Chapter Three
Sydney and Vaughn walked into the airport. They checked their bags and Sydney saw her parents standing in the food court.
"Here," her dad pushed a bag into both Sydney's and Vaughn's arms.
"Disguises. Your aliases are Abbie Mason and Chris Golden. You're engaged and we're Abbie's parents.
Sydney and Vaughn smiled at each other and Sydney snorted out, "You and Dad, my parents? Yeah, right."
Jack shot her a look and she quickly headed for the bathroom.
"This wig bothers me," she said when she returned, adjusting it.
"Live with it," retorted Jack.
"Here," said Irina, reaching under the blonde mop. She yanked out a tag and held it up. "I found the problem."
Their call for boarding came and they boarded the plane. Sydney sat in between her parents and Vaughn sat on the end.
"Jack, I wish you'd put a little more faith in me," said Irina.
"You're not getting a gun. It's not happening, so give it up."
"I almost got killed the last time!"
"Pity you didn't," muttered Jack.
"Sydney!" hissed Vaughn.
"Will you just shut up!" she snapped at her parents. "Honestly, I feel like I'm babysitting."
"Sydney!" hissed Vaughn again.
"What?" she asked angrily.
"Is that Sark?"
Sydney's head shot up.
"That was stupid," muttered Jack. "Now he'll know we're here."
"Shut up," she hissed.
Sydney looked him over. Tall, blonde, dark sunglasses, all they were missing was the.she thought.
The man peered over his sunglasses and gave her a cocky grin.
Cocky grin, her mind finished.
"Yeah," she sighed, sitting back in her seat. "That's him."
*Twelve Hours Later, in Russia*
"We've got two rooms," Jack said. "Each with two separate beds."
"Thank god," muttered Irina. Sydney fought to keep from laughing and trailed behind the group so that she could laugh.
She whipped around, her left arm flying to punch whoever had grabbed her shoulder.
Sark laughed lightly as her caught her fist and put it down.
"You are so much fun to scare, Agent Bristow. I must say, I love the hair, by the way. It's so.you."
She dropped her voice. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought it'd be obvious. I'm tailing your father, and now you. I must say that it's quite interesting that you and your father are double agents. Mr. Sloane will be very pleased."
"You wouldn't dare tell him."
"Of course I would," he flashed her another cocky smile.
"You son of a bitch," she said through clenched teeth.
"Wonderful to see you too!" he called after her in Russian.
"Where'd you go?" asked Vaughn.
"Sark found me."
"Oh joy," he said sarcastically.
"I'm going to get in touch with Kendall when we get to the hotel," said Jack.
Sydney nodded and followed them as they got into a cab.
"Two rooms, under Mason," Jack said to the man at the desk.
"215 and 217," he replied, handing him the keys.
"I'll take these," Sydney replied, grabbing two room keys and dashing for the stairs.
Vaughn ran after her, laughed and Sydney let them into the room.
"You should probably share a room with your mom," said Vaughn.
"Yeah, but then I couldn't do this," she kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
They finally broke apart and neither one said anything.
"You do know that if your dad walks in and finds us, we're worse than dead."
"Better him than Sark."
"Neither one is that great. I'd be hearing from Dad until I was fifty, and then taunted by Sark until I was sixty."
Vaughn smiled again and they shared another passionate kiss.
They jumped apart as a knock came on the door. Sydney made a mad dash for the bathroom, and locked the door behind her. Vaughn opened the hotel room door and saw Jack.
"Yeah?" asked Vaughn.
"Kendall wants us to move in tonight, about 4:00 AM."
"Okay, I'll tell Sydney."
"Where is she?"
"Bathroom."
"Oh. Okay. See you later."
Vaughn closed the door and knocked gently on Sydney's bathroom. "He's gone. You can come out now."
She opened the door and Vaughn hugged her.
"We're leaving tonight at about four," he said quietly into her hair, not wanting to break the moment.
She mumbled something and leaned against his into his embrace.
*1:30 AM*
Sydney sat up as he heard something hard slam against the door that connected her and Vaughn's room to her parents. She looked over and saw that Vaughn had sat up as well. She flung back the covers and rummaged quickly through her bag. Vaughn looked at her quizzically, and saw that she had pulled out a small handgun.
"Good idea," he whispered.
They went around to the main door of Jack and Irina's room and Vaughn silently slipped the key in.
Sydney went first around the corner.
"Freeze," she heard herself say. "I have a gun." Great, she thought. That was dumb. I sound even cheesier than those cop shows on TV.
