AUTHORS NOTE-----------------

Just a reminder that this occurs in the forth season, thus the call signs have changed because they are in a new Black Ops division of the CIA, APO (Authorized Personnel Only).

SYDNEY – Phoenix

VAUGHN – Shotgun

JACK – Raptor

NADIA – Evergreen

WEISS – Retriever

MARSHALL – Merlin


She walked over the CIA Seal on the marble floor and tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear. After two hours at a local hairdresser, it was now a lighter colored brown. The Seal reminded her of the last time she had walked over it in LA. She had been a "walk-in." Today was different. This time she came in with an official invitation in hand.

Behind the front desk two women sat chatting into their hands-free telephone ear pieces. They looked no older than their early twenties, probably interns. Both looked up at her with exasperation as if the last thing they wanted to do was work with someone face-to-face.

"May I help you?" asked one of them. This one had her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. The other kept chatting into her earpiece about some policy that would not allow them to do something.

Smiling, she tried to seem almost bewildered. "Hi, my name is Sarah and well…This is where I'm suppose to come for training isn't it? I got this letter here and I don't know if I've come to the right place."

If the girl could seem even more annoyed then she did earlier, she had achieved it. She obviously had no patience for trainees who were lost and confused. Pursing her lips, her index finger began to tap on the desk in a heavy rhythm.

"Trainees are suppose to go to the left. Go down the hall until you hit a dead end and turn right. There will be a large sign that says 'Orientation.' That's where you enter." She replied and snatched her ear piece up and stuck it back in her ear to show that she was finished talking with her.

Sydney nodded her thanks and made her way down the busy hallway. Seventeen hours ago she and Vaughn split at the airport terminal to make their way to their final destination. She took one of the departments unmarked vehicles to an apartment rented out in the name of Sarah Haskins. It was a nice little place that looked like a suburban girl's dream house.

Vaughn had called her on an untraceable departmental issued cell phone and told her that his place was a basic dump. He'd have to move of course. It was obvious. They talked until her cell phone beeped to tell her she had an incoming call. Her father was on the other line to tell her that the mission was going as planned. It wasn't the real reason he called, they both knew that, but it was nice to hear his voice.

"Haskins? Sarah Haskins?"

Looking up, she saw a middle aged man in a black suit and tie coming towards her. He was in standard issue clothing. Nothing that would mark him as distinguishable so that he could blend in if need be. It was why black and blue was such a popular color to wear in the agency. She nodded, pretty sure that this was one of the trainers.

"Good, you're the last person to come in. We can begin the first of the examinations. Come this way, quickly now." The man ushered her into a large room with about fifty other people who sat in rows of ten. It reminded her of those freshmen undergrad courses. The difference was that in this group no one spoke or even looked at each other. They all wanted to come across as dignified and intellectual. They all sought to serve their country. And yet none of them knew what they were getting into.

Sitting down, she put her hand bag under her chair and looked at the piece of paper on top of her desk. It was an information page asking just about every personal historical question imaginable, even where she had attended elementary school.

"Please fill out the information card." The man whispered into her ear.

Taking a deep breath in, she began filling the paper out. As she finished she looked around the undecorated room. Four cameras were installed in the corners of the room and swept the area. They were barely visible, but she noticed every couple of seconds there was a light that blinked. The naked walls were painted a sickening light blue that reminded her of the navel hospital she visited way too often. The only thing that stood out in the room was the big American flag, as if to remind their recruits why they were going through this process.

Then she noticed that one of the walls looked slightly different from the others. Staring at it, she finally understood just why it was different. It was a piece of glass that one could see through from one side, used many times to observe an interview. Today it would be used to make sure none of them cheated and to see how people reacted under stressful conditions.

These people in the room with her would be the next Vaughns, Marshalls, and Dixons of the CIA. Most were probably the top of their class in college and in their workplace. They were like she had been as a freshman in undergrad, eager to do something different in their life. Maybe they didn't feel like they fit in with the normal crowd, sick of their normal routine and looking for something exciting to do. What they didn't know was that being an undercover agent meant leaving all they knew and loved. It meant being in situations that would make any normal person freak. It also meant putting their loved ones in jeopardy. The CIA wasn't like it was in movies, where they always won in the end and the hero always felt good about helping their country.

