***
Chapter 3
***
Washington, D.C.
Saturday, 9:49 AM EST
Josh poked his head into Sam's office. Sam, who was busy typing, didn't seem to notice him hanging off the doorjamb. Josh decided he was too impatient to wait much longer.
"Sam!"
Josh stifled his laughter as Sam jumped from his seat and immediately lowered his laptop screen.
"Yes," Sam replied with forced calmness. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah, I just...I'm gonna...I wanted to let you know I'm going over there."
"Going where?"
"Over to Donna's."
Sam leaned back in his chair. "If she hasn't been answering her phone, what makes you think she'll answer the door? That is, of course, if she's even actually home, which I highly doubt."
"You don't think she's home?"
"It's not out the realm of possibility, Josh. I mean, you said so yourself, it's not like her to be late."
"Then where the hell is she?"
"You want me to go with you?" Sam asked with a grin.
"Kinda, yeah," Josh responded sheepishly.
"Just let me finish this paragraph."
"'Kay," Josh said, slamming his hand against the doorpost.
***
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Saturday, 10:07 AM EST
Vaughn pulled the town car into the nearly deserted parking lot behind a rental car agency and quickly joined Sydney in the backseat.
"The outfit suits you," Sydney nodded with a smile to Vaughn's chauffeur's cap and jacket. She could have sworn she saw him blush.
"It's not an outfit; it's a uniform," he replied in mock defense.
"I still don't know how you figured out I was on that plane."
"I recognized your alias on the flight manifest."
"But I wasn't supposed to come back until Monday. How did you --"
"Syd," Vaughn began, his tone suddenly serious, "there's something you should know."
"Vaughn?"
"Does the name Jeff Breckenridge mean anything to you?"
"Breckenridge?" Sydney paused for a moment remembering. "Yeah, three years ago, before I knew the truth about SD-6, Sloane sent Dixon to pose as Jeff Breckenridge while I...while I..."
"...Broke into the White House. I know." Vaughn was silent for a moment.
"Well, I wouldn't call it breaking in. I mean, they did let us through the front gate. I just hacked into their server."
"This morning I intercepted a memo that was on its way to Kendall --"
"What were you doing reading the Assistant Director's memos?" Sydney interrupted.
"It's better if you don't ask me how or why. The memo said that the FBI was finalizing plans to make an arrest in the case."
"Case? What case?"
"Up until yesterday it was classified as 'status pending.' They knew what had been stolen, but they didn't have any suspects. The agents heading up the investigation shouldn't even be aware that you were involved in any way."
"You guys didn't tell the FBI I broke into the White House?" Sydney questioned.
"Hey, the CIA is not in the habit of sharing. Your file is still on a need-to-know basis. We can't let everyone know about your existence. Only the most senior agents in the FBI know about you, and even then we haven't released everything."
"Well, can't we just tell the FBI it was me and be done with it?" Sydney suggested.
"It's not that simple. For the moment, all the FBI is concerned with is making the arrest. It's been over three years of embarrassment for the Bureau among the other agencies and they're out for blood. They want this case to serve as an warning."
"But it's not like I did it on purpose. I was only following orders."
"Right now, none of that matters," Vaughn pleaded. "If the FBI finds you, they will hold you indefinitely."
"We've been through this before. What about my cover at SD-6?"
Vaughn exhaled deeply. "Forget about SD-6. Syd, listen to me, you have to go into hiding."
***
Washington, D.C.
Saturday, 10:18 AM EST
Josh bounded up the steps to Donna's building and instantly began hitting the buzzer labeled 2B.
"What did I tell you?" Sam called from his position by the car after Josh's incessant button pushing came to no avail.
"I think the buzzer's broken. There's usually a note," Josh said as he came down two steps to get a better view into Donna's windows.
"What about her roommate?" Sam asked as he joined Josh on the stoop.
"She goes on a lot of business trips. I've only actually met her a couple of times." Josh resumed his post at the buzzer but stopped once the front door opened partway. A small elderly woman tightly gripping a broom handle imposed herself in the open space.
"Go away now or I'll call the police!" she cried, her grasp on the broom more determined.
