"Hello, my name is Shayla Davis. This is my associate, Mason Klein. We are checking in today." She licked her lips slightly and looked away from the dark curly hair receptionist to look down at the beautiful white marble counter. Sydney tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Her arms were folded across the table but she always kept a careful eye on Vaughn standing right next to her. She was made-up beautifully. The tears were long gone and her skin was slightly darker with a long black wig replacing her mousy brown hair and extending down over the tailored white suit to the small of her back. She wore spiked heels, black tipped in white and they stood silently against the marble floor. They were hot on the trail of Sark and his hostages. It would only be a matter of time before they moved in for the kill.
"Tell me what I want to know, Agent Reed and I won't kill you." Vaughn said emotionless as he sat on the other end of the table of her.
"Michael," she started to plead.
"My name is Agent Vaughn and you will refer to me as such." He barely moved, not daring so much as breathe. Her face was became drastically pale and her lips pursued tightly. Now, Agent Reed, where is Sark keeping Agent Kilmer and the girl?" He barked again, not moving from his seat. His eyes glowed a violent shade of green that sent chills through Lauren's fragile spin. He was angry and wanted to kill her with every fiber, every ounce of his being. He tipped his chin up slightly again and repeated, "Tell me what I want to know, Agent Reed."
She adjusted her body slightly in the chair to which she was restrained to. She wanted to keep some part of her dignity. "Why are you doing this, Michael?" Her voice quavered slightly, dripping with false love. "I don't understand."
"Just like I never could understand why you were cheating on me with Jonathan or why you were a Covenant agent or why you would be part of something so horrible. I thought you were a good person, Lauren." He rose dramatically and stared down at her. "I thought I loved you and that you were in love with me. I guess I thought you were a different person, you cold, heartless, son of a bitch." He moved towards the door in one easy movement but turned back abruptly, "Agent Rivers will be in to take your statement."
"Of course." The secretary responded in heavily accented English. She looked down at her computer screen and started to noisily click away at the keyboard. "Ah yes, Ms. Davis and Mr. Klein. You two are in room 39583, our deluxe suit with all proper accommodations. Do you have your preferred method of payment?"
Vaughn nodded and retrieved a credit card from his pocket. "Here ya go." His strong Texas twain made Sydney want to suppress a deep giggle. It just sounded so out of his true character.
The receptionist took the card, swiped it through and grinned, "Alright!" She tapped a few more times at the keyboard and retrieved two room keys, swiped them through the appropriate slot, and scribbled the room number on the outside. "Here are your room keys. If there is anything that you need assistance with, my name is Avery and I will be more than happy to help! Graham," she turned towards a quiet looking bell hop standing off behind the counter, "will you please escort them up to their room?" He nodded in agreement and turned around to the collect the baggage at Vaughn and Sydney's feet.
Vaughn took the keys and held them tightly in one of his hands. He placed the other on the small of Sydney's back to guide her as they followed the receptionist through the winding hallways and corridors of the Gilded Dove Hotel. "She was perky, wasn't she?" He asked in an accented voice through gritted teeth.
"They just get perkier and perkier." Sydney scoffed as they made their way towards the hotel room. She nodded affirmatively to Graham, who had no idea what was going. Probably because he could care less.
"You hate me for screwing your wife, don't you?" Jonathan Ross sneered as he glared at Vaughn.
Vaughn glared back with equaled frustration and hatred, "No. No, I really don't. You did me a service. Lauren Reed is nothing more than a thorn in my side." He deadpanned.
Jonathan laughed. It was a deep laugh that was rooted in the pit of his stomach and echoed throughout the tiny cell. "Nothing more than thorn in your side and nothing more than a woman to fill my bed."
Vaughn simply smirked, "Alright Mr. Ross. Let's do this and get it over with. We both know what the hell is going on and beating around the bush isn't worth it. If you tell me what I want to know, then I can make sure that there is extreme leniency-"
"You want to know what I know about Sark and the girl?" Jonathan cut to the chase.
"So you know about Agent Kilmer's capture?" Vaughn countered.
