Chapter Twelve
Sydney met Vaughn in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, like he'd asked. She assumed that he was going to brief her and give her the SD-6 counter-mission. Sloane was sending her on a search for a chapter of the Bible, Irina's handbook. From what he had told her, after she had married Sark and disappeared, Irina's followers had broken up the Bible itself, and separated the chapters to make it harder to track down.
"I'm going to Amsterdam," she said. The two of them had made very little contact since they'd had their fight. Kendall assumed that everything was the same with them and so they were back to the way things had always been, and so Vaughn was still Sydney's handler. "I'm going searching for the first chapter of the Bible." Vaughn's eyes widened as I mentioned the Bible.
"I'm sure that I could work out what's in it out of my mother, but I don't have time," I continued.
"Your counter-mission is simple. Steal the Bible from wherever it's hidden and bring it back to us before going to SD-6. We'll create a fake chapter and you can take that to Sloane."
She nodded and turned to leave.
"Sydney?" he asked. She turned around. "I'm sorry."
She opened her mouth to respond, but instead kept walking and drove away.
***
Sydney stared out the window on the plane. She was working alone for a change with Sark as her SD-6 contact. Sloane had wanted to be the contact, but she had managed to convince him that if someone was listening in somehow, they could trace her to SD-6 too easily if he was on the line. Plus, by tracing her to SD-6 and Sloane, they could trace Sloane to the Alliance.
"You there?" Sark asked, jolting her out of her thoughts.
"Yeah," she flipped open her cell phone to make it look like she was on the phone and wasn't just talking to herself.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just thinking, that's all."
"You're sure?"
"Yeah. I'm sure."
"You saw Vaughn."
"What about Vaughn?"
"You saw him. You had to talk to him. Sydney, we've been married for two years. I know you almost as well as I know myself."
"Which isn't very well," she muttered.
"Okay then," he laughed. "Maybe I don't know myself that well, but my point here is that, Sydney, I know when something's wrong. What did Vaughn say?"
"He tried to apologize."
"He did?"
"Yeah. I didn't say anything. I wanted to say something sarcastic, something to hurt him." her voice trailed off.
"Like he hurt you," he finished.
"Yeah."
"Sydney?"
"Yeah?" she noticed how he never called her 'Syd.' That's what she liked about him. Syd was her nickname to Vaughn.
"When you get to Amsterdam, check your email."
She pulled out her laptop. "Why?"
"Just do it, okay?"
"I'm doing it now." She opened up the message from him and it had a heart with wings attached embedded in it with a note that said, "You have been emailed a hug." She smiled. His cute side was coming out and she hated it. She hated not being able to hate him.
"You can't hate me now, can you?" he asked, reading her mind.
She sighed and smiled. "No, I can't."
***
She turned on her famous trademark pearl earrings, the ones with the com- link and the video camera in them.
"Vaughn?" she asked.
"Are you radio-silent?"
She debated on saying no, just to yank his chain. "Nope," she said, smiling to herself.
"Agent Bristow, you had better be kidding," Kendall's voice added to Vaughn's, coming into her ear.
Sark covered his mouth to stifle his laughter as Sydney got on both of their nerves.
"Of course I'm radio silent. I may be a bit rusty after two years, but I'm not an idiot," she snapped. "Where is the chapter hidden?"
"You're supposed to tell us that."
"Right." she said, her voice trailing off. "I'm going back to SD-6."
"Where is it?" she asked in French, so that Kendall and Vaughn couldn't identify Sark. "It's not in a warehouse, or a factory if that's what you're thinking. There is an underground cavern, hidden in the port. Turn left up here," she did. "See the loading dock?"
"Yeah."
"See the pile of crates to your right?"
"Yeah."
"Third one from the top. Pull off the seventh board from the right and put in your access code, 14270 and press the green button. That will slide the crates back and open up a stairwell."
Sark stopped speaking. She knew that he wanted to say something else, just not in front of Vaughn or Kendall. She went radio-silent with Vaughn.
"You can say what you want to now," she said in English.
