This story is really weird. It's definitely alternate universe and maybe confusing at times, but just bear with me and it will all be explained. Also keep in mind that the first two chapters are like prologues to set the scene.

June 2001

Sydney opened her eyes and took a moment to remember where she was. A plane......she was on a plane. As she sat up to stretch her back the pilot came over the speakers announcing that they would be landing in Los Angeles in about ten minutes. She smiled to herself and she moved her blanket aside and re-fastened her seat belt. After about a million flights she could fall asleep and then instinctively wake up right before the landing was announced, it was almost like clockwork.
Once she passed through security and customs, she hurried out to the front and waved down a taxi. Sydney slid into the back and gave the driver directions to Danny's apartment. She was both eager and nervous about seeing him. Just two days before her latest mission she had revealed to him that her job was not actually as a translator for the State Department but as a black ops freelancer for the CIA. He was, well, less than thrilled with the news. She didn't blame him of course, the entire reason she told him in the first place was because she couldn't stand lying to him. She remembered him kissing her stomach as he brought up the subject of having a baby. It hit her then that she had to tell him. This was the man she was going to marry, spend the rest of her life with, maybe have children with, he had the right to know.
As the cab pulled up in front of Danny's apartment she paid the driver, gathered up her suit case and bag from the airport gift shop, and stepped out. She climbed the steps up to his floor and unlocked the door.
"Sweetie, I'm home-" she began but stopped and looked around in shock. The room looked like a tornado had been through it and there were five guys in gloves and swat suits looking just as surprised to see her as she was to see them.
"Who are you people? What are you doing here?" she demanded.
They glanced at each other hesitantly before one spoke for the group. "They were supposed to pick you up at the airport," he said.
She stood staring at them for a few moments. They stood silently their eyes seeming to dart toward the bathroom door and back again. Sydney dropped her bags and rushed forward.
"Miss Bristow-" one of them called after her. She ignored it, flinging open the bathroom door. Her breath caught in her throat at what she saw. She made a silent gasping noise and covered her mouth with her hands feeling tears springing to her eyes. There was blood everywhere. The shower curtain had torn off the hooks and was laying across the lifeless figure. Danny her sweet British doctor fiancé was lying inside his own bathtub covered in blood. She pressed her hand hard against her head trying to find a clear thought somewhere. A scream swelled up in her lungs but refused go any higher than her throat.
Footsteps entered the room behind her. She turned and found herself looking into the face of her boss Arvin Sloane. He glanced away from her momentarily, sighed, and then looked back at her face.
"Sydney-" he began.
She shook her head and turned toward the sink to rest her weight against it.
"Sydney, lets go to another room," Sloane said, cautiously taking her elbow to lead her out.
She turned away from him and dropped to her knees in front of the bathtub. She reached down to feel the pulse on Danny's neck. None came.
"Sydney, there's nothing you can do," Sloane said gently. Sydney felt tears spilling down her cheeks. Sloane helped her to her feet and lead her out of the bathroom. She followed as he lead her pass the team in the living room and into the bedroom. The bedroom her and Danny had shared so many times over the past two years.
"Now-" Sloane started.
"What happened?" she forced the words from her mouth.
Sloane sighed again and took a take recorder out of his jacket pocket. He pushed the play button and Danny's voice filled the room. He was talking about kids and then......oh god........he talked about her being a spy.
Sloane stopped the tape recorder and put it back in his pocket. "We intercepted a communiqué about three hours ago. On it where instructions to assassinate Mr. Hecht," he explained.
"From where?" Sydney asked shakily.
"The source is still unknown. However, there's no doubt that the order came as a result of the message you just heard," he said, "One of the United States' enemies decided to get personal retribution against you-"
"Why didn't you stop them?" she cut him off.
"By the time we received the communiqué the order had already been carried out. We didn't have time to organize counter measures-" he began.
"Bullshit!" Sydney yelled rage evident in her voice, "We do stuff like that all the time!"
"Sydney-"
"You sold him out!" she shouted, "You let the man I love die! You let him be killed!"
"Sydney, I understand your grief-" Sloane started.
That was too much for Sydney. She grabbed a letter opener off Danny's desk and lunged at him with it. He grabbed her arms and held her away from his body. She broke free and stabbed at him with the letter opener. He grabbed her hand and slapped her hard against the face.
The slap sent her reeling backward. She dropped the letter opener as the landed on her knees on the floor. Sloane picked the letter opener up and slipped it into his pocket along with the tape recorder. He squatted down in front of Sydney.
"I'm sorry about that......are you okay?" He asked and reached toward her. She pulled her face away from his hand and started at him with a cold empty gaze.
With another sigh he rose to his feet, and headed toward the door "I understand that you are in pain, Sydney, so I am willing to forget this little incident. But I will not tolerate such disrespect again. Neither I nor The Agency is the reason your fiancé is dead. You knew that you were not supposed to disclose information about what you do for The Agency. You endangered your life, and his life, and the lives of hundreds of federal agents. This happened because you broke the rules. You have no one to blame except yourself. Now, I suggest you stay in here until the clean up crew has finished."
With those last words Sloane turned and left the room, shutting the door firmly behind him. Sydney stared blankly at the door for a few moments. She slowly settled herself up against the edge of the bed, pulled her legs up against her chest, and clutched her arms tightly against her her knees. Her body began to shake violently as the scream that had been welling up in the bathroom finally burst forth in a wail of complete agony.

Three Months Later

Sydney screamed silently as she struggled against the arm holding her head underwater. The owner of the arm yanked her up by her hair, as a second man helped throw her to the ground. She coughed and gasped against the floor. They yanked her up, again by her hair, and threw her into a metal chair and handcuffed her to the back. The door in front of her opened and a man in a dark suit walked in. He had the two guards hold her down as he inserted a syringe of brown liquid into her arm. She struggled violently until the drug kicked in and she dropped off into sleep.

As she came out of the drug the man in the dark suit still stood in front of her.
"Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. I don't know what you put in that stuff. Wow. Wooo," She joked.
"I'd rather not make this too painful," He said, his voice a raspy whisper.
"Me, too. Thanks. Glad we're on the same page. It's good," she said sarcastically. He leaned closer too her face.
"Who are you working for? I'll not ask you again," he said.
"Okay. Get a pen," she said. He produced a ballpoint pen and a pad of paper from his coat, "Write this down. E-M-E-T-I-B. You got that?"
"Yes," he answered.
"Okay. Now reverse it," she said, trying to keep the fiendish amusement out of her voice. She watched as he did so. The annoyance evident on his face once he got it.
She chuckled and said "I've got bad news for you, man. I'm your worst enemy. I've got nothing to lose."
The dark suit guy motioned to one of the guards who brought him a black kit. He opened it and pushed it closer to her.
"That's not exactly true. You have teeth."

The creepy Asian man's ominous words were the last she heard of her dream before her eyes snapped open. The flight attendant who had awoken her pulled back and nervously explained, "Ma'am we're landing soon."
Sydney watched as the flight attendant quickly hurried away. She smirked. Her appearance must have been pretty shocking. Bright red hair and a swollen jaw. Oh well.......like she gave a shit.
Sydney got off the plane and boarded a bus headed for the downtown area of Los Angeles. She got off at the stop two miles away from the CIA office. She walked clutching her prize from Taipei wrapped in a white piece of cloth. She crossed the Central Intelligence Agency seal in the front lobby with the intention of depositing the device on Sloane's desk, hopefully refraining from telling him to stick it where the sun doesn't shine, and then getting the hell out of there.

However things didn't quite work as planned.......