Clues to Remember: Prologue
October 2004
"Mr. Kendall,
"I know that this wasn’t what you were expecting. You wanted the disk. The
information on the Covenant…it’s leader…the people
involved…everything.
"We know who the leader is. We know the people involved. We’ve known for a
lot longer than we’ve told you. We just weren’t sure what to do with the
information. We can't give you the disk. Or the information.
"We have decided that we don’t want to remember. What we found out…is too
much. Especially for him.
"We want to thank you for everything you have done for us. We appreciate
all of the support and we’re sorry that we have to do this. You helped us try
to get rid of the enemy.
"Now that we know who the enemy is…we just want to forget it. I know that
this is not like me…to run from something like this when I could easily take
them down because I am so far in.
"But I can’t fight this enemy. And Michael can’t either. He is why I am
considering all of this.
"We’re destroying the disk and then we’re going to erase everything we
found out from our minds. If we don’t know, than we don’t
have to fight this. We have…someone close here that is going to help get
us safely back to
"But please…tell us nothing of the last 15 months. “
tbc
Clues to Remember: 1
Five days later
Eric Weiss stared through the glass window of Vaughn’s hospital room. He’d been
interchanging between
Alive.
They were alive.
Well, unofficially. Director Chase wanted to make sure that these two really
were Michael Vaughn and Sydney Bristow.
Subconsciously, he knew it made logical sense. Two dead
Unless of course, you were acquainted with Sydney and Vaughn
in the first place. This was the Sydney Bristow who’s
mother came back from the dead.
Yeah, being around these two obviously involved a lot of people coming back
from the dead.
His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed that Vaughn
seemed to be awake and was pulling at the restraints around his wrists.
With a sharp curse towards Director Chase (who wasn’t there to demote him,
therefore, giving him the security of cursing her for having them restrained),
Eric placed a quick call to Jack Bristow and rushed into the room.
“Calm down, Vaughn,” he said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Eric, why am I restrained? I told you that I was
fine…”
Vaughn was getting more agitated.
“Michael!”
He calmed down considerably, looking at Eric. “What the hell is going on?”
Eric sighed. “Michael, the restraints have to stay on. I’m sorry. As for what
the hell is going on…What is the last thing you remember?”
Vaughn frowned. “A fire. At
“That’s it?”
Vaughn nodded.
Eric sighed. Jack had been afraid of this.
Before he could answer Michael’s questions, though, there was a knock on the
window of the door. Weiss looked to see that it was Jack Bristow, a cell phone
attached to his ear.
“I’ll be right back, buddy.”
“Eric, I want to know why I’m restrained to a bed.”
“And I promise you that you will get your answers. After I
talk to Jack.”
Weiss put a friendly hand on Vaughn’s shoulder, before turning and stepping out
to talk to Jack.
“The doctor’s have assured me that they are Agent Vaughn and my daughter. I am
having the restraints removed.”
Eric assumed that he didn’t wait for whomever he was talking to to answer,
because he shut the phone off and turned to Eric.
“As I just told Director Chase, the doctors have confirmed their identities
with the blood they took.”
Eric nodded. “Wait, did you just hang up on her?”
“Yes, Mr. Weiss, I did. How is Vaughn?”
Eric’s amusement over the ongoing feud between Jack and Chase disspeared as he
turned to look through the window in the door.
“He wants answers. He doesn’t remember anything after the fire.
“
“As far as Vaughn knows,” Eric started cautiously, “
“Well, I think it is time we dissolve that notion.”
*****
Vaughn’s arms were crossed over his chest as Eric and
“Is this really necessary?” Vaughn asked. “I know the way to the conference
room.”
“Sorry, man,” Eric said. “But the director doesn’t want you wandering alone.”
“I thought you said that the doctors confirmed who I was.”
“They did,”
“You guys don’t like this Director Chase much do you?”
They were finally at the door of their target destination, but in front of it
was a petite black woman, with short hair, brown eyes and a stern demeanor.
“Agent Vaughn,” She said, her hand out.
Vaughn shook it. She seems nice enough. Why don’t they like her?
“I wanted to personally tell you that we’re glad to have you back.”
“Um, thank you. When exactly were you instated as Director? What happened to
Agent Kendall?”
She glanced at
Eric took his arm again, to lead him into the room.
“Good luck,"
Vaughn smiled at him before Eric lead him into the
conference room.
“
Vaughn turned to him, and Eric almost thought the younger man had given himself
whiplash.
“It’s true, Vaughn.”
This time, Eric could have sworn that Vaughn had broken his own neck, he’d turned his neck so sharply.
Before Eric even had time to blink, the two had met in the middle of the room.
“Oh god,” Vaughn whispered.
They wrapped their arms around each other tightly and only broke apart when
Jack Bristow cleared his throat. Loudly.
“I am…sorry to interrupt,” he said, “But we need to talk.”
“Of course.” Vaughn and Sydney backed away, but their
fingers were still entwined.
“I don’t understand,” Vaughn asked, “How did Syd survive the fire?”
“I don’t even remember a fire,”
“Yes,” Jack answered, “But it’s more than just that night,
tbc
Clues to Remember: 2
Sydney and Vaughn looked between themselves, looks of shock on their faces.
“That’s almost two years,” Vaughn whispered obviously.
“I know this must be a shock,” Jack said quietly, “And I apologize, but this
must be done now. You two need to be caught up.”
Sydney and Vaughn nodded. Eric and Jack watched as they sunk slowly into seats,
their fingers intertwined.
“First,” Jack started, “you two need to know how you died.”
Again, their heads snapped up at hearing Jack’s deadpan delivery of this
statement. Some things don’t change.
Jack pulled out two crème colored folders, and set them softly on the table in
front of Sydney and Vaughn.
“The one on the right is the crime scene photos of
“I was there,” Vaughn spoke up softly. “I remember the way her apartment
looked.”
Jack nodded. “Yes. But
He nodded at his daughter and, when she was ready, he
watched her pull the file closer and open it.
Black walls. Black floor.
Black everything.
When she got to the picture of the bloody bathtub, she slammed the file shut.
“I’ve had enough,” She whispered.
Stoically, Jack pulled the file back toward himself.
“I’m assuming,” Vaughn began, so softly that Eric and Jack strain to hear him,
“that the other file is mine.”
Jack nodded. “Yes.”
Vaughn pulled the file toward him and opened it…
…only to see a car parked near a bridge. He immediately recognized the car he
had 15 months ago.
“Nine-one-one got a call one night,” Eric spoke up, “from a bystander. She told
the dispatcher that there was a jumper on that bridge,” Eric gestured with his
head at the picture. “And that she was sure he was going to jump. You were
depressed, Vaughn. We were afraid that you might...”
Vaughn and Sydney both squeezed their eyes shut tightly, as though they were
trying everything they could to hold the tears back. Eric passed them a tissue
box.
Vaughn was silent for a moment. “W…was there a body,” He articulated finally.
Jack shook his head. “We thought, obviously incorrectly, that we had
“Oh god,” Sydney choked, bringing a hand to her mouth, holding back a sob as
the tears rolled like a stream down her cheeks. Vaughn looked close to tears
himself, bending his head and bringing a hand to his eyes to hold them back.
“We tried to investigate your death,
Sydney and Vaughn both nodded, still wiping at stray tears.
“Listen,”
“You can stay with me,” Eric said, almost immediately. “I have plenty of room.”
“If you still live in the same place you did 15 months ago, you don’t,” Vaughn
countered.
Eric sighed and nodded.
“We’ll pay for a hotel,” Jack consented.
“Come on.” Eric stood up. “I’ll drive you.”
*****
Eric got them set up in a posh hotel a few miles from the JTF. Eric said that
it was worth maxing out his credit card to pay for a few nights. His friends
had come back from the dead, after all.
There were bear hugs and a few more tears before he left and when he did,
Sydney and Vaughn both jumped into a hot shower.
It was a couple of minutes later when he felt the gentle tapping of her fingers
against the back of his neck as she did morse code.
We…need…to …find…a …way…to…give…dad…and…eric…clues…
He hugged her tighter, his fingers dropping to the small of her back.
We…will…we…just…got…here…we…are…still…being…monitored…we…have…to…be…careful…or…t
he…covenant…will…know…we…are…not…them…
She nodded against his neck before leaning her head back and kissing him
passionately.
*****
They had both just finished their shower when there was a knock on their hotel
room door. Looking at each other in panic, Vaughn grabbed the gun that Eric had
left them. He pointed it at the door while
“Dad, Sydney. Open the door.”
“Sorry,” she said apologetically. “I guess we’re a little jumpy.”
“Understandable,” Jack said. “I actually came to…apologize.”
“For what, Jack?” Vaughn said incredulously.
“I realize that I was cold during the debrief and in
the hospital room, when you first woke up,
Jack nodded. “I insisted that I do it.”
Sydney and Vaughn both couldn’t help a small smile as they remembered
Jack’s…insisting skills.
There was a bit of an awkward silence before, ever so slowly,
Jack returned her embrace. “I love you, too, Sweetheart.
“I am glad you’re back home safely,” Jack whispered.
He backed away from his daughter. “Both of you.”
Vaughn smiled a little at the comment.
Sydney had one more fleeting thought as she shut the door behind her father a
few minutes later, after having said her ‘I love you’ to him for the first time
in 15 months.
Help us, daddy…
tbc
Clues to Remember: 3
Then she spoke, very clearly.
“Did that satisfy you?”
“Yes,
“I'll have you know that I did not listen to your shower earlier.”
This time, Vaughn was the one who shut his eyes tightly, clenching his fists as
he heard Sloane’s words through his own link. It was hard not to give in to the
urge to call Sloane on being the sick psychopath that he was.
“Well, we are so glad to hear that,”
Sloane actually laughed.
“I trust you.”
“If you trust us so much, than why give us these damn transmitters in the first
place?”
“That is why I trust you. I know that you wouldn’t do anything that would
endanger Michael’s life.”
“You are the one who did so, you sick bastard.” Vaughn couldn’t hold it in
anymore. “You are the one that brought me to you in the first place. You are
the one who injected this cyanide chip in my neck.”
