Title: Beyond all limits

Summary: The CIA have one last attempt to take down Lauren and Sydney.

Disclaimer: I don't own alias, I only own the characters you don't know.

Timeline: AU after the first one

Rating: PG-13

A/N: This is the penultimate chapter, only one left to go.

The three CIA agents hid outside the residence where Lauren, Danny and Sydney were residing and formulated an infiltration plan. They had to act quietly to get to Lauren and the password or else they risked grave consequences.

Inside Lauren and Danny had just finished a videoconference with various world leaders that had ended in their submission after the stock market took a brief plummet. After the demonstration Danny went up to check on Sydney and found her still lying completely still on her bed, her gaze far off and distant.

When he approached the secure entrance to the basement he found himself surrounded by three masked operatives with theirs guns trained on him. "The combination." The gruff, no nonsense voice could belong only to Jack Bristow. They took his key card and Jack repeated his order again.

"If I don't give it to you then you can't get in, it's impenetrable, you'll take me to CIA custody and then Lauren will get pissed and demand my return otherwise America will become a third world nation."

"Who said anything about custody?" Agent Vaughn shoved Danny against the wall with his gun pressing in to his trachea.

"When you put it like that." Danny told them the code and was forced at gunpoint in to the basement below.

The gunfire started the second Danny had dived to the floor and the CIA agents were forced to take cover before returning fire. It took over ten minutes to take out or disarm all of the hired guards, but in the hail of bullets it had felt longer to Vaughn. As Jack secured the survivors Vaughn took in one thing among the bodies, the wounded and the prisoners, Lauren wasn't among them. "Jack! Lauren's gone!" His angry gaze looked over to where Danny sat with a gunshot wound in his shoulder, laughing at their stupidity.

"There are two codes to that door, one that opens it and one that opens it after an internal alarm has been set off…oh and when it closes after being opened by the trap combination it won't reopen without the master code."

"Which is?" Jack ordered as he stood with his gun digging in to Danny's gut.

"Only Lauren knows that." Danny smirked. "She wouldn't trust me with it…"

"Danny?"

"Yes Jack?"

"You were never good enough for Sydney." The gun in Danny's gut went off as the last word was said and his eyes widened in shock and horror as the blood oozed out of his wound and he became more and more dizzy.

When he collapsed to the ground Jack turned to the slightly shocked Vaughn. "Daniel Hecht was killed during an exchange of gunfire with the enemy. Understood?"

"Just like Lauren." Vaughn replied, and Jack nodded, a silent agreement passing between them.

"Lauren didn't take the main entrance out, there had to be another exit."

As she hurried through the tunnel built in to the wall of the mansion she came to the end and pushed against the door. When Lauren emerged from the walk in closet Sydney sat up, slightly puzzled.

"The CIA is here, we have to move. I have still have the passwords for the program, we can access it from any computer thanks to Marshall…" Sydney winced at the name and Lauren sighed.

"It's us or them Sydney, remember that. Grab your gun, there'll be a helicopter on the roof by the time we get there."

Lauren went to walk towards the door but the third CIA agent kicked open the door with their gun in hand and aimed at Lauren. The black mask, which had previously covered the third agent's face, was gone and Lauren stood frozen in shock and fear at the sight of the agent in front of her.

"It isn't possible, you're…you're dead!" Lauren's gun aimed for the agent automatically.

"I guess you can't keep a good woman down." The natural smirk settled on the agent's graceful features and Lauren scowled. "It's a trick! Sydney. Sydney killed you!"

"No, Sydney killed my Kevlar vest." Elliot replied. "The CIA knew you were up to something big. And they knew you'd be prepared for the CIA, but not a dead woman."

"I think it's time you resumed that status. I'll finish what Sydney started." Lauren's finger went to pull the trigger when the sound of a bullet loading in to a gun chamber filled the silence that had settled on the room. Lauren turned slowly to see Sydney standing behind her with her gun aimed towards her. "Sydney?"

"Drop the gun Lauren. Don't make me kill you." A look of confusion settled over Lauren's face as she tried to comprehend what was going on. "You're not the only one who can play people Lauren."

"How long?" Lauren choked out, hurt by Sydney's betrayal.

"Two months after I met Calvin." Sydney answered. "Elliot gave me proof of what you were up to, planting Calvin in my life, planning on getting him to ask me to marry him and then faking his death to send me over the edge. So that I'd I want revenge. You planned it all, that I'd come after you and you'd convince me to be with you. Well since Elliot informed me of your plan I decided I'd make it happen exactly how you wanted it to Lauren."

"What about the funeral?" Lauren objected. "The CIA, her parents, they all went to the funeral, how could they pull that off? You were grieving in your car, you couldn't fake that kind of loss…"

"My mother was a secretary in the CIA, and all of the 'family' and 'guests'

Were CIA." Elliot explained.

"Nice touch with the letter." Sydney added. "We knew you had my car bugged and if you saw me upset you'd know I wasn't faking it, Elliot's letter really helped me pull it off, real tears are so much more convincing."

"You used me." Lauren was close to tears. "Did you ever love me?" Sydney paused as she was about to answer and her expression remained blank as she finally answered.

"Once, a long time ago, before I returned to the CIA, before Elliot came back…"

"I wont lose you to her!" Lauren roared and aimed to fire at Sydney.

As Vaughn and Jack entered the walk in closet via the escape tunnel they'd found they heard three shots ring out in the room that contained that closet and they rushed out with their weapons drawn. They paused as they took in the scene before them, and as Vaughn watched the blood begin to stop flowing from the fatal wound he dropped to his knees and tried in vain to apply pressure to the wound, but it was too late.