"Mrs. Dabruski, it's me, Josh Lyman. Donna's boss. Donna Moss, your tenant in 2B." Josh hoped pointing to the second floor would somehow reinforce his claim to his identity.
Mrs. Dabruski kept one hand around the broom but raised the other to point at Josh. "You! You're the crazy boss of hers. You make her work all hours of the night. She come home sometimes one, sometimes two in the morning. I never get any sleep with her in the building! Always coming and going. She woke me up last night, just like all other nights."
Josh breathed a silent sigh of relief. She had come home then. "I'm sure Donna doesn't mean to wake you."
The Russian woman narrowed her eyes. "She tell me it's your fault I get woken up all the time."
Josh traded looks with Sam before speaking. "And for that I sincerely apologize. Would it be at all possible for you to let us in? I haven't been able to get in touch with Donna, and I'm afraid there might be something wrong with her phone."
"You promise not to keep her so late in future?" Mrs. Dabruski proposed.
Josh was about to explain the enormous importance of his line of work and how unpredictable the hours were at times before Sam cut in. "He promises."
Two minutes later, Mrs. Dabruski found the correct key and opened the door to 2B for Josh and Sam. Josh was through the door and into the living room in a second. "Donna!"
Sam, meanwhile, surveyed the kitchen, noticing a can of cat food left unopened on the counter. The cats were nowhere to be seen. Josh reentered the main room after having checked both bedrooms. He walked over to where Sam was crouched near the door.
"Sam?"
"It's Donna's purse," Sam said plainly, handing it to Josh. "And..." his voice trailed off as he fingered the broken chain lock hanging off the doorpost.
"Such a nice girl, even if she wakes me up so much," Mrs. Dabruski mused. "That's why I don't understand why they come for her."
"Come for her?" Josh repeated.
"Those men last night. I see them all day Friday sitting in van across street. I tell them they can't stay there. They tell me go away, it's none of my business. But I watch them. And then Donna come home, waking me up again, and I hear them pounding up the stairs. And then they come down again, but this time they have Donna with them."
"Who were they?" Sam asked, seeing the look of devastation cross Josh's eyes.
"I don't know. They had guns. I come out my door to yell, but they push me back inside and say it's government matter," she concluded.
At the word 'guns' Josh collapsed on the couch, burying his face with his hands.
"Mrs. Dabruski, ma'am," Sam's voice was barely audible at first, "do you know anything else about the men who took Donna? A description, a license plate, anything?"
"Of course," the old lady replied proudly. "I remember how KGB operate. In old country, you go to jail just for saying you saw something. But I am American now. Here I know my rights." She reached into the pocket of her dress apron and pulled out a slip of paper. "I copy down license plate number."
"Thank you," Sam said, taking the paper from her. Looking over at Josh, he couldn't help but add, "We'll find her, Josh."
Josh barely heard him. He just sat on the couch staring at Donna's purse on the coffee table in front of him.
***
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Saturday, 10:20 AM EST
"You cannot be serious!" Sydney shouted, though Vaughn was sitting less than two feet away from her.
"This is not up for negotiation, Syd. I've been ordered to take you to a safe house."
"Ordered by who?" The anger was apparent in her voice, but one look from Vaughn gave her an answer. "My father? Here's the one who got a hold of that memo, isn't he?"
"I would have gotten on a plane to come here even if he hadn't asked me to."
"I am so tired of my father trying to control my life. After years of enduring his seemingly indifference toward me --" She was about to continue when Vaughn's cell phone interrupted her. She waited impatiently for the conversation to be over. She didn't have to guess as to whom he was talking to.
"That was your father," Vaughn said as he returned the phone to his pocket.
"Really?" Sydney replied sarcastically. She was in no mood to be handled, by either one of them.
"There's been a development. It seems that someone may have already been arrested."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your father's not sure. At the moment the FBI isn't admitting to it, but there have been reports that someone was picked up last night."
"Where are the reports coming from?"
"Free lance agents, foreign assets who owe favors to your father. The information can't be corroborated until the Bureau confirms it, and right now they're not talking."
"Did my dad have a name, anything, to tell us who this person might be?"
