PART TWO: NEW YORK.
Disclaimer: See part one.
A/N: Thanks to the people (the four of them) who reviewed and made me notice about the misspelling of Syd and Sloane's names. Honestly, me spelling Oil Water.
Again, this story hasn't been beta-ed, so if you find any grammatical errors or more misspelled words, please let me know. Feedback (good or bad) is always welcome at
Vaughn was on the bus to someplace in the middle of nowhere. He didn't care. He was just so submerged in his thoughts that he didn't even bother to ask where that bus was going to take him. Paranoia was his trip friend. He flinched every time he saw someone approaching, even when a little kid passed by. He had this ridiculous idea of this kid being a spy from some new CIA and/or SD-6 recruiting program. Not so new, anyway.
By the time the bus made its first stop, Vaughn was clutching his side in a failed attempt to ease the pain. He felt lightheaded and a wave of nausea was threatening to attack. Vaughn bought a bottle of water and drank it like he hadn't had any water in weeks. Actually, he hadn't had water since he left Spain. He almost freaked out when he saw a man coming to him, but it turned out to be a father looking for his little boy. Vaughn let out a sigh, action that caused him a great deal of pain.
When the bus reached its destination Vaughn was surprised to see another bus with a New York City sing on it. He quickly bought a ticket and got into it. It was a reflex, something he didn't think twice, not even once, because he, in his mind, would have never gone to a big city. Big cities were the first place to avoid when you're running away. But he didn't care. After realizing what he'd done, he thought about what he could find there.
A long day ended, and with it all Vaughn's hopes of making it to the Big Apple. He didn't even realize he had dozed off until he felt someone shaking him a little. He immediately grabbed the person's wrist with a strength he didn't know he still had. Then, he shrugged off the sleep completely and he realized it was the driver who was waking up to tell him they already got to NY. He apologized to the old man and got up.
He felt the cold air hitting every single pore of his skin. He shivered. He put his hands on his pockets and looked in every possible direction to check if there was someone suspicious enough to be his new hunter. There was no one.
He got out of the bus station doing a mental list of whom he could ask for help in the city. There was just one name that came to his mind. Determined, he took a cab to see his possible savior.
After a couple of minutes, he hailed a cab. He rested his aching head on the seat. He was sweating, even with all that cold around him. He felt his hands shaking. He started to think how he could be trapped in this situation, not knowing whom to trust, whom he was fighting against for and why. He was blindly flying his airplane. He needed a doctor, but even someone in a coma could say that whoever it was that was behind him, was searching the hospitals.
He got to his destination. He waited in a corner, arms crossed around his waist, hugging himself. He saw a young woman, petite, long dark hair, coming out of a candy store. He followed her for a few blocks, but he lost her in a blink of an eye.
He looked for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. How could he lose her? He tried to fasten his pace to see if he could catch her, but when he got to the back of what he supposed was a restaurant, he was pinned hard down to the ground.
He tried to fight. And he was succeeding, but then he recognized his attacker and that moment helped to get pinned down again; and he concluded that his attacker hadn't recognized him.
"Hey! Hey! Hang on! It's me!" he desperately tried to calm the girl. "Me, who?" She said twisting his arm that made his wound ache even more. "Don't you remember me?" HE asked incredulous. "Michael? Vaughn? Ghost Vaughn? Mic-Cole?" he said between pants.
She rose a little, but never let go of his arm. She used it to turn him onto his back and pressed her upper body to his and his wrists to the ground and she took a look at him.
"What the hell are you doing following me? Huh? Were you sent to follow me?" she was not too happy. "I- I didn't- - " he was finding very hard to breathe. "Could you please get off of me, please?" "Were you sent to?" "No!!!!!!!!!!!" He exclaimed. "No one sent me to anything. I need your help. Do you think if they were gonna put someone behind you, they would've sent ME" He sighed. "Now, are you going to help me, or are you gonna kill me? Either way, you have to make up your mind soon. You can't do either out here, right?" "Then, what are you doing here?" She asked, but also she cut him off when he was going to answer her. "Lemme guess, you're starring in your own movie: 'Run, Michael, Run"? "Apparently."