“Ah, Michael. I was wondering when you were going to speak up. The cyanide
chip, as I have told you, is my insurance…and
“I am well aware of what I will lose,”
“I know that you are both capable double agents.
“You told us you sent us because you thought that we were the best. How are we
supposed to do our best with your voice in our ears?” Vaughn asked sharply.
“This is your second test. For now, consider that
“Sloane?” Vaughn asked.
There was no answer.
And that’s when Sydney and Vaughn collapsed into each other’s arms.
“I’ll start tomorrow. Dad wanted us to finish our debrief
so he could fill us in on what we have missed,” She said, carefully choosing
her words, in case Sloane was still listening.
Vaughn nodded against her head. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault either, Syd,” he said softly. He knew her so well.
She kissed him softly. “Keep reminding me of that, okay?”
“Of course,” he kissed her back.
He hugged her, his fingertips going against the small of her back again, like
in the shower, under her shirt.
…you…did…not...ask…about…will…or…francie…that…might…make…your…father…suspicious…
She smiled at him cleverly. He hadn’t seen that smile in a long time.
Her fingertips went against his neck.
…exactly…that…is…my…first…clue…
…subtle…
…it…is…going…to…have…to…be…
She grabbed his hand and led him to the bedroom to get some sleep.
He was asleep before she was. She couldn’t sleep, so she stared at him,
reaching up to push a stray lock of hair out of his face. It had gotten longer
in their captivity. She would have to get him to cut it, though she didn’t
think that he’d object.
The night-or day, she hadn’t been sure of much then-that she knew that Sloane
hadn’t been bluffing about Vaughn’s involvement floated through her mind…
Her entire body was aching and stinging.
Sloane’s threats that Vaughn would be joining her soon were getting more
frequent. The only way she had been able to get any relief since she had woken
up here the first time was Vaughn’s safety. Sloane was destroying that and he
knew it.
Her head slipped back and forth and when she opened her eyes, she knew that
Sloane hadn’t been bluffing.
“No,” she whimpered.
Vaughn was sitting next to her, his hands handcuffed, and though she couldn’t
see it, she knew his ankles were shackled also.
And he was staring at her.
“Sydney, I promised you that he’d be here, did I not?”
Sloane’s slimy voice said as his face hovered above her.
“I’m sorry,
“No, Vaughn…”
Sloane actually smiled at her and he didn’t even flinch when she spit in his
face. “I assume that you will be most cooperative, now, won’t you,
Sloane had tortured them both.
And then he had trained them to be agents of his brand-new version of the
TBC
Clues to Remember: 4
Sloane wanted the power. He himself had told them that he hadn't had it while
he was with SD-6, having to constantly confer with the rest of the
He wanted them to see redemption in him. They made him think they had.
One month later, they contacted
There was something that had been able to help them to hold on to everything.
Thinking about their ordeal over the first five months brought something else
to the forefront of her mind. Not that it hadn't taken up
permanent residence there, anyway, but she'd had to push it back. Sloane
didn't know about it and they wanted to keep it that way. Now with him
listening, they couldn't even acknowledge it had ever happened. It was a dream
that they had told themselves and each other that they would achieve when all
of it was over.
But Sloane had started to get more watchful and they were afraid that their
dream might be taken away from them.
”He’s getting suspicious,”
”All the more reason why you should wait. We are
close.”
“I know perfectly well how long this has gone on. SD-6 wasn’t taken down in eight months, Agent Bristow.”
“This is different.”
“No.” Now, Vaughn spoke up. “Our love for each other is what has made this all
easier. Our... attachment, as you so eloquently put it, helped us bring down
SD-6. We can use it to destroy all that Sloane is trying to build up now. But,
Syd, maybe we shouldn’t do this. We can hold onto it as even more motivation.”
Sydney shook her head determinedly, looking at Vaughn. “We are going to do
this. I realize that to do it, we are going to have to do it under aliases, and
we can’t even wear rings.”
“Why not just wait?”
“I want the reminder what we did it. It’s a dream, yes, but if Sloane were to
find out that we aren’t really loyal to him, than I…want to know that we were
able to do this right under his nose. He monitors us closely. We worked so hard
to bring down SD-6 and now he’s a threat to us again. This is one thing that we
will have that he doesn’t know about.” she looked at Vaughn, wanting to let him
know, unnecessarily, that she wasn’t just doing this to spite Sloane. “I’m not
going to take you, us, for granted. I love you, Vaughn. I want this.”
“It isn’t going to be legal,”
“It’ll be enough to know that we did it; that no matter what, we made the
commitment to be together for the rest of our lives. I don’t want to take us
for granted either. Let’s do it.”
“
Sydney Bristow looked at her husband’s face in front of her. While he may not
legally be her husband, it didn’t matter. He tried to think of him that way
whenever she could.
He smiled at her, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “What are you doing awake? It’s
so late.”
She smiled tearfully, but couldn’t say exactly what she was thinking. She
couldn’t be sure that Sloane wasn’t listening.
He didn’t seem to need her to explain though. He simply gathered her in his
arms and kissed her, whispering softly against her lips, “We’ll do it for real.
I promise.”
She kissed his bare chest and the soft feeling of him stroking her arm guided
her into sleep.
*****
Sydney and Vaughn had barely made it into the Ops center the next morning
before they were both bombarded by a familiar figure.
“
“Oh, Syd,”
“I got it
“
“Oh um, of course.”
They watched him leave. “I think he’s gotten worse since he got married,
actually.”
“That
Jack spoke in. “We will apprise you of all that you have missed. I don’t think
this is the appropriate area for this conversation.”
Once they got there, the form of Director Chase was there, seated at the head
of the table with her hands clasped in front of her.
She stood as they entered. “Agents Vaughn and Bristow.
We have met briefly,” She said, shaking their hands. “I am here to determine
whether you are healthy enough to be reinstated.”
“We are,”
“The doctors think so, too,” Director Chase affirmed. “But I am still cautious.
You start in two days. You will be monitored closely.”
“What’s being done about the investigation to find out what happened to us?”
Vaughn asked.
“For now, nothing, Agent Vaughn.”
Surprised, Vaughn said, “Excuse me?”
“You remember nothing of what happened to you. You two are the ones that walked
in here. We have no leads.”
They had expected that. “Fine.”
Director Chase bowed her head in consent. “Of course.”
With one last look at her,
Vaughn found her a second later, in the car that Eric had rented for them. He
had managed to tell Jack and Eric that they would be fine and would call if they
needed anything. Sloane and Sydney’s conversation was ringing in his ear and he
heard that
He opened the passenger side door and got in.
“As you must have heard, Mr. Vaughn, I was just congratulating
“You know I live for your approval,” Vaughn bit out.
“I am sure you do, Mr. Vaughn.” Sloane sounded amused, which just infuriated
the two more.
*****
Jack Bristow watched from the front door, staying expertly out of site of
He could see Sydney and Vaughn talking, but their body language suggested that
they weren’t talking to each other.
He knew that if anything was wrong with
What if they didn't need to ask? What if they already knew? He knew his
daughter was smart. Brilliant, in fact. Vaughn was
also quite intelligent.
What if they were trying, however indirectly, to tell him that there was
something wrong?
tbc
Clues to Remember: 5
May 7, 2003
Michael Vaughn was so drunk, the disaster area that was his home seemed like
the cleanest thing he’d ever seen.
It was three days after
He was so drunk that he didn’t even hear the person come into the room until he
or she had knocked the bottle from his hands and his body smashed into the
floor.
“What does she see in you?” The voice muttered scathingly. In Vaughn’s drunken
haze, he could barely make out the gender of the person talking.
“Who the hell are you?” He tried, but cursed himself when the words came out in
a slur of consonants and vowels.
The person seemed to have understood him, though, because Vaughn could suddenly
smell the person’s scent as they bent over him. “I suppose, Mr. Vaughn, that
you could call me the insurance collector.”
Before Vaughn could make any remark toward the lame title, a needle was jammed
into his left bicep and his world went dark.
*****
The night was dark, the stars twinkling overhead as he sat on the balcony of
the hotel room. A slight breeze traveled along his face and he reveled in it.
He only wished his life were as uncomplicated as this night was.
But it wasn’t.
These last two days had been agonizing for them. They couldn’t talk freely,
they couldn’t be intimate. The shower a few nights ago had been as close as
they had gotten; they just couldn’t go past kissing. It would have felt a hell
of a lot better had they been reinstated immediately. That way they would have
had something to do.
Vaughn sighed. He hated this. He was being used actively as insurance and it
was preventing
But he still had
“Your new identities.” Arvin Sloane slammed two folders on the desk in front of
Sydney and Vaughn.
Giving Sloane a look,
“I will give you a few minutes to look them over. I trust they will be to your
satisfaction. I have shown you the conference room down the hall. Meet me there
in ten minutes. There are introductions to be done.”
Sloane left the room, closing the door behind him.
“He also added new ones,” Vaughn pointed out softly.
“He’s spent five months preparing us, Vaughn. We’ve gone through combat and
weapons training. Training I had already gone through when I was six. You had
no such experience.” She touched his face softly. “Are you okay?”
He smiled sadly and brought his hand to cover the one on his cheek. “Yeah,
She leaned forward, seeing through his reassurances. “No, you aren’t. I just
want you to know Vaughn that I know we both aren’t the same people we were
before. We have gone through far too much in these past five months. I just
want you too remember that it doesn’t matter. We’re on the same side.”
He smiled, though this time, (to
She kissed him. “Come on. We better go meet our new…colleagues.”
*****
Present: The next morning.
“I would like to welcome Agents Vaughn and Bristow back to this agency.”
Director Chase introduced. Sydney and Vaughn glanced around the table. Eric
Weiss, Jack Bristow, Marshall Flinkman and one other agent neither recognized
occupied the conference table.
“This is Agent Kelly,” Director Chase gestured to the agent who looked to be a
little younger than Vaughn.
Agent Kelly nodded at them. “Welcome back.”
Sydney and Vaughn both gave him small smiles.
“We have a mission for you,” Director Chase said.
Surprised,
“Ordinarily, I would have.” Chase confirmed, “But you were specifically
requested.”
Vaughn blanched. “By whom?”
Chase motioned to Agent Kelly.
