Part 9 - For The Love of Sydney
Once Jack saw that Alice had begun telling the truth to Vaughn, he moved to the front of the van to let her continue doing so in privacy. He sat back down next to Marco, listening in only occasionally to see where Alice was in her story. Mostly, he stared out the window, remembering a time when he had learned of a similar betrayal. He wished that he could have spared Vaughn this, but knew that he needed to know the truth. At least Alice had deceived him out of love and misguided concern, trying to protect him. The same could not be said for Jack's betrayal.
Marco looked over at Jack as they headed down the interstate back towards Seattle. "Do you think it's safe to leave them back there alone given all the trouble he gave us a little while ago?"
"Trust me. He's going nowhere."
Marco Triano hadn't known Jack Bristow long, only a few months, but he knew not to push the point. This man was all business. If he said to back off, it was time to back off. He just hadn't anticipated almost getting killed trying to save somebody, at least by the somebody they were trying to save. He had been standing right next to Jack Bristow when Michael Vaughn had wheeled around shooting. The bullet had passed in the tight space between the two men. They had both put a tranque dart in him.
It took Alice half an hour, more or less, to tell Michael what had happened, tears streaming down her face. She swore to him again and again about how she had been convinced that Barbara was indeed CIA and trying to help him. She begged his forgiveness for her deceptions. She had done it to keep him safe, because she loved him. She couldn't understand why anyone would want to do this other than to protect him. She pleaded with him to speak to her.
For his part, Michael Vaughn sat silently, his expression a mixture of shock and anguish. He knew this woman, perhaps better than anybody. How could this have happened? How could he not have seen it? He knew that she loved him, that she would do anything for him. He had just never realized what anything would entail.
Part of him knew that he could never truly forgive her for what she had done. Yet another part knew that, if it weren't for him, she would never have been brought to this. He also could not ignore everything else she had done and sacrificed for him. These things swirled around his head, tying both his tongue and stomach in knots.
He had always loved Alice for her trusting nature. Knowing that there could still be people in the world like her, with everything that went on, had helped to keep him sane. It was one of the reasons that he could keep doing what he had done for a living. Now, her naïveté had been their downfall. It's not that he had never seen it as a possibility. It had been one of the original reasons that he had broken up with her in the first place. Doing what he did, it had not made sense to be with such an ingénue.
He knew that Alice wanted him to say something, anything, but he was at a complete loss for words. He couldn't even bring himself to look at her. He chose instead to focus on why someone would have done such a thing.
Why would Sloane or Sark want this? He knew Sark wanted him dead, but apparently he could have done that at any time after he had gone into "protection". In fact, he had been planning to make that a reality months ago. As for Sloane, he had to have believed that he already had gotten whatever information he was going to get from him. He knew from his last cognizant interactions with Sloane that he had finally been convinced that Sydney was dead and that she wasn't the Prophecy Woman. Maybe Sloane was somehow convinced that Irina would try to contact him again after his extraction and he wanted him someplace safe, hung out as bait. In fact, isn't that what had happened, although it had been Jack Bristow and not Irina herself to rise to it?
Suddenly, he was hit by a realization. Jack had said that he had only gone back to his contact in justice after he had found out where he had been placed and that that had only been a few days ago. He looked over at his wife who was still crying and looking expectantly at him for his reaction. He decided that he had to push their problems aside for a moment in an effort to figure out what was going on. He formulated his next words carefully. With a quavering voice, he asked, "Alice, I need you to tell me something. After Seattle, how often were you in contact with Barbara Carlisle?"
Alice paused her quiet sobbing to answer, "Only twice, I swear. The first was when I called her from Friday Harbor the day after you asked me to marry you. She seemed happy for us. She told me to use the phone number that she gave me to get in touch with her if I ever needed anything. I told her that I never planned on contacting her again. Then, after they came and took you away, I was frantic. Nobody had any answers. I called her hoping that she could help me find out. She asked me where we were and I told her. Please Michael, tell me what you're thinking. I need to know."
"I don't know what I'm thinking!", he agonized. "I need to sort this out first!"
Alice nodded and went back to quietly waiting, her lip bloody from when she bit it as he yelled.