She got off of him and offered him a hand to stand up, but when he was going to do so, his vision darkened and he swayed. "Wow, Wow! Watch out, man!" She steadied him, alarmed. She managed to ease him onto the floor in a sitting position. "Are you ok?" She was genuinely concerned. "I was shot," he was trembling now. "I need to see a doctor, but I can't get to a hospital." He was trying hard to catch his breath. All the physical overexerting reaching him. "Why can't you go to the hospital?" His eyes were closing. "Michael!!! Oh God!" His head rolled back and she was sure that if she didn't do anything right there, she would lose him. "Mike, look at me." He didn't. "C'mon, look at me-you have to look at me. Focus!" She was gently slapping his face. "C'mon, let me see those baby blue eyes of yours." He whimpered and then said weakly with his eyes still closed "My eyes are green." "That-a-boy." She smiled and helped him to his feet. "Let's go. If you're doing what I think you're doing, we're gonna need to move."
She searched inside her backpack for something to alter Vaughn's appearance. Some sort of disguised. She found a long, black wig and a Yankees hat. What a best way to pass unnoticed in NY or The States in general than wearing a Yankees hat.
She set the wig on him so it would hide his face behind the hair and put the cap on. She disguised herself as well. She put on a redheaded wig, red- colored glasses and changed her coat and gave her bag to Vaughn. "Let's go." She said. And then, she grabbed his arm and helped him to walk to her car. She was looking everywhere, searching for clues to tell her they were being followed. They reached her car and she eased Vaughn to the passenger seat and drove off. "Wh- - Where are we going?" He asked her between gasps. She put her index finger on her lips and then mouthed "Bugs". He nodded his understanding and turned to face the window.
She wasn't sure actually there were bugs inside her car, but she didn't want to take the risk. They drove silently for twenty minutes until she stopped the car and got out of it. It was a lonely street. She went to a garbage can, and she inserted her hand removing the garbage. She took out something that looked like a small perfume bottle and went back to the car.
Once there, she unscrewed the cap and she used it to deactivated any bugs that could be in the car. Anyone outside the spy business could say it was taken from a Bond movie.
"Okay, we are safe now." She stated. "So, care to enlighten me what the hell you're doing here instead of LA and why you have a freaking whole in your stomach?" By the time she finished talking, she had her arms crossed around her. So mother-like. "You wouldn't believe it." He answered her. "Try me." She told him. "I. I ." he couldn't finish his response.
Just when he was going to tell her the whole story, he went pale and that wave of nausea that threatened to strike when he was at the bus station, didn't threatened this time, but actually attacked. He only managed to open the door and then retched the few things that remained in his empty stomach.
His companion seemed to notice that, well, how couldn't she?; and she was by his side in a second. She rubbed small circles on his back, in some way soothing him, and she whispered him comforting words while massaging his hair. Her actions seemed to calm him down and he raised his head to rest it on her shoulders after he finished vomiting. "I ruined your shoes." He told her miserably in what was left of his voice. She kept her ministrations and said, "Shh, it's okay. You'll buy me a new pair one day". She joked. And that had effect on Vaughn, who weakly smiled. "Come on," she said after she made sure he was done throwing up, "let's getcha out of here. Okay?" he nodded. "Great."
She, again, helped him to sit, and then she took them to an old and abandoned building. She parked her car, checking again for possible intruders; she helped him to get out. 'Six stories." He thought.
She took him gently by his arms and stopped a second to touch his cheek and noticed he was warm in spite the cold around them, but she didn't mention it. He raised his head to look up, then sighed, but that caused him pain over the pain he was already feeling.