How many times had she thought about quitting?

She hadn't joined the CIA in order to serve her country, at least not at first. It was about finding closure from her fiancé's death. It was about finding justice for him. She didn't find justice for him though. Sloane was still alive and the man who actually killed her fiancé was just another victim in the whole scheme of things.

In some ways she wanted to just stand up and tell them to go home now while they had a chance. To go back to their husbands, wives, mothers, fathers and live their dull lives. Because was it really worth fighting for? But then she knew that in some ways, it was. She found refuge in her work. The CIA was now her network and to put at least one or maybe two murderous people behind bars and off the international rings satisfied her. Life as an undercover agent sucked, but it was also what kept her getting up in the morning.

A stack of paper was shoved into her view. Taking a booklet, she passed the rest behind her. Looking at the front page, she smiled. It was much like the test Sloane had given her to get into SD-6. In fact, he probably stole the form from the CIA.

It took three hours to complete. When she finished, she stretched in her chair and closed the booklet. Then she leaned on her hand as her elbow rested on her desktop. Nobody else had finished and she remembered them telling all test takers to wait until they were dismissed.

The man who had invited her inside stood above her with a slight smile. "You may go now."

She got up and grabbed her bag. Everyone in the room looked at her, not sure if she had been asked to leave because of cheating or because she finished. Three others had been asked to leave and they seemed to doubt she had finished. One person even gave her a pained smile as if to show she empathized with her.

Leaving the room, she was led into another hallway. All the doors opened to several small rooms with two chairs, a desk, and an old school lie detector. She went into one of the rooms and sat down.

"Somebody will be with you in a moment." The man told her and closed the door, leaving her with her thoughts.

She leaned back in the moderately cushioned chair. The room was so quiet it made her ears ring. Closing her eyes, she tried to get comfortable. About ten minutes later she heard the door open. Looking over, she saw Vaughn enter in a dark blue business suit and a red tie she had picked out for him last night over the phone. She could hardly cover up her delight as he sat down.

"Sarah Haskins, I'm agent Michael Vaughn. I'll be running you through a couple of tests. We'll have to connect you to this machine. It measures your blood pressure which will tell me if you're lying. Have any questions?" Vaughn brought the cuff over and put it around her arm.

She shook her head and waited for him to sit in his chair. Shifting in her chair, she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. Then she raised her eyebrows and took a deep breath to calm her body. It was time to distract herself from whatever was going on around her. Thinking about other missions helped her to keep her mind off the questions he asked allowing her to lie without the machine detecting it.

"Is your name Sarah Tracey Haskins?"

"Yes."

"Were you born in Naperville, Illinois?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever been affiliated with any other intelligence organization?"

"No."

"Have you ever broken the law?"

"Wait do you mean like the speed limit or something?"

"Ms. Haskins, this is a yes or no question."

"Well, I guess so."

"Yes or no."

"Yes?" She shifted uncomfortably in her chair again and gazed into Vaughn's eyes as he looked at her. They had run through these questions before and knew that it was more theater acting than anything else. She knew exactly how to raise her heartbeat and knew just when to lower it. If she had a perfect test, they would be suspicious.

"Have you ever betrayed your country?"

"No."

The questions went on for an hour before he turned the machine off. Hitting a button on his watch, he smiled and pecked her on the cheek. "You did great. The test, it's perfect."

"Good," She smirked.

"And by the way, no one has ever finished the written exam as quick as you." Vaughn told her amused.

"Well lets just say I think Sloane stole his test questions from the CIA." She responded "So what's next?"

"Next is a psych eval. You get to sit identifying pictures for two hours."

"Sounds exciting."

His watched beeped and he collected his papers. "I'll take you to the next room."

"How'd I do?"

