Chapter 10: Investigation
When she got to work on Friday morning, Sydney was immediately pulled aside by her father. "Did you talk to her?" she asked.
"Yes," Jack said, "and she suggested a meeting before I had a chance to. She's coming today."
Sydney's eyes widened. "Today? That was fast." Her brow wrinkled. "Um, it's Friday. Won't that mean she'll have to stay the whole weekend?"
"She said she'd stay until Monday. So what exactly happened on this mission that Lindsey was so upset about?"
Sydney had meant to talk about that at lunch yesterday, but she realized it had slipped her mind. She was about to tell him when she saw Vaughn entering JTF. "Um, I'll tell you later…there's Vaughn…"
"Which means Lauren is sure to follow," Jack said. "Lindsey's suspicious enough as it is…bring Kate tonight around seven?"
Sydney nodded and they separated. Lauren still hadn't come in, she realized. Oh, well. She could tell both her parents soon…
"Agent Vaughn, is Ms. Reed with you?" she heard Dixon say. "I need to talk to her."
"No, um, she got called in about four this morning…some kind of NSC business."
Kate overheard Vaughn's statement as she entered JTF and suppressed a smile. She made her way over to Sydney's desk, where Sydney was pretending to read a file, and perched on the corner. "Morning," she said.
Sydney looked up. "Morning." She mouthed "today" quickly.
Kate nodded. "Hey, I still don't have a place to live, and I was wondering…it would be nice if you could give me some pointers on where to look."
"I can do better than that," Sydney said. "How about I give you the grand tour of L.A. after work?"
"Sounds good," Kate said with a grin. "I'll see you at five, then."
"Probably four," Sydney said. "If there's nothing going on, Dixon usually lets us leave early."
"Sounds great. See you later."
***
Later that afternoon, Lauren Reed left the hotel room, slumped against the wall, and rubbed her forehead. The police forensics team was just finishing up, but she doubted they'd find much. She had a feeling that whoever had done this had been a professional. Her mind kept going back to the envelope that had been under the murder weapon. It contained all kinds of classified information, and it had Lindsey's fingerprints on it. Surely, it was a plant, she thought. She desperately hoped that her boss hadn't been a spy.
"Ms. Reed?" Lauren looked up to see Dixon standing before her. She'd sent the CIA pictures of the other man that had been murdered; it must be bad news if Dixon had shown up to deliver the news personally. "I'm sorry. The other man…his name was Hans Beiter…he worked for the Covenant."
"God," Lauren said. "Is there any chance…could this be some kind of set-up?"
"Hotel security cameras caught Beiter when he came in. He was obviously alone. It doesn't look good."
Lauren thought for a moment, then decided to confide her suspicion in Dixon. "I can't help wondering if this was an inside job. Someone under him found out he was working for the Covenant and decided to get him out of the way on their own."
Dixon nodded slowly. "It's a possibility." He decided not to clue Lauren in to the fact that Jack Bristow had basically done exactly that to another spy a few years ago. That wasn't common—or official—knowledge. Neither was the fact that Sydney had murdered Lazaray in a manner eerily similar to that in which Lindsey had died. If the NSC knew, the Bristows would immediately top their list of suspects.
Lauren sighed. "Well, I'll probably be either here or at the police station all day. You should probably get back to JTF. Try to keep this quiet."
"Too late," Dixon said. "It was on the noon news; half the office saw it. They didn't give his profession, but they did say his name."
"God. Could this get any worse?" She was silent for a moment. "Well, I'll let you know what we're going to do about the investigation."
Dixon nodded. He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he left.
AN: I know this wasn't the most exciting chapter, but the next one will be better.
Next: Finally, the SpyRents get together!