superintelligentone
Cadet
Season 4: Episode 7 - "Détente"
2/16/2005
Summary by superintelligentone aka SIO
We start in a bar in Irkutsk, Russsia at night, where a jukebox is playing a woman singing a melancholy song. A babushka wearing, woman bartender, whose face is obscured by liquor bottles, is pouring drinks. At the first table next to the windows, Vaughn is meeting Lieutenant Anatoly Grodsky. Tapping the table nervously, the soldier says in Russian “You came alone, yes?” Vaughn quickly reaches out with his left hand to stop the conspicuous drumming and then looks up at him with concern, saying in Russian “The information, Anatoly.” Switching to English, the lieutenant says in self disgust “I'm an officer. I swore an oath never to betray State secrets.” Impatiently, Vaughn says in English “You said it was important. Highest national security. What is it?” Reluctantly, Grodsky admits “Russia's been developing Black Thorine.” Vaughn questions in disbelief “Developing? (You mean) Researching.” The lieutenant reiterates “Producing! We've made some. We've only been able to distill a small amount - ten milliliters. Enough for a single vial.” He adds in disgust “This government will stop at nothing to contain this information.” Vaughn asks “So why tell me?” After a moment of hesitation, Anatoly replies “Because the vial was stolen.” Vaughn is momentarily stunned and then asks “by whom?” Reaching into his coat pocket, Grodsky pulls out a small slip of paper and says “This is the routing number to my superior's bank account.” Passing the paper to Vaughn, he adds “He's recently come into a great deal of money.” Hearing the bar door open and shut, both men look up as two soldiers dressed in camouflage uniforms and wearing paratrooper style hats approach them. The leader announces in Russian “Lieutenant Anatoly Grodsky, come with us.” Grodsky rises from his seat as the soldiers point their semi-automatic handguns at him. Vaughn can scarcely believes his eyes as his contact reaches behind for a pistol. Grodsky is shot dead by the soldier in charge before he can complete his draw. The soldier then points his gun at Vaughn and asks in Russian “Who are you?” Shaking his head ‘no’, Vaughn replies in Russian “I'm not the one you need to worry about.” Responding to her cue, Sydney whose cover was working as the bartender, attacks the rear soldier with a mop, breaking the mop head on his gun hand, which causes him to lose his weapon. Taking advantage of the distraction, Vaughn rises and kicks the handgun from the first soldier. Syd hits her opponent with the mop a second time, but this time he grabs the mop and pulls it from her hands as he delivers a right side kick to her gut. As Sydney staggers back, the soldier swings the mop handle like a martial arts staff at her. Syd dodges the swing by stepping back, and counter attacks with a right forearm smash to the face. Vaughn punches his soldier in the stomach, doubling him over. Sydney and her soldier wrestle for the pole, but his superior size and weight enables him to push her onto her back against the bar, trying to press the wooden handle against her throat. Vaughn punches his opponent in the gut twice, then grabbing his jacket, rams him face-first into a mirror on the wall. Still straining to keep the pole from strangling her, Sydney shifts her weight to her right and smashes the soldier to the right side of his head quarterstaff style, causing him to release his grip. Syd then smashes him even harder a second time. She takes to the floor and performs a spinning quarterstaff chop to the left side of his head causing him to fall to the floor. Turning from his unconscious opponent, Vaughn sees Syd’s opponent struggling to get up, so he finishes him off with a left forearm smash to the head, rendering him unconscious. As Sydney drops the mop handle, Vaughn says “Let's go!” As they leave the bar, they each turn to look back once.
Sometime later in Los Angeles, it is nighttime as the fatigued, glasses wearing Sydney returns home. She is surprised to hear Sloane greet her “Sydney. We didn't expect you back so soon.” Syd is unhappy to see that he and Nadia are sitting at the counter enjoying a drink together. Without saying a word, she walks down the stairs and takes a spot behind counter, across from them. Taking a sip of from his glass and then setting it down on the countertop, Sloane says “So, Russia was a success.” Cutting him off with a cold tone, Syd curtly responds “Yeah.” Nadia looks downwards, ashamed of the palpable tension between her two family members. Staring at Sloane and maintaining her icy tone, Sydney says pointedly “There's a report waiting for you ... in the office.” Sloane stares and purses his lips in response. Nadia apologises “Sydney, he just dropped by. I didn't realize...” Still giving Sloane an icy stare, Sydney doesn’t even look in her direction as she cuts her off in order to say to him, “Get out.” Sloane blinks then looks down, disappointed in her treatment of him and says regretfully “All right.” He leans over and gives a fatherly kiss to Nadia on the cheek. Nadia’s lips kiss the air as he kisses her, returning his affection. Sloane tells his daughter “I'll walk myself out.” Sydney looks like she can’t believe that show of affection, and then turns to Nadia with a disapproving expression. Nadia looks at Syd, then looks downward in regret. Sloane turns and announces softly “Okay, I'll see you both tomorrow. Nadia replies “Okay”, but Sydney doesn’t bother to respond. Sloane looks at them with an inscrutable expression for a moment, then heads up the stairs and out the front door.
In an apologetic tone, Nadia explains to Sydney “He came by...Wanted to talk. He says he wants a fresh start; to get to know me”. Nadia has an optimistic smile as she says this. Shaking her head slightly, Syd says sarcastically “You think that's all he wants? A little father-daughter bonding?” Nadia tries to explain “I know you feel about him” but Sydney cuts her off harshly saying “You can't possibly.” After a second of uncomfortable silence, Nadia says “I don't understand, you work with him at APO.” Sydney explains “I accepted the job so I could watch him. Don't delude yourself, Nadia, into thinking you can trust that man! Do that, and you will end up hating yourself for it.” Reacting to the tone of Sydney’s warning, Nadia objects “He's my father!” Shaking her head with disapproval, Sydney doesn’t even make eye contact as she says “If you knew what he's done...” Nadia immediately clears up that misconception by saying “Sydney, I know. I know what he did ... to you. What he took from you -- your best friend -- your fiancé.” After a few seconds of staring at her sister, Sydney says in disapproval “And knowing that, you still let him into my home.” With tears welling up in her eyes, Nadia looks downward to compose herself before saying “I'm not naive, Sydney. I'm not deluded. It's not easy to reconcile the past. I thought you had.” Still looking at her sister, Sydney turns to look away and then downwards with a regretful expression, perhaps in recognition of what was said.
The next morning in the briefing room, the APO team are discussing what was learned from the Russian contact. Nadia asks “The development of Black Thorine -- that violates how many treaties?” Sloane replies “Twelve, to be exact.” Marshall points out “Well, there's a reason. You know, it's a mega-breakthrough in explosives. It's odourless, undetectable, I, uh...ran a simulation. Check it out.” They all turn and watch the monitors as a huge fireball erupts from a large office building. Marshall whistles in admiration, then says “(Impressive) Huh? I levelled an entire city block, and that’s just a little drop of Black Thorine...Imagine if you add the whole...vial...” Realising that he is being enthusiastic about a weapon of mass destruction, he changes his tone and says regretfully “Actually...it's a really...depressing...take on progress.” Seeing that he has finished rambling, Weiss asks “Are we sure there's only one vial?” Sloane replies “The Russians are stonewalling. They refuse to admit the existence of the substance, much less that they're developing one. But my sources confirm that they're panicking.”
Sydney looks up at hearing this and pointedly notes “Your sources?” Sloane seems to be caught off-guard by the tone of her question, then composes himself to say “If that vial is their only prototype as the intel appears to corroborate, its theft has set their classified weapons program back decades.” Interrupting once again, Sydney increases her level of hostility as she presses on “Would you mind telling us where that intel comes from?” Jack looks astonished at her behaviour. Or are we all supposed to rely on your sources...no questions asked. Vaughn at her with an uncomfortable stare, while Weiss and Marshall exchange concerned expressions about her tirade. Sloane diplomatically responds “It's a fair question .... but one I'm not inclined to answer, unless you need me to explain the essential nature of confidentiality.” Maintaining her steely stare, replies with sarcasm “No, I'm all caught up on that, thanks.” Nadia looks like it grieves her to see her loved ones fighting. Sloane continues the topic at hand “What matters is that we recover the vial.” He and Syd exchange glances as Jack passes out file folders and announces “We were able to trace the routing number the informant gave Vaughn. Two million Euros were deposited into the account of Colonel Nikolai Voskov. The money came from this man, Boris Tambor. Two different surveillance photos of the man appear on the monitors. Recognizing the man’s name, Vaughn asks “The Russian oil magnate?” Jack clarifies “Tambor might have made his money in oil, but he's since diversified into mining, media outlets, and his latest venture, arms dealing.” Reading from her folder, Nadia notes “Seems Tambor's quite a player. High-end real estate all over Europe.” Sydney notes “He owns a fleet of sports car -- Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys...” Weiss wisecracks “This guy's living my junior high fantasy...” Marshall joins in with a smirk “Or my current one...” Sloane brings the meeting back to order, saying “Tambor keeps his entire operation mobile. Never stays in one place too long. Right now, he's booked into the San Devotee in Monte Carlo.” Jack adds “He takes a regular seat at the high-stakes poker table every night at 9:00. That will be your window (of opportunity).” Looking at Sydney, Sloane announces “Your mission is to get into Tambor's suite, find out where he keeps the Black Thorine, how he plans to move it. You leave tonight. Wheels up, 22:00.” Sydney immediately leaves the table without a word or glance for anyone. Sloane studies her leaving, unhappy with her conduct.
A short time later, Sydney is sitting quietly at her desk, lost deep in thought. Dixon who is sitting at the desk next to hers, looks at her with concern. Syd stops staring ahead, realizing that someone is approaching and looks down to resume her work. Dixon seats himself on the corner of Sydney's desk and looks her in the eyes with sympathetic concern for several seconds, then asks “You wanna tell me about it?” Syd is very hesitant to confide and adverts her eyes for a few seconds before revealing “Sloane... He was in my house ... last night, to visit Nadia. I came home. He was sitting in my living room.” Dixon sighs and says “Oh”, nodding in understanding. After a pause, Sydney has a regretful expression as she explains “I thought I could do this -- work for Sloane again, but now ... I don't know. I think I might have been kidding myself.” Sydney turns to look at Dixon for guidance. They share a long look at each other, before he says “I dream about Diane (his assassinated wife). Which isn't unusual, I've been told ... Except for me? It's almost every night. These dreams ... are always the same. At some point I get to her, and I hold her face ... and I can see it in her eyes -- the disappointment ... in me. That I couldn't prevent what happened. Then ... She tells me that she loves me ... that she loves the kids. And she asks me to do the right thing. She doesn't ask me to; she tells me to. And that's...how...I...make...peace ... with Sloane.” Dixon emphasizes “I don't put the past away, or compartmentalize it ... I transmute it. I make it the right decision, (for) today.” Sydney is touched by him revealing something so personal about how he copes with such tragedy, then says after a few seconds “I hope I'm capable of that.” Dixon assures her “I know you are.” A smile comes to Sydney’s face at hearing Dixon’s confidence in her. He leaves her with a pat on her shoulder and a fatherly kiss on the forehead. After he leaves, Sydney returns to her contemplation.
Nadia chambers a round into her SIG Sauer P220 semi-automatic pistol and takes aim at a target at the firing range. She is wearing hearing protection and protective glasses as she fires 7 headshots at the target silhouette. As Nadia removes her hearing protection and protective glasses, Sydney approaches from behind. Nadia whips her head around detecting someone behind her. Sydney apologises “Sorry about last night.” Nadia is conciliatory, shaking her head and saying “It was my fault. My father is one of the reasons that...” Shaking her head, Sydney interrupts “You don't have to explain. I get it.” Nadia nods and looks expectantly, waiting to hear what else her sister has to say. Syd continues “When our mother came back, she -- she had done her share of bad things.” Nadia looks downward with regret saying “I know.” Sydney confesses “But still ... I needed to know her. I just did.” Nadia understands that Syd is saying that she sees a parallel with her need to know Sloane, so a smile comes to her face as she says “Thanks.” Sydney smiles back at her sister for accepting their personal détente. Sydney says playfully “Nice shot” and steps up to her firing area. Nadia understands that to be invitation for a little competition. Putting on their protective glasses and hearing protection, they glance at each and then fire at their targets. Both of them glance at how well the other is doing. Sydney’s target is full of headshots. Nadia's target shows that she switched from the easier shots to the heart to the more difficult headshots.
Nighttime at the Monte Carlo hotel San Devotee. Inside their suite, Vaughn is readying the laptop computers, Sydney is cleaning her pistol, while Nadia adjusts the name tag on her maid uniform in front of a gilded mirror. Weiss walks up from behind and looks over her shoulder. He reads aloud from the mirror “‘Gretchen?’” Shaking his head, he chuckles “I don't buy you as a Gretchen.” Nadia turns to look at him and jokes in German “Nein? Und was scheine ich zu sein, Herr Weiss?” (No? And what do I seem to be, Mister Weiss?”) Weiss is taken off-guard by her ability to speak German, glancing at the others before saying “Whoa...uh, I, uh...okay.” Sydney calls out “Okay, guys. We have one hour. You all know the drill.” Vaughn who is sitting at the computer replies “Surveille the room, get in, get out with the Black Thorine.”
