Always Be Prepared

<span style='font-size:10pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 28

“They’re still here!” Sydney yelled into the phone as a few shots rang out. Dropping the phone, she turned around, grabbed her gun, and, unwittingly stepping on her phone, fired at Sark and Lauren. Sark managed to jump out of the way in time, but Sydney saw a small squirt of blood as the bullet entered Lauren’s body. Sark rolled out of his hiding place and fired back. Sydney shot twice more at him. Both shots missed. Sydney knew that a fire fight taking place with the door to the panic room open wasn’t safe for J. D.

Although it was risky, Sydney turned and caused the doors to close again. Turning around, she saw Sark rushing for her. He was quickly closing the gap between them. Casting a glance at her bedroom door a short distance away, she turned again and ran in, jumping on the bed, rolling to the other side and grabbing her cane. Sark was in the doorway when Sydney’s hand finally closed on the handle of the cane. Instead of rolling back to face Sark, Sydney rolled off the bed as two more shots rang out. She heard the boards at the end of her bed creak, letting her know that Sark was trying to sneak around to her. Aiming her gun, she shot his kneecap when she saw Sark turn the corner.

As the middle of his leg matted with blood, he looked up as Sydney brought the cane down on the top of his head with all of her might. After the impact, Sark collapsed.

Knowing she needed to secure both Sark and Lauren, Sydney quickly grabbed the handcuffs on the dresser and affixed them around Sark’s wrists. Even though she had managed to secure Sark, Sydney knew that she needed to secure Lauren too, assuming that she hadn’t escaped already. Having used her only pair of handcuffs on Sark, Sydney quickly considered how to secure Lauren. Considering the idea of duct tape, Sydney started to head for the garage, passing by the open door of the closet. Spotting the shoebox that Vaughn had placed on the top shelf to keep it hidden, Sydney remembered the contents of that box included two pairs of handcuffs. Quickly grabbing the box and pushing aside the objects inside, minus the fur-covered handcuffs, she walked out to the living room to take care of Lauren.

~ ~ ~

“I’m hitting bone,” the guard told the nameless torturer in the room.

“Stop,” Vaughn heard the man say in response. The knife was taken away from Vaughn’s finger. Although he wanted to curse, Vaughn kept the long chain of obscenities inside.

“Are you ready to tell me who you work for?” the torturer asked.

“Yes,” Vaughn said nodding.

“Who do you work for?”

“I usually don’t know. I’m a freelancer. My jobs come courtesy of an anonymous contact. They wire money to my account, provide the necessary equipment, and I do the job for them. We never use names, on the off chance that something goes wrong, that nothing can be traced back to either of us.”

“Why were you protecting this information earlier, if you really don’t know who hired you?”

“Because,” Vaughn started, “this one time, I managed to find out who hired me.”

“Who?”

Vaughn thought as quickly as he could, trying to ignore the pain on his left hand.
“Irina Derevko,” he blurted out when he felt the knife again digging into his finger.

“Irina Derevko?” the torturer asked.

“Yes,” Vaughn nodded.

The man was silent. “I guess it makes sense,” he said when he finally spoke. “Me, I thought it was Arvin Sloane.”

“What made you think that?”

“Because of what the device you tried to steal is supposed to do.”

“What does it do?”

“It’s rumoured to help the father of The Passenger locate her.”

“What? What’s The Passenger?”

“It’s a woman. The daughter of Arvin Sloane and Irina Derevko.”

“They had a daughter?”

“According to Rambaldi, yes.”

“So that’s why Irina wanted it. To help locate her daughter.”

“No,” the guard stated. “It wouldn’t reveal her location to her; only to him.”

“Why do you care?”

The man walked up close to Vaughn. “Do you recognize this?” he asked, shoving his hand into the little light there was, allowing Vaughn to see the <O> tattooed on his hand.

Vaughn had to think quickly. He knew what that was, but if he was just a freelancer, odds were that he wouldn’t know. “No,” Vaughn answered. “What is it?”

The torturer laughed. “It indicates that I am a member of the Magnificent Order of Rambaldi.”

“Who’s Rambaldi?” Vaughn asked, settling in for the long explanation that followed.

After about three hours of history on Rambaldi, Vaughn finally spoke again. “What’s the use following his works? He’s dead.”

Looking at both of the guards, the man smiled. “Not necessarily.”

“You think he’s alive?”

“I don’t know.”

“What make’s you think that he might be alive?”

“Rambaldi was fascinated with immortality. Several believe that he managed to find the secrets of it, and that he walks among us.”

