My insomnia was in full blow when I wrote this chapter…that's what I do when I have trouble sleeping, I write. Also, what an episode today. Is it just me or does it seem like Rachel Gibson is a really bad spy (I could hid my emotions better than that). Who else cried when she canceled his hockey magazine subscriptions? But the photo she had on her desk I searched online for a still of it…I found it, printed it out and now I have the same photo of Vaughn on my desk that Syd has!

Oh I have an author's note to put out.

KATIE: Don't think I told you this but I love SVU and will be happy to write an Alias crossover. Sydney will be main character with some of our favorite characters thrown in (that means Vaughn since he's my husband not really don't sue). Quick question though, can I use the name Katie as the name for the baby girl she finds, in honor of you?

Chapter Nine- Draw A Line in the Sand

Erica sat on the cot, her knees drawn up to her chin. There was a small barred window located about ten feet off the ground and through it seeped light and twittering birds. She was melancholy. Her parents and her grandmother were walking into a trap and there was nothing she could do about. So far she was taking pretty good care of herself. Erica had managed to beat up two more guards and escape from the room once. However, she hadn't been able to get very far, as she was tackled and sedated. Now she just waited, hoping her parents were wise enough to get out of a trap.

Silently Erica contemplated the past two days. She realized that her parents and been training her, perhaps unconsciously, to become a spy, or at the very least, to be able to defend herself. It was in her blood she assumed. Her parents made it clear that she did not have to choose a life of espionage, but Erica began to wonder if there were any other options. After all, she was the daughter of the best, who were children of the best, why shouldn't she be the best too?

The door swung open, and Erica sent a thank you prayer towards heaven when the man who entered wasn't the creepy Julian Sark, but rather an elderly man whom she had never seen before.

"Hello Miss Vaughn."

"Who are you?"

"You may call me the General."

Erica looked over him and assessed the situation. He appeared to be the type would be easily fooled by a show of weakness. Erica squeezed her eyes tight and began to conjure up tears.

"Please let me go. I didn't do anything."

"My dear, don't cry. We won't harm you at all."

"I'm scared."

"You didn't seem too scared handling those guards, or talking back to Sark."

"I was. It's just now I'm out of options and I'm afraid I'll never see my parents again. I just want to go home."

Erica shot a puppy dog face, complete with a pouting lip at the General. She only hoped that the General had the same reaction every one else had to this face.

"Oh my dear, don't look so forlorn. Is there anything you would require to make you more comfortable?"

"I just want to be at home, playing on my computer with my parents watching over me in the background."

"Well I can help you with one of that. How would you like to use a computer to play a few games, or even email one of your friends, or even your parents?"

"You would let me do that?"

"As long as you don't tell anyone where you are. Just that you're safe. And no ciphers, young lady, we know you are more than cable of doing that."

"Deal."

The General led Erica out of the cell and into an adjacent room were a state of the art computer was waiting.

"Here you go Miss Vaughn. This computer is equipped with a virus that decomposing the trail of any emails sent. In other words, they can't trace the email back to this computer or this location. I will leave you now; you have two hours on this computer, that's it."

The General left the room and walked to the control center.

"What is she doing?"

"She is sending emails to Sydney and Michael detailing that she's ok and that she misses them. So far, the ciphers are running clean. She has a few games up that she is playing too, must be awfully bored from sitting in that cell all day."

"She isn't doing anything suspicious?"

"No. Ok she sent the email to Sydney. When she picks it up, Sydney will more than likely trace the email back to here."

"Exactly what I want." The General replied. "These emails will confirm our position to Sydney and Michael. This was too easy."

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Erica typed some nonsense emails to her mother and father and to a few friends. What the General didn't know about her was she was a highly efficient computer hacker, trained by Marshall Flinkman. This was too easy.

"Thank you, Uncle Marshall." Erica sighed under her breath as she quickly began hacking into his home computer and sending him messages. Whatever program they were using to track her movements would not pick this up. In a split second decision, Erica hacked into her home computer, and Marcus Dixon's computer, sending the same message she sent Marshall.

Help. Kidnapped. Think I'm in France. Tell mom and dad they are walking into a trap. --E--

The messages were all signed with her signature E and she placed them on a loop, so the message was repeated whenever the computer was running ever ten seconds. It was sort of similar to sending a virus but it could be easily deleted. Erica was surprised at the simplicity of hacking into the computers, especially Marshall's. He had taught her all of the tricks, which is why she assumed his computer would have extra protection. All she could do now was wait for her parents to get the message.

And so under the guise of playing solitaire and sending a few emails, the sixteen year old daughter of Sydney and Michael Vaughn hacked into three CIA computers in less than one hour.

"Thank you, parents for these extraordinary genes." She said as she amused herself with a round of Minesweeper.

I love Erica because she is so smart. Rock on Uncle Marshall.