Vaughn couldn't help staring at her and his breath taken away by how much Sydney looked like her. He managed to compose himself when he remembered why he as there in the first place.
"Do those guns have to be pointed at me? I'm hardly in a position to cause any damage to anyone." She shook her hands in the air so the handcuffs rattled.
"And you're not in a position to complain either I think." Vaughn retorted.
"Who are you?"
"That is not important." Vaughn replied.
"Why are you here? I have already been questioned."
"Sydney"
"You know her? Are you Agent Vaughn? I've heard a lot about you." She said. Vaughn wondered how she knew of him, but he didn't want to seem to be at a disadvantage.
"She's on her way St. Petersburg with Sark to retrieve the artefacts you've collected."
"What?!" Irina exclaimed.
"Sark is now working for us. And if you refuse to help, both your children's lives may be in danger."
"What do you want to know?" Irina said quietly.
"Sark knows the entry code for the vault, but it can't be that simple, can it? Is there a failsafe mechanism? Or maybe some other kind of trap?" Vaughn asked.
"There are two sets of codes, only one is real." Irina confessed.
"Do you know the real code?"
"Yes." She answered simply.
"What happens if the incorrect code is entered?" Vaughn asked.
"The walls are lined with explosive. The incorrect code activates the detonator. The vault and its contents will explode three minutes after the code is entered." She said.
"Give me the code!" He demanded with a new sense of urgency. He grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and slid them across the table. "There isn't much time."
Irina took the pen and without taking her eyes off Vaughn she wrote down a series of numbers. Vaughn thought that the usual defiant look in her eyes was now replaced with anxiety.
"I have a feeling that Khasinau will be there to stop them taking the artefacts." She whispered. Vaughn was stunned when he realised the implication of her comment and without saying another word he grabbed the paper and ran out of the safehouse.
~~~~
Sydney took her seat on the plane and waited for Sark to sit down in the seat next to her.
"I know you don't want to be here, working with me" she whispered.
"on the contrary." Sark interrupted. "I've heard a lot about you from various sources. I have to say so far I'm impressed." A small smile formed across his face. Sydney felt as if she should trust him, but she still had her doubts.
"Thank you." Sydney returned the smile. "I know it'll take some time to adjust to the new circumstances, but I'm sure we'll work well together."
"I know you want to ask me." Sark said.
"Ask you what?" She said surprised.
"About our mother."
"No, I don't want to know. The way she hurt DadI've only recently become close to him once again and I don't intend to risk that."
"She talked a lot about you, before we all met in Geneva. You're not a bit curious to know what she said?"
"She doesn't know me, who I am now. Or what I've gone through this past year or so."
"She isn't as bad as you think. She was following orders. You follow Sloane's orders don't you, even though you despise him?"
"It's not the same." She whispered angrily.
"Maybe it was." Sark said.
"My problem is with her, not you. I know you've been unwittingly dragged into the nightmare that is the Bristow Family." Sydney stopped to imagine what it must be like to be in his shoes for a moment. "Is that why you came to LA?" She suddenly asked.
I have my reasons." Sark simply replied and the expression on his face softened for a second.
~~~
Vaughn ran to his car and called Jack as soon as he started to drive. He didn't have a second to lose.
"The vault entry code Sark has is false."
"Where did you get the intel from?" Jack replied.
"Irina. She also said that Khasinau will probably be there to protect the artefacts."
"Sydney." Jack said under his breath.
"I'm going to the airport. I have to get the code to Sydney before she sets off for St. Petersburg."
"The plane will be leaving at any moment." Jack said.
"I know. Can you call them and get them to delay take-off?" Vaughn asked.
"Of course." Jack hung up his phone and Vaughn quickly drove to his apartment to get his passport before going to see Sydney.
~~~
Sydney caught the eye of an air steward after the captain had finished his announcement about the delay.
"Excuse me. Is something wrong?" She asked.
"Everything is fine. We're just waiting for one final passenger."
