"
"This…this is she."
Now that I knew it was definitely her, I dropped the act. "Alright, Josie. Let me tell you the truth," I spoke softer so Francie wouldn't hear. "I'm not with a newspaper. I'm with…" I paused, not sure which to tell her. "SD-6. I need to ask you a few things-"
You could hear the fear in her voice. "I… no. I'm sorry I can't… I can't answer anything… goodbye."
"Wait!" I yelled maybe a little too loudly as I heard her moving the phone down. I heard her lift it again. Simply, I stated, "Michael Vaughn."
"Who the hell are you? How do you know Michael?"
I sighed. Apparently, whatever happened to Josie changed her considerably. This wasn't the fun, perky girl Vaughn had described. "Look, I can't explain anything right now. Just tell me one thing- where do you live?"
"Yeah, right. You think that just because you know someone from my past I'm going to fill you in on all the details of my life?"
"I know this is weird. But I really have to talk to you. You really have to trust me. I know SD-6 isn't what it seems. I know all that. This is about Vau… Michael. I know you would want to help him if you could."
There was a beat of silence. I knew she was thinking hard. I could almost hear the gears turning in her brain. "Alright," she finally answered. "Get a pen."
I opened a notebook I had lying on the floor and a pen from my nightstand. "Go ahead."
She took a breath. "I'm in Wyoming. 74 Alpine road, Rock Springs, Wyoming. I… I have to go, really. Bye." The line went dead.
I signed online and looked up a map of Wyoming. Clicking on "Rock Springs," it gave me a list of streets. I hit "Alpine Road," then "74."
A photograph of a house came up, blurry at first. When it cleared I noticed a few things.
It looked like a normal house, but it seemed to be separated from the town houses around it. No one else would've noticed, but two black cars were parked in an alleyway next to the house. I stared at the small area of the house visible through the window. I noticed a mirror and knew that was no ordinary mirror.
Josie lived in a CIA safe house.
A/N: And so the fun begins. What do you guys think? I can't wait to write about their meeting. This is gonna be fun! Um, I don't really know how the whole Safe House thing works. I don't know if Sydney would really be able to tell it was one just from a photograph, but we'll let that go. Lol.
I also have never been to Wyoming and I don't know if Alpine Road is real. Or 74 Alpine road for that matter. But 74 is 47 backwards. Wink. Lol.