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They just follow her out and into the street not saying anything. She crossed the road quickly and they jogged to keep up. She looked at them as they stood behind her. She unlocked the door and opened it. There was another door right behind it with a key code and a retinal scan, she typed it in quickly then leant down.
It swung open and revealed a small hallway with a man sitting in it. He had has a gun lazily pointing at them
"Where've you been for the last two nights Zee?" he asked
"I was briefed Keeps" she said.
"Who are the other two?"
Sydney and Vaughn looked at him surprised as he hadn't even looked up yet.
"Unarmed and trustworthy. Probably not harmless but they are with me so leave 'em ok?"
"As you say Zee"
"Good" she turned to her companions "Don't mind Keeps too much. Lets go up"
She started up the stairs, jumping to three at a time. Vaughn just looked at her.
"Is there a reason you're doing that?" he asked.
"Not really" Zara called from the top of the stairs. Sydney had followed her up more sedately and turned halfway up the stairs.
"Come on old man" she said teasing. He frowned at her and walked up the stairs.
They found Zara in the last room of the corridor. It was a surprisingly nice room compared to what the building looked like. They sat down on the sofa while Zara looked for things.
She threw a few files, two books and a box onto the desk then got up onto her bed. She started to jump on it then did a back flip kicking her legs at the ceiling and landed on her front bouncing onto her feet. Sydney shook her head as she saw the hole in the ceiling.
"What?" asked Zara
"Never mind" Sydney waved it away "What have you got up there then?"
"My stuff" she was bouncing again catching the edge of the hole and pulling herself up into it quickly.
She dropped several things down before lowering herself down again and swinging so she landed on the floor with a file in her teeth. Once her feet hit the floor she pulled the file out of her trying to get the taste out of her mouth screwing up her face.
"That tastes disgusting"
"What is all this stuff?" asked Vaughn walking up to look at the files on the bed.
"Information on missions we've been on and other stuff about them" she took one of the files away "There are more at all of our safe houses we thought shouldn't have it all in one place in case we get found out"
"Smart move" said Sydney.
"Well we were supposed to be smart kids" she said then sneezed suddenly causing her to drop the file she was holding.
Some of the contents fell out Zara didn't notice until Sydney picked up two of the photos. Zara froze and watched her look at them.
One of the pictures she held was of Zara's family, it was obvious. The other was of her and a young boy. He only looked a year or so older then her and it was obviously a recent photo as she didn't look much different. He was only about a head taller than her.
He had shaggy black hair and was as skinny as she was but the thing that really caught Sydney's attention was his eyes. They were deep brown and even in the picture they were filled with the same emotional turmoil as Zara's were most of the time. In this picture they were laughing standing next to each other on a branch of a tree, they had an arm around each others waists to help with balance. They seemed to be having a good time.
"Is this Edek?" asked Sydney handing her back the photo.
"Yeah that was in February in France somewhere"
"And this is your family" said Vaughn taking the picture from Sydney
"Yep our last day together" she sighed.
The two adults looked at the photo it showed a happy family. Zara was sat on top of her brothers shoulders and her parents holding her younger sister sat in front. They looked happy and Vaughn turned it over to read the date on the back, 5th of April.
"Do you want to see one of us all together?" she asked.
"Ok" said Sydney.
Zara pulled out what looked very much like a class photo. All the children were wearing the same black, white, orange and light blue uniform. They were wearing black blazers with white shirts for the girls and light blue ones for the boys. All of them had the black, orange and blue striped ties on and black trousers or pleated skirt. The blazers had the covenant mark on their blazers and on the boys hats.
"I hate that uniform" she said "It's starched which means you could hardly move in it"
"Sounds lovely" said Vaughn sarcastically
"The names are on the back. You can keep that one I prefer the ones that aren't connected with them."
"I can understand that" said Vaughn "Are we about ready to go then?"
"One more thing" she gathered the files put the photo's in her pocket as well as a roll of cloth.
She picked up the box she had thrown on the desk. Opening it she lifted out a tray and then another lastly coming to a small key. She took it out and walked over to the opposite wall. Sydney and Vaughn's eyes followed her the whole way, she put the key in a near non existent hole and turned it.
What opened was a small cupboard it only had four things in it a necklace, a metal chain made of small links, a bracelet and a ring. Zara slipped all of these on carefully. It was only as Sydney watched her put them on she noticed that she was still wearing the fingerless gloves and were in fact the only thing she had kept from her original attire and decided to ask her about it later.
The jewellery she was wearing was all silver and all in a fairly similar style. Zara held onto the necklace after she put it on for a second before putting it under her shirt. She felt better once she felt the coolness of the metal at her finger, wrist and neck, it was normal and she had missed it greatly. She put the chain into her pocket.
She turned back to the others.
"Shall we go now?" she asked.
"Alright then"
Sydney picked up a couple of files as did Vaughn and Zara picked up the books then they walked downstairs. They said a hesitant goodbye to Keeps who still had a gun trained on them then walked out to the car. They put the files in the back then got in.
It was a quiet drive back. They were all thinking about their own things. Zara was looking at her bracelet closely and fiddling with it. Once they had reached headquarters it was about 5 o'clock. Zara was again whisked off via the back stairs to her cell.
Sydney and Vaughn carried the files in and brought them to Dixon. Vaughn did not want to find Lauren but Dixon made it clear that he had to act normally around her. He sighed and ran a hand over his face and through his hair.
"Is she still here?" he asked.
"Yes" said Dixon "We have bugged her and your home as well"
"I understand" said Vaughn "Have you done the car?" Dixon nodded. "Good"
He looked so defeated that is was all Sydney could do not to hold him or take his hand. He looked over at her and smiled but it was far too strained and so tired.
"I'm going to go home"
He stood and looked at Sydney. She said goodbye to Dixon and followed him out. They walked together down to the car park. As they walked their arms brushed against each other from time to time, they seemed to take strength from that.
Once they reached the car park and Sydney's car they stood facing each other for a minute before Vaughn reached for her hand and she let him take it then pulled him into a tight embrace. He buried his face into her hair taking great comfort in the familiar smell and texture of it. Sydney was quietly whispering to him
"It'll be ok. It will, trust me" she rubbed his back to stop the shaking that was beginning to take hold of him "It's ok Vaughn just hold onto me I'm here I won't let go of you. I'll never let you go and never give up hope in you, in….in us." He drew back slightly.
"Promise" he whispered and she nodded.
"I swear. We're going to be ok"
"Yeah we are" he said "Syd I need you"
"So do I" she sighed "We'll help each other through this. I'll be there when you need me"
"Syd" he suddenly took hold of her hands and his eyes bored into hers "I know I haven't been…well you know but I swear I'll have your back, you are not alone" he smiled remembering a conversation they had had a long time ago to him but he knew she remembered as the small smile crept onto her face "I'll always be your ally"
"I know. Me too" she looked at him then hugged him one last time before gently disengaging his arms and getting into her car.
TBC
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