Nadia is vacuuming outside of Tambor's suite in front of two men guarding his door. From their suite, Sydney is using an electric drill to bore a hole in the wall that adjoins Tambor's suite. Nadia’s purpose of vacuuming is to conceal the sound of the drilling. Watching Syd’s progress, Vaughn radios by com-link “Evergreen, maintain position. We're almost there.” Nadia continues vacuuming in hallway as one guard looks to his partner to convey his annoyance. Sydney finishes boring a hole through the wall and announces “Okay, I'm in.” Vaughn conveys to Nadia “Evergreen, you're clear.” She turns off vacuum, which causes the annoyed guard to have a look of relief as he returns to looking straight ahead. Back inside the suite, Sydney snakes a fiberoptic line into the hole and announces “I'm inserting camera now.” At his position, Weiss asks “Ready for sound?” Typing into his laptop, Vaughn replies “Patching audiovisual feeds now. A closed circuit feed over the desk in Tambor's room appears on their screens. Back at the APO, Marshall acknowledges it by announcing “Copy that.” Jack and Sloane stand behind him watching the monitor. Vaughn announces “Okay, I've got a visual on Tambor.” On his computer screen Vaughn sees Tambor sit down at the desk and open his laptop.
Nadia arrives in front of a suite and taps the brass knocker, announcing “Housekeeping.” A well dressed woman steps out of an elevator with a bellman carrying several designer shopping bags for her. Nadia takes note of the woman as she enters a suite one door down, across the hall from her. The door in front of Nadia opens to reveal that it’s Weiss in their suite. Weiss jokes “Oh, I'm sorry; I ordered a French maid. Nadia smiles and places the fresh towels that she's holding into his arms, whispering “Here you go” and enters. Weiss pokes his head outside to check the corridor, steps back and closes the door.
A short time later, Sydney announces “The laptop's our priority. After that, we go for the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant - Palm Pilot - notebook computer). Noting the time, Weiss asks “What's going on? I thought this guy hits the tables every night by 9:00?” Sydney replies “That's what we know.” Weiss points out “Yeah, well it's 9:06.” Watching the closed circuit feed of Tambor’s room, Vaughn notes “Oh, here we go” as Tambor closes his laptop and gets up from the desk. But instead of heading down to the casino as expected, Tambor pours himself a drink. In astonishment, Nadia calls out “What's he doing?” Tambor picks up a remote control and turns on the television set to watch a soccer match. Admiring the suite, Marshall turns to Jack and says “Look at that room. That's nice. Check out those digs!” Jack gives him a look that tells Marshall to concentrate on the mission. He asks “Marshall, what soccer match is that?” Searching through the TV listings by computer Marshall replies “Uh, um, let me... Sorry, I'm not much of a sports fan. I’m more of a Scrabble club type. Boggle tournament if I'm feeling dangerous.” Three sub windows open from Marshall’s search inquiry. From the TV listings window, ‘Slovak Devils vs. Club Lautrec’ pops up. Sloane announces to the team “Guys ... Tambor owns the team.” Everyone reacts badly to the news because they realise that is why he isn’t going down to the casino. Weiss comments “He's kidding, right?” Sydney notes “So he's in for the night.” Vaughn sighs in frustration, then points out “He checks out first thing in the morning. If we don't get him there tonight, get the data off that computer, we lose him.” Looking at the closed circuit feed from Tambor's room, Nadia notices something and calls out “Wait a minute.” We see a zoom in on a bottle of perfume on a table as Nadia comments “I hate that perfume. It has a weird Patchouli smell.” Weiss has a confused expression on his face because he doesn’t under stand the relevance. But Sydney does and adds “You see under the bed, the slingbacks?” Nadia nods and points out “Champagne bottles on the night stand.” In quick succession Syd notes “Check out the magazines” and Nadia adds “Designer purse.” The sisters are in sync, but the men don’t understand. Sydney says to her sister “It's a shot.” Vaughn has a confused expression, while Weiss asks “What's a shot? What are you talking about?” Not bothering to explain to the men, Nadia says to her sister “I know where to get what we need” and heads for the door. Weiss is still confused and asks Syd “Wait a minute...where's she going?” Vaughn asks Sydney “You mind filling us in?” Sydney explains what she and Nadia have discovered “Tambor's got a girlfriend. She's staying with him. She's our way in.” Sloane, at APO, cuts in to voice his disapproval, saying “We have no intel on that woman. You'll be going in blind, Sydney.” Syd contradicts him, saying in quick succession “We know enough. She has gossip rags all over the room, which means she's fine making a mess, which means she's not a one-night stand.” Vaughn turns to Weiss with an expression conveying astonishment that Sydney can come to these conclusions from what the men have overlooked. Weiss looks on in fascination. Sydney adds “Her shoes cost more money than most people's monthly salary, so either she has money of her own or access to Tambor's. Either way...empty champagne bottles, her side of the bed...this girl likes to party.” We see that Marshall, who is listening to Sydney’s explanation back at the APO, smiles in appreciation of her powers of observation and deductive reasoning. Sloane, however isn’t impressed. His face shows that he is thinking she is grandstanding. Sydney continues “But her boyfriend would rather stay in and watch TV their last night in Monte Carlo than hang out with her, so she's bored. Most likely pissed off.” Back at the APO, Jack asks her “How do you propose to find her?” Sydney replies “Well, she left her handbag. She didn't go far. In fact, I'm guessing she's hitting the hotel bar right now. All Nadia and I need to do is get to her and get her to take us to the room.” Turning her attention to Vaughn, Syd asks “Why are you smiling?” Vaughn gives her a big smile and replies “I don’t know.” A smirk comes to Sydney’s face, realising that Vaughn won’t admit that he is impressed with her. Nadia returns with garment bags over her right arm and the shopping bags that the porter had been carrying earlier in her left hand. Weiss greets her by saying “Where'd you get this stuff?” Nadia replies cheerfully “I borrowed them.” Weiss teases “You stole it, didn't you?” Turning to Vaughn, he says with a trace of pride “She stole the stuff.” Vaughn grins with amusement. Sloane voices his concern, saying “Nadia, this could jeopardize the entire mission.” Sydney and Nadia, disregard what he’s saying as they look through the bags for items to wear as disguises. Sloane continues “Tambor's security team saw you. If they recognize you as the maid, they will not hesitate to take action. Nadia replies “With all due respect, no one pays attention to the help. I promise they won't recognize me.” Sydney holds up a red dress and then gives Nadia a big smile of delight.
Wearing their newly acquired fashions, Sydney in the red dress and Nadia in a violet dress, strut their way through the hotel bar. Noticing the scent of the perfume as she walks by a woman dressed in a green satin top at the bar, Nadia whispers to her sister, “Patchouli.” Having found their target, Sydney puts her cellphone to her ear and begins their act. Nadia seats herself two places down from Tambor’s girlfriend at the bar. Sydney takes the seat between the two of them. Having a simulated argument on her cellphone, Sydney calls out “Wait a minute, wait a minute...What do you mean? Well, guess what? I'm sick of your pathetic excuses!” She gives Nadia a ‘I told him off’ look as she hangs up the phone. Tambor’s girlfriend can’t help but notice and looks on in interest. Sydney tells her sister “He's not coming.” Making an outraged expression, Nadia says “You still have his charge card, right?” Looking on, the woman smiles, understanding that running up a boyfriend’s bill is the perfect revenge. Sydney replies with understanding “Oh, my God...” The sisters share a conspiratorial smile and then motioning to the bartender with two fingers, Sydney says “Two” and Nadia adds “Please.” Looking over at the woman, Sydney says to her “Men suck, don't they?” The woman looks up and down at Sydney in order to see if she looks like someone worthy of having a conversation with, and then says with a small smile “Usually.” Sydney turns to Nadia, both showing that they are satisfied that she took the bait.
Sometime later, an elevator door opens. Sydney's arm, holding a champagne bottle, wraps around the door to hold it open as the three women giggle drunkenly. Sydney giggles “I swear to God I am so not that loopy.” The three women stagger towards Tambor’s suite as Nadia drunkenly says to the woman “Don't listen to her, she's incapable of holding her liquor.” Sydney replies in mock outrage “Oh, shut ... uuuppp!” and giggles drunkenly. Nadia teases “Need I remind you of Ibiza? You and the DJ with the handcuffs?” Turning away, Sydney says “I'm ignoring you now...watch!” and wobbles her head like an airhead would. Tambor’s girlfriend guffaws and then as they near the guards, drunkenly says “Just a warning...just a warning ... My boyfriend? He's kind of a jerk” Sydney replies “Like mine isn't” and Nadia adds “Please...” Nadia turns and smiles at the guard who was disturbed by the maid’s vacuuming earlier, but he shows no signs of recognizing her. The woman scolds the guard “Are you just going to stand there?” The guard replies “I'm sorry, Miss Bridget” and opens the door to the suite. Turning to her two new friends, the woman explains “They call me ‘Miss Bridget’ and snorts a laugh. The three women walk past the men to enter the suite, with Nadia giving the one guard a flirtatious smile as she walks by. He closes the door behind them and rolls his head as he looks at the other guard, letting out a long sigh.
Back at the APO, Marshall informs everyone “Okay, they're doing it. They're in the room.” Turning around to look at Jack and Sloane. Marshall comments “You know, Mr. Sloane, I know how against this you were, but if Sydney chooses to say ‘I told you so...’ you know...” Sloane gives him a displeased look and warns “She's not out yet.” Resuming watching the monitor, Marshall replies “That's true, but...they're good. They're really good.”
Inside his suite, Tambor turns from watching the soccer match on TV to look over at the three women entering. Miss Bridget says to her boyfriend in annoyance “I need five minutes to change and we are leaving.” Tambor resumes watching and shakes his head as if wondering why he tolerates her. Bridget turns to Donata/Nadia and Felicia/Sydney, saying “Make yourselves at home, ladies” and leaves to change. Sydney signals with her head and eyes that she is headed for the desk. Nadia heads for Tambor to serve as a distraction. Looking at the TV, she asks “What's the score?” Tambor says with annoyance “Devils 1, Lautrec 3.” Joining him on the couch, Nadia says “Slovak will come back. Last year, second half against Real Madrid...” Sydney opens up an electronic device from her purse and hides it with a magazine that she is reading. Nadia continues “Brasco's diving header in extra time? The best goal, ever.” Syd sets the device on top of Tambor’s laptop computer while hiding it from view by pretending to read a gossip magazine. Tambor gives Nadia a sideways glance and as he resumes watching the game, he makes a face showing that he’s impressed that she actually knows her soccer. Sydney sets her purse in front of the hard drive cloning device to conceal it further. Nadia continues “Bentner is a great midfielder. Not too bad on the eyes, either.” Tambor scoffs “For what I'm paying him?” Feigning confusion, Nadia turns toward him and asks “Wh...what do you mean?” Reluctantly Tambor admits “Is my team.” Nadia says in astonishment and excitement “Shut up ... Shut up! You own the Slovak Devils?” Calling out to her sister excitedly, she says “Felicia, did you hear that?” Watching Sydney on the closed circuit feed from their room, Vaughn turns to Weiss and says with admiration “She's cloning the hard drive, and he's in the room!” Weiss is equally impressed with Nadia and wonders “How the hell does she know about the Slovak Devils? Was that in the file?” Vaughn replies “Maybe she's a soccer fan.” Voicing his appreciation of Nadia, Weiss has a broad grin as he says “Oh God...this is the greatest girl ever.
Back in Tambor’s suite, Sydney looks over her shoulder to make certain no one is watching, then palms the cloning device. Watching her on the monitor, Vaughn says to Weiss “She got it ... I didn't know you liked soccer.” Weiss replies “I do now. Oh, and by the way? It's called Foootbol...” Vaughn widens his eyes and smiles “I'm sorry?” Weiss enunciates “Fooot ball.” Mocking him, Vaughn asks “Futball?” Weiss accentuates “Fooot.” Vaughn deadpans “Right.” Nodding his head, Weiss repeats “Right” Vaughn smirks at his friend’s change.
Watching the match back at Tambor’s suite, Nadia comments “If I can be honest, the back four are solid, no question, but watching defensive footie is a little bit boring, really.” As she is leaning towards him to give her opinion, Nadia picks Tambor's PDA out of his jacket with her left hand. Tambor takes offense and replies “Not to me, huh?” Nadia says without a care “It's your money.” Sydney leans over Nadia’s shoulder to show her the gossip magazine, saying “Donata, can you believe that hag is dating the Prince of Greece?” Nadia exchanges the PDA from her left hand to her right hand behind her back, and then passes it to Sydney’s right hand under cover of the magazine. Nadia replies “Oh God. Doesn't she have any friends who can tell her she looks like trash?” Tambor gives them a sideways glance and rolls his eyes at hearing the gossip.
