CHAPTER TWENTY – UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Vaughn couldn't believe that he had allowed this to happen.  His cover was blown to pieces and he was being held prisoner in his own home, strapped tightly to one of his dining room chairs which had been placed in the middle of his living room.

As soon as En Kai's lips had finished pronouncing Vaughn's given name, the kitchen door had swung open, revealing one of Vaughn's own subordinates wielding a rather large gun.  Before Vaughn had half a second to respond, or attempt to fight, he felt the pinch of a needle on the side of his neck.  The last image he saw while slumping to the floor was En Kai's face armed with more rage than he realized the older man possessed.

So now he was immobile – arms, legs, and head bound to a chair which he suddenly realized was not nearly as comfortable as Jie claimed they were when she purchased them.  Once En Kai found Vaughn to be fully revived, they began his questioning.  However, after it became clear that Vaughn would not be answering questions about himself, the CIA, or the Bristow family with any readiness, En Kai dropped the act.

En Kai had no true need for any information from Vaughn.  The questions were merely a formality… to see if he could decipher what kind of information about the Triad had been leaked to the CIA… but they were not necessary.  So, instead of questions, Vaughn received a lecture.

It was a lecture, of course, that was accompanied by some of En Kai's favorite "reinforcement techniques."  En Kai had used vices on Vaughn's forearms and shins, pins under the fingernails, crude electric shock, and razor blades in an attempt to pay Vaughn back for his deception of Jie.

"Also, of course," En Kai had said, "for the grief that she will suffer when she learns of her husband's horrible and untimely death."

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Sydney awoke feeling stronger than she had in days.  Whether it was the rage that had finally drained her body, allowing her a real deep sleep, or the fact that she now had the missing puzzle pieces to her life, Sydney couldn't tell.

Her eyes blinked open, and she first noticed that she had slept through sunset and that the sky was completely dark.  Her eyes flitted from the window to the recliner where her father sat, watching her intently.  Although she was certain he had not slept since she had been discovered, he was looking more like his old self… stoic and cool, but with sharp eyes that weighed every new piece of information.  His eyes contained something else, too, that Sydney couldn't quite identify.

"Sydney?"

"Dad?"

"Sydney… I'm so sorry."  Jack had been waiting hours to tell her that… to relieve a bit of the guilt he was carrying, but she would hear nothing of it.

She stood up from the couch, tossing the blanket that had covered her into a heap in the corner, and walked over to where Jack sat.  After staring at him for a moment, she answered,

"There are three men responsible for the hell I have been through in these past two years, Dad."  She leaned forward, resting her hands on her father's shoulders and pressed a firm kiss into his dark silver hair, "And you are most definitely NOT one of them."

Sydney knew what she had to do.  While she slept, her dreaming mind was mulling over all the new information her mother had divulged.  Sydney's initial reaction, that because of Rambaldi she could never be free, had taken a deep hold of her, and aided her decision.  She held out a hand to Jack and helped him up from the recliner.

"Call Kendall," she ordered, surprising Jack by her alteration in demeanor from the afternoon before.  "Tell him that we're going away for a few days.  He doesn't need to know why… just that we have something to take care of.  We'll be back, and then I'll succumb to all the tests and regression the CIA wants.  I have some unfinished business first."

Jack nodded and was pulling out his cell phone when Sydney walked back down the hall to the bathroom.

After they had both showered and packed a change of clothes from their CIA-provided wardrobes, they took a cab back to the airport and were on the very next flight out.

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Vaughn had seen the results of En Kai's handiwork before, but he never knew exactly what the usually soft-spoken man was capable of… until now.  Apparently deceiving his daughter into marriage called for some extra effort on En Kai's part – and Vaughn's nerves were registering every little bit of that effort.

The CIA had, obviously, trained him to withstand torture before they allowed him to go deep cover… but nothing compared to the real thing performed by a master who was thoroughly enjoying his work.  Before Vaughn had time to assess his injuries, he felt a gust of air from the direction of the doorway behind him.  The straps on the chair did not allow him to turn his head, but Vaughn knew it was En Kai returning to continue his "questioning." 

"Did you have a pleasant rest, Mr. Vaughn?  I'm sorry I had to leave, but you know our business… it doesn't stop for anything, even family emergencies.  Now, where were we?"

En Kai stopped directly in front of his son-in-law and surveyed his face, waiting for a response.  He gave a soft smile as the look in Vaughn's eyes spoke explicitly about where he could go.  But En Kai was almost never intimidated, and certainly not by a measly undercover CIA agent... Especially a CIA agent who he had immobilized in a chair, miles from everyone who knew or cared. 

En Kai pushed closer, leaning over the chair and placing the weight of his body on Vaughn's bruised and bloody forearms.  His face broke into a rare genuine grin as Vaughn winced involuntarily.  With his face just inches from Vaughn's he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a sound from across the room.

Both men were frozen, gazes locked on the front entrance as the knob turned and the door swung open, revealing the last person either of them expected to see.

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