"Know about it? I orchestrated it." Jonathan leaned back into his chair, starring back at Vaughn with an intense gaze.
Vaughn took this information and took a slow moment to internalize it. He swallowed and fought for his composure, "Then tell me about it."
"Or what?" Jonathan quickly countered.
"I want to get this over with as much as you do, Mr. Ross. I want this to be painless."
Jonathan smirked, "What is it feel like to want, Mr. Vaughn?"
That's when Jonathan's nose was broken and his cheek was fractured.
Sydney threw her bag down on the white down comforter and surveyed the room. "I think this will do." She drawled happily to Vaughn, who nodded in complete agreement.
"Thank you, sir." Vaughn walked up to the bell-hop, who was still standing at the doorway. "That will be all." He handed him a bill and the bell hop departed. His green eyes watched as the door slammed shut and he let out a gasp of air. "Nothing like waiting around for a tip."
Sydney laughed lightly and sat down on the large king size bed, "He works hard for his money, Vaughn."
Vaughn threw the deadbolt closed and made sure that the door was locked securely. Without speaking, he pulled two bugs out of his white linen pocket and attached one to the door and one to an area near the bed. "There we go. We're safe now." Smiling again, he joined her on the bed, wrapping his arm around her tiny waist.
She laughed again, letting it resonate in her chest and spreading throughout the rest of her body, "Safe is always a relative term." She felt ten pounds lighter now that she told Vaughn the truth. He hadn't pressured her to make a decision and she thought this was because he trusted her. In truth, it was because he never doubted that she wouldn't pick him. It was a sure thing. Like longitude and latitude.
Vaughn circled back around Jonathan, beginning to lose his cool slightly. "I always wondered a few things, Mr. Ross. Would you mind clearing a few of them up for me? I promise this has nothing to do with the Covenant or any other type of intelligence work." His voice hissed into the detainee's ear.
Jonathan wanted to ignore the intense rage surging through his system, "What do you want of me, Mr. Vaughn? Break more bones in my body?"
"Just answer a few more of my questions. And don't worry. These are personal." Vaughn snapped back. Silence. "Alright. Why my wife? Why Lauren?"
"Why not Lauren? She is beautiful, smart, funny and G-d knows she's wonderful in bed. I had her in training and after Paris and Prague, I wanted her again. Apparently, she felt the same."
"And Amanda?"
"Amanda is nothing more than a well-paid government employee. She had no idea of what was ever going on. She had no idea I was against her-I was the one sabotaging her missions. Naïve imbecile. She was gone the moment Renny came back into the picture."
"Well." Vaughn replied, trying to bite back a smile. "Well, I guess that answers my questions."
The adrenaline of the upcoming mission was starting pulsate through her veins. This was it. This was going to be the mission. "According to Jonathan and the other intel we received, Sark is keeping Kilmer in the sublevel basement, directly below the staff's quarters." She cleared her throat as Vaughn tightened his hand around her waist. She turned towards him and smiled, "After we get Kilmer back."
"I'm so proud of you." He whispered into her ear. "You are-"
She rolled her eyes, "-never going to get this mission done and this is so important. We can't afford this mission to fail. I promised Madison that I would bring Layla home safe and I'm a woman of my word." She dodged his evolving eyes and focused back on the specs. "If there was ever a mission we did right, it has to be this one."
"So it is true that Sydney was together with Mr. Kilmer for a bit of time?" Lauren inquired as though she was talking with a friend over a cup of tea. Her icy blue eyes were more stable now that her husband, estranged husband, had left her presence. He was the only one that could ever unnerve her. There had been so many nights that she had adamantly convinced herself that she could take him on if need be. On the other hand, there were an equal amount of nights that she knew, in the pit of her stomach knew, that he would be the one man that could bring her down at her knees. "Well, it is only fair that I get to ask some questions. You've been asking me questions the entire night. I think it's right that I get to ask one or two."
Rivers smiled at her and nodded. It was his newness showing through, "Fair enough, Agent Reed."
"So answer my question." She quickly replied, her venom seeping through like that of a snake's.
