Author's Comments: Sorry it's been such a long time since I added on, but what can I say, school isn't a time saver. But I had time to finish this chapter because we have yet another snow day! YEA! Anywayz, to answer some of the questions I've come about in the reviews. Yes, I did make up the code. I don't know how I thought of it, but the mind does weird things a midnight when I wrote it. And yes, I did see last Sunday's Alias. It is kinda of scary that Sloane allowed the CIA to obtain the Rambaldi device that is so destructive. Back to the story though, please keep reading and reviewing! Oh, and thanks jen for that clarification. I always mess those up, as you obviously noted. Now read!

Chapter 13

Vaughn rushed into the office within minutes of the call. He walked swiftly to Weiss.

"Where's Kendall?" Vaughn asked him.

"The tech room," Weiss replied. Vaughn headed to his desk to retrieve the note and then goes into the tech room. He burst the door open and headed straight for Kendall.

"Read this," Vaughn said pushing the note into Kendall's line of sight.

"Agent Vaughn---" Kendall threatened.

"Read it!" Kendall took the note out of his hands and read it.

"I figured out the code. This proves that Sydney is innocent. She admits that someone put her up to stealing the crystal and she asking for help," Vaughn insisted.

Kendall handed the note back to Vaughn and turned back to the airport video footage. "All the more reason to bring Bristow in."

"It could--" Vaughn started.

"Agent Vaughn, the note you offer in behalf of Agent Bristow isn't substantial enough evidence. This goes far beyond the theft of the crystal. Agent Bristow murdered an agent of the CIA. That note," Kendall said gesturing to the paper in Vaughn's hand, "could be fake. A ruse. Can you even tell me what a basement agent is?" Vaughn was quiet. "We are going to bring Agent Bristow in and find out what the hell is going on, understand?"

"Yes, Sir," Vaughn said softly.

"Good. Is the assessment done?" Kendall asked.

"Almost," Vaughn lied.

"Finish it. I want any and all accessible background information on Agent Bristow before she is brought in." Vaughn nodded and headed for the door. He walked to his chair and sat down, throwing the note onto his desk.

He had purposely lied so that he didn't have to watch them try and catch Sydney. Vaughn felt that something more was going on then met the eye, and knowing Sloane, there probably was. He didn't understand how the CIA would benefit from catching Sydney. Even though the idea of having Sydney back, safe, was a relief, there had to be a reason why she had yet to come forward.

The whole matter was confusing really. First Sydney had supposedly died, but then appears a week later to steal a Rambaldi artifact from the CIA. She knocks out Vaughn, but leaves him a note requesting the CIA's help. She later interferes with a SD-3 mission, killing a CIA agent in the process. Maybe that was the most confusing element of all. If Sydney was working for SD-6, why did she shoot a SD-3 agent?

Vaughn hated to take that situation realistically because the only answer he could come up with was that Sydney or SD-3 knew that Diane was a CIA agent and that meant that the shooting was intentional. Vaughn didn't want to believe that Sydney's loyalty to the CIA was questionable. In the logical case that Sydney knew whom she was shooting was the enemy, then the note Sydney wrote would be just as Kendall said, a ruse.

Vaughn looked up as Weiss approached him ten minutes later.

"Any report from Jack Bristow yet?" Vaughn asked him.

Weiss shook his head and turned grim. "Vaughn, they got her." Vaughn nodded slowly and sadly.

"When?" He dared himself to ask.

"Just a few minutes ago. Surrounded her when she tried to leave the airport. She didn't have a chance," Weiss answered somberly.

"How long till they arrive?"

"Twenty minutes, half hour at most," Weiss stated.

"Thanks for telling me." Weiss gave him a small smile while wondering in his head if informing Vaughn had been the right thing to do. Weiss turned away and walked into the bustling activity of the hallways.

Seconds later, Kendall approached him, demanding to see Sydney's assessment. Vaughn reached into his desk drawer and pulled it out. Kendall was about to walk away when Vaughn spoke up.

"Where are you taking her?" Vaughn asked.

Kendall gave Vaughn a hard look. "Don't even think that I'm going to even let you watch the interrogation."

Vaughn decided to take Kendall's accusation to the next level. "I don't want to watch the interrogation. I want to talk to her."

"No way!" Kendall stated firmly.

"Sydney is more likely to talk to me than she is to you. I am after all, her handler," Vaughn said off handedly.

Kendall's eyes narrowed. "Fine. I'll give you one hour. No more. If I feel that your approach to the situation is compromised or inefficient, it's my turn." With that Kendall turned and walked away.

Vaughn smiled meekly to himself. The whole realization of the situation had kind of left him numb and cold. His heart told him to believe, but his instincts said look at the evidence. He knew that when he got into the room with Sydney Bristow, he couldn't allow either emotion on his face. The truth being not because he didn't want to show his feelings, but because Kendall was looking for any reason to keep him from seeing Sydney and Sydney would be looking for any sign of mistrust. He believed that if Sydney could see his doubts, she would close up refusing to tell him anything.

"Agent Vaughn!" Kendall called to him. "Agent Bristow is here." He started walking down the nearest hallway, and Vaughn took a deep breath and followed. Kendall finally stopped in front of the interrogation room. Its setup wasn't unlike that of a police station with its cement walls, iron table, one-way mirror, and the two chairs that were located at either end of the table.