"Oh okay! I get a little nervous flying that's all." She lied. As soon as the steward walked away she took a quick glance at the other passengers around her.
"What's wrong?" Sark said.
"Nothing. I don't know." Sydney said.
~~~
Vaughn ran as fast as he could to the airline check in desk and showed his CIA ID with his passport.
"Did I make it in time?" He said breathlessly.
"It's okay. We got the message." The stewardess said. Vaughn was then ushered onto the plane. He quickly took his seat and waited for take-off. He sat there for a several minutes grateful that he had managed to get to the plane and then he tried to think of a way of getting the code to Sydney without other passengers noticing.
He waited for a stewardess to walk past him.
"Excuse me. Can I get a glass of water?" He flashed his brightest smile at the stewardess, who nodded and then turned around to walk to the back of the plane.
Vaughn grabbed the piece of paper with the codes written on it and quickly scrawled a few words explaining the situation to Sydney and got up out of his chair and headed towards the business class section. He stopped and quickly had a look behind the curtain and saw Sydney sitting there next to Sark. He then took a few steps, but another steward there stopped him.
"Oh I'm sorry. I thought that there was a bathroom here." Vaughn said loudly in a thick French accent. Sydney looked behind her and to her surprise saw Vaughn standing there. Her mind began to spin into action. Something must be wrong for him to be there, she realised. The steward pointed him in the right direction and Vaughn thanked him, trying not to look at Sydney. Vaughn turned around and walked down the aisle to the back of the plane. One the way there he took a one of the in-flight magazines from his seat and began to flick through it as he continued to walk down the aisle.
~~~
Sydney took another quick look around her standing up and walking past Sark.
"I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in a minute."
"Okay." Sark replied.
Sydney casually walked towards the back of the plane pretending that she was just stretching her legs. She looked around her trying to see if Vaughn was sitting in his seat. She finally looked up to see Vaughn waiting in the line for a bathroom. She stood behind him in the line. They stood there for a few minutes in silence, not looking at one another.
"Can you hold the magazine for me?" Vaughn said to Sydney before going into the free bathroom. As Sydney waited for Vaughn to reappear she flicked through the pages and picked out the piece of paper Vaughn had placed there. She discreetly hid the paper in the pocket of her jacket. Once Vaughn left the bathroom she handed back the magazine with a smile and a slight nod of her head to show she now had the note. She waited until he walked away before going into the bathroom and she read the note he had given her.
~~~
"What took you so long?" Sark said when Sydney finally returned to her seat. Sydney passed along the piece of paper to let Sark read it.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Sydney said. "It looks as if she was concerned that something bad could happen to the both of us."
"She told me that she's proud of you." Sark said still looking at the note.
"Listen, I don't want to hear what she thinks. It's simply too late for her to try to repair the damage." Sydney then sat in silence for the rest of the journey wondering if her father or Vaughn had gone to see her mother to get the entry code. She realised that it would have been painful for either of them to go and see her.
~~~~
Sark and Sydney went through customs at the airport before they drove up to a seemingly deserted warehouse in St. Petersburg. After looking around them to see if Khasinau was there, they walked into the large empty warehouse. Sydney opened a door at the back of the warehouse and saw that Vaughn was already inside the warehouse waiting for them both.
"I think I've found the doorway that leads to the vault." Vaughn whispered. Sark was surprised that Vaughn was there, but soon realised that was how Sydney had received the intel.
Vaughn led the way to the only other doorway that was on the far side of the warehouse. Vaughn tried to open the door, but it was locked shut. Sydney knew that it would be easy to pick the lock and in a few moments it clicked open. Sydney opened the door and began to walk into a dark, dank corridor. She switched her small flashlight on and turned the corner that revealed a set of stairs. Vaughn and Sark followed closely behind, walking down the stairs which led to another narrow hallway which ran underneath the warehouse.