Weiss calls out in amazement “Wait, did you just see that? She just palmed the PDA from his jacket! That's magic, man. I showed her that with, like a business card. It’s like Fazham!” Vaughn chuckles, tiring of Weiss’ infatuation with Nadia, saying “No, no...I get it.” Weiss continues “She's amazing!” Smiling and nodding Vaughn insists “I get it, she’s incredible ... Fazham?” Weiss reiterates “Yeah, Fazham.” Vaughn snorts a laugh.
Watching the image of Sidney hand holding the copying device and the PDA behind her back, Marshall comments enthusiastically “Nice, they're doing it. They're cloning Tambor's PDA. She's good.”
Having finished the copying, Sydney points to one of the magazine's pictures and says “Oh my God, those boots are horrific!” Tambor, who is looking straight ahead at the TV, doesn’t notice Sydney handing the PDA back to Nadia. In mock outrage Nadia replies “I own those, b*tch!
Out of the blue, Weiss comments to Vaughn “It wouldn't be weird for you would it? If we were dating sisters?” Vaughn turns to his friend in surprise, then returns to watching the monitor and shakes his head a little.
Watching the TV screen, Nadia comments “Reno's lost his step since the knee surgery. You should replace him.” She reaches over with her left hand to slip the PDA back to Tambor, but the Club Lautrec team scores, causing him to jump up in disgust before she can do it. Tambor cries out “Idiote!” and storms away. Nadia has a worried expression, but Sydney who is hiding the cloning device in her cleavage is unaware of the problem. Watching his monitor, Vaughn worries aloud “Nadia's still got his PDA...come on!” Nadia looks over her shoulder at Sydney with a worried expression, shaking her head slightly, indicating she didn't get a chance to put the PDA back on Tambor. Bridget returns to the room, having switched from her green satin top and black skirt into a sequined black evening dress. She shows off the dress by announcing “Extraordinary.” Sydney complements “Oh, my God!” and Nadia adds “That dress is magnificent!” Just then Tambor searches his pockets and says “My PDA!” Weiss says in concern “Oh, God.” Sloane and Jack look on in concern as they hear Tambor announce “Anton! Search these two.” The guards come into the room. Tambor orders them “Search their bags.” Nadia hands her handbag to the younger man with an outraged expression on her face. Sydney protests “You can't be serious!” as the older guard takes Sydney's purse. Tambor says to Bridget “Where did you find them?” Syd continues to protest, adding “My God. This is insane!”
Still holding the PDA , Nadia goes to the couch and pretends to find it where they were sitting. Weiss looks on anxiously from his laptop. She announces “Is this what you're freaking out about? Tambor looks puzzled at first, then walks up to her to retrieve it, while studying her reaction. Nadia slaps it into his hand and then makes an outraged expression. Syd sighs in exasperation. Bridget comes up to Syd and advises her regretfully “You better go now.” Sydney agrees “Yeah...you think?” She and Nadia look at each other as if they’ve never been so insulted. Jack nods in agreement to their ploy, while Sloane looks on nervously. Syd continues “You were right. Your boyfriend is a total drag.” Nadia whispers “Come on.” Out in the hall, the two sisters walk away with satisfied grins on their faces.
Sometime later it is daytime in Los Angeles. Sloane is reprimanding Nadia and Sydney in his office, saying “You were given a direct order, one you chose to disregard.” Nadia replies in their defense “We gathered the necessary intelligence.” In a stern tone, Sloane says “That's not the point, Nadia. You report directly to me. I assessed the risks and determined they were too great, and still ... you both chose to defy orders.” Taking an insolent tone, Sydney replies “We did what we were tasked to do. End of story.” She turns around and walks towards the door before Sloane has finished with them. In a stern tone, Sloane calls out “I should remind you...” Sydney stops and turns to listen. Sloane continues “...you report to me. Nadia apologises “You're right. We disregarded a direct order. It won't happen again.” Sloane seems to accept her apology, but clarifies “Just so we don't have these misunderstandings again, let me be clear ... to both of you. Questioning my authority, whether its in this office or in the field is unacceptable.” Sydney rejoins her sister’s side in an aggravated state, saying “Unacceptable? Coming from you, that's almost funny.” Wanting to keep the peace, Nadia pleads “Sydney, please...” Sydney approaches him saying “Do you really want to engage in a conversation about what is...and what is not...acceptable?” She walks around his desk so that they are standing face-to-face. Syd continues “Every day I work here, I see your face in briefings, I hear your voice in my ear during missions, and you want to know what that's like? It makes me sick to my stomach.” Sloane looks saddened to hear this rant. Sydney continues “Having to pretend the past never happened, that you're not the same ... murderous, criminal sociopath you were three years ago...It makes me want to retch.” Tears well up in Nadia’s eyes to hear such rage, so she turns away in shame. Tears are welling up in Sydney’s eyes as well as she emphasises “If you want to talk unacceptable ... That is unacceptable.” Sloane nods with understanding, then says “I'd assumed that you had accepted the fact that I'd made amends for my past.” Sydney seems stunned and replies “Amends? Francie and Danny are gone ... And yet, here you are. And everywhere I look, I'm reminded of the man who killed them.” Sloane looks saddened and nods in understanding again, saying “I see.” Nadia looks back up at them, hurt by what she’s heard, just as Marshall bursts in with news. He announces “Hey, uh, Tambor's encryption program? I broke it... kind of brilliant on my part, but then again, the data itself was coded, so I had to cross-reference it with...” Sloane cuts him off “Marshall, what is it?” Marshall explains “Well, it looks like the sale of Black Thorine? It's going down in 16 hours.” Pointing in his direction, Sloane says “We'll be right there.” Marshall replies “Okay, you should hurry!” and turns to run out of the office. Nadia gives both Sydney and Sloane a pained glance before walking out to join Marshall. Sydney turns back to give Sloane another sad stare before leaving. Sloane appears to be troubled by Sydney rant.
The APO team is gathered in the briefing room listen to the latest intelligence. Jack states “The situation is critical. Tambor is selling the Black Thorine aboard his yacht, the Argento. We have less than 16 hours to get on that boat and retrieve the stolen vial.” Placing a satellite map on the tabletop scanner, Sloane adds “According to harbourmaster records, the Argento is sailing in the Black Sea in protected waters off Turkey, which means we have no choice but to go in stealth, without the cover of night.” Vaughn asks “Do we know who the buyer is?” Jack replies “No, but we do have an idea of where the Black Thorine is being stored.” Placing another sheet into the scanner, Jack points out “Here, in a cabin below deck. Marshall?” Marshall places a sheet into the scanner and says “Okay. Here is the schematic of the vault that you'll be dealing with. Its secured, built into the bulkhead, old school, so...whoever is going in ... You ... are going to need ... these. Uh, your basic safe-cracking tools.” Dixon says “Sounds simple.” Marshall replies “Not quite. Now, I found some receipts on Tambor's hard drive. Turns out he bought a Condor TL-60 free-standing safe last month. Now, I did some measurements, and oddly enough, it fits perfectly within the vault, so... I think it's safe to assume Tambor ... has a safe within a safe.” Nadia notes “He's certainly paranoid enough.” Vaughn asks “How do we crack it?” Marshall replies “The Condor uses a time-synchronized lock. It randomizes the combination every 60 seconds. Now, the combination appears on a key card with and LCD screen. Now, you can assume that Tambor will have it on him, sooooo ... You’re going to need this. This is a handheld wireless monitor, and this right here...” Opening what appears to be a small ring box, Marshall turns to Jack and jokes in a low voice “Will you marry me, Mr. Bristow?” Jack looks exasperated across the table at Sloane and then give Marshall the same look. Marshall looks embarrassed by deafening silence, so he resumes his presentation explaining “It's a wave millimeter camera. It'll allow you to read the combination through his clothing ... assuming he's not wearing a lead girdle ... doubtful, but you understand ... my point.” Sloane announces “There's a jet standing by. This is a high-risk mission. No backup. Vaughn, Dixon, this is your op. I'm sending you to the ship.” Sydney interrupts “If you don't mind, I'd like to finish what I started. Nadia joins in “So would I.” Sloane turns to look at Jack, but doesn’t respond to their request.
Jack follows Sloane into his office, arguing “They are the two best divers!” Sloane replies “For me to send them after the way they behaved in Monte Carlo, not to mention the way Sydney just behaved in my office, would be tantamount to rewarding them for insubordination. I thought I would have your support on this.” Jack pauses, then says in a gentle tone “Arvin, the nuance of fatherhood may elude me, but there is one thing I am sure of. You are not going to forge any kind of bond with Nadia if you attempt to keep her from working with her sister.” Sloane’s gaze drops as he quietly contemplates what he’s just heard.
Onboard the yacht, Argento, anchored offshore the Turkish coast in the Black Sea, Tambor is entertaining visitors in the stateroom, saying “I told him, ‘If you don't win us next game, you're going to suffer a painful training injury, huh?’” The guests chuckle. An older, dark haired man wearing glasses is the head man. Pouring herself a drink, Miss Bridget says dryly “Is that why you doubled his salary?” Tambor looks annoyed that she would consciously make him look bad in front of important guests, but he smiles at the men as if she was kidding.
The armed guard at the upper deck doesn’t notice two scuba divers climbing up a rope at the bow of the yacht. Back at the APO, Marshall and Jack listen through their headsets for progress reports. Sydney reports via her com-link “Phoenix to base. We're on deck.” Sloane advises “Proceed with caution.” Sydney replies “Copy that. We're moving in.” We see Sydney and Nadia on deck, stowing their scuba gear into a storage bin. We also see a van parked at the end of a pier. Inside, Dixon and Vaughn listen to Syd report “We're going below deck. We'll be radio silent until we reach the safe.” Vaughn replies “Roger that.”
Sydney and Nadia slip into a room unseen. Nadia removes a painting from the wall concealing the wall safe. Sydney sticks Marshall’s wave millimeter camera device to the window of the adjoining stateroom where Tambor is with the guests. Nadia prepares her safe cracking tools. Sydney activates her notebook computer and picks up the feed to the next room. Vaughn reports “Phoenix, we've got a visual.” Syd replies “Copy that. Switching to millimeter wave.” Looking at the image, Vaughn says to Dixon “Freeze it there. Save it.” Typing into his laptop computer, Dixon replies “Stand by. Enhancing the image.”
Inside the stateroom, the head man blows a smoke ring while enjoying his cigar, saying “I always believe in pleasure before business. But, that being said...” Back at the APO, Sloane says “Marshall, rewind the feed.” Jack asks with concern “Is there a problem?” Looking at an enlargement of the man with the glasses, Sloane orders “Marshall, pull up everything we have about Leo Orissa.” Marshall punches into his keyboard “Leo....Orissa...okay.” A photo and description of the man appear onscreen. Sloane and Jack read the profile in interest.
Back in the yacht, Tambor instructs his associate “Anton, get the man what he came for, huh?” and hands the key card to him. Orissa interrupts “If, if you don't mind, I would like first for my chemist to conduct a little test, uh...” Tambor suggests “A precaution.” Orissa nods in agreement and makes a “Hmm” sound.
In the next room, Nadia picks at the lock to the outer safe, which beeps in response to being unlocked. She puts away her lock picks and opens the outer door. Inside is a an inner safe with a keypad on its door. Nadia flips open her notebook computer and then com-links “Ready.” Dixon responds “Copy that. Scanning Tambor for the latest combination.” We see Dixon examine a thermal scan and read out “The code is: 42687.” Nadia types in the numbers and then opens the inner safe. She is shocked to see several litre-sized canisters inside, not a vial as Lieutenant Grodsky reported. Nadia calls out “Oh my God...we need a bigger case.”
Back in the satet room, Tambor waves his permission to the chemist to accompany his associate to test the Black Thorine. The two men leave the room.
Watching on her notebook computer, Sydney warns her sister “Close it up...now!” Nadia closes both doors to the safes and hangs the painting back in place. Together they hide in a closet. The henchman enters with the chemist and takes down the picture hiding the wall safe. Nadia and Sydney watch from a crack in the door as the guard starts to open the safes.
Tambor asks Orissa “So, you never told me -- What do plan to do with your purchase?” The older man smiles and replies “It is interesting, actually ... We plan on taking control of your entire operation.” Tambor is stunned for a moment and then laughs. Looking towards Bridget, he waves at Orissa and says “This guy...” Bridget has a serious expression, then smiles to herself. Orissa smirks.
Back at the APO, Marshall asks Sloane “You know this guy?” Sloane replies ominously “He's an old friend.” Jack looks at him with concern.” Marshall jokes “Bad-ass friend.”
