Chapter Three-
Sydney and I reached the van and with Vaughn and Eric we went to a safe house. The safe house was a nice looking house, fifty miles away from the now ashen warehouse. Inside were two rooms, one for Sydney and I and the other for Vaughn and Eric. The kitchen was small but well stocked with food. There were weapons and computers there for us and our luggage were already in the rooms.
It was now 12:30 in the morning. Sydney was exhausted and had retired into the bedroom. Vaughn and Eric were locked in their own room, looking through the Intel Sydney and I retrieved. I was alone, which was a good thing. I went into the bathroom and locked the door. I had a laptop hidden under the sink so that when I was alone I could finally contact Lauren like she ordered me to before I had set off for this mission.
Once the laptop was on and online, I took a seat on the toilet with the cover down. I began to type the e-mail to Lauren. I wrote:
To- Lauren Reed From- Agent Brown Subject- Update on Agent Vaughn and Agent Sydney Bristow
During the plane ride to France I have notice some strange behavior between Agent Vaughn and Agent Bristow. Truthfully most of the odd behavior came from Agent Vaughn, the reason is yet unknown to me. There are no actual signs that any romance is going on between the two, but there are reasons for me to believe that something is going on. It is still too early for me to confirm your suspicions but I assure you that there is something secretive between the two. I guarantee that once this mission is over I will have more necessary evidence for you. Until then I will keep you posted on any further observations. Sign, -Agent Brown
I clicked send and then quickly erased any traces of the e-mail. After I did that, I turned off my laptop and returned it to its hiding place. I made a mental note to retrieve the laptop in one hour.
I lifted up the cover of the toilet and then flushed. I turned on the sink and ran my hands through the water. I dried them with a towel hanging on the towel rack and then opened the door and stepped out. I suddenly came face to face with Eric.
"Eric!" I said startled. I closed the bathroom door behind me, silently hoping that if he went into the bathroom he would not look under the sink. "You need to use the bathroom?" I asked.
Eric gave me a goofy smile and said, "Drank a little too much water I guess..... Plus I didn't really go after the plane ride."
I laughed. "Well, you must have a lot in you!"
Eric blushed which made me giggle for some reason. He laughed along too, but soon looked a little jumpy. I stood where I was, waiting for him to move towards the bathroom. Instead he just stood there looking around and only gave me a one second glance. He then muttered, "So......"
I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms. "Eric?" I asked.
He finally looked at me. "Yeah?" He smiled.
"Don't you have to go?" I asked and pointed behind me.
Eric blushed even more and was all jumpy again. "Oh right! Yeah, I- I- I do have to go." I stepped towards the side and watched as he walked backwards and pointed behind him. "I'm gonna go," he muttered. He kept looking at me and didn't stop walking until he walked into the bathroom door. "Ow!" He cried. He gave me an even more nervous grin and quickly got into the bathroom.
Once the door was closed I let out a laugh. I swear that Eric was such a sweetheart! I shook my head and my smile grew when I remembered how red he looked. I made my way towards my room, the smile still on my face. When I opened the door I found Sydney lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling.
"Hey," I said as I closed the door. I walked towards my bed, the one a couple feet beside hers. "I thought you were asleep."
"I'm always a late sleeper," she told me. Then muttered something under her breath. I heard something like, "Not sleeping..... Lately......"
"Oh," I said. I sat down on the side of my bed. I realized that this was an opportune moment to get some information from her. "So......" I said, " What's up with you and Vaughn?" I hope I sounded casual instead of like a police interrogating a suspect.
"Why do you ask?" She looked at me. Does she suspect anything? I quickly shrugged like it was an innocent question. "No reasons really," I lied. " I just thought that- you know what, forget I asked. I'm being too nosy." I looked away from her and occupied myself with smoothing out my blanket.
Sydney sat up. "No.... No you're not being nosy. I'm sorry. I should have known how awkward things are for you. Being new and all and not knowing what's going on or anything."
Sydney glanced at me and then looked away. "Vaughn and I.... We sort of have issues........"
"Issues?" I asked. I looked at her innocently, like I knew nothing at all. "What do you mean?" Please, I thought, 'let me get something from her!'
"I'm sure you heard about it," Sydney muttered. I could tell she was bothered by the gossip that surrounded her.
