From the roof of an apartment block, Sydney looked down. Vaughn stood a little way back by the door, fixing a metal wire securely to a hook protruding from the ground. He clipped the other end onto his belt and then pulled on it to check it was secure. He gave Sydney the thumbs upand walked over.
"It should hold us" He said smiling at her. Sydney nodded, not returning the smile. He sighed, she was still mad at him because he was married. Their friendship would never be the same again.
"Lets go then."She said, picking up her shoulder bag and swinging it onto her back. Vaughn was uncomfortable; they only had one rope and if they did two separate trips down it would take too long. He swallowed and then began to speak.
"Syd. We only have one rope so you're going to have to come down with me." Sydney gave him a half smile.
"Well done, Einstein." She laughed. "Come here then" Vaughn got closer to her and she pulled him into a sort of hug. Vaughn was stunned at first but then he understood. The pair walked slowly to the very edge and then jumped. They sped down, Sydney clinging onto Vaughn for dear life. Suddenly the fall stopped as Vaughn clamped the wire on his belt. They hung there for a while, swinging above the busy street below. Syd looked down and laughed nervously.
"Aren't we meant to be inside there? Not dangling above the road?" She said, breathing hard.
"Right." Vaughn said as if he had completely forgotten. He pulled a silenced PP7 gun out and put three holes in the window. It cracked and fell inwards.
"Ok. Now we need to swing into the window. I'll let you go first so you have to be ready! Ready?" He said, swinging himself and Syd so they got closer and closer to the open window. On the fifth swing Sydney let go and flew into the room, tucking her head in and rolling over the glass. She got up and looked back at Vaughn who had managed to grab hold of the window sill and was unfastening the wire. She turned and looked around, a noise to her left made her bring out her gun. She held it in both hands and moved towards the direction of the noise. There was a fish tank in the centre of the room and she edged around it. A door stood open at the end of a corridor and she made her way down. A light came from inside the room and she became very wary. She tranfered her gun to her right hand and used her left to push the door open. To her surprise a huge man stood directly infront of her. Before she could shoot he had lifted his own gun and shot her, right under her bulletproof vest.
She fell to the floor, dropping her gun. She out a hand to the bullet hole and felt blood oozing out. Moving carefully, Sydney propped herself against the wall and then relaxed. For some reason the pain had gone and she felt happy. The happiest she had done in almost two years. She was faintly aware of someone dropping to her side and shaking her but all she could do was smile.
Vaughn jumped into the room. THere was no sign of Sydney anywhere but he wasn't worried, she could handle herself. He went straight to the door and turned back to face the room.
"Six steps forward. One step to the left" HE recited in his head. He moved forwards and then to the left and came face to face with the wall. He looked around. "Guess this is it." He said aloud. He pulled out a hammer from his belt pocket and smashed the wall. HE tore away the plaster and hit the metal of the safe.
"Yatzi!"He said. He fumbled in his pocket for a piece of paper was distracted when he suddenly heard a gunshot. "Syd!" He ran through the apartment and down a small corridor. He saw Sydney sitting against one of the walls and a body in the bathroom next to her. He ran to her and dropped onto his knees next to her.
"Syd? SYd? Are you alright? Where were you hit?" HE asked, shaking her. SHe seemed completely out of it, with a crazy smile on her face. She had her hand over her lower stomach. When he tried to pry her hand away she screamed and this seemed to bring her back into reality. Her eyes, that had not been focusing on anything, suddenly fixed on Vaughn.
"Vaughn? I couldn't react....he..he was too fast" She rasped. Vaughn held her in his arms.
"Syd. Shh, don't worry. We'll get you out of here. I've already called a medic and back up. YOu'll be on missions again soon" He said. She saw the funny side and managed a laugh.
"The CIA are always messing up my life," She breathed. "First of all when I went and you moved on........"There was an awkward silence "And now this?"
"Its nothing Syd, just a glitch. I got to the safe and I just need to get the intel. Your gonna be fine, its just a scratch." He said, trying to smile. His head was full of thoughts, mainly that he had not told Syd he loved since she had returned but he desperately wanted to tell her so and that he couldn't stop thinking about her.
"Vaughn......I......go and g...get the intel. I...I'll be.......O...K." She said, breathing slowly. Vaughn was reluctant to leave her side and she noticed. "Go!" She said, pushing him away. He climbed slowly to his feet and jogged back through the apartment back to the safe. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and punched in the code, 479847. The safe beeped and the door swung open. Inside was a small lead box. He reached in and lifted it out carefully. There was something at the back of the safe, a small red light. He peered into and then backed away shocked. Stuffing the box into a bag he threw himself backwards onto the floor as the safe exploded.
Vaughn awoke to feel searing heat on his face. He opened his eyes and saw flames leaoing from the gap in the wall where the safe had been.
"Great. Flame thrower." He thought. His rolled over, out of the path of the flames and crawled back to Sydney. Once in the little corridor, the heat was lessened, but the whole apartment was lit up by the flames protruding from the wall. Syd was still propped up against the wall, her eyes closed, a dreamy expression on her face. Not what you would expect with someone who had just been shot. As he reached her he called out her name, no reply. He then checked for a pulse, it was there, not as strong as it should be but not weak. A good sign. Now she was unconcious he could check her wound. He pried her hand away and lifted up her top. There was not much blood and on closer examination Vaughn could see the end of a dart sticking cruelly out of her abdomen. She had been hit with a tranquiliser, but at such close range it was bound to have drawn blood. A wave of relief swept over him as he realised she would not die. Someone had known they were coming and had sent guards with tranqs. They didn't want to kill them, just take them prisoner. Vaughn thought for a while.
"There must be a mole in the CIA." He thought. "How else would they know we were coming? Normally guards are manned with serious arsenal. Not tranqilisers."
But that didn't matter at the moment. His main priority was to get himself and Syd out of there, to safety. Standing up, he grabbed one of Syd's arm and slung her over his shoulders, heading for the door. They were nearly half way across the apartment, in full view of the door when it flung open. A figure stood in the doorway. It was slim with long, shoulder-length hair. Probably a woman. Vaughn stared for a moment before seeing the woman raise an arm, and in the hand there was a gun. Vaughn's reactions slowed down. Before he could throw him and Syd out of the way she opened fire. For a second Vaughn was frozen in time, his feet stuck firmly to the soft carpet beneath him. Then everything rushed back to him. He threw Syd out of firing range and dove after her himself. Syd lay motionless on the floor as Vaughn groped for his gun. He coudldn't find it and when he looked up he saw it sitting in the middle of the apartment. He felt for Syd's gun, which he had neatly replaced in its holster. He checked that it was loaded and then clambered to his feet. He threw himself behind a chair and returned fire. At first it seemed that the woman was inviciable and then the final bullet in his round struck home, in the woman's left shoulder. She staggered backwards and her face was suddenly cast into the light. Vaughn looked at her in disbelief and then shook his head, blinking furiously. When he looked again the woman had disappeared. Vaughn sat stunned, unable to comprehend what he had just seen. He couldn't swear on it but he was sure that the woman firing at him had been Lauren, his own wife.
When the backup CIA team finally came, Vaughn was still sitting behind the chair, staring into space. The sound of footsteps brought him back to his senses. He cocked his gun and aimed it at the door, when Weiss entered cautiously he lowered the gun and scrambled to his feet.
"Where the hell have you been?" Vaughn said, hardly able to control his anger. "Syd was shot and if it had actually been a bullet she would be dead by now." Weiss looked at the floor.
"Sorry, our calls were messed up. We have a secure line, it should be untapable but someone slowed down the call. We didn't get it until about five minutes ago and we got here as fast as we could." Vaughn didn't buy this at first but then he realised Weiss would telling the truth, he never lied anyway.
"Ok, well you're here now. Syd was shot with a tranq, strong. She's been out cold for over half an hour. I had a face off with someone, I don't know who, they kept their face hidden. But I shot them and they ran. There is one dead guy round that corner, down the corridor in the bathroom. And that hole in the wall was where the safe was, I got the intel but the safe blew up, must have had motion sensors or something." Vaughn said, keeping the detail about seeing Lauren to himself. He would do his own investigation on that.
"Ok. Thanks Vaughn. Go see the medics, you look terrible." Weiss said, looking at Vaughn ragged apearance, his clothes were slightly burnt, his face was sweaty, mixed with dirt. Vaughn smiled and walked out of the apartment to where the medics were treating Syd.
BACK IN L.A.
Syd and Vaughn sat in debrief. Dixon stood at the front of the room, going through what Vaughn had found in the safe, which was basically nothing. The whole thing was a set-up, although the intel had actually been there. Someone must have known that they were coming and had swapped the contents of the safe.
"Great, I nearly got blown up for nothing." Vaughn muttered. Although Dixon did not here, he understood the tone of voice that Vaughn had used.
"However, we did search the dead man and found this phone number which Marshall traced to a warehouse in Munich. Dixon motioned for Marshall to continue.
"Well after I tracked down the number, which was easy cos I developed this new..programme called SafeFind which can find any number on the earth......" Dixon coughs. "Oh but...it seems that the warehouse is own by the same person who owned the apartment you two raided, which turned out to be very nice, had some good technoloy in one room." Off Dixon's stare. "The owner is a Mr. Doichanov, he used to work for a nuclear weapons facility that specialises in developing new and more dangerous nuclear weapons." Marshall stopped and Dixon stood up again, clicking a button and displaying a picture of the man on the big screen.
"I believe he left because he had an offer for his expertise. It is believed that he now works for the Covenant, building them weapons that could take out a small country." He looked over at Syd and Vaughn, who both knew what was coming. "I would like you two to check out the warehouse, anything you find bring back here." Vaughn and Syd nodded and stood up. They exited the room, heading over to Marshall's office so he could get them up to date with the equipment they would be using. As they were crossing the hall Vaughn saw Lauren, who had been away on a mission for three days. He slowed down and let Syd walk ahead of his. Noticing he was gone Syd turned and saw him wandering over to Lauren. She frowned and carried on walking.
Lauren spotted Vaughn walking over and smiled. He smiled back and came to a standstill in front of her.
"Hey, how was your mission? He asked. She shrugged.
"Wasn't anything good. Nothing like the adventures you and Syd go on." SHe grinned. "Listen, are you alright. When you called me the other day from your mission you sounded worried." She said in a concerned tone of voice.
"Oh yeah." Vaughn said thinking back to being at the apartment. He had rung her after he had been checked out by the medics just to confirm his belief that it wasn't her there. "I'm fine, its just we were attacked and I wanted to make sure you were alright. I don't know why." He said. Lauren smiled and leaned in to kiss him. Sydney watched from Marshall's office, a look of disgust on her face. How could he even like her? Vaughn and Lauren parted with another kiss and then Vaughn resumed his journey to Marshall's office. As Syd watched Lauren go she saw that the woman's left shoulder was sagging slightly, like someone who had just been shot.
Syd and Vaughn stood against a table in Marshall's office while he explained to them the equipment they would be using. He lifted a small bag of the table, it seemd empty but Marshall stuck his hand inside and then outstretched his finger. He then withdrew his hand from the bag and pushed his finger against the wall. He turned back to the table and picked up what looked like a PocketPal.
"Now these beauties are my pride and joy. They look like nothing but if you would just care to look at the screen on this, "He said handing over the PocketPal and pressing a button on it. The screen was suddenly filled with an image of Syd and Vaughn standing and looking at a PocketPal. "you will see that the small thing I took from that bag was in fact a camera that is now recording you looking at the PocketPal which is showing you live feed of yourselves looking at the PocketPal from the tiny camera I placed on the wall over there." Syd and Vaughn were impressed. They placed the PocketPal back on the table and again turned their attention to Marshall.
"All you need to do is stick your hand in here and try and get one of the small cameras to stick on your finger, you'll be able to feel it because it feels like a water droplet. And, um, once you have it on your finger you just press it onto the place where you want it and then video feed will start running straight to this PocketPal." He smiled and waved the small personal planner around. Syd and Vaughn looked at him expectantly.
"Oh, ok I have something else. This camera which actually used to be my everyday camera, you know it took it to Washington DC when I went there, got some really nice pictures...but this um, you point it at whatever object you want, for example a nuclear weapon and the image will come up on our computers and we can search the weapon via the computer. Its also usefu if your in a rush, you know being shot at by scary security guys, you just snap snap away at documents or whatever and again the pictures go straight to our computer so in the event that you are killed, all your findings will still be on the computer." He said, hading the camera over to Syd who examined it.
