Author's Note: Hi everyone. This is my first Fanfic, and I'll appreciate any reviews, good or bad, you can give me. I apologize in advance for misspelling any of the character's names.
Twice Removed
What was it like to have three lives? Only Sydney Bristow could tell you. Every morning she would walk into the Credit Daphine building and enter into the cold steel elevator. The doors would open to the white room and in a single white flash, she would be analyzed into the office of SD-6. SD-6 was part of an alliance working together to gather government information about firearms and other weaponry. Within the walls of her office, everyone assumed that they were working for the United States of America. It was thought to be a branch of the CIA. Only Sydney, her father, Jack Bristow, and Arvin Sloane, the head of SD-6, knew that SD-6 was not a sub-unit of the CIA.
Sydney walked to her desk, but not before brushing shoulders with Arvin Sloane. "Sydney," he said with one of his sickening smiles. "There will be a meeting in the conference room in five minutes."
"Okay, I'll be there." Sydney put her stuff at her desk and gave a smile to her partner, Dixon. "Morning."
"Morning, Syd," Dixon said returning her smile. His expression however, changed with the beginning of his next sentence. "Has Sloane told you about what happened with the tape we retrieved in Nice?"
"No, what?" Sydney lied. She knew exactly what had happened with the tape. Her CIA counter mission had been to give SD-6 a fake tape.
"It turns out the tape was phony, the mission was a bust. I think that's why Sloane's calling the meeting. Come on, we better head to the conference room." Sydney faked her surprise as she and Dixon entered the conference room. Her father was already seated to the right of where Sloane was standing at the front of the table. Marshall was seated on Sloane's left.
"Now that we're all here," Sloane said, after Dixon and Sydney had sat down. "I would like to congratulate Dixon and Sydney on their effort in Nice, but as you may already know, the mission was unsuccessful in obtaining the tape of the conversation between Jacques Valjean and Thomas Frederickson. However, we've obtained information about a mini-computer disc that contains information in the transactions of these two men. Jack."
Jack Bristow stood up. "As you may recall, Kasanow talked frequently with Jacques Valjean before his death. We believed Valjean was Kasanow's right hand man. Frederickson on the other hand, is a well-known assassin. What we want to know is what Valjean wants, and why he was talking with Frederickson. The CD is being held in the facility shown in front of you. It's located in Paris," Jack gestured to their screens. "It is contained in the hard drive of Valjean's computer located on the third floor in room twenty-three. Our source tells us that since the facility is being passed off as a warehouse, security should be fairly easy. You leave tomorrow morning, any questions?"
PARIS
"Dixon, I'm within 50 km of the building, can you see anything?"
"Not a security guard in sight, you're all clear Syd." Sydney slowly rose from her crouched position behind a row of bushes. With a quick glance, she was running across the quad towards the nearest door of the facility. She turned the handle and opened the door. The hallway was bare. There was no one in sight.
"Where's the nearest set of stairs?"
"Down the hallway and to the right, there should be a red door."
"I see it." Sydney opened the door and quickly went up the stairs to the third floor. "I'm on the third floor."
"The door is the fifth on the left."
"Okay Dixon, I'm going radio silent."
"Copy that Syd. I'll meet you at the check point."
"Base this is Mountaineer. I'm heading towards room twenty-three now," Sydney said, switching her contact to that of the CIA.
"Copy that Mountaineer," came Vaughn's reply. Sydney entered room twenty-three and located a computer on the far corner. She headed to the computer and grabbed the mouse. To her surprise the screen flickered on. She had expected the computer to be off.
Sydney reached for the ring that Marshall had designed. All she had to do was push the top button and place it on top of the hard drive. It would flash once when it was done. The ring however, had been fixed by the CIA to send all information directly to a CIA computer. The CIA could then regulate what data they wanted to send to SD-6. Within a matter of seconds the downloading was complete and the ring flashed.
"Transmission complete. How's it looking?" Sydney asked as she put the ring back onto her finger.
"Hold on, Syd. We're getting it. Done. Good job."
"Thanks." Sydney headed for the door and back down the hallway. She took the stair cautiously, waiting for someone to stumble on her presence, but she made it to the first floor uneventfully. Sydney headed for the door that she had originally entered and was about to sigh with relief when she realized the door wasn't opening. She pushed harder and harder, but the door was locked tight.
"My exit isn't opening. What's going on?" Vaughn turned his attention to the computer screen that was monitoring Sydney, and realized with dread that a silent alarm had been set, locking all possible exits.
"Syd, the facility has been placed under lock down. You need to get to the stairs now!" Vaughn cried. Sydney ran back to the stairwell and took the stairs two at a time. "Get to the tenth floor. There will be a fire escape outside the window at the end of the corridor."
