Interior Warehouse

"Sydney?" Vaughn called.

Sydney jerked at the sound of the voice and then relaxed as she recognized Vaughn's voice.

"Over here.  Did you bring a doctor?"

"Yes, we did."

Following Sydney's voice the men walked back to the office area.  Reluctantly leaving Jack's side, Sydney joined Vaughn and Devlin.  The doctor in the meantime took Sydney's place.  Pulling the blanket down he started examining Jack's shoulder.

Devlin placed a hand on Sydney's shoulder.  She looked worried and kept glancing toward the cot.  "Don't worry Sydney.  Your father's strong. He'll pull through." "I hope," Devlin thought.  "What happened? He was fine when I left him earlier this evening."

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Sydney said, "Karl Dreyer apparently saw you and Dad leaving the Jade Dragon.  He confronted Dad and they struggled.  Dad was shot, but he managed to kill Dreyer."

"Who is Dreyer?" Devlin asked.

Before Sydney could respond, Vaughn said, "He's the guy Sloane had administering the functional lie detector tests."

"Do we know if he contacted Sloane or anyone else?" Devlin asked.

"Yes, Dad said he was sure that Dreyer hadn't contacted Sloane.  Dreyer just happened to stumble upon you two tonight.  Dad said that Dreyer didn't contact Sloane, because he thought Sloane wouldn't believe him. I think he intended to torture a confession out of Dad and then tell Sloane."

"Where's the body?" Devlin asked.

"In the alley behind the Jade Dragon," Sydney answered.

"Well if you two will excuse me, I'll go see that the mess is cleaned up."  Devlin started to walk out of the warehouse, but paused by the doctor.  The two conversed for a couple of moments, and then Devlin left.

Seeing Sydney angrily dash tears from her eyes, Vaughn wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.  Sydney gratefully leaned into him and cried. "Devlin's right you know. Your Dad's too tough to let a little thing like this slow him down for long," Vaughn said.

In a few moments Sydney's tears subsided. "Thanks Vaughn."  Wiping the last of the tears from her face, she settled back into spy mode. "We'll need to come up with a plausible cover story to explain this," she said.

Vaughn glancing at the doctor said, "We'll just ask the doc for a good cover story."

Having finished his exam, the doctor straightened up and came over to Sydney and Vaughn.

"How is he?" Sydney asked.

"The bullet didn't hit anything vital but it is still lodged in his shoulder.  The wound is infected, but he should be all right once I remove the bullet and treat the infection.  I'm going to need your help to remove it."

"Okay," Sydney and Vaughn answered.

Over on the cot, Jack stirred restlessly.  "Sydney? Sydney?"

"I'm here Dad," Sydney said as she walked back to his side and took his hand.  He settled down again.

Vaughn and the doctor followed Sydney.

 "I've already given him a local anesthetic but I want you to hold him still if he starts to thrash," said the doctor.  Silently Sydney and Vaughn positioned themselves so that they could restrain Jack if necessary. The doctor started to probe the wound and Jack reacted as if a current had passed through his body. "Hold him still," the doctor barked as he paused.  Sydney grabbed Jack's feet while Vaughn held his shoulders down.  In a few moments, Jack relaxed again and the doctor continued to work.  "There I've got it," he said as he pulled out the lump of lead.  Sydney and Vaughn released their hold on Jack. "Once I've finished cleaning and bandaging the wound, I'm going to give him an injection of antibiotic to fight the infection."

After injecting the antibiotic, the doctor turned to Sydney.  Handing her a sling and a couple of pill bottles he said, "I want him to wear the sling for a couple of days. It will help his shoulder heal quicker. Make sure he takes these pills for a week to take care of the infection.  The other pills are a painkiller, give them to him as needed.  Also, he's lost a lot of blood, make him drink as much water and juice as you can."

"Thanks doc.  Can you suggest a plausible cover story?" Sydney asked.

"Tell people that he dislocated his shoulder.  I can provide x-rays and paperwork to support it."

While Vaughn walked the doctor out of the warehouse, Sydney sat back down in the chair next to Jack.  Brushing his forehead, she smiled slightly.  His skin felt cooler. Stifling a yawn, Sydney took his hand and leaning forward placed their clasped hands against her cheek. She quickly fell asleep.  When Vaughn returned, he found Sydney asleep with her head pillowed on Jack's chest.  Shaking open another blanket, he draped it over her.  He then settled down behind the desk and watched the sleeping pair.

A couple of hours later, Sydney was jerked awake by the buzzing of her pager.  She was surprised to find that her head was resting on her father's chest and that his hand was lightly resting on her back.  Gently moving his hand, Sydney sat up and checked the pager.

"Sloane – 911."

Sighing, she got up from the chair and stretched. She jumped slightly as Vaughn quietly asked,  "What is it?" She had forgotten that Vaughn was still there.

"It's Sloane, I've got to go, but …" she trailed off looking down at Jack.  While she was asleep he had slipped from unconsciousness into a deep sleep.  She reached out to touch his forehead.  It felt cool.  His fever had also broken in the last couple of hours.

Vaughn noting her worried frown said, "I'll stay with him until you can get back."  At that moment, they heard another ring.  Sydney looked at Vaughn. "It's not me," he said. At the third ring their eyes fell on Jack's coat.  Reaching into one of the pockets Sydney fished out Jack's pager.  The display read "Sloane –911."

"Well, I guess I'll have to give Sloane the bad news now," Sydney said.

Checking on Jack one last time, Sydney reluctantly left the warehouse.  Climbing into her truck, Credit Dauphine.