"Thanks Marshall." Vaughn said, he slid away from the table and left the room.
"Thanks." Syd sasid. Marshall smiled and waved after them, until he realised that they were not waving back. He rubbed his hand on his forehead and then turned back to all his gadgets.
MUNICH
Syd and Vaughn crouched low by the tall chain link fence surrounding the group of warehouses.
"What do you want to do? Smash and grab or stealth?" Vaughn asked, attempting to lighten the mood.
"We can't just run in their Vaughn, God knows how many guards are surrounding the building. We could be shot in seconds." Sydney replied in a hostile tone. "Where's Lauren this week?" Vaughn was taken aback by the question. Normally Syd hated any mention of her name.
"She's doing a recon mission in Switzerland." He replied "Why?" Syd shrugged.
"Dunno, she doesn't seem to be around much any more." Syd replied, her eyes still fixed on the compound.
Its like the annoying buzz in my ear has suddenly died. Syd thought.
Vaughn frowned and then turned his attention back to the compound.
"No sentries, no cameras. It looks like they aren't expecting visitors." Vaughn said, surveying the area.
"Lets go then." Syd said, picking herself of the ground and walking the length of the fence. They reached a gate and Syd did a quick sweep for concealed weapons or cameras. Nothing. She reached inside the bag Marshall had given then and waited until she felt a small droplet of water on her finger. Once she had one of the tiny cameras she pressed her finger onto the edge of the gate. She then pulled out the PocketPall and turned it on. An image of the outside of the compound came into view. In the image she could see Vaughn staring at her intently, a strange look in his eyes. She knew the look. It was the same one he had had in his eyes when he pulled her aside at work, right before they took down SD-6. She shook herself free of all thoughts and turned to Vaughn.
"Come on." She said, more gently than the tone she had been using before. Vaughn sensed the change but said nothing. They ran into the cover of a warehouse.
"Which one was it?" Vaughn asked. Syd thought hard and then pointed at a slightly smaller warehouse than the rest.
"That one." Vaughn looked puzzled.
"How do you know?" He asked. Syd turned to him and showed him a piece of paper, it was the telephone number they had found on the man, the same one that was printed on the side of the warehouse: 47694 873047. Vaughn nodded and they cautiously began to creep towards the building.
The inside of the warehouse was empty, cobwebs had formed in the corners and the crates that were stacked inside were covered in at least an inch of dust.
"This place hasn't been used for years." Vaughn said, staring around the building.
"Its definately the place. There's something we're missing." She said. She walked to one wall and placed her palm firmly against it. She then ran her hand along the whole wall, repeating the process along all the walls. On the back wall something was different. Syd ran her hand along but something caught her attention. There was a join in the wall. She traced the outline and found it to be a small box, embedded into the wall. She pressed inwards on the panel and it slid away revealing a code pad. Syd turned to Vaughn who immediately took a small grey object from his bag. It looked like the PocketPal but slightly smaller. He pulled a wire from the side of it and fed it into a small hole at the side of the pad. Numbers flashed up on the screen of the object Vaughn was holding. Finally it stopped at 497479522. Syd read the number and punched them into the key pad. Something hummed and the crates that were covered in dust suddenly moved to one side, revealing a dark staricase. Syd raised her eyebrows at Vaughn and began walking down them. As soon as she had disappeared into the darkness, Vaughn followed, pulling his Sword 9mm out of its holster.
Sydney, still cautious, pulled a torch from her belt. She clicked it on and the beam showed a small, narrow corridor. The walls were tinged with an orange rusty colour, indicatating dampness. There were no lights, although there were spaces where lights would have been. She shone the beam around and saw a door. It was metal, solid, like the ones on a subramine, water tight in case of a direct hit of a torpedo or something. This too had started to rust, the bottom was the worst, the metal had completely flaked off. The door was made of steal, the centre plated with zinc to stop severe reactions to water. She sensed Vaughn behind her and felt grateful for his presence. She stretched a hand forwards and open the door. It was hard to move and Syd had to pull hard on it. It slowly moved, scraping the floor. She could see where it had been scaped before, the marks in the floor were fairly deep, signifying frequent use. The interior of the next room was not what Syd or Vaughn had expected. It was white and lit. Office tables were pushed against the walls and flat screen, state of the art, computers sat on the desks. The computers were still switched on, still logged into whatever programme the last person had been using.
"What is this place?" Vaughn asked. Syd looked around, stunned at the sight before here. Whatever this place was it was seriousy, with some major funding. The far wall caught her attention. It had not been painted over and a huge symbol was painted on in fading black paint. It was the Nazi swastika.
"This used to be a Nazi Second World War bunker. Probably one of Hitler's. Whatever the organization is that works here, thinks that the Nazi's were good. They left the original painting of the swastika on here. Whoever it is, I bet you they are in to mass murder." She said, sighing. Vaughn stared around as Syd took out the camera and snapped a picture of the symbol. Once she was sure she had got a good picture she turned to the computers.
"Might as well get whatever information we can get." She said, slotting a disk into the computer. She began downloading the hard drive while Vaughn moved to the other computers. While she was waiting for the hard disk to download, Syd scrolled through the documents on the computer. As she zoomed down the list something jumped out at her. Scrolling back up she saw her name in bold. Feeling uneasy, she double clicked on the title and it opened up. A picture of her was the first thing on the page, then her bio. The information was from the CIA, it had been stored on their computers. She recognised it because of the little emblem in the corner and that fact that she had read it so many times since she had returned, because at the bottom was a small, final sentence.
Sydney Bristow was killed in action.
There were more pages to the document than just the CIA bio of her. The computer beeped, indicating that the download was complete and Syd was forced to close the document, it would be on the disk anyway. She then moved to the next computer, inserting a different disk this time.
Once they were finished Vaughn and Syd stood for a while in the White Room, Syd took some more pictures of what she saw and then they head to the door. As they exited there was a small beep and a red light flashed on top of a CCTV camera.
Lauren watched from the security booth in the bunker and Syd and Vaughn entered the room. The workers had left their computers on as instructed and Syd and Vaughn were lured into the trap. The door closed quietly behind them and they set to work downloading the information off the computer. Lauren swivelled round in her chair to face six burly men, each of them holding machine guns.
"Make sure they are both dead. No one leaves the compound alive." She said. The guards nodded and went from the room. Seconds later they appeared on a screen positioned behind Lauren. Someone moved in the shadows and Sark stepped out.
"You are really taking control. Why do you want them dead so urgently?" He asked, a cocky smiled on his face.
"They are downloading precious information from our computers. If we let them escape our whole plan could be brought down." She said, her voice raising.
"Dear Lauren. When will you learn. The whole idea is that they find out plans. Otherwise how else would we be able to set them up besides you doing more work as a mole inside the CIA." Lauren smiled at Sark's comment.
"You're a genius." She said, and pulled him into a deep kiss. Sark was stunned by the kiss but still looked smug about it.
Syd and Vaughn switched their torched back on, pulling the heavy door shut behind them. They slowly began to run down the corridor, time was running out. They rounded a corner and continued down that until the came to a big open room. Maps were spread across a large oak table. Pins were stuck into spots on the map. Upon closer inspection Syd saw that the pins were placed on London, LA, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris and Moscow.
"I think this is where they have moles, inside the country's intelligence agency." Vaughn came over and studied the map. He noticed a sheet of blue paper beneath it and pulled it out. It was the blue prints to the CIA Offices in LA, the MI6 Headquatres in London and all the other intelligence agency buildings in the major western countries and Russia.
"Oh God. They're more dangerous than we thought." Vaughn said. He dropped the papers as he heard footsteps running along the corridor. The feet smacked down hard on the concrete floor. Syd and Vaughn ducked behind the table, their guns clamped firmly in their hands, as six huge men flew into the room. They stopped and look around. One of them put his hand to his ear, a look of strain on his face. He caught the other's attention and pointed his gun at the table where Syd and Vaughn were crouched. Vaughn looked up and saw a CCTV camera, someone was speaking to the huge guys, telling them exactly where Syd and Vaughn were. The men did not move however, but they all raised their machine guns and opened fire at exactly the same time. The noise was deafening. Syd immediately rolled to one side, to the shelter of a steel desk, the front was covered by a steel panel and she his underneath. Vaughn soon followed her. The panel in the front was keeping them from view but they could still see out. Bullets hole, left after some other confrontation, provided Syd with an excellent view of the men. One of the holes was eve big enough for the tip of the barrel of her gun. The men fired two or three more rounds at the table and then stopped. Everything went silent as the guards waited for the wood chippings and dust to settle again. Syd took this opportunity and pushed her gun through a hole, aiming straight for the nearest one's heart. He went down quickly, and before his friends knew what to do they too were lying dead on the floor. Syd swivelled her gun around and aimed at the CCTV camera; one shot and all that was left was some smoking wires.
"We'd better get out of here before more of them come." Vaughn said. They came out from under the desk and ran from the room. They were unsure of the way they were meant to be going to get out but when they came to a dead end, their only option was through the door to the right. This door had been oiled properly and swang open with no difficulty. Inside were TV screens, all displaying images of the bunker they were in. They could see the computer room they had been in and one screen was fuzzy, the camera she had shot. Another door stood open a small fraction and Syd moved cautiously towards it whilst Vaughn sat down in the office chair in front of the screens. The chair was still warm, whoever had sat in it had been there recently. He examined the monitors, on one of them he could make out two figures running down a corridor. He enhanced the image and watched as the figures ran. He saw the gunfire on the screen before he heard it. Syd, who had gone out into the corridor, had seen the two people escaping and was shooting at them. Vaughn watched as one of them turned round, a gun clasped in their hand. He gasped as he watched Lauren take aim and fire at Syd, with Sark close behind. Then they disappeared through some doors. Vaughn sat in the chair, staring at the screen, he could still see Lauren in his mind shooting at Syd. Then he remembered that night in Doichanov's apartment, he had seen Lauren there too but refused to believe it. Now he had proof on tape. He heard Syd running back along the corridor and quickly ejected the tape from the machine. Syd burst into the room, panting.
"Vaughn...I...it was Lauren." She said, looking sorry, yet truimphant.
"I know." Vaughn said, his head lowered to the table. "I saw it all on CCTV." Syd had to let the joy of finding Lauren out to be evil pass. She crouched down beside Vaughn and put an arm around him.
"I'm really sorry, Vaughn." She said in a comforting tone. Vaughn shook his head and turned to Syd, his eyes were red, tears forming in the corners.
"Are you? Are you really? I'd have thought you'd be happy. You hate Lauren, I know it and she knows it. Do you now how much you hav hurt her?" He shouted at her.
"Vaughn, you have to understand.." She began.
"Understand what? You were missing for two years and you haven't yet adjusted to the changes in your life? I had to adjust to your death, Syd. Do you know what it feels like to have someone you love die?" He yelled, his eyes were wild. Syd bowed her head.
"Yes." She said quietly. Vaughn suddenly realised what he had said. Of course she had experienced someone she loved dying. Danny.
"Oh God, Syd I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I was angry and hurt. I am so sorry." He said. Syd raised her head brusing away the tears.
"You had every right to say what you said." She stood up and headed for the door, disappearing once again into the corridor. Vaughn sat there for a while, unable to stop the tears. He soon recovered and gathered his things together, following Syd.
LA, THREE WEEKS LATER
Syd sat in her lounge, watching the Emmy Awards on her TV. She hated these kind of things. These actresses and actors did nothing for their country but they god pain millions and received awards and recognition. Yet she went out every day to make her country a safer place and all she got was two years of her life taken away from her. She was taken out of her thoughts by a knock at the door.
"Oh come on, its a Sunday, leave me alone." She said to herself. She walked across the lounge towards the door, her bunny slippers sinking into the soft carpet. There was another knock at the door.
"Yeah yeah. I'm coming." She shouted. She unlatched the door and let it swing inwards. Vaughn stood on the step, drenched in rain. Syd was shocked at his appearance.
"Hey, can I come in?" He asked, water dripping into his eyes from his hair. Syd stepped aside.
"Sure, I'll get a towel." She said. Vaughn stepped up into her house, his shoes squelched as he walked. Syd disappeared into a room and came back with a towel, some jeans and a shirt.
