Tell Me Lies

I started posting this on SD-1, and I know one or two of my readers there are regular posters here too - and asked if I was going to post it here as well. With SD-1 being down, this seems an excellent place to post it!

I'll start from the beginning, for anyone new to this - for anyone who's read this before, please keep quiet about the cliffhangers! ;) Thank you! :lol:

Title- Tell Me Lies
Timeline - I'm always a little fuzzy when placing my fics, but it involves the CIA and SD-6, so it's circa season 1-2
Rating - PG-13 (There is a McCullough-type character though. Nothing you wouldn't see in an episode)

Synopsis - The CIA learn about a potential truth serum which would be permanent, if applied to someone. With SD-6 chasing it as well, who will get it, and what would happen if it were used?

Disclaimer - I don't know the characters or anything of the show, that's all JJ and Bad Robot, etc.

Author's Note- this began as my effort with NaNoWriMo - where you write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days (November). I wrote the story with little or no editing (bar typos really), and managed to write it in the 30 days allowed. Since then, I've edited and proofed the chapters before posting - correcting errors I made and polishing it up a bit.

Hope you like it! I'll be starting a PM list, as I don't know who (of the SD-1 readers) is registered here, and hopefully, there'll be some new readers! :woot: As a bonus to get things started - 2 chapters for the price of one ;)



Tell Me Lies

Chapter 1

Sydney stretched and winced in the plane seat. Her back ached and her shoulders were stiff, after the long flight. Abseiling out of a building at the end of the mission hadn't exactly set the groundwork for her body having a comfortable trip home, she mused.

Hearing Dixon groan and try to find a comfortable position in the seat next to hers, she knew he felt the same. Looking at her watch, she thought of the massage that she and Francie should have been enjoying at that very moment. A delay on the mission had meant she'd had to call and take a rain check. Francie hadn't made a fuss down the phone, but in some ways that was harder to take - Sydney knew her friend felt let down again, and she couldn't blame her for feeling that way. There was nothing she would have liked more than to go wedding dress shopping with Francie, have a lovely lunch and then a girly afternoon at the spa with a full body massage. A part of her nearly cried thinking about a massage easing all the knots and sore muscles in her body, and she swore to herself that she would book herself in, the first chance she got.

A back breaking hour later, they were walking gingerly through the airport with their bags. Sydney kissed Dixon goodbye on the cheek and they arranged to meet at SD-6 later on. Stifling a yawn with her free hand, she walked outside the arrivals hall and grabbed one of the cabs waiting there. If traffic was good, she could be home in about half an hour. After a while, needing to hear a friendly voice, she pulled out her cellphone to call Francie.

"Syd? Oh my God, when are you getting back, I'm freaking out here!" Francie sounded distinctly non-relaxed and Sydney guessed she had cancelled her spa appointment when she'd cancelled Sydney's.

"Whoa, Francie, slow down," Sydney soothed. She checked her watch. "I'm about 10 minutes away. Set the kettle boiling and I'll be home by the time you're pouring the tea. Make mine a camomile, in fact maybe make yours one too," she smiled, knowing her friend would hear the smile down the phone. "And we can swap tales of frustration."

"Bad trip?"

"Long trip, and filled with many pompous old men full of enough hot air to power the entire city of LA for a month," Sydney said dryly, lying as she often had to, to her closest girlfriend. She hated it, but the reality wasn't even something she could consider - letting Francie know she was a spy. And a double agent, as well. "I'm sorry I had to bail on the spa and shopping... believe me, I sorely need the massage right now. I think my knots have knots..." she frowned, rubbing the base of her shoulder.

Francie sighed, and Sydney heard the click as she switched on the kettle, followed a few seconds later by the whistle as the kettle started to boil. "Thanks Syd. See you in a minute."

They hung up, and Sydney sighed herself. It would be good to get home and relax after the mission. She was tired, both physically and mentally, and a cup of tea with her friend would be just the solution.

**********************

"So the florist's all 'Look lady, they're just flowers, chill out," Francie drawled, imitating the delivery guy's drawl. "I mean the guy's barely out of college. And he's telling a newly engaged woman to chill out?"

Sydney sipped her tea and smiled sympathetically at her friend. "So no yellow roses then? I know you wanted them."

Francie gave a tiny little shrug. "No, but-" she sighed. "They offered me white roses. But it's not the same, and the guy just didn't understand. The ones I like are a lovely egg yolk yellow," she smiled, and saw Sydney return her smile and hold her hand, admiring her engagement ring.

"It'll be OK, Francie," Sydney reassured. "We'll find some yellow roses and you shall go to the ball."

Francie laughed and threw a cushion at Sydney's head. "Hey! This is serious stuff!"

A pillow hit her head in reply. A few minutes of cushion fighting later, and they fell back on the sofa, laughing and tired, but happy.

"Ohhhh, I so needed that," Francie groaned. "All this wedding stress... I really appreciate your help Syd. Really." She tucked a strand of hair behind Sydney's ear. "What would I do without you?"

"Have less coffee ice cream in the freezer," Sydney teased, and ducked as another cushion zinged in her direction.

"I'm serious!"