She saw one figure, probably a man throw a roundabout kick at the figure that was against the wall. The figure against the wall was slumped and slid to the floor.
Vaughn flipped on the light and Sydney saw Jack throw another punch at Irina.
"Dad! Stop!"
"What are you doing?" asked Vaughn.
Irina groaned and tried to stand. Sydney rushed to help her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Jack.
"I was trying to get to the bathroom," said Irina grumpily.
"Yeah right," muttered Jack.
"Shut up!" yelled Sydney and Vaughn at the same time.
"I went to the wrong door and little Mr. "Secret Agent" over there jumped me." She slowly made her way to the bathroom and slammed the door, as if to prove her point.
"I thought she was trying to escape," protested Jack.
"Why don't you just booby-trap the area around her bed with land mines?" asked Sydney, sarcastically.
Vaughn yawned. "I'm going back to bed."
"Ditto here," agreed Sydney.
*Three Hours Later*
"Ready?" asked Vaughn, climbing into the jeep.
"Yeah," Sydney said.
They drove silently to the Russian base and met up with Jack and Irina.
Sydney noticed a large object stashed in the nearby bushes. She pushed them aside and found a small, two-man jeep.
"Damn you, Sark," she muttered.
She hurried back to the group. "Sark's here," she reported. "I found his jeep."
"Great," said Vaughn, sarcastically.
"We have to get to the viruses before he gets them for SD-6," said Irina. "Follow me."
"Here's what we're going to do," she said as they stopped as the hallway broke in two.
"Sydney, you're coming with me. We're going to disarm the system. Jack, you need to get the key. It's on the third floor, in the storage closet. The pass-code is 30028. Once you're in, there should be three shelves to your left. It's on the middle shelf, third row inside a pair of green socks in a box marked "donations." After Jack gets the key, Agent Vaughn will be disguised as a Russian guard. You will patrol the area until Jack finds you. The freezer code is 14150. The key is for the storage bin. It's bin seven."
"There is so much wrong with this plan," muttered Jack.
"Sydney, you come with me, we'll meet up with you later," said Irina.
"Be careful," whispered Vaughn. "Don't let her kill you."
"You're the one who should be worried," warned Sydney. "My dad's got a gun and he's pissed off. Irina doesn't have a gun."
She smiled at him again and took off after Irina.
"Come on and stay quiet," whispered Irina, tossing Sydney a guard's uniform.
They made their way to the control room and Irina entered the pass-code. Alarms sounded, sending the two of them into a state of shock.
"The codes must have been changed," said Sydney. She pulled out her phone and dialed Vaughn.
"Syd?" he answered.
"Vaughn, something's wrong with the security system! Get Dad and you out!"
"Syd!" she hung up, cutting off both her father and handler.
***
Jack heard the alarm sound and immediately checked to see if he had tripped something.
He whipped around and punched two guards unconscious, then took off and ran for their meeting place.
"Damn you, Irina," he muttered.
***
Vaughn looked at his cell phone and looked up as he saw someone bolt past him, carrying a large crate.
He pulled out his gun, but much to his dismay, found that he only had a tranquilizer gun.
"Here goes nothing," he muttered as he fired the gun. The crate crashed to the ground as the figure shot his a look of venom before falling to the ground.
"Oh my god," said Vaughn, looking at the lifeless person. It was Sark.
***
Sydney hid behind a wall as the Russian guards patrolled the room. Irina nodded and Sydney pulled out her gun and fired twice, killing two guards.
She threw her second handgun to Irina, who killed another three guards. The room cleared and they stepped over the dead bodies and into the hallway. They ran to find Jack and Vaughn.
They went down two flights of stairs and saw Vaughn, staring in disbelief at a fallen body.
"Vaughn!" Sydney exclaimed, running to him. He leaned down and kissed her, forgetting that Irina was in the room.
Irina cleared her throat loudly, and they jumped apart, embarrassed. She stared at Sydney with an amused look on her face. Sydney blushed.
"What do you want to do with the cargo?" Vaughn asked, shifting Sark's body with his foot.
Irina picked up the crate. "Can you lift him?" Vaughn put Sark's lifeless body over his shoulder.
"Yeah," he said. "Let's go."
They met up with Jack in the basement corridor. He was fuming.
"What the hell did you do?" he asked Irina.
"Someone tripped the alarm."
"I'll bet it was Sark," said Sydney.
"That makes sense," said Vaughn, motioning to the lifeless form draped over his shoulder.
"Dump him in his jeep and let's get out of here," said Jack. Vaughn nodded in response.
They drove off just as the sun was beginning to rise.