"Here put these on. My...uh..friend left them the other day." Vaughn smiled, pretending to ignore the hesitation Syd had made about her 'friend'. He went into the bathroom that Syd pointed out and locked the door.
Two minutes later Vaughn stood in the borrowed clothes, the towel around his neck. He went into the kitched and sat down on one of the wooden stools. Syd's head was buried in the fridge.
"You want some food? Something to drink?" She said, putting various food and drinks on the worktop.
"Um, you got any beer or something?" He asked. Syd backed out of the fridge holding two Budweiser bottles in her hand.
"Here." She said, throwing one into Vaughn outstretched hands. He twisted the top and gulped down half the bottle as Syd looked on, impressed.
"Why are you here anyway?" She asked, opening her own bottle with a bottle opener. Vaughn took another sip and then breathed in deeply.
"Look, Syd. I am sorry for the way I have treated you since you came back. I didn't think about your feelings, you know, seeing me and Lauren together. I understand that to you it only feels like a couple of days since we were together." He said, his eyes boring straight into hers. "But, seeing her with Sark, I know what you were going through. I thought everything between us was alright but in fact she is with Sark and she had been betraying us. I suddenly realised how bad you must have been feeling." Syd looked away from him but he turned her round to face him again. They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed an age before Vaughn leaned into kiss Syd. At first she did not resist and then pushed him away.
"Vaughn, I can't be a rebound girl. You JUST found out that Lauren had betrayed you and if you hadn't found out then you wouldn't have come here. I think you should leave." She said, moving away from Vaughn. He bowed his head and sighed, he knew he had blown it with them, there was now no chance they would ever be together again. He followed Syd towards the door, grabbing his wet clothes from the arm of the sofa. Syd opened the door and handed him an umbrella.
"Its wet out there." She said, smiling. Vaughn took the umbrella and walked through the open door. Syd closed it behind him and then leaned against it, letting the tears fall down her face. On the other side of the door, Vaughn too was leaning against it, hs eyes staring up at the darkened sky. He waited a few minutes, unfolded the umbrella and stepped out into the rain. Syd, feeling regret for turning him away, opened the door and rushed out into the rain. She looked up and down the street but Vaughn was nowhere to be seen.
NEXT DAY AT CIA
Vaughn, Syd, Jack, Weiss, Marshall and Dixon were all assembled in the briefing room. Dixon was pacing the room, agitated.
"Last night a report came in that Sark and an accomplice had broken into a nuclear weapons factory outside Paris. We believe that the accomplice was former CIA operative, Lauren Reed. We think that she was working as a double agent, under orders to infiltrate the CIA and sabotage our missions." Vaughn looked uncomfortable and shifted in his chir.Dixon decided to move on. "It seemed that they were looking for the plans for a new plane that is being built there. The plane will be the first long distance unpiloted plane, excluding the German V-1 and V-2 bombs. Co-ordinates are typed into a computer inside the plane and it will fly straight to the destination. Normally it wouldn't be such a threat but this bomb is worse than anything. It contains, in itself, the largest nuclear bomb built, able to take out a small country, such as the United Kingdom. It is confirmed that the pair managed to get the plans and have started building the weapon. It is also believed that they have stolen sixteen nuclear cores. The prupose for this is unknown but we must assume that they are planning a huge terrorist attack."
"What do you want us to do?" Syd asked, glancing across at Vaughn who was staring at the ground.
"You will do nothing. There is no point going to the factory because the plans are long gone and the current whereabouts of Sark and Miss Reed are unknown. You might as well go home, I will have more information by the morning." Dixon gathered the documents on his table, put them into a folder which he put under one arm, and strolled out of the room, Marshall and Weiss in tow. Jack got up from his chair and crossed the room to Syd. Vaughn still sat at his own table, his eyes fixed on a spot on the floor.
"Sydney, I have reason to believe that Lauren may have planted some sort of bomb in your house. I intercepted a call saying that the bomb had been planted. The call was unclear but I managed to get something else about the person paying. Lauren never liked you, so keep an eye out for odd things." He said. Syd smiled gratefully.
"Thanks Dad." She hugged him and he left her and Vaughn alone. He had whole the whole conversation and was staring at Syd.
"I can't believe she would try to kill you. She told me...she told me before the mission that she was starting to like you. She said.....you....were a good friend." He said, his voice cracking. Syd pulled a chair up beside him and sat down, patting him on the back. She didn't know what else to do. It was twice that he had lost someone he loved, she couldn't even start to think how he must be feeling. Vaughn took her hand and squeezed it.
"Thanks Syd." He said.
"For what?"
"Just...for being here. I know you never liked Lauren or the fact that I was with her but.....you've been a good friend." He said. He stood up and walked out of the door.
A good friend. Syd thought. She got up and followed him, planning on taking advantage of her free time. The shops of LA were calling.
She caught up with Vaughn outside, he took the keys from his pocket and the lights of his car flashed. He pulled open the door, unaware of Syd, and climbed inside. Seconds later the engine had started. Syd, busying herself with opening her own car, sensed something was wrong. Call it her spidey-sense. She turned and saw as Vaughn's car pulled away from the space it was parked in. Everything seemed normal. She turned back to her car and opened the door. Suddenly, she was pushed against her car by a sudden explosion. She turned to see Vaughn's car making its way back down to earth. Sheilding herself from the flames that crept from the car, she made her way forwards to Vaughn's overturned car. The back was blown away, flame licking the jagged edges. On the bottom of the car Syd could see a large bomb, unexploded. People rushed from inside the building, but she paid no attention, immediately dropping to her knees and stretching her arm inside the car. Vaughn lay, upside down, on the roof of the jeep. Blood was trickling down his face, his eyes were scrunched up in pain.
"Vaughn! Take my hand." She yelled. He turned his head and reached out his arm, grabbing Syd's hand. Once she was sure he had a firm grip on her hand she pulled him gently. He pushed his legs out behind him and slid out from the car. Syd pulled him to his feet and away from the smoking vehicle. Hoses were being directed at the flaming mass of twisted metal, attempting to put out the fire. Just then the second bomb detonated and Vaughn and Syd were thrown backwards, Syd landing on top of Vaughn. They lay there for a moment, staring into each others eyes before security guards rushed over, pulling them off the floor and to safety.
Sark in an apartment opposite the CIA building. He watched as Syd and Vaughn were pulled to safety, a cruel smile appearing on his face.
"Too bad. Our little friend Agent Vaughn survived. Helped to safety by his girlfriend." He chuckled. Behind him Lauren stormed over to the window, peering out at the scene below.
"Dammit." She cursed softly. Sark turned to her, his face full of happiness.
"Why do you want him, of all people, dead? You seem adament to kill him." He said, watching Lauren pace the apartment, muttering under her breath.
"It's nothing. I just....I don't like him." Sark didn't buy it and laughed out loud. Lauren glared at him and he shut up.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Its the truth, you have to believe it." She replied.
"Lauren, you married the man. You can't say that you have no feelings for him...two months ago all you could talk about was him. Then Sydney came back." Lauren's eyes flashed with malice and they narrowed.He had struck a nerve. "You're jealous of Syd aren't you? You know that Vaughn loves Sydney way more than he ever loved you, or ever could love you."
"Enough!" Lauren said, swinging her fist round. It collided with the side of Sark's face and he was thrown sideways. He untangled himself from the chair and turned to face her, one hand holding his cheek where blood was escaping from the corner of the mouth. He smiled.
"You pack quite the punch. Almost like Sydney herself. I see you have been taking lessons." He smirked. Lauren gave him a digusted look and turned away. Sark sat, his face in his hand, laughing quietly to himself. He knew that Lauren's sensitive point was Vaughn and Sydney...and their relationship. Sark sat for a moment before standing up and leaving the apartment, watched by a curious Lauren.
Sark stepped out onto the sunny street. No one noticed him and he observed the scene before him. Everyone was busy, running around putting out the fire or evacuating people from the premises. He laughed to himself and then began walking, crossing over to the over side of the road, where he would be in full view of everyone. He walked past a ambulance. Two people sat inside talking to each other while medics fussed around them. They did not notice him as he slowly walked past them, making his presence there obvious. When he had passed Syd looked up, she sensed something, like someone being close by but when she looked all she was were firemen and policemen. Shrugging she turned back to Vaughn.
"How are you doing?" She asked, looking straight into his eyes. He smiled and waved his arm around. A bandage was strapped around the lower part and a red patch was slowly appearing.
"It's as good as new." He laughed.
"Good." There was awkward silence between the two before Syd broke it, clambering out of the ambulance. "I should see if they need any help or...something." Then she disappeared from Vaughn's sight. He sat back against the side of the vehicle and sighed.
A paramedic climbed into the back of the ambulance and sat opposite him.
"Girl troubles?" He said, busying himself with equipment. Vaughn was surprised that the paramedic was talking to him.
"Huh? Oh...yeah. It's a complicated story." The paramedic stopped what he was doing and gave Vaughn his full attention.
"I'm not doing anything important and other people's misery keeps me from thinking of my own. Spill the beans." He said, Vaughn felt uncomfortable talking to a complete stranger but what did he have to lose? He began retelling the whole of his and Sydney's relationship; from the moment they met, to just then as she had left the ambulance.
Sark walked over to the nearest phonebox and slotted some coins into the machine. He then dialled a number, leaning against the glass frame, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up.
"Hello?" Said the voice on the other end of the phone line.
"It's Sark. The assination of Mr Vaughn went smoothly. He is dead. Blown up on impact." Sark said, drumming his fingers on the phone box.
"That is good news. What about Miss Bristow? Any news on that subject?" The receiver asked. Sark sighed.
"Did you not hear? Sydney Bristow was killed in a firefight two days ago. It was not our own doing but as long as she is gone right?" He chuckled to himself.
"Yes. That is good." The man said. He then hung the phone up and Sark frowned.
"What a rude man." He said to himself, stepping out of the phone box. He looked around and then smiled, ambling across the road and entering a cafe.
Sydney and Vaughn had both been sent home after the attacks, 'just for some rest, I want you back tomorrow on the dot', Dixon had said. Vaughn had been planning a nice quiet day at home but Syd had intervened, hoping for a conversation with him, in private where they could talk properly and undisturbed. So they found themselves at a small restaurant, sitting at a table for two with a large candle burning in the centre, dripping down onto the woodwork that had obviously been subjected to one too many candles. A lone rose stood in a vase at the side of the table, just infront of the wine cooler that had been wheeled over.
"Um..Vaughn." Syd started, watching Vaughn stuffing garlic bread into his mouth. He looked up, sauce dripping from his mouth. "I think that we need to talk about.....about our relationship." She stuttered. Vaughn swallowed his mouthful, his eyes widening. He thought Syd had given up on them, had resolved that they could never be together again.
"Ahem....yeah." Was all Vaughn could say, he was more nervous than he had ever been in his life, even more nervous than he was on his wedding day; afraid that he was giving up on Syd too soon, that maybe more could be done to look into her death. He dared a look at Syd who seemed calm and composed.
"I think that maybe.....maybe I was too harsh on you, for marrying Lauren, you know. And I think that I was too.....hasty to brush you off when you came to my house that day." She was cut off by a waiter coming over, holding two bowls of steaming hot soup. Syd's train of thought was cut off and she lost her nerve to keep talking. Instead she waited for the waiter to put her soup down and then dug into it. She could feel Vaughn watching her and slowly built up the courage to continue talking. "I would like....." But she could go no further. Vaughn, who had just spooned some soup into his mouth, suddenly began spluttering, holding his hand to his throat. Syd was stunned, momentarily braindead, then she jumped to her feet and rushed over to Vaughn, placing her hand on his back. She thumped hard, thinking that he was choking, but then he began frantically waving his arm around and Syd knew she was wrong. A group had gathered around the couple, watching Vaughn fighting for his life.
"Call an ambulance for god's sake." She yelled, frustrated. A waiter rushed off to the reception and picked up the phone. Syd didn't know what to do, if he wasn't choking what else could have happened that would have this affect? Vaughn had gone a purplely colour and Syd was beginning to panic, without knowing what was happening she could not react. Luckily paramedics arrived a short time after the call had been made. They too attempted to removed any food caught in his throat and Syd had to explain to them that he was not choking. They could not do a proper procedure on his unless he was taken to a hospital so they quickly explained to Vaughn that he would need to try walking. He obliged them and the foursome made their way to the ambulance, gasps and whispers followed them out of the restaurant.