“Earlier this morning,” he stood up, passing a folder to all at the table. “We
got a tip from on anonymous source. He…or she informed us of the pending
assassination of a man that is the head of a medical relief organization in
“Why does someone want to assassinate this Daniel Roman?” Vaughn asked, looking
at the picture of the man.
Kelly shrugged. “We don’t know for sure. Roman does good work. His organization
provides vaccines, food and clothing to third-world countries. We suspect that
it is because someone doesn’t like the work he’s doing.”
“Do we know who the assassin is?” Weiss asked.
“Yes, actually. The person with the tip provided that
too.” Kelly hit a remote and the picture of a woman appeared on the screen.
“Her name is-“
“Julia Thorne.” Sloane gestured to the blonde haired, brown-eyed woman beside
him. Sloane looked at Vaughn pointedly. “I don’t suppose you would recognize
her, Mr. Vaughn?”
Vaughn stared back. “No.”
“You should.” The woman looked at him seductively, which made
Vaughn closed his eyes tightly, remembering the scathing voice. "What
does she see in you?"
“You are the woman who brought me here.”
She smiled. “I am surprised that you remember. You were rather…wasted.”
“Ms. Thorne,” Sloane interrupted. “Is an assassin who works for us. There were three remaining alliance members.”
“Were?”
“Yes.” Thorne looked at her. “I have killed two of them.”
Sloane smiled at her, like a proud father whose daughter had just drawn a
masterpiece.
“We don’t know where he is. The other two were in hiding. Obviously not
well enough,” Thorne simpered, a note of triumph in her tone. “But we don’t
know where or who the other one is. Arvin briefed me on your new aliases.
Welcome, you two. You aren’t Michael Vaughn and Sydney Bristow anymore.”
Present
“We want you, Agent Vaughn, to intercept the assassin. The source told us that
she is in
Sydney and Vaughn glanced at the other agents before leaving the conference
room.
Once he was sure that Weiss and Kelly had both followed Sydney and Vaughn out,
Jack turned to Chase. “I think sending them out so soon could
prove to be a tactical error.”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
******
Weiss caught up with Vaughn, but
“Mike!”
Vaughn didn’t seem to have heard him and continued to rush to wherever it was
he was going. Eric followed after him to the parking garage. Relieved that they
were away from other agents, Eric called after him louder.
“Yo! Michael!”
This time, Vaughn turned around, startled. “Eric? What are you yelling about?”
“I have been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes. Are you
feeling alright?”
Vaughn was frantically looking around the garage. Absently, to Eric, he said,
“Oh, um, I’m fine. I gotta go find Syd. I’ll see you on the plane, okay?”
“Yeah, Michael,” Eric nodded, his head concerned for his best friend, but
realizing that Vaughn wasn’t going to tell him what was wrong. “That’s fine.”
He hadn’t even finished his sentence before Vaughn was gone.
*****
Meanwhile…
“You are the mysterious source aren’t you?”
“Not me directly. My voice could have been recognized,
That would have been tragic,
“Why do you think that Julia is going after him?”
“I suspect so, Sydney. I am not sure. But it would be an ingenious move on his
part, wouldn’t it? Hiding in plain sight.”
“If he is, than he obviously had work done. What if
this guy isn’t the man you are looking for? Than you could be
murdering an innocent person. I also thought that I was on point for
this…mission.”
“That isn’t my concern,
“I have reasons to believe that he is the man I’m looking for. The CIA wants
him kept alive. I want him killed. This is a test,
*****
Michael Vaughn strode confidently into the club that Julia Thorne often
frequented with the ease of a man who had been trained to do this. He did it
effortlessly.
He spotted the familiar blonde woman sitting at the bar, holding a martini
delicately in her left hand, the thigh of a man in her right. He stood just a
few feet from her and waited until she spotted him.
She did and almost immediately, she dismissed the man she had been shamelessly
flirting with and beckoned him over.
“Derrick, darling,” She purred mischievously, “Lovely to see you
again.”
tbc
Clues to Remember: 6
Eric Weiss was thoroughly confused.
He and Sydney watched from the a table that was above
the bar, getting a perfect view of Vaughn and Julia Thorne. They couldn’t
listen in because Vaughn and Sydney had both insisted that he could very easily
be swept for bugs and the transmitter would be discovered. Other means had been
suggested, but Sydney and Vaughn had both shot them down saying that
surveillance would be fine without listening in on the conversation.
But that wasn’t the only thing that was perplexing Eric. What was also
confusing him (it was on a rather long list) was his best friend.
Vaughn’s entire posture had changed the moment the younger man had entered the
club. He strode through the club as if he owned the place; the expression on
his face made it seem as though someone had pissed him off and he had an ass to
kick. Vaughn had always been concentrated on a mission, but this was…different.
Eric looked at
****
“Julia,” Vaughn-Derrick-slid smoothly into the seat the man before him had
occupied, ignoring the predatory look that she had on her face as she gave him
a once-over.
“What can I do for you, love?” She said, sipping her martini.
“I want a partnership.”
She raised her eyebrow. “What makes you think I need a partner?”
“I have a source that tells me that you are planning to assassinate the head of
the Omnifam organization. I want in.”
Her eyes twinkled at him knowingly. She downed the last of her drink and stood.
“Come with me.”
*****
She knew, perfectly well though, that Vaughn could take care of himself. Sloane
hadn’t been entirely truthful when he had said that he had trained Vaughn. He
just took pleasure in claiming that he did.
By Sloane’s reasoning, he had assigned
“Let’s go.”
*****
She grunted as her ass hit the ground, having just
taken the force of a clumsy kick to her side. He crouched down gently beside
her, offering a hand to help her up.
“I’m sorry, Syd.”
She took his hand. “No, no, it’s okay.”
Vaughn sighed and collapsed gracelessly onto the floor.
“I’m hurting you. I think this is going to take longer than Sloane thinks it
is.”
She mimicked his sigh and movement. She seated herself Indian style in front of
him, taking his hands, avoiding looking at the scars on his wrists and arms;
just few of many she knew marred his body.
“It’s fine. And it’s not like you haven’t done this kind of stuff before. You
had a little bit of training at the Farm didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but nearly the training that you’d had.”
“Vaughn, I was trained at the age of six to do this stuff.”
“Exactly.”
He shifted a little, wincing. She tried to curb her concern, but was barely
successful. He was barely healed. For that matter, neither was she and she hid
her own wince as an acute pain shot up her side from his kick. But Sloane had
done more damage to Vaughn, knowing that he was the only reason
He had soon learned that it went both ways, but since
“Are you okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah. You?”
“I’m all right.”
No they weren’t, but the need to protect each other always transformed into a
shield of weakness and strength.
“Maybe we should take a break from the sparring.” Mild word to describe it, but
it worked. “We could work on your mission skills.”
He smiled sadly. “They weren’t good enough before?”
She touched his cheek. “We just need to…enhance them.”
Sloane had ordered her to train him herself, citing her ‘flawless skills in the
field’. She hadn’t bothered to ask about any training for her. It was obvious
that he found it unnecessary. The bastard was mocking them, but she could use that
to her advantage. She didn’t know exactly what Sloane had in store for them
quite yet, but she was going to make sure that Vaughn had everything he would
need to keep him safe.
She needed to keep him alive. He was the only thing keeping her going.
*****
Present
“How are you, Derrick? How is…what was her name again?”
She didn’t need him to tell her. She knew, from Sloane, that Vaughn’s new name
was Derrick Lucas and
“
“Ah yes. How is
“Fine. Listen, I want to know if we are going to do
this or am I wasting my time?”
Julia stopped, turning to look at him. “You know what will happen if I tell you
that you are just wasting your time? Tell me,” She whispered. “How does it feel
to have him in your head twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?”
She didn’t have time to react before his hand was firmly around her throat as
he pushed her forcefully into the wall next to them.
He tightened his grip, satisfied when he heard her gasping desperately for
breath, her manicured fingernails tearing at his hand, drawing blood.
He got closer to her face, and spat, “About the same as having him brutally
torture me and the woman I love for three months, you stupid b****.”
He let her go, her body falling unceremoniously to the ground. She stared up at
him, murder shooting from her eyes as she took in air.
“Michael…you better…be…careful….”
He took her by the upper arms roughly, drawing her up to his eye level. “I
can’t kill you right now. But you know what? If I don’t scare you, and I should, but if you don’t watch it, than the
thought of
To his surprise, she actually smiled. “Well, it seems that our…small separation
has made me underestimate your dependency on
“My dependency on
*****
“What the hell is he doing?” Eric asked as he watched the scene between Thorne
and Vaughn with a little bit of fright. Vaughn’s hand had flown to Thorne’s
throat quickly, which surprised Weiss. He wasn’t sure he had ever seen his
friend move that fast.
He’s taking care of himself. She could hear Sloane actually laughing at
the scene they were both listening to and she was trying very hard not to say
anything to him. She managed to say to Weiss, “Maybe she provoked him.”
“
“Weiss!”
He shrugged and was about to tease her some more, but the look on her face
stopped him.
“Come on,” She said, grabbing Eric’s arm. “They're moving again.”
Eric followed her, the suspicions that had been running through his mind a few
minutes ago once again running rampant.
*****
Julia led him to a limousine outside. She opened the door for him, looking at
him with barely contained anger.
“Get in.”
He looked at her suspiciously, but got in, knowing that Sydney and Weiss
wouldn’t be able to follow him.
She slid in after him and closed the door.
“The Airport,” she said in Italian to the driver.
Vaughn looked at her. “The airport?”
Julia smiled at him. “We’re doing this tonight. I hope you don’t have any
immediate plans.”
*****
“We have to call base.”
“No!”
“I’m sorry,” she sighed, bringing a hand to her forehead. “We don’t need to
call my anyone.”
“What?
“Okay…” He said slowly.
“I need you to go back to the States.”
“Excuse me?” He exclaimed, surprised.
“Say whatever you need to. Blame it all on me.” She paced frantically, and Eric
was afraid that she might be hyperventilating. “Tell them that Vaughn
disappeared with Julia and I went after them. Tell them you lost us both.”
“
Eric sighed, looking at his her. “Okay.”
