Chapters 54 through 57
“Syd!” Vaughn yelled as he raced to catch up with her. “Hey. I haven’t seen you all day.”
“Dixon has kept me busy researching a new development in one of the many boring areas the CIA is concerned with. I tried to tell him that researching wasn’t my thing. I’m more of a disguise and fight kind of gal.”
“But he still made you do the research,” Vaughn added.
“Yeah. So, what’s up?”
“Well, I was wondering if you were up to anything tonight.”
“Why? Is there a mission you think we should volunteer for?”
“No, it’s just that Lauren has some NSC mission to go on, and so I figured it might be a nice night for you, me, and Weiss to just kick back and unwind. I thought it could almost be like old times.”
Sydney swore to herself. She was getting a little tired of pretending that she was all right being in Vaughn’s presence without being able to touch him. It killed her almost every time he was near not to reach out and run her fingers over his lips and through his hair. “I’m sorry, Vaughn. I can’t. There’s this thing that I promised one of my friends that I’d do with him.”
“Will?” Vaughn asked. “Because I’m sure you could get him to let you out of that commitment.”
“No, Will’s babysitting Grayson for Kaylee tonight. I think she might have a date because she wouldn’t tell me where she was doing.”
“So, if it’s not Will...” Vaughn pondered for a moment. “Is it that mystery guy Andrew that Weiss keeps going on about? Because if it is, you can tell me.”
“Okay.” Sydney held her hand up. “I’m getting a little tired of Eric trying to dig through my personal life. Has he ever heard of giving a person space?”
“No, I don’t think he has.”
“Anyway, I’m really sorry that I can’t do that whole relaxing thing with you and Weiss tonight. Sorry!” Sydney smiled at him and made her way back to her desk where the dreaded research was still waiting to be completed.
Vaughn just watched her walk away and cursed himself for pushing her. He knew she had to be dating that guy. The way Weiss explained the manner she talked with this Andrew she definitely had something invested in him. He should have known that she would give up on him just as he had given up on her.
“What’s the matter?” Weiss asked as he saw his best friend staring in the general direction of Sydney. “You really shouldn’t be staring at her. People will start to question how happily you’re married.”
“And what would be wrong with that?” Vaughn asked.
“What’s wrong?” Weiss asked again.
“I was trying to set up a little alone time with Sydney, and it didn’t work.”
“You used the whole you-me-and-Weiss-can-hang-together-like-old-times approach, didn’t you? I told you that wouldn’t work.”
“It would have work. As long as I could convince you not to actually show up.”
“Another con against that whole scenario, Michael. You shouldn’t be alone with Sydney. And you know that.”
“I know, I know. But I just can’t help but want to spend time with her. Our relationship is practically non-existent anymore.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“The CIA’s!” Vaughn yelled. “It’s always the CIA’s fault that my life gets turned upside down. First, my father dies in their service. Then they assign me to debrief a new walk-in agent. Third I almost die from a flood in a closed corridor in Taipei and by a biological weapon in the same year. And now they’re keeping me from throwing this marriage dow--”
Weiss slapped his hand over Vaughn’s mouth. “I know you need to rant, buddy. But you know that you can’t finish that sentence.” He lowered his hand off of Vaughn’s mouth when he was sure his friend had calmed down. “So what went wrong with your genius plan?”
“She has somewhere else to be with some guy who she refused to tell me the identity of. And then I accused her of having a boyfriend and not telling me. Then she tried to change the subject by being mad at you.”
“She probably was mad at me,” Weiss admitted. “Do you think I should hide for the rest of the day?”
“I think that might be best.” Vaughn smiled at his friend. “In fact, knowing Sydney, you probably shouldn’t show your face for at least a week.”
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Later that day, Sydney found herself staring at her reflection in her mirror back at her house. She still wasn’t comfortable going to this party that Simon Walker was holding, but Sark seemed to think that whatever was going to happen there, they couldn’t afford to resist. The front door clicked open, and Sydney could hear someone enter her house. Sighing, she threw a bathrobe on over her dress while reaching for the gun she had placed on her night table.
“Is someone there?” she yelled right before she darted out of her room and across the hall. If this was someone trying to hurt her, she wanted him or her to think she was still standing in her bedroom.