There was an internal beat rushing through their bodies as they burst forth from their secure room and into the white hallway. Things needed to go just right in order for the night to be considered a success. They swept away in the elevator and into the lobby. Sydney slid off first into the lobby, leaving Vaughn standing there with a stoic face. She nodded to him and strutted over to the receptionist, still standing her post. "Hello again."
"Oh Ms. Davis! How may I help you today?"
"I need to extend my stay."
"Already? Alright, Ms. Davis. Could you just tell me what room number you are staying in?"
"Oh to be perfectly honestly, I don't know. Couldn't you just look that up in your little computer?"
"Yes, ma'am. I'll get you the paper and you can just sign for it?" She turned away and started to type on her computer as Sydney reached into her white purse and pull a pen from it. She clicked a button that allowed data to be uploaded onto to Vaughn's laptop in the elevator. Her hands held it idly, waiting to press it to paper but really waited to hear two words in her comm.
"I need to sign for that, don't I?"
Avery looked up and shook her head, "We do everything by computer, ma'am. No signature required!" She grinned and turned back to the computer screen.
"I need more time!" Vaughn's plead came over her ears.
Sydney's improving needed to start-now. "Tell me, Avery, what make-up do you use? It's so pretty and I need a good brand." She smiled and set her pen down on the counter, lying in waiting.
"Oh!" Avery began to bubble and gush over what brand of make-up that she used. All of this, of course, was wasted on Sydney. She was concentrated on smiling and nodding at appropriate times. Where were those two words? "And that's when I got hooked." Avery concluded and turned back to the computer.
"Not yet!" Vaughn shouted.
Damn it! Sydney silently cursed the slow moving uploading process, "You know, Avery, if you're ever interested in a change, my company is always looking for new talent for high ranking positions. We would love to have you. You seem so bright and intelligent." Sydney slurred her words slightly in her accent and prayed that Avery would ask her to repeat her words.
And she did. "I'm sorry, Miss Davis?"
Sydney sighed and rolled her eyes, "I said, Ms. Avery, if you're ever interested in a change of scenery, my company is always looking for new talent for high ranking positions. We would love, love, love to have you. You seem so bright and intelligent. Of course, you would have to move stateside. That would never be a problem, would it? Lord, I hope not. You have such talent!"
"Got it!"
Oh thank G-d! "Well, why don't I leave you to think about it? I'm sure I'll talk to you later. Thank you so much." Sydney gushed for a second more and turned on her heels, strutting back into the elevator. Avery's mouth was left gapping open and she honestly didn't know what to do with herself. She was deeply flattered.
Sydney pressed the button and stepped in the elevator and found Vaughn still sitting there. She barely acknowledged him and waited for the doors to shut. "That took long enough."
"Sarcastic?"
"Just a little bit." She answered, biting down on the inside of her lip.
"I'm cooperating. I want this made loud and clear to the Director. Is that understood?" Jonathan had crumbled when he had a multitude of broken bones and lost enough blood to make him woozy. "Is that understood?"
"Let me just confirm your statement and then we'll give the Director a call. Julian Sark is holding Agent Kilmer and his daughter in the sublevel basement of the Gilded Dove Hotel. They are in room DS492. There are three armed guards that change shift every four and a half hours." Agent Rivers repeated the written statement from the yellow legal pad, scribbled with dark blue ink.
"Yes, yes!" Jonathan had cracked about two hours ago and he was honestly weak. He didn't want to fight anymore. He hadn't wanted to fight in a long time. All of this was an act. Everything was an act. Even the clever escape down the streets of Odessa was a ploy. He just wanted to be out of this insane life and be loved for once in his life. It seemed a rather feminine goal but it was want he wanted. He had join the intelligence community to fill the empty void in his heart but only had it filled with darkness. When he met Lauren, things changed. He felt alive again. And these past hours, he hadn't been able to see her and that killed him. He honestly loved her and would do anything to see her again. He loved her more than anything else in the world. He would give his life for her in less than a heartbeat. "I want you to hold up your end of the bargain now, Agent Rivers."
"Yes, yes of course, Mr. Ross. I give you my word."