Once in the hospital Syd was separated from Vaughn, made to wait in the relatives room until they had stabalised him. She had been sitting there for almost an hour when a female nurse, in blue scrubs, entered.
"We have stabalised Mr Vaughn and you are free to see him now." The woman explained politely.
"Thanks." Syd said, standing up quickly and following the woman through the hospital to Vaughn's room. Vaughn was propped up against pillows, his eyes fixed on the TV screen which was showing an ice hockey game. Syd smiled, thinking back to that day when he had taken her to the ice rink to play. He heard her moving and looked over. His eyes were red and he had green tinges around his mouth. He looked terrible. Syd tried to ignore his appearance, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Vaughn's bed.
"It was poison." He said cheerily. "Blown up and poisoned in the same day."
"Vaughn, it's not funny." Syd said, immediately wiping the fake smile off Vaughn's face. He lowered his voice to just louder than a whisper.
"I know it's not funny. Especially since it is my WIFE that is attempting my murder." Syd bowed her head briefly and then looked up again.
"How can you be sure that it is Lauren?" She asked. She knew that it was probably Lauren doing these things, but for Vaughn's sake she wanted to make it easier.
"She knows that I found out........"Vaughn stopped suddenly, realising he had said too much but this only caught Syd's attention.
"Found out about what?" Vaughn looked away, unable to make eye contact. He was keeping something from her, something serious that was worth attempting your husband's murder over. Vaughn still said nothing, keeping his eyes on the floor.
"Vaughn, your hiding something from me." Vaughn said nothing. "You have to tell me." He sat still, not moving. "Vaughn. Lauren has tried to kill you more than once. Sooner or later she will achieve her objective and you will be dead. If you tell me why she desperately wants you dead, then I can stop her killing you. It's your choice....life or death." Vaughn clenched his teeth, grinding them together. He eyes moved around the room, looking out of the window, staring out of the door into the hospital corridor. Then they settled on Syd.
"Life." He said, his voice cracking. Syd looked relieved and relaxed a little. Vaughn brought his head level with Syd's a began talking. "Lauren had this safe, it was kept in the house. She would put stuff in it every night. NSC stuff she said, confidential, which was why it was in a safe. She told me that she trusted me never to tell anyone of the safe because all the live's in America depended upon the information in that safe being kept safe. You know me, I do what I'm told. I agreed, never doubting that my wife would be betraying me and my country. Then when I found out about Lauren being, you know, I....I wanted to keep some part of the old her, the Lauren I knew, alive. The safe was all that I could think of, it reminded me of her commitment to the job, always working. Now I know why she was always working...she was doing two jobs." He finished quietly, a slight smile on his face.
"Do you know whether the safe is still there?" She asked, Vaughn nodded.
IN VAUGHN AND LAUREN'S HOUSE
Syd pulled the keys Vaughn had given her out of her pocket. She slot one into the keyhole but the door was already open. She pushed gently and the door swung inwards. Lauren was already here. Slowly, not making a sound, Syd crossed the lounge, towards Vaughn and Lauren's bedroom, pulling a gun out from behind her jacket as she moved. There was movement inside the bedroom. Cocking the gun, Syd pushed the door open and saw Lauren facing a wall, her hands moving quickly, unlocking the safe. She sensed Syd's movement and turned around, her own gun pointed straight at Sydney'd head.
"Ah, Sydney. What a nice surprise. I had the feeling that Michael would tell you about the safe, especially after the third attempt on his life was made," SYd looked confused, she only knew of two attemptes, Lauren was quick to clear it up. "Oh, I tried to shoot him at Mr Doichanov's apartment, again I failed. It's like God's on his side of something." She laughed, still keeping her gun steady.
"Put the gun down Lauren. You don't want to do this." Lauren gave Sydney a withering look.
"Oh I think I really do." Instead of shooting Syd, Lauren dived at her, knocking her gun out of the way and in the process losing her own. Syd and Lauren hit the floor hard but both were up quickly. Lauren lunged at Syd again, lifting her leg off the ground, trying a roundhouse kick, aimed directly at the side of Syd's head. Such a blow would have been devastating but Syd blocked it, pushing Lauren's leg back towards the ground and using the woman's own momentum to flip her over. Lauren lay on the floor, winded, her hand stretching for the gun near her head. Syd wasn't stupid, her left hand clamped down hard on Lauren's hand while the other foot kicked the gun out of the way. The two were close to the safe now and with one foot still crushing Lauren's hand, Syd reached over to the safe, attempting to grab the contents. She felt Lauren tense beneath her, she knew that the blonde woman was about to kick her leg from under her. Syd had no choice, she quickly fished out a miniscule object from her bag and slapped it onto the side of the safe. Just then Lauren used her free hand to grab hold of Syd's leg and pulled it sharply backwards. Syd fell thundering to the ground, her head connecting with the floor with a great force. She lay sprawled on the ground, her head throbbing and her vision blurred. Her reactions were slowled down severly and all she could do was watch Lauren's blurred figure grabbed the small, lightwieght safe and run out of the room. Syd relaxed slightly and got to her feet groggily. Her head was spinning from hitting the floor and she had to keep her hand on the wall while she edged out of the house. Her car sat untouched in the driveway, a note pinned on the windscreen wipers. She plucked it out and read;
I hope you and Michael have a nice life together.
It was from Lauren. Syd blinked, the words blurring, merging into one another. She carefully opened the door to her car and climbed in, sitting on the seat for a while before her vision came back fully.
BACK AT THE CIA
Syd strolled into Dixon's office. He sat alone with a mug of steaming coffee, his head in his ahnds, pouring over files that were spread before him. Syd let the door bang shut after her and Dixon looked up surprised.
"Sydney, what have you got for me?" He said, expecting the information from the safe which Vaughn must have told me about. Syd waved her hands in the air, showing Dixon that she had no information and that she didn't really care.
"I could have died again today. Same setting, in a house with a psychopathic former friend." She said angrily, rubbing the back of her head.
"So you did not manage to get the intel then?" Dixon said, disappointed. He turned back to his files.
"What did you want me to do? She had a gun, I was half unconcious on the ground. In fact, she was nice enough not to shoot me." Syd tried not to raise her voice but she was getting increasingly angry.
"She?"Dixon asked, curiously.
"Lauren. She was there for the same reason. She got the safe, I got some bruises. That's pretty much it." She explained. She could see Dixon's brain working, she knew that he was going to kick her out of his office soon, angry that she didn't get what he wanted. "But...I did manage to plant a tracking device so we know where the safe is and, most deifnately, where Lauren and Sark are." Her voice was triumphant but Dixon just grunted.
"Good, go to Marshall. He'll know how to track them down." Syd lingered for a moment, hoping that Dixon would say something more but he was concentrating on his files again and barely noticed she was there.
"Right." Syd said quietly. She left Dixon staring after her, a concerned expression on his face.
Marshall was sitting in his office fiddling with a small metal object.
"Hi." Syd said, after watching Marshall play with his toy for a while. He jumped and the metal object flew high into the air, Syd extened an arm and caught it. She uncurled her fist and looked at the mass of metal and wires.
"What is this?" She asked incredulously. Marshall looked hurt and quickly grabbed the object.
"It's a spytoy. It acts like..you know a fly on the wall, sitting there just lalalal, um...and records all the conversation as well as sending it straight back to my computer. It's still not ready because when it gets to a certain point it....well it blows up and during a mission you wouldn't really want this to happen...for obvious reasons." He chuckled to himself and Syd gave him a small, confused smile. "It's also got video feed.....so you can get visual pictures of whoever your talking to..but.." He trailed off, turning the 'spytoy' round and round in his hands.
"I came here to ask you if you can track someone down. The tracker used was one of yours." Marshall was disappointed that Syd wasn't paying more attention to his gadget but business was business.
"Do you know what model? I made quite a few." Syd shook her head. How was she meant to know what model it was? To her it was a piece of metal with wires inside that helped her do her job.
"Well the good thing is that I spray all my trackers with solinium so all I need to do is search for hotspots of solinium and then you will know where your person is." Marshall winked. "Good to have a back up plan." Syd nodded, not bothering to reply. Marshall took the hint and frantically began typing information into his computer. A black map of the world suddenly popped up onto the screen and Syd could see a tiny yellow/red patch on England. Marshall had already noticed it and was magnifying the map so they could find out exactly where abouts in England it was. Syd watched as Marshall slowly began to identify the location of the safe. Eventually he stopped, in the corner of the screen there were two words; Coventry, England.
"There you go. Coventry in England. You know if you go they have this catherdral that was bombed but then a cross remained and it's really a nice place to go......" Marshall turned to find Syd gone. "....apparently."
BRIEFING ROOM
Dixon was again pacing the room. Syd, Vaughn, Weiss and Marshall were sitting watching him.
"The safe that Sydney was meant to retrieve has been tracked to Conventry in England. After extensive tracking we narrowed the area that it might be down to a three square miles which is mostly occupied by warehouses which is where it is likely to be." Said Dixon. An aerial view of part of Coventry appeared on everyone's screens.
"I am sending Agents Bristow, Weiss," Vaughn looked over at Syd, disappointed. "and Agent Vaughn. Marshall will go through OpTech with you. You leave in an hour." Dixon strolled out of the room.
"The jet set life of CIA Agents." Weiss joked. Syd broke her stony glare into a smile. Marshall stood up and took Dixon's position at the front of the room.
"The complex has easy access. Obviously they don't think anyone is going to come in otherwise you know they would have put cameras, mounted machine guns and guards out there to kill you as soon as you entered the complex....which is just as well. Once inside the complex things get a bit more difficult. There are motion sensor cameras positioned at almost every corner of the complex and its huge so really there are quite a few corners and a camera at each of those....I'd say roughly...50 cameras maybe. Anyway this is an EMP gun, EMP meaning Electro Magnetic Pulse, which you probably already knew, cos you know it was used in the Matrix. They were in their....ship thing and Neo was in the Matrix and they couldn't bring him back fast enough and the robot squid things were attacking their ship and it was getting really frantic and in the end they just had to use the EMP to get rid of them, although it would kill Neo cos he was in the Matrix. Drama. So they pressed the button and the things were destroyed....Neo was back in the real world and everyone lived happily ever after. It's just amazing that film...the effects and everything..I wish I could have seen...... Anyway, shoot this at the camera and the magnetic waves should make it confused and it will stop working all together. There is also a key pad at every door. Now we couldn't get the key card because there isn't one, you have to use your finger prints and then type in a code that matches your fingerprints. Its really very good. You know if someone wants to breank in then you know they cut off a security guards hand to get themselves in but that won't work because each set of fingerprints has its own recognition code so you're going to need this. Now to overcome this problem you get the security guards hand, obviously don't bothered severing it cos it will get bloody. Anyway put the hand onto this plasma screen and the prints will be sent back to me and I will find the code. Meanwhile inside this. " He said, opening the object. "The prints from the guards hand will be moulded onto these little things that are like contact lenses. You stick them on your fingertips and then place your hand in the keypad and type in the code I will have provided. Foil-proof."
"And you've jinxed it." Weiss muttered. Marshall frowned and then turned back to Syd and Vaughn grinning at his own excellence.
"Great then. We leave in an hour. We better get ready." Weiss stood up and he and Marshall left the room together. Syd was close behind when she felt an arm grab her own. She was so used to be attacked now that she immediately spun round with a curled fist and whacked Vaughn straight in the face. He stumbled back as Syd realised who she had hit.
"Oh God, sorry, heat of passion." She said, grinning as Vaughn clutched his face. When he looked up she tried to disguise her amusement.
"You're laughing at me." He said in mock anger. Syd couldn't help it any more. She burst out laughing, nearly falling to the floor.
"It's just....you looked so funny...standing there...your face....it's just......." She managed a few words attempting to string together a sentence but she was laughing too hard. Vaughn looked at her incredulously but eventually had to give in and started laughing alongside her. After a while they stopped laughing and Syd leaned in close to inspect the bruise emerging where she had hit Vaughn. She ran a hand down his cheek and then suddenly jerked it away.
"I can't do this." She turned round and stalked out of the room. Vaughn stood watching her, a look of utter amazement on his face.
