Author's note------

Hey, thanks for all the new reviews! Hope you enjoy this chapter.


"How'd she do?"

"Everything seems to be going smoothly. Looks like she's getting close to her and the trainers don't suspect a thing." Jack sat down at his desk and looked up at Sloane who was pacing the room.

"She got the message?"

"Of course she did. You don't think I'd spend years hiding codes in her crossword puzzles so that she couldn't figure out a simple decoding later." Jack replied stiffly. Years of trying to keep his daughter safe had cost him a real relationship with her and she hated him for it. But he had feared that the day would come when she would need the skills he taught her to defend herself. The day came earlier than he had expected. His plan was to recruit her into the CIA once she was out of college...only if she wanted to join. But Sloane had recruited her before she had even finished her sophomore year of undergrad and Jack could only wait until the time came when he could tell his daughter the truth of her employers activities without risking her life in the process.

Things in his life had never gone as planned. In fact, when Sydney came into his life, he had never even thought of her entering the same world as he. He saw her as a doctor or maybe a teacher like her mother. But when his wife betrayed him, he suddenly noticed how vulnerable his family… his daughter was. So he made a tough call and tested Project Christmas on her, hoping that it would protect her. Then he saw her potential, saw how she thought, how smart she was and knew that she would eventually figure out who he was and what he did. So he planned to recruit her to the CIA, where he could tell her the truth. Yes, things had gone way off track.

"Good. In a few weeks they'll start their field work. I think that will be the best chance that this Diana Louis will begin contacting her superiors. If that's true, I want Sydney right on her tail. The CIA can't afford the KGB to rebuild its self." Sloane sat down in front of Jack. "My daughter is on vacation with Weiss."

"You sound worried." Jack speculated remembering how much he distrusted Vaughn with his own daughter.

Sloane folded his hands in front of him and stayed still for a moment as if in deep thought. "No, Weiss is a good man… I trust him."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I just hope she knows how much she means to me." Slone spoke softly.

Getting up, Jack looked out his window to see Marshall and Carrie with their son. Marshall held his son in the air like an airplane and the little baby giggled.

"Daddy look, I can fly."

At four years old, his daughter with her sparkling brown eyes grinned with one tooth missing. She spread out her arms as she stood right before top of the small hill and began to run at top speed. Then she jumped just as she reached the top into his arms as he stood just below. Her dimples showed as she looked up at him.

"You went high that time." He told her. Lifting her up, he held her above his head. She shut her eyes, feeling the wind as he walked down the side of the hill. "You're my little bird."

He glanced back at Sloane. "They'll never really know… it's for the best."

"Is it?" Sloane grunted in speculation.


"Hey. How are you?" Vaughn asked as he closed the door to his office outside his bedroom. He watched as she collapsed on his couch with a groan and looked up at him as if annoyed at his question.

"I've spent the last sixteen hours disarming bells from a rigged house, climbing walls that break apart, and listening to a girl who's got a thing for you and you can ask me that with a straight face?" Sydney retorted as she made room for him to sit next to her. They kissed and she allowed him to put his arm around her. She rested her tired head against his shoulder and smiled slightly. "I think you enjoy the attention."

"Syd…"

"I'm joking… So do you have anything that can get me out of that cramped room and get me back into missions where I don't have to pretend I'm incapable of doing my job?" She looked up at him looking for sympathy.

"I'm the agent that's known for being demoted to recruitment."

"Oh, but you're adored by so many." She closed her eyes and her smile grew larger.

"First field mission is tomorrow." He announced. "We think she's going to try to contact her superiors soon. It's been three weeks and I'm sure they're getting antsy."

He felt her breathing grow steadier against his neck and knew that she was falling asleep. Gently he ran his finger across her cheek bone then he kissed her on the lips. Three weeks of seeing her alone for thirty minutes at a time was him crazy and even though he'd love to have her stay over night, he knew that unfortunately he would have to wake her. They couldn't afford to be caught by other trainers who happened to come into rooms without politely knocking on the doors first.

Pushing a stray hair behind her ear, and whispered softly into her ear. "You should get up. "

She grumbled incoherently back at him and sat up tiredly. Under her eyes, there were dark shadows that told him of how little she slept. She had to keep tabs on Louis and to do that, she spent most of her nights on watch. "I need a vacation when this is over."