"Yeah, a woman named Donna Moss."
Sydney felt the air being sucked out of her lungs.
"What?" Vaughn asked, reading Sydney's face. "You know her?"
"Not exactly. She-she..." Sydney had trouble finding the words. "Before I knew the truth about SD-6, before I knew that it wasn't a part of the CIA, Dixon and I went to the White House, and I posed as his associate. While Dixon was in talking to the Deputy Chief of Staff, I was supposed to access a secure server in one of the auxiliary offices and download a list of federal employees the Secret Service had initially tagged as possible security risks. Sloane had told us that enemies of the United States were beginning a campaign to recruit those named on the list. We were supposed to get to it before they did in order to save the country. I thought I was being patriotic."
"And where does this Moss woman fit in to all of this?"
"The plan was for me to distract the Deputy Chief of Staff's assistant long enough to steal her keycard. The mission was low-tech enough that all I needed was the card, but it being the White House the protection level surrounding the server was higher than usual. The card could only come from inside.
"Vaughn," Sydney said, her eyes slowly filling with tears, "Donna Moss was the assistant. I stole her keycard. She was arrested because of me."
***
Undisclosed Location
Saturday, time unknown
Donna stared at the tiled ceiling above her. There was little else in the room to occupy her thoughts. She had already replayed the events of the previous night over and over in her head, or at least the parts she remembered. What was it they had accused her of? Stealing government files? How could they think she could do something like that? She had never even gotten so much as a speeding ticket. Hell, she never had to pay an overdue fee on her library books. What was she doing in this cell?
She wondered if Josh had been told yet. She wondered what he must think of her. Hopefully, he would know she didn't do it. But what if he didn't even notice she was gone.
She jumped when she heard footsteps coming nearer to her cell. Then she heard steel gliding past steel as the viewing window in the door slid open. Then it was the jangling of a key into the keyhole.
Donna wished she remembered more from that self-defense class she had taken with Ginger and Bonnie a while back. The thing was, though, you weren't supposed to fight back when it was the United States government.
o
***
tbc...
Chapter 3
***
Washington, D.C.
Saturday, 9:49 AM EST
Josh poked his head into Sam's office. Sam, who was busy typing, didn't seem to notice him hanging off the doorjamb. Josh decided he was too impatient to wait much longer.
"Sam!"
Josh stifled his laughter as Sam jumped from his seat and immediately lowered his laptop screen.
"Yes," Sam replied with forced calmness. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah, I just...I'm gonna...I wanted to let you know I'm going over there."
"Going where?"
"Over to Donna's."
Sam leaned back in his chair. "If she hasn't been answering her phone, what makes you think she'll answer the door? That is, of course, if she's even actually home, which I highly doubt."
"You don't think she's home?"
"It's not out the realm of possibility, Josh. I mean, you said so yourself, it's not like her to be late."
"Then where the hell is she?"
"You want me to go with you?" Sam asked with a grin.
"Kinda, yeah," Josh responded sheepishly.
"Just let me finish this paragraph."
"'Kay," Josh said, slamming his hand against the doorpost.
***
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Saturday, 10:07 AM EST
Vaughn pulled the town car into the nearly deserted parking lot behind a rental car agency and quickly joined Sydney in the backseat.
"The outfit suits you," Sydney nodded with a smile to Vaughn's chauffeur's cap and jacket. She could have sworn she saw him blush.
"It's not an outfit; it's a uniform," he replied in mock defense.
"I still don't know how you figured out I was on that plane."
"I recognized your alias on the flight manifest."
"But I wasn't supposed to come back until Monday. How did you --"
"Syd," Vaughn began, his tone suddenly serious, "there's something you should know."
"Vaughn?"
"Does the name Jeff Breckenridge mean anything to you?"
"Breckenridge?" Sydney paused for a moment remembering. "Yeah, three years ago, before I knew the truth about SD-6, Sloane sent Dixon to pose as Jeff Breckenridge while I...while I..."
"...Broke into the White House. I know." Vaughn was silent for a moment.
"Well, I wouldn't call it breaking in. I mean, they did let us through the front gate. I just hacked into their server."
