"All right, I'm going in." Sydney clicked off her ear com and walked into hell.
The large ballroom had been decorated in red and gold tapestries along with vibrant balloons. Sydney was dressed in a flowing red ball gown, black feathered mask and curling blonde locks. She mingled with the foreign guests but made her way to the washrooms. Instead of going in, she headed down a long corridor and down an elevator to the basement.
Once there, Sydney passed doors until she came to 4747. She then picked the lock and hurried in. What she saw made her sick.
Noah Hicks hung in the middle of the room, suspended by his hands from the ceiling. He wore nothing but remnants of trousers and was beaten black ands blue. There were several cuts bleeding on his arms and legs.
As he realized he was not alone, Noah raised his head. He didn't recognize Sydney.
"I don't care if you've got a chainsaw you Russian bastards. I'm not giving you any information." He looked up and through blurry eyes he was able to notice it was his captors. "Who's there?"
Sydney ripped off her mask and dried her silent tears. She rushed forward and began to unchain Noah.
"I am an American Agent. I've come to take you home." Noah fell as his last wrist was undone and he slumped onto Sydney.
"Syd…?" Was all he muttered before he fell into unconsciousness.
"Yeah, I'm here Noah." Sydney adjusted his weight on her and clicked back on her com-link. "Dixon, I've got him. Meet me at the north exit in ten minutes."
"Gotcha bluebird." Came her partner's voice. "Come on home."
On their private jet back home, Sydney sat beside Noah who had just been bandaged up and was still asleep. Dixon entered and watched her as she held Noah's hand.
"We don't know what they did to him Syd. We might not be able to trust him."
"I know." Sydney wiped her tears away. "But I know Noah, he'll be okay."
"Just be careful." Dixon squeezed Sydney's shoulder before going into the next cabin to phone Sloane.
Sydney watched Noah for about ten more minutes before she felt him start to wake. He opened his eyes and looked around. He finally smiled when he saw Sydney, and he squeezed her hand.
"Hey you."
"Hey." Sydney brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "You're awake."
"And you saved my life."
"Not for the first time." Sydney grinned. "I do remember once in Spain, then another in Japan, then again in…"
"Okay, okay I get the picture." Noah smiled and sat up a little. "I missed you."
"I missed you too."
"We have a problem." Sydney looked up as Arvin Sloane Spoke. It was the day after her mission to save Noah and she sat at her desk, filling out a report. Sloane's face was angry and he motioned for her and Dixon to follow him into the conference room.
"What's wrong sir?" Dixon looked utterly confused.
As he should. Thought Sydney. He doesn't know anything. Come to think of it, she didn't know anything either. Vaughn hadn't been in contact with her since she left for Russia.
"I know your recovery of Agent Hicks went as planned…"
"Yes, we put him in the car that was to take him to the safe house ourselves." Dixon smiled grimly.
"And the car never arrived." Arvin turned to Sydney. "Did you notice anything off about Hicks?"
"Besides all of his wounds? No." Sydney looked helpless and Sloane seemed to accept it.
"All right." He sighed, obviously frustrated. "I'll contact both of you if there is any news."
Sydney couldn't get out of there faster.
"Agent Hicks?" Vaughn walked into the conference room and stood in front of Noah. He had just gotten out of debriefing was slightly dazed. Vaughn had come to offer him a job.
Noah looked up and half grinned. "Knew Sloane was dicking around. I mean 'black-ops division of the CIA', please, like they'd ever want someone like him running one of those."
"We understand you have been through a lot." Vaughn's eyes flickered to Noah's cuts and bruises. "But the CIA would like to offer you a job with us. You would have to write a statement, concerning everything you knew while at your time at SD-6, but you would be given a job with us. The real CIA."
Noah examined Vaughn for a moment. "The real CIA, huh? I wouldn't be able to go back to SD-6?"
"No."
"I wouldn't be able to see anyone from my old life? My friends, my co-workers?"
"No." Vaughn watched as Noah thought this over.
"Well okay then." Noah looked up and grinned. "Where do I sign up?"
Over the next week, Sydney heard nothing from Weiss or Vaughn about Noah. Even Sloane hadn't found out anything. Finally, exactly eight days after Noah's extraction, Sydney was called to the old warehouse. She rushed through the security checks to find Weiss and Vaughn waiting for her.
"What's going on? I haven't been told anything about Noah. I don't even know where he is, or how he is…"
"Calm down Syd." Weiss put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We've been spending the last week with Agent Hicks, debriefing him and getting his agent status up and running."
"You mean…oh god." Sydney sighed relief. "Thank god. Where is he?"
"Waiting outside." Said Vaughn. It was obvious Noah and Sydney had a past, but so did she and he. "He doesn't know that you are a double agent, so it might be a bit of a shock…"
"Damn Vaughn, just send him in." Sydney looked like she was about to blow.
Weiss just grinned and dialed a number on his cell phone. "Send him in."
Within minutes they heard the clang of metal and Noah walked in. Sydney's back was to him, so he didn't notice her right away.
"Hey guys, what was with the waiting? Philips nearly bored me to death with his 'I got shot in the ass' story." He strolled up beside Sydney. "Hey Syd. So you guys wanna…" Noah froze as he realized what he had just said. He stopped and turned to face Sydney. "Syd?"
"Hey Noah." Was all she could get out.
"How…what?"
"Look man, I know this is really confusing…" Started Weiss, but it was if a light had gone off in Noah's head.
"Should've known you could be satisfied with just being a spy. You had to go and be a double agent." He grinned and hugged Sydney. "Not the safest choice, but when did you ever do anything safe?"
"Never." Grinned Sydney. "We need to celebrate…" She turned to Vaughn and Weiss. "You guys wanna come?"
"Y…" Vaughn started.
"That's okay." Cut in Weiss. He ignored Vaughn glaring at him and smiled at Noah and Sydney. "You guys need to catch up. We'll do the whole beer and pizza thing another time. You guys go, have fun."
"You sure?" Asked Sydney. She looked worriedly at Vaughn. Weiss saw the look and nudged a frowning Vaughn. He scowled then put on a brave smile.
"Yeah, he's right. Some other time."
"You heard 'em Syd." Noah put his arm around Sydney and directed her out of the enclosure. "See you guys tomorrow."
Vaughn waited until he knew they were gone before he turned around and punched Weiss in the arm.
"Ow." Weiss rubbed his muscle. "What was that for?"
"Why did you say no to Syd?"
"Cause the whole night would have been full of awkward silences and been really uncomfortable. Mike, she needs to get Noah out of her system and repair what happened with him before anything can happen between the two of you." Weiss looked sorry for his friend.
Vaughn sighed and sat down on one of the crates. "Get him out of her system huh?" He looked up to Weiss. "I really don't like the sound of that."
TBC