"Agent Vaughn," called one of the data analysts. Vaughn came over to him. "Look at this." Vaughn looked at what he was pointing at. It was a record of a transaction that had taken place between Jacques Valjean and Thomas Frederickson. It gave the amount paid, and the intended hit victims. Vaughn looked down the list. There, the fourth person from the bottom was written, Sydney Bristow.
Vaughn came back on over the earpiece, his voice struggling to sound controlled. "Sydney, this whole thing was a setup. You need to get out of there now!" Vaughn threw down his headphones. "Weiss take over!" he shouted as he ran out of the room.
"Where are you going?"
"To talk to Derevco." Vaughn ran as fast as he could to where Sydney's mother was being kept prisoner of the United States government. He waited impatiently for the gates to open and ran quickly into the room that separated him from Irina Derevco by only a window. She stood up and went to the window.
"What is it?" Derevco asked, her eyes carefully placed on his face.
"Sydney has fallen into a trap in Paris in one of Valjean's facilities. She is being targeted by Thomas Frederickson. A silent alarm has been set off within the facility. I need to know how to get her out of there. Do you know how?"
"Frederickson? The assassin?"
"Yes."
` "I can't tell you how to get Sydney out of there."
Vaughn looked at Irina in disbelief. "Why the hell not?"
"Listen to me. Sydney is being targeted because of her relation to me. If I tell you how to get her out of there, they'll kill her. You've got to figure out how to get her out on your own."
"You're not holding to the agreement."
"It's for her safety. Go help her." Vaughn took one last look at Derevco before leaving with the raising of the three gates.
Vaughn reported back to the room where Sydney's mission was being monitored. By now, FBI Agent Kendall had joined the group.
"Does Derevco know anything?" Kendall asked when he came in.
Vaughn hesitated. "No. Has Sydney reached the window?" Vaughn put his head phones back on. Weiss shook his head. Vaughn turned his attention back to the monitors. "Locate Dixon," Vaughn said to one of the tech guys.
"His van is located on the west side of the building, opposite of where Sydney entered."
"We need to get him aware of what's going on inside. Sydney?" Vaughn said.
"What did my mother have to say?" Sydney asked.
"Nothing. Listen Sydney, you must go radio silent and contact…What the hell happened?" Vaughn asked looking at the screen which was now black.
"We lost both video and audio contact with Mountaineer. We must have been detected in the building.
"Oh shit, they're onto us." Vaughn put his finger to earpiece, making a desperate attempt to contact Sydney. "Sydney, can you hear me?" There was no reply.
"Vaughn?" Sydney cried into the mouthpiece. There was no reply. She looked up at the door marked ten and pushed on it. It didn't open. "Dammit." She didn't know whether or not Vaughn could hear her but she followed protocol. "Base this is Mountaineer, I'm going radio silent."
Sydney continued up the stairs, trying every door on the way. "Dixon, we've got a problem. The building is under lockdown and I'm stuck in the stairwell."
"Copy that Syd, keep going up. I'll work on overriding the system." Sydney kept running up each flight of stairs, but she was getting more and more tired.
"Syd, I've got a door, but you have to get there fast. The door on the seventeenth floor."
Sydney kept running, thankfully the seventeenth floor was only two floors away. "I'm almost there."
"Don't open the door immediately, Syd. You've got two armed men on the other side." Sydney looked around. She was at the bottom of the stairwell that led up to the door of the seventeenth floor.
"Don't worry Dixon, I've got a plan." Sydney crawled up the stairs on all fours, staying low as she passed under the door window for floor seventeen. Quickly, she removed a piece of rope from her pocket and tied it to the doorknob. On the side of the wall was a railing that barely went behind the door. She put one foot on top of the railing and then reached into her pocket and pulled out her gun with her right hand. She put her second foot on the railing and stood, using the wall near the door for balance. Her left hand held the end of the rope. Carefully she aimed for the doorknob and let out three shots and stopped. Slowly she pulled open the door.
Two men entered, guns searching. In one swift movement, she kicked the door hard, while letting go of the rope. She jumped down from the railing and instantly began firing. Both were down before they even knew what had happened. Sydney stepped over them and ran into the hallway. It seemed to be purely offices. "Dixon, I need an out."
"Damn, I've lost all video footage. I'm going to try and find a way in Syd. Hang tight." Sydney glanced at each of the doors, and finally pulled open one. Unfortunately, her prize turned out to be a barrel of a gun.
The man in front of her was tall with dark brown hair and mustache. This man was indeed Thomas Frederickson. He was actually dressed in a black suit, typical of a well-paid assassin.
"Put your weapon down, Miss Bristow." Sydney looked passed him, taking a quick inventory of the situation. There was no one else in the room with him. He was watching her carefully. "You don't want me to use this gun Miss Bristow, I suggest you disarm yourself." Sydney slowly lowered her-self into a squatting position and put down her gun. She stood back up.
Sydney watched Frederickson's hand. It was steady. All she needed was one little distraction to turn away his attention.