"You're radio-silent?"
"What is this sudden obsession with me being radio-silent?" she asked.
He chuckled. "You were right, there was something I wanted to say."
"What is it?"
"I want to work for the CIA as well."
"Are we on a secure connection?"
"Yes. I made sure of it. We're disconnected from SD-6 servers and on one of my private ones."
"I vote you do what my mother did, turn yourself in, wait a year, and see if they trust you."
"Very funny. Sydney, I'm serious here."
She entered the access code and the boxes moved back.
"I'm going to have to go back to Vaughn and Kendall now. Can we talk about this at home?"
"Our home was blown up, remember?"
"I meant my mother's house."
"Sure. Love you."
"Love you too," she went back to Vaughn and Kendall.
"Agent Bristow, what happened?"
"I knocked the com-link loose with my hair. It's windy."
"Where are you?" asked Vaughn.
"I'm inside. From here I think I'm going to head left and find the safe."
"Be careful," warned Vaughn. Kendall looked at him suspiciously.
Sydney smiled. So he did still care. "Going back to SD-6."
"I'm back," she said in French to Sark.
"Good. Head left and the safe should be behind a painting. Gently take it off the wall and do your stuff."
She took the painting off of the wall and inserted her code-breaker. It opened the safe and she rummaged through it, naming off things as she saw them. "Disk, looks like blackmail, packet of papers, memo to Gerard Cuvee," she stopped.
"Memo to Gerard Cuvee?" asked Kendall.
"Memo to Gerard Cuvee?" asked Sark in English.
"Sark?" asked Vaughn.
"Sydney," said Kendall. "Care to explain?"
"We're on a secure line, it's Sark's, not SD-6's."
"I'll let you know if Sloane is coming so that you two in the CIA can shut up."
"What's with the memo to Gerard Cuvee?" asked Vaughn.
She read aloud, "It's dated for last week. They're getting more nukes for some reason."
"Here we go again," said Vaughn. "This time, I'm not getting a helicopter and saving your ass."
"That's a lovely thought," said Sark. "Sydney," he began. "Sweetheart," knowing that he was sending Vaughn over the edge on the other line. Vaughn cringed as he heard her response.
"Yes dear?" They loved pushing Vaughn's buttons.
"Your father is here. He wants to get on the line."
"Four-way calling for spies. I like it."
"Sydney?"
"Yeah Dad?"
"Where are you?"
"Digging through the safe. I found it." She flipped through the papers and took off a small bug. "I just found a tracking device. I'm sticking it on a crate here so that they'll follow that." She took off running.
"I'm in my car," she said, starting the engine.
"Where is everyone?" asked Kendall.
"It might be a fake," said Jack. "I'm calling your mother."
"Hello?" asked Irina.
"Dad!" Sydney protested. "How many people can we get on one line?"
"Hello?" Irina asked again.
"Hello, Ms. Derevko," Kendall started.
"Agent Kendall, to what do I owe this lovely phone call?"
"Well," Sydney took over. "Dad, Sark, Kendall, and Vaughn are convinced that the chapter from the Bible that I just stole, I'm heading to the freeway and the airport now," she added, "is a fake."
"Read me a bit. I may still have it memorized."
Sydney read the first paragraph.
"Go on," said Irina. "That part is fine."
"It lists all of the base locations," said Sydney.
"It's fake," said Irina. "The base locations are in the back of the real Bible, scrambled up."
"Great," said Vaughn.
"This is fantastic," Sydney said.
"What is it?" asked Sark.
"I'm stuck in Amsterdam with a memo to Cuvee, and my flight's delayed."
"What about Cuvee?" asked Irina.
"When I was rummaging through the safe, I found a memo to Cuvee."
"So he's not dead," said Irina.
"Of course he's not dead. The fighter planes didn't bomb the whole place before Agent Vaughn called off the strikes," said Jack.
"Wait, Agent Vaughn ordered the strikes?" asked Sark.
"You didn't tell him, Sydney?" asked Jack.