He didn't speak for a moment. Instead he watched her carefully as her mind seemed to wonder to other things as she looked around his office. Did she remember the last time they had planned a vacation? Swallowing hard, he didn't know how to tell her how afraid he was of losing her again. The fear was practically drowning him. "I love you."

Standing up, she walked over to his desk and ran her hand across the oak wood. Her hand got to the end of the desk and she turned so that her body could lean against it. Her dark brown eyes studied him for a moment as if unsure what to say. As if to fill in the silence his laptop on the desk turned its fans on in rhythm with the blinds across the room as they banged against the open windows. All the history they had together made the silence between them painfully thick. But her dimpled smile made the air lighter and she walked over to him. Kissing him lightly on the lips, she pulled away before the kiss grew any deeper. "I'll see you soon."

Her tired body slipped out the room leaving him alone in his annoyingly quiet office. He leaned back on his coach feeling more lonely then usual. Getting up, he locked his door and went into his bathroom that was between his bedroom and office. Would things ever go back to normal, he wondered as he looked into the bathroom mirror above his sink. Every time he saw her reminded him of how scared she was of committing herself to him again.

"Santa Monica…" he whispered and looked down at his left hand as it rested against the sink. Three years ago he had planned on proposing to her. It was all set up and all he had to do was get her to the airport. But they never got there and he figured they would probably never try. Not after all that had happened. It would be too painful. "We do need a vacation."


"Okay folks, it's time to put your training to some use. Tonight's your first field mission. This is what we call a game of cat and mouse. Your instructors will brief you on the specs of the mission. Good luck and don't get caught." Donaldson smirked and got down from the stage.

Sydney fit the communication device into her ear and looked over at Diana who did the same. They smiled at each other before throwing their coats on and getting into the dark blue van. Vaughn was set up in the driver's seat while Melissa sat in the passenger's seat.

"I'm running op-tech." Melissa grinned.

"Louis, you're on point. Haskins, I want you to be back up support. Get as many targets as you can without getting caught yourself. All four of us are connected to the same frequency line. This is your basic paintball war. Simple and straight forward… Oh and don't hit any civilians." Vaughn smiled stiffly and turned on the ignition. "You'll be starting on Neil and Grand. Everything clear?"

"Yeah, sure." Sydney replied watching their tail. She watched the order they drove out in and counted how many groups there were. Seven in all… Stuffing her paintball pistol inside her jacket, she made sure she had enough ammo for their mission. "Got cams set up Baker?"

"Yup, they're all set to go. I've got your back."

"How comforting…" Diana grumbled softly so that only Sydney could hear.

After three weeks, Sydney had gotten so close to Diana that it was hard to remember that she was suppose to keep an eye on the woman. Diana fit so well with her and was the only person that kept her sane as she had to make so many horrible mistakes that would probably have lead to her own demise if she had made them in the actual field.

"Okay, show time. Everyone ready?" Vaughn asked as they stopped near the docks of a fair ground. He put in his comm and nodded to them both. "Good luck."

"See you in a few." Sydney got out and shoved her hands into the pockets of her brown jacket. The streets were crowded with civilians gallivanting around the dock area as they headed over to the fair grounds a few blocks away. In order to fit in, they got to wear their own clothing from home. Tonight would be the first night of seriously watching to make sure Louis didn't pull any tricks that could put the CIA in jeopardy, which meant that she no longer had to fake being bad at her job. She wondered if three weeks of pretending to do poorly would rust her senses.

They walked into the crowd and made sure that they got lost in it. She noticed an alley a block up the dock and they turned into it for their first stop. Scanning the area that they had just vacated, she quickly eyed two people tailing them. Getting out her paintball gun, Sydney grinned. "Ready?"

"You already spot some?" Diana asked looking around confused.

Aiming, Sydney shot off two pellets that zoomed through the crowd with deadly accuracy. They hit their mark in the middle of the two's chest. The pair looked up surprised and were slightly disgruntled at the fact that they had been caught so soon.

"Great, six groups left." Sydney put her gun away and pulled Diana back into the crowd.

"You're enjoying this." Diana commented as they made their second stop behind a building. She studied her closely and grinned knowingly. "Aren't you?"

