Chapter Thirteen
Sydney woke up to a ray of light shining down on her face. She opened one eye and saw that the curtains hadn't been closed all the way. Needless to say, they hadn't slept much the night before and she was feeling the lack of sleep now. Turning, she threw her arm over Vaughn's torso, burying her face in his shoulder.
"Mornin', Sleepyhead," he whispered, amusement in his voice.
She only mumbled something unintelligible and put a hand over his mouth. She could feel his smile against her palm and couldn't stop an answering smile from spreading across her own face. He turned on his side so that he could face her and she looked at him with eyes still swollen from sleep. Looking alert and amused, she guessed that he'd probably been awake for a while.
"I thought you weren't a morning person," he said conversationally as if they weren't lying there stark naked with only a thin sheet covering them both.
"Good for you," she said, yawning. "Would it be too much to ask for five more minutes?"
"It's nearly ten."
"Ten minutes then since it's so early."
"Will you get up if I make you breakfast?"
"You have groceries?"
"Oh." He paused. "I'm going to go to the corner market and grab some stuff. Will you be up when I get back?"
"Umm hmm."
He kissed her forehead and rolled out of bed. Sydney spread herself out on the bed and promptly fell back asleep so she was unaware of Vaughn standing at the doorway after he'd dressed, watching her with a tender look on his face. Unable to help himself, he put one hand on her bare back and kissed her shoulder, his eyes not leaving her face. Then, he hurried out the door and jogged to the market.
Whistling as he shopped, Vaughn was done in five minutes flat and was on his way back when the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He turned around slowly, his expression neutral as his eyes studied the street. It was then did he hear the roar of a van racing up the street. Dropping his bag, he took off on a dead run, thinking only of Sydney. But he was no match for the white unmarked van that easily caught up to him. A large man with a black mask jumped out and grabbed him. Vaughn used every move he could remember but it was to no avail. The man blocked them with an expertise that Vaughn could not match. Still, he fought and for his efforts, got a blow to the face that knocked him out cold.
"You didn't kill him did you?" the other masked man in the driver's seat asked as his cohort dragged Vaughn's unconscious body into the van.
"No," was the curt answer. "Get going."
* * *
The nondescript looking man across the street immediately jumped out of his car as he watched his target get bundled away. He reached for cell phone and nearly dropped it in his rush.
"Target is lost," he barked into the phone. "Search city for white van, license number Bravo Echo Foxtrot one six niner."
"This isn't a military operation, Kelly," returned the smooth voice on the other line. "Tail them. I'll get others on it."
"Yes, sir."
* * *
Sydney woke up with a jolt. She knew immediately that she'd slept too long and that the apartment was too quiet. Fear gripped her and she sat up, just as she heard the front door open. Gathering the sheet around her, she raced out of the room only to stop dead in her tracks when she found Weiss standing there. He didn't seem concerned with her state of undress, but Sydney felt the heat rise to her cheeks...though that was not the foremost problem on her mind.
Something was very wrong.
"Where's Vaughn?" she demanded.
"He's safe, which is more than I can say for you," Weiss retorted. "Get dressed. We've got some explaining to do."
Knowing what time was always of the essence, Sydney threw on her jeans from the night before, but pulled on one of Vaughn's sweatshirts that he left for her. She opened the door and marched out.
"What happened?" she asked, pulling her hair back.
"We'll talk in the car," he replied, holding the front door open for her.
They walked out in silence, Sydney's breath coming out in small puffs as she tried not to panic or let worry stain her judgment. If something had happened to Vaughn, she needed to be at her sharpest.
Only when they were a block away from the apartment building did Weiss talk.
"Early this morning, your father learned that Sloane put a hit out on Vaughn. He immediately called your cell phone, but it was off and Vaughn's phone has been disconnected. Then, he called me. We acquired some equipment and grabbed Vaughn this morning which was in the nick of time because your dad saw someone he knew driving around the corner just as we were leaving."
"Where's Vaughn now?"