"No. It never came up, we never talked about it, and I thought that SD-6 wasn't supposed to know that I sabotaged the mission with Vaughn. Plus, Andrew has a request."
"Andrew who?" asked Kendall.
"Okay, let's see here," began Sark. "You know your name isn't Andrew, right?"
"Right," said Kendall.
"And Sydney's name isn't Andrew."
"Right."
"Vaughn's name isn't Andrew."
"Okay."
"Irina's name isn't Andrew."
"Well hold on here," said Jack. "First it was Laura, then it was Irina, for all we know her name could be Andrew."
Sydney slapped her forehead. "You are so dense."
"Well, if it's not Irina, and it's not Jack." said Kendall.
"Then who else on this line could be named Andrew?"
"Somebody at SD-6?"
"No!" Jack, Irina, Sydney, and Sark yelled.
"Oh, I get it. It's Sark," said Kendall.
Sydney sighed in frustration. "Yes, Kendall. It's Sark."
"Okay," said Kendall, regaining his usual know-all attitude. "What does Mr. Sark want?" "I want to be a double-agent for the CIA. I've helped Sydney along the way. I'm in Sloane's inner circle, and I hate the guy's guts. What more do I have to do to join the CIA?"
"I'm in his inner circle too," said Jack. "And you don't see me bringing back valuable information.
"Remember the trip to Switzerland?" asked Sark.
"Yeah," said Kendall.
"And remember how I had to get that map?" asked Sydney.
"Yeah."
"Guess who let me keep it?"
"Sark," said Vaughn.
"Exactly. See, he's not all bad?"
"I think there's a rule somewhere in protocol that states that a husband and wife cannot work for the same organization."
"Really?" asked Irina. "Then why did you keep questioning me if we couldn't "work" for the same organization?"
"There's a difference between working and being held prisoner," said Jack.
"Forget it," said Sydney after another hour of arguing. "My flight's here, I'm going radio-silent with all of you."
She boarded the plane and her cell phone rang. She dreaded answering it. "Hello?"
"He said yes," was the only thing she heard.
Sydney met Vaughn in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, like he'd asked. She assumed that he was going to brief her and give her the SD-6 counter-mission. Sloane was sending her on a search for a chapter of the Bible, Irina's handbook. From what he had told her, after she had married Sark and disappeared, Irina's followers had broken up the Bible itself, and separated the chapters to make it harder to track down.
"I'm going to Amsterdam," she said. The two of them had made very little contact since they'd had their fight. Kendall assumed that everything was the same with them and so they were back to the way things had always been, and so Vaughn was still Sydney's handler. "I'm going searching for the first chapter of the Bible." Vaughn's eyes widened as I mentioned the Bible.
"I'm sure that I could work out what's in it out of my mother, but I don't have time," I continued.
"Your counter-mission is simple. Steal the Bible from wherever it's hidden and bring it back to us before going to SD-6. We'll create a fake chapter and you can take that to Sloane."
She nodded and turned to leave.
"Sydney?" he asked. She turned around. "I'm sorry."
She opened her mouth to respond, but instead kept walking and drove away.
***
Sydney stared out the window on the plane. She was working alone for a change with Sark as her SD-6 contact. Sloane had wanted to be the contact, but she had managed to convince him that if someone was listening in somehow, they could trace her to SD-6 too easily if he was on the line. Plus, by tracing her to SD-6 and Sloane, they could trace Sloane to the Alliance.
"You there?" Sark asked, jolting her out of her thoughts.
"Yeah," she flipped open her cell phone to make it look like she was on the phone and wasn't just talking to herself.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just thinking, that's all."
"You're sure?"
"Yeah. I'm sure."
"You saw Vaughn."
"What about Vaughn?"
"You saw him. You had to talk to him. Sydney, we've been married for two years. I know you almost as well as I know myself."
"Which isn't very well," she muttered.
"Okay then," he laughed. "Maybe I don't know myself that well, but my point here is that, Sydney, I know when something's wrong. What did Vaughn say?"
"He tried to apologize."
"He did?"