“It’s just me, Syd!” Sark called from the front of the house. “Please put the gun I know is in your hand down. Blood doesn’t go too well with my suit.”
She sighed and shrugged off her bathrobe, throwing on the bed in the spare bedroom. “I keep saying you need to start calling before you let yourself in.”
“I know. It’s such a pain though.” Sark caught his first look at Sydney. “Wow. You look beautiful, Agent Bristow.”
Sydney stared at him in confusion as he broke eye contact with her and left the room. “Did I do something wrong, Andrew?” she asked.
“No. It’s just... where did you get that dress?” he asked.
“Well, I didn’t want to wear a dress the CIA had provided me and all of my own eveningwear was not fancy enough for what you said this gathering would be. So I borrowed a dress from my sister. Oh.”
“She wore that dress on our fifth date,” Sark whispered.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I could change. I’m sure there was some dress I overlooked which would be appropriate.”
“Don’t. I’ve already gotten used to the idea of you wearing it. Besides, I think that it will bring just the right amount of attention to you. I was thinking that we might need a distraction at some point this night. Now I see that you in that dress works quite well for that purpose.”
“As long as it means I get to slap someone, I’m happy,” she joked.
“Are you ready to go?”
“No, I’m not ready. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to freely walk into the hands of the man who kidnapped me and sold me like a slave. But we have to go, so I guess I’m prepared to leave.”
Sark nodded and offered his arm to her. “I hope you don’t mind. I parked my car a few streets over. We have to cut through your back yard and your neighbor’s too, but it will keep us from being detected together.”
Sydney nodded. “I wish you had told me. I may have worn more sensible shoes.”
“Sydney, we both know that you do your best work in amazingly high, uncomfortable shoes. Besides, I recall those particular ones.” He pointed to her feet. “They definitely hurt when they’re being slammed into one’s head.”
She laughed and linker her arm in his. “Let’s go.”
The drive to the address Simon provided them was surprisingly short. It made Sydney suspicious of who might be at the party. “Awfully convenient that this gathering is being held in such close proximity to my place of employment,” she whispered in Sark’s ear as they headed to the front door of the building.
“Are you scared that you’re going to run into some of your co-workers?”
“Terrified. But like you keep telling me, the end product of tonight might make all this fear and questioning worth it.”
“That’s my girl.” Sark padded Sydney’s hand lightly.
“Here we go,” Sydney whispered as the guards pulled the massive doors open for them to enter.
Sydney stared in shock at all the familiar faces she saw sitting at their own individual tables in the grand room. Quickly she yanked Sark away from where anyone could spot them and shoved him into a small nook to which she was sure no one was paying attention.
“What was that all about?” he asked. “We only stepped two feet into this place and you’re already freaking out.“ He was willing to believe her without question if Sydney thought they needed to hide, but he did want a little explanation.
“Did you not notice any of the people sitting in that room?” Sark shrugged his shoulders. “Are you a spy or what? Jesus!”
“Breathe, Sydney,” Sark whispered noticing that she was coming close to hyperventilating. “Now who exactly is in there?”
“A s***load of people who shouldn’t see us together,” she whispered back. Sark just gave her a confused look. “It’s not that I’m embarrassed to be coming here with you. I mean, we were both invited.”
“Thanks. Good to know you think so highly of me, Agent Bristow.”
“Don’t play the role of the wounded British guy who gets offended easily,” she scolded. “I know it’s an act. So cut it out.“ Sark smiled at her. “It’s just that there are a lot of people in there that won’t understand why you and I are so chummy with one another. We’re going to get nothing out of this whole gathering because you and I are going to spend it defending ourselves to everyone present.”
“Who’s in there that has you so riled up?” he asked again hoping this time she would give him a clear answer.
“For starters, I saw Anna Espinosa in there. You may have heard of her. About three years ago, she was the best agent the K-Directorate had. Then she dropped off of the face of the earth. I assumed that she had been killed on a mission. Anna was my ‘nemesis’ before a certain cocky bastard came on the scene.”
Sark winked at her. “You know you loved having me around. You were practically begging for someone who can challenge you to appear.”
“And then there’s the small problem of Vaughn’s wife, Lauren, being here.”
