Thanks for the reviews. Sorry for the wait. Here goes the next part.
Sydney and Vaughn walked into the CIA building together, they went straight to Dixon and told him everything about where Weiss was but not to send a team in.
"He'll be making contact to me in a few hours" said Vaughn.
"Ok then" said Dixon "I'm sure you have some work to do. Go on"
They both nodded and walked to their desks. They smiled at each other briefly as they sat down. It took three hours for Weiss to call in. Vaughn jumped at the sound of his phone and quickly got up and went to Jack's office before he answered it with Sydney close behind.
Jack looked a little startled at the invasion but didn't say anything of it. Weiss and Vaughn talked. They learned that Lauren was not going to England as she claimed but was really going to Hong Kong. Jack sent Weiss and the team made up of Rainbow and Boom to follow her and not to let her out of their sight.
The next day Zara said they needed to pick up the contact details, they decided to let her do it with Syd and Vaughn watching so as not to take any chances. They drove to the park and Zara with a brown wig on which was shorter than her hair causally walked around chatting with a few kids. She was looking for something but Sydney and Vaughn weren't sure of what it was.
She knelt next to a girl of no more than five who was crying about something. They could hear her talking to her through the link.
"Are you ok?"
"There's a scary thing"
"What does it look like?"
"Red and blacked striped and it squeaked and hissed at me"
"Well we can't have that can we" Zara said "Tell me where it is and I'll make sure it doesn't do that again"
She held her hand out to the girl who took it and led her over to the sandpit. The girl pointed into it
"You sure that's where you saw it?" The little girl nodded "Ok well I'll get it then"
She made a show of trying to 'scare' it out which please the little girl. Zara had seen the little oval shaped device from the start and quickly jumped on it. She made as if it was moving and then clapped her hands where it was. To all intense and purposes it disappeared and the girl clapped her hands. Zara sent her back to her Nanny and then walked the round about way back to the car that Sydney and Vaughn were in.
"You got it?" Sydney asked
"Yep" she said flicking her wrist and producing a pellet shaped device while taking her wig off "You want to see where now?"
"No wait for later"
They drove back in relative silence. There was a bit of tension between Sydney and Vaughn. Zara was silent in the back thinking, they had moved her to the safe house that morning and Sydney had become somewhat suspicious of the gloves. She didn't want to show her or anybody, she knew how to look after it herself damnit.
They pulled up at the safe house and got out of the car. They entered and passed all the security and walked into the living room. Zara put the thing on the table. She held onto her hand as she sat down. Sydney noticed and confronted her.
"Zara what's wrong with your hand?"
"Nothing" the younger girl said casually "Just a little stiff is all"
"Must be really hurting you wince every time you hold anything with it"
"I sprained it a few weeks ago and I guess it wasn't just a normal sprain. Simple, now aren't we going to see what Pa has to say"
"No" said Vaughn exchanging a look with Sydney "I think Syd's right. I think we should look at your hand"
Zara tried to outstare them for nearly a full minute before she gave in. She sighed and took both her gloves off. She looked at them before unwrapping the bandage to reveal the bullet wound. Sydney gasped and came quickly over to her side. Vaughn pulled out his phone and rung for the medical services.
"How did this happen?" Sydney asked holding Zara's hand gently looking it over.
"Punishment" she said "And so they could recognise us"
"When did this happen?"
"The first time?"
"There's been more than one?"
"Yeah" said Zara quietly "I was nine, they tried to get me to do something kill someone or something like that and I refused. They took me outside and held me against the wall. They pulled my arm out and flattened it against the wall after kicking me, I was struggling. They fired it point blank into my hand, only they did it on the wrong hand so I had to learn to shoot with the other hand before I did the job. They put salt and other stuff on it to make it hurt and heal slower. The never sewed it up or even gave me bandages, Anya bandaged it up for me."
Sydney just looked at her astonished at the things she was saying. Sydney pulled her into a hug and Zara shook gently as she held her.
"They did it at least once a year after that when I refused to do things but they made it so I could still shoot straight"
"Zara med services are coming to help you with that" said Vaughn sitting on the other side of her.
"Thank you" she said quietly.
"We'll look at the message after we've got you fixed up" said Vaughn putting a hand on her shoulder.
She turned and smiled at him then excused herself. She walked into up the stairs leaving Sydney and Vaughn together alone. They didn't look at each other. They were sitting quite close on the sofa, hands nearly touching.
"Syd" he said looking at her she turned "I want this to be over"
"So do I" she said and took a chance letting her hand creep towards his and cover it.
He looked down at their hands and smiled slightly. It was amazing how calm her touch could make him. The way he relied on her and she him used to scare the hell out of him but now he loved it and longed for it in a way. He felt that she had almost physically distanced herself from him and built a wall between them. He had tried to rely on his 'wife' but he couldn't. She didn't know him as well and wasn't able to read him as well as Sydney could. Hell Sydney had been able to read him better after knowing each other for a few weeks.
Sydney, for her part, was at peace just sitting with him not thinking about what could happen for the moment. She had missed this when there had been a 'them' on their days off they had often spent their precious hours together simply sitting holding each other, often in silence or watching, pretending to be watching at any rate, a movie. They would always be wearing old clothes Sydney often one of his shirts and a pair of sweats and him in similar attire. She had loved that, they were a 'normal' couple at those times. She craved that now but was content to be even touching him a little bit.
They sprang apart as someone knocked at the door. Vaughn went to answer it and Sydney, knowing it was medical service, went to retrieve Zara from upstairs.
TBC
Hope you like.