luckylass - thanks!!!!
IwantRome - oo hope you have a great trip!!!! and hopefully there will be plenty of updates waiting for you when you return!
texy - you're welcome!! I'm trying to keep up so I can give you guys regular updates but this might be the last one for a few days.
SydneyAnneVaughn - lol yes you were right but did you cheat and read ahead at HD????
JuJU - LOL Yes I mentioned apples!!!! and no peas!!! hehehe!
Ok, question: Why is everyone upset? Because... didn't she just reject Vaughn?
I think its because she only kinda rejected him and they're all worried that that means I'll end it with S/V
But JuJu is suffering temporary devprivation of a brain (normally, I have a tiny speck of one but today, it's all gone) so yes... Don't mind me.
aww no JuJu we like your brain!!!! hehehe
Glad you're still enjoying the updates!!!!
Heres the latest and possibly the last update for a few days....and after that theres only about 4 chapters left!!
Chapter 41
“Sydney. Vaughn. Meeting in five.” Jack barked at them gruffly as he saw them walk by.
Sydney and Vaughn exchanged puzzled looks before making their way to the conference room. Just about everyone was there already, gathered around the table. A few minutes after they sat down, Jack came in with Sark in tow.
Vaughn and Sark glared threateningly at each other before Dixon began talking and they shifted their attention to him. Sydney couldn’t help but watch Julian. She was so confused by how she could feel so good with Vaughn and still be missing him so much. But Dixon’s voice broke her thoughts as well and she forced herself to listen.
“We have just received intel that the Covenant is setting up a base the Bonin Islands off the coast of Japan. We have already alerted our agents stationed in Japan to track any and all Covenant movements. We are hoping if they have any leads on where the Rambaldi DNA is that our agents will be able to ascertain that information and relay it to us so that we can get there first. In the mean time we are also trying to find out the information for ourselves first. At this point we are concentrating our efforts more on finding out for the Rambaldi DNA is and less on bringing them down. This is a race people and we need to win. Now, Marshall has been analyzing the disk that Agent Bristow retrieved from the Covenant months ago in hopes of finding something that was missed. Marshall do you have a report on that for us?” Dixon looked at Marshall expectantly. Marshall looked startled for a moment before he began to sweat and fumble through his report.
“Hi everyone.” He waved nervously. “I’m a Marshall, you probably already know that though but I’m a here to explain the new information I found from the disc Syd, I mean Miss, Agent Bristow brought in. Umm.” Jack coughed loudly and Marshall snapped his head up and nodded. “Right so to the point I suppose. “ Dixon and Jack nodded while Sydney smiled at how cute Marshall was.
“Okay well while Agent Bristow did a great job of analyzing the information that was on the disc.” He smiled at Sydney before continuing. “But being the computer genius that I am,” he patted himself on the back and winked eliciting another cough from Jack. “I noticed something that she didn’t. Encrypted in the files was a password to a hidden file within the disk. It was really something actually. They had about fifteen zillion protection programs to keep unwanted eyes from seeing this file. And the password was, well you’d certainly never guess this. It was 41719754747. A series of numbers that mean almost nothing until you open the file that is and well then you realize what it is all about.”
Marshall looked at Sydney and then looked away trying to gain some composure. “You see the numbers stand for a birthday date – April 17, 1975. And then of course the 47s are because of Rambaldi. The whole file was about Agent Bristow.” Marshall clicked a button on his remote and the computer screens at the table lit up with a slide show of the documents in the file. “They have every detail about Syd’s, I mean Agent Bristow’s life in this file. More importantly they have a detailed record of everything that they did to her during her two missing years and everything they had her do. It even tells us where they are or were at least storing her eggs.” Marshall smiled triumphantly as he stood in a stance that somewhat resembled superman’s stance and looked around the room. Jack and Dixon both motioned for him to reveal the location rather than gloating.
“Oh right, right you want to know where, of course.” He clicked the remote again and the document revealing the location of Sydney’s eggs displayed. “They have in a storehouse in Tuscany which operates as an abortion clinic ironically enough. You see the Covenant was also into research apparently. They would keep the aborted placentas for study in their lab below the clinic. They have Syd’s eggs in a separate, locked down portion of the facility. Now it was highly guarded up until yesterday or so. Surveillance shows that security has been increased even more since last week. Now if the Covenant has already moved the eggs then they’re wasting a lot of man power on this place. So I figure they’re either planning on keeping the eggs there or moving them real soon.” Marshall paused, took a deep breathe, and sat down.
“I’m confused. Didn’t Lauren tell the Covenant that we have the disc with this information.” Jack nodded. “So then wouldn’t they have already have moved the eggs to prevent us from getting there first?” Vaughn asked.
“If I may interject,” Sark looked around to make sure he could talk. Only Vaughn glared at him negatively. “Knowing how the Covenant works, I would say that they are confident that since we haven’t raided the lab by now that we haven’t been able to get past their firewalls on the disc and read the file which is why they wouldn’t have already moved the eggs. That being said, they are still going to be cautious. I think it would be fair to assume that they are building up security and looking for a better place to relocate the eggs without damaging them. They are going to take all possible precautions, especially since they know we’re watching for activity. If they are confident that we haven’t learned to read the file they will take their time moving it to keep us from finding it. I would suggest drawing up a plan to break into the lab as soon as possible. We can’t wait around for them to move the eggs. We also have to take into consideration the possibility that they have been splitting up the eggs and spreading them out across various locations. So we should track their movements in and out of the facility very carefully.”
Only Vaughn scowled at Sark’s suggestion. Jack was the first, however, to agree with him.