"I know about your missing two years and all...... But that's pretty much it." I glanced at her. She looked pained, like she wanted to tell me, yet wasn't sure if she should. I was feeling a twinge of guilt as I tried to sound sincere. "Syd, trust me. I want to be your friend."
Sydney gave a bitter laugh. "Believe me, you don't want to." I was about to ask why she said that but she continued, "Look, I'm sorry if you feel sort of the odd one here. Vaughn and I, our past makes things very complicated. Especially for this mission."
Silence. Then, "He and I were......" She couldn't find the word she was looking for.
I offered the one word I could think of. "In love?"
Sydney shook her head and buried her face into her hands. I heard her muffled voice. "Yeah I guess...... See things were just getting serious between him and I, but then I disappeared..... And only to come back and find him married." She lifted up her face and I saw her eyes glisten. No tears dropped but I could tell she was keeping thing in. "It's hard, really hard."
She took a deep breath. "He was there when I was undercover at SD- 6. There when I had to lie to everyone I love. He was the only one who knew the truth, the only one who kept me going. Because of him, I had the strength to take down SD-6. Vaughn wasn't just another guy." She gave a lopsided smile. "He was my guardian angel."
The smile then disappeared. "I hoped, that even though things are really awkward between us, that we could still be friends. Like we used to be. But, now all I get from him is this cold person I never knew he had. He ignores me, rude to me, and he...... He isn't like himself when he's around me. His smile disappears when I'm near......" I could tell how much it was hurting her to describe how Vaughn acts around her. Obviously it pained her to have the one she love do that.
"You know what?" She asked me. "I don't care anymore. He wants to play games, fine. He wants to continue ignoring me, go ahead. I'm too tired to care anymore. I'm just..... Too tired."
Another moment of silence settle between us and it made its stay longer this time. After what seem like half an hour, I finally spoke.
"Are you and Lauren, like enemies?" I hurried and added, "I mean if I was you, I think I would be mad at her." I watched Sydney who just shook her head.
"No," came her answer. "No, I don't. I respect Lauren a lot. Don't get me wrong, its not like I am best friends with her or anything, but I'm glad Vaughn found her. I'm just so grateful that she got him to move on. I owe her a lot, more than she knows. She's a good woman, and Vaughn is lucky to have her."
The way she praised Lauren brought disgust inside of me. I got mad at Lauren, knowing she wasn't any of those things. How can Sydney praise a woman who hired a spy to spy on her? Believing that she is committing adultery with her husband?
I even began to feel disgusted with myself. I am the spy. I am the one pretending to be her friend, just for my stupid reasons.
But then my reason wasn't stupid. It was perfectly reasonable. And anyway how long have I known Sydney? I just spent a day with her, and most of that was on a mission. How do I even know for sure that Sydney is as sweet as she seems? How can I be sure that Lauren wasn't really the victim here?
I was torn. Between Sydney and Lauren. Between love and lies. Between my mother and father. Between myself and...... And who?
I shook my head, trying to clear my mind from these thoughts. They were confusing me...... I need to focus! Nothing can get in the way of this mission. If I ever plan on being a good agent, I have to learn to not let my emotions get in the way. Even if the emotion is guilt.
"Love is a cruel pathetic thing isn't it?" I said aloud. I didn't even know I did until the words were already out of my mouth.
I felt Sydney look at me. "Why do you say that?"
I didn't know how to answer her. Why did I all of a sudden say that? I was being such a fool! I was going to search for a way out of this topic when suddenly someone knocked on our door.
Eric's head popped in and he gave a grin. "We got some news." His head disappeared from behind the door.
I silently thanked Eric as I got up. "Let's get to work!" I said, a little too brightly. I walked out of the room, feeling Sydney's eyes on me.
The guys were all in the kitchen, seated around the table. Sydney and I stood side by side, listening to what they had to say.
"We found out why Sark was at the warehouse," said Vaughn. "It turns out that he wanted to find where the antidote is because he plans to use it as a bargaining chip with the CIA."
"Last month the CIA require a scroll found in India. It's full of codes, and even now we can't seem to decipher it," Weiss said. "This scroll seems especially important to Sark and the Covenant."