"Yeah. I didn't say anything. I wanted to say something sarcastic, something to hurt him." her voice trailed off.
"Like he hurt you," he finished.
"Yeah."
"Sydney?"
"Yeah?" she noticed how he never called her 'Syd.' That's what she liked about him. Syd was her nickname to Vaughn.
"When you get to Amsterdam, check your email."
She pulled out her laptop. "Why?"
"Just do it, okay?"
"I'm doing it now." She opened up the message from him and it had a heart with wings attached embedded in it with a note that said, "You have been emailed a hug." She smiled. His cute side was coming out and she hated it. She hated not being able to hate him.
"You can't hate me now, can you?" he asked, reading her mind.
She sighed and smiled. "No, I can't."
***
She turned on her famous trademark pearl earrings, the ones with the com- link and the video camera in them.
"Vaughn?" she asked.
"Are you radio-silent?"
She debated on saying no, just to yank his chain. "Nope," she said, smiling to herself.
"Agent Bristow, you had better be kidding," Kendall's voice added to Vaughn's, coming into her ear.
Sark covered his mouth to stifle his laughter as Sydney got on both of their nerves.
"Of course I'm radio silent. I may be a bit rusty after two years, but I'm not an idiot," she snapped. "Where is the chapter hidden?"
"You're supposed to tell us that."
"Right." she said, her voice trailing off. "I'm going back to SD-6."
"Where is it?" she asked in French, so that Kendall and Vaughn couldn't identify Sark. "It's not in a warehouse, or a factory if that's what you're thinking. There is an underground cavern, hidden in the port. Turn left up here," she did. "See the loading dock?"
"Yeah."
"See the pile of crates to your right?"
"Yeah."
"Third one from the top. Pull off the seventh board from the right and put in your access code, 14270 and press the green button. That will slide the crates back and open up a stairwell."
Sark stopped speaking. She knew that he wanted to say something else, just not in front of Vaughn or Kendall. She went radio-silent with Vaughn.
"You can say what you want to now," she said in English.
"You're radio-silent?"
"What is this sudden obsession with me being radio-silent?" she asked.
He chuckled. "You were right, there was something I wanted to say."
"What is it?"
"I want to work for the CIA as well."
"Are we on a secure connection?"
"Yes. I made sure of it. We're disconnected from SD-6 servers and on one of my private ones."
"I vote you do what my mother did, turn yourself in, wait a year, and see if they trust you."
"Very funny. Sydney, I'm serious here."
She entered the access code and the boxes moved back.
"I'm going to have to go back to Vaughn and Kendall now. Can we talk about this at home?"
"Our home was blown up, remember?"
"I meant my mother's house."
"Sure. Love you."
"Love you too," she went back to Vaughn and Kendall.
"Agent Bristow, what happened?"
"I knocked the com-link loose with my hair. It's windy."
"Where are you?" asked Vaughn.
"I'm inside. From here I think I'm going to head left and find the safe."
"Be careful," warned Vaughn. Kendall looked at him suspiciously.
Sydney smiled. So he did still care. "Going back to SD-6."
"I'm back," she said in French to Sark.
"Good. Head left and the safe should be behind a painting. Gently take it off the wall and do your stuff."
She took the painting off of the wall and inserted her code-breaker. It opened the safe and she rummaged through it, naming off things as she saw them. "Disk, looks like blackmail, packet of papers, memo to Gerard Cuvee," she stopped.
"Memo to Gerard Cuvee?" asked Kendall.
"Memo to Gerard Cuvee?" asked Sark in English.
"Sark?" asked Vaughn.
"Sydney," said Kendall. "Care to explain?"
"We're on a secure line, it's Sark's, not SD-6's."
"I'll let you know if Sloane is coming so that you two in the CIA can shut up."
"What's with the memo to Gerard Cuvee?" asked Vaughn.
She read aloud, "It's dated for last week. They're getting more nukes for some reason."
"Here we go again," said Vaughn. "This time, I'm not getting a helicopter and saving your ass."