"Where are we?" He asked her. "Somewhere in the middle of nowhere" She said to him. He smiled again. That was the second time he smiled in less than an hour today. Maybe it was the second time in days. Both times he was with her. "Don't worry," She told him "you're safe here." She caressed his upper arm to reaffirm her statement. "Okay." He said someway resigned, and someway convinced.
She kept her grip on his arm while they were going upstairs. They were going slowly, really slowly, but that didn't do anything to help Vaughn's exhaustion; his feet weighed a ton each and everything around him was spinning. He slid to the floor before she could catch him. "Mike!!!!" she instantly went to him, but it was too late. He was already on the floor. She put her arm around him and tried to carry him the rest of the way, but she couldn't handle him, he was much heavier than her. He was like 170 pounds against the barely 98 of hers. She gave up struggling, and decided it was better if she went upstairs and got some help. She did so. She flew through the stairs, desperately needing to get there, and got to a brick wall. She pulled out one of the bricks out and got a key resting inside the rectangle. She ran through the hall and opened a door. She crossed her fingers, hopping she could find who she was looking for. She checked the place and was about to give up and try to bring Vaughn upstairs by herself, when she heard the bathroom door open. "Thank God" she exclaimed to herself. Then she headed for the bathroom. Once there she noticed it was empty, so she went to a room that seemed to be used as a kitchen, and found a young man in his mid twenties, with the looks of a full time skater boy, piercings covering most of his nose and eyebrows, and tattoos hidden under a long-sleeved T-shirt. "You need to be more careful." She brought him back from his mind. "One could easily break into this place and do things with you and you wouldn't even notice." He looked up to her, a smile on his face, reaching his eyes before it reached his lips. "I knew it was you." He told her self-confidently. "When there's a creepy silence, it's always you." He reached out and kissed her on the nose. "Do I really have to say 'wassup and shit'?" He inquired. "I need your help." He sighed when he heard those words. "I know it's been difficult, Nick, but right now I need you to come around and gimme a hand. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't life-or-death important". The young man held her gaze, trying to read her true intentions, trying to decode her, trying to know if what she was saying was true. He determined it was. "What kind of mess did you get yourself into this time?" He scratched his head. "I really can't waste any more time explaining to you; thinking about it, I don't even know it myself." She sighed. "I need you to come down with me," When she saw his confused look, she elaborated. "There's this guy downstairs, he's badly injured, and he needs your help. I didn't know where else to go. this is the safest place for both of us right now." "Where is he?" He asked her.
She guided him to where Vaughn was lying unconscious. He checked on Vaughn quickly before sliding a hand around his waist and gesturing to the girl to mirror his movements.
"This guy's in a pretty bad shape." He waited until she was correctly positioned under Vaughn's upper body. "I know you like to trash men out; but, for Cobain's sake, Leon, I've never seen you leave anyone them like this before." "Yeah, you're right. Not like this, only worse." She replied. "Oh yeah".
The two of them carried Vaughn upstairs and eased him onto a mattress. Nick had nothing better to lay Vaughn down.
Nick immediately began unbuttoning Vaughn's coat and shirt. Then, he continued tugging his undershirt out to get more access to the wound. "Nice cologne" He said sarcastically after a little while. "Yeah, I perceived that earlier, but I guess he hasn't taken a shower in a couple of days. And it seems he's been on the run, sweating and everything, so I decided to let it pass. I didn't mention that he stinks." She said. "Where did you find this piece of junk, anyway?" Nick asked while taking the wig and the hat off of Vaughn's head. "Don't let him fool you, man, he looks much better when he's clean and without a bullet inside his guts." He could sense that the 'Way much better' was implied. "Is he one of your 'invisible buddies'?" He asked her again, still not taking his eyes off of Vaughn. "Kinda." She took a glance to Vaughn then continued talking. "He's a CIA officer." "One of the spy boys???" "He's what you can call 'the Intel guy'. He has a brilliant mind, though he's been underestimated as a field agent by everyone, even himself. He has kept himself tied in an office but between you and me, he's very skilled. He could be a great field agent if he allowed himself to. Trust me, I've seen him before. He can trick you with his bright smile, and that looks of his, and make you think he's inoffensive, but just when he's got you where he wants you, he strikes." "Sounds like someone I know." He said looking at her, with a smile. She smiled back.
