Chapter 5

Dying her hair red, Irina worked hard to change her appearance to match her falsified passport. Next she put on a necklace of a four leaf clover. At the airport, she bought a ticket to Singapore.

"You have information?" Jack said to the middle-eastern man standing before him.

"Yes," the man said in his thick accent.

"Well, are you going to give it to me?"

"Did you bring the money?"

Jack placed the briefcase on the table and changed the dials to the correct code. Opening it, Jack's informant handed him an envelope. Jack opened it. A piece of paper fell out containing a photocopy of a passport. The information was wrong, but Jack could make out his wife in the picture.

"A friend of mine saw her buy a ticket to the U. S. Santa Barbara, I believe." Jack slid the paper back into the envelope. Nodding, he thanked the man. He called up Marshall. "Marshall?"

"Yes?"

"Could you run a search for me?"

"A search for what?"

Looking at the name on the passport, Jack said the name, "Olim Idlabmar." Marshall typed the name into the computer.

"I've got a ticket under that name on a plane to Singapore."

"Could you get me a ticket there, too?"

"Of course."

Vaughn pulled Sydney close. "I had no idea…"

"It's okay, Syd."

"Vaughn, thanks for being here."

"I'll always be there for you, Syd."

"I know. That's one of the many reasons I love you."

"I love you too, Syd."

"You know what this means, don't you?"

"I've got a pretty good idea."

"I can't be a field agent for the next nine months."

"That, too."

"What were you thinking?"

"Syd, I need to tell you what your mom just told me."

Going lower, Coroner Terry saw the marks from where the knife had entered Will's body. "Oh my gosh," he said, disgusted. He dialed Kendall's number.

"I think you should get in here," he said when Kendall answered.

Sydney listened in disbelief as Vaughn repeated what Irina had told him. "Do you think she's telling the truth?"

"I don't know. She did tell me that you would be pregnant, and now you are. She probably knows what she's talking about. Heck, she was willing to expose herself to tell me."

"But do you think it's the truth?"

"Possibly."

"Are you going to take her advice?"

"I'd like more evidence before I commit to doing something like that."

Jack got off the plane and informed the security staff that Irina would soon be getting off a plane. He sat down and waited for the announcement of her flight being in.

Allison continued to pack her bags. Her cover was going to be blown soon. She needed to be prepared for an immediate extraction.

"Flight 478 from California now arriving at Gate 74," the voice on the loudspeaker said. Jack checked his gun and nodded at the security guards. The gate door opened, and the passengers began to file out.

Jack spotted Irina. He walked right next to her. "No sudden moves."

"Jack. What a surprise."

…TBC…

Chapter 6

Sydney and Vaughn slept restlessly that night. They both had a lot of things on their minds. When Sydney awoke, she was amazed to see all of her stuff was gone. Vaughn came back in to the room, grabbed the last two suitcases, and smiled at Sydney. "Good morning."

"Morning," Sydney said, rubbing her eyes.

"The car's almost loaded. I thought we could get a bite to eat and then head back for LA."

"Sounds good," Sydney said. "However, first I'm going to take a shower."

"Do you need your suitcase?"

"Just pick out some clothes."

"Okay. I'll be back in a bit." Vaughn went out to the car and opened Sydney's suitcase. As he was pushing aside various bits of clothing, he saw the handle of a gun under one of the shirts. He grabbed some clothes for Sydney and himself before joining Sydney in the shower.

The shower was much hotter than Vaughn was used to, but he knew Sydney liked it hot. They dried off, dressed, and had a nice breakfast. After checking out, Vaughn started the long drive home.

Allison knew that she would be a suspect as soon as she disappeared. Almost all of her things were packed, so all she needed to do was wait for Cole's extraction team to arrive. She hadn't planned on shifting her loyalty from Sloane to this new group that Cole had called "The Covenant" so quickly, but it was a necessary evil. She heard the doorbell ring and looked around the place that had been 'home' for nearly half a year now.

Even though it had only been an assignment, she almost felt sad at leaving. Grabbing her bags, she left the house for the last time.

Jack finished securing Irina in a private room the staff of the airport had provided quite willingly.

"Jack," Irina said, "please let me go."

"What on Earth would make you think I'd be willing to do that?"

"Do you remember Panama?"

"That only happened because I needed to plant the passive transmitter."

"Keep telling yourself that. Maybe someday you'll believe it."

"I do believe it. You betrayed me - twice, actually. Plus, you betrayed Sydney. You are above redemption in my opinion."

"So you were willing to pretend to love me in order to serve your country?"

"That was the only reason what happened in Panama took place."

"You do realize that what happened in Panama then is exactly like what happened between me and you. I agreed to the assignment, and I faked being in love with you in order to accomplish the given task. It got harder as time went on, however, because I grew attached - to both you and Sydney."

"Do you honestly expect me to believe you?"

"Trust is a tricky thing, Jack. I'm sure by now you've realized that."

Hours later, Vaughn pulled into Sydney's driveway. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." After kissing Vaughn once more, Sydney got out and headed to the front door. She unlocked it and stepped inside. "Francie?" she called out. Silence was the only thing that greeted her. Walking over to the answering machine, she saw the blinking red light. Having pressed play, she sat back and listened to the messages.

"Hey, um, Ms. Calfo, this is Joseph at the restaurant. We've got a slight monetary problem. Um, when you get this message, could you come over here? That's basically it. Um, okay, bye."

"Ms. Calfo, it's Joseph again. We still need you to come over here. Thanks. Bye."

"Sydney, it's Kendall. Call me as soon as you get this message."

"End of messages."

Sydney dialed Kendall's number. "Sydney, thank God it's you. We need you to get in here now."

"What's wrong?"

"Will's autopsy showed some abnormalities. We'd like for you to come in. We need to show you something."

"Okay, I'll be there in a bit."

Sydney grabbed her keys and started to head out the door. She wondered what was going on; she had only been gone for about a day and a half, and already everything was coming apart at the seams.

"Jack, please let me go. You don't know what's about to happen."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a prophecy. Everything is in place with the exception of one thing. If and when Sydney becomes pregnant, things are going to change."

"What things?"

"If Sydney and Vaughn have a child, they will never be safe again. That's why I was in Santa Barbara. I had to warn Vaughn about what would happen."

"And what is that?"

"Jack, you are a direct descendent of Rambaldi; so am I. Bill Vaughn is too; so was Janine, Vaughn's mother. If Sydney and Vaughn have a child, it will be the purest Rambaldi offspring. You've seen the extent that governments are willing to go to collect Rambaldi artifacts. Think about what would happen if Sydney and Vaughn have the prophesied baby."

"Governments and other interested groups will be after their child."

"I told Vaughn to get a vasectomy in order to prevent this. Whether or not he will, I don't know."

Allison got out of the van when it pulled up to the warehouse. Looking at the face of her cousin, she smiled. "Hey, Anna."

…TBC…