"That's a lovely thought," said Sark. "Sydney," he began. "Sweetheart," knowing that he was sending Vaughn over the edge on the other line. Vaughn cringed as he heard her response.
"Yes dear?" They loved pushing Vaughn's buttons.
"Your father is here. He wants to get on the line."
"Four-way calling for spies. I like it."
"Sydney?"
"Yeah Dad?"
"Where are you?"
"Digging through the safe. I found it." She flipped through the papers and took off a small bug. "I just found a tracking device. I'm sticking it on a crate here so that they'll follow that." She took off running.
"I'm in my car," she said, starting the engine.
"Where is everyone?" asked Kendall.
"It might be a fake," said Jack. "I'm calling your mother."
"Hello?" asked Irina.
"Dad!" Sydney protested. "How many people can we get on one line?"
"Hello?" Irina asked again.
"Hello, Ms. Derevko," Kendall started.
"Agent Kendall, to what do I owe this lovely phone call?"
"Well," Sydney took over. "Dad, Sark, Kendall, and Vaughn are convinced that the chapter from the Bible that I just stole, I'm heading to the freeway and the airport now," she added, "is a fake."
"Read me a bit. I may still have it memorized."
Sydney read the first paragraph.
"Go on," said Irina. "That part is fine."
"It lists all of the base locations," said Sydney.
"It's fake," said Irina. "The base locations are in the back of the real Bible, scrambled up."
"Great," said Vaughn.
"This is fantastic," Sydney said.
"What is it?" asked Sark.
"I'm stuck in Amsterdam with a memo to Cuvee, and my flight's delayed."
"What about Cuvee?" asked Irina.
"When I was rummaging through the safe, I found a memo to Cuvee."
"So he's not dead," said Irina.
"Of course he's not dead. The fighter planes didn't bomb the whole place before Agent Vaughn called off the strikes," said Jack.
"Wait, Agent Vaughn ordered the strikes?" asked Sark.
"You didn't tell him, Sydney?" asked Jack.
"No. It never came up, we never talked about it, and I thought that SD-6 wasn't supposed to know that I sabotaged the mission with Vaughn. Plus, Andrew has a request."
"Andrew who?" asked Kendall.
"Okay, let's see here," began Sark. "You know your name isn't Andrew, right?"
"Right," said Kendall.
"And Sydney's name isn't Andrew."
"Right."
"Vaughn's name isn't Andrew."
"Okay."
"Irina's name isn't Andrew."
"Well hold on here," said Jack. "First it was Laura, then it was Irina, for all we know her name could be Andrew."
Sydney slapped her forehead. "You are so dense."
"Well, if it's not Irina, and it's not Jack." said Kendall.
"Then who else on this line could be named Andrew?"
"Somebody at SD-6?"
"No!" Jack, Irina, Sydney, and Sark yelled.
"Oh, I get it. It's Sark," said Kendall.
Sydney sighed in frustration. "Yes, Kendall. It's Sark."
"Okay," said Kendall, regaining his usual know-all attitude. "What does Mr. Sark want?" "I want to be a double-agent for the CIA. I've helped Sydney along the way. I'm in Sloane's inner circle, and I hate the guy's guts. What more do I have to do to join the CIA?"
"I'm in his inner circle too," said Jack. "And you don't see me bringing back valuable information.
"Remember the trip to Switzerland?" asked Sark.
"Yeah," said Kendall.
"And remember how I had to get that map?" asked Sydney.
"Yeah."
"Guess who let me keep it?"
"Sark," said Vaughn.
"Exactly. See, he's not all bad?"
"I think there's a rule somewhere in protocol that states that a husband and wife cannot work for the same organization."
"Really?" asked Irina. "Then why did you keep questioning me if we couldn't "work" for the same organization?"
"There's a difference between working and being held prisoner," said Jack.
"Forget it," said Sydney after another hour of arguing. "My flight's here, I'm going radio-silent with all of you."
She boarded the plane and her cell phone rang. She dreaded answering it. "Hello?"
"He said yes," was the only thing she heard.