Sorry for not posting last week. To make up for it, I've posted 2 chapters. I will be gone from June 27-July 4 and July 8-15.
O O O O O
Chapter Five: Truth Be Told
Vaughn was quickly rushed to a nearby hospital, to ensure that he was stitched up properly. Sydney had wanted to go with him, but her father had convinced her to stay with Carter and Isabelle. That was why Jack Bristow was sitting in Vaughn's hospital room as the doctor examined him.
"Everything looks ok." The doctor said. "They stitched you up perfectly. Just don't run a marathon for a few weeks and you'll be just fine.
When he was declared fit for travel, Jack led him out to their CIA issued car. Jack stepped into the driver's side but didn't start the engine.
"Jack, shouldn't we be… going?" Vaughn asked tentatively.
Jack sighed. "Mr. Vaughn, there is something you should know."
There was an awkward silence.
"Your father is alive." Jack said monotonously.
"My father is what?" Vaughn asked as Jack pulled out of the parking lot.
"Your father was recruited by an agency Prophet Five to decipher a book. Then members of his team started to be killed. Irina had apparently been a small contributor to Prophet Five. From what your father has told me, it seems that he made a deal with Irina in exchange for his freedom."
"Are you going to be telling me what the deal was?" Vaughn asked impatiently.
"Irina had just gotten pregnant. The KGB had found out and wanted her baby. When Bill approached her, she took advantage of his offer. She agreed to fake his death if he gave her his daughter. He faked your sister's death and gave her to Irina. So Irina took your sister to the KGB and she was treated with Project Christmas. They didn't find out about what she did until later and that's when Irina turned her full attention to running Prophet Five."
"So, my dad is alive and I have a sister who has been working with the KGB." Vaughn repeated in disbelief.
"Yes, but your sister isn't working with the KGB. Your father watched her like a hawk after Irina took her. After Irina left and with a little of my help, he infiltrated the KGB and was able to get your sister, Evangeline, out. Since then, they've been traveling a lot, staying away from Prophet Five. After we presumed you were dead, they contacted me with information proving otherwise. I've been working with them to locate you. We've come close so many times, but this was our break. We were finally able to isolate the facility you were being kept in."
"So when am I going to get to see them?" Vaughn asked.
"We have to see how Prophet Five reacts to this. Irina might start looking for your father again. We don't know. They're just going to keep moving around and when the time is right, they'll get to L.A." Jack replied. "The only other person who knows about this is Dixon. I felt that it would be best if you told Sydney. They are the only people you can talk with about this." Jack parked the car and headed toward the private jet.
Vaughn followed closely, his mind spinning with millions of questions.
O O O O O
Sydney and Dixon led the civilians to the transport plane. While they were boarding, Dixon pulled Sydney aside.
"Syd, Jack and I talked about this and we decided that we need to debrief the children. We know it's dangerous, but it's better for them to know the truth now, than find out like you did."
"It seems that my dad is finally learning from his mistakes." Sydney replied quietly.
Sydney sat back in the plane with Carter and Isabelle, waiting for her father and Vaughn so they could begin the debriefing.
Her thoughts wandered back to the day she had thought he was gone forever.
FlashbackIt had been a simple mission. Just a routine meet. Nothing too dangerous or risky.
But of course, things didn't go as planned.
Sydney and Vaughn were going to be on point, while Marshall, Jack, and Weiss were backup.
"Well isn't it a lovely day here?" Sydney asked, clutching onto Vaughn's arm, playing the part of the perfect tourist wife. They were strolling the garden, which had a perfect view of Taal Volcano.
"Yeah, now if you could just do something about the heat and the bugs, it would be perfect." Vaughn muttered back.
Sydney laughed. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad."
"Well, it is beautiful here." Vaughn replied sighing.
"Phoenix, Shotgun, your contact should be sitting at the table by the window." Jack said. He turned to Marshall. "Go thermal."
Sydney and Vaughn walked into the cool air-conditioned restaurant. They spotted their contact, sitting at the table, sipping a glass for wine.
"Something's wrong." Vaughn whispered, pulling Sydney back.
"What is it?" She asked. She hadn't noticed anything peculiar.
"I juts… I have a feeling…" Suddenly, a small bomb was thrown through the window of the restaurant, killing their contact. "Go!" Vaughn shouted.
Sydney ran toward the door, only to be stopped by a tall, husky guard. She grabbed a nearby tray and struck him on the head. The guard feel back, stunned. As she ran past, he grabbed onto her ankle. She twisted her foot around and stabbed her heal into his arm. The guard immediately let go of her and yelled in pain.
Another bomb went off, filling the building with smoke. She heard her father yelling orders to Marshall and Weiss, but didn't have time to respond.
As she ran out onto the terrace, she noticed that Vaughn wasn't with her.
"Shotgun!" She yelled, no response. "Shotgun!" She started to run back toward the restaurant.
"Raptor, what's going on with Shotgun?" she asked.
"He's in the west wing." Weiss replied. "We're coming."
Sydney nodded to herself and ran toward the kitchen. She kicked the door open and found Vaughn battling a tall blond agent. Without breaking her run, she grabbed two stray knives on the counter and flung them at the agent, killing him. Vaughn rushed over toward her, grabbed her hand, and ran out toward the extraction point.
Sydney felt Vaughn drop suddenly. She sees the bright red blood oozing from the wound in his chest. She rushed over to him, but before she could reach him, his assailant cut her off.