Sydney laughed, and leant back on the sofa, closing her eyes. "Oh that felt good, I miss being able to hang out with you, Fran.” And it was true – she had spent increasing amounts of time on missions (or “trips”) or at the CIA or SD-6 recently, and she and Francie had lost valuable girl time.

Francie put her arm around Sydney’s shoulders, and kissed her hair. “Me too. I barely see you these days with all the work you’ve been doing. Speaking of, how was this trip? Rough day at the high-flying fancy bankers’ conference?” Her voice was somehow sympathetic, yet with a tiny note of the dislike she had for the bank and the way it ruled Sydney’s life. She knew Sydney enjoyed her job and that she was very good at it, but she hated how often it intruded on Sydney’s life and how tired it made her. She usually kept a lid on her feelings when Sydney was around, though.

Sydney bit her lip. “No, no bad – just long, and with a few people I don’t like very much.” She thought of the South African men they had foiled, who had shot at her and Dixon as they ran out of the Johannesburgan night club with the codes. “But the guy doing the presentation is a good friend, we often do the trips together,” she smiled. Inside, her smile dimmed a little though, thinking of how she was lying to Dixon too, about only working for SD-6. She lied to Marshall about it as well. She wished she could tell them the truth, that they could work with her at the CIA, for the real good guys.

Francie smiled sadly, knowing how tired Sydney was, and stroked her hair softly. “You know, there’s a fresh tub of coffee ice cream in the–“

The telephone rang, cutting Francie off mid sentence. Both Sydney and Francie groaned, albeit for different reasons; Sydney because she was physically and mentally spent, and was enjoying relaxing with Francie, and Francie because they were being interrupted by technology yet again. It was usually Sydney’s pager though.

“I’ll get it,” Sydney said, aiming for her perky and cheerful voice. She guessed it would be the CIA, calling her in to follow up on the Johannesburg mission. She grabbed the phone off the base and picked up the call. “Hello?”

“Joey’s pizza?” replied the mechanical voice down the line.

“Sorry, wrong number,” Sydney answered brightly, and hung up. She turned to face Francie, knowing what her friend’s reaction would be. She would have loved to stay as well, the couch looked so comfortable – but she’d sworn to put her country first, and she knew her duty included this. “Fran, I’m really sorry, I just remembered I need to drop something off at the bank– my partner’s doing the follow up report to our trip, but I still have the data and everything. He can’t do it without me giving him the discs.”

Francie’s expression spoke volumes. “You know, the bank rules your life,” she said, not even trying to hide her dislike of the bank this time. She lay back on the couch and grabbed the TV listings magazine off the coffee table.

Sydney managed to both nod and shrug apologetically at the same time. “Fran, I’m sorry, I really am. I’d love to stay and have ice cream, believe me, I just can’t let this guy down.” She paused, and gave Francie a tiny little “Friends?” smile. “It’s really important, he’s relying on me and he can’t do his job without these discs. I’ll try not to be too long.”

Francie mumbled something, found a show she wanted to watch, and flicked the TV on to that channel. Sydney closed her eyes and sighed. She would have some bridges to mend when she got back home, she knew. And she understood, too. Things would be so much easier if she could tell Francie and Will about her life, but that would just create so many new problems – and dangers. She could never do that to her friends.


Chapter 2

Ten minutes later, Sydney walked into the Rotunda at the CIA headquarters. She saw Michael Vaughn, her handler, sitting at his desk with his back to her, talking to Weiss. Their heads were bowed as if in deep consultation, which puzzled her slightly. The mission had been a complete success, which made their secretive huddle a little worrying. But even though she could only see Vaughn’s back and Weiss’ hair, Vaughn’s body language spoke volumes. Feeling herself growing slightly worried, she walked over to their desk stations.

“Hey, what’s up guys?” They looked up, and one look at their faces had her stomach tightening in anticipation. “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

Vaughn and Weiss looked at each other, and Weiss gave a tiny nod. After a second, Vaughn stood up and led Sydney to the corridor which circled the Rotunda, and into a small alcove where he could break the news to her semi privately.

“Vaughn, what is it, you’re beginning to really frighten me here, was it the Johannesburg mission? I thought it went well,” she whispered, her eyes scanning the corridor behind Vaughn, in case anyone was coming. She looked at Vaughn’s face, and was shocked at how serious and – worried? – he seemed.

“Intelligence intercepted a message between Sloane and an unknown third party.” Vaughn’s voice was low, and he looked at Sydney, who gave a little shake of her head in confusion.

“Vaughn, we know Sloane does things off SD-6’s books. Why has this got you so alarmed?”

“This is bigger than what we’ve previously seen from Sloane,” he replied. He paused, as if unsure how to tell her. He was saved by Weiss’ head popping around the wall.

“Guys – Kendall’s got the report, we’re meeting now.”

A few minutes later, they were all settled around a long oval table in the main briefing room. They all looked up as Kendall entered the room. He’d barely stopped to sit, before he began to speak. The tension in his face and body seemed to penetrate the entire room, and a minute later Sydney found out why.