They stopped the banter before it began, when Nick took off a pair of gloves he put on before he started checking on Vaughn. He went to another room and came back with a few things that Leon could make out as medicine instruments.
Nick put the gloves back on, and took an scalpel and was about to cut Vaughn's wound open, when he stopped and asked the girl beside him " You think he's gonna mind if I do this without any anesthesia?" "Not now, he's pretty much out of it. But he will when he wakes up." "Okay." He put the scalpel back with the rest of his instruments. "I don't have anything strong enough, but I guess I could numb the flesh around it." "Dude, do whatever you can, as fast as you can, he's bleeding his guts out!" He went to his bag and took out some local anesthesia and applied it. "You're freaking out? You've never freaked out before, and lemme tell ya, I know you've seen worse injuries." "Yeah, but it never was someone I knew before." she responded. Nick knew that wasn't true. He could perceive some strange vibe going on between those two. But he didn't mind. He had a job to do. After he finished with the anesthesia, Nick took the scalpel again and cut a small incision open in Vaughn's belly. He could feel the heat radiating from his patient's skin, and knew there was an infection knocking at the door. It just had to wait until he could take the bullet out. He washed the wound clean and wiped some of the blood with gauze. Then, he inserted blindly his fingers into the wound to feel where the bullet could be.
Leon couldn't resist observing Vaughn's flesh been torn apart, even if that meant saving his life. She went to the kitchen-like room and waited there if Nick needed her.
After what felt like an eternity, Nick went to Leon, telling her he was lucky enough to take the bullet out, but he couldn't tell how much damage it has caused. Vaughn was losing a lot of blood, and he was running a high fever. Nick told her that they needed to take Vaughn to a hospital before it was too late. Because he didn't like the alternative.
"You're the alternative." She told him. "Michael told me he couldn't go to a hospital, which means, someone is looking for him." She breathed in. "Michael came to me. He must've been pretty desperate to do it. He knows it's dangerous. Which means he's caught, he's dead. You're the only one who can help him, you and no one else." "I'm not a doctor!" He exclaimed. "You smarter than a lot of doctors I know." "He needs a real doctor." "I've seen you doing this with your eyes closed! How can you tell me you can't help him?" "I would if I had the right medicaments, equipment, I don't know, anything besides an scalpel, a stethoscope, and thermometer, and a box of band- aids!" He looked at her, straight in her eyes, letting her know it wasn't he didn't want to help Vaughn; he was frustrated by the fact of not being able to do anything else, not like that. He was practically working with his fingernails. "Tell me what you need, and I'll get it for you." He said stubbornly. "It's not that easy!!!!" He ran his hands through his blue-dyed hair. "You can't go around stealing medical equipment and act like nothing happened! You're gonna get yourself caught!"
She was about to yell her protests when he started speaking louder than her. "You told me we have to maintain a low profile. No matter what, and now you're breaking your own rules? Open your eyes, missy, low profile, was what your friend over there was trying to do! You're gonna screw him over. You're gonna screw all of us!!!" "I'm not going to let him die!" She yelled at his friend. She took a pen from the counter and gave it to Nick. "Now, write down what you need to save him." She gave him an intimidating look that made chills run through Nick's spine. He sighed and took a piece of paper and started writing a list that included among others some antibiotics, painkillers, anti allergies medicine, bags of Saline Solution, blood and IV's tubes. . "Thank you." She told him in a fake sweetness. He hid his face in his hands and she left not before kneeling in front of Vaughn's still body. She gently squeezed his shoulder before she left.
