Two for Two

Author's Note: Ok, so I am not exactly pleased with this chapter. I think it turned out all right, but I really just don't know. I threw in some more flashbacks, which are in italics. But, if it were not for them, then this chapter would have been pretty short. With them, it is the longest chapter yet. So hopefully you will enjoy it. So here it is....


Also, thanks to Nicole, sv4ever07 for the beta. :flowers:


Two For Two

Chapter 4: A Car Ride With Sloane

Sydney's POV- inside the car

"I said, why don't you tell us your story. You have us trapped in a car with you so say what you want to say, before we are forced to kill you. I could care less about what Sark does to us."

From what I remember, when I disappeared Vaughn and I had captured Sark in Stockholm when we went to that club. Then I feel Vaughn grab a hold of my hand and give it a squeeze and at that second I know that Sark is still in CIA custody. Which means Sloane is bluffing, but I am still interested in what he has to say.

"Well, fine then dear I will tell you my story. Mr. Vaughn, did you realize that we have actually met before?"

"No, I did not."

"Well, you see we had met before quite a few times actually. The first that I can remember I believe that you were in the third grade and were over at Lauren's house playing one evening when I came over for dinner. You see, Lauren's mother was a top notch CIA agent and while I was still working for the agency we were quite good friends. She was like a sister to me. And I knew that on many occasions she had questioned the US Government and so that night I had gone over to offer her a position inside of SD-6."

"You tried to recruit Nancy inside SD-6? She was one of the most loyal CIA agents that I had heard about. She never would have betrayed this country like you did."

When I heard Vaughn say this I could immediately tell that he is pretty much in shock over all of this. But, how could he not be. Within the past couple of days, he had gotten married, gone on a honeymoon with his wife only to have her die on it, and found out that the love of his life was really still alive. And I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was going to get a whole lot worse before it got a whole lot better. So I retook his hand in mine and gave it a squeeze to let him know that I was here for him. Then, when he tried to pull his hand back away, I refused to let him, because not only do I need him, I know that he needs me, so I try to retune back in to what Sloane is saying.

"Yes, Mr. Vaughn, I did try to recruit Nancy into SD-6, but as you said she was loyal to the US Government and decided against recruitment. However, she did respect what I was doing enough to not take any action against me. But, I could tell at that point in time that she was already raising Lauren to be most cautious when it came to the government. So, after Zurich, when we met, I remembered having met you before. And I knew that Lauren could end up becoming very, very useful in my master plan."

I could tell that with every word Sloane was saying, it was becoming harder and harder for Vaughn. Even though I doubt that he ever really was in love with her, I knew that he had loved her. And I knew first hand what it felt like to be betrayed by someone you loved. So sensing this, I realized that I had to speed Sloane along.

"Could you please get to your point now Sloane."

"You were always very polite Sydney, even when you wished for nothing more than having me dead. I knew that you would go missing, so I decided to have Lauren re-enter Mr. Vaughn's life. I began to do research and I found out what had happened while you two were both stationed at Langley. She got very, very upset and hurt when you left her Mr. Vaughn. She was really pissed off at you actually. So, it was easy to convince her to get you back. So, she put in for the transfer to the Joint Task Facilities, knowing that it would take a while before the request could be put through. So, in the meantime, I trained her incase she would ever get in trouble and have to fend for herself."

"So what was the whole point in you dragging Lauren into all of this?"

"Like I would ever actually tell you that. You are lucky that I have told you as much as I did."

"Listen here now Sloane, the CIA is right behind us, they will not hesitate to kill you right now."

"But Sydney, my dear, you seemed to have forgotten about Sark."

"Oh yeah, but I haven't."

Once I heard this, I knew what would happen next. Vaughn pushed me down to the floor, took out his gun, and fired a single shot at Sloane right through his head all in one slow motion. Then the car lost control and eventually went over a little bank and then everything went black for me.


Vaughn's POV

"Syd, sweetie, are you all right? You have to wake up and come back to me. Please Syd."

I just got her back; she can't be gone all ready. So I just keep repeating this to her. And after I have said it enough, I see her stirring beside me.

"Vaughn?"

"Oh, Syd are you all right? What hurts? What can I do for you?"

"Slow down Vaughn, I'm fine. My head just hurts a little bit. What happened?"

