"Michael?"
Vaughn looked down at Sydney. She sat curled up in his arms, hugging him tightly. He could tell she was scared. Her voice trembled and her eyes were rimmed with red. He could relate. On the inside, Vaughn could feel the tremors raking through him, making the huge knot in his stomach bigger and bigger.
"Yeah?"
"Do you…well, do you think Sloane knows?" As Sydney waited for Vaughn to answer, she studied him. His body language was calm, but his eyes betrayed him. The deep orbs reflected fear, sadness, confusion and anger. The emotions that flickered over his face shook Sydney's heart.
"I want to say that he's not that good…" Growled Vaughn. Anger seeped onto his face. "But you and I both know better."
Sydney didn't reply, instead she pulled Vaughn closer. He wrapped his arms around her and stared at the drawn curtains, thinking of all the torture he'd like to administer to Sloane. Sydney was lost in thoughts of what could have been if she had just heard Vaughn out all those years ago.
The two stayed huddled together, until the doorbell rang. Both heads shot up, but Vaughn was the one to get up. He walked silently to the door, pausing to look out the peephole. Vaughn felt as if the weight of the world had been levered a little, off his shoulders.
He unlocked the door and did his best not to run out and hug the five men standing on his porch. The one who had rug his doorbell, looked up from the clipboard he was holding and smiled crookedly.
"Hullo sir, Roberts & Co. Cleaning at your service. Are you a…" He glanced down at his clipboard. "Mr. Vaughn?"
"Yes." Inside Vaughn was jumping for joy.
"Your set for a 11 o'clock cleaning…may we?" The man gestured to the house.
"Of course." Vaughn stepped back and let the five men troop into the house. He quickly shut the door and turned around to see Weiss and four other CIA agents he knew gathered around a relieved looking Sydney.
"Weiss…" Sydney trailed off, seeing her friend's look. "What?"
Weiss nodded to the other men who started to do a sweep of Vaughn's house. He huddled Vaughn and Sydney into a corner and took out a frequency disturber device. Weiss looked between his two friends.
"Just to be safe. I know you two want information, but we have exactly twenty minutes to get Sydney home. Jack's been in to see Sloane. He hasn't said anything, except that he'll be calling her at exactly eleven thirty. To have her come in."
"Wait…" Vaughn started to protest. He could feel his body shaking. "We don't know if Sloane knows, but we're sending her in, alone?"
"We can't very well send in a CIA agent with her." Weiss looked just as worried for his old friend. Besides, she won't be alone." He pointed out. "Jack will be there."
"They're right Vaughn." Sydney sighed and pulled Vaughn into the next room. "I know this is hard, but we have to do it Sloane's way."
"I don't want to lose you…not again." Vaughn moved his hand up to brush a lock of Sydney's hair away, but dropped it, remembering the other agents. "You could be walking into a trap."
"Or not." Sydney tried to look reassuringly at Vaughn. "Sloane may not know, for all we know, it could just be a regular debriefing. My father…"
"If it's about you, Sloane would not tell your father." Vaughn had resentment ringing through his voice.
"We don't know that." Sydney looked longingly at Vaughn, wanting to reach out and touch him. "You'll see me again…soon."
"Sydney…" She stopped him, putting her hand on his.
"Vaughn, I love you." Quickly Sydney kissed Vaughn and hurried out to meet the other agents. Vaughn watched as the extraction team lead his love away.
"There has been a betrayal." Sloane walked around the conference table. Sydney, Jack, Marshall, Dixon and four other SD-6 agents sat around the large table. Only Jack seemed undisturbed by this news. The other agents all seemed confused as to what their boss was speaking about.
"Sir?" Asked Dixon, when Sloane didn't continue.
"One of our agents has betrayed the trust we give our employees. They have disturbed the peace of our…family." Sloane's knuckles went white as they held onto the back of an empty chair.
Sydney had never seen Sloane so mad. He looked like he wanted to crush the world beneath his foot. Although he showed no signs of marking her as the traitor, Sydney was still on her guard. Between worrying about Vaughn and Sloane, Sydney felt like curling up and crying.
"Who is this traitor?" Asked Sonta. Sydney had worked with the woman, finding her pleasant and a strong head on missions.
"For now…" Sighed Sloane. "Security Section has asked me not to reveal their name. I am only to alert you of their crime and to warn you all to be on your guard for any more such traitors." He looked around at them all, a frown creasing his brow. "That is all. Take care."
With that, Sloane left. Sydney was in shock. She had never had such a meeting. The other agents all filed out, leaving only her and her father.
Jack got up and quickly shut the conference room doors, then slid into the seat next to her. He opened his pen, and Sydney saw the red glow of a frequency disrupter.
"We have three minutes." As always, Jack Bristow was clearly far from happy. "What you did last night, besides that it was beyond stupid and could of cost you your life, was…"
"Dad, I do not need this right now." Sydney's voice was low and menacing. She got up to leave.
"Sloane doesn't know about you and Vaughn." Sydney halted at her father's words. She sat back down. "Something else happened last night…"
"Dad…?"
"Last night, Security Section became aware of Noah Hicks…freedom. He was spotted at the pier with Ana Espinosa."
"What?" Sydney felt her chest seize up. "But, Noah…he…"
"Apparently he was working as an assassin while undercover for Sloane. Ana was one of his contacts…" Jack almost looked sympathetic.
"Dad…what happened?"
"This morning when agents went to check on him at the safe house, they found him dead. Sydney, Security Section killed Noah."
"Oh god." Sydney dropped back into her chair. "Noah…?" She couldn't believe it. She had just seen him. It wasn't fair. She lost him for so long, and now…now he was gone for good.
"Sydney, I…" Jack started to speak, but stopped as the beeping from the frequency disrupter. "I think we should go over your report of the Moscow mission. It seems to be a little sparse."
"Of course." Sydney fell right back into spy protocol. Inside, she was a mess. How could everything go from so right to so wrong in one night?
"Agent Vaughn."
Vaughn stopped and turned as he heard his name. Kendall walked towards him with a frown.
"We have a problem." The stone faced man looked hard at him.
"Sir, I know that we made a mistake…"
"If only this was your fault." Kendall laughed. "This morning Agent Hicks was found dead at the CIA safe house."
"What?"
"It seems Hicks was operating a business of his own under Sloane's nose. He was working as a freelance assassin while in Russia. He left the safe house to meet with one of his contacts last night. SD-6 spotted him and invaded the safe house."
Kendall passed Vaughn a folder. He opened it was surprised to find pictures of Noah and Ana Espinosa, an enemy of Sydney's and a member of K-Directorate, talking.
"That's why Sloane called her in."
"If you're referring to Agent Bristow," Kendall frowned. "That is correct. Jack accompanied her in. They should be back within the hour." He started to walk away, but turned back. "Oh, and Agent Vaughn."
"Yes?"
"Try and keep your personal life separate from your work." Kendall smirked and walked away, leaving a very relieved, but very pissed off Vaughn.