Nick tried to keep Vaughn as comfortable as he could with the little things he had. He brought a bowl full of water and cloths with him in an attempt of lowering Vaughn's fever a few degrees. But he knew he needed antibiotics, and he was silently praying Leon hurry up.
To be a good Spy, you have to be a good thief. Leon knew that. She trusted her skills as an agent and trusted much more his skills as a thief.
She went to a pharmacy, disguised as a nun of course, and bought the required medications. When she didn't found some of the ones on Nick's list, she implied you have to present a doctor's order to buy those. So she headed to a hospital, posed as a nurse, and completed her "shopping". She had to go there anyway, she had to broke into the blood bank and steal a few thousands cc's of blood.
She successfully gathered everything on Nick's list, and went to the abandoned building. She knew, deep inside, that those things were just the minimum required to help Vaughn, that Vaughn needed to go to a hospital, to have some X-rays done, and blood work, but the things she gathered had to be enough for now.
Leon headed to Nick's place again, and gave him a bag with all the medicines and a container with the blood. She knew beforehand Vaughn's blood type; in fact, she had that information for some time now.
Nick did what he had to do, and administered the antibiotics after inserting an IV in Vaughn's right arm. Leon had told him to put it there, because of Vaughn's left-handedness.
"Let's just hope this is enough and he's strong enough to hang on." He told her. "Want something to eat?" He was trying to erase that worrying glance out of her blue eyes. "After what I just saw? You crazy, man?" he thought she was teasing, but after seeing her face, he just shrugged. "I still don't know how you used to do this everyday." She patted his arm, and stood up. "Where are you going?" He asked her. "I'm going home, get a shower and dress up. I'm going out." "Can we stop being neurotics and paranoids for just one day?" "I have a date." She shrugged. "I can't cancel it." And she left.
She drove to her apartment and did exactly what she told Nick she was going to do. She took off her clothes, got a shower dried her hair and picked up a very provocative dressed to wear. She applied a lot of make up and her favorite perfume and left again.
Less than an hour later, she was back at the abandoned building. Nick was not surprised to her again. He knew exactly what she meant when she said 'she had a date'. He knew she wanted to spend the night watching Vaughn's progress and she needed an explainable reason to spend the night out of her apartment. They both knew she had been watched, that there was cameras inside and outside her apartment and her building. So, if anyone were watching her, they would easily assume she actually had a date, because she always played with the rules. At least she made them think so.
Vaughn didn't spend a good night. He was delirious from the high temperature, and Nick was trying everything possible to bring it down. He and Leon took turns to stay by Vaughn's side.
They had opted for take off Vaughn's clothes and give him several sponge baths with cold water when the antibiotics were not acting as fast as they expected them to. And it seemed to work. The fever didn't go away immediately but it wasn't in a dangerous level. The antibiotics should kick in soon, liberating Vaughn from one of his distresses.
Nick checked up on Vaughn every little while; to make sure he wasn't getting worse. He knew he couldn't expect a speedy recovery, but he was sure as hell he wasn't going to let Vaughn die.
The next couple of days were exhausting like running a marathon. Vaughn was unconscious most of the time. He revolved in his dreams and moaned a lot. His eyes fluttered open a couple of times, but not for long enough to be counted as 'regaining consciousness'. He said a number of things neither of the two younger people could make out. They could understand a few words and names though.
Leon struggled between her desire or need of taking care of Vaughn and her need to survive and keep doing her job. But she wanted to hear the whole story about why Vaughn was in that kind of trouble.
Vaughn finally woke up to an unknown young man. He was trying to speak, but he couldn't find his voice. He tried to shrug the sleep from his tired eyes, but he was failing to do so. He tried to speak again and he heard the man talking to him.
"Don't tried to speak," he told him. "You've been asleep for the last two days, and your mouth and throat must be dry as hell." The man paused and went to get some water. "Here. It would make it better." He helped Vaughn to take little sips.