“Where?” Sark asked sticking his head out from their hiding place. “I haven’t gotten a look yet at the woman who’s turned your life upside down.”
“Get back in here. She’s sitting with her father over at the far table.” Sydney allowed Sark to subtly peak his head out again. “I think that’s her father she’s with. Funny. Vaughn said she was visiting her sister’s tonight.”
“Of course she lied to him. The invitation did say tell no one on pain of death. She‘s definitely not as pretty as you are, Sydney.”
Sydney rolled her eyes. “And then there’s my mother and father.”
“They’re here? Together?” Sark began looking around wildly. “Has hell frozen over and no one’s told me about it? Because there’s a couple girls back in primary school that owe me some dates.”
She smacked his arm. “Stop joking around. This is serious. Why would my mother and father be here together? They hate each other.”
“Shouldn’t we be focusing on the fact that your father doesn’t know I’m alive?”
Sydney gave him a dirty glance. That was the least of their problems.
Sark smiled at her innocently. “Way I heard it they had a sort of reconciliation when you went missing. Joined together to find out what really happened to you. Situations like that tend to bring people together. It’s not so unbelievable.”
“If you’ve heard the way he talks about her, then you’d think it was pretty f***ing unbelievable,” Sydney hissed. “But if we get past the weirdness of them being together, we still have to deal with the issue that my father will see you with me. That won’t make him happy. And my mother won’t be happy that you quit her employment just to cozy up to her other daughter, the one you haven’t been engaged to before.”
“Are you asking for a ring, Sydney? Because that might be moving a little too fast for me. We’ve only just begun this relationship.”
“Can’t you ever be serious?” She usually liked Sark’s constant sarcasm and humor, but at this moment it was starting to get on her nerves.
“What can I say, you bring out the most inappropriate behavior in me.”
Sydney sighed again and grasped his arm. “Well, there’s no way around it. We just have to walk in there like we don’t care who else is in there.”
“A great decision,” Sark said with a smirk.
“Just don’t try to talk to my father. I don’t fancy cleaning blood stains off of this dress.”
Sark led her straight down the middle aisle to a vacant table that had name cards bearing their names. Sydney was quite curious when Sark had found the time to figure out that this was the table they were designated to sit at. “Maybe I shouldn’t underestimate him. He may have been gone for two years just like me, but he‘s still as sharp as I am,” she thought to herself.
“Sydney,” Sark said breaking into her thoughts. “Your father is on his way over.”
“This should be good.” Sydney turned and watched her father stalk over to their table. “Hi, Dad.”
“What are you doing here with this bastard?” her father hissed. “Who might I add is supposed to have been dead for over two years now.
“I could ask you the same question, minus the dead part of course,” she said nodding to where her mother was still sitting attentively watching and listening to this conversation. “Who I spend my time with is none of your business, Dad, if you can’t even tell me that you have a relationship with Mom again.”
“It’s complicated, Sydney.”
“Well, this is complicated, too.” Sydney gestured back and forth from her to Sark. “I guess that means I don’t have to explain it either.”
“If you knows what’s good for you, you’ll come over to my table and sit with your mother and I.”
“Honestly, Dad, I feel more safe right here. Unlike you, he always tells me the truth even when it hurts. I’ve needed someone to talk to over the past few months, and he was there for me. He understands. You weren’t there. You were off, presumably, with my mother doing god knows what for god knows whom. What’s happened to you?”
“Sydney, you’ll have to trust me. Your mother and I are working to make your life a happier one. I can’t explain anymore. But I want you to know that everything we’re doing is for you.”
Sydney sighed. “Fine. If you want to join the club of people who are holding the truth from me, then that’s okay with me. Just don’t rub it in my face that you know something I can never know. All the lying that‘s been going on is starting to make me uneasy twenty four hours a day.”
“You name what you need me to do to make you feel more comfortable, sweet heart, and I’ll do it.”
“Leave,” she responded.
“Excuse me.”
“I’ll feel much better if you and Mom weren’t here. If you stay, I have a feeling I’ll end up being worried about you or having to risk my life to save yours. I can’t take that added pressure right now. I need to know that you won’t make this whole thing harder for me. Something important is going to happen tonight if I can stay on top of my game. So, please, just take Mom and leave.”