"So he plans to get the antidote and then trade it to the CIA in order to get the scroll," I concluded.
Vaughn gave a slight nod. "The CIA cannot afford to lose the scroll, especially if the scroll turns out to be another Rambaldi artifact or directions to create a nuclear weapon."
"It's now a race between Sark and us to get the antidote," Weiss said. " If Sark gets it, then we have no choice but to give up the scroll."
"So any idea where the antidote is then?" I asked.
"It's right here in France. It's hidden in a business building, owned by one of the top richest French men's, and his name is George Deve." Weiss handed Sydney and I thin gray folders. I opened it and there was a picture of a fat man with no hair, dressed in an expensive suit coming out of a limo. "He somehow got his hands on the antidote. Knowing how valuable it is, he keeps it somewhere in his building with top notch security."
"There will be a banquet held at 7:00 p.m. You two will leave at 8:00 while Weiss and I will leave 30 minutes earlier," Vaughn informed us. " Weiss and I will be going undercover as business partners, our Alias will be Quentin Duffel and Alex Lexington, and we are there to make a deal with Deve about a business proposal. We'll try to get anything we can, but most likely we won't get anything. You two will be there as sisters, daughter's of a now rising businessmen in America. Your father will be Bill Richard. Your aliases are Brooke and Shelly Richard. Supposedly your father had an emergency meeting and informed you two that he couldn't make it. You two decide to attend the banquet anyway."
We began to go over what to do after we were all in the building. After a half an hour later Eric got up and clapped his hands together as he said, " Okay that's it!" He began to stretch. "Let's get some rest. We have a big night, you know with fighting Sark and saving the world from a deadly disease and all."
I laughed, but watched from out of the corner of my eye as Sydney threw Vaughn a cold stare and walked away. Vaughn's eyes traveled after her. And then he too walked back to his room.
I gave one last smile to Eric, wished him a goodnight and then walked back to my room. As confused, as I am about whose side I'm on, I still know I have a mission to do. Nothing can get in the way of that. Besides, Vaughn seems to have more secrets I need to uncover than Sydney does. And by tonight, I'm sure I'll get it.
I just hope guilt won't get in the way again.
Sydney and I reached the van and with Vaughn and Eric we went to a safe house. The safe house was a nice looking house, fifty miles away from the now ashen warehouse. Inside were two rooms, one for Sydney and I and the other for Vaughn and Eric. The kitchen was small but well stocked with food. There were weapons and computers there for us and our luggage were already in the rooms.
It was now 12:30 in the morning. Sydney was exhausted and had retired into the bedroom. Vaughn and Eric were locked in their own room, looking through the Intel Sydney and I retrieved. I was alone, which was a good thing. I went into the bathroom and locked the door. I had a laptop hidden under the sink so that when I was alone I could finally contact Lauren like she ordered me to before I had set off for this mission.
Once the laptop was on and online, I took a seat on the toilet with the cover down. I began to type the e-mail to Lauren. I wrote:
To- Lauren Reed From- Agent Brown Subject- Update on Agent Vaughn and Agent Sydney Bristow
During the plane ride to France I have notice some strange behavior between Agent Vaughn and Agent Bristow. Truthfully most of the odd behavior came from Agent Vaughn, the reason is yet unknown to me. There are no actual signs that any romance is going on between the two, but there are reasons for me to believe that something is going on. It is still too early for me to confirm your suspicions but I assure you that there is something secretive between the two. I guarantee that once this mission is over I will have more necessary evidence for you. Until then I will keep you posted on any further observations. Sign, -Agent Brown
I clicked send and then quickly erased any traces of the e-mail. After I did that, I turned off my laptop and returned it to its hiding place. I made a mental note to retrieve the laptop in one hour.
I lifted up the cover of the toilet and then flushed. I turned on the sink and ran my hands through the water. I dried them with a towel hanging on the towel rack and then opened the door and stepped out. I suddenly came face to face with Eric.
"Eric!" I said startled. I closed the bathroom door behind me, silently hoping that if he went into the bathroom he would not look under the sink. "You need to use the bathroom?" I asked.
Eric gave me a goofy smile and said, "Drank a little too much water I guess..... Plus I didn't really go after the plane ride."
I laughed. "Well, you must have a lot in you!"