The woman shot Sydney in the shoulder, causing her to reel backwards, back onto the terrace. Sydney pulled out a knife, hidden in her dress and tossed it at her attacker. The woman dove out of the way, unscratched. Instead, she threw herself at Sydney, knocking her to the ground. Sydney rolled over, trying to push the enemy off or get an advantage.
Suddenly, the red-haired woman lifted her head. She gave Sydney a final punch in the face and ran to the other end of the terrace. Sydney struggled to get up and chased after her. A helicopter surfaced out of its hiding place among the trees. A ladder quickly lowered and the woman climbed up with ease. Sydney found a gun, but she was too far away.
Then she remembered Vaughn. Mentally slapping herself, she ran back toward the restaurant. It was then charred from the fire that's still raging inside. The screams of the innocent customers echoed as her feet pounded the soft grass.
Without warning, the entire building exploded. Sydney was knocked off her feet. Debris showered down on her and she found it hard to breathe. The enormous amount of smoke didn't help either. She lifted her head and screamed out his name.
"Shotgun!" her comm no longer worked.
She saw him, near the edge of the mountain, fighting with another agent. He was wounded and he was losing a lot of blood. She looked around for a weapon she could use, but only found a long piece of wood. She ran toward them and tossed the projectile like a javelin. It hit the man in the shoulder, but he didn't turn his attention to her. Instead, he pushed Vaughn off the edge of the cliff.
"VAUGHN!" She screamed in terror as she watched him plummet to lake below. "Raptor, this is Phoenix. Shotgun was just pushed over the side of the cliff." She said, trying to control her breathing but failing miserably.
She stumbled toward the edge, her dress ripped, her face dirty and tear-streaked. Her father ran over to her, grabbing her arm.
"Phoenix, we need to get out of here!" he yelled.
"But… Vaughn…" She began only to be cut off by another bomb.
"We can't worry about him right now. Weiss is trying to find him. We need to get you out." They ran toward the extraction point as another shower of explosions bombard the property.
They reach the van and waited anxiously for Weiss to return. The minutes ticked by before Weiss responded on his comm.
"Raptor, I've got nothing. I could expand my search but…" Weiss trails off. "It's not likely he'd be able to swim with the wound in his chest. If he was… alive, he would have broken the surface for air by now.
"Houdini, head to the extraction point before more of their agents come." He turned to Sydney. "There's nothing we can do. There aren't enough of us…"
Sydney nodded and silently let the tears fall. She couldn't believe that in an instant, she lost him. She didn't want to believe it.
End Flashback
"Sydney, Syd… wake up." Sydney felt Vaughn shaking her slightly. Her eyes quickly fluttered open.
"Hm…" She yawned, stretching her arms.
"It's time for the briefing." Vaughn whispered, helping her to her feet.
She followed him to the secluded compartment at the back of the plane. When they entered, she found Carter, Isabelle, her father, and Dixon waiting for them.
Sydney and Vaughn took their seats and then Dixon began to speak.
"Well, I think all of us knew that this day was going to come eventually." He turned to the teens. "The information you are about to here is classified. You cannot repeat a single word of it to anyone. If you do, your lives… all of our lives will be put in even more danger than usual. So I guess we'll start from the beginning."
Sydney nodded and began to explain. "When I entered college, I was approached by an agency called SD-6. They told me they were a black ops group of the CIA and wanted to recruit me. I joined them and worked for them for 7 years under a man named Arvin Sloane."
"Then, I got engaged to a man named Danny Hecht. I told him about my life as a spy… but when the head of SD-6 found out, he had him murdered. I went to the only place I could think of, the CIA. That's when I learned the truth. SD-6 wasn't a hidden branch of the CIA. I'd been working for the very people I thought I was fighting against. I accepted a double agent role at the real, good CIA where my handler was your father, Michael Vaughn." She gestured to the man sitting next to her.
"That's when I found out that your grandfather was also working undercover at SD-6. I learned that your grandmother, Irina Derevko also known as Laura Bristow, hadn't really died in a car accident, she was a KGB agent that killed William Vaughn, your grandfather, on your father's side." Sydney noted the uncomfortable look Vaughn threw at her father.
"We continued to counter all of SD-6's moves and eventually brought them down. Arvin Sloane got away so we pursued him. 6 months after the downfall of SD-6, Sydney… your mother, was abducted." Vaughn said. "They had murdered her best friend and sent in a genetic double. Your mother found out and they fought. They both passed out. The Covenant kidnapped her and made it look like she died. They burned her house down and planted fake remains."
"During the two years I was missing, they tried to brainwash me. But it didn't work. I pretended to believe that I was Julia Thorne and once they trusted me, I contacted the CIA. They ordered me to stay and double for them. I had my memory erased and finally returned to L.A." Sydney said, glancing at Vaughn.
Vaughn sighed. "During those 2 years your mother was missing, I… got married to a woman named Lauren Reed. We later found out that she was part of the Covenant. I killed her when she tried to kill your mother."
"Wow, talk about a divorce." Carter muttered.
"We also learned that your grandmother had an affair with Arvin Sloane. She had a child named Nadia. We located Nadia and recruited her to the CIA." Dixon said.
"Anyways, we were just on a normal mission when an enemy agency called Prophet Five ambushed us. I was shot in the chest and pushed over the cliff." Vaughn said. "The rest of my captivity is a bit of a haze…" he trailed off. Sydney silently put her hand over his and smiled.
"We all thought he was dead. There was no way he could have survived that fall without help." Sydney said.
"This is all we really have time for right now." Jack said. Dixon led the children out of the room.
Sydney got up to leave but Jack stopped her. "Sydney, there's something else you need to know."
O O O O O