A/N: Sooooo sorry for the hiatus. Marching band started and I was consumed 24/7. So here's an update and I promise more soon!

Chapter 6-Breaking The Silence

A loud noise echoed through the room as the whip came in contact with his bare back. He grunted in pain as another mark was left and another cut opened. A shirtless Michael Vaughn stood chained to the wall. Yet another different gaurd dressed in the usual attire stood with whip in hand, striking it against Vaughn's back. He reered the whip back once again and brought it down hard, once again causing Vaughn to shout in pain. The gaurd grabbed Vaughn's hair and turned his head around.

"Had enough yet?" He grunted into Vaughn's face.

"Is this some kind of sick fantasy of yours?" Vaughn joked, probably not the best idea in afterthought. The gaurd took his free hand and punched Vaughn hard in the face.

"Tell me what intel the CIA has on Mr. Caine." The man said, tightening his grip on Vaughn's hair. After a long silence the gaurd spat on the ground beside him. "Answer me!" he said, pulling his fist back for another punch.

Before the fist could land on his face Vaughn opened his mouth, "All the CIA knows is that Mr. Caine was a former member of the Covenant." The gaurd lowered his fist, a smile widening on his face. "That's all we knew about him when we went into the mission."

"I knew it would only be a while before you cracked." He released his grip on Vaughn's hair. "Now that your talking, why don't you tell me who that agent was that was with you." Vaughn immediately closed his mouth and stared into the gaurd's eyes.

"Sorry, but I'm not telling you that." Vaughn said, returning the stolid look to his face.

"Someone special to you?" The gaurd asked, a slight chuckle in his voice. Vaughn did not reply, he just kept his glare on the man. "Very well, I'll let Mr. Caine know that you're atleast talking a little bit." The man smirked and he turned and left the room.

Outside of the room Thomas Caine paced down the hallway. At the sound of the door opening he shot his head up and saw the gaurd leaving, a smile wide on the man's face.

"Did he say anything?" Caine said hopefully.

"He only said that the CIA knew nothing about you before the mission. I asked him about the agent with him on the mission, he wouldn't talk." The gaurd answered.

Caine let out a sigh of releif. "Atleast he is talking. Good job, I'll take it from here." Caine said, patting the man on the back. The gaurd left down the hallway and Caine turned to enter the room.

Arvin Sloane sat in his office, deep in conversation with someone over the phone. Sydney watched from a distance as the expression on Sloane's face continued to change. She was looking for a sign, anything that showed the phone call brought good news. The wrinkles on Sloane's forehead gave it away. He hung up the phone, and looked up to see Sydney watching. He looked at her for a moment, then shook his head. He stood up from his chair and exited his office, making his way over to where he was standing. "That was Langley, they've run the last of Caine's credit cards. He has made no purchases in the last two and a half weeks. Same thing with his checking account."

"So he's hiding out somewhere?" Sydney asked, desperate to find information.

"Judging how everyone is out looking for him and he has not turned up anywhere, I would say so. I wouldn't think he's traveling, we have people looking for him in airports and train stations. He could be driving, but even that is still risky. We have found absoloutely no sign of him since the abduction."

"What if he handed Vaughn off to someone else? How are we even sure Vaughn is still with Caine?" Sydney said, the familiar frantic tone in her voice.

"We don't know. That's what I've been trying to tell you." Sloane put his hand over hers. "Just calm down."

Sydney quickly removed her hand from under his. "You are asking me to calm down? There is only 4 days left until Vaughn is declared dead." Her voice continued to raise. "We know nothing? How is it that we know nothing?"

"Sydney the CIA can not win them all. When something like this occurs we accept it, and act like proffessionals. It's part of the job. You chose this job, you chose this life, and you chose the consequences." Sloane turned to leave, but stopped when Sydney spoke.

"I didn't choose this. I wanted to graduate college, I wanted to get married." Sloane turned to see Sydney staring directly at him. "This life chose me. I tried to get out of it, but I couldn't. I've lost too many people to sit back and loose Vaughn. I went through Danny's death, Francie is dead because of me. I will not be responsible for Vaughn's death."

"You're not responsible." Sloane said softly. He stared at the ground, refusing to look at Sydney directly.

"I will be if I sit back and let this happen." It was Sydney who left this time. She turned and walked through the office, heading for the front door. Sloane brought his hand up to rub his forehead. He looked at his watch, then went back into his office to make another phone call.

Thomas Caine walked into the room. He smirked when he saw Vaughn chained to the wall. "Comfortable?" He asked, walking up to where he was.

Vaughn kept his gaze focused on the floor, not looking up. "I can't really feel anything anymore. So it doesn't matter."

"Well, you're talking now. So we might go easier on you." Caine said. "Now, I'm just going to ask questions. It's going to be like a game. I'll ask them until you stop talking. The minute you stop, I bring a guard in here."

"Doesn't sound like a game to me." Vaughn said looking up. His face was bruised and his lip was bleeding. The rest of his body appeared the same way, showing exactly what he had endured the past two weeks.

"Let's start out easy. How long have you been with the CIA?"

"I was recruited in 1994." Vaughn said immediately.

"Very good." Caine began to pace around the room. "Married?"

"No." Vaughn stated, his eyes following Caine.

"You're doing very well." Caine said, stopping. "Now tell me about the agent who was with you on the mission."

Vaughn shifted his gaze to the floor again, not answering. "Come on Mr. Vaughn, why won't you tell me." Caine asked, beginning to walk closer to him. "It was a woman right? I didn't get a good look at her." Caine said, now directly in front of Vaughn.

"She was a rookie, her name was Brown or something like that. It was my first time working with her." Vaughn said, looking into Caine's eyes.

Caine stared at Vaughn for a minute, studying his face to see if he was lying. "She didn't look like any rookie I had seen. She managed to escape, killing one of my men in the process."

"She's good." Vaughn stated, a stern look on his face. Caine still hesitated, he studied Vaughn's face until he was satisfied.

"Very well. It's a shame you didn't tell us this sooner, it would have saved you some pain." Caine said, backing up from Vaughn. "You've endured enough for the day, I'll let you return to your cell."

Caine turned and opened the door behind him, he stuck his head out the door and spoke something Vaughn did not pick up. The gaurd who was in the room earlier entered. "Get him down would you?" Caine said to the man. "Get him a cot as well, he deserves a reward for his cooperation." The gaurd nodded and Caine began to leave the room. "I'll speak to you tomorrow Mr. Vaughn. The questions will a be a bit harder."

"Can't wait." Vaughn said, as the gaurd began to unchain him from the wall.

So what do you guys think? Hopefully it was somewhat worth the wait!