Vaughn walked up to the one-way mirror and could see them strapping Sydney down to a chair meant for criminals. Her blonde hair hung limply around her shoulders and her eyes were slightly shadowed from lack of sleep. The two guards stepped out, and Sydney was left alone.

Kendall turned towards him glancing at his watch. "Your hour starts now, Agent Vaughn." Vaughn nodded and headed for the door. He opened it and stepped in.

Sydney looked up and watched him as he sat. Her expression however remained emotionless.

"Syd, do you know why you're here?" Vaughn asked her gently. She didn't answer. Vaughn thought for a second. "Do you want me to call you Sydney or Agent 3471?" Sydney in turn glared at Vaughn but said nothing. "Do you want to tell me why you stole the Rambaldi crystal?" Again nothing. Vaughn hated sounding mean and up front, but he needed to get some response from her so Kendall wouldn't kick him out.

"Do you want to tell me why you killed a CIA agent in Tennessee?" Sydney froze and looked up.

"CIA?" she asked quietly, fear in her eyes.

"Yes. She was a CIA agent named Diane Patterson," Vaughn said, happy to get a response. He tried to keep his gaze focused in those unfamiliar blue eyes, but it was hard. They were more beautiful when they were brown, but whether or not they were familiar, he could still read them like a book. The moment he had said that the woman was CIA, he had saw fear, and now pain.

"Untie my hands," she requested, looking directly into Vaughn's eyes.

Vaughn watched her carefully. He knew that Kendall wouldn't approve, but he felt that by doing as she requested, she might actually tell him something. He stood up and approached her, and was about to bend down to untie her hand when Kendall burst into the room.

"Agent Vaughn, get your ass out here!" Kendall yelled. Vaughn looked at Sydney and then headed for the door. Kendall slammed it shut the moment he was outside.

"What in the hell do you think you were doing?" Kendall asked.

"I believe that she could tell us more if her hands were untied," Vaughn said somewhat calmly.

Kendall looked at him as if he was crazy. "There isn't anything she could tell us with her hand tied that she can't tell us with her hands untied."

"Give it a chance," Vaughn said angrily. "Agent Bristow knows she can't get anywhere with her hands untied. She is still strapped to the chair. We may be able to answer all our questions if we just bow down to this one request."

Kendall looked down at Agent Vaughn. "Fine," he said grudgingly. "But if the slightest thing goes wrong in there, you'll be out of there so fast that you won't even know what hit you."

"Thank you," Vaughn said as he stepped back into the room. He walked over to the chair and untied her hands. She rubbed her wrists for a second and then grabbed Vaughn by the shirt with one hand as the other searched his pockets. She let go however when she found a pen. Vaughn looked at her confused as she uncapped the pen quickly and wrote something on her arm.

She threw the pen on the table when she was done and gestured him to come over. He stayed a slight distance and read the message:

Do you have paper?

Vaughn nodded. "Just a sec." He ran to the door and asked the guard to get some paper.

"What's going on in there, Vaughn?" Kendall asked.

"She wants paper," Vaughn said, before closing the door so as not to listen to Kendall's protests. Sydney was sitting patiently facing forward. Pen still on the table. The guard entered in seconds later with paper. He took the paper and put it in front of Sydney. She picked up the pen and began writing, and Vaughn began reading.

Vaughn,

I have requested paper and pen because everything I say is being recorded by SD-6. A transmitter was placed in my neck to record my words and my locations, so SD-6 knows I am here. It was SD-6 who faked my death. The woman who was shot was made up to look like me. She was actually an SD-6 agent who was paid to deliver the folder of which she had no idea of its contents. When she was shot, she was taken to the hospital where doctors on the SD payroll faked all identification. The blood type, identification markings, everything was faked to correspond to my identity. This was all done so the SD-cells could use me as a "basement agent." A basement agent is located on the "BB" floor of SD-6. It can only be accessed through an elevator keycard of which Sloane is the only one at this point of who I know possesses one. These agents are of the best in the business and are paid off by the SD-cells and given whatever they wish. All of these agents are aware that they are working for the Alliance and not the CIA. These people do not exist a people in the world. They are given numbers and treated as soldiers. My silence and loyalty to the Alliance was forced. Sloane made me perform his missions assuring me that Francie and Will would not be hurt if I fulfilled my duties correctly. Slight changes were made to change my physical features and I was ordered to infiltrate the CIA and steal the Rambaldi crystal due to my knowledge of the CIA facility.

Sydney stopped a moment and looked at Vaughn before continuing.

As I said, my conversations were being recorded by SD-6 so to give away my identity to you that night would have been a big mistake. I didn't want to hurt you, but I knew you would try and stop me from leaving, and I couldn't allow that to happen. I'm sorry. The mission in Tennessee was simply to obtain the tape because the agent who was originally supposed to pick up the tape was a traitor. I knew nothing else. I didn't know she was CIA.

Just then, Agent Kendall came in. "We've got a problem," he said. "I don't know what you've just told to Agent Vaughn, Agent Bristow, but we just got a call from Sloane. He wants Agent Bristow back in his custody with the hour."

"No way!" Agent Vaughn protested. "We can't do that."

"It's a little more complicated then that Agent Vaughn," Kendall said. He turned to Sydney as he spoke. "Unfortunately Sloane knows that Jack is a double agent. He said that if Sydney isn't back in his custody within the hour, Jack Bristow will be killed."