Jack nodded. “We’ll leave, but I want you to call me on my cell phone if you get into any jams. You may be worried about having to save us, but don’t forget I’m also worried that with me leaving, you’ll have no one to watch your back.
“I have Sark.” She stared defiantly at her father, daring him to challenge her.
“I can see that. Remember, I’m just a phone call away if you need me.”
“Thank you, Dad.”
Jack nodded one more time and walked back to his table. Sydney watched him fight with her mother for a few minutes, and then the couple left their table and walked out the doors Sydney and Sark had entered through.
“That’s two less people to worry about,” Sark said. “Good work.”
“Thank you.” Sydney scanned around the room. “Now I just have to figure out why Lauren Vaughn is here.”
Sydney didn’t have much time to think about the problem that Lauren was causing and the exact reason that she was present at this gathering. Simon Walker had chosen that moment to make his grand entrance. Sark came back from wherever he had wandered off to a few minutes earlier in time to see Simon nod at several different people as he worked his way to the front of the room. When he reached his destination, he scanned the room trying to gage which of his guests had neglected to show up.
“Well, it looks like most of you took my invitation seriously. Good. Because I have something that you all want. A few weeks ago, I came across some interesting information. You all know of the prophecy that Milo Rambaldi predicted in the book that the lovely Sydney Bristow stole from K-Directorate about three years ago, correct?”
The room bustled with the sounds of people whispering, clearing their throats, and trying to figure out what Simon Walker was hinting at.
“I’ll take that as a yes. It seems that the CIA has cracked part of the prophecy and discovered an even more important prophecy. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The woman in Rambaldi’s prophecy has been identified as Kaylee Derevko, the daughter of Irina Derevko and an American CIA agent, Jack Bristow. She also happens to be the sister of the previously mentioned Sydney Bristow.”
Sydney grasped Sark’s arm harshly as she felt him try to stand up. “Don’t let your heart control your actions,” she hissed. “He’s not insulting Kaylee. He’s just sharing information that we already knew. So don’t try to be her knight in shining armor. Or at least wait until she’s actually present.”
“Therefore,” Simon continued, “Kaylee is meant to have render the greatest power unto utter desolation. For years, most of us believed that to mean the woman in the prophecy was going to create or find a weapon that would be most useful. Or she was going to discover some information that will give her control over most of us present here tonight.” Simon paused dramatically. “We were wrong. The prophecy should have been taken to a more literal sense. Kaylee was prophesized to provide the greatest power or the key to complete devastation. Of what? No one’s sure of that.”
“Get to the point, Walker,” a gruff Russian man yelled from the back of the room.
“Patience, comrade. Kaylee Derevko had a child two years ago. By doing that, she in a sense rendered a new life to existence. That child is the key to complete devastation.”
Sark leaned over to Sydney and asked, “Did you know that?” She nodded and continued to stare at Simon through squinted eyes.
“That is why we’re here tonight. This little kid just became the hottest property in the game. I have the location of where this child and mommy dearest are staying. Play your cards right and it will be yours.” With that, Simon walked out of the room leaving everyone buzzing about where exactly this key was.
Sydney turned to Sark. “You realize this means that he has the address of Kaylee’s home written down somewhere.”
“All I’m thinking about is how much danger this whole thing is going to put Kaylee in.”
“Let that go for now, Sark. Focus on the job we have to do. Simon invited you and I for a reason. There also had to be a reason why he wanted us to come together. I think I’ve figured it out. He’s going to let everyone here try to figure out where he would have kept the location that we’re all now seeking. So, it has to be in this building somewhere. I think he wanted you and I here to make it more difficult. There’s no way in hell that we’re going to let anyone come within ten miles of her.” Sydney paused for a second and then screamed, “s***!”
“What’s the matter?”
“I shouldn’t have sent my parents away. They were here to help us protect Kaylee. Now it’s just you and me.”
“Okay.” Sark took a deep breath. “We’re just going to have to figure out where this object that tells Kaylee’s location is before anyone else does. While we’re searching, we can try to figure out the answer to another obvious question.”
“Which would be?”
“If you, me, Irina, and Jack were the only four invited here to protect Kaylee, then why is Michael Vaughn’s wife here?”
Realization dawned on Sydney’s face as Sark pulled her to her feet and began to walk quickly in the direction that Simon Walker had left.