He was replaying everything that Alice had said about Barbara Carlisle in his head when the obvious struck him. If Jack knew Sydney was alive, then Irina knew and, if Irina knew, it might have been for longer than three months. Just when he thought that he couldn't feel any more violated, a sickening suspicion proved him wrong.
"Jack, could you come back here?"
Jack Bristow immediately returned to the back of the van. He could see how stricken Vaughn was by the situation and the men shared a quiet moment of understanding. He knew that Vaughn would have many questions. Ones for which he wished he didn't have the answers.
"Jack, please tell me that Barbara Carlisle isn't who I think she is." He closed his eyes, waiting for the impact of his response.
"I wish to God that I could."
Vaughn leapt up, grabbing Jack by the front of his jacket, their faces mere inches apart, "How long have you known about all of this?"
"I swear to you, Vaughn, I only learned about the situation after Alice called. Then, Irina had to come clean."
Vaughn saw Jack's pained expression, a reflection of his own, and released him.
Then, Jack continued, " We were trying to find out where Sydney had gone. She had last been seen riding off with someone in Tsim Shat Sui. When Alice called in a day later and explained that you too were missing, we put it together that somehow she must have ended up in CIA custody and that you had gone to bring her back in."
"That's when I went back to my former colleague in Justice to find where they had taken you. Given what was at stake, I decided to use some persuasion. He really didn't know where they had taken you, but he did admit being a mole for Sloane! He also told me about the marshal and the fact that he was supposed to take you to Sloane right before a hastily planned relocation over the weekend. He had said that the plan was to abduct the two of you tomorrow night. I guess that Sloane must have somehow discovered something was amiss and moved up the timetable. His asset must not have checked in or something because when Marco and I arrived earlier this evening you were already with Mueller at your place getting ready to leave."
"We decided not to intervene at the school because we didn't want to draw any attention. Marco and I knew that they had originally planned to fly you out of a local airstrip, so we attached a tracking device to the Jeep and went to stake out the intersection where we ambushed you. Sure enough, you headed straight for us and you know the rest."
Vaughn sat back down, rubbing his forehead, desperately trying to process what Jack had said to him. He was having a hard time concentrating after he had heard confirmation of who was responsible for what had been done to him. He had been trying to reconcile his emotions about Irina ever since he found out that she had been the one responsible for his rescue from Sloane. Irina Derevko was not only his father's murderer, the love of his life's treacherous mother, and his own personal savior from Sloane, she was now also, as far as he was concerned, his seducer for her own sick purposes. Alice had merely been her instrument. She was no match for the likes of Derevko.
Michael Vaughn turned an angry glare to Jack Bristow. "For God's sake, Jack, why? Why would she do this to me? To Sydney?"
"To hear her tell it, it was all for the love of Sydney."
Sydney Bristow awoke the next morning to a world shrouded in gray. She found it a propos as that is how her life seemed ever since Vaughn's departure and her confrontation with Kendall two days before. She still couldn't believe that she would never see him again, and that she had made a deal with the devil to keep him safe.
It hadn't been all bleak, however. She and Dr. Barnett had made some real breakthroughs in discovering what had happened with her over past two years. She had been able to recall key interactions with those closest to her in her "other" life. It turned out that the two men who had been searching for her in Hong Kong, Father Timothy Shea and David Allerby, had been the glue that had held her life together there. She still didn't remember how she actually got to Hong Kong, but she recalled a lot about her life at the school and with David.
Father Tim had not only been her boss, but her counselor and spiritual adviser. Although Sydney had taken some religion courses in college, she had never been particularly religious. Apparently, Suzanne was. She recalled complete conversations with Father Tim where they discussed her life, her faith and the challenges that she was struggling to overcome. It was still like watching a movie when she remembered these things, but everything made a strange sort of sense.
She had told Father Tim that both of her parents had died in a car accident when she was young. She had been raised by her aunt and uncle. However, her uncle had taken to abusing her so, as soon as she was able, she had left their care and gone out on her own. This distressed her somewhat because she had been very close with her aunt and longed to be with her. Her aunt had been devoted to her uncle and not willing to believe anything ill of him. She had died several years ago, a true reconciliation between them never having been reached.
The rest of her "life" had been almost as bumpy. Once she was out on her own and had worked her way through school, she met someone at work and fell in love. They were together only a few years and had planned on marrying. She told Father Tim that they had been soul mates in every sense of the word. Unfortunately, he had contracted a blood disorder and had died after a brief illness. The picture of her fiancé that she had carried in her head while she told Father Tim these things had been Vaughn's, not Danny's.