"We brought him to the closest safehouse we could find. He's with your friend Will."
"Does he know?" Sydney asked quietly.
"No." Weiss hesitated. "Your dad had to knock him out so I haven't been able to talk to him. I had to get you."
Sydney rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes painfully. "I only wanted to help him."
"If 'help' in your world means the same as 'kill', then you sure are on your way."
It took an immense amount of will power not to slam his head into the steering wheel. "Weiss, I do not need your crap right now!"
He glanced at her. "Sorry, Syd. I didn't mean it. I'm just...this is...Christ."
"Yeah."
He must have seen something on her face because he put a hand on her back. "Let it out before you talk to him."
"No," she said obstinately, pressing her lips together. "I'm done crying. I'm going to fix this and I'm going to protect him."
"Good cause he's gonna need it."
"What about his mother?"
"We have her in protective custody."
They reached the safehouse and Weiss pulled into the driveway.
"Ready?" he asked her.
"I was trained to be ready," she replied steadily.
A young agent answered the door and Sydney immediately spotted Will. He stared at her in shock and she saw an array of emotions flicker through his face before he stood up.
"It's about damned time," he spat.
"Will...I'm sorry..."
"Save it, Syd."
A sound to her left caught Sydney's attention and Vaughn appeared at the doorway, holding a bag of ice to his right eye.
"Syd," he breathed.
She went to him, holding him tightly. "You're okay."
Behind him, Jack stood up from his seat at the kitchen table. Sydney extracted herself from Vaughn's arms and faced her father.
"Dad," she said.
"Sydney."
"Thank you."
He nodded and sat back down. He glanced at Vaughn, silently telling Sydney that it was time to tell him.
"Is there a quiet room?" Sydney asked Weiss.
"What the hell is going on here?" Will demanded.
"Later, Will," Sydney said.
"Fine. I'll wait. I've been waiting for the past month. Glad to see you healed up nice, Buddy."
Vaughn only looked at Will, searching his memory for a name to match the face.
"My friend Will," Sydney filled in, reading his look. "Weiss, the quiet room..."
"In the back," Weiss said. "That shed."
Sydney took Vaughn's hand and led him out. Will watched him, frowning darkly.
"Mr. Bristow, can you explain any of this...?"
"No."
"Dammit," Will cursed under his breath and he sat back down on the couch.
Outside, Sydney sat in one of the uncomfortable folding chairs they had set up around a cheap card table. Vaughn sat across from her. The three lines between his eyebrows that Sydney had come to recognize appeared and she had to stop herself from reaching across the table to take his hand.
"Your dad packs a punch," he said.
"What has he told you?"
"Just that you have some things to straighten out for me." He clenched his fists. "I do have one question. What happened between us...none of it is part of some grand plan, is it? You're not...leading me on, are you?"
"What makes you ask that?"
"I told you I loved you last night and you didn't answer me."
"I made love to you three times, Vaughn. What answer do you want?" she couldn't help retorting.
"I just wanted to hear the words, Sydney," he said, a tone of disgust in his voice. "I didn't say them because I was looking for an easy lay."
She put her hands up. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
He nodded curtly. "So, what's the answer to my question?"
"I'm not leading you on, Vaughn." She took a deep breath. "I didn't answer you last night because I'm not free to love you. What we had...it was...a stolen moment."
And then she went on to tell him the truth. All of it.
As he listened, he realized he knew a lot of what she was saying, he just didn't know how it all fit together until now. Still, it didn't make things easier and he felt a small amount of anger at the hoops she'd jumped through just to keep all this from him. He knew it was because she wanted to protect him, but it also made him wonder if he knew her at all. He watched her speak, watched the stillness in her eyes, and felt like he was looking at someone else altogether. In that moment, he hated what they did, hated the lives that they led, and wanted nothing more to do with it. If the stress from it had caused amnesia, he wondered how much longer he would have lasted if he hadn't been given this chance to have a new beginning of sorts. Somehow, he doubted it would have been for much longer. Not when wanting this woman had made him leap into the fire more than once. He loved her more than life itself, even now, but something stopped him from taking her hand, from softening his countenance.
