Chapter 12

"Sister?" I stammered.

"Yeah." Vaughn walked over to me and grabbed my hand. "Kat, this is my wife, Sydney. She's also an agent for the CIA. And this is our daughter, Gracie."

Vaughn introduced us to Kat. She smiled and gave Gracie and I each a hug.

"I'm glad that Michael has someone." She said when we broke apart. I smiled back at her.

Kat picked up Gracie and began talking to her. I grabbed Vaughn's arm and led him back to he living room.

"How come you never told me you had a sister?" I cried.

"Well, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. She's an agent for the CIA too, but she's stationed here in France. Only the CIA, my mother and I know she is related to me." Vaughn explained.

"Oh. I see." I said. I sat down on the couch. Vaughn frowned and came after me. He sat down next to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"Syd, trust me. I hate keeping things from you. Believe me, it's the last thing I would want to do. I was under orders to keep her from the rest of the CIA. And you. She does a lot of dangerous work that could get her killed. I just couldn't say anything. She was the only person that I could think of to come to." Vaughn said. He pulled me closer to him.

"I'm sorry I overreacted. I just got a little ticked off, but I understand now." I planted a small kiss on his cheek.

We got back up and headed back out to Gracie and Kat. Gracie was telling Kat a story. I listened in and realized it was of our escape from Sloane. She was using her hands and a lot of expression to help tell the story. Kat smiled and nodded and was listening to every word that Gracie said. Vaughn and I crouched down next to Kat. Gracie gave a little bow when she was done with her story. We all clapped and cheered.

Kat turned and looked at Vaughn and I. "You have a charming daughter." She said.

"Thanks. I know," I replied. Gracie ran over to me and leaned up against me.

"Can I offer you some dinner? I'll show you where your rooms are and the I'll fix us some dinner." Kat began to walk upstairs.

Vaughn grabbed our luggage and I grabbed Gracie. We followed Kat up the stairs to a few empty rooms. Vaughn and I took the first one, which had a bathroom in it, and Gracie took the second one. We emptied out her toys and she began playing with them. I went into the bathroom and splashed some cool water on my face. I looked at myself in the mirror. I still had light blonde hair. Vaughn and I had to keep re-dyeing it every few weeks. I pulled into a messy bun. My eyes were red and puffy from not getting any sleep.

Vaughn snuck up behind me.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey," I replied. "You're sister is being very nice to let us stay here. Speaking of which, where is here any ways?"

"We're in a safehouse in France. No one, not even Sloane will be able to find it. There's a basement that has food, weapons, and anything else we can think of. We will have enough supplies to last us about 1 year. Every six months, my mother will come by to restock it. She is in charge of keeping it running. It has hardly ever been used, though." Vaughn explained to me.

"Wow." I said, breathless. "So how long do you think we will be here for?"

"I have no idea. That is going to be Kat's job. She's gonna help out with that kind of thing."

I heard a pair of footsteps and Gracie appeared in the doorway.

"Mom! Dad! Tante Kat says dinner is ready!" Gracie called. She smiled and ran back down the stairs.

Vaughn looked at me. "By the time we leave here, Kat will have her speaking French!" Vaughn laughed.

"Oh boy!" I cried. Vaughn made a grab for my sides and made an attempt to tickle me. I screamed and ran downstairs.

Kat had Gracie up on a stool making something. Gracie hopped down and brought the food to the table, where she lay a portion of it on each plate. Kat smiled when we walked into the room.

"I made dinner!" Gracie cried.

"With a little help from me!" Kat added without Gracie hearing.

We all sat down at the little table in the kitchen. Gracie and Kat had made turkey and cheese croissant sandwiches. They were very good! They also made some french fries.

"Very good dinner you guys." I exclaimed.

"I second that!" Vaughn said. We ate the rest of the meal in silence.

We let Gracie go watch some TV while we stayed I the kitchen to talk.

"Kat, what are the chances of Sloane finding us here?" I asked nervously.

"About 1 in a million. This safehouse is known by only a few people in the CIA. The people of France just know it as a run down house that no one will buy. It's pretty safe. We have alarms and things that will alert us when someone is approaching the house. We couldn't be any safer." Kat said.

I looked over at Gracie and I sighed. "That makes me feel a lot better. I don't want to have to be on the run for the rest of my life. And I want to see my friends again. I miss them so much."

Vaughn smiled and grabbed my hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

"This will be over soon, I promise." Vaughn said.

"I really hope so." I replied.

"I'll do as much as I can to help you out." Kat said. "I just have one question though."

"Yeah?" Vaughn asked.

"How did you two meet?"

"Through the CIA. You know that watch that Dad had? The one he said could set your life by it?"

"Yeah." Kat said.

"Well, it stopped October 1st, the day we met."