"Where am I?" Vaughn weakly asked. His mind was a little blurry, and he didn't remember where he was or how he got there. "If I told you, I'd have to kill ya". Vaughn looked at himself then to the man in front of him. "It won't make you sweat." Nick smiled. When he was about to tell Vaughn what he knew, he felt someone clearing her throat. He turned around and saw Leon leaning against a doorframe.
"I thought we agreed you were gonna call me the minute he woke up!" She walked to the two men. "He just did." Nick replied. "Just a few minutes ago."
Vaughn was trying really hard to stay awake, but he felt so tired and he wanted to go to sleep. But he also wanted to focus on the two people standing in front of him. He had the feeling he knew one of them. His suspicions were confirmed when the girl leaned forward and gently brushed a hand against his forehead.
"Hey!" She whispered. "Leon." He said. It wasn't a question, it was an affirmation. "Yeah." She tenderly smiled to him. "It is good to know that you still remember my name." "That's one of the few things I could never forget." Once he finished his reply, a cough fit came to pay a visit. Nick immediately kneel in front of him and help him to a sitting position, hoping that would be enough to alleviate Vaughn's breathing. And it seemed to work.
After Vaughn recovered from his cough fit, he noticed the young man for the first time. He saw him when he woke up, but his mind was a little fuzzy. Now his mind was clearing enough to know he hadn't met the guy before. Leon became aware of Vaughn's confusion and acted instantly.
"This is Nick." She gestured to the young man beside her. "And Nick, this is Michael Vaughn." She noticed Vaughn's frown. "Don't worry, he's on our side. He's been fighting to save your ass the last couple of days without even know who you are." "I'm pretty sure you gave him some details. Am I right?" Vaughn was grinning. Leon thought that a grinning Vaughn was good. "Yeah, well, I told him you were a CIA officer." "And an underestimated field agent." Nick stated. "Well, kinda." Leon smiled.
Vaughn's grinning changed to a saddened expression. He sighed. "What?" Leon asked him, concern back to her eyes. "Nothing." He said. "It's just I've forgotten how good it is to see you smile."
She smiled again. And Vaughn smiled back. But what he truly was thinking was about Sydney's smiles. How her dimples danced when her face featured one of those smiles. They always melt his heart.
But then, after an attack of sweetness, he was reminded of the danger he was, and how he felt like someone he knew betrayed him. He remembered how Sydney suggested him that they had to go to Germany before going back to the United States and how he had been hunted there. And he also remembered calling Weiss and asking him for help and just a few moments later, he had become a prey again.
"He's in Jupiter again." Vaughn was brought back from his thoughts by the sound of Nick's voice. Vaughn remembered his wound and he looked down to see if it was there and if it'd been just a bad dream. He saw the bandages and the IV he failed to notice before. "How." He was trying to make coherent sentences despite his newly blurring mind. "Did you get a doctor?" "Yes, I did." Leon told him. "You're looking at him right now."
Vaughn scanned Nick with his eyes, from head to toes. How could a kid with piercings and tattoos all over his visible skin and blue hair with pants two-sizes bigger could be a doctor?
"Nick is a full time skater and a MD in his leisure time." "You're a doctor?" Vaughn asked incredulous. "I'm not. I wanted to be one though." "Then, why.?" "I was in med school, but we had an inconvenient a couple of years ago and I had to vanish." "I don't think you're old enough to be premed." "I'm 25." "Still" "Nick's a genius. He graduated from high school when he was 15 and got into college right away. He made it to med school at very young age because he was one of the brightest minds of his generation, and if you ask me, I think he was smarter than his teachers. He seemed to be ahead of them always." "What happened?" Vaughn asked. "I figured out something I shouldn't have and I was perceived as a high risk, so, someone put a hit man on me." "Or a 'hit woman'" Vaughn added looking at Leon. "Yeah, well, it would be good if no one finds out." Leon said dismissively. "SO you've been hiding here since then." Vaughn ignored her. "I've moved a couple of times, but here's the safest place I could find. You're okay here." Nick reassured Vaughn. "You let him go?" Vaughn turned to Leon. "The guy was right. Besides, he grew on me. What can I say? I thought I could use him sometime, you know, a payoff; so, I let him live. He didn't deserve it." "HEY!!!" Nick slightly hit Leon on her upper arm.