Sydney could sense Vaughn pulling away from her and she wanted to throw her arms around him, beg him to understand, but she didn't. She finished speaking and waited for some kind of response from him, but he stayed silent and still like a statue. Only his eyes were alive, sparking and glittering with something she couldn't name as he stared at her.
"Well, now a lot of things make sense," he said simply. "You took a big chance 'dating' me."
"You understand why I did."
"Yes. To hide the truth from Dixon."
"Not that I don't have feelings for you..."
"I know, Sydney."
He stood, the chair scraping back loudly in the silent room. "Let's go back. I think your friend Will wants to talk to you."
She nodded and followed him out the door.
At the house, Weiss watched them come back. He noticed the distance between them, and saw the lines bracketing Vaughn's mouth, his face tight with a mixture of anger and sadness. Sydney was staring at the ground, her lips a straight line as she walked a little behind him.
"Lover's quarrel?" Will asked snidely, coming up next to Weiss.
Weiss merely looked at him and opened the sliding door to let them in. Will immediately pounced on Sydney, a month's worth of frustration and hurt coming to the surface. Vaughn pushed past them and disappeared into the kitchen, Weiss close at his heels.
"I can't believe you left me here, Syd," Will railed. "I haven't heard a word from you, from anybody since I got here!"
"I know, Will, but a lot's happened since the mess in Taipei."
"You weren't so busy that you couldn't get yourself a new boyfriend."
She winced. "It's more complicated than that."
"Explain it to me. God knows I've got nothing but time."
"You know about me and my father...that's already too much. Let it lie, Will. It'll get you out of here faster," she said tiredly.
Will's anger subsided. He saw how tense Sydney was and how her bright brown eyes had lost their luster. This was all bigger than he was and he reached out to take her hand, his love for her forgiving her for what she did. She smiled her thanks, but her hand remained stiff under his.
In the kitchen, Vaughn drank a glass of orange juice as he eyed the two men sitting at the kitchen table.
"What now?" he asked.
"We're going to take you to the house you had set up for Sydney," Weiss said.
"I had a house set up?" Vaughn questioned, frowning.
"Yes. If and when you got her out of SD-6, you were going to hole her up there until the coast was clear."
"It's beautiful land," Vaughn murmured, his eyes focused on something Jack nor Weiss could see. "Flat, green. There's even a small stream that runs through the backyard."
"That's it," Weiss said easily. "Ready to go?"
"Is she coming?"
Weiss studied his friend's face, saw the guarded look in his eyes, and wasn't sure whether he was all that happy about Vaughn's having troubles with Sydney.
"Yes," Jack answered for him.
"What about you?" Vaughn inquired. "Aren't you in danger too?"
"Yes, but I need to stay," Jack replied with a no-nonsense tone. "Mr. Weiss, please get them prepared to leave. I will say good-bye to Sydney and then I'll go."
"Will do."
Jack went to his daughter and embraced her tightly. "Take care, Sydney."
Fear made her widen her eyes. "Dad?"
Before she could say anything more, he left the house, slamming the door behind him. Sydney started to go after him, but Weiss appeared at her side, a restraining hand on her arm.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
"You and Vaughn are going to disappear for a while."
"First you tell me to end it with him and now you're going to send me off somewhere to be alone with him. You're a real tactical genius."
Weiss ignored the barb, but couldn't ignore the stifled chuckle coming from the direction of the kitchen.
"Let's go," he grumbled. "We have one more passenger to pick up."
"Wait," Will said, moving to stand in their way. "You're leaving again? This is not fair."
"Life isn't fair, Mr. Tippin," Weiss replied, sounding remarkably like Jack. "Now, unless you decide you want to stay here a little longer, I suggest you get out of the way."
Will glared at him, but did move to the side. He put a hand on Sydney's arm, and she smiled sadly at him, saying nothing. Then, they left.