Coventry, England
Syd, Vaughn and Weiss skirted the side of a huge factory, dressed all in black. Marshall had been right, there had been no cameras or guards in the outside fence of the complex and they had simply slipped through the main gate and ran towards the main building.
"It should hold us" He said smiling at her. Sydney nodded, not returning the smile. He sighed, she was still mad at him because he was married. Their friendship would never be the same again.
"Lets go then."She said, picking up her shoulder bag and swinging it onto her back. Vaughn was uncomfortable; they only had one rope and if they did two separate trips down it would take too long. He swallowed and then began to speak.
"Syd. We only have one rope so you're going to have to come down with me." Sydney gave him a half smile.
"Well done, Einstein." She laughed. "Come here then" Vaughn got closer to her and she pulled him into a sort of hug. Vaughn was stunned at first but then he understood. The pair walked slowly to the very edge and then jumped. They sped down, Sydney clinging onto Vaughn for dear life. Suddenly the fall stopped as Vaughn clamped the wire on his belt. They hung there for a while, swinging above the busy street below. Syd looked down and laughed nervously.
"Aren't we meant to be inside there? Not dangling above the road?" She said, breathing hard.
"Right." Vaughn said as if he had completely forgotten. He pulled a silenced PP7 gun out and put three holes in the window. It cracked and fell inwards.
"Ok. Now we need to swing into the window. I'll let you go first so you have to be ready! Ready?" He said, swinging himself and Syd so they got closer and closer to the open window. On the fifth swing Sydney let go and flew into the room, tucking her head in and rolling over the glass. She got up and looked back at Vaughn who had managed to grab hold of the window sill and was unfastening the wire. She turned and looked around, a noise to her left made her bring out her gun. She held it in both hands and moved towards the direction of the noise. There was a fish tank in the centre of the room and she edged around it. A door stood open at the end of a corridor and she made her way down. A light came from inside the room and she became very wary. She tranfered her gun to her right hand and used her left to push the door open. To her surprise a huge man stood directly infront of her. Before she could shoot he had lifted his own gun and shot her, right under her bulletproof vest.
She fell to the floor, dropping her gun. She out a hand to the bullet hole and felt blood oozing out. Moving carefully, Sydney propped herself against the wall and then relaxed. For some reason the pain had gone and she felt happy. The happiest she had done in almost two years. She was faintly aware of someone dropping to her side and shaking her but all she could do was smile.
Vaughn jumped into the room. THere was no sign of Sydney anywhere but he wasn't worried, she could handle herself. He went straight to the door and turned back to face the room.
"Six steps forward. One step to the left" HE recited in his head. He moved forwards and then to the left and came face to face with the wall. He looked around. "Guess this is it." He said aloud. He pulled out a hammer from his belt pocket and smashed the wall. HE tore away the plaster and hit the metal of the safe.
"Yatzi!"He said. He fumbled in his pocket for a piece of paper was distracted when he suddenly heard a gunshot. "Syd!" He ran through the apartment and down a small corridor. He saw Sydney sitting against one of the walls and a body in the bathroom next to her. He ran to her and dropped onto his knees next to her.
"Syd? SYd? Are you alright? Where were you hit?" HE asked, shaking her. SHe seemed completely out of it, with a crazy smile on her face. She had her hand over her lower stomach. When he tried to pry her hand away she screamed and this seemed to bring her back into reality. Her eyes, that had not been focusing on anything, suddenly fixed on Vaughn.
"Vaughn? I couldn't react....he..he was too fast" She rasped. Vaughn held her in his arms.
"Syd. Shh, don't worry. We'll get you out of here. I've already called a medic and back up. YOu'll be on missions again soon" He said. She saw the funny side and managed a laugh.
"The CIA are always messing up my life," She breathed. "First of all when I went and you moved on........"There was an awkward silence "And now this?"
"Its nothing Syd, just a glitch. I got to the safe and I just need to get the intel. Your gonna be fine, its just a scratch." He said, trying to smile. His head was full of thoughts, mainly that he had not told Syd he loved since she had returned but he desperately wanted to tell her so and that he couldn't stop thinking about her.
"Vaughn......I......go and g...get the intel. I...I'll be.......O...K." She said, breathing slowly. Vaughn was reluctant to leave her side and she noticed. "Go!" She said, pushing him away. He climbed slowly to his feet and jogged back through the apartment back to the safe. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and punched in the code, 479847. The safe beeped and the door swung open. Inside was a small lead box. He reached in and lifted it out carefully. There was something at the back of the safe, a small red light. He peered into and then backed away shocked. Stuffing the box into a bag he threw himself backwards onto the floor as the safe exploded.
Vaughn awoke to feel searing heat on his face. He opened his eyes and saw flames leaoing from the gap in the wall where the safe had been.
"Great. Flame thrower." He thought. His rolled over, out of the path of the flames and crawled back to Sydney. Once in the little corridor, the heat was lessened, but the whole apartment was lit up by the flames protruding from the wall. Syd was still propped up against the wall, her eyes closed, a dreamy expression on her face. Not what you would expect with someone who had just been shot. As he reached her he called out her name, no reply. He then checked for a pulse, it was there, not as strong as it should be but not weak. A good sign. Now she was unconcious he could check her wound. He pried her hand away and lifted up her top. There was not much blood and on closer examination Vaughn could see the end of a dart sticking cruelly out of her abdomen. She had been hit with a tranquiliser, but at such close range it was bound to have drawn blood. A wave of relief swept over him as he realised she would not die. Someone had known they were coming and had sent guards with tranqs. They didn't want to kill them, just take them prisoner. Vaughn thought for a while.
"There must be a mole in the CIA." He thought. "How else would they know we were coming? Normally guards are manned with serious arsenal. Not tranqilisers."
But that didn't matter at the moment. His main priority was to get himself and Syd out of there, to safety. Standing up, he grabbed one of Syd's arm and slung her over his shoulders, heading for the door. They were nearly half way across the apartment, in full view of the door when it flung open. A figure stood in the doorway. It was slim with long, shoulder-length hair. Probably a woman. Vaughn stared for a moment before seeing the woman raise an arm, and in the hand there was a gun. Vaughn's reactions slowed down. Before he could throw him and Syd out of the way she opened fire. For a second Vaughn was frozen in time, his feet stuck firmly to the soft carpet beneath him. Then everything rushed back to him. He threw Syd out of firing range and dove after her himself. Syd lay motionless on the floor as Vaughn groped for his gun. He coudldn't find it and when he looked up he saw it sitting in the middle of the apartment. He felt for Syd's gun, which he had neatly replaced in its holster. He checked that it was loaded and then clambered to his feet. He threw himself behind a chair and returned fire. At first it seemed that the woman was inviciable and then the final bullet in his round struck home, in the woman's left shoulder. She staggered backwards and her face was suddenly cast into the light. Vaughn looked at her in disbelief and then shook his head, blinking furiously. When he looked again the woman had disappeared. Vaughn sat stunned, unable to comprehend what he had just seen. He couldn't swear on it but he was sure that the woman firing at him had been Lauren, his own wife.
When the backup CIA team finally came, Vaughn was still sitting behind the chair, staring into space. The sound of footsteps brought him back to his senses. He cocked his gun and aimed it at the door, when Weiss entered cautiously he lowered the gun and scrambled to his feet.
"Where the hell have you been?" Vaughn said, hardly able to control his anger. "Syd was shot and if it had actually been a bullet she would be dead by now." Weiss looked at the floor.
"Sorry, our calls were messed up. We have a secure line, it should be untapable but someone slowed down the call. We didn't get it until about five minutes ago and we got here as fast as we could." Vaughn didn't buy this at first but then he realised Weiss would telling the truth, he never lied anyway.
"Ok, well you're here now. Syd was shot with a tranq, strong. She's been out cold for over half an hour. I had a face off with someone, I don't know who, they kept their face hidden. But I shot them and they ran. There is one dead guy round that corner, down the corridor in the bathroom. And that hole in the wall was where the safe was, I got the intel but the safe blew up, must have had motion sensors or something." Vaughn said, keeping the detail about seeing Lauren to himself. He would do his own investigation on that.
"Ok. Thanks Vaughn. Go see the medics, you look terrible." Weiss said, looking at Vaughn ragged apearance, his clothes were slightly burnt, his face was sweaty, mixed with dirt. Vaughn smiled and walked out of the apartment to where the medics were treating Syd.
BACK IN L.A.
Syd and Vaughn sat in debrief. Dixon stood at the front of the room, going through what Vaughn had found in the safe, which was basically nothing. The whole thing was a set-up, although the intel had actually been there. Someone must have known that they were coming and had swapped the contents of the safe.
"Great, I nearly got blown up for nothing." Vaughn muttered. Although Dixon did not here, he understood the tone of voice that Vaughn had used.
"However, we did search the dead man and found this phone number which Marshall traced to a warehouse in Munich. Dixon motioned for Marshall to continue.
"Well after I tracked down the number, which was easy cos I developed this new..programme called SafeFind which can find any number on the earth......" Dixon coughs. "Oh but...it seems that the warehouse is own by the same person who owned the apartment you two raided, which turned out to be very nice, had some good technoloy in one room." Off Dixon's stare. "The owner is a Mr. Doichanov, he used to work for a nuclear weapons facility that specialises in developing new and more dangerous nuclear weapons." Marshall stopped and Dixon stood up again, clicking a button and displaying a picture of the man on the big screen.
"I believe he left because he had an offer for his expertise. It is believed that he now works for the Covenant, building them weapons that could take out a small country." He looked over at Syd and Vaughn, who both knew what was coming. "I would like you two to check out the warehouse, anything you find bring back here." Vaughn and Syd nodded and stood up. They exited the room, heading over to Marshall's office so he could get them up to date with the equipment they would be using. As they were crossing the hall Vaughn saw Lauren, who had been away on a mission for three days. He slowed down and let Syd walk ahead of his. Noticing he was gone Syd turned and saw him wandering over to Lauren. She frowned and carried on walking.
Lauren spotted Vaughn walking over and smiled. He smiled back and came to a standstill in front of her.
"Hey, how was your mission? He asked. She shrugged.
"Wasn't anything good. Nothing like the adventures you and Syd go on." SHe grinned. "Listen, are you alright. When you called me the other day from your mission you sounded worried." She said in a concerned tone of voice.
"Oh yeah." Vaughn said thinking back to being at the apartment. He had rung her after he had been checked out by the medics just to confirm his belief that it wasn't her there. "I'm fine, its just we were attacked and I wanted to make sure you were alright. I don't know why." He said. Lauren smiled and leaned in to kiss him. Sydney watched from Marshall's office, a look of disgust on her face. How could he even like her? Vaughn and Lauren parted with another kiss and then Vaughn resumed his journey to Marshall's office. As Syd watched Lauren go she saw that the woman's left shoulder was sagging slightly, like someone who had just been shot.
Syd and Vaughn stood against a table in Marshall's office while he explained to them the equipment they would be using. He lifted a small bag of the table, it seemd empty but Marshall stuck his hand inside and then outstretched his finger. He then withdrew his hand from the bag and pushed his finger against the wall. He turned back to the table and picked up what looked like a PocketPal.
"Now these beauties are my pride and joy. They look like nothing but if you would just care to look at the screen on this, "He said handing over the PocketPal and pressing a button on it. The screen was suddenly filled with an image of Syd and Vaughn standing and looking at a PocketPal. "you will see that the small thing I took from that bag was in fact a camera that is now recording you looking at the PocketPal which is showing you live feed of yourselves looking at the PocketPal from the tiny camera I placed on the wall over there." Syd and Vaughn were impressed. They placed the PocketPal back on the table and again turned their attention to Marshall.
"All you need to do is stick your hand in here and try and get one of the small cameras to stick on your finger, you'll be able to feel it because it feels like a water droplet. And, um, once you have it on your finger you just press it onto the place where you want it and then video feed will start running straight to this PocketPal." He smiled and waved the small personal planner around. Syd and Vaughn looked at him expectantly.
"Oh, ok I have something else. This camera which actually used to be my everyday camera, you know it took it to Washington DC when I went there, got some really nice pictures...but this um, you point it at whatever object you want, for example a nuclear weapon and the image will come up on our computers and we can search the weapon via the computer. Its also usefu if your in a rush, you know being shot at by scary security guys, you just snap snap away at documents or whatever and again the pictures go straight to our computer so in the event that you are killed, all your findings will still be on the computer." He said, hading the camera over to Syd who examined it.