Relief spread through her. This would be a lot easier if Eric wasn’t here. She
could hear exactly what was going on through their link with Sloane, but Eric
couldn’t.
She hugged him. “Thank you.”
Eric hugged her back before turning around to call a cab to get him to the
airport.
*****
“I did neglect to tell you that this little mission was never meant to be long-term,
didn’t I?"
“The CIA is going to get suspicious when he goes back alone.” Sloane warned
her.
She walked briskly down the street, not caring that she would appear to be
talking to herself. She needed to get farther from the club to order her own
cab.
“I’ll deflect it. I’m good at going against CIA protocol and getting away with it.”
“You might want to also inform Agent Lucas that it would be best of he
didn’t go out of character.”
“You were laughing earlier."
"I admit that I found it...mildly amusing."
A cab finally pulled up to
tbc
Clues to Remember: 7
“Agent Weiss, would you like to explain to me why you have come back without
Agents Bristow and Vaughn?”
Weiss sighed. “Ma’am, Julia Thorne abducted Agent Vaughn. Agent Bristow was
worried and went after them.”
“So you are telling me that you lost them both?”
“Yes.”
Director Chase glanced at Jack Bristow next to her. “Agent Weiss, was there
anyway to go after them? There was nothing you could do?”
There were too many things that were off about all of this and he didn’t trust
Chase enough to say what was really on his mind. Without any hesitation, he
answered. “No. There was nothing I could do.”
Chase sighed. “Okay. We can’t send out any search teams since we know that they
wouldn’t have stayed in
Weiss nodded.
“Dismissed.”
Chase turned briefly and Eric gave Jack a pointed look before turning and
exiting the conference room.
A few minutes later, Weiss sat at his desk, staring at his computer screen when
Jack walked by. “Agent Weiss, let’s talk.”
He got up nervously, briefly wondering how the hell Mike even looked the man in
the face without throwing up in it. He followed Jack to his office.
“Close the door.”
Eric did so and swallowed nervously as he seated himself in one of the chairs
in front of Jack’s desk.
“Now, Weiss, would you like to tell me what is really going on?”
Exhaling slowly, it took him just a second before saying, “Sir,
“Why would she do that?”
He shook his head. “I can’t tell you, exactly, but she was near hysterical. She
told me that I needed to get back to the
Jack had been afraid something like this might happen. He knew that he had been
right when he had told Chase that sending them out could very well prove to be
a mistake, but it has also occurred to him that it could be a way to find out
what was really going on.
“Mr. Weiss, was there anything different about them?”
“Well…yeah. Vaughn was…different. More concentrated. He always has been, but
this wasn’t the same.”
Jack nodded as he processed. “I have a theory.”
“Which is…” Weiss started. “Sir.”
“They both insisted that a communication link wasn’t necessary; that
Thorne could find it on Vaughn.”
“I wondered about that too,” Weiss agreed. “There are ways to listen in without
having a microphone on him.”
“Indeed. I also witnessed them in
“What are you suggesting?” Weiss asked slowly.
“I have reason to believe, Agent Weiss, that Sydney and Vaughn remember exactly where they have been for the last
fifteen months.”
*****
Director Chase sighed as she sat in her chair, entwining her fingers together
and leaning her forehead against them.
Maybe it was time to clue them in.
Reluctant as she was to do so, keeping them in the dark could be more
detrimental. It looked as though both men were suspicious. Though, it seemed
that was also the fault of Sydney and Vaughn. They were subtle, but her agent
on the inside told her that Sloane was starting to notice the little things.
She got up, made sure that her door was locked and went back to her desk to
wait for the call.
Agent Robinson would be checking in soon.
*****
Daniel Roman, like all people, had a past.
His, unlike other people, however, was a little more…violent; which made sense
considering that he used to be the head of an
Nicolai Alexihoff had built himself up from a wanted criminal to an extremely
respected individual of the scientific and medical community. The best part of
if it all? No one in said communities knew anything about his checkered past.
There was one man that knew, of course, but Arvin Sloane would be hard pressed
to find him now. Alexihoff had heard about the murders of the other two
surviving
He had changed, anyway. He no longer cared much about running an international
crime syndicate; it was healing people that he cared about now.
Alexihoff sipped his drink and chuckled as the absurd thought ran through his
head. Healing people…right. This identity was just one that was convenient for
him.
“What’s so funny, Mr. Roman?”
He spun his chair around so fast that he was sure that it would have broken
right off the axis.
It was dark in the office and he liked it that way. The workers in the facility
had all gone home for the night and he liked to…reminisce.
The blackness made it hard for him to see her, but she snapped on the lamp on
the right corner of his desk and the room was illuminated.
She had brown hair that was pulled back and eyes that were the color of
chocolate. She was dressed in all black and had just seated herself comfortably
in a chair in front of his desk.
He chuckled. “Did Klemens send you to me? That assistant of mine…I do believe
that he is trying to get himself promoted.”
The woman shook her head. “I am not a prostitute.”
Before he could say anything, the door to his office opened and in walked
another woman, this one blonde, and a man. Like the brunette woman, they were
dressed in all black.
“Good. You’re here,” Julia Thorne said, coming to rest beside
Sydney and Vaughn recognized the sudden change immediately.
In all of their interactions with this woman, she had talked with a British
accent and it was always scornful when she was talking to
Now, her accent appeared to be American and her tone had simply turned to
relief.
“I can vouch for her,” Thorne said to Alexihoff. “She is not a prostitute.”
“Who are you? What the hell is going on here?” he stood, grabbing the gun
strapped into his side.
“Mr. Roman,” Thorne said, “That isn’t necessary.”
Julia walked toward the man, and before he could react, she slammed the butt of
his own gun into the side of his head.
She then turned to Sydney and Vaughn.
“Sloane isn’t listening.” She said, “There was a…problem at headquarters in
Vaughn and Sydney stared at her and she sighed. “I guess I should probably tell
you who I really am. My name is Nicole Robinson. I am a double agent for the
CIA.”
tbc
Clues to Remember: 8
“You’re
Nicole sighed. “Look, explanations are going to have to wait.” She motioned to
Roman. “We need to handle the garbage first.”
“How are we going to do that?”
Nicole’s eyebrow went up. “Did Sloane actually say he wanted a body?”
Vaughn shook his head. “No, but he’s not stupid enough to accept anything
else.”
Shrugging, Nicole put her gun in the holster at he
ankle before covering it with her leather pants. “You’re right.”
“What if we did kill him?” Vaughn asked.
“Vaughn we can’t just kill someone in cold blood.”
“Actually,” Nicole spoke up. “I do. He was the head of SD-4, Nicolai Alexihoff,
in
“What if he knows something?”
“Like what?” Nicole looked down at the still unconscious man. “He doesn’t know
how to take a hit, that’s for damn sure. Then again, I suppose that scotch he
was drinking didn’t help.”
“He’s the head of an international relief organization.” Vaughn looked at
“Huh,” Nicole kicked at Roman’s foot. “Okay. Should we do it here?”
*****
The reports on her desk had gotten to mythic
proportions. How had
As she moved to open on of them, there was a knock on the door.
Sighing, she sat back in her chair. “Come in.”
“Director Chase,” Marcus Dixon, she remembered, said. “You asked to see me?”
She smiled. “Yes, have a seat.”
He did so and crossed his legs in front of him.
“Agent
His face fell almost immediately. “With all due respect, why do you want his
information from me? Jack Bristow was
“Yes,” she conceded. “But I believe that you can be most objective about the
two of them.”
“I’m not sure how objective I can be. Sydney and were close friends and while I
didn’t know him well, Agent Vaughn was a good man.”
“I do know that you and Sydney were close. But I also said ‘most objective.’ I
think you are the person that I am looking for.”
Now, he was confused. “For what, exactly?”
She got up and went around her desk to lean on the front of it. “Agent
Actually, now that he thought about it, he didn’t. Chase noticed the look on
his face.
“
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“I apologize,” she said, “I’m not being clear enough. Marcus…Sydney Bristow and
Michael Vaughn are alive.”
Present:
Her memories of the day that
The phone rang suddenly and Chase grabbed it. “Yes.”
“She’s with
“And Sloane?”
“Still in
“Damn.” Chase cursed. “I was hoping it would be a little longer. Sydney
Bristow’s anger is legendary.”
“That it is,”
She sighed. “Keep me informed, Marcus.”
“Will do.”
*****
His head throbbed as it rolled in his shoulders and he moaned, trying to get
his bearings. The voice in his ear wasn’t helping.
“Come on, Mr. Roman, I really didn’t hit you that hard.”
He groaned and opened his eyes to find that the two women and one man from
before were standing in front of him and his hands and ankles were bound
tightly to his desk chair.
“Who are you?” he tried to ask, but the words only came out in a slur.
The man crouched in front of him. “It doesn’t matter who we are. We want to
know what you know.”
He became a little more alert when a glass of cold water was splashed over his
head.
“What I know about what?” he sputtered.
The brunette looked at the man and that’s when it clicked. He had thought she
was a prostitute that had been sent to him before, but now, he knew who they
were.
“I recognize you three.”
He now had all three agents’ attention.
“Excuse me?” The man demanded. “What the hell do you mean that you recognize
us?”
He smiled. “Arvin and I are old friends, from the time I was the head of SD-4.
I was helping him build up his organization after the
A sense of dread spread through both Sydney and Vaughn. “You mean to tell me
that you were there when the bastard tortured us?!”
His smile widened. “Only for the first few days.
He looked at them slyly. “Something tells me that you aren’t doing this for
Arvin. Maybe he will forget that he wants to kill me if I tell him that his
‘best agents’ and favorite assassin aren’t really loyal to him?”
He’d barely finished his little speech before the dark-haired man, Vaughn, he
remembered Sloane telling him, had a gun pointed at his forehead.
“It won’t matter,” he seethed.
And he pulled the trigger.
Vaughn and Sydney turned to Nicole.
“We’re going to find a safe-house,”
*****
Her phone rang again and she cursed the annoying tone before picking it up.
"Yes."
Chase closed her eyes tightly. "Is there anything else?"
He was silent for just a second before saying, "They killed him."
She rubbed her forehead. "Good."
tbc
Clues to Remember: 9
Nicole nodded in resignation as she went over to Alexihoff's body. “First we
need to deliver this to Sloane.”