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A few minutes later, they discovered Simon Walker sitting by himself in what appeared to be an office.
“Sydney, Sark, I figured you would be the first two to find me,” he said putting his feet up on his desk and reclining back in the chair. “You two were always the most promising spies out there. Funny that it took me to force you two to team up.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Sydney snarled in disgust. “If it hadn’t been for you, Sark and I would have not only been friends, but we would have become family over two years.”
“That’s right. You were taking a dip in that gene pool, weren’t you?” He smirked at Sark.
“Where did you write down Kaylee’s location, Walker?” Sark snarled.
“Right here.” He held up a piece of paper in his hand. Sighing, he stood up from his chair and began to walk over to the other two. About halfway around his desk, he paused. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” Sydney asked taking the bait.
“I think we’re about to have company.” Simon smiled at her.
“Give me the paper, Walker. And I won’t hurt you,” she yelled. “Too much, that is.”
Simon was about to make a comment back to her when the window behind him shattered. Before he realized what was happening, a woman was on top of him ripping the paper out of his hands. “Beautiful entrance, Ms. Espinosa.”
“Hello, Sydney,” Anna said as she stood up. “Looks like I’m going to be paying your sister a visit.”
Anna bolted for the door and made it out before Sydney or Sark could process she was trying to escape. “We have to get that paper from her,” Sydney screamed as they began to run after her.
Sark nodded and pulled a gun out of his jacket. “Being friends with a cold-blooded killer can be to your advantage at times.”
The duo ran swiftly down the hallway right behind Anna. As soon as they got within range, Sark began firing his gun at her. Anna ducked into a room off the hallway, and Sydney followed. As soon as she entered the room, the lights went out.
“Looks like Simon’s on my side,” Anna said. Sydney pinpointed her location somewhere to her left and up a little. She took a blind swing at the air and wasn’t surprised when she didn’t connect with anything.
“Sydney?” Sark asked from the doorway. “Are you all right?”
Sydney chose not to answer. She was trying to concentrate on tracking Anna’s position.
“I think she might have gotten a little scared of the dark and decided to hide.”
Sydney listened closely to where Anna’s voice was coming from and made her way slowly over to the right side of the room. She swung hard again and this time connected with a face. She grasped the person’s arm tightly so they couldn’t make a getaway.
“Sark?” she called.
“I’m still in the doorway, Sydney.”
“Stay there. I have her, and she’s not getting away.” Now that Sydney knew she had Anna in her grip, she threw a knee hard into Anna’s midsection and heard a satisfying groan. She whipped her around into a headlock and hissed into her ear, “Give me the paper and I’ll let you go.”
“I don’t believe you. There’s no way both of us are getting out of this one alive.”
“My bet’s on Sydney,” Sark called from the doorway. “She has a nasty habit of winning. And I don’t think you can really kill her. I mean, how many times have you come back from the dead?”
Sydney couldn’t take the time to answer as she felt Anna begin to struggle to get out of her grip. She punched her hard in the face. Anna suddenly made herself into dead weight, and Sydney tumbled the ground. Before she could recover, Anna punched her hard in the temple. Sydney lashed out to get a grip on her again but was mad to feel just air all around her.
“She got away, Sark,” Sydney yelled.
“I’m aware of that,” Sark answered back.
The lights flicked back on, and Sydney saw that Anna had taken Sark’s gun away from him and was holding it to his head.
“Looks like I got your boyfriend,” Anna taunted.
“I’m not her bloody boyfriend. Why does everyone assume that I am?” Sark looked over to where Sydney was standing. “Syd, don’t worry about me. My life doesn’t mean anything. Just get the paper back from her.”
“Oooo,” Anna whispered. “Do we have a martyr here?”
Before either Sydney could make a move, Anna shoved Sark out of the doorway and into the room. “Bye bye for now!” she called as she slammed the door shut.
Sydney immediately ran to try the doorknob. “She locked us in.”
“And there are no windows and no vents. We’re stuck in a box.”
“And she’s going after Kaylee.”
Sark kicked the door as hard as he could manage for the tenth time that minute.
“I’ve never seen you show such emotion,” Sydney said. She was truly shocked that he was actually behaving like this upset him. He was the one who was supposed to be keeping his calm, and she was the one who was supposed to be erupting with emotions.
