Vaughn's cellphone rang, and he picked it up slowly, "Vaughn speaking."

Sydney's voice floated down the line, "Vaughn? Are you alright? Nobody has heard from you since yesterday afternoon..."

"I'm fine. I'm headed to the briefing now. See you soon."

"Where were you?"

"I SAID I'd see you soon, Syd."

"But..."

He hung up. Why hadn't he told her? To protect Sark? Why would he want to do that? Was it because he could barely accept what had happened? What HAD happened in that basement? What HAD Sark wanted? He blinked, confused.

When he arrived at the CIA briefing, Dixon was very concerned, "Agent Vaughn, where have you been?"

Vaughn hesitated, then spilled the truth. "Sark had me."

Dixon frowned, "What did he want?"

"Apparantly information."

"Did he get any?"

Vaughn shook his head, "No. In fact, he didn't even torture me. Or...anything. He just kept me for awhile and then...let me go."

He saw Sydney giving him a look--she knew that he was lying, but he knew she didn't know quite what he was lying about.

Dixon nodded slowly, "Mr. Sark hasn't been acting himself lately. He's...it seems as though he has a different motive than he started out with."

"Yeah..." Vaughn said, lost for words.

Dixon clapped his hands together briskly, "Okay. I want to find Sark. Sydney, Vaughn, I'm going to send you on a mission. Vaughn, do you know where you were being held"

"Yes."

"Do you know if he was intending on staying there?"

"He had suitcases."

"Alright. We're going in. Marshall, I need you to prep the agents with your best stuff...remote devices so that we can tell them if Sark is going to ambush them. He's a dangerous guy. How long will that take you?"

Marshall smiled confidently, "Give me 20 muntes."

Dixon nodded, "20 minutes, then. Agents Bristow and Vaughn, get ready."

Vaughn and Sydney headed off to get ready for their mission. As Sydney loaded her gun, she glared at Vaughn, "What /really/ happened in there?"

Vaughn averted his eyes, "Nothing. He just let me go."

Sydney shook her head, "I don't believe you, but if you don't want to tell me for some reason, then I won't force you to."

"You couldn't anyway," Vaughn said, grinning.

Sydney swatted him on the head, "I could if I wanted to," she told him, and the matter was dropped.