The final straw that had caused her to flee her old life had been coming home one night after work to find her roommates, her two best friends, dead as the result of a home invasion. She had needed to start anew and remembered reading somewhere about the large international expatriate population in Hong Kong. She had thought that the locale sounded exotic and was willing to give anything a try.
Then, there was David – sweet, wonderful, kind and caring. When she had first seen the picture of them together, she had not registered the obvious resemblance between him and Danny. They were the same height, and had the same eye color and build. When she recalled him, she saw the same mannerisms and heard the same accent. The biggest difference that she could find between them was that David's hair was a few shades lighter than Danny's.
David had lived his entire life in Hong Kong. His parents were British expats and his father had worked in the stock exchange there. He had recently retired, but they still lived nearby. David had started teaching Math at St. Bartholomew's a few months after she had arrived. She had made a few friends, but had kept mostly to herself. David befriended her and didn't take no for an answer when she tried to remain aloof. He took her all around Hong Kong, Macau, and the New Territories, showing her the world in which he had grown up. Before long, she was in love with both Hong Kong and the man.
They had moved in with each other five months after meeting. He had asked her to marry him, but she had refused, saying that she needed more time. She loved him, but still hadn't moved on completely from her fiancé. David seemed to understand, but had persuaded her to move in with him anyway. They had a beautiful flat just outside of Hong Kong proper. His parents were well-to-do and he had a trust fund to supplement his meager income from teaching. As his parents were well connected and he was gregarious and charming, they were embraced by Hong Kong society. Their weeks were full of teaching and charity work at the school. Their weekends were spent either hiking, boating, or attending some social gala. Their life was enjoyable and fulfilling.
Sydney felt guilty when she thought of David and Father Tim. What had they been told about her, if anything? Here were two more wonderful men that fate had dropped in her lap and she had somehow let down. She hoped that they had at least told them something to help them find closure and move on. She couldn't bear the thought of them left bereft, with no explanation for her disappearance. She would ask Kendall and pray that he would take pity on them, if not her. She had done everything that he had asked her to do so far and would continue to do so as long as he could assure her that all of the men who had done so much for her were at least given some measure of peace.
As guilty as she felt about David and Father Tim, it couldn't even hold a candle to the guilt that she suffered when she thought about Vaughn and her father. There she had been, living a comfortable life, while her father and the man she loved searched fruitlessly for her, mourned her, and endured the unimaginable in her name. Now, her father was off on some vengeful odyssey with her mother, his fate unsure, while the only man she would ever truly love was off to start yet another life, one without her.
She dressed warmly for the dreary weather and went downstairs to find the one good man that fate still allowed her, Will Tippin. Even he hadn't been completely spared. His friendship with her and his encounters with Alison Doren had left scars both physical and emotional. The latter took just a little bit longer to see. He was more guarded now, less spontaneous. His eyes still sparkled occasionally, but not as brightly and never for too long.
He greeted her warmly as she entered the kitchen and joined him in the breakfast nook. "Good morning, Syd! How did you sleep?"
"Okay, how about you?"
"Like a baby now that the lumber mill is back in LA. I miss him though. He really helps to lighten this place up", Will said as he took a sip of coffee.
"No kidding", muttered Sydney as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to ward off the perennial chill that seemed to be creeping into her bones.
Will saw her actions and immediately got up to make her a cup of tea. He was worried about her now that Vaughn was gone. He was the one that had always been her anchor during this whole mess. Will had tried to help once he knew what her life was really like, but he always seemed to inadvertently make things worse. He inwardly cringed remembering his article on SD-6 which had led to Syd and Vaughn's adventures in Taipei, his intel on Eliza Khazabi which had ultimately led to his friend's capture and imprisonment by her ex-husband, and his whole relationship with the double right after he'd become an analyst. He still berated himself for that. How could he not have known? He had known Francie for years and had spent much more time around the double than Sydney had. Granted, it had been he who had finally figured it out, but only because of the Provacillium, not because of any perceived irregularities in her behavior. Looking back on it, he could see all of those clearly now.