Sydney and Vaughn walked into the airport. They checked their bags and Sydney saw her parents standing in the food court.
"Here," her dad pushed a bag into both Sydney's and Vaughn's arms.
"Disguises. Your aliases are Abbie Mason and Chris Golden. You're engaged and we're Abbie's parents.
Sydney and Vaughn smiled at each other and Sydney snorted out, "You and Dad, my parents? Yeah, right."
Jack shot her a look and she quickly headed for the bathroom.
"This wig bothers me," she said when she returned, adjusting it.
"Live with it," retorted Jack.
"Here," said Irina, reaching under the blonde mop. She yanked out a tag and held it up. "I found the problem."
Their call for boarding came and they boarded the plane. Sydney sat in between her parents and Vaughn sat on the end.
"Jack, I wish you'd put a little more faith in me," said Irina.
"You're not getting a gun. It's not happening, so give it up."
"I almost got killed the last time!"
"Pity you didn't," muttered Jack.
"Sydney!" hissed Vaughn.
"Will you just shut up!" she snapped at her parents. "Honestly, I feel like I'm babysitting."
"Sydney!" hissed Vaughn again.
"What?" she asked angrily.
"Is that Sark?"
Sydney's head shot up.
"That was stupid," muttered Jack. "Now he'll know we're here."
"Shut up," she hissed.
Sydney looked him over. Tall, blonde, dark sunglasses, all they were missing was the.she thought.
The man peered over his sunglasses and gave her a cocky grin.
Cocky grin, her mind finished.
"Yeah," she sighed, sitting back in her seat. "That's him."
*Twelve Hours Later, in Russia*
"We've got two rooms," Jack said. "Each with two separate beds."
"Thank god," muttered Irina. Sydney fought to keep from laughing and trailed behind the group so that she could laugh.
She whipped around, her left arm flying to punch whoever had grabbed her shoulder.
Sark laughed lightly as her caught her fist and put it down.
"You are so much fun to scare, Agent Bristow. I must say, I love the hair, by the way. It's so.you."
She dropped her voice. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought it'd be obvious. I'm tailing your father, and now you. I must say that it's quite interesting that you and your father are double agents. Mr. Sloane will be very pleased."
"You wouldn't dare tell him."
"Of course I would," he flashed her another cocky smile.
"You son of a bitch," she said through clenched teeth.
"Wonderful to see you too!" he called after her in Russian.
"Where'd you go?" asked Vaughn.
"Sark found me."
"Oh joy," he said sarcastically.
"I'm going to get in touch with Kendall when we get to the hotel," said Jack.
Sydney nodded and followed them as they got into a cab.
"Two rooms, under Mason," Jack said to the man at the desk.
"215 and 217," he replied, handing him the keys.
"I'll take these," Sydney replied, grabbing two room keys and dashing for the stairs.
Vaughn ran after her, laughed and Sydney let them into the room.
"You should probably share a room with your mom," said Vaughn.
"Yeah, but then I couldn't do this," she kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
They finally broke apart and neither one said anything.
"You do know that if your dad walks in and finds us, we're worse than dead."
"Better him than Sark."
"Neither one is that great. I'd be hearing from Dad until I was fifty, and then taunted by Sark until I was sixty."
Vaughn smiled again and they shared another passionate kiss.
They jumped apart as a knock came on the door. Sydney made a mad dash for the bathroom, and locked the door behind her. Vaughn opened the hotel room door and saw Jack.
"Yeah?" asked Vaughn.
"Kendall wants us to move in tonight, about 4:00 AM."
"Okay, I'll tell Sydney."
"Where is she?"
"Bathroom."
"Oh. Okay. See you later."
Vaughn closed the door and knocked gently on Sydney's bathroom. "He's gone. You can come out now."
She opened the door and Vaughn hugged her.
"We're leaving tonight at about four," he said quietly into her hair, not wanting to break the moment.
She mumbled something and leaned against his into his embrace.
*1:30 AM*
Sydney sat up as he heard something hard slam against the door that connected her and Vaughn's room to her parents. She looked over and saw that Vaughn had sat up as well. She flung back the covers and rummaged quickly through her bag. Vaughn looked at her quizzically, and saw that she had pulled out a small handgun.
"Good idea," he whispered.
They went around to the main door of Jack and Irina's room and Vaughn silently slipped the key in.
Sydney went first around the corner.
"Freeze," she heard herself say. "I have a gun." Great, she thought. That was dumb. I sound even cheesier than those cop shows on TV.