"This morning I intercepted a memo that was on its way to Kendall --"
"What were you doing reading the Assistant Director's memos?" Sydney interrupted.
"It's better if you don't ask me how or why. The memo said that the FBI was finalizing plans to make an arrest in the case."
"Case? What case?"
"Up until yesterday it was classified as 'status pending.' They knew what had been stolen, but they didn't have any suspects. The agents heading up the investigation shouldn't even be aware that you were involved in any way."
"You guys didn't tell the FBI I broke into the White House?" Sydney questioned.
"Hey, the CIA is not in the habit of sharing. Your file is still on a need-to-know basis. We can't let everyone know about your existence. Only the most senior agents in the FBI know about you, and even then we haven't released everything."
"Well, can't we just tell the FBI it was me and be done with it?" Sydney suggested.
"It's not that simple. For the moment, all the FBI is concerned with is making the arrest. It's been over three years of embarrassment for the Bureau among the other agencies and they're out for blood. They want this case to serve as an warning."
"But it's not like I did it on purpose. I was only following orders."
"Right now, none of that matters," Vaughn pleaded. "If the FBI finds you, they will hold you indefinitely."
"We've been through this before. What about my cover at SD-6?"
Vaughn exhaled deeply. "Forget about SD-6. Syd, listen to me, you have to go into hiding."
***
Washington, D.C.
Saturday, 10:18 AM EST
Josh bounded up the steps to Donna's building and instantly began hitting the buzzer labeled 2B.
"What did I tell you?" Sam called from his position by the car after Josh's incessant button pushing came to no avail.
"I think the buzzer's broken. There's usually a note," Josh said as he came down two steps to get a better view into Donna's windows.
"What about her roommate?" Sam asked as he joined Josh on the stoop.
"She goes on a lot of business trips. I've only actually met her a couple of times." Josh resumed his post at the buzzer but stopped once the front door opened partway. A small elderly woman tightly gripping a broom handle imposed herself in the open space.
"Go away now or I'll call the police!" she cried, her grasp on the broom more determined.
"Mrs. Dabruski, it's me, Josh Lyman. Donna's boss. Donna Moss, your tenant in 2B." Josh hoped pointing to the second floor would somehow reinforce his claim to his identity.
Mrs. Dabruski kept one hand around the broom but raised the other to point at Josh. "You! You're the crazy boss of hers. You make her work all hours of the night. She come home sometimes one, sometimes two in the morning. I never get any sleep with her in the building! Always coming and going. She woke me up last night, just like all other nights."
Josh breathed a silent sigh of relief. She had come home then. "I'm sure Donna doesn't mean to wake you."
The Russian woman narrowed her eyes. "She tell me it's your fault I get woken up all the time."
Josh traded looks with Sam before speaking. "And for that I sincerely apologize. Would it be at all possible for you to let us in? I haven't been able to get in touch with Donna, and I'm afraid there might be something wrong with her phone."
"You promise not to keep her so late in future?" Mrs. Dabruski proposed.
Josh was about to explain the enormous importance of his line of work and how unpredictable the hours were at times before Sam cut in. "He promises."
Two minutes later, Mrs. Dabruski found the correct key and opened the door to 2B for Josh and Sam. Josh was through the door and into the living room in a second. "Donna!"
Sam, meanwhile, surveyed the kitchen, noticing a can of cat food left unopened on the counter. The cats were nowhere to be seen. Josh reentered the main room after having checked both bedrooms. He walked over to where Sam was crouched near the door.
"Sam?"
"It's Donna's purse," Sam said plainly, handing it to Josh. "And..." his voice trailed off as he fingered the broken chain lock hanging off the doorpost.
"Such a nice girl, even if she wakes me up so much," Mrs. Dabruski mused. "That's why I don't understand why they come for her."
"Come for her?" Josh repeated.
"Those men last night. I see them all day Friday sitting in van across street. I tell them they can't stay there. They tell me go away, it's none of my business. But I watch them. And then Donna come home, waking me up again, and I hear them pounding up the stairs. And then they come down again, but this time they have Donna with them."