Vaughn could see two people who cared about each other. They were like brother and sister. Vaughn smiled at them.
"SO what's your story?" Nick asked him. "Huh?" "I know how I ended up here, how did you end up here?" "It's a long story." "We have plenty of time. Now, spit." Leon said.
Vaughn sighed again and turned his head so he wasn't facing Nick and Leon. He recollected all the images of his inferno. The mission, the stop by Germany, the Kaiser, Vasquez, Arizona. He tried to sit, but then he felt pain again. Nick and Leon were by his side and helped him to get comfortable. He waited to pain to recede and he started talking.
"Leon already told you I'm a CIA officer, but there's a bunch of things I can't tell you." He told Nick "Don't worry about me, I won't tell anyone. It's not like I have anyone to tell, anyway." The younger man responded. Vaughn looked Leon in the eye. "It's okay, Mike. Like I told you, he's one of us."
"I was supposed to go to a mission in India with this other agent. We were supposed to take some information about some weird vaccines these guys were developing in a lab/base." Vaughn took a small breath. Then he continued. "I was strange, because I'm not a field agent, I work with intelligence. So it was kind of disconcerting when they told me I had to go with the other agent."
"It seemed to be an easy operation: it was one of those get-in-get-out missions. So we did as we were told. All that time I felt like we were being watched. I felt like there was someone there, and I couldn't tell if it was true or if it was just a hunch."
"But anyone attacked us. We came back to our hotel and we were getting preparing to leave the country. When we were at the airport, my partner told me that we had to switch planes in Germany, that we weren't going to get straight back to America, and that we had to take a commercial flight from there. When I was in Germany, I saw this guy at the airport, but I thought it was my overactive imagination; but when I saw him again when I was doing some shopping, I knew that my worries were right. I knew I was in danger." Vaughn clutched his arm around his waist, but didn't stop talking.
"I was trying to escape, but this guy had a mission: killing me. I ran and hid, but it wasn't enough because the guy shot me when I was running away. I didn't realize I'd been shot. I needed to get out of Germany, but I couldn't because whoever was after me, knew I was CIA, and knew exactly where I was and where I could go." He turned to Leon again. " I went to see your friend, the Kaiser," "Really?!" Leon smiled at the mention of that name. "How's he?" "He asked me to tell you 'the skies were no longer blue since you left'." Vaughn closed his eyes a minute and continued speaking with his eyes closed. "I heard you talking about this guy once, about how he was your guy to go to, but too dangerous to do it, and I don't know how I remembered it, but I was desperate. It was cold, I had a hole in my abdomen and I barely speak German. Everyone would know I was a foreign guy." "And he helped you?" Leon asked amazed. "He did. I used your password about the cigarette box and let me tell you again, those passwords were the stupidest passwords I've ever heard. I don't know how you people don't get caught." "Yeah, like you don't use lame passwords yourself." She rolled her eyes. "Besides, in this business the key is flying low. The simplest things are always the most important. It's always good to be subtle. I don't think you go around saying 'hi, I'm a member of the US intelligence and I was told to contact you and asked you about those missiles you've been pointing to us the last 30 years."
