Chapter Three

*Sorry for the delay! Please review…doesn't have to be long, I just want to know if anyone is reading this. And thank you so much to the people that have, you make me happy!

            Sydney made her way through the center of the building in a hurry, her head bent down in deep concentration as her thoughts ran wild. Vaughn sat his computer filing data when he noticed the streak of red of Sydney's tank top fly by in a whirl. He shot up out of his chair and ran to catch up with her.

            "Sydney!" He called out her name as he approached her. She looked up and he say her troubled face an immediately knew something had gone wrong. A mixture of fear, shock and anger played upon Sydney's features as Vaughn spoke, "What happened?"

            For a moment she struggled to find the right words before blurting out, "I have to go down for questioning, they found a tape of me and Pavel Yerik doing business together." She spoke as the last few words came out bitterly.

            "Who? What? How?" He questioned with a confused look on his face. Sydney would have laughed if she weren't in the situation she was in.  She turned and started walking again, " Pavel Yerik, was formerly associated with the KGB. There is video footage of me and him at a bank in Russia opening a joint account…"

            "And Kendall thinks your working for someone else, because of the video and the photograph we received last week." He finished for her as they reached the elevator. She pushed small the button down and looked up at him. He stood there facing the ground, she could practically see the gears turning in his head as his brow furrowed. He looked back up at her. His face showed concern but he managed to sound professional, "I'll talk to Kendall." He offered.

            "No that's okay, he's not in any mood to receive visitors that's for sure." She said, her voice dripping with resentment. "And he's probably not going to want to hear from you, given his obvious disapproving thoughts on our," She paused, catching herself about to say relationship, but stopped and was suddenly at a lost for words. What were Vaughn and her anyways? Mercifully Sydney was saved by the muted ding of the elevator, and she looked towards Vaughn again.

            "Good luck." He said after a moment, offering his words as some sort of hope for her.

            "Yeah, thanks." She said as she entered the elevator and watched the doors slide shut, his worried face replaced by the reflection of herself in the all too shiny doors.

*** 2 a.m, CIA basement***

Sydney sat in the empty hallway, her head leaning against the wall, eyes shut in attempt to feign sleep. Her ears perked up at the sound of a door opening and her eyelids slowly came up, allowing her to see. She stood and found the two men that had questioned her, Newman and Brobeck, in the doorway, one of them holding a file

"Agent Bristow." Newman spoke, his voice filling up the silence, almost too much as it echoed down the isolated hallway. "We have concluded that you are not currently involved in any illegal activities outside of the CIA and SD-6 and therefore we are not putting you in custody and are releasing you to carry out all duties as normal, this includes all activities at SD-6. However, you will be under strict supervision and intensified security while on missions for both parties." She looked at him with tired eyes, saying nothing.

"You are free to go." He added as she let out a noticeable sigh of relief.

"Thank you." Were her only words spoken as she headed out towards the elevators trying to think of a way to explain to Francie why she had gone out jogging for over six hours.

***Residence of Stephen Herrberger, Stockholm, Sweden***

            Sydney made her way across the large expanse of roof that lay under her feet. It was morning, and there was a brilliant sunrise, just breaking over the horizon. She looked over the edge of the house and saw two guards in the yard, about three stories below her, and a black sedan pulling out of the driveway. She dropped to her stomach so the driver couldn't spot her on the roof and stayed there, until she saw the large iron gates at the entrance close behind it as it sped off. "This is bluebird, reporting two guards in the yard, armed. The target just left." She whispered in her com link.

            "Alright, all security systems down. You're clear to go in." Dixon voice greeted back at her as she made her way over to a skylight above a bathroom. 

            "Copy that." Sydney reached into the pocket of her tight black pants and pulled out what appeared to be a pen. She unzipped the small bag that rested on her back and pulled out a circular device with a handle. She flicked the end of a pen and a laser beam shot out the end of it. Putting the circular device on the skylight, she twisted its handle and it let out a small noise as it suctioned itself to the glass. Sydney pointed the pen at the glass and it silently sliced right through the material. After making a large circle with the laser, she flicked it off and carefully pulled the glass up, revealing a hole large enough for her to pass through.  She pulled a rope out of her bag as she secured one end to the roof, and the other through the hook on her belt. "Alright Dixon, Im going in. Requesting three minutes of radio silence."

            "Roger that." He said professionally. Sydney lowered herself into the house, landing in a large bathroom, complete with a Jacuzzi that had a built in television system. She glanced around the room, and then into the hallway as she switched com links.

            "Boy Scout I'm in position." She said while pulling out the bug she was supposed to plant on Herrberger's computer, along with the CIA issued on that fit snugly on top of it.

            "I got you Freelancer. Proceed as planned." A familiar voice called back to her. She made her way out into the deserted hallway, down a flight of stairs and into a lavish library. She made her way over to the computer, prying off the exterior with a tiny screwdriver and opening up the hard drive.