“That sounds kind of sci-fi doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does. However, I choose to believe that it’s possible.”

Vaughn nodded.

“Could you initiate contact with Ms. Derevko?” the man asked.

“Yeah,” Vaughn responded.

“Set up a meeting. I wish to speak with her.”

“Okay.”

“Then, in good faith, I will allow you to take The Hourglass.”

“Great.”

Vaughn felt the restraints loosen, and then the guards helped him up.

~ ~ ~

Kendall was leading the small squad of cars that pulled in front of Sydney’s house. As he was about to knock on the door, it flew open, revealing a dishevelled Sydney. “They’re in the kitchen,” she said, gesturing towards it with her thumb.

The CIA agents rushed into her kitchen and escorted Sark and Lauren out to the cars waiting outside.

“Good work, Agent Bristow.”

“Thanks. You called me earlier saying that there was a problem. What was it?”

“Vaughn was captured. We’re drawing up a plan to help rescue him.”

“I’m going.”

“Agent Bristow, you just had a baby.”

“I’m going.”

“Who’s going to look after your child?”

“Jack volunteered after J. D. was born. I’m going.”

Kendall sighed reluctantly. “Fine. Go see Marshall for the op-tech.”

“I will. I need to go check up on J. D.”

~ ~ ~

“What do you think about all this Rambaldi stuff,” Vaughn asked the guards as they helped him up the stairs.

“I don’t have an opinion,” the guard on his left responded.

“And you?” Vaughn said turning to the other one.

“He doesn’t speak English,” the other guard said.

“Oh, okay.”

“Here,” the guard said, handing Vaughn his cell phone. “Make the call.”

~ ~ ~

Bill watched through the binoculars from the building across the street. “Way to go, Mike,” he muttered quietly to himself. Seeing another non-descript guard coming running from the club with a suitcase, Bill watched as, when he caught up with the others, the guard opened the suitcase and pulled an object.

When more was revealed, Bill recognized it immediately. "The Hourglass," he said in a hiss. Watching as it was put back in the suitcase and closed up, he realized that there would never be a better time than now to apprehend it.

They could never find The Passenger. Dialling his phone, he uttered one simple phrase. “We have an opportunity to get The Hourglass.”

The man on the other end of the line voiced his approval. Bill rolled his eyes as he thought about the man he had just talked to. “He actually managed to convince them that he turned good,” Bill said with a snicker.

…TBC…
</span>

Question: Where should Syd and Vaughn go on their honeymoon?

I googled for pictures of baby boys to hopefully give a picture of J. D. to go along with the story, and I thought this picture worked well for it, so here's J. D.

pic_boys.jpg
 
<span style='font-size:10pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 29

Vaughn looked at both guards as he took the phone and started dialling. Knowing that if he identified himself as an agent, his life would be over. He listened as the automated voice came on saying that the number he dialled was unavailable. Confused, he dialled Jack’s number. After two rings, he heard Jack answer, “Bristow.”

“I need to speak with Irina Derevko right now,” he said bluntly.

“Agent Vaughn, is that you?”

“Yes, I can wait.”

“Are you being monitored.”

“Correct, that Irina.”

“Do you really need to talk with her?”

“Yes.”

“Hang on a bit. Let me go get her.”

“Great.”

Vaughn smiled at the guards as he waited for Irina to come on the other line.

“What is it?”

“Ms. Derevko,” Vaughn started, “There is a person who requests a meeting with you.”

“Who is it?”

“What’s your employer’s name?”

“Masa Raidon,” the guard replied, and Vaughn repeated the answer.

“What does he want?”

“A meeting,” Vaughn said. “That’s all that he told me.”

“I’m willing if the CIA will let me out of custody,” Irina started, “but you can probably guess what Jack’s doing right now.”

“Yeah, I probably can,” Vaughn said.

Jack came on the line. “Set up the meet. We can apprehend them without releasing her.”

“I don’t think that will work. Mr. Raidon was clear. He wants you there, or the deal’s off, Ms. Derevko.”

That statement was met with silence. “We’re not letting her out of custody.”

“Understood, but the agreement was clear. You must be there in person, otherwise you won’t be given access to The Hourglass.”

Silence again. “Set up the deal, on the condition that Irina is allowed to bring backup, and that Mr. Raidon is at the meet instead of sending a representative.”

Turning to the guards, Vaughn recited the conditions which were agreed to quickly.

~ ~ ~

After Sydney had been assured that J. D. was fine, she took him out to the car, secured him in the car seat, and followed the convoy of cars to the JTF building.