Eric blushed which made me giggle for some reason. He laughed along too, but soon looked a little jumpy. I stood where I was, waiting for him to move towards the bathroom. Instead he just stood there looking around and only gave me a one second glance. He then muttered, "So......"
I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms. "Eric?" I asked.
He finally looked at me. "Yeah?" He smiled.
"Don't you have to go?" I asked and pointed behind me.
Eric blushed even more and was all jumpy again. "Oh right! Yeah, I- I- I do have to go." I stepped towards the side and watched as he walked backwards and pointed behind him. "I'm gonna go," he muttered. He kept looking at me and didn't stop walking until he walked into the bathroom door. "Ow!" He cried. He gave me an even more nervous grin and quickly got into the bathroom.
Once the door was closed I let out a laugh. I swear that Eric was such a sweetheart! I shook my head and my smile grew when I remembered how red he looked. I made my way towards my room, the smile still on my face. When I opened the door I found Sydney lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling.
"Hey," I said as I closed the door. I walked towards my bed, the one a couple feet beside hers. "I thought you were asleep."
"I'm always a late sleeper," she told me. Then muttered something under her breath. I heard something like, "Not sleeping..... Lately......"
"Oh," I said. I sat down on the side of my bed. I realized that this was an opportune moment to get some information from her. "So......" I said, " What's up with you and Vaughn?" I hope I sounded casual instead of like a police interrogating a suspect.
"Why do you ask?" She looked at me. Does she suspect anything? I quickly shrugged like it was an innocent question. "No reasons really," I lied. " I just thought that- you know what, forget I asked. I'm being too nosy." I looked away from her and occupied myself with smoothing out my blanket.
Sydney sat up. "No.... No you're not being nosy. I'm sorry. I should have known how awkward things are for you. Being new and all and not knowing what's going on or anything."
Sydney glanced at me and then looked away. "Vaughn and I.... We sort of have issues........"
"Issues?" I asked. I looked at her innocently, like I knew nothing at all. "What do you mean?" Please, I thought, 'let me get something from her!'
"I'm sure you heard about it," Sydney muttered. I could tell she was bothered by the gossip that surrounded her.
"I know about your missing two years and all...... But that's pretty much it." I glanced at her. She looked pained, like she wanted to tell me, yet wasn't sure if she should. I was feeling a twinge of guilt as I tried to sound sincere. "Syd, trust me. I want to be your friend."
Sydney gave a bitter laugh. "Believe me, you don't want to." I was about to ask why she said that but she continued, "Look, I'm sorry if you feel sort of the odd one here. Vaughn and I, our past makes things very complicated. Especially for this mission."
Silence. Then, "He and I were......" She couldn't find the word she was looking for.
I offered the one word I could think of. "In love?"
Sydney shook her head and buried her face into her hands. I heard her muffled voice. "Yeah I guess...... See things were just getting serious between him and I, but then I disappeared..... And only to come back and find him married." She lifted up her face and I saw her eyes glisten. No tears dropped but I could tell she was keeping thing in. "It's hard, really hard."
She took a deep breath. "He was there when I was undercover at SD- 6. There when I had to lie to everyone I love. He was the only one who knew the truth, the only one who kept me going. Because of him, I had the strength to take down SD-6. Vaughn wasn't just another guy." She gave a lopsided smile. "He was my guardian angel."
The smile then disappeared. "I hoped, that even though things are really awkward between us, that we could still be friends. Like we used to be. But, now all I get from him is this cold person I never knew he had. He ignores me, rude to me, and he...... He isn't like himself when he's around me. His smile disappears when I'm near......" I could tell how much it was hurting her to describe how Vaughn acts around her. Obviously it pained her to have the one she love do that.
"You know what?" She asked me. "I don't care anymore. He wants to play games, fine. He wants to continue ignoring me, go ahead. I'm too tired to care anymore. I'm just..... Too tired."
Another moment of silence settle between us and it made its stay longer this time. After what seem like half an hour, I finally spoke.
"Are you and Lauren, like enemies?" I hurried and added, "I mean if I was you, I think I would be mad at her." I watched Sydney who just shook her head.