Vaughn stayed quiet and opened the door for her. With annoyance, she got up and waited for him to close the door. They went two feet down the hall and he opened another door where another man sat waiting for her. This man wore a black suit and kept his clothing in such order she could tell he was from a military background. His posture was sickeningly straight and he didn't smile when she sat down.

"This is a psychological evaluation. I want you to tell me what you see in these pictures. Every answer will be evaluated and no answer is incorrect. Have any questions?"

By the end of the evaluation she was slumped in her chair with her sweater tied around her waist. It had gone way past two hours and now she had grown impatient with the pictures that looked like mere ink blots. Every once in awhile he'd show her a scene of children playing and he asked her to interpret it.

"Okay, you're finished for today. You may exit the way you entered. We'll call you if you passed into the next phase." He collected his papers and made sure that she knew he had no intention of bantering with a recruit.

Getting up, she collected her bag and exited the room. The hall was empty and every door was shut. She knew she wouldn't get to see Vaughn before she left and also knew that she wouldn't hear from him for the rest of the night. When she went outside, the sky was already dark.

She got in and drove home without touching her radio. Pulling up into her own spot in the parking lot outside of her apartment, she watched as the car that was tailing her park a few spaces away from her. She knew she had to keep him on her tail. They wanted to make sure she was who she said she was.

The cool air hit her face as she made her way to her building. Taking the steps one at a time, she walked up to her seventh floor condo. It was the only exercise she had all day. Somewhere in the building was a weight room and it would be her next thing on her agenda. Then a long bath before she turned in for the night.

Unlocking her apartment, she ignored the man who had just passed her. She made sure she could recognize him later as she entered her apartment. Going to her room, she quickly changed into shorts and a tank top. The clock in her living room rang as the short hand hit the nine.

The map of the building sat on the wall right outside the stairwell. Glancing at it, she saw that the weight room was three floors down. With a sigh she entered the stairwell and took the stairs two at a time. The last few steps she skipped and went into the weight room where she noticed that quite a few business men and women were working out. Most of the women were on the treadmills. She couldn't stand the treadmills. If she was going to run it had to be outside.

Going straight to the punching bag, she quickly taped up her fists up and put on gloves that sat nearby. It wasn't hard to get into beating the bag up since she had so much pent up energy from a day of sitting inside. Her missions usually involved some sort of physical activity. But today did not.

"Have a bad day?" a voice came behind her and she spun around.

A young man stood behind her slightly amused. He was a fit guy probably in his early thirties with slightly ruffled hair. The tank top he wore showed off his large biceps which she could tell he was proud of. It was obvious what this man was after and she wasn't in the mood to entertain him with his idea.

"Yeah." she muttered taking off the gloves and quickly unraveling the tape on her hands. Throwing the gloves where she found them, she grabbed the water bottle she took downstairs with her and took a long gulp. Annoyed that the man looked still amused, she closed the top of her bottle and collected her things.

"Matt Rustle."

"Not interested." She replied and went towards the stairwell.

He caught her arm just before she was about to open the door to exit. She looked down at his hand and pulled away. Looking up at him, he looked slightly miffed that she hadn't bitten his bait. She had ruffled his ego and now he wanted to make sure that she knew exactly what she would be missing.

"Take your hands off me." She warned, not in the mood to deal with him. It would look a little strange if she beat him down, but at this moment she didn't care if he kept at it.

"Whoaa, whoaaa. All I wanted to do was introduce myself. I know you're new here and all. Just wanted to be a friendly neighbor." He said defensively.

But she could tell that he wanted to be more then just a friendly neighbor. Instead of going up, she let herself relax. She knew the guy who was tailing her was running on the treadmill.

"Look, I'm sorry. Just had a bad day." She apologized.

Matt smiled and shrugged. "It's okay. I can see you're stressed. Look, I'm in room 138 if you ever need someone friendly to talk to."

"Thanks." She smiled and then nodded. "Well, have a good night."

"You never told me your name."

"Sarah." She told him and then went upstairs to take a long shower.

To be continued...


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