As Sark and Lauren were each escorted to their private cells, Sydney noticed that a couple of people were congregated outside Irina’s cell. Wondering what the commotion was, Sydney took J. D. and walked over to the cell as the session disbursed.

“What was that?”

“Agent Vaughn called,” Irina said, and smiled as Sydney’s face changed to that of curiosity.

“Is he alright?”

“He sounded good. Apparently he was able to convince them to let him go if he set up a meeting between Mr. Raidon and I.”

“Is the CIA complying?”

“It sounds like it.”

Sydney nodded.

“Is that my grandson?” Irina asked looking at J. D. through the glass.

“Yeah,” Sydney stated, a smile appearing on her face.

“What’s his name?”

“Jonathan Donohue William Bristow-Vaughn, with the last name only being that way until Vaughn and I officially tie the knot.”

“Hey, Jonathan,” Irina said with a smile. Becoming serious again, she looked up at Sydney. “How’s the issue we talked about?”

“His safety?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ve had two people try to get him earlier. That was the first attempt. Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“When I was in the hospital after the accident, I had a dream.”

“What was it?”

“It was a page from a Rambaldi manuscript. There was a lot more written than you told us at first.”

“What happened next.”

“It was weird. J. D. was born, turned to me and said something, I couldn’t make it out, and then I saw a man, aiming a gun at me, and I was watching this kid, I think it was J. D. when he's older, and he completely vanished. I heard a gunshot, and that’s when I woke up.

“What did that dream mean?”

“There was more to the prophecy,” Irina started. “Stuff that you’d be better off not knowing.”

“What’s that mean.”

“Your son’s going to play an major role in events.”

“What? What type of role?”

“I can’t tell you too much. Things must be revealed over time. I can tell you, however, that the fact that you found out I was alive happened for a reason.”

“What reason?”

“Do you remember all the times I saved your life this past year with my information?”

“Yeah…”

“What would have happened if you had never realized I was alive? Think about that for a bit.”

Sydney considered what Irina said carefully.

“Would the Alliance ever have been taken down if I hadn’t assigned Sark to infiltrate SD-6? Would you have ever ended up with Vaughn if I hadn’t been there? Would you have been able to keep your cover after Sloane managed to access Echelon?”

“Sloane wouldn’t have been able to access Echelon. Cuvee thought Sark had betrayed him and that’s when he moved Echelon. If Sark never joined SD-6 we wouldn’t have received that intel.”

“Granted,” Irina said, “but trust me when I tell you that sometimes, Rambaldi’s work has a second purpose. The Prophecy,” Irina reminded Sydney, “it served to warn the government about your growing anger, which, if I hadn’t turned myself in to the CIA and helped bring down the Alliance, would have escalated until you gunned Sloane down in a fit of rage and would thereby have been killed.”

“How do you know that?”

“Some things happen, even though they don’t.”

“What’s that mean? What does this all have to do with J. D?”

“I’ll answer both of those things if you give me some time.”

“Okay.”

“The second part of The Prophecy, that bit about Mount Subasio, really served one purpose.”

“What?”

“It was there to get you out of government custody, and to make you realize that I was alive.”

“Which led to the destruction of the Alliance, leading to me being with Vaughn, and subsequently having J. D.”

“Exactly. That’s how it deals with J. D.”

“Okay, but what about that ‘things happening that don’t’ bit?”

“Do some research on parallel universes and it’ll make sense,” came Irina’s reply. “Things happen for a reason. The birth of J. D. is going to affect millions.”

“How?”

“Truth takes time, Sydney. Truth takes time.”

…TBC…
</span>

cinders
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ILOVEALIAS27
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Also, if any of you remember me asking how to get here without getting an error message, I found the answer.

When I used to type the address, I'd put in www.allalias.com

In all actuality, if you remove the www and just put allalias.com, it brings you right here.
 
Freaky, very. I love the whole parrallel universe thing, I've done of a lot of thinking about the space time continum and all, so I'm interested to see where this goes. Love it.
 
Yippee! I've got another Time Travel fan here. Just wait. This story will become very sci-fi right around the time of the untimely demise spoken of in the prophecy (My prophecy, not the one from the show.)
 
that was so great... im glad sydney was able to get sark and lauren... irina is freaking me out... i want to know what happens with j.d.... the little boy in that picture was so cute... good choice... lol... update soon
 
great update...i love the parallel universe idea ( it reminds me a lot like the Wrinkle in Time series) I can't wait to read more! Thanks for the pm::smiley:
 
I finally got past my writer's block and finished up chapter 39. In celebration of my ability to actually write on this again, I'll post another chapter.

