Sydney sat at her desk, anxiously watching the minutes tick by at an agonizingly slow pace as she awaited the meeting.
"Who's winning?" A voice asked from behind.
"What?"
"The stare down between you and the clock."
"You're not funny Weiss."
"I happen to think I am."
"Well, you're not."
"Sydney, you wound me."
"Good." He made an aggravated noise, then perched himself on the edge of her desk.
"Ok… so I take it you heard?"
"Heard what?" she asked, causing him to shoot her an annoyed look.
"That we're gallivanting off to Spain."
"Gee, that's exactly how Kendall put it," Sydney noted dryly.
"Really? I thought he would've said prancing," Weiss remarked. Sydney laughed, and he grinned proudly.
"Why are you laughing if I'm not funny?"
"You just get lucky sometimes. It's almost time, let's get going."
"Not excited, are we?" She glared at him.
"Shut up, Weiss." He grabbed her arm and stopped her just outside of the conference room.
"Seriously Syd- I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but you've got to be really careful right not. You can't let on to Kendall that you're at all affected by this mission. If he thinks you have any kind of emotional draw to it, he'll pull us off faster than you can say yo yo." Sydney smiled lightly.
"You're right; you don't need to tell me. I mean, for all we know, we might not even be going anywhere near Vaughn. Spain's not a small country."
"No, but Swaziland is." She stared at him blankly.
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" He shrugged amiably.
"Hell if I know. I just thought I'd point that out." Sydney gave him a bemused look before pulling open the door and walking into the room. Marshall and Jack were already waiting, and Kendall came in not long after Sydney and Weiss.
"Good to see you all. As you know, Agents Weiss and Bristow are being sent to Spain tomorrow evening." He nodded to Jack, who proceeded to stand and face them all.
"This one is going to be a bit more complicated than your mission to Ireland was. It isn't a disk you'll need to retrieve; it's a former Alliance member who slipped through the cracks. We have confirmed that he has comfortably set up residence in Bilbao, which is near the French border… as well as the city of Pasajes." With this last bit, he shot a glance towards Sydney. She struggled to maintain a neutral expression; Vaughn was stationed in Pasajes. Keeping the warning look in his eyes, Jack continued speaking.
"The man we're looking for is Luis Serrano, though he often goes by the alias of Francisco Franco."
"Wait a minute… he took the name of a well known Spanish dictator as his alias?" Sydney questioned.
"Did I mention he's very arrogant?" Kendall muttered.
"And that arrogance is exactly how we're going to catch him," Jack added.
"How so?" Weiss asked.
"He seems to think he's infallible. He's practically invited British agents to his home in the past, and he's not quite as cautious about covering his tracks these days." Sydney sighed lightly.
"So what ridiculous getup do I have to take on so we can infiltrate?" Jack smiled lightly.
"That's the good news: you don't have to don any type of outlandish disguises for this one. You just need to exercise extreme stealth to get in there, grab him, and get out." Sydney smiled in relief, and Kendall picked up where Jack had left off.
"You two leave in one hour. Weiss, if you'll follow Marshall, he'll fill you in on anything you might need for the mission and Jack, make sure all of the arrangements are in place. Sydney, you get to stay for a minute." Sydney sighed inwardly, and caught Weiss' eye as he stood to follow Marshall. He gave her a sympathetic, knowing look.
"Agent Bristow, there's something you need to understand: if this mission weren't so damn important, I wouldn't allow you anywhere near it. Hell, I wouldn't allow you within 50 miles of Spain, much less 5 miles from the city that Agent Vaughn just so happens to be stationed in."
"What's your point?" Sydney gritted out.
"The point is that you had better not even think of taking a side trip to visit certain other CIA operatives in that area. Are we clear?"
"As mud," Sydney grumbled as she stood and stormed out. Kendall glared after her. She pulled out her cell phone and began searching for a still unfamiliar number as she walked towards the parking lot. Weiss cut her off at the halfway point.
"Syd… who are you gonna call?"
"Ghostbusters," she replied dryly. Weiss stared at her for a moment, but couldn't contain a small burst of laughter.
"You're funny when you're annoyed." She shot him a glare, and he held up his hands.
"Down, tiger. Look Sydney, you heard what Kendall said- hell, I heard what Kendall said. If you even thin-"
"Yeah Weiss, I heard him. But you know what? I'm not planning any 'side trips' to see any 'certain operatives' while we're there. However, Kendall said nothing about other operatives taking side trips to see me, now did he?" Weiss groaned.
"Syd…" she cut him off again.
"And besides, it never hurts to have a little extra backup, right? Especially when it's just you and me… right?"
"You're gonna get us both killed, Syd… and when we're dead, I'm never going to talk to you again. Ever." She grinned as he began to head off in the opposite direction.
"Thanks Weiss… you're the best!"
"Well I already knew that…" She shook her head and resumed searching for Vaughn's number. She had just reached the parking lot, and was about to call him, when a hand grabbed her cell phone and shut it off. Thinking Weiss had changed his mind, Sydney turned to argue with him.
"Weiss, you-" she stopped herself as she saw who was really standing there.
"Dad?"
"That was not one of your better ideas, Sydney."
"Give me my phone back." He handed it back over, but didn't release his grip on it.
"Not here," he said quietly, his eyes subtly glancing towards a pair of cameras. Realization dawned, and she looked at him in surprise.
"You don't have a lot of time left. Go home, get packed, and worry about that later, when you have all of the details." She nodded, sensing an ulterior motive to his words. He finally let go of the phone, and she put it away.
"See you in twenty," he said as he walked back into the building. She watched the door slip shut behind him, and frowned to herself as she walked to the car. It was going to be a very long day, but it would all be worth it if she just got to see him once again.
