Hey guys, sorry about they wait. Here's the next chapter, hope you like it.

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Chapter Ten: Death

"Why are we being held in here like terrorists?" Lisa Vanderfield asked. "Please, let me see my husband. I need him to know that I'm ok."

An hour later, and after much consideration, Jacob Vanderfield stood on the other side of the glass partition.

Lisa walked up toward him and pressed her hand against the glass.

"Don't worry; they'll let you out soon." Jacob said.

"Jacob." Lisa whispered, tears falling from her eyes. "I want you to know that it's not your fault. I want you to know that I love you."

Jacob stared at her in confusion. "What are you…?"

"Shhhh." Lisa said, silencing him. "Back away from the window." She said quickly. "Back away from the window."

"What?" Jacob asked.

She looked at him with sad eyes and sat down next to her son. "I'm sorry."

Those were her final words. Because at that moment, 7 bombs went off and 7 civilians were killed instantly by the bombs that had been implanted deep underneath their skin.

Jacob was knocked off his feet and screamed as he watched his son and wife be blown up. He was soon put out of his misery as a small chunk of the wall collapsed, falling on top of him. He was dead.

Massie, Kristen, and Alicia where sitting in the holding cell next door, talking to Isabelle who was sitting in a wheelchair in the corridor with a guard when they were killed. Isabelle screamed in horror as the glass exploded and her friends' blood was splattered all over her body. One of the guards jumped in front of her as the flames licked the ceiling.

Carter had been talking to Brad, who was sitting in a similar cell with his father, when the bombs went off. Carter fell back on the floor, crying out in pain as glass showered down on him. He rolled over to protect his face and saw Brad's bloody, severed hand lying on the floor.

O O O O O

Meanwhile, a couple of men posing as agents ran into the wing where Lauren and Sark were being held.

"There's a bombing going on. They want all agents out in front incase there's another shooting." One of the men said.

The guards looked skeptic at first but after a series of loud booms, they ran out to help. The 2 imposters smiled.

"That was just too easy." The other man said.

They opened the cell door and immediately released Sark and Lauren from the chains.

"Finally, I was wondering when you guys would finally get here." Sark sneered. He limped slightly as he walked out of the door.

"Shut up." The man hissed. "You should be glad this bombing was already staged or you'd still be in that cell."

"Are you so sure about that?" Lauren said, rubbing her side. "Don't underestimate our power."

"Let's get out of here and save the chitchat for later." Sark snapped.

They had reached the end of the corridor and turned the corner when they came face to face with Jack Bristow.

"Did you really think it would be so easy?" Jack said as he pulled the trigger on his gun. He immediately killed the two imposters. Sark and Lauren tried to run but where also gunned down.

Jack went over to them and checked their pulses. He pulled out his cell phone. "Dixon, they did try to escape. The intruders are dead. Sark and Lauren are both unconscious but Lauren's worse off."

"I'll send a medic in now."

O O O O O

Sydney and Vaughn where just walking out of the OR when the bombs went off. They ran into Weiss and Nadia, who were running in the opposite direction.

"What's going on?" Sydney shouted.

"The civilians, they must have had bombs implanted in them. They've all just blown up." Weiss said.

"What?" Vaughn shouted.

"The kids! They were in visitation." Sydney said.

"Let's go." Vaughn said running toward the stairs.

"Vaughn, stop." Sydney shouted grabbing his hand. "You can't go running around like that. You might break some of your stitches."

Vaughn looked like he was about to argue but just nodded his head and followed her slowly down the stairs.

They found Isabelle, Carter, and Mr. Vanderfield lying in the hallway, shards of glass surrounding them. They were all sobbing.

"Daddy!" Isabelle shouted immediately. "I saw them… I was just talking to them and they just…"

"It's gonna be ok sweetheart." Vaughn whispered as he crouched down next to her.

While Vaughn tended to Isabelle, Sydney walked to where Carter was sprawled out on the floor. He was staring at a hand on the floor.

"Carter." Sydney slowly turned his head so he was looking at her.

"Mom. I… I saw them…" he trailed off and stared at the hand.

"Carter… I'm so sorry, honey."

"Dad?" Isabelle's shrill, panic filled voice echoed in the room. "Daddy, you're bleeding."

Sydney's head snapped over to look at Vaughn. A bright red stain of blood was soaking through his shirt. There was a mall pool of blood at his feet. She left Carter and rushed to his side.

"I think, I think I broke some of the stitches." Vaughn said, painfully lifting up his shirt.

Sydney ran her hand along his stitches. She glanced over to her father, who had just entered the room. "We need to get him to the hospital."

Carter sat forgotten on the floor staring at the hand of a friend.

O O O O O

"Is it working?" Irina asked.

"Yes. They've been neglecting Carter. First it was Isabelle. And now their attention will be on Vaughn. They won't notice the small changes we will be making. And he will slowly feel like he's not as important and that they don't care about him as much. That will leave him vulnerable to our… recruiting." Dr. Mittelwork said.

"Perfect." Irina smiled.

O O O O O

Sydney stood nervously outside Vaughn's hospital room. She peered in through the window and could see the doctors frantically working on him.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and spun around. She smiled as a familiar friend wrapped his arms around her.

"Will!"

"Hey, Syd."

"What are you doing here?" Sydney asked.

"Your father contacted me after you were kidnapped. I've been under close surveillance ever since. He asked me to come in and help decrypt some stuff." Will said.

"You're still an analyst?" Sydney asked.

"I only do somethings every once in a while." Will replied.

Sydney glanced down at his hand and noticed the ring. "You're married too?"

"Yeah, I married that painter, Libby 2 years ago. She's 7 months pregnant." Will said with a goofy smile.

"That's great." Sydney replied, her smile growing. "When do I get to meet her?"

"Soon hopefully. So Vaughn's really alive, huh?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm really worried about him though." Sydney sighed. "But the doctors should be able to get him stitched up so it's really no big deal."

Syd and Will continued to talk until the doctors came out.

"Agent Bristow, can we talk in private?" The man said.

"It's alright, he's a friend. We can talk in front of him." Sydney reassured the man.

"Well, I have to tell you things took an unexpected turn." The doctor paused. "Agent Vaughn's wound seems to have been infected."

"How bad is it?" Sydney asked.

"We caught it in an earlier stage, but it's an odd infection, something we've never seen before." The doctor glanced down at his pager. "I think it would be a good idea if a team was sent back to the compound in Russia to try and find the source of the infection."

"That's not possible, the facility was bombed." Sydney said. "Are you sure that he got it there?"

"We're pretty positive. At the stage the infection's at, he couldn't have gotten it any less than 1 week ago." The doctor said.

"How did he break his stitches? He only ran a few steps." Sydney said.

"The thing is, he didn't break his stitches." The doctor explained. "They were eaten away by a chemical. We've just sent his blood work to the lab for some testing. We should get the results in 48 hours."

"Thank you, I'll talk to my father and see what we can do about the infection." Sydney said.

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