His eyes flicked quickly towards his watch. "You look very much like your mother, Sydney. It was unwise of her to give herself up to the CIA." He smiled evilly. "Don't look so surprised. I am very much aware that you are a double agent, but back to your mother. You see, there are many things that some people, such as my-self, don't want Irina Derevco to tell to such agencies as the CIA." Frederickson suddenly stopped talking and turned his attention to the turning doorknob.
Frederickson kept his gun focused on Sydney, but his eyes were to the door. The door opened and Dixon stepped in, gun raised. He looked at Dixon menacingly. "Drop the gun!" Dixon took a quick glance at Sydney who gave a slight nod. Seconds later, Dixon fired. Sydney jumped out of firing range and delivered a kick to the back of Frederickson's legs. Dixon's shot hit him in the shoulder.
Sydney and Dixon made a run for the door, leaving Frederickson firing behind them. "This way!" Dixon yelled, leaving the office and continuing down the corridor. Sydney watched Dixon run to a different office door and pull it open. He ran towards the window, which was already open. "Fire escape, I noticed it when I came in here." Dixon climbed out the window and Sydney followed.
They reached the ground in a matter of minutes and ran towards the parked van. They both hopped into the van and Dixon drove off the facility. "Thanks for coming to my rescue. How did you get in anyway?"
Dixon smiled. "The fire escape I 'noticed' was my entry point. There was a guard in the room, but he's now sleeping quietly in the closet."
A few seconds later there was a load boom, and the warehouse exploded in a ball of fire.
CIA HEADQUARTERS
"I hate to tell you this," Agent Kendall said, "but the information you downloaded was fake." Sydney was only half listening to what Kendall was saying. Her eyes were glued to Vaughn who had refused to look at her since her return from Paris. "From the looks of it, the whole thing was a setup. We're still trying to figure out what went on." Sydney nodded as Agent Kendall walked away, but once Kendall had disappeared she pulled Vaughn aside.
"You okay?" She asked him.
"Fine," he replied, but his gaze still refused to meet hers. She decided to let his distraction go.
"Listen, in Paris, Frederickson mentioned my mother, and by the way things went there, I'd say it was all a set up. Plus, he also said he knew I was a double agent."
"He said what?" Vaughn asked dismayed. "Did he mention anything he wanted?"
"Just that he didn't want Irina Derevco to be divulging information to the CIA. Did my mother say anything when you talked to her?" Vaughn again looked away at this question.
"She said something didn't she? Vaughn, tell me."
Vaughn sighed. "Your mother said that she could have provided an exit for you, but that she couldn't divulge that information." Sydney looked at him with disbelief. Vaughn rushed on quickly. "She claimed that in doing so, she would be putting your life in danger, and from what it sounds like, it's a good thing that she didn't." Sydney turned her gaze so Vaughn wouldn't see her tears. "Sydney," he said approaching her.
Sydney backed away. "This is all her fault. Because of her I could have been killed in Paris. Now my cover has been jeopardized. I got to go," Sydney said turning away
"Sydney!" Vaughn called after her, but Sydney was too upset to talk. She exited from the secret door of the CIA office into the cold brisk night. The stars above were glowing radiantly as she shed her tears among the earth.
It had been so long since she had had a "normal" life. Now, she lived it as a double agent. Each day was to be lived as a lie, supposedly for the greater good. She wanted to believe more than anything that what she was doing was right, and most of the time she had no difficulty in agreeing that it was the right thing. But there were times, like now, when she wondered. Every day she thought about the possibility of her treachery being discovered by SD-6, and knew that when and if that day ever happened, she would no longer have a life. Fleeing, paranoia, and isolation were all things she would have to deal with if her life as she knew it ended. And one woman, her own mother, was threatening to take her life away from her. Almost a complete stranger threatened to take your life away while still living. Sydney felt that she could not express her fears in anyway but in her tears.
From a distance, a young man stood not far from the entrance to the CIA office, wishing to take Sydney in his arms and make all her pain go away. He knew however, that nothing was possible with forbidden love.
* * *
Sydney awoke feeling no better if not worse. It wasn't till the phone rang that she found out it was going to get worse.
"Hello?" She asked after the piercing ring.
"Joey's pizza." Sydney filled with dread.
"Sorry, wrong number." Sydney hung up and began to dress. Slowly she headed out to the car, and drove to CIA entrance. She walked casually past the "homeless man" and deposited a coin into his cup.
"Mountaineer requests entry," the homeless man said threw is mike. After being cleared threw the CIA surveillance she entered the office. She spied Vaughn talking to a man on the computer. He looked up when she entered. His face was grim.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"We got a call from Frederickson about twenty minutes ago. Sydney," he said slowly. "He requested the release of Irina Derevco within twenty-four hours."
"Or what?"
"Or he would release proof to SD-6 that you are a double agent."
ALIAS