Back onboard the Argento, Orissa and his men are still laughing. Tambor comes to realize that Orissa is not kidding. Bridget pulls a handgun hidden behind the liquor bottles and aims it at Tambor. Tambor sees her and moves to the side just in time as she opens fire. Orissa draws his pistol and fires at Tambor too, but he manages to run down the corridor. Hearing the gunshots, the chemist draws his pistol and shoots the startled guard dead while Sydney and Nadia watch in horror. Tambor’s guards are slow to react to the betrayal and get shot by Orissa's henchmen. The chemist leaves the room to see if the others need his help. Sydney and Nadia run from the closet and head for the topside. Two of Orissa’s henchmen head down one of the corridors, unaware of Sydney and Nadia onboard. The sisters don’t want to be discovered and they aren’t armed either. As Bridget and Orissa make their way on the starboard side of the main deck towards the bow, Sydney and Nadia hurry along the port side headed for the bow too. The sisters get their scuba gear from the storage bin and jump feet-first overboard. Moments later Tambor comes up the port side of the main deck and head for the bow. Bridget and Orissa come around the bow and find Tambor coming at them. They look at each other for several seconds, before Bridget says “You don't treat a girlfriend like that.” Tambor is dumbfounded.
From underwater, we hear a gunshot and see a body splash and sink down. The body of Tambor sinks past Sydney and Nadia who are buddy-breathing from a single air tank.
Back at APO, Marshall chews his nails nervously as nothing but static is heard over the com-link. Sloane radios “Phoenix, Evergreen, do you copy?” as Jack looks on in concern. Inside the surveillance van, Vaughn and Dixon nervously wait for a response too. They only hear Sloane calling “I repeat, do you copy?
Back on the yacht, one of Orissa's henchmen opens the door to the interior safe and begins unloading the canisters of Black Thorine into protective carrying cases.
Sydney and Nadia surface together and swim to the nearby dock. Syd re-establishes radio contact by com-link, saying “Phoenix to base. Tambor and his men are dead. Ambushed.” Sloane fills them in, saying “By Leo Orissa, head of a Russian Organized Crime Syndicate. I used to work with him ... when I was head of SD-6.” Nadia turns to look at Syd with a surprised expression. Sydney has a displeased look about Sloane for a moment and then focuses on Orissa, saying “He has a link on the inside. The girlfriend fed him everything he needed.” Jack asks “They're in possession of the vial?” Nadia replies “A lot more than that. At least ten canisters.” Marshall comments “Ten more (canisters)? Tambor must have reverse-engineered it.” Jack concludes “Which means they're manufacturing it. Tambor has a lab somewhere.” Sydney says “Orissa must know where it is.” Sloane concludes “Orissa's associates are most likely securing the Black Thorine for transport. Nadia, can you take them out alone?” Nadia replies “I think so.” Sloane cryptically announces “Given my history with Orissa, I believe he'll be willing to talk.” Sydney wonders how he knows that would be possible by asking Sloane “How?” Not wanting to explain, Sloane replies “Sydney, in order for this to work, you're going to have to listen to me. You're going to have to trust me.” Sydney gives Nadia a doubtful look.
A short time later onboard the late Tambor's boat still anchored offshore, Sydney climbs the stairs to the top deck. She walks up unnoticed to Orissa who is enjoying a drink and Bridget who is reading a gossip magazine. Sydney announces herself by saying “Hello again.” Orissa is startled. Bridget grabs a pistol laying on top of two folded towels and points it at Sydney. Syd cooly says “My employer won't be happy if you pull that trigger.” Orissa is outraged, saying “Your employer? Who the hell do you work for?” Back at the APO, Sloane instructs via com-link “Tell him.” Sydney informs him “I work for Arvin Sloane.” Orissa rises slowly with a look of astonishment, and pushes Bridget's gun arm down.
One deck below, a henchman is carrying two cases of Black Thorine. As he walks near a doorway, he gets knocked out by a fire extinguisher to the side of his head by Nadia. She grabs the two cases and runs down the hallway in the other direction.
Back on the upper deck, Orissa says with irritation “He's demanding 50 percent?” Sydney quickly adds “Including all future profits from this venture.” Orissa huffs, then comments “Arvin always had a...an odd sense of humour.” Sydney replies “I came unarmed, out of respect ... So we could talk ... like gentlemen.” She has an ironic expression as she says this. Bridget snaps “You are not seriously considering making a deal with this woman?” Sloane warns “Do not let her derail this, Sydney.” Looking at Bridget, Sydney warns her “I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you. You're the one who made it easy. You practically drew us a map!” Outraged, Orissa turns on Bridget, saying “You? You led Sloane to me?” Bridget apologises “I thought she was just some kind of...” Before she can finish, Orissa backhands Bridget across the face.
Back below, another of Orissa’s henchmen loading more Black Thorine into a case. He gets kicked in the back by Nadia, who then grabs his head, slams it against the interior of the safe and then slam the safe door to his head, knocking him out.
Orissa turns to Sydney and tells her “Fine. I agree to his terms.” Sloane radios Syd “Ask for insurance.” Sydney tells Orissa “Mr. Sloane will be pleased. Of course, he needs a sign of good faith.” Exasperated, Orissa shakes his head as if he asks “What more does he want?” Sydney replies “The location of the lab.”
Nadia is removing a canisters when the chemist holds a gun to her head and says “Don't move.” Pausing to access her situation, Nadia spins to her right and chops the gun from his hand. She throws a right punch to the head, but it gets blocked. Her punch to the stomach gets blocked and he catches her punch at his head. Holding her hand, the chemist punches her in the stomach. Nadia hits him back in the stomach, causing him to groan. The chemist slams her back against a wall, holding Nadia by the neck.
Sloane advises Sydney “Mention my friend Dr. Chaleb ... What I did to him ... after he betrayed me.” Sydney says to Orissa “I assume you haven't forgotten Dr. Chaleb ... what Sloane did to him?” His mouth drops momentarily. Sloane has a distasteful expression as he narrates to Sydney “The sound of his own screaming woke him up.” Inside the surveillance van, Vaughn and Dixon listen, disturbed by Sloane’s recollections. Sloane continues “He saw everything burning around him ... including his own flesh.” Sydney recounts to Orissa “The fire ... the smell of his own flesh burning, the screams.” Sloane continues “I imagine he spends his days ... nights ... wishing I had finished the job. Wishing that he were dead.” Sydney say to Orissa “His body doesn't work, but his mind does. He's a living corpse. Sloane didn't show enough mercy to kill him.”
Down below, Nadia punches the chemist to the head, sending him backwards. She blocks two of his punches and counters with another punch to the face. Nadia blocks his counter attack and knock him out with a jumping kick.
On the upper deck, Sydney continues to work on Orissa, saying “Let me tell you something I know: Arvin Sloane is cruel. He's inhuman.” Sloane looks like he can’t believe how much Sydney loathes him. Jack looks at him with pity. Syd continues “If you make this difficult, he will come after you. And not just you.” Vaughn and Jack listen captivated at Syd’s hatred for Sloane. Sloane looks hurt. Sydney continues “Your friends will not be spared. Your family will not be spared. If he chooses to let you live ... you'll spend every waking minute of your life reminded of what he's cost you. Word to the wise ... give him what he wants.” Marshall looks stunned, then he slowly turn to see what Sloane's reaction is. Jack looks like he is concerned for Sloane. Sloane appears to be crushed with sadness.
Back on the yacht, Orissa looks beaten down by the story of Sloane’s wrath. He tells Sydney “The lab ... it's in the Ukraine. Khmel’nitsky.” Outraged, Bridget screams “You son of a b*tch!” She grabs the pistol and shoots Orissa in the forehead from point blank range. Turning to shoot at Sydney, she gets the gun kicked out of her hand. Sydney does a spinning punch to her jaw and ducks Bridget’s left punch attempt. Bridget’s attempted right punch gets blocked. Syd counters with an elbow strike to the head and a right foot to Bridget’s gut. Bridget puts up her hands in a cross defense against Sydney’s kick, catches her punch and counters with a knee to Syd’s gut. She grabs Syd’s head and tries to smash her head against a countertop. But Syd manages to stop her head in time by bracing her arms against the countertop. They wrestle and Bridget tackles her off the top deck onto the main deck. The two are stunned, but Bridget recovers first and kicks Syd in the chest. Bridget grabs a rope and starts to strangle Sydney with it. Nadia comes running and kicks Bridget in the back, causing her release Sydney. Nadia elbows Bridget in the face twice and then runs her face-first into the side of the ship. Assuming that Bridget is unconscious, Nadia rushes to check on Syd. But Bridget crawls over toward a pistol on top of a chair, while Sydney dives for the gun on the deck. Sydney gets to her pistol first and shoots Bridget as she is taking aim. Sydney and Nadia exchange looks of relief now that Bridget has been killed.
Over in the surveillance van Vaughn and Dixon hear Sydney radio “Phoenix to base. We're ready for pickup.” Vaughn responds “You have no idea how glad I am to hear that.” Dixon informs them “I'll call the chopper.”
Back at the APO, Jack and Sloane remove their headsets. As Sloane is walking away, Jack calls out to console him, saying “Arvin ... You did what you had to do.” Sloane turns to face him and replies with regret “Yes .... Although I imagine it's the last time I'll be working with your daughter.” Sloane walks away, leaving Jack to stare after him, wondering what he is thinking.
Dusk is approaching onboard the yacht. Sydney is sitting on the deck, thinking, when Nadia walks up and offers her a bottle of vodka. Syd smiles and takes it from her. Nadia sits down beside her as Sydney takes a swig. Syd passes the bottle back to her to take a swig also. Sydney comments “You did a good job.” Nadia replies “I was gonna say the same thing to you.” They share a brief smile. Nadia comments “I never imagined this ... I didn't even know spies were real until I was recruited.” Sydney asks “From school?” Nadia shakes her head and explains “From a juvenile detention home. When I was young, I was reckless ... angry. I remember one judge said he thought I was lost. He wasn't wrong.” Syd looks like she feels sorry about her life. Nadia continues “My training agent used to tell me I was good at getting in and out of situations without being noticed. Not to mention I had no one. No family, no ties ... I couldn't be compromised because I was alone ... I always thought that's what made me a good spy.” After a long pause, Sydney asks “And now?” Nadia smiles and replies “I might have been wrong.” It takes a few seconds before Sydney smiles back and takes another swig. She passes the bottle back and then gets a pensive look..
Sometime later back at the APO, Weiss is entertaining Nadia with card tricks. Sitting on the corner of her desk and slowly flipping through the deck of cards, Weiss says “Just say stop anywhere.” Looking at the cards, Nadia calls out “Okay, stop!” Weiss stops and pulls a card from the deck, saying “Okay...is that your card?” She replies reluctantly “Nnnooo.” Holding up the Ten of Hearts, Weiss comments “This wasn't your card?” Nadia replies “It is not.” Weiss seems confused and asks “Are you sure?” Nadia appears to feel sorry for him as she says “It's not at all my card.” Weiss comments “Okay, I think you're lying, but hold onto that”, handing her a card face down, then asking “You sure?” Nadia makes a “Mm-hmm” sound. Weiss says in embarrassment “Well, that's never happened.” Nadia replies “Sorry.” Weiss looks through the cards and says “Hold on...hold on one second...what was your card?” Nadia replies “Queen of Spades.” Weiss seems surprised and says “The Queen of Spades? You said that wasn't your card.” He points towards Nadia's card. Nadia assures him “It is not.” Flipping the card over, she is surprised to see that it is now the Queen of Spades” and says excitedly with a big grin “How did you do that? This is incredible!” Weiss has a humble smile as he replies “It's not incredible, it's child's play...I've got a million of them.” Weiss is captivated with the delight on her face, saying “Your smile is so unbelievable.” Just then Vaughn walks up and says to Weiss “We going?” Weiss replies “Uh, yeah we're going. We're just flirting here, if you don't mind.” Vaughn says “Sorry” and smirks.
Sydney walks into Sloane's office with a serious expression on her face. Sloane has his hands folded in front of his mouth and a pensive expression on his face. She comes to a stop in front of his desk and he tells her “Langley is pleased. They located the production facility for Black Thorine. The raid was successful.” Sydney nods slightly and replies without emotion “I'm happy to hear it.” Sloane nods and resumes his pensive expression before saying “So Sydney, I contacted Chase...She's expecting a call from you regarding a transfer from this unit. Given your sentiments, I assume that's what you want.” Sydney expression changes from surprise into determination, and leans forward to make eye contact with him, saying with a low tone “I want to make something clear: I will never forgive you for what you've done to me ... To the people I love ... No amount of time or distance will ever change that.” Syd raises her eyebrows for emphasis. Sloane looks up at her with sadness in his eyes. Sydney straightens back up and resumes her normal tone “I'll see you tomorrow.” Syd turns and walks out of the room to join up with Nadia, Weiss and Vaughn, who are enjoying a laugh in the corridor. Sloane expression changes from sadness and regret to one of watching them with interest from behind his clasped hands.