            "Red wire, blue wire." She said to herself as she placed the bug over the two wires. She closed up the hard drive and quickly turned on the computer to see if it was working. The screen lit up and Sydney spoke into her link, "Alright Boy Scout, it's placed."

            "Okay. Hold for confirmation." Vaughn voice spoke back to her as she impatiently tapped her toes. While scanning for signs of her presence, the voice interrupted her thoughts, " Were good, activating the second one." Vaughn's voice said as he activated SD-6's bug so they would be fed the same information.

            "I'm leaving." Sydney said as turned off the computer, hurrying towards the door, eyes flitting over the desolate hallway before making her way back up to the bathroom and up through the skylight. She turned and replaced the gaping hole left by her entrance with the same glass she extracted, but first placing an extra heavy adhesive to the sides, developed by Marshall that would hold the glass in the exact same place. She switched com links as she spoke to Dixon. "I'm out, do you got it?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

            "We got it. Nice work." Dixon said.

            "Thanks, see you at home." She replied.

            After catching her flight from Stockholm, Sydney found herself in Washington D.C at the Dulles airport, waiting for her connecting flight that would bring her home to L.A. She slumped in the hard plastic chair in a Starbucks close to her gate, checking her watch.  9 A.M. Two hours until her flight.  She sighed, it had been almost 24 hours since she had last slept, even though she had unsuccessfully tried to fall asleep on her long flight back from Sweden. She blinked her eyes and looked at the bustling crowds around her. Surely there was a CIA agent watching her from somewhere, she remembered hearing the words "strict supervision" and "intensified security" from the agent back in L.A. She gave up looking, too tired to think rationally anyways, and finally succumbed to her heavy eyelids that were persistently fighting to close, as she drifted off to sleep.

*** 2 hours later***

            "This is Freedom Flyer reporting to base. Freelancer has not boarded the plane. I repeat, has not boarded the plane and we are due for departure in T minus 60 seconds." The agent spoke quietly in to her watch. She looked up, making one last sweep of the plane from her vantage point in front of the cabin as she straightened out her uniform and smiled at a late oncoming passenger who was scurrying to his seat. She heard the mute ding of a bell and started prepping the plane for take off and soon she stood in front of the bored passengers, making arm gestures towards the exits with a strained smile upon her face. She knew this was bad, Agent Bristow was supposed to board the plane and fly back to L.A. The only other thing she knew is that she was supposed to keep a trained eye on her at all times. She finished her safety instructions and went back up to the front of the plane to mull over her thoughts in privacy.

*** CIA  Joint Tasks Force Building, L.A***

"Devlin, may I have a word with you?" Jack asked as he quickly stepped into the man's office.

            "Of course." He said, momentarily putting down the file he was reading as he directed his attention towards Jack. Jack sat down at the desk, as he briefly surveyed the room before speaking.

            "It has come to my attention that the Alliance is weakening. Someone has been stealing information that was previously in sole procession of the Alliance. I discovered this when I overhead a phone conversation of Sloane's that revealed this, along with his anxiety over this development. The stolen information holds a list of almost all of the Alliance's connections, including SD cells and planned future activity." Jack said with a troubled look playing upon his face. Devlin was immediately attentive and was now leaning forward in his chair.

            "When did you find this out?" he asked, not bothering with formalities.

            "About two hours ago. I came as soon as I could get out of SD-6 safely."  Devlin just nodded, his brow furrowed, knowing the catastrophic repercussions that could occur if this information got into the wrong hands.

"Any idea of who has obtained this information?" He asked as he studied Jack.

Jack paused, with a worried look on his face. He opened his mouth to speak but then deciding against it, shut it and shook his head. "Not besides all the normal suspects. There are innumerable people and covert agencies that would delight in the fall of the Alliance." He said, as if his statement was a compromise of his original thoughts. Devlin immediately picked up on his apprehensive actions and chose to address it right away.

"Agent Bristow I don't need to remind you the seriousness of this intel you just gave me, and its possible devastating effects on the entire hierarchy of the world's organization and power." He said, staring at him, knowing that intimidation tactics would yield no results, but hopeful that his sincerity would encourage Jack to tell all. Jack sighed, knowing what he had to do.

"I've been having my doubts about Sydney. As you probably know Kendall has already had her been questioned about some footage we have of her in various places that neither the CIA nor SD-6 has sent her to. She doesn't seem to be as devoted lately. God knows she has motives to bring the Alliance and SD-6 down, and maybe sometimes even the CIA. You have to understand what Sydney's gone through." He said. "But I don't think she would go to such extremes."

"You realize that you're implicating your daughter in taking part in a third organization, suggesting she is a triple agent." Devlin asked, eyeing him up and down. Jack furrowed his brow and nodded slowly.

"Yes."

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