"Thanks Marshall." Vaughn said, he slid away from the table and left the room.
"Thanks." Syd sasid. Marshall smiled and waved after them, until he realised that they were not waving back. He rubbed his hand on his forehead and then turned back to all his gadgets.
MUNICH
Syd and Vaughn crouched low by the tall chain link fence surrounding the group of warehouses.
"What do you want to do? Smash and grab or stealth?" Vaughn asked, attempting to lighten the mood.
"We can't just run in their Vaughn, God knows how many guards are surrounding the building. We could be shot in seconds." Sydney replied in a hostile tone. "Where's Lauren this week?" Vaughn was taken aback by the question. Normally Syd hated any mention of her name.
"She's doing a recon mission in Switzerland." He replied "Why?" Syd shrugged.
"Dunno, she doesn't seem to be around much any more." Syd replied, her eyes still fixed on the compound.
Its like the annoying buzz in my ear has suddenly died. Syd thought.
Vaughn frowned and then turned his attention back to the compound.
"No sentries, no cameras. It looks like they aren't expecting visitors." Vaughn said, surveying the area.
"Lets go then." Syd said, picking herself of the ground and walking the length of the fence. They reached a gate and Syd did a quick sweep for concealed weapons or cameras. Nothing. She reached inside the bag Marshall had given then and waited until she felt a small droplet of water on her finger. Once she had one of the tiny cameras she pressed her finger onto the edge of the gate. She then pulled out the PocketPall and turned it on. An image of the outside of the compound came into view. In the image she could see Vaughn staring at her intently, a strange look in his eyes. She knew the look. It was the same one he had had in his eyes when he pulled her aside at work, right before they took down SD-6. She shook herself free of all thoughts and turned to Vaughn.
"Come on." She said, more gently than the tone she had been using before. Vaughn sensed the change but said nothing. They ran into the cover of a warehouse.
"Which one was it?" Vaughn asked. Syd thought hard and then pointed at a slightly smaller warehouse than the rest.
"That one." Vaughn looked puzzled.
"How do you know?" He asked. Syd turned to him and showed him a piece of paper, it was the telephone number they had found on the man, the same one that was printed on the side of the warehouse: 47694 873047. Vaughn nodded and they cautiously began to creep towards the building.
The inside of the warehouse was empty, cobwebs had formed in the corners and the crates that were stacked inside were covered in at least an inch of dust.
"This place hasn't been used for years." Vaughn said, staring around the building.
"Its definately the place. There's something we're missing." She said. She walked to one wall and placed her palm firmly against it. She then ran her hand along the whole wall, repeating the process along all the walls. On the back wall something was different. Syd ran her hand along but something caught her attention. There was a join in the wall. She traced the outline and found it to be a small box, embedded into the wall. She pressed inwards on the panel and it slid away revealing a code pad. Syd turned to Vaughn who immediately took a small grey object from his bag. It looked like the PocketPal but slightly smaller. He pulled a wire from the side of it and fed it into a small hole at the side of the pad. Numbers flashed up on the screen of the object Vaughn was holding. Finally it stopped at 497479522. Syd read the number and punched them into the key pad. Something hummed and the crates that were covered in dust suddenly moved to one side, revealing a dark staricase. Syd raised her eyebrows at Vaughn and began walking down them. As soon as she had disappeared into the darkness, Vaughn followed, pulling his Sword 9mm out of its holster.
Sydney, still cautious, pulled a torch from her belt. She clicked it on and the beam showed a small, narrow corridor. The walls were tinged with an orange rusty colour, indicatating dampness. There were no lights, although there were spaces where lights would have been. She shone the beam around and saw a door. It was metal, solid, like the ones on a subramine, water tight in case of a direct hit of a torpedo or something. This too had started to rust, the bottom was the worst, the metal had completely flaked off. The door was made of steal, the centre plated with zinc to stop severe reactions to water. She sensed Vaughn behind her and felt grateful for his presence. She stretched a hand forwards and open the door. It was hard to move and Syd had to pull hard on it. It slowly moved, scraping the floor. She could see where it had been scaped before, the marks in the floor were fairly deep, signifying frequent use. The interior of the next room was not what Syd or Vaughn had expected. It was white and lit. Office tables were pushed against the walls and flat screen, state of the art, computers sat on the desks. The computers were still switched on, still logged into whatever programme the last person had been using.
"What is this place?" Vaughn asked. Syd looked around, stunned at the sight before here. Whatever this place was it was seriousy, with some major funding. The far wall caught her attention. It had not been painted over and a huge symbol was painted on in fading black paint. It was the Nazi swastika.
"This used to be a Nazi Second World War bunker. Probably one of Hitler's. Whatever the organization is that works here, thinks that the Nazi's were good. They left the original painting of the swastika on here. Whoever it is, I bet you they are in to mass murder." She said, sighing. Vaughn stared around as Syd took out the camera and snapped a picture of the symbol. Once she was sure she had got a good picture she turned to the computers.
"Might as well get whatever information we can get." She said, slotting a disk into the computer. She began downloading the hard drive while Vaughn moved to the other computers. While she was waiting for the hard disk to download, Syd scrolled through the documents on the computer. As she zoomed down the list something jumped out at her. Scrolling back up she saw her name in bold. Feeling uneasy, she double clicked on the title and it opened up. A picture of her was the first thing on the page, then her bio. The information was from the CIA, it had been stored on their computers. She recognised it because of the little emblem in the corner and that fact that she had read it so many times since she had returned, because at the bottom was a small, final sentence.
Sydney Bristow was killed in action.
There were more pages to the document than just the CIA bio of her. The computer beeped, indicating that the download was complete and Syd was forced to close the document, it would be on the disk anyway. She then moved to the next computer, inserting a different disk this time.
Once they were finished Vaughn and Syd stood for a while in the White Room, Syd took some more pictures of what she saw and then they head to the door. As they exited there was a small beep and a red light flashed on top of a CCTV camera.
Lauren watched from the security booth in the bunker and Syd and Vaughn entered the room. The workers had left their computers on as instructed and Syd and Vaughn were lured into the trap. The door closed quietly behind them and they set to work downloading the information off the computer. Lauren swivelled round in her chair to face six burly men, each of them holding machine guns.
"Make sure they are both dead. No one leaves the compound alive." She said. The guards nodded and went from the room. Seconds later they appeared on a screen positioned behind Lauren. Someone moved in the shadows and Sark stepped out.
"You are really taking control. Why do you want them dead so urgently?" He asked, a cocky smiled on his face.
"They are downloading precious information from our computers. If we let them escape our whole plan could be brought down." She said, her voice raising.
"Dear Lauren. When will you learn. The whole idea is that they find out plans. Otherwise how else would we be able to set them up besides you doing more work as a mole inside the CIA." Lauren smiled at Sark's comment.
"You're a genius." She said, and pulled him into a deep kiss. Sark was stunned by the kiss but still looked smug about it.
Syd and Vaughn switched their torched back on, pulling the heavy door shut behind them. They slowly began to run down the corridor, time was running out. They rounded a corner and continued down that until the came to a big open room. Maps were spread across a large oak table. Pins were stuck into spots on the map. Upon closer inspection Syd saw that the pins were placed on London, LA, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris and Moscow.
"I think this is where they have moles, inside the country's intelligence agency." Vaughn came over and studied the map. He noticed a sheet of blue paper beneath it and pulled it out. It was the blue prints to the CIA Offices in LA, the MI6 Headquatres in London and all the other intelligence agency buildings in the major western countries and Russia.
"Oh God. They're more dangerous than we thought." Vaughn said. He dropped the papers as he heard footsteps running along the corridor. The feet smacked down hard on the concrete floor. Syd and Vaughn ducked behind the table, their guns clamped firmly in their hands, as six huge men flew into the room. They stopped and look around. One of them put his hand to his ear, a look of strain on his face. He caught the other's attention and pointed his gun at the table where Syd and Vaughn were crouched. Vaughn looked up and saw a CCTV camera, someone was speaking to the huge guys, telling them exactly where Syd and Vaughn were. The men did not move however, but they all raised their machine guns and opened fire at exactly the same time. The noise was deafening. Syd immediately rolled to one side, to the shelter of a steel desk, the front was covered by a steel panel and she his underneath. Vaughn soon followed her. The panel in the front was keeping them from view but they could still see out. Bullets hole, left after some other confrontation, provided Syd with an excellent view of the men. One of the holes was eve big enough for the tip of the barrel of her gun. The men fired two or three more rounds at the table and then stopped. Everything went silent as the guards waited for the wood chippings and dust to settle again. Syd took this opportunity and pushed her gun through a hole, aiming straight for the nearest one's heart. He went down quickly, and before his friends knew what to do they too were lying dead on the floor. Syd swivelled her gun around and aimed at the CCTV camera; one shot and all that was left was some smoking wires.
"We'd better get out of here before more of them come." Vaughn said. They came out from under the desk and ran from the room. They were unsure of the way they were meant to be going to get out but when they came to a dead end, their only option was through the door to the right. This door had been oiled properly and swang open with no difficulty. Inside were TV screens, all displaying images of the bunker they were in. They could see the computer room they had been in and one screen was fuzzy, the camera she had shot. Another door stood open a small fraction and Syd moved cautiously towards it whilst Vaughn sat down in the office chair in front of the screens. The chair was still warm, whoever had sat in it had been there recently. He examined the monitors, on one of them he could make out two figures running down a corridor. He enhanced the image and watched as the figures ran. He saw the gunfire on the screen before he heard it. Syd, who had gone out into the corridor, had seen the two people escaping and was shooting at them. Vaughn watched as one of them turned round, a gun clasped in their hand. He gasped as he watched Lauren take aim and fire at Syd, with Sark close behind. Then they disappeared through some doors. Vaughn sat in the chair, staring at the screen, he could still see Lauren in his mind shooting at Syd. Then he remembered that night in Doichanov's apartment, he had seen Lauren there too but refused to believe it. Now he had proof on tape. He heard Syd running back along the corridor and quickly ejected the tape from the machine. Syd burst into the room, panting.
"Vaughn...I...it was Lauren." She said, looking sorry, yet truimphant.
"I know." Vaughn said, his head lowered to the table. "I saw it all on CCTV." Syd had to let the joy of finding Lauren out to be evil pass. She crouched down beside Vaughn and put an arm around him.
"I'm really sorry, Vaughn." She said in a comforting tone. Vaughn shook his head and turned to Syd, his eyes were red, tears forming in the corners.
"Are you? Are you really? I'd have thought you'd be happy. You hate Lauren, I know it and she knows it. Do you now how much you hav hurt her?" He shouted at her.
"Vaughn, you have to understand.." She began.
"Understand what? You were missing for two years and you haven't yet adjusted to the changes in your life? I had to adjust to your death, Syd. Do you know what it feels like to have someone you love die?" He yelled, his eyes were wild. Syd bowed her head.
"Yes." She said quietly. Vaughn suddenly realised what he had said. Of course she had experienced someone she loved dying. Danny.
"Oh God, Syd I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I was angry and hurt. I am so sorry." He said. Syd raised her head brusing away the tears.
"You had every right to say what you said." She stood up and headed for the door, disappearing once again into the corridor. Vaughn sat there for a while, unable to stop the tears. He soon recovered and gathered his things together, following Syd.
LA, THREE WEEKS LATER
Syd sat in her lounge, watching the Emmy Awards on her TV. She hated these kind of things. These actresses and actors did nothing for their country but they god pain millions and received awards and recognition. Yet she went out every day to make her country a safer place and all she got was two years of her life taken away from her. She was taken out of her thoughts by a knock at the door.
"Oh come on, its a Sunday, leave me alone." She said to herself. She walked across the lounge towards the door, her bunny slippers sinking into the soft carpet. There was another knock at the door.
"Yeah yeah. I'm coming." She shouted. She unlatched the door and let it swing inwards. Vaughn stood on the step, drenched in rain. Syd was shocked at his appearance.
"Hey, can I come in?" He asked, water dripping into his eyes from his hair. Syd stepped aside.
"Sure, I'll get a towel." She said. Vaughn stepped up into her house, his shoes squelched as he walked. Syd disappeared into a room and came back with a towel, some jeans and a shirt.
"Here put these on. My...uh..friend left them the other day." Vaughn smiled, pretending to ignore the hesitation Syd had made about her 'friend'. He went into the bathroom that Syd pointed out and locked the door.