END
2/16/2005
Summary by superintelligentone aka SIO
We start in a bar in Irkutsk, Russsia at night, where a jukebox is playing a woman singing a melancholy song. A babushka wearing, woman bartender, whose face is obscured by liquor bottles, is pouring drinks. At the first table next to the windows, Vaughn is meeting Lieutenant Anatoly Grodsky. Tapping the table nervously, the soldier says in Russian “You came alone, yes?” Vaughn quickly reaches out with his left hand to stop the conspicuous drumming and then looks up at him with concern, saying in Russian “The information, Anatoly.” Switching to English, the lieutenant says in self disgust “I'm an officer. I swore an oath never to betray State secrets.” Impatiently, Vaughn says in English “You said it was important. Highest national security. What is it?” Reluctantly, Grodsky admits “Russia's been developing Black Thorine.” Vaughn questions in disbelief “Developing? (You mean) Researching.” The lieutenant reiterates “Producing! We've made some. We've only been able to distill a small amount - ten milliliters. Enough for a single vial.” He adds in disgust “This government will stop at nothing to contain this information.” Vaughn asks “So why tell me?” After a moment of hesitation, Anatoly replies “Because the vial was stolen.” Vaughn is momentarily stunned and then asks “by whom?” Reaching into his coat pocket, Grodsky pulls out a small slip of paper and says “This is the routing number to my superior's bank account.” Passing the paper to Vaughn, he adds “He's recently come into a great deal of money.” Hearing the bar door open and shut, both men look up as two soldiers dressed in camouflage uniforms and wearing paratrooper style hats approach them. The leader announces in Russian “Lieutenant Anatoly Grodsky, come with us.” Grodsky rises from his seat as the soldiers point their semi-automatic handguns at him. Vaughn can scarcely believes his eyes as his contact reaches behind for a pistol. Grodsky is shot dead by the soldier in charge before he can complete his draw. The soldier then points his gun at Vaughn and asks in Russian “Who are you?” Shaking his head ‘no’, Vaughn replies in Russian “I'm not the one you need to worry about.” Responding to her cue, Sydney whose cover was working as the bartender, attacks the rear soldier with a mop, breaking the mop head on his gun hand, which causes him to lose his weapon. Taking advantage of the distraction, Vaughn rises and kicks the handgun from the first soldier. Syd hits her opponent with the mop a second time, but this time he grabs the mop and pulls it from her hands as he delivers a right side kick to her gut. As Sydney staggers back, the soldier swings the mop handle like a martial arts staff at her. Syd dodges the swing by stepping back, and counter attacks with a right forearm smash to the face. Vaughn punches his soldier in the stomach, doubling him over. Sydney and her soldier wrestle for the pole, but his superior size and weight enables him to push her onto her back against the bar, trying to press the wooden handle against her throat. Vaughn punches his opponent in the gut twice, then grabbing his jacket, rams him face-first into a mirror on the wall. Still straining to keep the pole from strangling her, Sydney shifts her weight to her right and smashes the soldier to the right side of his head quarterstaff style, causing him to release his grip. Syd then smashes him even harder a second time. She takes to the floor and performs a spinning quarterstaff chop to the left side of his head causing him to fall to the floor. Turning from his unconscious opponent, Vaughn sees Syd’s opponent struggling to get up, so he finishes him off with a left forearm smash to the head, rendering him unconscious. As Sydney drops the mop handle, Vaughn says “Let's go!” As they leave the bar, they each turn to look back once.
Sometime later in Los Angeles, it is nighttime as the fatigued, glasses wearing Sydney returns home. She is surprised to hear Sloane greet her “Sydney. We didn't expect you back so soon.” Syd is unhappy to see that he and Nadia are sitting at the counter enjoying a drink together. Without saying a word, she walks down the stairs and takes a spot behind counter, across from them. Taking a sip of from his glass and then setting it down on the countertop, Sloane says “So, Russia was a success.” Cutting him off with a cold tone, Syd curtly responds “Yeah.” Nadia looks downwards, ashamed of the palpable tension between her two family members. Staring at Sloane and maintaining her icy tone, Sydney says pointedly “There's a report waiting for you ... in the office.” Sloane stares and purses his lips in response. Nadia apologises “Sydney, he just dropped by. I didn't realize...” Still giving Sloane an icy stare, Sydney doesn’t even look in her direction as she cuts her off in order to say to him, “Get out.” Sloane blinks then looks down, disappointed in her treatment of him and says regretfully “All right.” He leans over and gives a fatherly kiss to Nadia on the cheek. Nadia’s lips kiss the air as he kisses her, returning his affection. Sloane tells his daughter “I'll walk myself out.” Sydney looks like she can’t believe that show of affection, and then turns to Nadia with a disapproving expression. Nadia looks at Syd, then looks downward in regret. Sloane turns and announces softly “Okay, I'll see you both tomorrow. Nadia replies “Okay”, but Sydney doesn’t bother to respond. Sloane looks at them with an inscrutable expression for a moment, then heads up the stairs and out the front door.
In an apologetic tone, Nadia explains to Sydney “He came by...Wanted to talk. He says he wants a fresh start; to get to know me”. Nadia has an optimistic smile as she says this. Shaking her head slightly, Syd says sarcastically “You think that's all he wants? A little father-daughter bonding?” Nadia tries to explain “I know you feel about him” but Sydney cuts her off harshly saying “You can't possibly.” After a second of uncomfortable silence, Nadia says “I don't understand, you work with him at APO.” Sydney explains “I accepted the job so I could watch him. Don't delude yourself, Nadia, into thinking you can trust that man! Do that, and you will end up hating yourself for it.” Reacting to the tone of Sydney’s warning, Nadia objects “He's my father!” Shaking her head with disapproval, Sydney doesn’t even make eye contact as she says “If you knew what he's done...” Nadia immediately clears up that misconception by saying “Sydney, I know. I know what he did ... to you. What he took from you -- your best friend -- your fiancé.” After a few seconds of staring at her sister, Sydney says in disapproval “And knowing that, you still let him into my home.” With tears welling up in her eyes, Nadia looks downward to compose herself before saying “I'm not naive, Sydney. I'm not deluded. It's not easy to reconcile the past. I thought you had.” Still looking at her sister, Sydney turns to look away and then downwards with a regretful expression, perhaps in recognition of what was said.
The next morning in the briefing room, the APO team are discussing what was learned from the Russian contact. Nadia asks “The development of Black Thorine -- that violates how many treaties?” Sloane replies “Twelve, to be exact.” Marshall points out “Well, there's a reason. You know, it's a mega-breakthrough in explosives. It's odourless, undetectable, I, uh...ran a simulation. Check it out.” They all turn and watch the monitors as a huge fireball erupts from a large office building. Marshall whistles in admiration, then says “(Impressive) Huh? I levelled an entire city block, and that’s just a little drop of Black Thorine...Imagine if you add the whole...vial...” Realising that he is being enthusiastic about a weapon of mass destruction, he changes his tone and says regretfully “Actually...it's a really...depressing...take on progress.” Seeing that he has finished rambling, Weiss asks “Are we sure there's only one vial?” Sloane replies “The Russians are stonewalling. They refuse to admit the existence of the substance, much less that they're developing one. But my sources confirm that they're panicking.”
Sydney looks up at hearing this and pointedly notes “Your sources?” Sloane seems to be caught off-guard by the tone of her question, then composes himself to say “If that vial is their only prototype as the intel appears to corroborate, its theft has set their classified weapons program back decades.” Interrupting once again, Sydney increases her level of hostility as she presses on “Would you mind telling us where that intel comes from?” Jack looks astonished at her behaviour. Or are we all supposed to rely on your sources...no questions asked. Vaughn at her with an uncomfortable stare, while Weiss and Marshall exchange concerned expressions about her tirade. Sloane diplomatically responds “It's a fair question .... but one I'm not inclined to answer, unless you need me to explain the essential nature of confidentiality.” Maintaining her steely stare, replies with sarcasm “No, I'm all caught up on that, thanks.” Nadia looks like it grieves her to see her loved ones fighting. Sloane continues the topic at hand “What matters is that we recover the vial.” He and Syd exchange glances as Jack passes out file folders and announces “We were able to trace the routing number the informant gave Vaughn. Two million Euros were deposited into the account of Colonel Nikolai Voskov. The money came from this man, Boris Tambor. Two different surveillance photos of the man appear on the monitors. Recognizing the man’s name, Vaughn asks “The Russian oil magnate?” Jack clarifies “Tambor might have made his money in oil, but he's since diversified into mining, media outlets, and his latest venture, arms dealing.” Reading from her folder, Nadia notes “Seems Tambor's quite a player. High-end real estate all over Europe.” Sydney notes “He owns a fleet of sports car -- Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys...” Weiss wisecracks “This guy's living my junior high fantasy...” Marshall joins in with a smirk “Or my current one...” Sloane brings the meeting back to order, saying “Tambor keeps his entire operation mobile. Never stays in one place too long. Right now, he's booked into the San Devotee in Monte Carlo.” Jack adds “He takes a regular seat at the high-stakes poker table every night at 9:00. That will be your window (of opportunity).” Looking at Sydney, Sloane announces “Your mission is to get into Tambor's suite, find out where he keeps the Black Thorine, how he plans to move it. You leave tonight. Wheels up, 22:00.” Sydney immediately leaves the table without a word or glance for anyone. Sloane studies her leaving, unhappy with her conduct.
A short time later, Sydney is sitting quietly at her desk, lost deep in thought. Dixon who is sitting at the desk next to hers, looks at her with concern. Syd stops staring ahead, realizing that someone is approaching and looks down to resume her work. Dixon seats himself on the corner of Sydney's desk and looks her in the eyes with sympathetic concern for several seconds, then asks “You wanna tell me about it?” Syd is very hesitant to confide and adverts her eyes for a few seconds before revealing “Sloane... He was in my house ... last night, to visit Nadia. I came home. He was sitting in my living room.” Dixon sighs and says “Oh”, nodding in understanding. After a pause, Sydney has a regretful expression as she explains “I thought I could do this -- work for Sloane again, but now ... I don't know. I think I might have been kidding myself.” Sydney turns to look at Dixon for guidance. They share a long look at each other, before he says “I dream about Diane (his assassinated wife). Which isn't unusual, I've been told ... Except for me? It's almost every night. These dreams ... are always the same. At some point I get to her, and I hold her face ... and I can see it in her eyes -- the disappointment ... in me. That I couldn't prevent what happened. Then ... She tells me that she loves me ... that she loves the kids. And she asks me to do the right thing. She doesn't ask me to; she tells me to. And that's...how...I...make...peace ... with Sloane.” Dixon emphasizes “I don't put the past away, or compartmentalize it ... I transmute it. I make it the right decision, (for) today.” Sydney is touched by him revealing something so personal about how he copes with such tragedy, then says after a few seconds “I hope I'm capable of that.” Dixon assures her “I know you are.” A smile comes to Sydney’s face at hearing Dixon’s confidence in her. He leaves her with a pat on her shoulder and a fatherly kiss on the forehead. After he leaves, Sydney returns to her contemplation.
Nadia chambers a round into her SIG Sauer P220 semi-automatic pistol and takes aim at a target at the firing range. She is wearing hearing protection and protective glasses as she fires 7 headshots at the target silhouette. As Nadia removes her hearing protection and protective glasses, Sydney approaches from behind. Nadia whips her head around detecting someone behind her. Sydney apologises “Sorry about last night.” Nadia is conciliatory, shaking her head and saying “It was my fault. My father is one of the reasons that...” Shaking her head, Sydney interrupts “You don't have to explain. I get it.” Nadia nods and looks expectantly, waiting to hear what else her sister has to say. Syd continues “When our mother came back, she -- she had done her share of bad things.” Nadia looks downward with regret saying “I know.” Sydney confesses “But still ... I needed to know her. I just did.” Nadia understands that Syd is saying that she sees a parallel with her need to know Sloane, so a smile comes to her face as she says “Thanks.” Sydney smiles back at her sister for accepting their personal détente. Sydney says playfully “Nice shot” and steps up to her firing area. Nadia understands that to be invitation for a little competition. Putting on their protective glasses and hearing protection, they glance at each and then fire at their targets. Both of them glance at how well the other is doing. Sydney’s target is full of headshots. Nadia's target shows that she switched from the easier shots to the heart to the more difficult headshots.
Nighttime at the Monte Carlo hotel San Devotee. Inside their suite, Vaughn is readying the laptop computers, Sydney is cleaning her pistol, while Nadia adjusts the name tag on her maid uniform in front of a gilded mirror. Weiss walks up from behind and looks over her shoulder. He reads aloud from the mirror “‘Gretchen?’” Shaking his head, he chuckles “I don't buy you as a Gretchen.” Nadia turns to look at him and jokes in German “Nein? Und was scheine ich zu sein, Herr Weiss?” (No? And what do I seem to be, Mister Weiss?”) Weiss is taken off-guard by her ability to speak German, glancing at the others before saying “Whoa...uh, I, uh...okay.” Sydney calls out “Okay, guys. We have one hour. You all know the drill.” Vaughn who is sitting at the computer replies “Surveille the room, get in, get out with the Black Thorine.”
