"Okay, are you all set?"
"This isn't that hard, Kilmer."
"I know, I know. I just wanted to know-are you ready?"
The blonde rolled her eyes and tucked her arm in his, "In all honesty, I've done much tougher things that escort some agent from a bar to home. It's really not that a tough thing." She smiled broadly. She shook his arm and tried to get him to loosen up. "Robbie, it's going to be okay. I promise."
He mocked hurt and sincerity, puckering her mouth, "Promise?"
"Promise." She squeezed in closer to him, keeping one arm tucked in with his and using the other to close her jacket closer to her body. The cold Ukrainian air was cutting through her filmsy white evening gown that flowed like the Marilyn Monroe white dress. Her blonde curly hair was flowing freely, only secured with a few glittery pins. Madison Perkins batted her eyelashes and she smiled up at Robert or Robbie Kilmer, who was looking quite dashing in a black on black three piece suit. She stood a proud five foot seven and every ounce of her was pure muscle. She wore glittering chandelier earrings that swayed every time she moved down the crowded streets with her boyfriend.
"I'm not overly thrilled about living with another pair of agents. I mean, no one knows about the baby." He whispered, continuing on their trek towards the little bar they were intended to meet the new agents at. The soft brown hair blew slightly in the evening air. The bitter cold cut through him and he was glad that he had his Madison on his arm to keep him warm. He longed to back in their little run down safe house with their beautiful baby girl curled up by the fire. The cold air seemed to suck the air straight from his lungs.
"No one needs to know Layla." She snapped quickly, feeling insanely defensive. Her maternal instincts were running high and the twenty months of hiding her daughter from the world was beginning to take its toll. Actually, twenty nine months. She had to hide her pregnancy from him for a while, then the agency, and then they had to hide the baby. It was just a mountain of lies that she was anxious about. It anyone found out about the beautiful baby girl, she would be taken away from them.
He let out an aggravated groan that made an old couple turn around and take notice of them. He shot them a rather apologetic smile and waited for them to duck into a little restaurant before continuing. "But they are! These two agents, we don't even know who they are, they're going to come back to the house and they're going to see and meet Layla! It's pretty hard to hide a baby from two people that do what we do for a living, Maddie! And then they're going to go running back to Langley and boom! we're back pushing papers in DC!" He started to raise his voice slightly. He was getting red in the face and his heart was pounding loudly out of stress. "We can't go back to that, Maddie. We've come too far and done too much." He was against keeping the child from the moment Madison told him that she was pregnant. But the moment he held his baby girl in his arms, he couldn't let her go. She would have been safer if they had given her up but they just couldn't. Maybe it was selfish of them but it was too late for anything. She was theirs.
"Kilmer." She replied in a warning tone. "You need to keep yourself together! We're not going to be able to pull this off if you fly off of the handle." Her controlled voice slipped back into her accent. Her tone sounded a bit like Lauren's accent but something about the raven haired beauty made it sound much more refined. "If we play this right, they will have no reason to go back to Langley and tell them what's going on with us. Langley won't need to know about Layla and they won't have to take her away from us and split us up." She tried to think reasonably but it didn't work. She couldn't hide it in her eyes and she couldn't help the tears from forming in her eyes. "But what if they take her away from us?" She said after a moment in a small voice.
Kilmer looked around him and stopped. His tall, six foot two frame stooped down to meet her eyes. He took hold of her muscular forearms and with his piercing gray eyes stared straight into her soul, "No one is ever going to take Layla from us and no one is going to take you away from me. I swear." Closing his eyes, he placed a feather light kiss against her lips. "I love you, darling."
"I love you too." Madison opened her eyes, "They're going to be waiting for us. We better get this over with. Remember darling, best behavior." Sighing softly, she linked his arm again and started to walk down the streets, completely unsure of their future.
"Okay, are you all set?"
"This isn't that hard, Vaughn."
"I know, I know. I just wanted to know-are you ready?"
The red head rolled her eyes and started to fix her long black coat over the rose colored dress that she had put on. "Yeah, I'm all set." She crossed her legs in the limo that they had been picked up in from the airport. Her body reclined against the black leather seats and she tried to relax before seeing the agent she had presumed dead for a such a long time again. Why of all agents did it have to be Kilmer? Robbie Kilmer. She licked her lips out of nervousness and felt the deep pink color spread even further. She let out a shakey breath and tried to calm her nerves. It wasn't like her to get nervous over missions anymore. It just wasn't in her nature.
