"Rainy season," Sydney grumbled stepping out of the plane. "Why did it have to be rainy season?"
"The way I hear it, it's always rainy season in Lithuania," Weiss said, following her out into the airport terminal. He pulled Sydney close to his side, knowing that she tended to have a habit of either running off when you weren't looking or being kidnapped when you weren't looking.
"I can't believe you insisted on coming," she said as she tried to pull back from his grip slightly.
Weiss didn't loosen his hold at all. "You have to have some sort of CIA back-up on this one. We do still employ you, don't we?"
"Officially, yes." She reached up to turn on her earpiece. "Are you there, Julian?"
"Just call me the little devil on your shoulder telling you that your skirt is definitely not too short."
She rolled her eyes. "Let's get this over with. I really want to go home and smack him around a little."
"I think that's a dream of a lot of people."
Sydney rolled her eyes, this time at Weiss. Then she stopped and thought about it, finally giving him a smug smile. "But it's only my reality."
"Some people have all the luck."
"Would you two stop flirting with one another? I can hear you," Sark's voice reminded her in her ear. "Plus it sounds disgusting like you're both flirting at me and not each other."
"Flirting is the way I operate on a mission. Get used to it." Sydney smiled at Weiss as they exited the airport. There was a government marked car waiting for her right outside on the curb.
"Now that's service," Weiss said with a grin. "How far until we met that Lithuanian guy?"
"President Danelus is at his private offices which are about ten minutes from here." Sydney smiled at the man holding open the left rear door for them. "Your services are not needed. We're going to drive ourselves."
"That was not in the agreement," the man grunted out in choppy English.
"Doesn't matter, man," Weiss said, tapping the man supportively on the shoulder. "When she gets an idea in her head, there's not reasoning with her."
The man nodded and took a step back from the care. "That was a lot easier than I thought," Sydney admitted to her partner as they entered the car.
"Be sure she drives on the proper side of the road," Sark's voice echoed into both of their ears.
"I thought we turned him off," Sydney commented, steering the car onto the road in front of the airport. Weiss let out a polite laugh before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. "Is something the matter, Eric?"
"No. I was just thinking how odd this was. You've been going nonstop, in and our of the CIA's jurisdiction for years now. It just seems like things have changed."
"Like they're winding down?"
"Maybe," he said, turning to stare out the window. "Maybe."
"It does feel like things are a lot less hectic with Connelly being in custody and my missing two years having mostly returned."
"It's eerie."
She took a hand off the steering wheel and touched Weiss's shoulder gently. "Think of it this way, Eric. Nothing's really changing. We might just be finally closing this crazy chapter in my life and moving on to something else."
"That's a fairly optimistic perspective you have there."
"Thing of it as a hope that I might actually have time to use my vacation time. I think it's been adding up for quite a while now."
The rest of the drive was in moderate silence. Sarcasm could really only take them so far in avoiding the idea that they really didn't have any idea what they were getting into even if things felt like they were slowing down. This appointment with the Lithuanian president had been set up by Connelly. Granted, Sydney and the CIA had shifted the time and date to a little earlier than Connelly had expected, but there was really no reason that they would avoid trouble because of that.
"Well, this is certainly a private office," Weiss said, pointing to the massive wrought-iron gates and the burly looking security man waving them over.
Sydney drove the car up to the gates and gave one of her infamous smiles. "Sydney Bristow, here to meet the President."
The man looked over his list. "You're not on there."
"Try Julia Thorne," she said with a smile. "I have aliases. A girl can never be too careful."
"How do I know you're this Miss Thorne?" he asked her.
Sydney reached into her purse and pulled out a passport. She handed it over to the man. "Because that's my name. Sydney Bristow is the alias I use when things get a little too close for comfort."
The security guy handed her back the passport and clicked open the gate. Sydney gave him one last smile and, after flinging her passport at Weiss, drove the car forward.
"How did you get a passport with Julia Thorne's name on it?" Weiss asked her.
"That's what I'd like to know," Sark added through the earpieces.
"I keep it around just in case. My old aliases seem to come in handy at the most random times. Since Connelly was going to use me while I was working with the Covenant as Julia Thorne, it only makes sense that he would set up this whole assignment under that alias. A girl has to be prepared for everything if she wants to get anywhere."
Sydney parked the car at the top of the driveway in front of a rather intimidating looking mansion. "Something tells me that this is more of a private residence than a place of business."
"Maybe the President was really impressed with Julia Thorne's reputation," Weiss added, slipping out of the car.
"We're going to have to go radio silent for now, Julian. There might be some sort of surveillance that will pick up the frequency you're transmitting on. I don't want to chance screwing this up in any way."
"If any thing goes wrong, no matter how small, you open the channel back up. I don't want to be cut off from this."
"Got it," Sydney said before turning her ear piece off. "Weiss, you should wait out here."
"You conveniently wait to tell me that until your little loverboy can't hear you."
"Yeah, I did that on purpose." She walked around the car to look Weiss in the eye. "I think the President might be a little skittish. Julia Thorne isn't the type of agent to run around with an entourage. He'll probably only want to talk if it's me listening. I didn't tell Julian this because I knew he would worry."
"All right. I'll stay at the car. But you be careful. Any slip-up at all, you get Sark on that radio." She nodded and started up the stairs to the front door. "Sark is going to kill me."
Electing not to knock since she was expected, Sydney pushed the large oak door open and entered the main foyer, trying to feel as confident as she looked. "Definitely not a normal place of business," she whispered.
"Miss Thorne," said a voice from above her.
She looked up to the landing above her. "President Danelus. Pleasure to meet you."
"The same here, Miss Thorne." The President descended the stairs to stand next to her.
"Call me Julia. It makes this all feel a lot less formal."
"And you can call me Derek." The president made the motions as if he was going to continue talking but stopped himself. Instead, he grasped her left arm lightly and led her up the stairs and into a private office. "I guess we should start with me asking how your work for the Covenant is going."
The question only fazed her for a fraction of a second. "Good. It's hard most of the time, not knowing who's issuing the orders for me to carry out. It pays the bills, though, and keeps me out of government custody."
"That's what I thought you would say, Julia." He smiled at her, and she could tell that he had something painful to tell her by his sympathetic gaze. This was not going to be fun. "I don't want to beat around the bush. I know you're a very talented and busy agent for the Covenant, but there are things you need to know. To start with, your name is not really Julia Thorne."
Sydney faked a laugh before sobering. "What do you mean, President?"
"Again, call me Derek. I'm about to upend your life. We should at least be on a first name basis."
"Fine. What do you mean, Derek?"
"Your real name is Sydney Bristow, and you work for the United States Central Intelligence Agency. You are not really an agent of the Covenant."
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, trying to appear as if she was the hardened spy that she had pretended to be for two years of her life.
"I have been waiting too long for you to agree to a meeting. Sydney, you have to get out of your present situation before you get killed. The Covenant isn't the only organization who wants you dead."
"I've grown up with multiple sources trying to kill me. Your information is not new."
"There is a man who has been manipulating you like a puppet on a string."
She tried to think fast. "Julian Lazarey, I know. I have been wise to his ways since he first made contact with me."
"No, not Julian Lazarey. In fact, just the opposite. Julian has been helping you out at every turn of the road."
"What do you mean?"
"Julian has been working for me since the Covenant stole you away from your life in the United States."