Sydney woke up to a ray of light shining down on her face. She opened one eye and saw that the curtains hadn't been closed all the way. Needless to say, they hadn't slept much the night before and she was feeling the lack of sleep now. Turning, she threw her arm over Vaughn's torso, burying her face in his shoulder.
"Mornin', Sleepyhead," he whispered, amusement in his voice.
She only mumbled something unintelligible and put a hand over his mouth. She could feel his smile against her palm and couldn't stop an answering smile from spreading across her own face. He turned on his side so that he could face her and she looked at him with eyes still swollen from sleep. Looking alert and amused, she guessed that he'd probably been awake for a while.
"I thought you weren't a morning person," he said conversationally as if they weren't lying there stark naked with only a thin sheet covering them both.
"Good for you," she said, yawning. "Would it be too much to ask for five more minutes?"
"It's nearly ten."
"Ten minutes then since it's so early."
"Will you get up if I make you breakfast?"
"You have groceries?"
"Oh." He paused. "I'm going to go to the corner market and grab some stuff. Will you be up when I get back?"
"Umm hmm."
He kissed her forehead and rolled out of bed. Sydney spread herself out on the bed and promptly fell back asleep so she was unaware of Vaughn standing at the doorway after he'd dressed, watching her with a tender look on his face. Unable to help himself, he put one hand on her bare back and kissed her shoulder, his eyes not leaving her face. Then, he hurried out the door and jogged to the market.
Whistling as he shopped, Vaughn was done in five minutes flat and was on his way back when the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He turned around slowly, his expression neutral as his eyes studied the street. It was then did he hear the roar of a van racing up the street. Dropping his bag, he took off on a dead run, thinking only of Sydney. But he was no match for the white unmarked van that easily caught up to him. A large man with a black mask jumped out and grabbed him. Vaughn used every move he could remember but it was to no avail. The man blocked them with an expertise that Vaughn could not match. Still, he fought and for his efforts, got a blow to the face that knocked him out cold.
"You didn't kill him did you?" the other masked man in the driver's seat asked as his cohort dragged Vaughn's unconscious body into the van.
"No," was the curt answer. "Get going."
* * *
The nondescript looking man across the street immediately jumped out of his car as he watched his target get bundled away. He reached for cell phone and nearly dropped it in his rush.
"Target is lost," he barked into the phone. "Search city for white van, license number Bravo Echo Foxtrot one six niner."
"This isn't a military operation, Kelly," returned the smooth voice on the other line. "Tail them. I'll get others on it."
"Yes, sir."
* * *
Sydney woke up with a jolt. She knew immediately that she'd slept too long and that the apartment was too quiet. Fear gripped her and she sat up, just as she heard the front door open. Gathering the sheet around her, she raced out of the room only to stop dead in her tracks when she found Weiss standing there. He didn't seem concerned with her state of undress, but Sydney felt the heat rise to her cheeks...though that was not the foremost problem on her mind.
Something was very wrong.
"Where's Vaughn?" she demanded.
"He's safe, which is more than I can say for you," Weiss retorted. "Get dressed. We've got some explaining to do."
Knowing what time was always of the essence, Sydney threw on her jeans from the night before, but pulled on one of Vaughn's sweatshirts that he left for her. She opened the door and marched out.
"What happened?" she asked, pulling her hair back.
"We'll talk in the car," he replied, holding the front door open for her.
They walked out in silence, Sydney's breath coming out in small puffs as she tried not to panic or let worry stain her judgment. If something had happened to Vaughn, she needed to be at her sharpest.
Only when they were a block away from the apartment building did Weiss talk.
"Early this morning, your father learned that Sloane put a hit out on Vaughn. He immediately called your cell phone, but it was off and Vaughn's phone has been disconnected. Then, he called me. We acquired some equipment and grabbed Vaughn this morning which was in the nick of time because your dad saw someone he knew driving around the corner just as we were leaving."
"Where's Vaughn now?"