"Good." He replied, choosing to stare out of the window and watch the passing buildings. Retreating into his psyche, he tried to push everything away. He wanted to push the thoughts of Lauren sending e-mails back and forth with that man through their account. But something kept bothering him. It was like they wanted to get caught. It was such a risky act and they were both acting on impulses. But both had such intensive training, they would know how to conceal something like this. He groaned silently to himself and buried his head in his hands. It didn't make sense. They wanted to get caught. They wanted to get caught. He shook his head and tried to get think logical tings. Maybe this was all a big misunderstanding and he was just too stupid and idiotic to see the true reasoning.
He was uncomfortable with the thought that his wife, the woman that he had slept beside for nearly a year, was sleeping with another man. He hadn't given into the temptation of being with Sydney. It would have been so easy and it still would be easy. The emerald eyes glanced over to Sydney and starred at her at.
She caught this watchful glance, "What?" Her cheeks began to glow hot. It was a horrible reaction that she dreaded whenever he caught her off guard. When she received no answer, she asked again, "What?" This time she smiled slightly but dropped it as she saw the serious expression on his face.
"I-uh nothing." He replied lamely. He focused now on his clasped hands in his lap. "You all set?" He felt the sweat pool between his palms and he tried to wipe it away against his pant legs.
"Vaughn?" He looked up as a reply. She tilted her head to the side and smoke with soft compassion, "You already asked me that. Is everything okay? I mean, I know that this situation isn't ideal. Three weeks is a long time and I'm sure Lauren-"
He riposted, "Lauren has nothing to do with the situation."
Sydney looked a though she had been punched in the stomach. Her eyes were wide and she seemed to stop breathing, "Is everything okay?" She almost winced with the words falling out of her mouth. She really, really didn't want to know the answer to the question.
"No." He replied, feeling a weight being lifted slowly off of his shoulders.
"You want to talk about it?" Again, she really didn't want to know the answer to this.
Now, this was a crossroads for him. Vaughn was the type of man that hated sob stories and refused to let people feel sorry for him. There was no upswing for him. He hated bringing his father up in conversations because it only got him the pity looks that he hated. He hated people feeling sorry for him. It was something that made him feel about three inches tall and it basically crushed him inside. By telling Sydney about Lauren, she could react one of two ways. Either she would be sorry and give him that pity look or say nothing and seem smug.
But Sydney was never smug. So, should he tell her? The situation was just too bizarre to tell. "You know that new NSC analyst, Jonathan Ross?"
"He just returned from a stay in Paris." Sydney nodded in recognition of the man. He was handsome man, there was no doubting that. In the few short hours that he had been there, already, there were women salivating over him. He was immediately loved by them and respected. He was known as one of the best analysts the NSC had and the fact that he was working in the LA office was a very big deal.
Vaughn looked at her and he felt no emotions. He felt no love, no hate, no lust, no fear. He was numb and these words, the words that had been haunting him for hours were finally about to come spilling out of his mouth. But there was nothing he could do. He was falling apart at the seams and if he didn't tell someone soon, he was going to collapse. But it had only been a few hours. He had only known since that morning and already he was going to spill it. Some agent he was. *Are you proud of me, Dad? I can barley keep a family problem to myself for a day.* "He's having an affair with my wife."
"Do you have the comm. in your ear?" Madison leaned in close as they danced on the dance floor, her dress swaying back and forth with each movement.
"What?" He mocked a yell. He looked down at her and noticed the concerned look crossing his face. "Relax, baby. I have the comm. in my ear and hopefully this girl has the chip on her somewhere. It'll beep in both of our ears and that's when we'll know about the other." He whispered and kissed her temple. "Don't worry, baby. Everything will be alright."
"You know, there has only be one other man in this world to ever call me 'baby' and get away with it."
"Oh yeah? What did you do to him?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Well, that's a long story. I'll just put it to you this way; he's no longer able to have children." She nestled her head against his chest and felt his voice vibrate in his chest. He laughed lightly and pulled her closer.
"I'll keep this in mind." He took a beat before he spoke, "I think I like the blonde hair. Is it true what they say? Blondes really do have more fun?"