Sydney felt a small bit of the excitement she felt when doing normal missions for the CIA. Even though her years as an agent had soured her to her job, she still enjoyed some aspects of it. One of them was the physical and mental activity that came with espionage. It allowed her to pool all her resources in order to complete her mission and she hoped that somehow she was making some difference… But there were times she doubted that it really did anything because once one person is gone, another takes his place. That's the kind of outlook she had gotten after working so long in this job. She had lost the naivety that she once had as a new recruit.

Looking through the darkness, she searched the area and found another pair walking a couple yards in front of them. They ducked behind a stand and were watching another group sixty meters north of them. A few more yards away from them was yet another pair, making Sydney concerned that their new recruits were so clumsy that they bunched up together into one spot on the pier.

"I spot three pairs. How many do you see?"

"Two." Diana pushed on her com. "How many left in the game?"

"Five." Melissa said in their ear.

"I'll get those two while you get them. Ready?" Sydney aimed her gun. "One…Two…Three."

It took shortly over thirty seconds to have three teams down. Only one team left to go. Sydney looked around and finally spotted them about fifty yards east of their position. Nodding in that direction, she allowed Diana to take aim.

"Phoenix do you copy?"

Sydney held her breath and looked over at Diana who looked just about as confused as she felt, but for different reasons. Vaughn knew that he wasn't supposed to use her real call sign unless it was an emergency and at this point, with Diana on her side, she couldn't imagine what the problem was.

"Phoenix this is Shotgun, do you copy?"

"Who's Phoenix?" Diana shot off two pellets and missed her targets. Pushing on her com, she ducked down as two shots hit the wall behind them. "Hey, whoever's on this line, get off. Vaughn, Melissa, are you there?"

"Phoenix you've been made, do you copy? You've been made!"

Sydney looked down at her watch and then back at Diana. "I think we need to get back to the van and see what's going on."

"Who the heck is on our line?"

"I don't know. But I have a bad feeling about this." Sydney shot off two pellets at their targets. They hit their mark and Sydney sprinted out into the street with Diana on her tail. Making sure that the woman followed her, Sydney spotted their van. The door lay wide open. "Vaughn?"

She jumped into the van to find Vaughn lying against his steering wheel. His body was limp and blood flowed down the side of his head. "Oh god… Vaughn."

His eyes unfocused, he lifted his head slightly in a daze. "Syd?"

"Where's Baker?" Sydney looked at the large bruise forming on his forehead and noticed a tranquilizer dart in his side. "Vaughn, listen to me. Where's Baker?"

"We had the wrong one… Sh-she's the mole. I put a tracking device on her." He pointed to the device on his lap. "Syd…"

"What are you talking about?" Diana asked looking from Sydney to Vaughn. "Is he okay?"

"Diana, I need you to drive him back to the Farm. Then I need you to dial this number." Sydney gave the girl the direct line to Director Chase's office at Langley. "Listen to me closely Diana. Melissa Baker is a double agent for the KGB, a USSR intelligence agency that is trying to reform and is known for illegal terrorist movements. Get him medical help and dial this number. Tell them that Phoenix is on the fly. You got that?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm part of a counterintelligence division within the CIA. The trainers will have no idea what I am talking about because this is in security clearance that is above them. You need to follow my instructions. If you don't, Baker… or whoever she is will be able to get sensitive intelligence out of the country and into enemy hands." Sydney opened a box underneath Vaughn's seat and found a gun, a couple of magazines, and some handcuffs.

Jumping out of the van, she looked at the homing device in her hands and found Melissa in the northeast quadrant just a block away. As she began to leave, Diana stopped her by putting her hand on Sydney's shoulder. Turning towards her, Sydney saw what was about to happen and ducked a punch that Diana had swung at her.

"Quite clumsy for a CIA agent I must say. We thought he was the only one that knew. But now we know better than that." Diana grunted as she took another swing at her.

Ducking again, Sydney let her body carry itself so that she could swing a kick to the woman's midline. Knocking her down, Sydney brought her gun up and aimed it at the woman's throat. "Don't move."

Diana put her hands up and breathed quickly as she stared at the end of the gun. "We've got what we need."

"And I've got what I need." Sydney replied back taking a pair of handcuffs out. "Who's your contact?"

Shaking her head, Diana laughed. "The CIA is full of leaks."

Sydney felt something sting her lower back and she turned to see Melissa behind her. Her limbs grew heavy and as she hit the ground Diana stood up. The last thing she felt was something hitting her hard on her gut.

To be continued….


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