“I thought you said that he was in
“He is. We are going to leave him with the agent I left in charge. He can watch
him for a while.”
“Who is this ‘trusted agent’ that you left in charge? And what makes you think
that Sloane fell for it?”
Frustrated, Nicole dropped the body. “Listen, you guys want your explanations.
I understand that, but now isn’t the time for it.”
Realizing that they had both been stupid to want their explanations right this
second, they nodded.
Nicole had made sure that Sydney and Vaughn had remained in the van when
As Nicole helped
Nicole nodded. “Burn this sheet of paper and make sure that there is no
evidence that it existed. Yadda Yadda. I gotcha.
Thanks,
“No problem.”
*****
They were at the safe-house thirty minutes later. When
“Nice isn’t it?” Nicole joked as she unlocked the door and led them inside. In
a contrast to the outside, the inside was sparsely furnished, but tidy.
Appearances can be deceiving, Syd, She thought, glancing at Nicole. You
should know that by know.
“You guys want some coffee?” Nicole asked, taking her jacket off and setting it
on the back of the couch. “This story might take a while.”
Vaughn set his own jacket next to Nicole’s, as did
Ten minutes later, coffee was made and Nicole was seated in front of Sydney and
Vaughn on an arm chair.
“Okay, first off,” she began, wrapping her fingers around the hot mug, “I set a
small explosive device to go off at the facility in
“Are you going to tell us who it is that is guarding
his body?”
Nodding, she answered, “I told you I would get to that,
didn’t I?”
“So start from the beginning,” Vaughn instructed. “How
exactly did you become Julia Thorne?”
“Two years ago,” She began, “There was a mercenary named Simon Walker
running out of the club that you met me at tonight, in
“As Julia Thorne,”
“Yes,” Nicole confirmed. “It took me a little over a year to prove myself to
Simon and once I…got into his good graces, I found out that he not only was
working with Sloane, but was also responsible for countless other thefts of
priceless artifacts. The CIA arrested him and his team. My working with
Sloane…was an accident basically. When Sloane disappeared from
“That was how you proved yourself?” Vaughn inquired, “You were to fake my
suicide and bring me in?”
Nicole nodded sadly. “Yes. I had placed a van at that bridge earlier that night
and than taken the bus until I got to the apartment Sloane had told me that you
lived at. I knocked you out with the drug, drove your car to that bridge. You
were in the backseat. I got you, somehow, to the van and called 911, reporting
that a man was about to jump off of the bridge. I left your car there and went
to the plane Sloane had waiting for me at the airstrip.”
They were quiet for a few moments, until Vaughn asked, “Who was your handler?”
Nicole looked at him and slowly smiled. “You figured it out fast.”
Vaughn shook his head. “The timing…
“Exactly,” Nicole said. “
“And Chase didn’t tell us that she knew that we remembered everything and knew
we were alive because it would endanger you,”
“And not to endanger you! You forget,
“The agent that we delivered Alexihoff’s body to,” Vaughn began slowly, putting
his hand on
Nicole sighed. “Marcus Dixon.”
“Chase needed someone on the inside,” Nicole explained, “Agents Bristow and
Weiss, she believed, wouldn’t work because they were too emotionally involved.
“Those two
Nicole nodded. “He trusted me even more when I killed the two former
“We need to process all of this,”
Nicole nodded in understanding. “
Sydney and Vaughn nodded simultaneously as Vaughn wrapped an arm around her.
Nicole marveled at their obvious feelings for each other, as she had done
before, which could be both a blessing and a curse.
“Hey,” Nicole said softly to their backs. They turned and she said, “For what
it's worth, I’m sorry.”
*****
A routine nightmare woke
After they had left Nicole in the tiny living room, they’d talked to
He seemed to sense that they were still slightly cautious about his identity
and went over the dinner of the night his wife died and what they had talked
about at that dinner. They were reassured. He had told them pretty much what
Nicole had told them. He apologized for not telling them any of this soon and
not going after them, but Chase had insisted that it would endanger Nicole. She
had also thought that leaving Sydney and Vaughn there could also be beneficial
to the operation. After the rather draining conversation, Sydney and Vaughn had
said goodnight and had promptly fallen asleep.
Now,
The first thing she noticed when she got to the tiny living room was the blonde
head that was laying on the back of the couch.
Nicole was awake and gasped as
“Sorry,”
“I should be used to it by now,” Nicole joked, glad that she got a small smile out
of the other woman.
Nicole shook her head and made room on the couch. “Can’t sleep either?”
“No,”
Nicole nodded understandingly. “I understand.”
They were both silent for a moment before
Nicole’s head swiveled to her direction. “Who?” she stalled.
Nicole sighed. “How did you know?”
“You referred to him as Simon earlier.”
Nicole raised her eyebrow. “Hardly a basis for such a
conclusion.”
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
Nicole couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah. You’re right.”
“You don’t have to elaborate. I was just curious.”
Nicole snorted. “You want to know. You just don’t want to be obvious about it.”
“Oh, no,”
Nicole smiled. “It was convenient for me. The closer I got to him, the easier
it was to get information.”
“Did you love him?”
Nicole looked at
Both women were quiet, though it wasn’t as awkward as the earlier silence was.
Nicole seemed to have heard it too. “Is someone here?”
“Michael,” she gasped softly, “It’s okay. It’s just a
nightmare. You are fine…”
As Nicole watched her console Vaughn, she vowed that she would help them finish
this. For every single person Sloane had hurt on his quest for power.
*****
Jack Bristow was nearly at the end of his rope. After his conversation with
Weiss, he had sat himself at his desk to think. The more he thought, the more
the theory that Vaughn and Sydney remembered everything fit his observations.
"Agent Bristow."
He snapped his head up to see Director Chase standing in the doorway.
"Yes."
"Can you come to my office, please?"
He nodded and followed her and once they were there, she made a point of
shutting and locking the door and taking out a bug killer.
"Can't be too safe," she said, going over to her desk.
"What is this about, exactly?"
She looked at him squarely in the eye. "It's about Agent Vaughn and your
daughter. You might want to take a seat, Jack. It's a rather long
explanation."
tbc
Clues to Remember: 10
“You have known the truth about my daughter being alive all this time and you
didn’t inform me!”
“Jack, I have had an agent undercover. Any attempts to rescue Agents Bristow
and Vaughn could have endangered all of their lives!”
Jack was quiet for a second. “You can pull all of them out now.”
Chase shook her head. “No, I can’t. I told you, Jack, there is a cyanide chip
in Vaughn’s neck and he has communication links in their ears. If Sloane thinks
that Vaughn and/or Sydney betrayed him, he will activate the chip and Vaughn
will die.”
“That’s why they refused to where communication links from us,” Jack realized.
“They feared that it would interfere with Sloane’s link.”
Chase nodded. “Jack, they killed Roman, who confessed to being an alliance
member. Sloane wanted him dead and they killed him. He will see that as
loyalty. They will be safe.”
Jack looked her directly in her eyes. “For now.” He
said, before turning on his heel and storming out of the office.
*****
Opening the drivers side door of his car, Jack got in
and shut it, before reaching back into the backseat to retrieve his laptop. He
hoped that this would work. With Director Chase always looking out for any type
of suspicious activity, He had had to be careful, but he certainly wouldn't be
stupid enough to use CIA equipment to contact this…source.
He opened the laptop and went into the chat room. He typed: DISTINGUIS
A few minutes later, there was a message from Handel_4me wanting to chat
privately.
He went into a private chat room and he immediately saw her message.
Handel_4me: Long time.
Mozart_182: Glad you’re alive.
Handel_4me: You should have known better. You’re the one that cut off
contact with me. Or did you forget?”
He ignored the dig and got right to the point.
Mozart_182: Our daughter and her handler are alive.
Handel_4me: My God. Are they okay?
Mozart_182: Somewhat. They made the
There was a pause before she replied.
Handel_4me: I will try.
She left the chat room before he could type a reply.
*****
Arvin Sloane wasn't stupid or naïve. The moment he had gotten to
Now, though, as he walked into the warehouse that held his end of the
communication links, he saw nothing out of order. He heard the steady breathing
of Sydney and Vaughn sleeping. He was, however, incensed that his agent was
asleep at the controls.
“Mr. Roberts,” he yelled.
The man in question woke with a start, looking around in confusion before his
gaze settled on Sloane’s face. He stood quickly.
“Sir, I apologize. I guess I was more tired than I expected.”
But Sloane didn’t hear the man’s excuse. “Roberts, what is that smell?”
He sniffed. “Uh, I don’t know.”
But Sloane did. He recognized the odor of a dead body.
He moved around Roberts and went to the other side of the small building.
And he nearly tripped over the dead body of Nicolai Alexihoff.
He smiled in surprise. “Mr. Roberts, get me a list of safe-houses that will
still be in range of the links. They are obviously close enough because I can
hear them. When you are done with that, get Mr. Alexihoff’s body back to his
home for his maid to find.”
Roberts nodded, still looking a little green at the sight of the body and
smell, but he covered it and sat at his post.
*****
Nicole had known that it as only a matter of time before Sloane would come
here.
They had all thought it best to stay in the safe-house. If they left, Sydney
and Vaughn would be out of range and Sloane would know. He would also know that
they would have to be in a safe-house in range and would know where to look.
So Nicole shouldn’t have been surprised to be startled awake by the sound of a
throat clearing to see Arvin Sloane sitting in the recliner across from the
couch.
“Ah, Julia.” He said congenially. “Nice sleep? How is
your throat, by the way?”
She flipped the covers off of her body and sat up, slipping on her ‘Julia
Thorne’ mask, scowling at Sloane for mocking Vaughn’s attack on her the night
before. “Lovely. What the hell are you doing here?”
He laughed. “I wanted to congratulate you and Agents Walker and Michaels on a
job well done. Alexihoff will be discovered at his home at anytime.”
Julia smiled. “Good. I want you to know that it was all them. While I normally
would have loved to take all of the credit, I was quite…impressed. With Mr. Vaughn especially.”
Sloane smiled. “I would be careful about any…overtures to Michael Vaughn,
Julia.”