"No." His partner let her brow knit up in concern, "I hate this. I just wish that we could escape all of this. I'm tired of changing my hair color, my eye color, my accent. I just hate this so much.""
Kilmer smiled slightly as he turned his eyes away from her and started to scan the room. "One day, we'll be off on our own-leading normal lives. But then that means no more designer dresses or black tie parties-"
"Knock-off designer dresses." Madison correctly stiffly.
"No more knock off designer dresses and lack tie parties or complete adrenaline rushes or bullets whizzing at our heads or keeping a daughter in secret under aliases. No more aliases." He sighed wishfully. "After this mission, after we bring down who we need to bring down, we'll leave. We'll get out once and for all." He placed another soft kiss against her temple and continued to turn her around the dance floor. They were in the most beautiful house in all of the area. The beautiful white ceramic floor provided the perfect surface for the women in the finest couture dresses to twirl around on while their partners, dressed entirely in black. The house belonged to a Mister Poichetch, a financer for the Covenant. He held a large gala every so often but this time, he held it in his home. This was a perfect opportunity for the CIA to get more information about the organization.
"Darling, I'm tired. Let's get a drink?" Madison spoke up complacently. Kilmer took her arm and they walked off the floor and he went up to a formally dressed waiter and took two champagne flutes.
"Satisfy your thirst, my lady?" Kilmer offered the crystal glass towards her and smiled as she extended her gloved hand and took the chilled glass in her hand. With elegance, she pressed the glass to her lips and took a small sip. The delightful little liquid bounced through her mouth and she smiled. "I take that as a yes." He grinned back and followed suit. "What time is it?"
"Nearly half past nine." Madison recited as she glanced at the old grandfather clock standing on the other side of the room. "It's almost show time."
Kilmer was starting to grow nervous. He hated working with others agent, especially ones that he didn't know. His heart started to pound to the point that he could no longer hear the string quartet in the corner playing sweetly. He hated being nervous more than anything else in the world. Trying to distract himself, he scanned the room to make sure that there was no one that seemed suspicious to him. There was. "Darling, are you-"
She read the look in his eyes, "Of course I am." She stepped up to him and followed his eyes, "What do you see?"
"That man over there," He acknowledged a man with brown hair with a red hair woman on his arm, "something about him is rubbing me the wrong way."
"You're being paranoid." She replied in a sing songy voice. "What do you think about him?"
"I think we need to go near him, to see if." He let his voice trail off. Quickly, his gut instinct took over and he pulled Madison closer to him. "I think we just ran into our other set of agents. Let's dance?"
"This is some house." Vaughn whispered in his partner's ear.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner about Lauren? I could have-" Sydney replied in disgust. She fixed the flower in her hair that contained the microchip that would send the signal to the other agent and create a beeping noise in both of their ears.
"Could have what? There's nothing you could have done about, Syd. I have to deal with it and I'll deal with it on my own time. Right now, we need to concentrate on tonight. He escorted her and took refuge in a small corner of the room. His green eyes scanned around the room, looking for someone that resembled the two agents. "What if they aren't here yet?" The voice of reason started to shout in his brain.
Sydney licked her lips and scanned the room. She knew exactly what Kilmer looked like in almost every type of clothing. She knew every inch of his body but secretly dreaded seeing him again. She didn't know how to be around him anymore. He probably didn't even know that she was back and hell, she barely knew that he was alive. There was a long story that she was almost sure that they would get to later on in their three week stay. Her eyes set on a figure. "I think we found Kilmer and Perkins."
"Dancing?"
"We better go join them. See if." She let her voice drop and watched Vaughn offer his arm. Together, the perfect looking couple started to dance around with the dozen or so other couples. At one point, they passed the man with the blonde on his arm. As if on cue, her comm. link started to beep in her ear. "That's them. Let's get the show on the road." She tried to focus on the task on hand instead of her palpitating heart or the chills that were coursing through her body. She hated how she felt and reacted with his touch. It was like the wedding all over again.
She gathered her long, flowery skirt in her hand and approached the man that had left her nearly ten years ago, "Excuse me but I was wondering, may I cut it?" Her voice was hardened with a Russian accent but not even she could hear it. There was a strong steady pulsating beating in her ear.
Kilmer turned around, letting of Madison for a moment. It all happened so fast that the three of them barely had time to catch up to each other. His jaw just dropped, "Sydney."