"No," came her answer. "No, I don't. I respect Lauren a lot. Don't get me wrong, its not like I am best friends with her or anything, but I'm glad Vaughn found her. I'm just so grateful that she got him to move on. I owe her a lot, more than she knows. She's a good woman, and Vaughn is lucky to have her."
The way she praised Lauren brought disgust inside of me. I got mad at Lauren, knowing she wasn't any of those things. How can Sydney praise a woman who hired a spy to spy on her? Believing that she is committing adultery with her husband?
I even began to feel disgusted with myself. I am the spy. I am the one pretending to be her friend, just for my stupid reasons.
But then my reason wasn't stupid. It was perfectly reasonable. And anyway how long have I known Sydney? I just spent a day with her, and most of that was on a mission. How do I even know for sure that Sydney is as sweet as she seems? How can I be sure that Lauren wasn't really the victim here?
I was torn. Between Sydney and Lauren. Between love and lies. Between my mother and father. Between myself and...... And who?
I shook my head, trying to clear my mind from these thoughts. They were confusing me...... I need to focus! Nothing can get in the way of this mission. If I ever plan on being a good agent, I have to learn to not let my emotions get in the way. Even if the emotion is guilt.
"Love is a cruel pathetic thing isn't it?" I said aloud. I didn't even know I did until the words were already out of my mouth.
I felt Sydney look at me. "Why do you say that?"
I didn't know how to answer her. Why did I all of a sudden say that? I was being such a fool! I was going to search for a way out of this topic when suddenly someone knocked on our door.
Eric's head popped in and he gave a grin. "We got some news." His head disappeared from behind the door.
I silently thanked Eric as I got up. "Let's get to work!" I said, a little too brightly. I walked out of the room, feeling Sydney's eyes on me.
The guys were all in the kitchen, seated around the table. Sydney and I stood side by side, listening to what they had to say.
"We found out why Sark was at the warehouse," said Vaughn. "It turns out that he wanted to find where the antidote is because he plans to use it as a bargaining chip with the CIA."
"Last month the CIA require a scroll found in India. It's full of codes, and even now we can't seem to decipher it," Weiss said. "This scroll seems especially important to Sark and the Covenant."
"So he plans to get the antidote and then trade it to the CIA in order to get the scroll," I concluded.
Vaughn gave a slight nod. "The CIA cannot afford to lose the scroll, especially if the scroll turns out to be another Rambaldi artifact or directions to create a nuclear weapon."
"It's now a race between Sark and us to get the antidote," Weiss said. " If Sark gets it, then we have no choice but to give up the scroll."
"So any idea where the antidote is then?" I asked.
"It's right here in France. It's hidden in a business building, owned by one of the top richest French men's, and his name is George Deve." Weiss handed Sydney and I thin gray folders. I opened it and there was a picture of a fat man with no hair, dressed in an expensive suit coming out of a limo. "He somehow got his hands on the antidote. Knowing how valuable it is, he keeps it somewhere in his building with top notch security."
"There will be a banquet held at 7:00 p.m. You two will leave at 8:00 while Weiss and I will leave 30 minutes earlier," Vaughn informed us. " Weiss and I will be going undercover as business partners, our Alias will be Quentin Duffel and Alex Lexington, and we are there to make a deal with Deve about a business proposal. We'll try to get anything we can, but most likely we won't get anything. You two will be there as sisters, daughter's of a now rising businessmen in America. Your father will be Bill Richard. Your aliases are Brooke and Shelly Richard. Supposedly your father had an emergency meeting and informed you two that he couldn't make it. You two decide to attend the banquet anyway."
We began to go over what to do after we were all in the building. After a half an hour later Eric got up and clapped his hands together as he said, " Okay that's it!" He began to stretch. "Let's get some rest. We have a big night, you know with fighting Sark and saving the world from a deadly disease and all."
I laughed, but watched from out of the corner of my eye as Sydney threw Vaughn a cold stare and walked away. Vaughn's eyes traveled after her. And then he too walked back to his room.
I gave one last smile to Eric, wished him a goodnight and then walked back to my room. As confused, as I am about whose side I'm on, I still know I have a mission to do. Nothing can get in the way of that. Besides, Vaughn seems to have more secrets I need to uncover than Sydney does. And by tonight, I'm sure I'll get it.
I just hope guilt won't get in the way again.