She saw one figure, probably a man throw a roundabout kick at the figure that was against the wall. The figure against the wall was slumped and slid to the floor.
Vaughn flipped on the light and Sydney saw Jack throw another punch at Irina.
"Dad! Stop!"
"What are you doing?" asked Vaughn.
Irina groaned and tried to stand. Sydney rushed to help her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Jack.
"I was trying to get to the bathroom," said Irina grumpily.
"Yeah right," muttered Jack.
"Shut up!" yelled Sydney and Vaughn at the same time.
"I went to the wrong door and little Mr. "Secret Agent" over there jumped me." She slowly made her way to the bathroom and slammed the door, as if to prove her point.
"I thought she was trying to escape," protested Jack.
"Why don't you just booby-trap the area around her bed with land mines?" asked Sydney, sarcastically.
Vaughn yawned. "I'm going back to bed."
"Ditto here," agreed Sydney.
*Three Hours Later*
"Ready?" asked Vaughn, climbing into the jeep.
"Yeah," Sydney said.
They drove silently to the Russian base and met up with Jack and Irina.
Sydney noticed a large object stashed in the nearby bushes. She pushed them aside and found a small, two-man jeep.
"Damn you, Sark," she muttered.
She hurried back to the group. "Sark's here," she reported. "I found his jeep."
"Great," said Vaughn, sarcastically.
"We have to get to the viruses before he gets them for SD-6," said Irina. "Follow me."
"Here's what we're going to do," she said as they stopped as the hallway broke in two.
"Sydney, you're coming with me. We're going to disarm the system. Jack, you need to get the key. It's on the third floor, in the storage closet. The pass-code is 30028. Once you're in, there should be three shelves to your left. It's on the middle shelf, third row inside a pair of green socks in a box marked "donations." After Jack gets the key, Agent Vaughn will be disguised as a Russian guard. You will patrol the area until Jack finds you. The freezer code is 14150. The key is for the storage bin. It's bin seven."
"There is so much wrong with this plan," muttered Jack.
"Sydney, you come with me, we'll meet up with you later," said Irina.
"Be careful," whispered Vaughn. "Don't let her kill you."
"You're the one who should be worried," warned Sydney. "My dad's got a gun and he's pissed off. Irina doesn't have a gun."
She smiled at him again and took off after Irina.
"Come on and stay quiet," whispered Irina, tossing Sydney a guard's uniform.
They made their way to the control room and Irina entered the pass-code. Alarms sounded, sending the two of them into a state of shock.
"The codes must have been changed," said Sydney. She pulled out her phone and dialed Vaughn.
"Syd?" he answered.
"Vaughn, something's wrong with the security system! Get Dad and you out!"
"Syd!" she hung up, cutting off both her father and handler.
***
Jack heard the alarm sound and immediately checked to see if he had tripped something.
He whipped around and punched two guards unconscious, then took off and ran for their meeting place.
"Damn you, Irina," he muttered.
***
Vaughn looked at his cell phone and looked up as he saw someone bolt past him, carrying a large crate.
He pulled out his gun, but much to his dismay, found that he only had a tranquilizer gun.
"Here goes nothing," he muttered as he fired the gun. The crate crashed to the ground as the figure shot his a look of venom before falling to the ground.
"Oh my god," said Vaughn, looking at the lifeless person. It was Sark.
***
Sydney hid behind a wall as the Russian guards patrolled the room. Irina nodded and Sydney pulled out her gun and fired twice, killing two guards.
She threw her second handgun to Irina, who killed another three guards. The room cleared and they stepped over the dead bodies and into the hallway. They ran to find Jack and Vaughn.
They went down two flights of stairs and saw Vaughn, staring in disbelief at a fallen body.
"Vaughn!" Sydney exclaimed, running to him. He leaned down and kissed her, forgetting that Irina was in the room.
Irina cleared her throat loudly, and they jumped apart, embarrassed. She stared at Sydney with an amused look on her face. Sydney blushed.
"What do you want to do with the cargo?" Vaughn asked, shifting Sark's body with his foot.
Irina picked up the crate. "Can you lift him?" Vaughn put Sark's lifeless body over his shoulder.
"Yeah," he said. "Let's go."
They met up with Jack in the basement corridor. He was fuming.
"What the hell did you do?" he asked Irina.
"Someone tripped the alarm."
"I'll bet it was Sark," said Sydney.
"That makes sense," said Vaughn, motioning to the lifeless form draped over his shoulder.
"Dump him in his jeep and let's get out of here," said Jack. Vaughn nodded in response.
They drove off just as the sun was beginning to rise.