Two minutes later Vaughn stood in the borrowed clothes, the towel around his neck. He went into the kitched and sat down on one of the wooden stools. Syd's head was buried in the fridge.
"You want some food? Something to drink?" She said, putting various food and drinks on the worktop.
"Um, you got any beer or something?" He asked. Syd backed out of the fridge holding two Budweiser bottles in her hand.
"Here." She said, throwing one into Vaughn outstretched hands. He twisted the top and gulped down half the bottle as Syd looked on, impressed.
"Why are you here anyway?" She asked, opening her own bottle with a bottle opener. Vaughn took another sip and then breathed in deeply.
"Look, Syd. I am sorry for the way I have treated you since you came back. I didn't think about your feelings, you know, seeing me and Lauren together. I understand that to you it only feels like a couple of days since we were together." He said, his eyes boring straight into hers. "But, seeing her with Sark, I know what you were going through. I thought everything between us was alright but in fact she is with Sark and she had been betraying us. I suddenly realised how bad you must have been feeling." Syd looked away from him but he turned her round to face him again. They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed an age before Vaughn leaned into kiss Syd. At first she did not resist and then pushed him away.
"Vaughn, I can't be a rebound girl. You JUST found out that Lauren had betrayed you and if you hadn't found out then you wouldn't have come here. I think you should leave." She said, moving away from Vaughn. He bowed his head and sighed, he knew he had blown it with them, there was now no chance they would ever be together again. He followed Syd towards the door, grabbing his wet clothes from the arm of the sofa. Syd opened the door and handed him an umbrella.
"Its wet out there." She said, smiling. Vaughn took the umbrella and walked through the open door. Syd closed it behind him and then leaned against it, letting the tears fall down her face. On the other side of the door, Vaughn too was leaning against it, hs eyes staring up at the darkened sky. He waited a few minutes, unfolded the umbrella and stepped out into the rain. Syd, feeling regret for turning him away, opened the door and rushed out into the rain. She looked up and down the street but Vaughn was nowhere to be seen.
NEXT DAY AT CIA
Vaughn, Syd, Jack, Weiss, Marshall and Dixon were all assembled in the briefing room. Dixon was pacing the room, agitated.
"Last night a report came in that Sark and an accomplice had broken into a nuclear weapons factory outside Paris. We believe that the accomplice was former CIA operative, Lauren Reed. We think that she was working as a double agent, under orders to infiltrate the CIA and sabotage our missions." Vaughn looked uncomfortable and shifted in his chir.Dixon decided to move on. "It seemed that they were looking for the plans for a new plane that is being built there. The plane will be the first long distance unpiloted plane, excluding the German V-1 and V-2 bombs. Co-ordinates are typed into a computer inside the plane and it will fly straight to the destination. Normally it wouldn't be such a threat but this bomb is worse than anything. It contains, in itself, the largest nuclear bomb built, able to take out a small country, such as the United Kingdom. It is confirmed that the pair managed to get the plans and have started building the weapon. It is also believed that they have stolen sixteen nuclear cores. The prupose for this is unknown but we must assume that they are planning a huge terrorist attack."
"What do you want us to do?" Syd asked, glancing across at Vaughn who was staring at the ground.
"You will do nothing. There is no point going to the factory because the plans are long gone and the current whereabouts of Sark and Miss Reed are unknown. You might as well go home, I will have more information by the morning." Dixon gathered the documents on his table, put them into a folder which he put under one arm, and strolled out of the room, Marshall and Weiss in tow. Jack got up from his chair and crossed the room to Syd. Vaughn still sat at his own table, his eyes fixed on a spot on the floor.
"Sydney, I have reason to believe that Lauren may have planted some sort of bomb in your house. I intercepted a call saying that the bomb had been planted. The call was unclear but I managed to get something else about the person paying. Lauren never liked you, so keep an eye out for odd things." He said. Syd smiled gratefully.
"Thanks Dad." She hugged him and he left her and Vaughn alone. He had whole the whole conversation and was staring at Syd.
"I can't believe she would try to kill you. She told me...she told me before the mission that she was starting to like you. She said.....you....were a good friend." He said, his voice cracking. Syd pulled a chair up beside him and sat down, patting him on the back. She didn't know what else to do. It was twice that he had lost someone he loved, she couldn't even start to think how he must be feeling. Vaughn took her hand and squeezed it.
"Thanks Syd." He said.
"For what?"
"Just...for being here. I know you never liked Lauren or the fact that I was with her but.....you've been a good friend." He said. He stood up and walked out of the door.
A good friend. Syd thought. She got up and followed him, planning on taking advantage of her free time. The shops of LA were calling.
She caught up with Vaughn outside, he took the keys from his pocket and the lights of his car flashed. He pulled open the door, unaware of Syd, and climbed inside. Seconds later the engine had started. Syd, busying herself with opening her own car, sensed something was wrong. Call it her spidey-sense. She turned and saw as Vaughn's car pulled away from the space it was parked in. Everything seemed normal. She turned back to her car and opened the door. Suddenly, she was pushed against her car by a sudden explosion. She turned to see Vaughn's car making its way back down to earth. Sheilding herself from the flames that crept from the car, she made her way forwards to Vaughn's overturned car. The back was blown away, flame licking the jagged edges. On the bottom of the car Syd could see a large bomb, unexploded. People rushed from inside the building, but she paid no attention, immediately dropping to her knees and stretching her arm inside the car. Vaughn lay, upside down, on the roof of the jeep. Blood was trickling down his face, his eyes were scrunched up in pain.
"Vaughn! Take my hand." She yelled. He turned his head and reached out his arm, grabbing Syd's hand. Once she was sure he had a firm grip on her hand she pulled him gently. He pushed his legs out behind him and slid out from the car. Syd pulled him to his feet and away from the smoking vehicle. Hoses were being directed at the flaming mass of twisted metal, attempting to put out the fire. Just then the second bomb detonated and Vaughn and Syd were thrown backwards, Syd landing on top of Vaughn. They lay there for a moment, staring into each others eyes before security guards rushed over, pulling them off the floor and to safety.
Sark in an apartment opposite the CIA building. He watched as Syd and Vaughn were pulled to safety, a cruel smile appearing on his face.
"Too bad. Our little friend Agent Vaughn survived. Helped to safety by his girlfriend." He chuckled. Behind him Lauren stormed over to the window, peering out at the scene below.
"Dammit." She cursed softly. Sark turned to her, his face full of happiness.
"Why do you want him, of all people, dead? You seem adament to kill him." He said, watching Lauren pace the apartment, muttering under her breath.
"It's nothing. I just....I don't like him." Sark didn't buy it and laughed out loud. Lauren glared at him and he shut up.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Its the truth, you have to believe it." She replied.
"Lauren, you married the man. You can't say that you have no feelings for him...two months ago all you could talk about was him. Then Sydney came back." Lauren's eyes flashed with malice and they narrowed.He had struck a nerve. "You're jealous of Syd aren't you? You know that Vaughn loves Sydney way more than he ever loved you, or ever could love you."
"Enough!" Lauren said, swinging her fist round. It collided with the side of Sark's face and he was thrown sideways. He untangled himself from the chair and turned to face her, one hand holding his cheek where blood was escaping from the corner of the mouth. He smiled.
"You pack quite the punch. Almost like Sydney herself. I see you have been taking lessons." He smirked. Lauren gave him a digusted look and turned away. Sark sat, his face in his hand, laughing quietly to himself. He knew that Lauren's sensitive point was Vaughn and Sydney...and their relationship. Sark sat for a moment before standing up and leaving the apartment, watched by a curious Lauren.
Sark stepped out onto the sunny street. No one noticed him and he observed the scene before him. Everyone was busy, running around putting out the fire or evacuating people from the premises. He laughed to himself and then began walking, crossing over to the over side of the road, where he would be in full view of everyone. He walked past a ambulance. Two people sat inside talking to each other while medics fussed around them. They did not notice him as he slowly walked past them, making his presence there obvious. When he had passed Syd looked up, she sensed something, like someone being close by but when she looked all she was were firemen and policemen. Shrugging she turned back to Vaughn.
"How are you doing?" She asked, looking straight into his eyes. He smiled and waved his arm around. A bandage was strapped around the lower part and a red patch was slowly appearing.
"It's as good as new." He laughed.
"Good." There was awkward silence between the two before Syd broke it, clambering out of the ambulance. "I should see if they need any help or...something." Then she disappeared from Vaughn's sight. He sat back against the side of the vehicle and sighed.
A paramedic climbed into the back of the ambulance and sat opposite him.
"Girl troubles?" He said, busying himself with equipment. Vaughn was surprised that the paramedic was talking to him.
"Huh? Oh...yeah. It's a complicated story." The paramedic stopped what he was doing and gave Vaughn his full attention.
"I'm not doing anything important and other people's misery keeps me from thinking of my own. Spill the beans." He said, Vaughn felt uncomfortable talking to a complete stranger but what did he have to lose? He began retelling the whole of his and Sydney's relationship; from the moment they met, to just then as she had left the ambulance.
Sark walked over to the nearest phonebox and slotted some coins into the machine. He then dialled a number, leaning against the glass frame, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up.
"Hello?" Said the voice on the other end of the phone line.
"It's Sark. The assination of Mr Vaughn went smoothly. He is dead. Blown up on impact." Sark said, drumming his fingers on the phone box.
"That is good news. What about Miss Bristow? Any news on that subject?" The receiver asked. Sark sighed.
"Did you not hear? Sydney Bristow was killed in a firefight two days ago. It was not our own doing but as long as she is gone right?" He chuckled to himself.
"Yes. That is good." The man said. He then hung the phone up and Sark frowned.
"What a rude man." He said to himself, stepping out of the phone box. He looked around and then smiled, ambling across the road and entering a cafe.
Sydney and Vaughn had both been sent home after the attacks, 'just for some rest, I want you back tomorrow on the dot', Dixon had said. Vaughn had been planning a nice quiet day at home but Syd had intervened, hoping for a conversation with him, in private where they could talk properly and undisturbed. So they found themselves at a small restaurant, sitting at a table for two with a large candle burning in the centre, dripping down onto the woodwork that had obviously been subjected to one too many candles. A lone rose stood in a vase at the side of the table, just infront of the wine cooler that had been wheeled over.
"Um..Vaughn." Syd started, watching Vaughn stuffing garlic bread into his mouth. He looked up, sauce dripping from his mouth. "I think that we need to talk about.....about our relationship." She stuttered. Vaughn swallowed his mouthful, his eyes widening. He thought Syd had given up on them, had resolved that they could never be together again.
"Ahem....yeah." Was all Vaughn could say, he was more nervous than he had ever been in his life, even more nervous than he was on his wedding day; afraid that he was giving up on Syd too soon, that maybe more could be done to look into her death. He dared a look at Syd who seemed calm and composed.
"I think that maybe.....maybe I was too harsh on you, for marrying Lauren, you know. And I think that I was too.....hasty to brush you off when you came to my house that day." She was cut off by a waiter coming over, holding two bowls of steaming hot soup. Syd's train of thought was cut off and she lost her nerve to keep talking. Instead she waited for the waiter to put her soup down and then dug into it. She could feel Vaughn watching her and slowly built up the courage to continue talking. "I would like....." But she could go no further. Vaughn, who had just spooned some soup into his mouth, suddenly began spluttering, holding his hand to his throat. Syd was stunned, momentarily braindead, then she jumped to her feet and rushed over to Vaughn, placing her hand on his back. She thumped hard, thinking that he was choking, but then he began frantically waving his arm around and Syd knew she was wrong. A group had gathered around the couple, watching Vaughn fighting for his life.
"Call an ambulance for god's sake." She yelled, frustrated. A waiter rushed off to the reception and picked up the phone. Syd didn't know what to do, if he wasn't choking what else could have happened that would have this affect? Vaughn had gone a purplely colour and Syd was beginning to panic, without knowing what was happening she could not react. Luckily paramedics arrived a short time after the call had been made. They too attempted to removed any food caught in his throat and Syd had to explain to them that he was not choking. They could not do a proper procedure on his unless he was taken to a hospital so they quickly explained to Vaughn that he would need to try walking. He obliged them and the foursome made their way to the ambulance, gasps and whispers followed them out of the restaurant.
