Chapter 10Vaughn continued heading toward Marshall's office. "Agent Vaughn," Jack called out. Vaughn quickened his pace. The last thing he wanted to experience now was an infuriated Jack. He was almost to Marshall's office when he felt himself get spun around. He was only inches away from Jacks blood-red face. "Agent Vaughn," Jack repeated.

Vaughn sighed and responded. "Yes?"

"I need to talk to you. Alone!"

Rubbing his forehead, Vaughn followed Jack into a secluded corner of the JTF building.

"I realize that you and my daughter are in a relationship. Although I don't agree with the two of you dating, wouldn't you say that I've been relatively unobtrusive?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then let me make myself clear. If you, in any way, cause my daughter pain, be it physical or emotional, well let's just say that you will never wear a hat again. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"Yes, Jack, I understand. And before you blow your top, I should let you know that Sydney and I are engaged."

"Engaged?"

"Engaged."

"Regardless, my warning still stands. If you hurt my daughter in any way, I will kill you."

"I understand, Jack."

"Good. Welcome to the family. You're in for a ride." Jack turned around abruptly and walked away. Vaughn took a deep breath and headed for Marshall's office. He knew it wouldn't have helped the situation for Vaughn to tell Jack about the benefits of Tic Tacs.

"So, Agent Bristow, you're pregnant?" Kendall said.

"Yes."

"You realize that this makes you unable to perform in a field agent capacity."

"Yes."

"I'll transfer you to a work station. You can be an analyst until you give birth.

"Understood."

"Okay, I'm sorry to have to do this, but since I assumed that Sydney was going on this mission, I kind of…" Marshall trailed off.

"What is it?" Vaughn asked impatiently

"Well," Marshall began, "this device here lifts the fingerprints." Marshall held up a tube of lipstick. "You see, on this side it has a small little light. The little light acts like a scanner, picking up the fingerprint by detecting the presence of the oil that the skin excretes."

"You don't have it in any other form?"

"No, not really," Marshall said with an apologetic grin on his face.

"Fine," Vaughn sighed reluctantly, pocketing the tube of lipstick.

"Wait, Marshall," Dixon started, "Don't you still have that phone scanner we needed that one time?"

"No, it was put in the collection of all the items recovered from the SD-6 raid. I don't have access to it."

"Call Kendall. Explain the situation. I'm sure he'd help."

Marshall complied, and a few minutes later, after loading some new liquid latex into the back of the phone, he handed the phone to Vaughn who returned the tube of lipstick.

"Now that we've taken care of the fingerprint thing, you shouldn't really need anything else for the mission itself, but Kendall told me to make this, too." Pulling out what looked like a ladies watch, Marshall explained that it was a wireless modem.

"So you want us to send you the data from his database?"

"Yes. Do either of you have any questions?"

"Nope," Vaughn said and, turning to leave, was surprised when Marshall tapped on his shoulder.

"Can I ask you a question."

Sloane sat back in the comfortable chair of the CIA provided hotel room. There was a knock on his door. Reluctantly giving up the comfort and answering the door, Sloane was surprised to see the redheaded Marlon Bell at his door. Ushering him in, Sloane tried everything he could to accommodate for the prestigious man that was paying him a visit.

"Mr. Sloane, as you know, I am Senator Bell. You probably don't know this, but I'm a member of a group known as "The Trust." I am here on their behalf to make a business proposal.

Jack approached Sydney. Sydney smiled cautiously. "Hey, dad."

"Hey, Sydney. Is there somewhere where we could go to talk?"

"Of course."

Nadia was tired. She had had a long day. She sat in her chair and imagined what her parents had been like. She pictured the ideal family. She imagined the "Leave it to Beaver" type family. Doing what she had done for the past several years, she pondered what her parents must have been like.

Irina opened her eyes, fully rested from her auto circadian meditation. She saw Jack and Sydney standing outside her cell.

"What do you know about our kid? What did Rambaldi write exactly? Be specific."

Irina sighed and began to recite the words she knew by heart.

"In that day, The Chosen One and he who she has pledged her heart to, will bring forth life…"

…TBC…