"This isn't that hard, Kilmer."
"I know, I know. I just wanted to know-are you ready?"
The blonde rolled her eyes and tucked her arm in his, "In all honesty, I've done much tougher things that escort some agent from a bar to home. It's really not that a tough thing." She smiled broadly. She shook his arm and tried to get him to loosen up. "Robbie, it's going to be okay. I promise."
He mocked hurt and sincerity, puckering her mouth, "Promise?"
"Promise." She squeezed in closer to him, keeping one arm tucked in with his and using the other to close her jacket closer to her body. The cold Ukrainian air was cutting through her filmsy white evening gown that flowed like the Marilyn Monroe white dress. Her blonde curly hair was flowing freely, only secured with a few glittery pins. Madison Perkins batted her eyelashes and she smiled up at Robert or Robbie Kilmer, who was looking quite dashing in a black on black three piece suit. She stood a proud five foot seven and every ounce of her was pure muscle. She wore glittering chandelier earrings that swayed every time she moved down the crowded streets with her boyfriend.
"I'm not overly thrilled about living with another pair of agents. I mean, no one knows about the baby." He whispered, continuing on their trek towards the little bar they were intended to meet the new agents at. The soft brown hair blew slightly in the evening air. The bitter cold cut through him and he was glad that he had his Madison on his arm to keep him warm. He longed to back in their little run down safe house with their beautiful baby girl curled up by the fire. The cold air seemed to suck the air straight from his lungs.
"No one needs to know Layla." She snapped quickly, feeling insanely defensive. Her maternal instincts were running high and the twenty months of hiding her daughter from the world was beginning to take its toll. Actually, twenty nine months. She had to hide her pregnancy from him for a while, then the agency, and then they had to hide the baby. It was just a mountain of lies that she was anxious about. It anyone found out about the beautiful baby girl, she would be taken away from them.
He let out an aggravated groan that made an old couple turn around and take notice of them. He shot them a rather apologetic smile and waited for them to duck into a little restaurant before continuing. "But they are! These two agents, we don't even know who they are, they're going to come back to the house and they're going to see and meet Layla! It's pretty hard to hide a baby from two people that do what we do for a living, Maddie! And then they're going to go running back to Langley and boom! we're back pushing papers in DC!" He started to raise his voice slightly. He was getting red in the face and his heart was pounding loudly out of stress. "We can't go back to that, Maddie. We've come too far and done too much." He was against keeping the child from the moment Madison told him that she was pregnant. But the moment he held his baby girl in his arms, he couldn't let her go. She would have been safer if they had given her up but they just couldn't. Maybe it was selfish of them but it was too late for anything. She was theirs.
"Kilmer." She replied in a warning tone. "You need to keep yourself together! We're not going to be able to pull this off if you fly off of the handle." Her controlled voice slipped back into her accent. Her tone sounded a bit like Lauren's accent but something about the raven haired beauty made it sound much more refined. "If we play this right, they will have no reason to go back to Langley and tell them what's going on with us. Langley won't need to know about Layla and they won't have to take her away from us and split us up." She tried to think reasonably but it didn't work. She couldn't hide it in her eyes and she couldn't help the tears from forming in her eyes. "But what if they take her away from us?" She said after a moment in a small voice.
Kilmer looked around him and stopped. His tall, six foot two frame stooped down to meet her eyes. He took hold of her muscular forearms and with his piercing gray eyes stared straight into her soul, "No one is ever going to take Layla from us and no one is going to take you away from me. I swear." Closing his eyes, he placed a feather light kiss against her lips. "I love you, darling."
"I love you too." Madison opened her eyes, "They're going to be waiting for us. We better get this over with. Remember darling, best behavior." Sighing softly, she linked his arm again and started to walk down the streets, completely unsure of their future.
"Okay, are you all set?"
"This isn't that hard, Vaughn."
"I know, I know. I just wanted to know-are you ready?"
The red head rolled her eyes and started to fix her long black coat over the rose colored dress that she had put on. "Yeah, I'm all set." She crossed her legs in the limo that they had been picked up in from the airport. Her body reclined against the black leather seats and she tried to relax before seeing the agent she had presumed dead for a such a long time again. Why of all agents did it have to be Kilmer? Robbie Kilmer. She licked her lips out of nervousness and felt the deep pink color spread even further. She let out a shakey breath and tried to calm her nerves. It wasn't like her to get nervous over missions anymore. It just wasn't in her nature.