“That would be nice.” Vaughn snapped from behind them. He and Sydney stood in
front of Sloane.
“Did we pass?”
“With flying colors.” Sloane said, leaning back into
his chair. “I must admit, I’m surprised you did it. The CIA thinks that you
killed an innocent man.”
“No,” Vaughn said, lookin at Julia with a look of utter disdain. “They think
that Julia killed an innocent man. We told the CIA that we were unable to
intercept her assassination attempt.”
Sloane looked between the three of them. “Well, Julia, the CIA already wanted
you dead. What’s another reason for them to add the assassination of the leader
of a major corporation to that list?”
“Who said I care that the CIA thinks I killed Roman? I have managed to keep out
of their radar for this long. I can continue to do so.”
Sloane smiled. “Good. Well, now that you have passed your test,” he looked at
Sydney and Vaughn. “It’s time you become full members of my organization.”
He took a small envelope out of his jacket and slapped it down on the coffee
table. “I have something for you.”
Sydney and Vaughn both looked down at the envelope, then back at Sloane. He was
almost beaming. “Open it.”
It was a tweezers.
She looked at Sloane, hiding any sliver of hope that was dying to get through.
His smiled. “Your communication links are coming out.”
“Excuse me?” Vaughn asked incredulously.
Sloane nodded. “You heard correctly, Mr. Vaughn. You may take the links out.”
“I couldn’t do it here.”
“Why not?” Vaughn snapped. “All you had your agent do
was slice open my neck to put the damn thing in. Why can’t you just slice it
open to take it out?”
“Because I have no intention of taking it out.”
“Why the hell not?!”
“I don’t believe that it merits an explanation,
“You son of a b****. You said that you wanted us to
become members of your organization.”
“I did say that,” he conceded. “But after incident with the CIA when I trusted
you the first time, trusting you completely is another matter. You can take the
devices out here or in
“We’re going back to
“Of course,
“They are looking a little…ansty, Arvin,” Julia said, strutting through the
door after checking on Sydney and Vaughn in the other room.
“I don’t suppose you helped with that?”
She smiled. “You would suppose correctly, but they are making a concerted
effort to hide it. What are you planning to do?”
Sloane picked up to small devices from the table where his technician had been
working on them. “They will be sending a video to the CIA, telling their
contact that they couldn’t come through. I plan to send them to
Julia scoffed in disbelief. “Why not just kill them? Why put everything on the
line again?”
“Because,” he snapped. “I love
“What is that exactly?”
“Mind games, Julia.” He grinned slowly, looking back at the table to a little
box with no lid on it. “In that box, Sydney and Vaughn are going to think there
is a cyanide chip in it to be implanted in Mr. Vaughn’s neck as my insurance.”
Julia raised a manicured eyebrow. “They are going to think there is a chip? Do
you mean to tell me that you do not plan on injecting any such chip?”
Sloane nodded in the affirmative. “Exactly. It
wouldn’t be easy to tell anyone what is happening when I will be monitoring
every conversation, but it is also insurance of the fact that if the CIA were
to get Sydney and Vaughn out of this situation because the chip doesn’t exist,
then I will find the three of you and you will be eliminated.” He looked at
Julia warningly. “You are the only one that knows of this other than Oleg here
and myself. If the CIA finds out, then I will know
that you were responsible for the leak. Sydney and Vaughn will die because they
let it happen. But, I trust you, Julia. That other reason I just gave you is
merely something to make me feel more...secure. For now, as long as
He turned to the man who had been working at the table when she walked in. “Are
you ready, Oleg?”
Oleg turned around with a knife and a small box with no lid on it. “Yes, Mr.
Sloane. I am ready.”
Present
The plane ride to
Especially for Nicole, who couldn’t rid herself of the guilt of not telling
anyone of her knowledge. She’d told Chase what Sloane
had told Sydney and Vaughn, that the chip existed. She
comforted herself, only slightly, that she was doing it to help Sydney and
Vaughn.
She had tried her best. All she had now was the hope that
*****
Former Deputy Director Kendall had decided that he hated witness protection.
When Nicole had informed them that Sloane had figured them out and the tape
that he,
He feared, of course, that Sloane would be able to find him, but it would be
hard for Sloane to find him where he was.
He had a new alias as a father in
“Hey.”
He turned around in the seat that he had been sitting in at the kitchen table
to see Will Tippin walking toward him. Of course, he wasn’t Will Tippin. His
alias was the said son, Jonah.
“What?”
“There’s an email for you.”
Dear Mr. Johnson,
I do not know if you remember me. I used to borrow pillows and blankets from
you when we both lived in
I need to contact a mutual friend and I believe that you know how to do so. Her
name was Jordan Lucas?
Please email me at this address,
Laura
“What the hell does that mean?” Will asked.
Tippin didn’t know that Sydney and Vaughn were actually alive and that the
combinations of
tbc
Clues to Remember: 11
She wasn’t sure how much she could describe how much
she hated this room.
With all of the security around the entire facility, it gave her the creeps in
general, but this room was what put the icing on the proverbial cake.
When Sloane had first introduced this room to them, it was right after he had
introduced them to Julia. He had gone to great lengths to make them
‘comfortable’, but it hardly worked. The walls were a cream color, which was a
striking contrast to the darkness of the rest of the facility. There were two
nightstands, one on either side of the bed with lamps on it.
It reminded her of the room in the house she used to share with Francie.
Now,
She hated that they were here, working for this bastard again.
But this was different, more dangerous than before. He wasn’t monitoring them
with those damn communication links anymore, yes, but now there was the risk of
the activation of the cyanide chip if Sloane got at all suspicious.
The bright side, however, was Nicole. They hadn’t had her the first time
around. She had Sloane’s complete confidence and being in the cover of an
assassin, she was also able to leave the country to ‘go on other jobs’ if need
be.
“Just a book.”
He looked at her. “I think you have some idea of how much I wish that were
true, Syd.”
*****
Arvin Sloane smiled as he listened to the sounds the end of the conversation in
the room.
“So, now that you have confirmation that they are both well enough, I want to
know why it is you’re here. When you contacted me, you told me that you wanted
another partnership.”
“Your sense of hearing hasn’t diminished, I see.”
He ignored the sarcastic remark. “As I recall, our last partnership did not
fair well.”
“My reasons are my own. I will just say, however, that I feel that we can be
stronger together.”
Sloane laughed. “You tried that before. When you knew that I
had Sydney and Vaughn in my custody.”
“You believe I am being untruthful? Would you like to
inject a cyanide chip in my neck, also?”
“That chip is to insure that
“By making her believe that you plan to kill the man she loves? That is not
loyalty, Arvin, that is her need to do whatever is necessary
to keep herself and Vaughn from being murdered.
“I will tell you what I have to offer to this association and it is up to you
to accept or decline my proposition. Then I want to see Sydney and Michael.”
*****
Sydney and Vaughn were cuddling on the bed. Though, they weren’t naïve enough
to think that Sloane wouldn’t have listening devices in the rooms, so they
didn’t talk or go past holding one another.
A loud knock reverberated through the room, ending their semi-calm time with
one another.
“Sloane wants me to escort you to the conference room,” he said emotionlessly.
“For what?”
“All the told me was that he wanted you down there, Agent Michaels.”
“Fine,”
She shut the door in his face, cutting off his protest. When she turned around,
she was startled to find Vaughn just behind her.
“Whoa,” she said, grabbing onto his shirt to keep from reeling back.
“Sorry, Syd,” he apologized. “What does Sloane want?”
“He sent someone to ‘escort us to the conference room’,”
“Just what I want to do,” Vaughn said, loudly enough for Sloane to hear if he
was, in fact, listening.
They followed the stoic man and when they got to the conference room, they were
surprised by the person sitting in one of the chairs at the table.
“Sydney, Michael,” Irina Derevko welcomed. “You are both looking well.”
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“All in due time,
Sydney and Vaughn, refraining from making any sort of eye contact with anyone
but Sloane, sat in two seats side-by-side.
“Ms. Derevko has come with a job for us.” Sloane said as he took a seat at the
head of the table. This room reminded
“What kind of job?” Vaughn asked.
Sloane smiled at him, which made Vaughn want to retch. He refrained, however,
as he watched Sloane press a remote control activating three screens in the
back of the room. One screen had a man’s face on it, the other screen had a
dossier and the other had the picture of an some kind
of artifact neither Vaughn nor Sydney recognized.
“This man,” Sloane announced, “Is Andrian Lazarey. Mr. Lazarey is a Russian
diplomat and he lives in
“What do you want with a Russian Diplomat?”
“I am getting to that,
“You want that artifact.”
“Yes,” Sloane confirmed. “Sydney, Lazarey frequents a small tavern in
“How would you want me to do that?”
“Do what you see fit,
“I am an assassin,” Julia spat, “Not a babysitter. I do not work
exclusively for you. I have another job tomorrow.”
“Fine.” Sloane snapped. “I will send someone else as
back up. Sydney, Vaughn, go get whatever supplies you need. You will meet your
backup agent in an hour at the airfield. Dismissed.”
Sydney and Vaughn got up, Irina and Julia behind them. Julia stalked off in the
other direction while Irina called, “
Vaughn mirrored her expression and
“Sure mom,” She answered. “Let’s go.”
*****
Nicole had someone she needed to see. After talking to
She could hear Michael calling her, but she pretended to not hear him. She
needed to go. She had someone in
******
“Do you feel that we are safe to talk here,
“There are cameras, but if we go far enough away, they won’t be able to hear
us.”
Irina nodded and led
“What’s going on? I don’t see you for fifteen months and now you just show up
here?”
Irina looked at her daughter. “Your father contacted me for help. He needed to
be able to get to you, but he couldn’t get out of LA because Director Chase is
keeping an watchful eye on him.”
“Why would he not ask me,” Irina asked. “
Right,
Irina shook her head. “I did not, at first. I contacted Mr. Kendall in witness
protection and asked, coded of course, don’t you give me that look, Sydney
Anne,” she scolded. “But he informed me, equally coded, that contacting you
would not be the advisable way to approach you. Sloane became the only
solution. I’d found out about Lazarey through a source and so I used him to get
to Sloane to get to you.”
“You may have just signed Lazerey’s death warrant.”