Once in the hospital Syd was separated from Vaughn, made to wait in the relatives room until they had stabalised him. She had been sitting there for almost an hour when a female nurse, in blue scrubs, entered.
"We have stabalised Mr Vaughn and you are free to see him now." The woman explained politely.
"Thanks." Syd said, standing up quickly and following the woman through the hospital to Vaughn's room. Vaughn was propped up against pillows, his eyes fixed on the TV screen which was showing an ice hockey game. Syd smiled, thinking back to that day when he had taken her to the ice rink to play. He heard her moving and looked over. His eyes were red and he had green tinges around his mouth. He looked terrible. Syd tried to ignore his appearance, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Vaughn's bed.
"It was poison." He said cheerily. "Blown up and poisoned in the same day."
"Vaughn, it's not funny." Syd said, immediately wiping the fake smile off Vaughn's face. He lowered his voice to just louder than a whisper.
"I know it's not funny. Especially since it is my WIFE that is attempting my murder." Syd bowed her head briefly and then looked up again.
"How can you be sure that it is Lauren?" She asked. She knew that it was probably Lauren doing these things, but for Vaughn's sake she wanted to make it easier.
"She knows that I found out........"Vaughn stopped suddenly, realising he had said too much but this only caught Syd's attention.
"Found out about what?" Vaughn looked away, unable to make eye contact. He was keeping something from her, something serious that was worth attempting your husband's murder over. Vaughn still said nothing, keeping his eyes on the floor.
"Vaughn, your hiding something from me." Vaughn said nothing. "You have to tell me." He sat still, not moving. "Vaughn. Lauren has tried to kill you more than once. Sooner or later she will achieve her objective and you will be dead. If you tell me why she desperately wants you dead, then I can stop her killing you. It's your choice....life or death." Vaughn clenched his teeth, grinding them together. He eyes moved around the room, looking out of the window, staring out of the door into the hospital corridor. Then they settled on Syd.
"Life." He said, his voice cracking. Syd looked relieved and relaxed a little. Vaughn brought his head level with Syd's a began talking. "Lauren had this safe, it was kept in the house. She would put stuff in it every night. NSC stuff she said, confidential, which was why it was in a safe. She told me that she trusted me never to tell anyone of the safe because all the live's in America depended upon the information in that safe being kept safe. You know me, I do what I'm told. I agreed, never doubting that my wife would be betraying me and my country. Then when I found out about Lauren being, you know, I....I wanted to keep some part of the old her, the Lauren I knew, alive. The safe was all that I could think of, it reminded me of her commitment to the job, always working. Now I know why she was always working...she was doing two jobs." He finished quietly, a slight smile on his face.
"Do you know whether the safe is still there?" She asked, Vaughn nodded.
IN VAUGHN AND LAUREN'S HOUSE
Syd pulled the keys Vaughn had given her out of her pocket. She slot one into the keyhole but the door was already open. She pushed gently and the door swung inwards. Lauren was already here. Slowly, not making a sound, Syd crossed the lounge, towards Vaughn and Lauren's bedroom, pulling a gun out from behind her jacket as she moved. There was movement inside the bedroom. Cocking the gun, Syd pushed the door open and saw Lauren facing a wall, her hands moving quickly, unlocking the safe. She sensed Syd's movement and turned around, her own gun pointed straight at Sydney'd head.
"Ah, Sydney. What a nice surprise. I had the feeling that Michael would tell you about the safe, especially after the third attempt on his life was made," SYd looked confused, she only knew of two attemptes, Lauren was quick to clear it up. "Oh, I tried to shoot him at Mr Doichanov's apartment, again I failed. It's like God's on his side of something." She laughed, still keeping her gun steady.
"Put the gun down Lauren. You don't want to do this." Lauren gave Sydney a withering look.
"Oh I think I really do." Instead of shooting Syd, Lauren dived at her, knocking her gun out of the way and in the process losing her own. Syd and Lauren hit the floor hard but both were up quickly. Lauren lunged at Syd again, lifting her leg off the ground, trying a roundhouse kick, aimed directly at the side of Syd's head. Such a blow would have been devastating but Syd blocked it, pushing Lauren's leg back towards the ground and using the woman's own momentum to flip her over. Lauren lay on the floor, winded, her hand stretching for the gun near her head. Syd wasn't stupid, her left hand clamped down hard on Lauren's hand while the other foot kicked the gun out of the way. The two were close to the safe now and with one foot still crushing Lauren's hand, Syd reached over to the safe, attempting to grab the contents. She felt Lauren tense beneath her, she knew that the blonde woman was about to kick her leg from under her. Syd had no choice, she quickly fished out a miniscule object from her bag and slapped it onto the side of the safe. Just then Lauren used her free hand to grab hold of Syd's leg and pulled it sharply backwards. Syd fell thundering to the ground, her head connecting with the floor with a great force. She lay sprawled on the ground, her head throbbing and her vision blurred. Her reactions were slowled down severly and all she could do was watch Lauren's blurred figure grabbed the small, lightwieght safe and run out of the room. Syd relaxed slightly and got to her feet groggily. Her head was spinning from hitting the floor and she had to keep her hand on the wall while she edged out of the house. Her car sat untouched in the driveway, a note pinned on the windscreen wipers. She plucked it out and read;
I hope you and Michael have a nice life together.
It was from Lauren. Syd blinked, the words blurring, merging into one another. She carefully opened the door to her car and climbed in, sitting on the seat for a while before her vision came back fully.
BACK AT THE CIA
Syd strolled into Dixon's office. He sat alone with a mug of steaming coffee, his head in his ahnds, pouring over files that were spread before him. Syd let the door bang shut after her and Dixon looked up surprised.
"Sydney, what have you got for me?" He said, expecting the information from the safe which Vaughn must have told me about. Syd waved her hands in the air, showing Dixon that she had no information and that she didn't really care.
"I could have died again today. Same setting, in a house with a psychopathic former friend." She said angrily, rubbing the back of her head.
"So you did not manage to get the intel then?" Dixon said, disappointed. He turned back to his files.
"What did you want me to do? She had a gun, I was half unconcious on the ground. In fact, she was nice enough not to shoot me." Syd tried not to raise her voice but she was getting increasingly angry.
"She?"Dixon asked, curiously.
"Lauren. She was there for the same reason. She got the safe, I got some bruises. That's pretty much it." She explained. She could see Dixon's brain working, she knew that he was going to kick her out of his office soon, angry that she didn't get what he wanted. "But...I did manage to plant a tracking device so we know where the safe is and, most deifnately, where Lauren and Sark are." Her voice was triumphant but Dixon just grunted.
"Good, go to Marshall. He'll know how to track them down." Syd lingered for a moment, hoping that Dixon would say something more but he was concentrating on his files again and barely noticed she was there.
"Right." Syd said quietly. She left Dixon staring after her, a concerned expression on his face.
Marshall was sitting in his office fiddling with a small metal object.
"Hi." Syd said, after watching Marshall play with his toy for a while. He jumped and the metal object flew high into the air, Syd extened an arm and caught it. She uncurled her fist and looked at the mass of metal and wires.
"What is this?" She asked incredulously. Marshall looked hurt and quickly grabbed the object.
"It's a spytoy. It acts like..you know a fly on the wall, sitting there just lalalal, um...and records all the conversation as well as sending it straight back to my computer. It's still not ready because when it gets to a certain point it....well it blows up and during a mission you wouldn't really want this to happen...for obvious reasons." He chuckled to himself and Syd gave him a small, confused smile. "It's also got video feed.....so you can get visual pictures of whoever your talking to..but.." He trailed off, turning the 'spytoy' round and round in his hands.
"I came here to ask you if you can track someone down. The tracker used was one of yours." Marshall was disappointed that Syd wasn't paying more attention to his gadget but business was business.
"Do you know what model? I made quite a few." Syd shook her head. How was she meant to know what model it was? To her it was a piece of metal with wires inside that helped her do her job.
"Well the good thing is that I spray all my trackers with solinium so all I need to do is search for hotspots of solinium and then you will know where your person is." Marshall winked. "Good to have a back up plan." Syd nodded, not bothering to reply. Marshall took the hint and frantically began typing information into his computer. A black map of the world suddenly popped up onto the screen and Syd could see a tiny yellow/red patch on England. Marshall had already noticed it and was magnifying the map so they could find out exactly where abouts in England it was. Syd watched as Marshall slowly began to identify the location of the safe. Eventually he stopped, in the corner of the screen there were two words; Coventry, England.
"There you go. Coventry in England. You know if you go they have this catherdral that was bombed but then a cross remained and it's really a nice place to go......" Marshall turned to find Syd gone. "....apparently."
BRIEFING ROOM
Dixon was again pacing the room. Syd, Vaughn, Weiss and Marshall were sitting watching him.
"The safe that Sydney was meant to retrieve has been tracked to Conventry in England. After extensive tracking we narrowed the area that it might be down to a three square miles which is mostly occupied by warehouses which is where it is likely to be." Said Dixon. An aerial view of part of Coventry appeared on everyone's screens.
"I am sending Agents Bristow, Weiss," Vaughn looked over at Syd, disappointed. "and Agent Vaughn. Marshall will go through OpTech with you. You leave in an hour." Dixon strolled out of the room.
"The jet set life of CIA Agents." Weiss joked. Syd broke her stony glare into a smile. Marshall stood up and took Dixon's position at the front of the room.
"The complex has easy access. Obviously they don't think anyone is going to come in otherwise you know they would have put cameras, mounted machine guns and guards out there to kill you as soon as you entered the complex....which is just as well. Once inside the complex things get a bit more difficult. There are motion sensor cameras positioned at almost every corner of the complex and its huge so really there are quite a few corners and a camera at each of those....I'd say roughly...50 cameras maybe. Anyway this is an EMP gun, EMP meaning Electro Magnetic Pulse, which you probably already knew, cos you know it was used in the Matrix. They were in their....ship thing and Neo was in the Matrix and they couldn't bring him back fast enough and the robot squid things were attacking their ship and it was getting really frantic and in the end they just had to use the EMP to get rid of them, although it would kill Neo cos he was in the Matrix. Drama. So they pressed the button and the things were destroyed....Neo was back in the real world and everyone lived happily ever after. It's just amazing that film...the effects and everything..I wish I could have seen...... Anyway, shoot this at the camera and the magnetic waves should make it confused and it will stop working all together. There is also a key pad at every door. Now we couldn't get the key card because there isn't one, you have to use your finger prints and then type in a code that matches your fingerprints. Its really very good. You know if someone wants to breank in then you know they cut off a security guards hand to get themselves in but that won't work because each set of fingerprints has its own recognition code so you're going to need this. Now to overcome this problem you get the security guards hand, obviously don't bothered severing it cos it will get bloody. Anyway put the hand onto this plasma screen and the prints will be sent back to me and I will find the code. Meanwhile inside this. " He said, opening the object. "The prints from the guards hand will be moulded onto these little things that are like contact lenses. You stick them on your fingertips and then place your hand in the keypad and type in the code I will have provided. Foil-proof."
"And you've jinxed it." Weiss muttered. Marshall frowned and then turned back to Syd and Vaughn grinning at his own excellence.
"Great then. We leave in an hour. We better get ready." Weiss stood up and he and Marshall left the room together. Syd was close behind when she felt an arm grab her own. She was so used to be attacked now that she immediately spun round with a curled fist and whacked Vaughn straight in the face. He stumbled back as Syd realised who she had hit.
"Oh God, sorry, heat of passion." She said, grinning as Vaughn clutched his face. When he looked up she tried to disguise her amusement.
"You're laughing at me." He said in mock anger. Syd couldn't help it any more. She burst out laughing, nearly falling to the floor.
"It's just....you looked so funny...standing there...your face....it's just......." She managed a few words attempting to string together a sentence but she was laughing too hard. Vaughn looked at her incredulously but eventually had to give in and started laughing alongside her. After a while they stopped laughing and Syd leaned in close to inspect the bruise emerging where she had hit Vaughn. She ran a hand down his cheek and then suddenly jerked it away.
"I can't do this." She turned round and stalked out of the room. Vaughn stood watching her, a look of utter amazement on his face.
Coventry, England
Syd, Vaughn and Weiss skirted the side of a huge factory, dressed all in black. Marshall had been right, there had been no cameras or guards in the outside fence of the complex and they had simply slipped through the main gate and ran towards the main building.