"Good." He replied, choosing to stare out of the window and watch the passing buildings. Retreating into his psyche, he tried to push everything away. He wanted to push the thoughts of Lauren sending e-mails back and forth with that man through their account. But something kept bothering him. It was like they wanted to get caught. It was such a risky act and they were both acting on impulses. But both had such intensive training, they would know how to conceal something like this. He groaned silently to himself and buried his head in his hands. It didn't make sense. They wanted to get caught. They wanted to get caught. He shook his head and tried to get think logical tings. Maybe this was all a big misunderstanding and he was just too stupid and idiotic to see the true reasoning.
He was uncomfortable with the thought that his wife, the woman that he had slept beside for nearly a year, was sleeping with another man. He hadn't given into the temptation of being with Sydney. It would have been so easy and it still would be easy. The emerald eyes glanced over to Sydney and starred at her at.
She caught this watchful glance, "What?" Her cheeks began to glow hot. It was a horrible reaction that she dreaded whenever he caught her off guard. When she received no answer, she asked again, "What?" This time she smiled slightly but dropped it as she saw the serious expression on his face.
"I-uh nothing." He replied lamely. He focused now on his clasped hands in his lap. "You all set?" He felt the sweat pool between his palms and he tried to wipe it away against his pant legs.
"Vaughn?" He looked up as a reply. She tilted her head to the side and smoke with soft compassion, "You already asked me that. Is everything okay? I mean, I know that this situation isn't ideal. Three weeks is a long time and I'm sure Lauren-"
He riposted, "Lauren has nothing to do with the situation."
Sydney looked a though she had been punched in the stomach. Her eyes were wide and she seemed to stop breathing, "Is everything okay?" She almost winced with the words falling out of her mouth. She really, really didn't want to know the answer to the question.
"No." He replied, feeling a weight being lifted slowly off of his shoulders.
"You want to talk about it?" Again, she really didn't want to know the answer to this.
Now, this was a crossroads for him. Vaughn was the type of man that hated sob stories and refused to let people feel sorry for him. There was no upswing for him. He hated bringing his father up in conversations because it only got him the pity looks that he hated. He hated people feeling sorry for him. It was something that made him feel about three inches tall and it basically crushed him inside. By telling Sydney about Lauren, she could react one of two ways. Either she would be sorry and give him that pity look or say nothing and seem smug.
But Sydney was never smug. So, should he tell her? The situation was just too bizarre to tell. "You know that new NSC analyst, Jonathan Ross?"
"He just returned from a stay in Paris." Sydney nodded in recognition of the man. He was handsome man, there was no doubting that. In the few short hours that he had been there, already, there were women salivating over him. He was immediately loved by them and respected. He was known as one of the best analysts the NSC had and the fact that he was working in the LA office was a very big deal.
Vaughn looked at her and he felt no emotions. He felt no love, no hate, no lust, no fear. He was numb and these words, the words that had been haunting him for hours were finally about to come spilling out of his mouth. But there was nothing he could do. He was falling apart at the seams and if he didn't tell someone soon, he was going to collapse. But it had only been a few hours. He had only known since that morning and already he was going to spill it. Some agent he was. *Are you proud of me, Dad? I can barley keep a family problem to myself for a day.* "He's having an affair with my wife."
"Do you have the comm. in your ear?" Madison leaned in close as they danced on the dance floor, her dress swaying back and forth with each movement.
"What?" He mocked a yell. He looked down at her and noticed the concerned look crossing his face. "Relax, baby. I have the comm. in my ear and hopefully this girl has the chip on her somewhere. It'll beep in both of our ears and that's when we'll know about the other." He whispered and kissed her temple. "Don't worry, baby. Everything will be alright."
"You know, there has only be one other man in this world to ever call me 'baby' and get away with it."
"Oh yeah? What did you do to him?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Well, that's a long story. I'll just put it to you this way; he's no longer able to have children." She nestled her head against his chest and felt his voice vibrate in his chest. He laughed lightly and pulled her closer.
"I'll keep this in mind." He took a beat before he spoke, "I think I like the blonde hair. Is it true what they say? Blondes really do have more fun?"
