A/N: Don't get confused. There is a part in the beginning of this chapter that is missing. It is explained later in a flashback, so don't go yelling at me that I confused you. You'll read what happened later... I meant to do this
Julian walked quickly through the hallways. Disheveled, dirty and bloody, he ignored all the stares and whispers and went straight into Sydney's room. Once instead, he closed the door, then quickly walked over and pulled down the blinds. In the middle of eating her jello, Sydney stared at Julian. "My god, what the hell happened to you?"
Julian shook his head, and quickly threw all of Sydney's belongings in a bag. "No time to explain, we have to get you out of here."
"What? Why?" Julian ignored her, and she grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Julian...what the hell is going on?"
"I will explain on the way...let's go." Julian grabbed Sydney's hand, helping her out of the bed.
"Wait, wait. Julian, they won't let me just leave," Sydney pointed out. Julian nodded his head, agreeing with her. Then his eye caught something...a mop. Julian grinned and Sydney followed his gaze.
-----------
Julian wheeled out Sydney, dressed and looking like an old lady in a wheelchair. The mop head was used as the hair, and Sydney's bed was stuffed with pillows to fool the nurses for the time being. Julian quickly opened the passenger side door and helped Sydney in, then threw her bag in the back seat. He jumped in the driver side, turned over the engine, and sped out of the lot.
--------
From a distance away, a black Chevy pulled out of the lot as well and followed Julian's car.
------------
Once they were on the road and miles from the hospital. Julian relaxed a bit and turned to Sydney.
"You know, I should probably confess something to you," Julian told Sydney
Sydney looked over at Julian. "Okay...what is it?"
Julian looked at Sydney sadly, then focused on the road. "Michael Vaughn was at my house last night. We ended up...in..." Julian stopped trying to search for the right words. "We ended up...fighting. And I-I think I killed him."
"You what?" Sydney nearly screamed. "Julian!"
"I know. I know!"
"You...you killed the man I love? How could you do this to me?"
"Well, no, I didn't do it to you, I did it for you." Julian gazed at Sydney. "Did-did you just say the man you love?"
Sydney put her hand over her heart and sighed. "Oh, no, you know, the drugs. God, maybe we should turn around."
"No, look, I don't know if I actually killed him."
"What do you mean?" Sydney asked cautiously
"We were attacked, at my house. We fought, then we were ambushed. But it wasn't SD-6 or the CIA." Julian explained.
"So, who was it?"
Julian sighed. "That's the thing. Both of us fought back and it appeared to be Covenant...but their methods and the way, it seemed, they were trained, were SD-6."
"Ok, I don't understand..."
"I think Vaughn was telling us the truth and that Sloane has put a hit out on our lives. I'm having Marshall run surveillance and pull up Irina Derevko's file to see if we can get a face to the name."
"You didn't tell him everything, did you?"
"No. If anything happens, the CIA will extract him."
"How do you know Michael was telling the truth?"
"Because," Julian explained, "We were both attacked. They must have followed me, or him, but both of us were nearly killed. It's the only explanation. That Sloane is hiding something."
Sydney nodded. And looked out the window. She got a glimpse of the black SUV about three cars behind them. She turned and looked behind the car.
"What is it?" Julian asked.
"Black SUV three cars behind." Julian looked in the rear view mirror. "It's been following us for the past two miles."
"SD-6?"
"Not their model. Must be a freelancer."
"Or someone else they hired," Julian said dryly.
"Why does he want us dead?" Sydney asked. Julian looked at her, unsure of how to answer
"Well, first we have to determine that he really does what us dead" Julian offered.
Just as the reached a red light, bullets started flying and shattered the back window. Both Sydney and Julian ducked down to avoid getting hit.
"Ok," Julian breathed. "I think he does in fact want us dead."
Sydney raised her eyebrows. "Really? You reached that conclusion all by yourself?" Julian gave Sydney a look as she reached in the glove-box and pulled out a hand gun. "You have to lose them," Sydney said.
"It's rush hour, Sydney," Julian reminded her. "Exactly how do expect me to do that?"
"Just go!" Sydney shout. Julian obeyed. Slamming on the gas the car launched forward into on-coming traffic. Julian sat back up and jerked the car to the left, just missing other cars. The Chevy pulled out and followed Julian close behind. "Where are the bigger weapons?" Sydney asked.
"In the trunk."
Sydney rolled her eyes. "Great."
"Are you sure you should be doing this?" Julian questioned. "You did just get out the hospital, you know."
"Okay, so how do you propose we do this? Kindly tell them to leave us alone?"
Julian looked in the rear view mirror. "If the shooter is a female, then she's yours. Male, he's mine. Deal?"
Sydney nodded. "Deal." Sydney hit a button the door and as the window rolled down, she unstrapped her seat belt and leaned out of the window and started firing at the Chevy. Sydney came back into the car and reloaded the gun.
"I thought we made a deal?" Julian replied.
"We did. The shooter is female. I saw her when I noticed she was following us."
Julian shook his head and steered the car to the right. "The best chance we have is to get on the freeway."
"We won't lose her that way," Sydney pointed out. "Head towards the beach."
Julian nodded and made a left, the Chevy chasing it closely. As Sydney looked back, two other cars, BMW's starting giving chase. "Oh, great..."
Just as Julian was about to look back, he caught a glimpse up ahead of several other cars blocking their way. He slammed on the brakes, but nothing happened. "Oh shit..."
"Julian..."
He looked at Sydney, then saw armed men coming from the side of them. Both he and Sydney unbuckled their seat belts as the men started firing their guns. Pieces of the glass in Julian's car shattered as the car hit the parked BMW's to block them in, smashing in Julian's car. He quickly sat up and took control of the car again. "Son of a bitch!" He looked over at Sydney, who looked paled and pissed. "I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill, Sloane. This is a new fucking car!"
As Sydney was going to reply, the Chevy rammed into them, now smashing up the back end of the car. Julian tried to maintain control as the car started to swerve. The Chevy hit them again and Sydney's eyes widened. "Julian!" He grabbed Sydney and pulled her down, and used his body to shield her as their car smashed into the entrance of a mall. Several shoppers screamed and ran for their lives, while others looked on in awe. Julian's car burned rubber as it skidded to a stop, smashing into a clothing store. The driver of the Chevy cut the wheel too much and the truck lost control and smashed into the wall.
Julian and Sydney slowly got up and looked around. Julian tried opening the door, and when it wouldn't budge, he used his body weight to force it open. Helping Sydney out, he looked around at the damage they had created. Shoppers were poking their head out of stores and hiding places when they first crashed into the mall. Sydney looked around as well. "Hey," she said to Julian. She pointed in the store where their car crashed into. "That's the top I like."
Julian ignored her and looked in the direction of the Chevy. "Sydney," he called out to her, seeing the driver climb out of the broken windshield. Sydney quickly ran up to her and pulled her out. Julian ran over to Sydney as the driver stood up, facing Sydney's gun.
"Who hired you?" Sydney asked
Anna smiled at her, but said nothing.
"I believe, she asked you a question," Julian told her.
Anna shrugged. "I can't answer that."
"I don't think you're in a position not to," Sydney pointed out.
"Neither are you," Anna shot back. She looked past Sydney and Julian as new voices called out. "Hey!"
Sydney and Julian turned to see two cops running up to him. Then they heard engines outside as a few BMW's pulled up. They turned back to Anna, to discover that she was gone. Julian and Sydney exchanged glances and looked back at the BMW's and saw men getting out and running up to the mall.
"We need to go," Julian said. Sydney nodded, and they both took off, leaving the mall.