“15 minutes ago, CIA intelligence intercepted a message from Arvin Sloane to an unknown third party,” he began. “It seems that Sloane has expanded his horizons slightly, and is now looking for something known as 'Chiaroscuro'.”

Weiss looked confused. “He’s going artistic on us? Paintings?” He saw the look on Kendall’s face, and promptly shut up.

“Chiaroscuro is an artistic term, yes,” Kendall said. “And that’s where this got its beginning. But in this case it’s not referring to the contrast between light and dark colours.”

“Then what is it referring to?” The knot in Sydney’s stomach was growing bigger with every minute. When Kendall said the word, it seemed to gain a malevolent ring to it.

“The contrast between truth and lies,” Kendall replied simply. “In essence, Sloane is after something – of which we don’t know the exact mechanics yet. Whether it’s a chemical or a chip or something else entirely. But we do know that when inserted or injected into a person, it would then render them incapable of lying. To add to the problem, from what we can gather, it is permanent.”

The silence in the room was almost deafening, and Sydney heard the whoosh of blood pumping in her ears. For a second, she felt light-headed and the room went dark, spinning round, as the implications hit her. She felt Vaughn's hand cover hers, checking she was OK, and she felt comforted by the gesture. Everyone sat silently, in stunned shock.

“In a spy, that would mean…” Sydney’s voice trailed off, unable to finish the thought. As if saying it out loud somehow would make it more real.

“…that you would be finished as a spy - and for a double agent under suspicion, almost certainly dead,” Jack Bristow finished, seemingly not susceptible to the fear of making something real by talking about it.

But when Sydney looked over at her father, she could see how shocked he was too – a rare sight. “Which is exactly the kind of thing that would appeal to Sloane,” Jack continued. “Guaranteed truthful information from his agents."

Weiss slumped in his chair. “Diabolical. The man just reaches new lows.”

Vaughn was shaking his head in disbelief too. “But I think the person who created this just has him beat.”

“It could end us,” Sydney whispered, her voice showing how genuinely scared by this she was. “Dad, if Sloane has any doubts about us…”

Jack nodded. “Sloane is the kind of man who wouldn’t hesitate to use this on his own flesh and blood, if he thought they were lying to him. But if he suspects one or both of us, this would confirm those suspicions. This isn’t a lie detector test you can fool. Even the one used by SD-6 – the one McCullough used on you, Sydney – even that can be beaten, but not this. It’s frightening.”

Somehow, Jack Bristow saying something was frightening really hit home.

Kendall cleared his throat. “And knowing Arvin Sloane, it will likely be a test – if you fail to bring back a real and working version, he will know that you are a double agent, and made a switch.”

Everyone was hit by the implications of this statement. Not just revealing that Sydney and Jack Bristow were double agents for the CIA, but that they would be forced to reveal CIA secrets – names, codes, missions… because Chiaroscuro would mean that they were unable to lie.

“It’s next gen, high tech truth serum,” Vaughn whispered, a shiver running down his spine.

Kendall leaned forward, his hands on the table in front of him, and looked at them all. “This is huge. Sydney and Jack cannot be on any of our missions, none at all. We can’t risk it. They have to be at SD-6’s beck and call, and we cannot give Arvin Sloane even the smallest suspicion that they are double agents – we need to double our vigilance on this."

"Do we have any clues as to who the third party might be?" Sydney asked, her mind racing.

Kendall moved right a little, to display the projection screen behind him. He flicked a button on the remote in front of him, and a photograph popped up on the screen and on the computer screens in front of everyone.

Sydney groaned. “Sark. Whose side is he on this week?”


**********************

And that's your super-sized lot for this time :lol:. Let me know what you think - I love to get feedback, and see whether you liked it, what things worked for you, etc. And let me know if you want to be added to the PM list :hug: :smiley:

Thanks for reading! :hug:
 
Amazing! Honestly i love how you describe the characters and im dying to see what happens next! And thank you so much for being kind enough to post two chaps. :hug:

and you know you dont even need to ask if i want a pm. ..
 
What an intriguing plot line, Helen! And congrats on finishing NaNo!

I loved that this started out like an episode and that we get a balanced view of Sydney's life.

"So the florist's all 'Look lady, they're just flowers, chill out," Francie drawled, imitating the delivery guy's drawl. "I mean the guy's barely out of college. And he's telling a newly engaged woman to chill out?"
:lol: You've captured Francie's voice perfectly here.

“In a spy, that would mean…” Sydney’s voice trailed off, unable to finish the thought. As if saying it out loud somehow would make it more real.

“…that you would be finished as a spy - and for a double agent under suspicion, almost certainly dead,” Jack Bristow finished, seemingly not susceptible to the fear of making something real by talking about it.
Sooo intriguing! My goodness, you're brilliant! ^_^ A spy unable to lie...wow. And I love the name - Chiaroscuro. Very Italian and well suited to all those Rambaldi-esque names they always came up with for everything on the show.

I also loved the contrast between Sydney and Jack's reactions.

Sydney groaned. “Sark. Whose side is he on this week?”
Hee! I was wondering hoping from the beginning if the third party might be Sark. :cool:

Please pm when you update! Can't wait to see where this is going. :flowers:
 
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