Then, there was his crowning glory. He had been the one to persuade Weiss that they should tell Barnett about Alice in an effort to help Vaughn. He was still convinced that, on some level, he had done the right thing for Vaughn. If not for Alice, he may never have come out of it, physically or mentally. However, his actions had led to a tryst, which had led to a family. He had actually been pretty proud of that accomplishment, till now. He had liked to think that Sydney would have been happy knowing that Vaughn had found a way to go on with his life and that he had had a hand in it. Looking at his friend now though, he couldn't help but think that all he had a hand in was the misery she was experiencing.
He brought her back some tea and asked, "What can I get you for breakfast?"
"What are you, the new short order cook here?"
"Come on, Syd, you need to eat. You've barely eaten a thing the past couple of days. I'll make blueberry pancakes… Morganetti says he froze a bunch of them from this summer. Apparently they grow wild all over the island."
This brought a smile to her lips. She had loved blueberry pancakes ever since she was a child. "Okay then, let me help."
"You're kidding, right?"
She knew that she had never been much of a cook, but even she could make pancakes. "Come on, I'm not that bad. Anyway, I remembered yesterday that I've done a lot more cooking in the past couple of years. It turns out David was even a worse cook than I was. It was a matter of survival…"
Will smiled with that. He was happy that everything that she was discovering about the past two years had been relatively pleasant. When he had first learned she was alive, he could only think of all of the awful things that might have befallen her over that time. Not that forgetting your entire previous life wasn't horrible, but in her case, it had been a bit of a mixed blessing.
She got up from the table and set about helping him make breakfast. Morganetti came in when they were almost done. He was happy that someone else had decided to do KP duty for a change. "Thanks, guys! Have you found everything that you need?"
"Yeah, we're great", answered Sydney, "why don't you take a load off and have a cup of coffee."
"Don't mind if I do!" Morganetti smirked as poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table.
The three of them were enjoying a pleasant conversation when Kendall strode in, surveying the scene with an arched eye. "Well, isn't this cozy now. When the three of you have finished your coffee klatch, we have some work to do, particularly you, Miss Bristow."
Sydney put on her best false smile, remembering that she had a favor to ask concerning her friends in Hong Kong. "What can I do for you, Sir?" she said trying to sound sincere, but failing miserably.
Kendall decided to overlook her tone. She had been true to their agreement and had offered no resistance thus far. Now was the time to find out how strong her new found cooperation was. "I need you to have another session with Dr. Barnett this morning. This time I would like you to focus on your friend, David Allerby".
"Why?", Sydney asked, her voice laced with concern.
"Because he and his parents have gone missing from Hong Kong."
Sydney froze, fearing that, once again, someone's attachment to her had somehow destroyed them. "Do you suspect they've been abducted?"
"No, actually, it appears quite to the contrary. All of their financial accounts and safety deposit boxes have been emptied. Their most valuable possessions are gone from their homes. They were quite thorough. They apparently wanted to disappear."
This made no sense. David and his parents had lived in Hong Kong for over thirty years. They were well known and had ties to the community. Why would they suddenly leave? "Are you sure that they weren't threatened or forced in some way?"
"We don't know anything, Agent Bristow. That is why we need your help. Perhaps you can remember something that might help us get a lead on them and get to the bottom of this."
Sydney's eyes flashed and she demanded of Kendall, "What about Father Tim?!"
"He appears to be fine. We've put a watch on Monsignor Shea to make sure that he stays that way. I'm going to go find Barnett. Finish your breakfast and we'll get to work."
Sydney spent most of the rest of the day in and out of sessions with Judy Barnett, trying to recall any information that would help in tracking down where David and his family might have gone. Where did they go on vacation? On business? What other family was there? Had any of them ever mentioned wanting to go to a particular locale? She was asked to revisit every time she had met with his parents. Every word was recorded and sent off to be analyzed.
She emerged at the end of the day exhausted, praying that something would be uncovered that would shed some light on the mystery. She walked into the living room to observe the remains of the day through the large picture windows. The fog had never really burned off. Everything was still hazy, but she could make out the faint oranges and reds of the dying day on the horizon. That's when she noticed them.
Sydney went closer to the window to see agents in body armor and helmets, carrying automatic rifles and guarding the perimeter of the three buildings and the pathway down to the docks. She decided to head over to the Security and Communications building to find out what was going on. She went to the door off the kitchen, but found it guarded by yet another agent.