"We brought him to the closest safehouse we could find. He's with your friend Will."
"Does he know?" Sydney asked quietly.
"No." Weiss hesitated. "Your dad had to knock him out so I haven't been able to talk to him. I had to get you."
Sydney rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes painfully. "I only wanted to help him."
"If 'help' in your world means the same as 'kill', then you sure are on your way."
It took an immense amount of will power not to slam his head into the steering wheel. "Weiss, I do not need your crap right now!"
He glanced at her. "Sorry, Syd. I didn't mean it. I'm just...this is...Christ."
"Yeah."
He must have seen something on her face because he put a hand on her back. "Let it out before you talk to him."
"No," she said obstinately, pressing her lips together. "I'm done crying. I'm going to fix this and I'm going to protect him."
"Good cause he's gonna need it."
"What about his mother?"
"We have her in protective custody."
They reached the safehouse and Weiss pulled into the driveway.
"Ready?" he asked her.
"I was trained to be ready," she replied steadily.
A young agent answered the door and Sydney immediately spotted Will. He stared at her in shock and she saw an array of emotions flicker through his face before he stood up.
"It's about damned time," he spat.
"Will...I'm sorry..."
"Save it, Syd."
A sound to her left caught Sydney's attention and Vaughn appeared at the doorway, holding a bag of ice to his right eye.
"Syd," he breathed.
She went to him, holding him tightly. "You're okay."
Behind him, Jack stood up from his seat at the kitchen table. Sydney extracted herself from Vaughn's arms and faced her father.
"Dad," she said.
"Sydney."
"Thank you."
He nodded and sat back down. He glanced at Vaughn, silently telling Sydney that it was time to tell him.
"Is there a quiet room?" Sydney asked Weiss.
"What the hell is going on here?" Will demanded.
"Later, Will," Sydney said.
"Fine. I'll wait. I've been waiting for the past month. Glad to see you healed up nice, Buddy."
Vaughn only looked at Will, searching his memory for a name to match the face.
"My friend Will," Sydney filled in, reading his look. "Weiss, the quiet room..."
"In the back," Weiss said. "That shed."
Sydney took Vaughn's hand and led him out. Will watched him, frowning darkly.
"Mr. Bristow, can you explain any of this...?"
"No."
"Dammit," Will cursed under his breath and he sat back down on the couch.
Outside, Sydney sat in one of the uncomfortable folding chairs they had set up around a cheap card table. Vaughn sat across from her. The three lines between his eyebrows that Sydney had come to recognize appeared and she had to stop herself from reaching across the table to take his hand.
"Your dad packs a punch," he said.
"What has he told you?"
"Just that you have some things to straighten out for me." He clenched his fists. "I do have one question. What happened between us...none of it is part of some grand plan, is it? You're not...leading me on, are you?"
"What makes you ask that?"
"I told you I loved you last night and you didn't answer me."
"I made love to you three times, Vaughn. What answer do you want?" she couldn't help retorting.
"I just wanted to hear the words, Sydney," he said, a tone of disgust in his voice. "I didn't say them because I was looking for an easy lay."
She put her hands up. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
He nodded curtly. "So, what's the answer to my question?"
"I'm not leading you on, Vaughn." She took a deep breath. "I didn't answer you last night because I'm not free to love you. What we had...it was...a stolen moment."
And then she went on to tell him the truth. All of it.
As he listened, he realized he knew a lot of what she was saying, he just didn't know how it all fit together until now. Still, it didn't make things easier and he felt a small amount of anger at the hoops she'd jumped through just to keep all this from him. He knew it was because she wanted to protect him, but it also made him wonder if he knew her at all. He watched her speak, watched the stillness in her eyes, and felt like he was looking at someone else altogether. In that moment, he hated what they did, hated the lives that they led, and wanted nothing more to do with it. If the stress from it had caused amnesia, he wondered how much longer he would have lasted if he hadn't been given this chance to have a new beginning of sorts. Somehow, he doubted it would have been for much longer. Not when wanting this woman had made him leap into the fire more than once. He loved her more than life itself, even now, but something stopped him from taking her hand, from softening his countenance.