“You’re a capable woman, Sydney. I am sure you can keep him from becoming a
casualty.”
“To make sure you were safe.”
“Do not talk to me like you are the adult and I am the
child. I know what I am doing,” Irina scolded.
“At least one of us does.”
“As I said, I fully believe that you are capable enough to protect yourself.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about.”
“Sydney, Michael is a strong man. Stronger than you think he is.”
“It’s not that I don’t think he can’t take care of himself. It’s what Sloane
will do if he doesn’t succeed.”
“The cyanide chip.”
“Of course you did. And I am sorry for listening in, but I wanted to know if
you were okay before I told Sloane what it was that I came here for. Or, at
least, the version of it that he was to know.”
“I suppose we should be used to it by now,”
“
“How do I know that you aren’t using this situation to get
that artifact yourself?”
“You have to have faith,
*****
“How did you get this information?”
Nicole was becoming worried that Chase’s priorities were being rearranged. She,
like
”Agent Robinson, I want you to send that device to us.”
“Ma’am, he is sending Sydney and Vaughn for it. It they don’t get it, he will
get suspicious of them.”
“They can work around it,” Chase said. “Sloane cannot get this device. Send it
here, Agent Robinson.”
“Frankly, Agent Chase, I think you are placing your…personal vendetta against
this man ahead of the lives of your agents!”
“Personal Vendetta?” Chase demanded. “The man has committed far too many
atrocities. Giving him what he wants will only help him.
“So why won’t you let me kill him?”
“That is not the issue! Send the device here, Agent Robinson!”
Julia Thorne strode into the noisy club in
He strode over to her, a lusty smile on his face. He put his hands on her
cheeks and roughly brought her lips to his. He backed away with a nip to her
lower lip.
“Julia, love,” he whispered huskily into her ear. “Good to see you again.”
Nicole had known that if she suddenly wanted in on Sydney and Vaughn’s mission,
it would be suspect to Sloane. So she was refusing to feel guilty about this
lie. She was doing what she had to do.
“Good to see you, too, Simon.”
tbc
Clues to Remember: 12
September 31, 2004
“I think I’ve found a solution to this.”
“What?”
Vaughn’s voice now. “Yeah, he keeps it in his office.
Why?”
“Do you think you could get in there and get a disk of the hard drive?”
“Essentially,”
Sloane turned off the recording and turned to Sydney and Vaughn, who were
handcuffed to chairs in front of his desk.
“I guess it’s a good thing that I did my random tail today. Eight months? You
have both been lucky, haven’t you? To think that you actually
thought that you could get past my security codes and into my computer.
I’m disappointed in you.”
“Well, I would love to apologize for that,”
Sloane laughed. “Ah,
“Now, if you will excuse me, the preparations I asked for are almost ready.”
Sloane left the room and Vaughn turned his head in
“What the hell happened?”
“You really should be more careful.”
“I followed you the other day, you know,” Julia said, coming to lean on
Sloane’s desk in front of them. “I saw you meet with a man and it was fairly
obvious that he wasn’t Covenant. I reported it to Sloane,
he sent the tail after you.”
Vaughn snorted. “Don’t you have better things to do?”
Julia turned a seductive eye upon him. “What is it that you think I was after?”
“You b****,”
Julia threw her head back and laughed. “Something like
that,
Sydney and Vaughn remained silent until the door behind them opened and Sloane
walked out with an older man. Julia, thank god, was no where in sight.
“This is Oleg,” Sloane announced.
Oleg followed Sloane to the desk and set a knife and two small boxes down on
the table.
“What’s going on,”
Sloane took one of the boxes and opened it, taking out two flesh covered
circular objects. They were about the size of a penny.
“These are communication links,” Sloane explained. “They are to be in your ears
at all times. I will be the only one with any control over them. I do, however,
have to be in close range of you to listen to them, so whatever city you
travel, I go with.” He motioned to the other man. “Oleg here as also developed
a little extra incentive. Mr. Oleg?”
Oleg took the knife and the other box.
Sloane smiled at her, but it was without mirth, merely satisfaction. “I am
implanting a cyanide chip in Mr. Vaughn’s neck. Maybe,
Present
He ran his finger over the area where he knew the chip had been inserted into
his skin. After cutting his neck open, Oleg had stitched up the cut, minimizing
scarring, but he knew exactly where the chip was. He could still feel the
stinging of the knife as it bit into his skin.
He wanted out of all of this so desperately it almost made him sick.
He looked down at the shaving razor in the counter and had an idea. He was
fairly sure that if he just tore the plastic around the razor apart, he could
use the actual razor to take the chip out himself…
“Vaughn?”
“Back here, Syd.”
She walked into the bathroom. “Hey, you okay?”
He nodded. “Time to go?”
“Yeah,” she said, grabbing his hand. “Let’s go.”
*****
“It’s been a while, Julia,” Simon said, seating himself in his chair at the bar
and taking his drink in his hand.
She smiled at him slyly. “Did you miss me?”
“You know I did.” He eyed her for a few moments. “Is there a reason that you
asked me to meet you in
She snorted in indignation. “Simon, as long as the song as
the lyrics are describing any kind of sexual act, it’s your thing.”
He winked at her. “You have me there, love. So,” he sipped his drink. “Why
“I have a job for you,” she explained as the bar tender set down her
vodka.
His eyebrow rose. “Is that right? Well, It would be kind of hard for you to
hire me when I’m the only one left of my previously six person team. The CIA
saw to that.”
“I would be helping you.”
“You’re an assassin, love, not a thief.”
She leaned forward, seductively running her hand up his thigh. “I’m a woman of
many talents, Simon. Surely, you know that by now?”
His grin was laced with lust. “That I do, love, that I do. Fine.
What is your job?”
She reached into her bra and took out a folded three page packet. Handing it to
him, she explained, “That artifact is in the position of Andrian Lazarey, a
Russian Diplomat.”
“And you want me to steal it?”
“Eventually, yes. But I don’t know where it is. Sloane sent two other agents to
intercept it, but I want it. In his home is a record of the location of this
artifact on his computer.”
“So let me get this straight.” He leaned back and looked at her. “You want me
to break into this guy's house to steal the hard-drive of a computer. He’s a
Russian Development, no less. Do you know the security the guy is going to have
in his home?”
“Nothing we haven’t done before,” She dismissed, turning over to the second
page of the packet. When he was done looking it over, she smiled at him. “I
have communication links that I…borrowed from Sloane. I helped you stay out of
the CIA’s grasp when they took the rest of your team in. Are you going to help
me, now? Because if you don’t…I am perfectly capable of
making an anonymous tip describing your location.”
“No need to resort to blackmail, love,” He grimaced. “I’m in.”
*****
The bar was nearly empty when she opened the door. There were only one or two
men sitting on stools and
She spotted Andrian Lazarey almost immediately as he was one of the few men
drowning their sorrows in Russian liquor.
She walked over slowly and sat down, observing that Lazarey was merely sitting
there, a half empty glass sitting next to his arm.
“Hello,”
He grunted to her in greeting and
*****
“These agents that you said Sloane was sending,” Simon said softly through
their links. She was in the car looking out for any other people that may
arrive, like Sydney and Vaughn, but she knew they wouldn’t be here this soon.
She was also waiting for him to tell her that he’d disabled the security
system. “…do you know exactly when they might arrive?”
Julia shook her head. “No. I arrived here before they did by at least two
hours. We should have that long to get this done before they get here.”
He didn’t say anything else and she knew that he was working.
“Okay,” he bragged. “I’m done. We’ve got access.”
*****
“You know,” Lazarey started tipsily in Russian. “We do not get many women in
this place.”
She smiled. “Well, I am not an ordinary woman.”
He grinned back, bringing his glass up in a toast before he tossed it back.
“I think I should drive you home, sir,” She said, as the bartender shook his
head no when she motioned for another drink.
“That would… that would be…” but he was cut off as he passed out, his head
landing on the bar.
The bartender helped her get the toasted man to her rental, since the man was
unconscious and couldn’t tell her which vehicle was his. She was just grateful
that Sloane had given her directions to the house from the bar.
“Copy,” Vaughn said, looking over at the bored looking agent next to him.
*****
“Got anything?” Julia asked, coming out from the bathroom of their hotel room.
Simon nodded. “Yes.”
She looked at him. “Had you planned on telling me what that location is?”
He turned in the chair to give her a lascivious look. “I think I need some…incentives
first.”
Her eyebrow raised so far, it went into her blonde
hair. “I think I did that in the shower. If that wasn’t enough, the CIA ,I’m sure, would love to know what you are up to.”
His face darkened. “The CIA would love to get their hands on you, also. You
haven’t exactly been innocent all this time, Julia.”
She walked over to him and ran her hands down his bare chest. “What is that
location?”
“Why don’t I just call Sloane and tell him myself?”
She backed a way as though he’d slapped her. “What?”
He grinned. “That’s what this is about, right? I know Sloane was the crazy guy
that was all about that whatever-the-hell-is-name-was. You are getting this for
him to insure he continues to trust you.”
She wrapped an arm around his neck. “I couldn’t get anything past you, could
I?”
“No, love, you couldn’t.” He kissed her roughly. “The artifact is in an
underground facility in
“
Simon shrugged. “Who knows? Let’s go.”
*****
“Base, I’m just getting to the security box,” Vaughn relayed to the two person
team in the van at the base of the driveway.
“Copy.”
There was a silence for a few minutes, before Vaughn said, “You’d think a
Russian diplomat would have stronger security.”
“Maybe Sloane just had really thorough specs on the system and it just seems
easy,”
She watched Vaughn walk to her car, briefly admiring the way he looked in all
black before she got out and went to the back door of the passenger side.
Vaughn helped her get the passed-out man into the house and onto the couch.
“Granger,” Vaughn began to the other agent in his communication link. “See
anyone?”
“No, Agent Lucas,” he sent back. “You’re all clear.”
“Go look for the computer,” Vaughn told
“Third door on the right,”
She went up the stairs and when she got to the top, she went forward counting
door until she found the third on the right, peeking inside and seeing the
computer. “Got it.”
“Copy.”
She went over to the desk and sat down in she chair,
bending down to the tower of the computer and when she pressed the power button
a bright blue screen came up.