"I'm sorry Agent Bristow, my orders are that you are to stay inside. Director Kendall will be over shortly to brief you."
"What's going on?"
"I don't know any details, just that this facility may have been compromised. Please go back inside now."
Sydney was stunned. She went back into the living room and sat down. Compromised? How? This place, although beautiful, defined the middle of nowhere. The enclave had been here less than a year. Jenkins had told her that, aside from a few top level meetings among the heads of the FBI, CIA, NSA, and Homeland Security, the only ones to use this place had been the teams used to debrief her and Vaughn. Oh God….. Vaughn. Please God, no.
She sat hugging herself, praying that her fear was unfounded. She saw Jenkins, Will, and Kendall exit the other building. Jenkins and Kendall wore a grim stoicism, a resigned air about them. Will looked over and caught her staring at them through the window. His expression was one of sorrow.
They entered the house and immediately came over to her. "Agent Bristow", Kendall began, "it appears that this facility may have been compromised. We're going to wait for nightfall and then transfer you off of the island to a more secure location."
"What's happened?" Sydney questioned,
"I've just told you," Kendall reiterated. There's been a possible security breach and we're relocating you. We'll leave in a couple of hours once the arrangements have been finalized and we can leave under cover of darkness."
She looked over at Will and saw the tears that glazed his eyes. "Will?"
Will went to say something, but was immediately cut off by Kendall. "Mr. Tippin is not authorized to go into the details, but rest assured what we are doing this for your own protection."
"Why won't you tell me what's going on! I've cooperated fully! Just tell me that Vaughn is all right!"
Jenkins and Will's heads immediately snapped to Kendall, eyes wary, waiting for his response. Kendall faltered, realizing that neither man was going to back him up in a denial. He decided to tell her the truth. "I'm afraid I can't do that. We have reason to believe that he and his wife may have been taken."
"What?! How?!" Sydney cried out, subconsciously keening.
Will instinctively moved to sit next to her on the sofa, putting an arm around her to stop her rocking. He decided not to wait for Kendall's version of the story. "Syd, he never went to work this morning and neither did the marshal that was protecting them. We're not exactly sure what happened, but last night a motorist reported stopping for a couple whose car he thought had broken down. He ID'ed photos of Vaughn and Alice".
Will paused before continuing, "He was just about to offer them a ride when the shooting began. He saw Mike get shot. Then, he sped off to get out of harm's way. When the police went to check out his story last night, there was nothing where he claimed it took place. They didn't put together who was involved until this afternoon when the school called to reported them missing. They found the Jeep about an hour ago in a ravine a couple of miles off the interstate. The marshal was inside, dead of a gunshot wound. One of his bosses at Justice in L.A. is also missing."
"Agent Bristow, I'm sorry that you had to hear it this way. I promise that we'll do everything we can to recover Vaughn and his wife. Unfortunately, we have no actionable intelligence right now except for the fact that, if Vaughn survived, this place could be compromised. We need to get you out of here as soon as possible.
Something inside of Sydney snapped. She lurched off the couch and leapt at Kendall, grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket and shaking him. "You Son-of-a-Bitch!" she screamed. "You couldn't even keep him safe for three days! Three fucking days! What good are you and your promises!"
Will and Jenkins pulled Sydney off of Kendall, whose own rage was now barely controlled. "Correction, Ms. Bristow! I wasn't enough of a son-of-a-bitch! If I had been, he would never have gone back there! He would have been safe! I let him persuade me to go back and get his wife! Now, we all need to move ASAP before anything happens here!"
Three hours later, under cover of darkness, they made their way down to the dock. Will helped Sydney who was still a bit out of it. After her outburst, Kendall had insisted that Dr. Barnett sedate her. It took several agents to subdue her so that it could be done, but he couldn't afford having her uncooperative right now, especially seeing that he had lost his leverage.
The area had been scanned by surveillance planes and determined free from any unusual activity. They would continue to survey while the yacht made its way to Decatur Island to a small private airstrip. They couldn't hazard the long trip back to Whidbey on open water, especially since Vaughn had been familiar with that route. Everything had to be different now.