“I agree with Sark’s assessment and suggest we plan to infiltrate the facility as soon as we have a plan drawn up. I also think we need to track where every Covenant goes when they leave the facility.” He paused for a moment before turning to Marshall.
“Marshall, did the Covenant detail how many eggs they had removed from Sydney?”
“Ah most likely.” Jack starred at him and he decided to add on, “I’ll scan the documents now to see what I can find.” Jack nodded.
“Good. If we know how many they took then it should be easier to account for all of them. Otherwise, we’ll have no idea how many are still out there being moved around.”
“Alright, everyone I want you all to meet back here in two hours to discuss how we are going to infiltrate the Covenant lab. Marshall we need to know if they documented the number of eggs they removed and if so how many. That’s it. Get out of here and start brainstorming.”
Agents started to file out of the room but Sydney was frozen in her seat. The Covenant had an entire locked file on everything she had done in her entire life. How did they get that information? Had someone been watching her her whole life? And what about the information from her missing time? Was she finally going to find out what exactly had happened to her?
Jack began to escort Sark out but Sark paused to glance at Sydney. He knew it would take some time for her to process what was going on. He only wished that he could be there to comfort her but he knew that she would most likely turn to Agent Wrinkles. There was nothing he could do except devise a plan of attack that would result in them retrieving her eggs from the Covenant.
Dixon too noticed that Sydney wasn’t moving and decided it was best to talk to her in private.
“Sydney can I see you in my office?” Dixon placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, bringing her back to reality. She nodded.
“Of course. I’ll be right there.” She turned to see Sark disappearing into the office and off no doubt to his cell. Her view of him was blocked by Vaughn who had come to stand in front of her.
“Hey. You want to go grab lunch and brainstorm together?” He offered.
“Maybe.” She sighed but smiled up at him. “I have to go talk with Dixon before I can do anything.” Vaughn nodded in understanding.
“You know you can talk to me about anything Sydney. You don’t always have to be strong.”
“I know Vaughn but I really have to think this out on my own first.” She stood to leave but saw the hurt in his eyes. “I’m not saying I won’t come to you when I’m ready, I just need some time first.” She placed her hand on his cheek, forcing him to look her in the eye when she was talking. He nodded into her hand, laying a soft kiss on her wrist. She smiled brightly at him before heading off to see Dixon.
She knocked lightly on Dixon’s door before entering and taking a seat across from his desk. He smiled at her and held up his index finger to signal he’d be off the phone in just a minute. She looked around his office trying to keep her mind off the Covenant and her eggs. Finally, Dixon was finished on the phone.
“Sydney I know you must be feeling overwhelmed right now and I would understand if you wanted to take some time off and let us handle everything.” Dixon gave her a very fatherly look and she smiled in relief.
“Dixon I appreciate the offer but you know me.” He smiled knowingly. “I can’t just leave and let everyone else handle this. Those are my eggs that the Covenant has and I need to be the one to bring them in.” Dixon nodded.
“I expected as much. I should also let you know that that was the DSSR on the phone and they want us to bring your eggs in for analysis.”
“No way! Those freaks in the DSSR are not going to analysis my eggs. It’s bad enough the Covenant got a hold of them there is no way that I’m going to allow them to become US government property. You can’t really expect me to allow this, can you?” She was red with rage and Dixon could hear both the anger and worry in her voice but still he chuckled.
“No Sydney I don’t. I have no intention of complying with their requests. In fact, I was only telling you because I thought when you go to retrieve your eggs you’d want to take the proper materials to destroy them with.” He smiled coyly and she sighed in relief. Dixon was always there looking out for her.
“Thank you Dixon and thank you for letting me stay on this case. I know the CIA frowns upon us staying on personal cases but I can’t sit around and wait for someone else to fix this for me.”
“I know Sydney. I’m sure you want to get going then to devise some strategic plans of attack on the Covenant,” he paused, studying her face for a moment. “Unless there is something else you would like to discuss?”
Sydney sighed and looked down at her hands for a moment before responding.
“I was wondering if maybe at some point if I could look at the file. I mean it is about me and I want to know what happened to me in those two years the Covenant had me.” Her voice grew stronger as she continued. “I’d also appreciate it if the file from the disk was classified and no one else other than you, my father, and obviously Marshall read it. I don’t know what all is in there but Marshall said it has my whole life and I’d rather that not be available for everyone to read.”
Dixon nodded and thought for a moment.
“Sydney as I’m sure you’re aware your life is of something to interest to the US government. It is still believed by many that you are the one in the Rambaldi drawings. The DSSR has already requested to see your file. Now, I’m indirectly denying them your eggs and it would be very bad for me to deny this request as well. That being said, on a personal level I feel that no one but you should be looking at that file. Therefore, for the time being I will declare it information that needs to be compartmentalized and kept within this office until at the very least the Covenant is brought down completely. No one else will be able to read it from here on out, unless you tell me that you’re okay with it. Is that acceptable to you?”
“Yes.” She sighed in relief. “Thank you Dixon. I know that I’ve asked a lot of you and this office lately and I want you to know how much it means to me and how much I truly appreciate all that you’ve done for me.” A few tears leaked from her eyelids as Dixon came around his desk and pulled Sydney into a hug.
“You don’t ever have to thank me Sydney. We’re all here for you.” He pulled away and fixed his suit jacket returning to his position as director.
“Now I believe you have some work to get to Agent Bristow.” They shared a smile as she nodded and left his office.
She wasn’t sure where to go or what to do at first when she left Dixon’s office, but as she made her way to her desk she knew that she needed someone to brainstorm with and bounce ideas off of. In her heart and in her mind she knew there was only one person that she brainstormed the best with. Smiling to herself she gathered her things and went to find him.