“The woman I love is being hunted down by a person you’ve admitted to almost being your equal. Sydney, if she has half the talent you do, Kaylee is in deep trouble.”
“But Kaylee is just as good as me. Anyway, they’re going after her child. You’d be surprised at how much strength a mother whose child’s life is in jeopardy can have. I‘ve seen it in my mother‘s eyes a few times when she talks about Kaylee.”
Sark slumped in acceptance of what she was saying. “I just wished we could get out of here.” He began to look around the room for any sign of an escape route.
“There’s nothing,” she admitted. “We’re just going to have to wait until someone realizes that we’re locked in here.”
The pair kept scanning the room in a silent agreement that they couldn’t just sit still and let the situation play out. Sark started to feel behind paintings for some type of switch. He knew it was pretty unrealistic for him to find one, but there had been a couple times this tactic had saved him from a jam. After going all the way around the room, he turned his attention back to Sydney. He noticed that she had stopped searching through the desk she was sitting at. Instead, she was biting her nails in a surprisingly nervous manner.
“Don’t tell me you’re getting claustrophobic,” Sark said. “Because that would just be an incredible cliché. Not to mention something that I don‘t want to have to deal with right now.”
“No, I’m just thinking about something I have to do rather soon. It’s going to piss my sister off so much, but I have to.”
“You’re sounding incredibly suspicious. And you’re not making any sense.”
Sydney just smiled weakly at him.
“I know something that will cheer you up,” Sark said as he sat in front of her on the desk. “I bet at dinner you were wondering where I disappeared to those few minutes before Walker made his entrance.”
“I was wondering at the time, but I think now I have more important issues on my mind.”
“Well, you can forget those for the time being. It doesn’t help to dwell on things you can alter or fix.” Sark smiled deviously at his companion. “I had to place a very important phone call, and then I had a nice conversation with our ‘friend’, Lauren Vaughn.”
“Really?” Sydney said. Now she was definitely intrigued.
“I found out a few things that will make you very happy.”
“You figured out why exactly she was here?”
“It seems that it all has to do with your mother and father really.”
“My parents are always mixed up in the events that affect my life the most. Why should this be any different?”
“Remember hearing that your parents, in their search for you, stumbled upon a list of higher ups in the Covenant?”
“Yes, that’s what got my Mom her pardon. She and Dad gave the CIA information that they said would speed up their mission to destroy the Covenant like the Alliance was destroyed. To bad they couldn’t have figure out that I was alive. Then I could have been found, and this whole mess wouldn’t be happening.” She threw her hands up in disgust.
Sark chose to ignore her little tirade. “Well, one of the more influential people on the list was the real reason they weren’t acting on the intel. Now until they realized where the whole thing led to and who was involved.”
“I suppose I should be pressuring you to get to the point, but we have a long while before someone finds us. So take your time. Beat around the point all you want.”
He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, it was Senator Reed who your mother and father uncovered. He’s been working with the Covenant for at least two years now. In fact, he’s slowly become one of the higher officials in the organization.”
“Lauren’s father is a member of the Covenant?” Sydney knew that Sark had been building up to something that would be huge, but this was unbelievable.
“That’s what I was talking to Lauren about. After the phone call to my source, I let her know that I knew her daddy wasn’t exactly playing nice with the American government. I made it sound like I was going to blackmail her. Typical me behavior, you know. I figured she wouldn’t get suspicious if I was behaving exactly as everyone would expect me to act. Then she asked me what I was doing here with you. Honestly, I wonder myself sometimes.”
“She should know that I can’t go anywhere without my worse half. It makes me look so much better.” Sydney flipped her hair over her shoulder vainly.
He continued explaining. “I fed her some bulls*** about using you to try to regain my footing in the spy world. I have to admit I still have the gift of being a good liar.”
“And you’re still a cocky bastard,” Sydney said with a laugh.
“There was a particular bit of information I found out that I didn’t tell Lauren. It seems Daddy isn’t the only one working with the Covenant these days. Lauren Reed isn’t exactly who she claims she is. She’s not even Senator Reed’s daughter.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Senator Reed’s daughter died eighteen months when she was visiting family back in the U.K. The Senator kept her death extremely quiet for multiple reasons. The most important reason dealt with his workings within the Covenant. Seems they had been developing a body-doubling program that would allow people to completely assume the identities of others. They used that program on one of the Covenant’s best spies.”