"Sloane's dead. I killed him. When he died, he lost control of the car and we slid down a little bank. I was so worried about you."

"He's dead? The devil's finally dead?"

"Yeah, Syd, he's dead. And Sark is still in CIA custody, you don't have to worry about him either."

And then I feel her throw her arms around me and it feels like she is holding on for dear life. We just sit that way for a few minutes, holding on for dear life, trying to process everything that we have been told by Sloane. And then we break apart as we hear Eric yell down to us.

"Mike? Sydney? Are you two down there? Are you ok?"

"Yeah, we are down here. We're fine. Just trapped in here."

"Just hold on, we are trying to get you out right now. What happened?"

"Sloane was the driver?"

"Sloane? Arvin Sloane? The devil that has run all of our lives for how long now was your driver? But how?"

"Yes, Eric, he was our driver. How? I have no clue. But apparently Lauren was working for him when she married me."

"Really man? Wow…I am so, so sorry to hear that. Just hang on and we will have you out soon."

"Syd, you are being awfully quiet, what are you thinking about?"

"I was thinking about some of the stuff we had gone through because of Sloane. Now he is dead and we can finally have our lives together."

God…if only it would be that easy. I realize that by now it had to of been a double that killed Lauren or something. There is no way that Sydney could have done that. But I do realize that I still have to be very, very weary of Syd. Until I find out for sure.

"What were you thinking about actually?"

"I was remembering back to our first date in Nice and all that had happened then."


"Base ops, this is Boy Scout. Mountaineer has just delivered the package. We're proceeding with the copy."

(He hangs up and looks at her, still in her purple hair and costume.)

"We're estimating two hours 'til the duplicate is ready."

(Sydney looks at him briefly, still angry. Vaughn looks at Weiss who motions to her. He looks down, working up the courage.)

"Listen, uh, do you want to go to dinner? When we were driving into town I saw this place. Rousseau, I think it's called."

"Vaughn, we... we can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Well, for a million reasons. If Alliance security sees us together they'll kill us."

"The nearest Alliance cell is in Zurich. The CIA tracks SD-6 security section. There haven't been any signals, no movement."

"You're serious."

"We've been to restaurants and sat near each other. We've met in parks and convenience stores, and all of them in LA where we are much more likely to be seen. Look, two things -- one, I think it's not that great a risk and two, I am hungry. I'm starving. I mean, we're going to be together anyway, why can't we be eating? Aren't you hungry?"

"Yeah, I'm hungry."

(Pause.)

"Let's do it."

"Yeah?"

(nods)

"I'm going to change."

(laughs)

"That's a good idea."

"Okay."


(At Rousseau's, Vaughn and Sydney are brought inside by the owner. Vaughn tells him in French that they're from L'Avignon.)

"Well, you speak French almost as well as I do. Mademoiselle."

"Thank you."

(He takes her jacket and they both sit down.)

"See what you like and I'll be right back."

"Merci."

(He smiles at her. She opens the menu and then looks over at him. He looks at her. Awkward pause.)

"I think wine would help the situation."

"I was just thinking the same thing. S'il vous plait?"


(At the restaurant, Vaughn and Sydney are into the wine.)

"So I heard you on the phone with base ops. Your code name is Boy Scout?"

(laughs)

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Um, it goes back to CST -- clandestine service training. You don't want to hear this."

"Vaughn."

"Okay, the Boy Scouts have a motto--"

"Always be prepared."

(nods)

"On my first day, I showed up and I had forgotten my field manual so the instructor said, 'That is your one screw up. And from then on, you'd better be prepared.'"

(on comm) "This story is a disaster!"

(Vaughn looks humiliated, gestures to his ear where his comm link is.)

(on comm) "Just tell her she's pretty! Are you an idiot?"

"Okay, I'm going to turn you off now. Goodbye."

(He takes out the earpiece.)

"Sorry."


"Tell me about your pets."

"What?"

"Your pets. I want to know about every pet you ever had."


"Playing pool. I can see it."

"You should play sometime."

"So you liked everything?"

"C'etait tres bon, merci."

"Parfait."

"So, uh, it is too late for you to set out for L'Avignon and you had much to drink. Upstairs, I have an inn and tonight, you are my guests. Please."

(He places the room key on the table.)

"Take your time. Merci."

(Sydney looks at Vaughn. He leans in.)