Once on Decatur, a small private prop plane would take them to Whidbey. That part wouldn't be changed. Arvin Sloane was no match for the U.S. military, not yet anyway. Once there, they would transfer to a jet to points unknown. They were going to bury Sydney Bristow so deep that neither Arvin Sloane nor Irina Derevko would ever find her, at least until they could figure out a new strategy to deal with recent developments.
With the AWAC surveillance planes flying far above and blackhawks and the like on alert if they needed them, it was decided that the yacht should go unescorted. There was no need to bring unnecessary attention to themselves during the forty-five minute boat ride to Decatur. They would keep the enclave on high alert, making it look like all the key players were still there. The only ones on the yacht would be Jenkins, Kendall, Will Tippin, and Sydney, along with a contingent of five fully armed agents in combat gear.
After Will got Sydney settled in the cabin, he went up to the bridge to check in with Jenkins and Kendall. They were getting a report over the radio from Whidbey that the airspace was clear and that boat traffic was light. The only thing in the vicinity appeared to be an Orca with her calf.
Jenkins chuckled, "She's been trawling around here all week. She actually came up to the boat four or five days ago. Thanks for the heads up. I know what they look like on sonar, so I'll be advised and watch out for them." With that he signed off.
"Whales?", said Will incredulously, "Where?"
"What is it with you city people? They're deer with fins around here!", Jenkins said, shaking his head.
"Enough with the chit-chat. Mr. Tippin, please go down below and keep an eye on Agent Bristow. That is your job this evening, you know", Kendall let go with an exasperated tone.
Will left the bridge and headed back towards the main cabin. He scanned the darkness searching for a sign of the Orca and her calf to no avail. He saw nothing and the only the thing he could hear was the low rumble of the ship's engine. Looking around before heading into the cabin, he noted the guards posted on the foredeck and astern, port and starboard. The fifth agent was up on the bridge with Kendall and Jenkins.
When he returned to the cabin, Sydney seemed to be more alert and was pacing about. Her eyes were red-rimmed from the periodic crying jags that had assailed her since she'd gotten the news. Will immediately went over to embrace her.
"Hey sweetie, hang in there. We don't know anything for sure yet. Can I get you some tea or something?"
"No thanks", she managed to eke out.
Will went over and got himself a cup of coffee. It was going to be a long night. Kendall hadn't even told him where they were going. For all he knew, this time tomorrow they'd be in Istanbul. After filling his cup, he motioned to Sydney to join him on the couch. She was going to pace a hole in the carpet at the rate she was going.
Once they were seated, Sydney leaned into him. He put his arm around her and she put her head on his shoulder. He could tell that she had started to cry again by her ragged breathing. He stroked her arm, whispering into her hair, "It's okay, Honey, it's just me. Let it out. Just let it out."
They continued that way for what must have been about fifteen minutes before Sydney noticed that the ship had slowed markedly. "Something's going on", she said as she sat up and wiped her eyes.
"What do you mean, Syd?"
"The ship has slowed down", she declared as she rose from the couch.
"It's okay, Syd. They're checking in with Whidbey every couple of minutes up there. It's probably just the whales that I heard Jenkins talking about on the radio a little while ago, a mother and her calf. He said that they've been around all week. They were the only things in the area."
Sydney smiled wistfully, remembering having seen them earlier when she was with Vaughn. "I'm going to go out on deck to see if I can see anything. It would be nice to see them one more time."
"I don't think you're going to see anything. It's pitch black out there. I've already tried, but I'll go back out there with you if you want."
"No, that's all right. I'd rather be by myself if you don't mind. Anyway, the militia's out there if I get into any trouble."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. You stay in here and keep warm."
She headed out on deck. Will was right. It was pitch dark. The boat was running with a minimum number of lights and all the drapes had been drawn in the main cabin so that they would be as inconspicuous as possible. She could barely see her hand in front of her face after emerging from the lit cabin. She headed aft towards the back railing, tripped over something, and went sprawling on the deck. She looked over to see the motionless form of one of the guards lying next to her. The rifle was still slung over his shoulder and the night goggles were still on his face.
Sydney quickly pulled his goggles off and donned them. She scanned the area around her. Then, she grabbed both his rifle and his sidearm, which was still in his leg holster. She looked around and quickly headed back to the cabin. Once inside, she pulled off the goggles, so as not to be blinded by the lights, and spoke to Will in hushed tones.
