Vaughn, unable to sleep, stares at his father's watch, which stopped the day he met Sydney. As Vaughn leaves, Lauren's phone rings. At the CIA, Dixon presents the team with a new mission: The Shining Sword, a Filipino terrorist organization, has acquired a next-generation bomb called a plasma charge, which they're shipping to Europe. The CIA has traced a Shining Sword transmission from a digital storage facility in Vancouver. Syd and Vaughn are to rent vault space at the facility and search for a detailed archive of the shipment. Someone within the Agency, Dixon adds, may be leaking info to the Covenant.

Syd and Vaughn, posing as astronomers, arrive at the facility. They secretly download the shipping info and pinpoint location of plasma charge. Their uplink to Marshall, however, is sabotaged by a virus. Suddenly, they're attacked by a facility employee, who is mysteriously shot dead. Syd and Vaughn lose the murderer after a car chase through a parking garage. Back in LA, Marshall tells them he received 63% of the data; he'll need 12 hours to extrapolate the rest. Sydney recalls the previous day was the anniversary of Vaughn's father's death. Lauren calls, interrupting their conversation. 

In Zurich, Sloane apologizes to Barnett and asks her out to dinner. She agrees "for professional reasons only." She thinks his transformation from spy to humanitarian is remarkable and asks about the secret he's harboring. He's offended and explodes at her, so she walks out on him. 

Marshall's data reveals the plasma charge is on a Liberian freighter in Lisbon. Once on the boat, Syd and Vaughn, using a tracking device, are again fired upon.

We go back to the opening— after Vaughn leaves, Lauren receives a call from Sark. He wants the plasma charge and tells her to get a lock on it, which she does via Dixon's team meeting. Syd tells Lauren that's she's not responsible for the problems in Lauren's marriage. Lauren then meets Sark at the Vancouver facility, where they plant the virus and force the employee to fire at Syd and Vaughn. When he misses, Lauren kills him and flees. After escaping, Lauren and Sark get shagadelic. 

Sloane apologizes to Barnett. He tells her his secret — he had a one-night affair with Irina Derevko. Jack and Emily never knew. Though he's never tried to prove it, he believes Syd is his daughter. 

Back to the gun battle on the boat — Syd finds the plasma charge. Vaughn stops Lauren, who's wearing a mask, and demands that she show herself. Before she does, Sark corners Syd and threatens to kill her unless Vaughn drops the gun. "If you love her, you'll drop the gun," Sark says. Vaughn drops it. Lauren punches him and runs. Syd breaks away from Sark and chases Lauren while Vaughn goes after Sark, who has the charge. He engages the timer and tosses it to Vaughn, who, with Marshall's aid, stops the countdown with seconds left.

Later, Lauren meets Vaughn at a bar. Sark calls to goad her. She kisses Vaughn at Sark's behest. At the office late, Jack takes Syd out to dinner. 
Season 3: Episode 15- "Facade"
3/14/2004 
Daniel Ryan, a freelance bomb maker whose bombs are impossible to defuse, destroys a bank in Belfast as a calling card to The Covenant. If he fails to cut a deal with The Covenant in 48 hours, he'll give notice to other terrorist groups with a bombing in the U.S. When the CIA learns that The Covenant is to meet him at the Black Stag Bar in Belfast, they send Weiss and Syd. 

Using Covenant defector Leonid Lisenker as a source of info, Syd poses as a Covenant agent. To improve her credibility with Ryan, she rescues him from an attempted CIA kidnapping led by Weiss. Ryan wakes in a CIA-built replica of the hotel room in which he does business with The Covenant. The ruse nearly fails, but Lisenker appears and vouches for Syd. Ryan accepts the deal on the condition that the details be handled by Sark, whom he's never met but knows is The Covenant's North American co-commander. 

Vaughn appears, posing as Sark. Ryan tells him the details will be given to him on a flight from Rome to Paris by an associate who will recognize him. He says the second bombing will be called off once the associate meets Sark. The CIA hurriedly issues a communiqué that compels Sark to board that flight, which Vaughn is also on. The associate never shows up, however, meaning that Ryan wanted Sark on that plane for an unknown reason. 

Copyright © March 2003