Sydney walked into the joint task forces
center the next morning over to where Vaughn, Kendall, Weiss, and a blonde woman
were standing.
"Folks, this is Christine Phillips, our new clandestine services
graduate. Langley's approved her observing our operations over the next few
months," Weiss explained as he introduced everyone.
"I've read your operational file. It's a real
honor," Agent Phillips said shaking Sydney's hand. Sydney smiled.
"Sir, we've got a situation in Berlin. The networks are carrying it
live. I'm putting it through central display," an agent said from across
the room. On the TV screen a woman in a gray robe was standing in the middle of
a street with explosives taped all over her.
"Sir, that's Agent Wallace," Weiss said.
"You know her?" Phillips asked.
"She's one of ours," Vaughn said not looking away
from the monitor.
"Give me a better look at those explosives,"
Kendall ordered.
"Looks like C-4," the agent responded.
"If the C-4 is wired with a remote trigger, any radio communication
could cause detonation. Patch me through to the federal office in Berlin!"
Kendall said and turned to Sydney, "You
speak German, right?"
She nodded and he thrust the phone into her hands.
"Tell them to put you through to the ranking officer on site. Tell
him the woman is CIA and any random radio communication could detonate the
explosives," he said.
"I need to speak to the agent on site. I know he's
in the middle of a tactical operation. I need to talk to him now," Sydney
argued with the person on the other line in German. On the monitor the woman
began to cry and sing through her sobs. Sydney recognized the song as Pop Goes
the Weasel.
Suddenly the officer came onto the line. "I'm an officer for the Central Intelligence
Agency--" she began to explain.
"I speak English," he cut her off.
"We're monitoring the situation. Instruct all of your agents to shut
down radio communication. This woman may be wired with a remote detonator. I
repeat--"
"Agent Bristow, I've already ordered radio
silence," he interrupted again.
On the screen Agent Wallace sang, "No patience to wait
'til time goes by...pop..."
On the "pop" the explosives went off. In the operations center
Phillips promptly fled the room and everyone else stood in a stunned silence.
Later
Jack picked up his glass of scotch of the bar
in front of him, while in mid-sip Sloane slid into the seat next to him and
ordered a club soda. Jack set down his glass and asked, "How'd you find
me?"
"You weren't answering your phone and I remembered we
used to go here a long time ago. During happier times," Sloane answered.
"Mike, can I get the check?" Jack said to the
bartender as he gave Sloane his drink.
"Jack... it's two o'clock in the afternoon. What are you
doing here?"
"You come to me and tell me that my daughter is a double
agent, and then presume to cast judgment on my reaction to it?" Jack asked.
"I understand how you feel Jack. I mean what I said in
my office. The news of Sydney's betrayal gives me grief as well. The CIA has
counselors to help it's agents deal with stresses such as these. I think you
should see one of them," Sloane said.
"I'll keep that in mind," Jack said in a tone that
indicated he had no intention of even considering Sloane's suggestion.
Sloane nodded, "I didn't think you'd listen to my
advice. So I went to your direct superior Mr. Kendall. He assigned you to see
counselor for trauma evaluation."
With the Sloane tossed a five on the bar and left.
Four Days Later
Sydney walked through the operations
center after having just finished giving her report to Kendall. It had been a
stressful case, she was tired and more than ready for a break, and on top of
everything her father had been acting strange lately. Normally if there
was a problem he would either address it right away or ignore it, but now he seemed to be avoiding her whenever
he could. It was unlike him and she couldn't even begin to guess why he was
behaving in such a way.
She stopped when she got to the main room and spotted Vaughn
talking to Lennox across the room. They ended their conversation once they
spotted her, tired to shake hands but didn't due to Lennox's bandaged hand.
Vaughn headed back to his desk and Lennox walked up to her.
She smiled at him, "Four weeks off. The least they could
do."
"Yeah, well, they offered me counseling but I haven't
not worked in eight years," he said. Yet another thing that made her feel
almost kindred to the man. They both had worked for so long that they didn't
even know how to stop anymore, and they both had lost someone close to them.
"Where are you headed?" she asked.
"Fiji. I've never been there before. Emma and I
were going to go for our honeymoon. She was from there," he explained.
"I know. I knew her," she said.
"You knew Emma?" he asked her with a perplexed
expression
"One thing about my fiancé -- I was lucky to have known
him for as long as I did," she said.
"Thank you," he nodded in understanding after a
moment's pause.
After saying goodbye to Lennox, Sydney picked
up her stuff and went home. She changed into a comfortable pair of jeans and a
paisley button down. Her and Vaughn had made plans to have dinner together on
their plane ride to Cayo Cancho, to make up for their failed date in Nice. She
was exhausted but found that she was actually looking forward to it. It had been
a long time since she cooked, and she liked the thought of just doing something
normal such as spending an evening at home.
When he arrived she was glad to find that he seemed to be
just as casual as she was. They opened a bottle of wine and he watched as she
moved around the kitchen fixing the dinner. She retrieved the salt from next to
him on the counter and sprinkled some into the sauce simmering on the stove. She
stirred the sauce, took a taste, and then turned to offer the spoon to Vaughn.
He lightly grasped her wrist as he tasted it. She flipped the burner off and
then leaned down to retrieve the bread warming in the oven. As she was reaching
inside Vaughn took her by the arm and turned her back toward him. After a
momentary pause they kissed. The kiss was deeper and more heavy that the one
after their hockey date, but he remained gentle, resting his hands on her waist.
"You're so beautiful," Vaughn said once they broke.
"Dinner's ready," she said, noticing that her voice
sounded breathless.
"We do have an oven. You know, we can reheat," he
responded. She smiled and kissed him again, pushing the over door closed with
her foot.
A few miles away Sloane and Haladki sat
across from each other in Sloane's office.
"Did you get what I asked for Mr. Haladki?" Sloane
asked.
"Yeah eventually," Haladki answered irritably,
"though it certainly took long enough."
Sloane ignored Haladki's complaining and took the pictures
from him. He smiled lightly as he flipped through them. Sloane had formulated a
plan when he heard about this agent she had apparently become close
to.......Vaughn, and so far everything was falling into place perfectly.