"Did you ask him to do that?"

"There are so many issues with this, I don't know where to begin."

"Hold on a second. I think we should have an open mind about this."

"An open mind."

"It'd be rude to overlook such a generous offer without proper consideration."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Okay."

"But there are clearly issues."

"Yes. I don't disagree."

(He smiles at her.)

"Okay."


"Monsieur, vous avez le telephone."

"Merci."

(He takes it. The two men from outside enter the restaurant.)

"Hello?"

"You've been made! Get out of there now!"

"Syd, behind you!"

(She turns around fast and takes their wine bottle, throwing it at the goons. She flies by the counter, hiding. Vaughn takes out his gun and shoots at the two men. They shoot back. Vaughn and Sydney run out the back way, down the hall.)

"Go, go!"

(Vaughn and Sydney escape through the kitchen, running down the stairs in the back of the building. They run side by side down an alleyway when a car comes. They stop and start running back, but MAN1 is there. He shoots at their feet. Sydney and Vaughn raise their hands, trapped. MAN2 gets out of the car.)

"Hands up!"

"Your gun. Toss it over."

(Vaughn does so, sliding it across the pavement.)

"On your knees! Hands behind your head!"

"Down!"

"Down, get down!"

(MAN2 gets on the phone while MAN1 handcuffs Sydney.)

"Potesh, Jon. ID six-tango-five-charlie-david. Patch me through to Los Angeles. Ariana Kane."

(Sydney and Vaughn hear this. As MAN1 is about to handcuff Vaughn, he grabs the knife strapped to his leg and stabs the guy in the throat. Using the body as a shield, he takes the goon's gun and shoots at MAN2, who falls to the ground. Vaughn grabs the handcuff key off the ground nearby and unlocks Sydney.)

"This is Kane. Hello? Hello?"

(Sydney grabs the phone, which is on the ground next to MAN2's body and hangs it up. Vaughn makes sure that MAN1 is dead. He puts a key in Sydney's hand.)

"Take the car. I'll have Weiss pick me up."

"I'll pick up the copy of the gyroscope before I get on the plane."

"No! We're aborting the counter mission. When these guys don't show up, SD-6 is going to investigate."

"No, no, no…"

"Now they can't prove anything but this is the one time we can't deceive them."

"No, no, there have to be other options…"

"We have to give SD-6 what they want, as dangerous as that is, you know that."

"We were so stupid."

"It's my fault."

"That's not true."

(A siren wails in the distance.)

"You have to go."

"I'll see you back in LA."

(Sydney runs off in one direction. Vaughn grabs his gun from the ground and runs in the opposite direction.)

"That was definitely a great night, except for the ending of course."

"Yeah, that was not good at all. Then I was remembering back to when we broke into the Vatican and how you had asked me out to dinner afterwards."

(Self-storage.)

"You're going to break into the Vatican?"

"The last thing I'm going to do while DSR is waiting for test results to prove I'm guilty of something I don't even understand is sit on my ass."

"But the Vatican?"

"The secret archives. All I have is an inventory number. They don't know the form the code key is in and it's Rambaldi, so it could be anything. I called you because I need a partner for this op. Someone I can trust."

"We'd have to fly out separately, undercover…"

"Different airports in Italy."

"Meet up in Rome."

"We'd have to leave tonight. You in?"

"Yeah. I'll break into the Vatican with you."


(In Rome, a van pulls up and Vaughn and Sydney climb out, wearing matching jumpsuits. They're posing as repairmen... repairwomen. Repair people. They go inside where a woman is singing opera in Italian and an old woman is instructing her. Vaughn and Sydney walk in but the old woman stops them and talks to them in Italian. Sydney talks back to her in Italian about the repairs. They start walking again but the woman stops them. Vaughn talks to her in Italian and she lets them go inside. They go down some stairs quickly.)

"So, I was thinking, we're in Rome which is the same city as Trattoria de Nardi."

"What's that?"

"Well, it's my favorite restaurant in the world."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

(Vaughn welds open a piece of the wall and removes it. They crawl inside and go down some stairs. They're walking down a tunnel with flashlights.)

"So why is Trattoria de Nardi so good?"

"Well, it's only good if you like food."

"Hey, did you know Kobe Bryant was named for a steak?"