Nadia is vacuuming outside of Tambor's suite in front of two men guarding his door. From their suite, Sydney is using an electric drill to bore a hole in the wall that adjoins Tambor's suite. Nadia’s purpose of vacuuming is to conceal the sound of the drilling. Watching Syd’s progress, Vaughn radios by com-link “Evergreen, maintain position. We're almost there.” Nadia continues vacuuming in hallway as one guard looks to his partner to convey his annoyance. Sydney finishes boring a hole through the wall and announces “Okay, I'm in.” Vaughn conveys to Nadia “Evergreen, you're clear.” She turns off vacuum, which causes the annoyed guard to have a look of relief as he returns to looking straight ahead. Back inside the suite, Sydney snakes a fiberoptic line into the hole and announces “I'm inserting camera now.” At his position, Weiss asks “Ready for sound?” Typing into his laptop, Vaughn replies “Patching audiovisual feeds now. A closed circuit feed over the desk in Tambor's room appears on their screens. Back at the APO, Marshall acknowledges it by announcing “Copy that.” Jack and Sloane stand behind him watching the monitor. Vaughn announces “Okay, I've got a visual on Tambor.” On his computer screen Vaughn sees Tambor sit down at the desk and open his laptop.
Nadia arrives in front of a suite and taps the brass knocker, announcing “Housekeeping.” A well dressed woman steps out of an elevator with a bellman carrying several designer shopping bags for her. Nadia takes note of the woman as she enters a suite one door down, across the hall from her. The door in front of Nadia opens to reveal that it’s Weiss in their suite. Weiss jokes “Oh, I'm sorry; I ordered a French maid. Nadia smiles and places the fresh towels that she's holding into his arms, whispering “Here you go” and enters. Weiss pokes his head outside to check the corridor, steps back and closes the door.
A short time later, Sydney announces “The laptop's our priority. After that, we go for the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant - Palm Pilot - notebook computer). Noting the time, Weiss asks “What's going on? I thought this guy hits the tables every night by 9:00?” Sydney replies “That's what we know.” Weiss points out “Yeah, well it's 9:06.” Watching the closed circuit feed of Tambor’s room, Vaughn notes “Oh, here we go” as Tambor closes his laptop and gets up from the desk. But instead of heading down to the casino as expected, Tambor pours himself a drink. In astonishment, Nadia calls out “What's he doing?” Tambor picks up a remote control and turns on the television set to watch a soccer match. Admiring the suite, Marshall turns to Jack and says “Look at that room. That's nice. Check out those digs!” Jack gives him a look that tells Marshall to concentrate on the mission. He asks “Marshall, what soccer match is that?” Searching through the TV listings by computer Marshall replies “Uh, um, let me... Sorry, I'm not much of a sports fan. I’m more of a Scrabble club type. Boggle tournament if I'm feeling dangerous.” Three sub windows open from Marshall’s search inquiry. From the TV listings window, ‘Slovak Devils vs. Club Lautrec’ pops up. Sloane announces to the team “Guys ... Tambor owns the team.” Everyone reacts badly to the news because they realise that is why he isn’t going down to the casino. Weiss comments “He's kidding, right?” Sydney notes “So he's in for the night.” Vaughn sighs in frustration, then points out “He checks out first thing in the morning. If we don't get him there tonight, get the data off that computer, we lose him.” Looking at the closed circuit feed from Tambor's room, Nadia notices something and calls out “Wait a minute.” We see a zoom in on a bottle of perfume on a table as Nadia comments “I hate that perfume. It has a weird Patchouli smell.” Weiss has a confused expression on his face because he doesn’t under stand the relevance. But Sydney does and adds “You see under the bed, the slingbacks?” Nadia nods and points out “Champagne bottles on the night stand.” In quick succession Syd notes “Check out the magazines” and Nadia adds “Designer purse.” The sisters are in sync, but the men don’t understand. Sydney says to her sister “It's a shot.” Vaughn has a confused expression, while Weiss asks “What's a shot? What are you talking about?” Not bothering to explain to the men, Nadia says to her sister “I know where to get what we need” and heads for the door. Weiss is still confused and asks Syd “Wait a minute...where's she going?” Vaughn asks Sydney “You mind filling us in?” Sydney explains what she and Nadia have discovered “Tambor's got a girlfriend. She's staying with him. She's our way in.” Sloane, at APO, cuts in to voice his disapproval, saying “We have no intel on that woman. You'll be going in blind, Sydney.” Syd contradicts him, saying in quick succession “We know enough. She has gossip rags all over the room, which means she's fine making a mess, which means she's not a one-night stand.” Vaughn turns to Weiss with an expression conveying astonishment that Sydney can come to these conclusions from what the men have overlooked. Weiss looks on in fascination. Sydney adds “Her shoes cost more money than most people's monthly salary, so either she has money of her own or access to Tambor's. Either way...empty champagne bottles, her side of the bed...this girl likes to party.” We see that Marshall, who is listening to Sydney’s explanation back at the APO, smiles in appreciation of her powers of observation and deductive reasoning. Sloane, however isn’t impressed. His face shows that he is thinking she is grandstanding. Sydney continues “But her boyfriend would rather stay in and watch TV their last night in Monte Carlo than hang out with her, so she's bored. Most likely pissed off.” Back at the APO, Jack asks her “How do you propose to find her?” Sydney replies “Well, she left her handbag. She didn't go far. In fact, I'm guessing she's hitting the hotel bar right now. All Nadia and I need to do is get to her and get her to take us to the room.” Turning her attention to Vaughn, Syd asks “Why are you smiling?” Vaughn gives her a big smile and replies “I don’t know.” A smirk comes to Sydney’s face, realising that Vaughn won’t admit that he is impressed with her. Nadia returns with garment bags over her right arm and the shopping bags that the porter had been carrying earlier in her left hand. Weiss greets her by saying “Where'd you get this stuff?” Nadia replies cheerfully “I borrowed them.” Weiss teases “You stole it, didn't you?” Turning to Vaughn, he says with a trace of pride “She stole the stuff.” Vaughn grins with amusement. Sloane voices his concern, saying “Nadia, this could jeopardize the entire mission.” Sydney and Nadia, disregard what he’s saying as they look through the bags for items to wear as disguises. Sloane continues “Tambor's security team saw you. If they recognize you as the maid, they will not hesitate to take action. Nadia replies “With all due respect, no one pays attention to the help. I promise they won't recognize me.” Sydney holds up a red dress and then gives Nadia a big smile of delight.
Wearing their newly acquired fashions, Sydney in the red dress and Nadia in a violet dress, strut their way through the hotel bar. Noticing the scent of the perfume as she walks by a woman dressed in a green satin top at the bar, Nadia whispers to her sister, “Patchouli.” Having found their target, Sydney puts her cellphone to her ear and begins their act. Nadia seats herself two places down from Tambor’s girlfriend at the bar. Sydney takes the seat between the two of them. Having a simulated argument on her cellphone, Sydney calls out “Wait a minute, wait a minute...What do you mean? Well, guess what? I'm sick of your pathetic excuses!” She gives Nadia a ‘I told him off’ look as she hangs up the phone. Tambor’s girlfriend can’t help but notice and looks on in interest. Sydney tells her sister “He's not coming.” Making an outraged expression, Nadia says “You still have his charge card, right?” Looking on, the woman smiles, understanding that running up a boyfriend’s bill is the perfect revenge. Sydney replies with understanding “Oh, my God...” The sisters share a conspiratorial smile and then motioning to the bartender with two fingers, Sydney says “Two” and Nadia adds “Please.” Looking over at the woman, Sydney says to her “Men suck, don't they?” The woman looks up and down at Sydney in order to see if she looks like someone worthy of having a conversation with, and then says with a small smile “Usually.” Sydney turns to Nadia, both showing that they are satisfied that she took the bait.
Sometime later, an elevator door opens. Sydney's arm, holding a champagne bottle, wraps around the door to hold it open as the three women giggle drunkenly. Sydney giggles “I swear to God I am so not that loopy.” The three women stagger towards Tambor’s suite as Nadia drunkenly says to the woman “Don't listen to her, she's incapable of holding her liquor.” Sydney replies in mock outrage “Oh, shut ... uuuppp!” and giggles drunkenly. Nadia teases “Need I remind you of Ibiza? You and the DJ with the handcuffs?” Turning away, Sydney says “I'm ignoring you now...watch!” and wobbles her head like an airhead would. Tambor’s girlfriend guffaws and then as they near the guards, drunkenly says “Just a warning...just a warning ... My boyfriend? He's kind of a jerk” Sydney replies “Like mine isn't” and Nadia adds “Please...” Nadia turns and smiles at the guard who was disturbed by the maid’s vacuuming earlier, but he shows no signs of recognizing her. The woman scolds the guard “Are you just going to stand there?” The guard replies “I'm sorry, Miss Bridget” and opens the door to the suite. Turning to her two new friends, the woman explains “They call me ‘Miss Bridget’ and snorts a laugh. The three women walk past the men to enter the suite, with Nadia giving the one guard a flirtatious smile as she walks by. He closes the door behind them and rolls his head as he looks at the other guard, letting out a long sigh.
Back at the APO, Marshall informs everyone “Okay, they're doing it. They're in the room.” Turning around to look at Jack and Sloane. Marshall comments “You know, Mr. Sloane, I know how against this you were, but if Sydney chooses to say ‘I told you so...’ you know...” Sloane gives him a displeased look and warns “She's not out yet.” Resuming watching the monitor, Marshall replies “That's true, but...they're good. They're really good.”
Inside his suite, Tambor turns from watching the soccer match on TV to look over at the three women entering. Miss Bridget says to her boyfriend in annoyance “I need five minutes to change and we are leaving.” Tambor resumes watching and shakes his head as if wondering why he tolerates her. Bridget turns to Donata/Nadia and Felicia/Sydney, saying “Make yourselves at home, ladies” and leaves to change. Sydney signals with her head and eyes that she is headed for the desk. Nadia heads for Tambor to serve as a distraction. Looking at the TV, she asks “What's the score?” Tambor says with annoyance “Devils 1, Lautrec 3.” Joining him on the couch, Nadia says “Slovak will come back. Last year, second half against Real Madrid...” Sydney opens up an electronic device from her purse and hides it with a magazine that she is reading. Nadia continues “Brasco's diving header in extra time? The best goal, ever.” Syd sets the device on top of Tambor’s laptop computer while hiding it from view by pretending to read a gossip magazine. Tambor gives Nadia a sideways glance and as he resumes watching the game, he makes a face showing that he’s impressed that she actually knows her soccer. Sydney sets her purse in front of the hard drive cloning device to conceal it further. Nadia continues “Bentner is a great midfielder. Not too bad on the eyes, either.” Tambor scoffs “For what I'm paying him?” Feigning confusion, Nadia turns toward him and asks “Wh...what do you mean?” Reluctantly Tambor admits “Is my team.” Nadia says in astonishment and excitement “Shut up ... Shut up! You own the Slovak Devils?” Calling out to her sister excitedly, she says “Felicia, did you hear that?” Watching Sydney on the closed circuit feed from their room, Vaughn turns to Weiss and says with admiration “She's cloning the hard drive, and he's in the room!” Weiss is equally impressed with Nadia and wonders “How the hell does she know about the Slovak Devils? Was that in the file?” Vaughn replies “Maybe she's a soccer fan.” Voicing his appreciation of Nadia, Weiss has a broad grin as he says “Oh God...this is the greatest girl ever.
Back in Tambor’s suite, Sydney looks over her shoulder to make certain no one is watching, then palms the cloning device. Watching her on the monitor, Vaughn says to Weiss “She got it ... I didn't know you liked soccer.” Weiss replies “I do now. Oh, and by the way? It's called Foootbol...” Vaughn widens his eyes and smiles “I'm sorry?” Weiss enunciates “Fooot ball.” Mocking him, Vaughn asks “Futball?” Weiss accentuates “Fooot.” Vaughn deadpans “Right.” Nodding his head, Weiss repeats “Right” Vaughn smirks at his friend’s change.
Watching the match back at Tambor’s suite, Nadia comments “If I can be honest, the back four are solid, no question, but watching defensive footie is a little bit boring, really.” As she is leaning towards him to give her opinion, Nadia picks Tambor's PDA out of his jacket with her left hand. Tambor takes offense and replies “Not to me, huh?” Nadia says without a care “It's your money.” Sydney leans over Nadia’s shoulder to show her the gossip magazine, saying “Donata, can you believe that hag is dating the Prince of Greece?” Nadia exchanges the PDA from her left hand to her right hand behind her back, and then passes it to Sydney’s right hand under cover of the magazine. Nadia replies “Oh God. Doesn't she have any friends who can tell her she looks like trash?” Tambor gives them a sideways glance and rolls his eyes at hearing the gossip.