"We're under attack! Take this gun and find yourself a good hiding place with a view of the doors." "I'm going to take these and head for the radio up on the bridge," she declared holding up the rifle and goggles.
"I should go with you."
"No!", Sydney commanded. "You're not trained for this and I have only one pair of goggles! It's me that they're after. I don't want to lose anybody else! Please stay here. I'll come back as soon as possible."
He nodded his assent. He knew it would be futile arguing with her. Plus, two year sabbatical or not, he realized she was right. If anyone was going to get them out of this, it was going to be her.
Sydney replaced the goggles and headed out the door. She stole quietly along the starboard side of the boat and came across the guard who had been stationed there. She pulled his sidearm out of its holster and stuck it in the waistband of her jeans. She continued around the deck and found the two remaining guards. That meant whoever did this was likely up on the bridge right now.
She was just about to start climbing the stairs to the bridge when she heard a noise at the rear of the boat. It looked as though a couple of zodiacs had pulled up along side the boat. This took her by surprise as she hadn't heard any outboard. She saw someone climbing onto the boat using the ladder on the stern. She crept closer to get a better view. It was a large man dressed darkly wearing a balaclava. He too was wearing night vision goggles. She raised the rifle and was about to pull the trigger when she heard a familiar voice call from above.
"No, Sydney! Don't!"
She wheeled around to see someone at the top of the stairs dressed in a wet suit. He too was wearing night vision goggles and was holding what appeared to be a tranquilizer gun.
"It's all right, Sydney. Put down the rifle. It's me."
Sydney couldn't believe her ears. It wasn't possible. However, she also couldn't bring herself to fire the gun. He saw her hesitation and dropped his tranquilizer gun. He put his hands in the air and was just reaching up to pull off his goggles when Sydney crumpled to the ground.
"Jack, why the hell did you do that!"
"I thought that would have been obvious! To prevent her from shooting you, you idiot! What were you thinking? Why didn't you tranque her?"
"You know, Jack, I'm really beginning to think you have a problem", Vaughn bit out as he descended the stairs. "She wasn't going to shoot! She knew it was me! I should have let her shoot you!"
"We don't have time for this right now! We can fight about it once we get to the ship. Grab her legs and let's go!" Jack Bristow holstered his weapon and bent over to grab his unconscious daughter beneath the shoulders. Vaughn grabbed her legs and they headed to the rear of the boat.
They were just about to lift her over the back of the boat down to others who were waiting in the zodiacs when they heard Will Tippin call out, "Drop her. Drop her and put your hands up or I'll shoot."
They gently put Sydney down and put their hands up. Jack chided Vaughn, "Go on now, Vaughn. Here's your chance. Talk your way out of this one."
"Jack? Vaughn?", Will uttered disbelievingly.
"Yeah, Will, it's us. Please put the gun down," Vaughn requested, slowly pulling off his goggles and peeling back the hood off his wet suit. He motioned to Jack to do the same.
"I don't understand", Will said shaking his head, but refusing to lower his weapon just yet. "We heard that you were abducted by Sloane. They killed a US marshal and one of his superiors is missing."
Jack jumped in, "They were the ones abducting Vaughn, Tippin. They were moles. I found out what was happening and intervened. I killed the marshal. We'll explain the rest later, but we have to get out of here now, before anyone at Whidbey realizes anything's amiss".
"Vaughn?" Will repeated finally lowering the gun, "Why this?"
"I know it seems insane, Will, but we have to do this", Vaughn implored. "You know as well as I do that they were going to lock her away somewhere until they sorted all of this out. That could take years! We weren't going to let that happen. There's so much that she and JTF don't know, that I didn't know, until last night; things that the JTF would be unwilling to accept. They would have ended up using her as a pawn between Sloane and Derevko. I don't know for sure what her role is, but I do know that I want it to be her choice once she's fully informed. But Jack's right, we have to hurry, you have to let us go now. Let me take you back to the cabin and tranque you. Nobody will be the wiser."
"We can't leave him here! He knows too much already! He has to come with us!"
"Jack, there's no need to drag anybody else into this! If I take him back and tranque him, they'll just think he got caught off guard like everyone else. I trust him."
Jack turned a wary eye toward Will Tippin. "So what will it be, Mr. Tippin? In for a penny or in for a pound?"