"Yeah, actually, I did. Hey, you said the explosion will trigger the alarm…"

"Which is on a fifteen second delay."

"And you said you could disarm it in under twenty seconds. How far under twenty?"

"I work better under pressure."

(They get out the explosives. Sydney sets it up.)

"So, I was thinking, later tonight when we get the code key, maybe we can check it out?"

"What, the restaurant?"

"Yeah. Well, it's almost too good not to."

"Unless SD-6 spots us there and has us killed."

"Well, the food's so good it's almost worth the risk."

(Sydney punches in some numbers on the explosives.)

"Okay, it's set. Let's go."

(They run a little way down, behind a wall and hide. Sydney clicks a button on the trigger.)

"Ready?"

(Vaughn wraps his arm around her and shields her head from the blast. The explosion goes off. They move inside and move through the archives. They open a panel and Sydney disarms the alarm by cutting a couple of wires. They run through the room, looking through the various boxes. She sees the door with the right inventory number on it and they start taking off the door with the screws. When they remove it, they see it's a painting.)

"This is Pope Alexander VI. Rambaldi was his chief architect. Rambaldi made habit of hiding his real work in ordinary things. The code is hidden in this painting."

"We don't have time. We'll take it with us."

(He takes out a knife and is about to cut it. Sydney's eyes get wide.)

"Wait a minute. Give me the flashlight."

(She inspects the painting closer and sees some writing on the frame.)

"'Beginning with the eleventh letter, three rows of sixteen along the x axis and then another…' This is it. This is the code key."

"All right. I got it."

(He takes out a camera and starts taking pictures of the frame. They hear the door opening. Vaughn walks out and the guard stops him with a gun. The guard radios for help. Vaughn puts his hands up. Sydney comes from behind him and kicks him. She elbows him in the head.)

"He was sending for back-up. We gotta move."

"Yeah, we never did get to go there yet."

"We need to go there soon, but do you know where I want to go to first with you before anywhere else?"

"Santa Barbara?"

"Yep, we need to go there before we go anywhere else together."

(Hockey rink. Sydney and Vaughn.)

"I'm just so relieved for him, it's like I can breathe again."

"You know where it's fun to breathe? Santa Barbara. You ever been?"

"Yeah, I love it. The zoo, that giraffe with the crooked neck."

"No, I mean, the beach, the Biltmore, the food. La Superica -- you ever been there?"

"No."

"Okay, we're going this weekend."

"Yeah, come on, as if we can go. There'll be some emergency, some--"

(A cell rings. She gives him a look and reaches in her pocket where she's been keeping both their cell phones.)

"Yours."

(She hands it over.)

"Yeah? Yeah, practice is over. Why? No, that wasn't going to be me. What do you mean, Marky's sick? How sick? Weiss, come on, man. Okay, okay, okay. Okay! Goodbye."

(He hangs up.)

"I have to go in."

"I'm gonna stay here and practice so I can kick your ass next time."

"Oh really? Don't forget about Santa Barbara."

"Yeah, someday."

(They kiss. He skates away.)


"Your dad's going to be okay."

"I know. So when this is over, how do we go on vacation?"

"Well, I was thinking about this."

"Yeah?"

"And I was thinking that we have to stop talking about it and just book the hotel, just do it."

"You're right. We have to start thinking more positively."

"I mean, we're going to Santa Barbara."

"We're going. We're just going."

"That's it."


(Outside the house, Vaughn's car pulls up. Sydney takes off her seat belt.)

"Sloane's got the device and my mother, she--"

(He takes her chin in his hand.)

"Another day."

(He kisses her.)

"So I did it."

"Did what?"

"I booked the hotel."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

"You did?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Santa Barbara."

"Three nights starting tonight. I mean, it was probably the greatest phone call I've ever made."

"Well, you're a genius."

"Thank you."

(They kiss.)

"So after the debrief I'll come and pick you up."

"Okay."

"As soon as you get out of debrief then, we can go. And we won't let anyone stand in our way this time."

"That sounds great."

"Hey guys, we are lowering a rope down now. Just grab onto it and we will pull you up and then you can climb out."

"Ok, thanks Eric. You want to go first Syd?"

"Sure."

Now, we just have to climb out so that we can face what is to come.

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TBC......

Author's Note 2: So there it is. How was it? The earliest that I may have an update is Monday. So until then, please review!!!