Here's a spoiler from 39

“A book? What…why a book?” Vaughn asked.
A small flicker of recognition flashed over Sydney’s face.
“What?”
“This is one of the books.”
“You mean THE books.”
“Yeah, but…”
“What is it?”
“I don’t remember this one being a part of Mom’s collection.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“I don’t know. The store he got those books from closed nearly 15 years ago.”
“Open it up.”

It's Jack's wedding Present to Sydney. Also, Chapter 39 ends with a big Cliffhanger.

All I'll say is that someone thought to be dead (And someone will die in the next 9 chapters) isn't. (But it's not necessarily the character that dies in the upcoming chapters. It might be that character, but it might not be.)

Now for the new Chapter. It's short, but it's also the reunion between Sydney and Vaughn.

<span style='font-size:10pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 30

Sydney looked at Irina in the clothes that she had been supplied before the meeting. The CIA had also placed four trackers on Irina. Sydney had offered to be one of the guards. The offer hadn’t come from the desire to be there on the chance that Irina might have been using this to betray the CIA; the offer came because Sydney hadn’t seen Vaughn for five days, and she was about to go out of her mind.

The van pulled up, and Masa stepped out. Sydney swallowed hard as his guards followed. Sydney looked behind the group of three. She saw Vaughn’s head appear in the door. One eye was purple and badly swollen, and as more became visible, Sydney saw his left middle finger with a piece of white tape around it. Sydney tried to hold in the tears that were biting at the edges of her eyes. She would not let these men see her cry. Vaughn got out and headed for Sydney. She started running towards him. They met in a tight embrace. Blinking back the tears was taking so much more effort now. I WILL NOT CRY! Sydney decided resolutely. She felt his arms around her waist, and the dam broke. “I missed you,” she whispered into his ear.

“Thinking of you was what helped get me through this,” Vaughn said into her ear. Pulling her away from him, Vaughn looked her in the eye. “I love you.”

Sydney smiled, tasting salt water as some of her tears managed to get into her mouth. “I love you too, Vaughn.”

He studied Sydney’s eyes intently. “How’s J. D?”

“He’s fine. Jack’s taking care of him.”

“Good.”

“What’s the meeting for?” Sydney asked, hating to have to deal with work at a time like this.

“Who knows.” Vaughn stated, and then chuckled softly. “Who really even cares?”

“Good point,” Sydney said with a smile. She glanced over at her mother who was shaking hands with the man who had been responsible for the fact that Sydney had been separated from the love of her life for the past five days. “I have to go over there,” Sydney said holding Vaughn’s hand up to her mouth. Giving it a soft kiss, she started to walk away. As they reached the point where Sydney figured Vaughn would let go, she was surprised when he pulled her back into his arms.

Covering her mouth with his, Vaughn forced his tongue into Sydney’s willing mouth. The kiss lasted for what seemed like forever, and when Vaughn finally let her go, Sydney walked away with a smile. By the time she managed to get over to Irina, she managed to hear Masa utter the word, “Deal,” and then saw them shake hands. One of the guards went back to the van and brought out a suitcase. Opening it, he showed that it contained The Hourglass, and handed it over to Irina. Irina walked back to the van they had arrived in, discussed the monetary transfer to the agent on the inside, who transferred the money to Mr. Raidon’s account.

When they received confirmation of the transaction, Masa said out loud, “Pleasure doing business with you.”

Turning to walk back to their respective vans, everyone whirled around as a gunshot rang out; everyone, that is, except Masa Raidon whose body slowly crumpled to the ground. Sydney and the other CIA guard pulled out their guns and trained them on Masa’s guards who had their weapons trained on the CIA team.

Tension crackled in the air, and an all out war began when another gunshot sounded and yet another person dropped to the ground.

“NO!!!” Sydney yelled out as blood started to stain the shirt of the person on the ground.

…TBC…
</span>

Question: Who do you think got shot, Vaughn, Irina, or Sydney?

No PMs will be sent out until Later.

cinders
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Brinne
frangipani
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NOOOOOOOOO please dont let it be vaughn!! cause i have a feeling thats who it is because they had the deal and since their leader was killed they dont get what they had come for but PLEASE!!! let me be wrong please!!!! dont let it be any of them!!!!!(and it cant be sydney because shes the person who yelled NOOO and watched as the blood stained whoevers shirt)
 
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