"No." His partner let her brow knit up in concern, "I hate this. I just wish that we could escape all of this. I'm tired of changing my hair color, my eye color, my accent. I just hate this so much.""
Kilmer smiled slightly as he turned his eyes away from her and started to scan the room. "One day, we'll be off on our own-leading normal lives. But then that means no more designer dresses or black tie parties-"
"Knock-off designer dresses." Madison correctly stiffly.
"No more knock off designer dresses and lack tie parties or complete adrenaline rushes or bullets whizzing at our heads or keeping a daughter in secret under aliases. No more aliases." He sighed wishfully. "After this mission, after we bring down who we need to bring down, we'll leave. We'll get out once and for all." He placed another soft kiss against her temple and continued to turn her around the dance floor. They were in the most beautiful house in all of the area. The beautiful white ceramic floor provided the perfect surface for the women in the finest couture dresses to twirl around on while their partners, dressed entirely in black. The house belonged to a Mister Poichetch, a financer for the Covenant. He held a large gala every so often but this time, he held it in his home. This was a perfect opportunity for the CIA to get more information about the organization.
"Darling, I'm tired. Let's get a drink?" Madison spoke up complacently. Kilmer took her arm and they walked off the floor and he went up to a formally dressed waiter and took two champagne flutes.
"Satisfy your thirst, my lady?" Kilmer offered the crystal glass towards her and smiled as she extended her gloved hand and took the chilled glass in her hand. With elegance, she pressed the glass to her lips and took a small sip. The delightful little liquid bounced through her mouth and she smiled. "I take that as a yes." He grinned back and followed suit. "What time is it?"
"Nearly half past nine." Madison recited as she glanced at the old grandfather clock standing on the other side of the room. "It's almost show time."
Kilmer was starting to grow nervous. He hated working with others agent, especially ones that he didn't know. His heart started to pound to the point that he could no longer hear the string quartet in the corner playing sweetly. He hated being nervous more than anything else in the world. Trying to distract himself, he scanned the room to make sure that there was no one that seemed suspicious to him. There was. "Darling, are you-"
She read the look in his eyes, "Of course I am." She stepped up to him and followed his eyes, "What do you see?"
"That man over there," He acknowledged a man with brown hair with a red hair woman on his arm, "something about him is rubbing me the wrong way."
"You're being paranoid." She replied in a sing songy voice. "What do you think about him?"
"I think we need to go near him, to see if." He let his voice trail off. Quickly, his gut instinct took over and he pulled Madison closer to him. "I think we just ran into our other set of agents. Let's dance?"
"This is some house." Vaughn whispered in his partner's ear.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner about Lauren? I could have-" Sydney replied in disgust. She fixed the flower in her hair that contained the microchip that would send the signal to the other agent and create a beeping noise in both of their ears.
"Could have what? There's nothing you could have done about, Syd. I have to deal with it and I'll deal with it on my own time. Right now, we need to concentrate on tonight. He escorted her and took refuge in a small corner of the room. His green eyes scanned around the room, looking for someone that resembled the two agents. "What if they aren't here yet?" The voice of reason started to shout in his brain.
Sydney licked her lips and scanned the room. She knew exactly what Kilmer looked like in almost every type of clothing. She knew every inch of his body but secretly dreaded seeing him again. She didn't know how to be around him anymore. He probably didn't even know that she was back and hell, she barely knew that he was alive. There was a long story that she was almost sure that they would get to later on in their three week stay. Her eyes set on a figure. "I think we found Kilmer and Perkins."
"Dancing?"
"We better go join them. See if." She let her voice drop and watched Vaughn offer his arm. Together, the perfect looking couple started to dance around with the dozen or so other couples. At one point, they passed the man with the blonde on his arm. As if on cue, her comm. link started to beep in her ear. "That's them. Let's get the show on the road." She tried to focus on the task on hand instead of her palpitating heart or the chills that were coursing through her body. She hated how she felt and reacted with his touch. It was like the wedding all over again.
She gathered her long, flowery skirt in her hand and approached the man that had left her nearly ten years ago, "Excuse me but I was wondering, may I cut it?" Her voice was hardened with a Russian accent but not even she could hear it. There was a strong steady pulsating beating in her ear.
Kilmer turned around, letting of Madison for a moment. It all happened so fast that the three of them barely had time to catch up to each other. His jaw just dropped, "Sydney."