“They made her into Senator Reed’s daughter.”
“And he went along with it. You want to talk about emotionless bastards. He’s a hell of a lot worse than I ever was. He reintegrated his fake daughter into his political and personal life. And she got a job with the National Security Council. My guess would be her assignment was to infiltrate the United States government and act as a mole. It seems like she’s been succeeding in it that.”
“What I don’t understand is if the government knew this why didn’t they move on this information?” she asked.
“They did. Only it was in a different way than anyone would guess. It was all Dixon’s idea. When your mother and father came to him with the information that Senator Reed was a member of the Covenant, Dixon figured that the infiltration of the CIA by the Covenant must go a little deeper than that. He decided to hold the information in hopes of discovering who else in our government was working with the Covenant.”
Sydney nodded, urging him to continue. “The CIA received some intel on the Covenant’s doubling operations. This was also kept silent at Dixon’s request. At this point, he was beginning to suspect Lauren Reed was a traitor. This is where Vaughn factors in to the whole situation.”
“He was caught up in this mess, too?”
“Of course he is. He did marry Lauren Reed.” Sark paused. “Let’s take a step back. Agent Vaughn has to have told you how he met his future wife.”
“He briefly mentioned that he met her when he was doing his mandatory counseling.”
“He did go through counseling to deal with your death, Sydney. He didn’t lie to you when he said that it practically destroyed him. Vaughn was off active duty for six months in which all he did was go to counseling session after counseling session. By the end of that period, he had begun to pull his life back together. That was around the time that your parents brought the intel to the CIA. Dixon was beginning to put two and two together. He needed an agent to do some infiltrating for the CIA, if you know what I mean.”
“So he picked the one agent he knew would have enough determination to want to bring down the organization that was now affiliated with Simon Walker.”
“The agent who everyone was looking down upon because of his complete breakdown. Vaughn was the perfect candidate. He didn’t have much left in his life, so he risked it all to bring Lauren Reed and her ‘father’ to justice.”
“Weiss has been hinting about the fact that Vaughn and Dixon have been hiding something from me.”
“Yeah, that would the sham he calls a marriage. He dated Lauren Reed and regained his status with the CIA. They saw the improvements he gained from the counseling and realized he was moving on with Lauren. Vaughn had discussed with Dixon previously that he was willing to go as far as need to get this assignment done.”
“Which is why he went as far as marrying that monster.” Sydney couldn’t believe what Sark was telling her. She was almost too shocked to think clearly, but there was enough clarity present for at least one question to dawn on her. “How did you find out all this information in the few minutes that you disappeared?”
“I had my suspicions about Senator Reed before tonight. I had figured out most of the story from information I had received before my ‘death’ and from intel I’ve gathered since returning. The Lauren/Vaughn part was new to me, though. If I had known any of that, Sydney, you know I would have told you immediately.”
“I know, Andrew.” She put her hand on his shoulder to show her trust. “You’ve really shown me who you really are these past few months. I want to thank you for that.”
“You’re not going to get sentimental on me. Are you, Agent Bristow?”
“Of course. I’m a woman. It’s what we do when we’re trapped in rooms with no idea when we’ll be rescued.” He laughed. “Honestly, though, I want to tell you that I think your theory about me being a good you and you being a bad me might be slightly wrong. I think we’re essentially the same person. We’re both good inside. If you can’t see that, you’re just blind.”
“I think that this whole trapped thing is getting to your head,” he joked.
Sydney smiled at him. “You made my night by investigating the Lauren situation and then telling me what was going on.”
“I know.”
“So, I want to do something nice for you in return.”
“If you’re offering me your body, Sydney, I don’t know if I’m in a position to say no.”
“You jerk!” she yelled. “Can’t you ever be serious?”
“Only with the people I don’t care about.”
“You remember I was nervous about something earlier?”
“There was a mention of something you had to tell someone that would piss your sister off completely.”
“Well--” Sydney was about to tell him when there was a large knock on the door. Someone was screaming her name on the other side.