"Who were they?" Sam asked, seeing the look of devastation cross Josh's eyes.
"I don't know. They had guns. I come out my door to yell, but they push me back inside and say it's government matter," she concluded.
At the word 'guns' Josh collapsed on the couch, burying his face with his hands.
"Mrs. Dabruski, ma'am," Sam's voice was barely audible at first, "do you know anything else about the men who took Donna? A description, a license plate, anything?"
"Of course," the old lady replied proudly. "I remember how KGB operate. In old country, you go to jail just for saying you saw something. But I am American now. Here I know my rights." She reached into the pocket of her dress apron and pulled out a slip of paper. "I copy down license plate number."
"Thank you," Sam said, taking the paper from her. Looking over at Josh, he couldn't help but add, "We'll find her, Josh."
Josh barely heard him. He just sat on the couch staring at Donna's purse on the coffee table in front of him.
***
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Saturday, 10:20 AM EST
"You cannot be serious!" Sydney shouted, though Vaughn was sitting less than two feet away from her.
"This is not up for negotiation, Syd. I've been ordered to take you to a safe house."
"Ordered by who?" The anger was apparent in her voice, but one look from Vaughn gave her an answer. "My father? Here's the one who got a hold of that memo, isn't he?"
"I would have gotten on a plane to come here even if he hadn't asked me to."
"I am so tired of my father trying to control my life. After years of enduring his seemingly indifference toward me --" She was about to continue when Vaughn's cell phone interrupted her. She waited impatiently for the conversation to be over. She didn't have to guess as to whom he was talking to.
"That was your father," Vaughn said as he returned the phone to his pocket.
"Really?" Sydney replied sarcastically. She was in no mood to be handled, by either one of them.
"There's been a development. It seems that someone may have already been arrested."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your father's not sure. At the moment the FBI isn't admitting to it, but there have been reports that someone was picked up last night."
"Where are the reports coming from?"
"Free lance agents, foreign assets who owe favors to your father. The information can't be corroborated until the Bureau confirms it, and right now they're not talking."
"Did my dad have a name, anything, to tell us who this person might be?"
"Yeah, a woman named Donna Moss."
Sydney felt the air being sucked out of her lungs.
"What?" Vaughn asked, reading Sydney's face. "You know her?"
"Not exactly. She-she..." Sydney had trouble finding the words. "Before I knew the truth about SD-6, before I knew that it wasn't a part of the CIA, Dixon and I went to the White House, and I posed as his associate. While Dixon was in talking to the Deputy Chief of Staff, I was supposed to access a secure server in one of the auxiliary offices and download a list of federal employees the Secret Service had initially tagged as possible security risks. Sloane had told us that enemies of the United States were beginning a campaign to recruit those named on the list. We were supposed to get to it before they did in order to save the country. I thought I was being patriotic."
"And where does this Moss woman fit in to all of this?"
"The plan was for me to distract the Deputy Chief of Staff's assistant long enough to steal her keycard. The mission was low-tech enough that all I needed was the card, but it being the White House the protection level surrounding the server was higher than usual. The card could only come from inside.
"Vaughn," Sydney said, her eyes slowly filling with tears, "Donna Moss was the assistant. I stole her keycard. She was arrested because of me."
***
Undisclosed Location
Saturday, time unknown
Donna stared at the tiled ceiling above her. There was little else in the room to occupy her thoughts. She had already replayed the events of the previous night over and over in her head, or at least the parts she remembered. What was it they had accused her of? Stealing government files? How could they think she could do something like that? She had never even gotten so much as a speeding ticket. Hell, she never had to pay an overdue fee on her library books. What was she doing in this cell?
She wondered if Josh had been told yet. She wondered what he must think of her. Hopefully, he would know she didn't do it. But what if he didn't even notice she was gone.
She jumped when she heard footsteps coming nearer to her cell. Then she heard steel gliding past steel as the viewing window in the door slid open. Then it was the jangling of a key into the keyhole.
Donna wished she remembered more from that self-defense class she had taken with Ginger and Bonnie a while back. The thing was, though, you weren't supposed to fight back when it was the United States government.
o
***
tbc...