Weiss calls out in amazement “Wait, did you just see that? She just palmed the PDA from his jacket! That's magic, man. I showed her that with, like a business card. It’s like Fazham!” Vaughn chuckles, tiring of Weiss’ infatuation with Nadia, saying “No, no...I get it.” Weiss continues “She's amazing!” Smiling and nodding Vaughn insists “I get it, she’s incredible ... Fazham?” Weiss reiterates “Yeah, Fazham.” Vaughn snorts a laugh.
Watching the image of Sidney hand holding the copying device and the PDA behind her back, Marshall comments enthusiastically “Nice, they're doing it. They're cloning Tambor's PDA. She's good.”
Having finished the copying, Sydney points to one of the magazine's pictures and says “Oh my God, those boots are horrific!” Tambor, who is looking straight ahead at the TV, doesn’t notice Sydney handing the PDA back to Nadia. In mock outrage Nadia replies “I own those, b*tch!
Out of the blue, Weiss comments to Vaughn “It wouldn't be weird for you would it? If we were dating sisters?” Vaughn turns to his friend in surprise, then returns to watching the monitor and shakes his head a little.
Watching the TV screen, Nadia comments “Reno's lost his step since the knee surgery. You should replace him.” She reaches over with her left hand to slip the PDA back to Tambor, but the Club Lautrec team scores, causing him to jump up in disgust before she can do it. Tambor cries out “Idiote!” and storms away. Nadia has a worried expression, but Sydney who is hiding the cloning device in her cleavage is unaware of the problem. Watching his monitor, Vaughn worries aloud “Nadia's still got his PDA...come on!” Nadia looks over her shoulder at Sydney with a worried expression, shaking her head slightly, indicating she didn't get a chance to put the PDA back on Tambor. Bridget returns to the room, having switched from her green satin top and black skirt into a sequined black evening dress. She shows off the dress by announcing “Extraordinary.” Sydney complements “Oh, my God!” and Nadia adds “That dress is magnificent!” Just then Tambor searches his pockets and says “My PDA!” Weiss says in concern “Oh, God.” Sloane and Jack look on in concern as they hear Tambor announce “Anton! Search these two.” The guards come into the room. Tambor orders them “Search their bags.” Nadia hands her handbag to the younger man with an outraged expression on her face. Sydney protests “You can't be serious!” as the older guard takes Sydney's purse. Tambor says to Bridget “Where did you find them?” Syd continues to protest, adding “My God. This is insane!”
Still holding the PDA , Nadia goes to the couch and pretends to find it where they were sitting. Weiss looks on anxiously from his laptop. She announces “Is this what you're freaking out about? Tambor looks puzzled at first, then walks up to her to retrieve it, while studying her reaction. Nadia slaps it into his hand and then makes an outraged expression. Syd sighs in exasperation. Bridget comes up to Syd and advises her regretfully “You better go now.” Sydney agrees “Yeah...you think?” She and Nadia look at each other as if they’ve never been so insulted. Jack nods in agreement to their ploy, while Sloane looks on nervously. Syd continues “You were right. Your boyfriend is a total drag.” Nadia whispers “Come on.” Out in the hall, the two sisters walk away with satisfied grins on their faces.
Sometime later it is daytime in Los Angeles. Sloane is reprimanding Nadia and Sydney in his office, saying “You were given a direct order, one you chose to disregard.” Nadia replies in their defense “We gathered the necessary intelligence.” In a stern tone, Sloane says “That's not the point, Nadia. You report directly to me. I assessed the risks and determined they were too great, and still ... you both chose to defy orders.” Taking an insolent tone, Sydney replies “We did what we were tasked to do. End of story.” She turns around and walks towards the door before Sloane has finished with them. In a stern tone, Sloane calls out “I should remind you...” Sydney stops and turns to listen. Sloane continues “...you report to me. Nadia apologises “You're right. We disregarded a direct order. It won't happen again.” Sloane seems to accept her apology, but clarifies “Just so we don't have these misunderstandings again, let me be clear ... to both of you. Questioning my authority, whether its in this office or in the field is unacceptable.” Sydney rejoins her sister’s side in an aggravated state, saying “Unacceptable? Coming from you, that's almost funny.” Wanting to keep the peace, Nadia pleads “Sydney, please...” Sydney approaches him saying “Do you really want to engage in a conversation about what is...and what is not...acceptable?” She walks around his desk so that they are standing face-to-face. Syd continues “Every day I work here, I see your face in briefings, I hear your voice in my ear during missions, and you want to know what that's like? It makes me sick to my stomach.” Sloane looks saddened to hear this rant. Sydney continues “Having to pretend the past never happened, that you're not the same ... murderous, criminal sociopath you were three years ago...It makes me want to retch.” Tears well up in Nadia’s eyes to hear such rage, so she turns away in shame. Tears are welling up in Sydney’s eyes as well as she emphasises “If you want to talk unacceptable ... That is unacceptable.” Sloane nods with understanding, then says “I'd assumed that you had accepted the fact that I'd made amends for my past.” Sydney seems stunned and replies “Amends? Francie and Danny are gone ... And yet, here you are. And everywhere I look, I'm reminded of the man who killed them.” Sloane looks saddened and nods in understanding again, saying “I see.” Nadia looks back up at them, hurt by what she’s heard, just as Marshall bursts in with news. He announces “Hey, uh, Tambor's encryption program? I broke it... kind of brilliant on my part, but then again, the data itself was coded, so I had to cross-reference it with...” Sloane cuts him off “Marshall, what is it?” Marshall explains “Well, it looks like the sale of Black Thorine? It's going down in 16 hours.” Pointing in his direction, Sloane says “We'll be right there.” Marshall replies “Okay, you should hurry!” and turns to run out of the office. Nadia gives both Sydney and Sloane a pained glance before walking out to join Marshall. Sydney turns back to give Sloane another sad stare before leaving. Sloane appears to be troubled by Sydney rant.
The APO team is gathered in the briefing room listen to the latest intelligence. Jack states “The situation is critical. Tambor is selling the Black Thorine aboard his yacht, the Argento. We have less than 16 hours to get on that boat and retrieve the stolen vial.” Placing a satellite map on the tabletop scanner, Sloane adds “According to harbourmaster records, the Argento is sailing in the Black Sea in protected waters off Turkey, which means we have no choice but to go in stealth, without the cover of night.” Vaughn asks “Do we know who the buyer is?” Jack replies “No, but we do have an idea of where the Black Thorine is being stored.” Placing another sheet into the scanner, Jack points out “Here, in a cabin below deck. Marshall?” Marshall places a sheet into the scanner and says “Okay. Here is the schematic of the vault that you'll be dealing with. Its secured, built into the bulkhead, old school, so...whoever is going in ... You ... are going to need ... these. Uh, your basic safe-cracking tools.” Dixon says “Sounds simple.” Marshall replies “Not quite. Now, I found some receipts on Tambor's hard drive. Turns out he bought a Condor TL-60 free-standing safe last month. Now, I did some measurements, and oddly enough, it fits perfectly within the vault, so... I think it's safe to assume Tambor ... has a safe within a safe.” Nadia notes “He's certainly paranoid enough.” Vaughn asks “How do we crack it?” Marshall replies “The Condor uses a time-synchronized lock. It randomizes the combination every 60 seconds. Now, the combination appears on a key card with and LCD screen. Now, you can assume that Tambor will have it on him, sooooo ... You’re going to need this. This is a handheld wireless monitor, and this right here...” Opening what appears to be a small ring box, Marshall turns to Jack and jokes in a low voice “Will you marry me, Mr. Bristow?” Jack looks exasperated across the table at Sloane and then give Marshall the same look. Marshall looks embarrassed by deafening silence, so he resumes his presentation explaining “It's a wave millimeter camera. It'll allow you to read the combination through his clothing ... assuming he's not wearing a lead girdle ... doubtful, but you understand ... my point.” Sloane announces “There's a jet standing by. This is a high-risk mission. No backup. Vaughn, Dixon, this is your op. I'm sending you to the ship.” Sydney interrupts “If you don't mind, I'd like to finish what I started. Nadia joins in “So would I.” Sloane turns to look at Jack, but doesn’t respond to their request.
Jack follows Sloane into his office, arguing “They are the two best divers!” Sloane replies “For me to send them after the way they behaved in Monte Carlo, not to mention the way Sydney just behaved in my office, would be tantamount to rewarding them for insubordination. I thought I would have your support on this.” Jack pauses, then says in a gentle tone “Arvin, the nuance of fatherhood may elude me, but there is one thing I am sure of. You are not going to forge any kind of bond with Nadia if you attempt to keep her from working with her sister.” Sloane’s gaze drops as he quietly contemplates what he’s just heard.
Onboard the yacht, Argento, anchored offshore the Turkish coast in the Black Sea, Tambor is entertaining visitors in the stateroom, saying “I told him, ‘If you don't win us next game, you're going to suffer a painful training injury, huh?’” The guests chuckle. An older, dark haired man wearing glasses is the head man. Pouring herself a drink, Miss Bridget says dryly “Is that why you doubled his salary?” Tambor looks annoyed that she would consciously make him look bad in front of important guests, but he smiles at the men as if she was kidding.
The armed guard at the upper deck doesn’t notice two scuba divers climbing up a rope at the bow of the yacht. Back at the APO, Marshall and Jack listen through their headsets for progress reports. Sydney reports via her com-link “Phoenix to base. We're on deck.” Sloane advises “Proceed with caution.” Sydney replies “Copy that. We're moving in.” We see Sydney and Nadia on deck, stowing their scuba gear into a storage bin. We also see a van parked at the end of a pier. Inside, Dixon and Vaughn listen to Syd report “We're going below deck. We'll be radio silent until we reach the safe.” Vaughn replies “Roger that.”
Sydney and Nadia slip into a room unseen. Nadia removes a painting from the wall concealing the wall safe. Sydney sticks Marshall’s wave millimeter camera device to the window of the adjoining stateroom where Tambor is with the guests. Nadia prepares her safe cracking tools. Sydney activates her notebook computer and picks up the feed to the next room. Vaughn reports “Phoenix, we've got a visual.” Syd replies “Copy that. Switching to millimeter wave.” Looking at the image, Vaughn says to Dixon “Freeze it there. Save it.” Typing into his laptop computer, Dixon replies “Stand by. Enhancing the image.”
Inside the stateroom, the head man blows a smoke ring while enjoying his cigar, saying “I always believe in pleasure before business. But, that being said...” Back at the APO, Sloane says “Marshall, rewind the feed.” Jack asks with concern “Is there a problem?” Looking at an enlargement of the man with the glasses, Sloane orders “Marshall, pull up everything we have about Leo Orissa.” Marshall punches into his keyboard “Leo....Orissa...okay.” A photo and description of the man appear onscreen. Sloane and Jack read the profile in interest.
Back in the yacht, Tambor instructs his associate “Anton, get the man what he came for, huh?” and hands the key card to him. Orissa interrupts “If, if you don't mind, I would like first for my chemist to conduct a little test, uh...” Tambor suggests “A precaution.” Orissa nods in agreement and makes a “Hmm” sound.
In the next room, Nadia picks at the lock to the outer safe, which beeps in response to being unlocked. She puts away her lock picks and opens the outer door. Inside is a an inner safe with a keypad on its door. Nadia flips open her notebook computer and then com-links “Ready.” Dixon responds “Copy that. Scanning Tambor for the latest combination.” We see Dixon examine a thermal scan and read out “The code is: 42687.” Nadia types in the numbers and then opens the inner safe. She is shocked to see several litre-sized canisters inside, not a vial as Lieutenant Grodsky reported. Nadia calls out “Oh my God...we need a bigger case.”
Back in the satet room, Tambor waves his permission to the chemist to accompany his associate to test the Black Thorine. The two men leave the room.
Watching on her notebook computer, Sydney warns her sister “Close it up...now!” Nadia closes both doors to the safes and hangs the painting back in place. Together they hide in a closet. The henchman enters with the chemist and takes down the picture hiding the wall safe. Nadia and Sydney watch from a crack in the door as the guard starts to open the safes.
Tambor asks Orissa “So, you never told me -- What do plan to do with your purchase?” The older man smiles and replies “It is interesting, actually ... We plan on taking control of your entire operation.” Tambor is stunned for a moment and then laughs. Looking towards Bridget, he waves at Orissa and says “This guy...” Bridget has a serious expression, then smiles to herself. Orissa smirks.
Back at the APO, Marshall asks Sloane “You know this guy?” Sloane replies ominously “He's an old friend.” Jack looks at him with concern.” Marshall jokes “Bad-ass friend.”