Vaughn would have chuckled if that didn't mean he had to waste more energy. But he did smiled a little. "Anyway, the Kaiser helped me to get out of Germany safely. But I had to make a stop in Spain with another stupid password," He saw Leon rolling her eyes again. "I mean, subtle codes about roses and a guy named Vasquez. He helped me with my injury and put me on a plane to come back to the U.S. But they didn't tell me that I had to travel in a container and I would be landing in a private airport in Arizona." "And then you came to NY". Nick said matter-of-factly. "No, I didn't." He looked up to them. "I called a friend of mine, another CIA officer to tell him everything. I asked him for help, but I'm not sure if he did. He told me to go to the airport and to take a commercial flight back to LA, but when I was there, I saw another man, he was following me too, and it wasn't to give me a telegram. I evaded and tried to get away. But I saw a whole team looking for me. I got out of there as soon as possible and ended up in a bus station. I bought a ticket for the first bus leaving. I didn't care where it was going; I just wanted to get out of there. When the bus stopped, I realized we were somewhere, I didn't ask where, but I saw a bus to New York, and the rest in history."
"Do you know who's after you?" Nick asked him. "I'm not sure." "But you have a few ideas." Nick didn't ask. He stated. "I don't know. No one is supposed to know about me. My job is very dangerous, but no one outside the CIA can relate me to my job. People know I work for the Government, but they're obvious to what I do. What I do is classified." "You think your friends at the CIA are behind this?" It was Leon who spoke. "I-they might, I don't know." Vaughn rubbed the back of his hand on his tired eyes. "I feel like I don't know who's my ally or who's my enemy. Too much coincidences, you know?" "If you can't trust your own friends, who then?" Nick alleged. " I need to find out who set me up. I need to know if I became a security menace overnight, I need to know what I did wrong." Vaughn was starting to get short of breath again. He was starting to lose it. "It's okay, man." Nick was reassuring him while he was injecting something in his IV. "Nick and Leon would help you out. You just rest. Let us take care of everything."
Whatever Nick gave Vaughn was helping him to ease the pain, but it was making him sleepy. Vaughn didn't want to go to sleep; he wanted to figure out what was happening. But on the other hand, he was thankful for the rest.
Once Vaughn was claimed by a restless slumber, Nick went to Leon. "What do you think?" He asked her. "D'you think the CIA guys want to get rid of your friend?" "His partner told him to go to Germany, WHERE there was a hit man waiting for him. Back in the U.S, his friend told him to the airport WHERE there's this other guy waiting to do the same thing than the guy in Germany, and a bunch of other guests to the party." She crossed her arms, hugging herself. "I don't know, it seems pretty convincing to me." "Can I ask you something?" "Sure." She said. "Who's this Kaiser guy?" "He's an German operative, he falsifies high documents and steal information from others. He's the regular spy. We meet when I went there the second time. He got into trouble, I mean real troubles, and I save his butt. Twice. He said he owed me big time, that I could go to him anytime I needed help. We communicated through a cigarette box dropped in a trashcan. I got myself in a major mess; my cover had been blown up. They were gonna kill me. I needed to get out of Germany and he helped me out. He told me to use the same cigarette box as a code, anytime I needed a friendly hand. I'm amazed Michael remembered the whole cigarette deal." She started to walk to the door, but he stopped her. "Where are you going?" "Take care of him. I'm gonna find out if there's any new messages on my answering machine." She left.
Back in Los Angeles, Sydney was waiting for her phone to start ringing and hear the "Joey's pizza?" she usually heard. But nothing. She had been back from London for 24 hours, and she hasn't heard yet from her 'Guardian Angel', she was starting to worry.
She agreed to meet with Will at Francie's restaurant. When she was there, she told him about her mission with Vaughn and how they had to split in Germany to save her cover in SD-6. She told Will that she was expecting to hear from Vaughn, to see if he'd gotten home safe. They danced around that topic for a while, but moved on to another less conflicting. They were discussing about Saturday morning's cartoons when her cell phone rang.
She looked up to Will and found an anxious gaze matching her own. But she was disappointed when she heard her father's voice telling her to meet him at the Warehouse.
She shook her head; letting Will know that it wasn't Vaughn who called. "I gotta go." She told him and got up. Will saw her leaving.
Jack Bristow was leaning against an old table when he saw his daughter arriving. "What's wrong?" She asked in a very anxious voice. She was still walking into the place when she finished the sentence. "It's Vaughn. We have a problem."