Sydney turned around to face Vaughn and Sark and without saying a word she motioned to them to stay behind while she investigated the faint light coming from the end of the corridor. She silently walked down the remaining 50 metres and she turned the corner to see a large metal door with a keypad in the centre of it. She began to type in the code Irina had given Vaughn. Just before the last set of numbers were keyed in, she felt the metal of a gun barrel on her forehead.
"I've been expecting you." Khasinau said.
"I'm sorry, but I just can't help being predictable." Sydney said. With that she hit him in the chest with her elbow and managed to kick him to the floor.
Vaughn and Sark heard the noise and ran to where Sydney was. Vaughn grabbed Khasinau's gun from the floor and pointed it at him before Khasinau had a chance to recover. Vaughn picked him up and grabbed his arms so that he couldn't escape.
"Did you enter the code?' Vaughn asked Sydney.
"One set left to go." Sydney quickly finished off the last few numbers and the door to the vault opened. Sydney and Sark walked into a large, well-lit room and quickly took all the artefacts that they could see. They both had one final look around to make sure they hadn't left anything and they then headed out of the vault. Once they had walked out, Vaughn closed the door.
"Run, both of you get out of here."
"What are you going to do?' She asked Vaughn.
"Blow this place up." Vaughn replied.
Sydney and Sark ran down the dark corridor with the artefacts and Sydney shouted out that they were at the stairs. Vaughn quickly keyed the wrong code into the keypad to activate the detonator. He then pressed the gun into Khasinau's back and forced him to run down the corridor as fast as possible.
As soon as Vaughn and Khasinau ran out of the warehouse, they heard a massive explosion. The windows shattered around them and the walls of the warehouse began to collapse. Sark and Sydney were already in the car and drove up to both Vaughn and Khasinau. They got into the car and sped away before the police arrived.
"Are you okay?" Sydney asked Vaughn. She could see a few cuts on his face.
"Yeah." Vaughn said getting his breath back after all the running. He managed a smile before saying, "I'll be fine. It's just from the flying glass." He wiped his face and tried not to wince as his fingers ran over the cuts.
"I'm glad you're okay." Sydney replied. Vaughn then handed her Khasinau's gun, which she pointed at Khasinau to stop him from trying to make an escape.
~~~
Sark and Sydney made their way back to LA from St. Petersburg and left Vaughn to arrange the hand over of Khasinau to a CIA contact in Moscow as well as his transportation back to LA. Vaughn called Sydney to arrange a meeting at the warehouse as soon as he landed in LA the next day.
"Hi." Vaughn looked up to see Sydney standing in front of him.
"Hi. Your face looks better." Sydney smiled.
"It wasn't that bad. I didn't have to have stitches. So did you pass over the artefacts to Weiss yesterday?"
"Yes. I saw Sloane and handed some of them over. He was really pleased with them."
"He didn't guess that SD-6 didn't get all of them? Vaughn asked.
"We told him that we destroyed the vault so no-one else will get to it now."
"Good."
"Vaughn?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you go to see my mother to get the intel about the vault code?"
"Yes." Vaughn said after silently debating if he should tell her the truth. "That's why I was paged the last time we met for the counter-mission."
"I'm sorry you had to see her again."
"She looked worried when I told her that both you and Sark were going after the artefacts."
"Really? I guess I should be grateful for her help, but I keep thinking of what she did to Dad and to your family." She said quietly.
At that moment both their pagers beeped. Vaughn read the message on his pager.
"It's from Jack."
"Mine too." Sydney said instantly worried after checking her pager.
Vaughn then heard footsteps approaching and a few seconds later Jack appeared in front of them.
"Weiss told me that you were here." Jack explained. "You read my page about Sark?"
"What's happened to him?" Vaughn said.
"Nothing's happened to him. It's what he's done."
"What's wrong?" Sydney asked.
"Sloane is dead. Sark killed him." Jack said.
Both Vaughn and Sydney stood there in shock for a few moments.
"What will happen now?" Vaughn eventually asked Jack.
"The Alliance have put me in charge of SD-6." Jack replied.