Back onboard the Argento, Orissa and his men are still laughing. Tambor comes to realize that Orissa is not kidding. Bridget pulls a handgun hidden behind the liquor bottles and aims it at Tambor. Tambor sees her and moves to the side just in time as she opens fire. Orissa draws his pistol and fires at Tambor too, but he manages to run down the corridor. Hearing the gunshots, the chemist draws his pistol and shoots the startled guard dead while Sydney and Nadia watch in horror. Tambor’s guards are slow to react to the betrayal and get shot by Orissa's henchmen. The chemist leaves the room to see if the others need his help. Sydney and Nadia run from the closet and head for the topside. Two of Orissa’s henchmen head down one of the corridors, unaware of Sydney and Nadia onboard. The sisters don’t want to be discovered and they aren’t armed either. As Bridget and Orissa make their way on the starboard side of the main deck towards the bow, Sydney and Nadia hurry along the port side headed for the bow too. The sisters get their scuba gear from the storage bin and jump feet-first overboard. Moments later Tambor comes up the port side of the main deck and head for the bow. Bridget and Orissa come around the bow and find Tambor coming at them. They look at each other for several seconds, before Bridget says “You don't treat a girlfriend like that.” Tambor is dumbfounded.
From underwater, we hear a gunshot and see a body splash and sink down. The body of Tambor sinks past Sydney and Nadia who are buddy-breathing from a single air tank.
Back at APO, Marshall chews his nails nervously as nothing but static is heard over the com-link. Sloane radios “Phoenix, Evergreen, do you copy?” as Jack looks on in concern. Inside the surveillance van, Vaughn and Dixon nervously wait for a response too. They only hear Sloane calling “I repeat, do you copy?
Back on the yacht, one of Orissa's henchmen opens the door to the interior safe and begins unloading the canisters of Black Thorine into protective carrying cases.
Sydney and Nadia surface together and swim to the nearby dock. Syd re-establishes radio contact by com-link, saying “Phoenix to base. Tambor and his men are dead. Ambushed.” Sloane fills them in, saying “By Leo Orissa, head of a Russian Organized Crime Syndicate. I used to work with him ... when I was head of SD-6.” Nadia turns to look at Syd with a surprised expression. Sydney has a displeased look about Sloane for a moment and then focuses on Orissa, saying “He has a link on the inside. The girlfriend fed him everything he needed.” Jack asks “They're in possession of the vial?” Nadia replies “A lot more than that. At least ten canisters.” Marshall comments “Ten more (canisters)? Tambor must have reverse-engineered it.” Jack concludes “Which means they're manufacturing it. Tambor has a lab somewhere.” Sydney says “Orissa must know where it is.” Sloane concludes “Orissa's associates are most likely securing the Black Thorine for transport. Nadia, can you take them out alone?” Nadia replies “I think so.” Sloane cryptically announces “Given my history with Orissa, I believe he'll be willing to talk.” Sydney wonders how he knows that would be possible by asking Sloane “How?” Not wanting to explain, Sloane replies “Sydney, in order for this to work, you're going to have to listen to me. You're going to have to trust me.” Sydney gives Nadia a doubtful look.
A short time later onboard the late Tambor's boat still anchored offshore, Sydney climbs the stairs to the top deck. She walks up unnoticed to Orissa who is enjoying a drink and Bridget who is reading a gossip magazine. Sydney announces herself by saying “Hello again.” Orissa is startled. Bridget grabs a pistol laying on top of two folded towels and points it at Sydney. Syd cooly says “My employer won't be happy if you pull that trigger.” Orissa is outraged, saying “Your employer? Who the hell do you work for?” Back at the APO, Sloane instructs via com-link “Tell him.” Sydney informs him “I work for Arvin Sloane.” Orissa rises slowly with a look of astonishment, and pushes Bridget's gun arm down.
One deck below, a henchman is carrying two cases of Black Thorine. As he walks near a doorway, he gets knocked out by a fire extinguisher to the side of his head by Nadia. She grabs the two cases and runs down the hallway in the other direction.
Back on the upper deck, Orissa says with irritation “He's demanding 50 percent?” Sydney quickly adds “Including all future profits from this venture.” Orissa huffs, then comments “Arvin always had a...an odd sense of humour.” Sydney replies “I came unarmed, out of respect ... So we could talk ... like gentlemen.” She has an ironic expression as she says this. Bridget snaps “You are not seriously considering making a deal with this woman?” Sloane warns “Do not let her derail this, Sydney.” Looking at Bridget, Sydney warns her “I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you. You're the one who made it easy. You practically drew us a map!” Outraged, Orissa turns on Bridget, saying “You? You led Sloane to me?” Bridget apologises “I thought she was just some kind of...” Before she can finish, Orissa backhands Bridget across the face.
Back below, another of Orissa’s henchmen loading more Black Thorine into a case. He gets kicked in the back by Nadia, who then grabs his head, slams it against the interior of the safe and then slam the safe door to his head, knocking him out.
Orissa turns to Sydney and tells her “Fine. I agree to his terms.” Sloane radios Syd “Ask for insurance.” Sydney tells Orissa “Mr. Sloane will be pleased. Of course, he needs a sign of good faith.” Exasperated, Orissa shakes his head as if he asks “What more does he want?” Sydney replies “The location of the lab.”
Nadia is removing a canisters when the chemist holds a gun to her head and says “Don't move.” Pausing to access her situation, Nadia spins to her right and chops the gun from his hand. She throws a right punch to the head, but it gets blocked. Her punch to the stomach gets blocked and he catches her punch at his head. Holding her hand, the chemist punches her in the stomach. Nadia hits him back in the stomach, causing him to groan. The chemist slams her back against a wall, holding Nadia by the neck.
Sloane advises Sydney “Mention my friend Dr. Chaleb ... What I did to him ... after he betrayed me.” Sydney says to Orissa “I assume you haven't forgotten Dr. Chaleb ... what Sloane did to him?” His mouth drops momentarily. Sloane has a distasteful expression as he narrates to Sydney “The sound of his own screaming woke him up.” Inside the surveillance van, Vaughn and Dixon listen, disturbed by Sloane’s recollections. Sloane continues “He saw everything burning around him ... including his own flesh.” Sydney recounts to Orissa “The fire ... the smell of his own flesh burning, the screams.” Sloane continues “I imagine he spends his days ... nights ... wishing I had finished the job. Wishing that he were dead.” Sydney say to Orissa “His body doesn't work, but his mind does. He's a living corpse. Sloane didn't show enough mercy to kill him.”
Down below, Nadia punches the chemist to the head, sending him backwards. She blocks two of his punches and counters with another punch to the face. Nadia blocks his counter attack and knock him out with a jumping kick.
On the upper deck, Sydney continues to work on Orissa, saying “Let me tell you something I know: Arvin Sloane is cruel. He's inhuman.” Sloane looks like he can’t believe how much Sydney loathes him. Jack looks at him with pity. Syd continues “If you make this difficult, he will come after you. And not just you.” Vaughn and Jack listen captivated at Syd’s hatred for Sloane. Sloane looks hurt. Sydney continues “Your friends will not be spared. Your family will not be spared. If he chooses to let you live ... you'll spend every waking minute of your life reminded of what he's cost you. Word to the wise ... give him what he wants.” Marshall looks stunned, then he slowly turn to see what Sloane's reaction is. Jack looks like he is concerned for Sloane. Sloane appears to be crushed with sadness.
Back on the yacht, Orissa looks beaten down by the story of Sloane’s wrath. He tells Sydney “The lab ... it's in the Ukraine. Khmel’nitsky.” Outraged, Bridget screams “You son of a b*tch!” She grabs the pistol and shoots Orissa in the forehead from point blank range. Turning to shoot at Sydney, she gets the gun kicked out of her hand. Sydney does a spinning punch to her jaw and ducks Bridget’s left punch attempt. Bridget’s attempted right punch gets blocked. Syd counters with an elbow strike to the head and a right foot to Bridget’s gut. Bridget puts up her hands in a cross defense against Sydney’s kick, catches her punch and counters with a knee to Syd’s gut. She grabs Syd’s head and tries to smash her head against a countertop. But Syd manages to stop her head in time by bracing her arms against the countertop. They wrestle and Bridget tackles her off the top deck onto the main deck. The two are stunned, but Bridget recovers first and kicks Syd in the chest. Bridget grabs a rope and starts to strangle Sydney with it. Nadia comes running and kicks Bridget in the back, causing her release Sydney. Nadia elbows Bridget in the face twice and then runs her face-first into the side of the ship. Assuming that Bridget is unconscious, Nadia rushes to check on Syd. But Bridget crawls over toward a pistol on top of a chair, while Sydney dives for the gun on the deck. Sydney gets to her pistol first and shoots Bridget as she is taking aim. Sydney and Nadia exchange looks of relief now that Bridget has been killed.
Over in the surveillance van Vaughn and Dixon hear Sydney radio “Phoenix to base. We're ready for pickup.” Vaughn responds “You have no idea how glad I am to hear that.” Dixon informs them “I'll call the chopper.”
Back at the APO, Jack and Sloane remove their headsets. As Sloane is walking away, Jack calls out to console him, saying “Arvin ... You did what you had to do.” Sloane turns to face him and replies with regret “Yes .... Although I imagine it's the last time I'll be working with your daughter.” Sloane walks away, leaving Jack to stare after him, wondering what he is thinking.
Dusk is approaching onboard the yacht. Sydney is sitting on the deck, thinking, when Nadia walks up and offers her a bottle of vodka. Syd smiles and takes it from her. Nadia sits down beside her as Sydney takes a swig. Syd passes the bottle back to her to take a swig also. Sydney comments “You did a good job.” Nadia replies “I was gonna say the same thing to you.” They share a brief smile. Nadia comments “I never imagined this ... I didn't even know spies were real until I was recruited.” Sydney asks “From school?” Nadia shakes her head and explains “From a juvenile detention home. When I was young, I was reckless ... angry. I remember one judge said he thought I was lost. He wasn't wrong.” Syd looks like she feels sorry about her life. Nadia continues “My training agent used to tell me I was good at getting in and out of situations without being noticed. Not to mention I had no one. No family, no ties ... I couldn't be compromised because I was alone ... I always thought that's what made me a good spy.” After a long pause, Sydney asks “And now?” Nadia smiles and replies “I might have been wrong.” It takes a few seconds before Sydney smiles back and takes another swig. She passes the bottle back and then gets a pensive look..
Sometime later back at the APO, Weiss is entertaining Nadia with card tricks. Sitting on the corner of her desk and slowly flipping through the deck of cards, Weiss says “Just say stop anywhere.” Looking at the cards, Nadia calls out “Okay, stop!” Weiss stops and pulls a card from the deck, saying “Okay...is that your card?” She replies reluctantly “Nnnooo.” Holding up the Ten of Hearts, Weiss comments “This wasn't your card?” Nadia replies “It is not.” Weiss seems confused and asks “Are you sure?” Nadia appears to feel sorry for him as she says “It's not at all my card.” Weiss comments “Okay, I think you're lying, but hold onto that”, handing her a card face down, then asking “You sure?” Nadia makes a “Mm-hmm” sound. Weiss says in embarrassment “Well, that's never happened.” Nadia replies “Sorry.” Weiss looks through the cards and says “Hold on...hold on one second...what was your card?” Nadia replies “Queen of Spades.” Weiss seems surprised and says “The Queen of Spades? You said that wasn't your card.” He points towards Nadia's card. Nadia assures him “It is not.” Flipping the card over, she is surprised to see that it is now the Queen of Spades” and says excitedly with a big grin “How did you do that? This is incredible!” Weiss has a humble smile as he replies “It's not incredible, it's child's play...I've got a million of them.” Weiss is captivated with the delight on her face, saying “Your smile is so unbelievable.” Just then Vaughn walks up and says to Weiss “We going?” Weiss replies “Uh, yeah we're going. We're just flirting here, if you don't mind.” Vaughn says “Sorry” and smirks.
Sydney walks into Sloane's office with a serious expression on her face. Sloane has his hands folded in front of his mouth and a pensive expression on his face. She comes to a stop in front of his desk and he tells her “Langley is pleased. They located the production facility for Black Thorine. The raid was successful.” Sydney nods slightly and replies without emotion “I'm happy to hear it.” Sloane nods and resumes his pensive expression before saying “So Sydney, I contacted Chase...She's expecting a call from you regarding a transfer from this unit. Given your sentiments, I assume that's what you want.” Sydney expression changes from surprise into determination, and leans forward to make eye contact with him, saying with a low tone “I want to make something clear: I will never forgive you for what you've done to me ... To the people I love ... No amount of time or distance will ever change that.” Syd raises her eyebrows for emphasis. Sloane looks up at her with sadness in his eyes. Sydney straightens back up and resumes her normal tone “I'll see you tomorrow.” Syd turns and walks out of the room to join up with Nadia, Weiss and Vaughn, who are enjoying a laugh in the corridor. Sloane expression changes from sadness and regret to one of watching them with interest from behind his clasped hands.
END