Sydney could sense Vaughn pulling away from her and she wanted to throw her arms around him, beg him to understand, but she didn't. She finished speaking and waited for some kind of response from him, but he stayed silent and still like a statue. Only his eyes were alive, sparking and glittering with something she couldn't name as he stared at her.
"Well, now a lot of things make sense," he said simply. "You took a big chance 'dating' me."
"You understand why I did."
"Yes. To hide the truth from Dixon."
"Not that I don't have feelings for you..."
"I know, Sydney."
He stood, the chair scraping back loudly in the silent room. "Let's go back. I think your friend Will wants to talk to you."
She nodded and followed him out the door.
At the house, Weiss watched them come back. He noticed the distance between them, and saw the lines bracketing Vaughn's mouth, his face tight with a mixture of anger and sadness. Sydney was staring at the ground, her lips a straight line as she walked a little behind him.
"Lover's quarrel?" Will asked snidely, coming up next to Weiss.
Weiss merely looked at him and opened the sliding door to let them in. Will immediately pounced on Sydney, a month's worth of frustration and hurt coming to the surface. Vaughn pushed past them and disappeared into the kitchen, Weiss close at his heels.
"I can't believe you left me here, Syd," Will railed. "I haven't heard a word from you, from anybody since I got here!"
"I know, Will, but a lot's happened since the mess in Taipei."
"You weren't so busy that you couldn't get yourself a new boyfriend."
She winced. "It's more complicated than that."
"Explain it to me. God knows I've got nothing but time."
"You know about me and my father...that's already too much. Let it lie, Will. It'll get you out of here faster," she said tiredly.
Will's anger subsided. He saw how tense Sydney was and how her bright brown eyes had lost their luster. This was all bigger than he was and he reached out to take her hand, his love for her forgiving her for what she did. She smiled her thanks, but her hand remained stiff under his.
In the kitchen, Vaughn drank a glass of orange juice as he eyed the two men sitting at the kitchen table.
"What now?" he asked.
"We're going to take you to the house you had set up for Sydney," Weiss said.
"I had a house set up?" Vaughn questioned, frowning.
"Yes. If and when you got her out of SD-6, you were going to hole her up there until the coast was clear."
"It's beautiful land," Vaughn murmured, his eyes focused on something Jack nor Weiss could see. "Flat, green. There's even a small stream that runs through the backyard."
"That's it," Weiss said easily. "Ready to go?"
"Is she coming?"
Weiss studied his friend's face, saw the guarded look in his eyes, and wasn't sure whether he was all that happy about Vaughn's having troubles with Sydney.
"Yes," Jack answered for him.
"What about you?" Vaughn inquired. "Aren't you in danger too?"
"Yes, but I need to stay," Jack replied with a no-nonsense tone. "Mr. Weiss, please get them prepared to leave. I will say good-bye to Sydney and then I'll go."
"Will do."
Jack went to his daughter and embraced her tightly. "Take care, Sydney."
Fear made her widen her eyes. "Dad?"
Before she could say anything more, he left the house, slamming the door behind him. Sydney started to go after him, but Weiss appeared at her side, a restraining hand on her arm.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
"You and Vaughn are going to disappear for a while."
"First you tell me to end it with him and now you're going to send me off somewhere to be alone with him. You're a real tactical genius."
Weiss ignored the barb, but couldn't ignore the stifled chuckle coming from the direction of the kitchen.
"Let's go," he grumbled. "We have one more passenger to pick up."
"Wait," Will said, moving to stand in their way. "You're leaving again? This is not fair."
"Life isn't fair, Mr. Tippin," Weiss replied, sounding remarkably like Jack. "Now, unless you decide you want to stay here a little longer, I suggest you get out of the way."
Will glared at him, but did move to the side. He put a hand on Sydney's arm, and she smiled sadly at him, saying nothing. Then, they left.