“Oh damn,” she cursed sharply.
“Lucas, Granger, the hard-drive isn’t here.”
*****
“Director Chase,” her secretary beeped in on the phone. “There is a package out
here for you.”
She frowned, but got up and going into the outer office.
She spotted the box almost immediately. It was medium sized, but it was the
only package on the secretary’s desk.
“It’s been swept?”
“Yes, Director,” The secretary confirmed.
Thank you, Teresa,” she said, grabbing the box. “I’ll open it in my office.”
She walked into her office, closing and locking the door before going over to
her desk to examine the box. There was no return address, but if this was from who she suspected, then that would make sense. She opened
the box.
Inside was a gold colored cube, intricate designs carved on nearly every inch.
She knew immediately and excitedly that the box was of Rambaldi design because
it had the symbol <o> etched into one of the sides. She noted that it was
heavy and as she lifted it out, a folded piece of paper fell onto her desk in
front of the cube. She unfolded it and read:
Here’s your damn device.
tbc
Clues to Remember: 13
Covenant Facility in
“Would you like to explain to me," Sloane began. "Why it is that you
don't have what I sent you out there for and why it took you so long to get
back here?"
“If we knew that,”
“All we know is that when
Sloane sat down on the chair at his desk and steepled his fingers in front of
him. “You do realize this doesn’t earn you any more of my trust.”
Vaughn snorted. “So is this like a game? The more trust we garner, the more
time we have to live?”
Sydney and Sloane snapped their heads toward him. “Something like
that, Mr. Vaughn.” Sloane said slowly. “And no matter what you do, it’s a game
that you won’t win.
Vaughn and
"You two are dismissed," he barked, going to answer the phone.
"Mr. Sloane," the voice said. "I have some very interesting
information for you."
"Concerning what?"
"Oh, I plan to tell you that. Right after we talk about my payment."
*****
The sun was just going down when she pulled into the underground parking
structure. She’d left Simon in
She leaned her head against the steering wheel and inhaled and exhaled slowly.
A second later, the passenger side door opened and Michael Vaughn climbed in.
He closed the door, locking all the other car doors, before turning to her.
“We need to talk.”
She was about to inquire into his motives, but she was stopped with a look.
Reaching up, she started the car and backed out again, leaving the underground
facility.
When they’d driven for ten minutes, Nicole asked, “What is this about?”
“Are we safe?”
Nicole nodded. “There are so many bug killers in this damn thing,
I could run a tech. ops out of my car. Michael, what is going on?”
“Where is it?”
She blanched, but recovered smoothly. “What?”
Vaughn snorted in indignation. “Don’t even try, Nicole. I am in love with one
of the best liars in the business and if I know when she’s lying, I sure as
hell can identify when you are. I’m not incompetent.”
Nicole sighed. “No, you aren’t. But if you figured it out, than
“Where is it?”
“I stole it from
Vaughn was quiet. “Do you realize what you’ve done? You have made Sloane more
suspicious.”
“Michael-“
“Why the hell would you do that? Is the mission that important to you that you
wouldn’t think of the damn deathtrap in my neck?”
“You aren’t in danger.”
Vaughn scoffed, not able to believe that this woman was actually saying this to
him.
“Are you kidding me? Did you not hear me when I mentioned the cyanide chip
implanted in my body?!”
You can’t tell him, yet. “Sloane cares too much about
“But he doesn’t care enough about me to not kill me,” Vaughn snapped. “I’m just
the insurance.”
She knew one thing that could suppress his fears. She could tell him about the
chip, while they were away from the facility and he could later take
And that was when it snapped in place. She couldn't believe that she hadn't
figured it out before.
Every thought about Sydney and Vaughn’s mission, not pulling them out, her own
mission, came from Chase. The woman had practically refused to pull Sydney and
Vaughn out, though when Nicole had found out about the chip, she had agreed
because she feared that Sloane would know that Sydney and Vaughn knew the chip
didn't exist and he would kill them all like he promised he would. She might be
a competent woman, but the man scared the hell out of her.
But things were getting far too complicated. She'd been stupid, she realized
now, to send that device to Chase. She'd put Sydney and Vaughn in danger.
Nicole knew that she should have listened to her instincts that Chase was
putting the mission before their lives.
Chase, as her handler, had assigned her to the mission as Sloane’s
assassin-for-hire.
But she had to get her orders from someone.
Nicole had been so busy being two different people at one time that she hadn’t
seen it before. Something was up with her handler. There was something
that Chase must want and keeping Sydney, Michael and herself in the field was
the only way to get it.
Now was the time to rectify that.
“Michael,” she said softly. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
But he didn’t appear to be listening. He was looking in the rear-view mirror
and when she did, she was looking at what he was.
“Dammit,” Nicole cursed softly as Vaughn pulled his gun out of his holster.
“I just noticed it. I don’t know how long they’ve been following us.”
“Sloane?”
Vaughn shrugged as he checked the clip in his gun. “I’d bet on it.”
“You don’t seem to be surprised.”
“Why should I be? The bastard’s been watching us so long I would be surprised
if he hadn’t found some way to follow us. I won't shoot, though, just in case
that does happen to be a tail-gating civilian. Keep driving.”
Nicole wasn’t going to tell him that she didn’t need that little tip. She saw
he was on edge as he glanced at the rear-view mirror.
The car sped up, careening towards them and before they had the chance to do
anything, the car crashed into her bumper.
Definitely not a tail-gating civilian, Vaughn thought fleetingly as his
head flew forward, hitting the dashboard as Nicole’s hit the window.
Vaughn turned in his seat and aimed the gun at the rear window, but it wasn’t
his shot that went through.
They both ducked as the bullet from the other car sailed through the rear
window and windshield, narrowly missing the side of Vaughn's head. They both
ducked, though Nicole kept a firm hold on the steering wheel.
When they looked up again, there were headlights in front of them.
Vaughn braced himself against the dash, ignoring the pain in his head and the
blood falling down the side of this face. ”Nicole!”
tbc
Clues to Remember: 14
The first thing Nicole Robinson realized when she
regained conciousness was that her head hurt.
She rolled over slowly, wincing at the pain that seemed to shoot up her body.
She brought her hand to her head in a futile attempt to drive off the pain she
knew would get worse when she opened her eyes, she did just that as she
carefully stood.
And the blinking of numerous neon signs above her almost made her throw up.
She closed her eyes again, long enough to breathe through the pain before
opening them once more.
She recognized the sights of downtown
Michael!
She looked around, ignoring the instinct to rid her stomach of anything that
could be described as food, for Vaughn.
Not finding him, she walked slowly forward. A sign with the words Hong Kong
Mobility were above her and she saw that there was a pay phone right below
it.
She wrapped her arms around herself and weighed her choices. She could either
call herself a taxi to get to Sloane’s facility or she could call the CIA.
The latter choice seemed like a fantastic idea. She had no idea who had been
after them in the two cars (she remembered there had been one behind them and
one in front) and she wasn’t going to go back to Sloane just in case her cover
had somehow been blown and Sloane was trying to kill her.
The CIA was definitely her best choice, but with her earlier epiphanies, Chase
was definitely not the person to call.
She made up her mind and dialed.
“Dispatch.”
“This is officer 2031009, confirmation: Hidden Clues. I need to speak
with Jack Bristow.”
*****
The wind blew her hair back gently as she thumbed
through the book she was pretending to read. He was late and she was worried.
Her worry, however, abated just a little when a shadow fell across the table
and the scraping of metal against the concrete ground of the café they had
agreed to meet at made her look up.
“Hey,” She said softly.
He smiled at her, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “What did he say?”
She sighed. “He said ‘I suppose with all of the hardwork you two have done to
become my agents, you could have a couple of days off.’”
Vaughn snorted. “Right. And there will be absolutely
no surveillance?” he said, sarcasm dripping off of every word.
“The bastard has had surveillance on us from the beginning,”
He took her hand. “So how are we going to do this?”
She didn’t say anything, instead flipping the book so the front cover was on
the table. She tore at the paper that was attached to the back until it came
loose to reveal four sheets of paper that were glued like extra pages of a
book. The handwriting was tiny, but enough so that they could read what was
written.
“We’ve already worked out who we’re going to contact. Now that Sloane
has…permitted two days off, we now have when-”
“But we have to figure out where.” Vaughn finished.
“What if we go to
“Vaughn, he knows you’re from there. He will check and see if you have any
family there that we can go to.”
Vaughn shook his head. “He and my mother are estranged. He didn’t like the fact
that she married an American. Delorme is a fairly popular French surname. As
far as anyone knows, he isn’t related to me.”
“If that’s true, why would he help you?” She asked him softly.
“I don’t that for sure. But we can try.”
Present
“Michel, you must try to wake up.”
He groaned and turned his head back and forth. The broken English in the
accented French sounded familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place it.
“Vaughn? Wake up, Michael.”
That voice he recognized. He opened his eyes to see two beautiful brown ones
peering at him with a mixture of love and concern. “Syd?”
She smiled at him softly. “Yeah it’s me.”
With her left hand, she grabbed one of his hands and with her right hand, she
grabbed onto the back of his neck to help him up. He was immediately assaulted
with a bout of nausea and he rested his forehead on
After a few moments, he looked at her. “Where are we?”
She didn’t say anything; the man next to them cleared his throat. Vaughn looked
at him and the broken English in the French accent fell into place.
In his native language, Vaughn greeted, “Hello, Uncle David.”
tbc
Clues to Remember: 15
Arvin Sloane was not a stupid man.
Or at least he claimed not to be.
Which made Irina Derevko wonder, as she pointed her gun at
Sloane’s forehead, what made normally intelligent men so damned stupid.
“Tell me, Arvin,” She said slowly. “One good reason why I
should not kill you right now.”
*****
“I’m sorry. Jack Bristow is not at his desk.”
“Fine, get me Agent Eric Weiss.”
There was a small click and an unfamiliar voice came over the line.
“Weiss.”
“Agent Weiss, you don’t know who I am. My name is Agent Robinson.”
“Okay,” Weiss answered slowly. “What is this about?”
“Agents Vaughn and Bristow. I can’t say more, but I
need your help.”
*****
David Delorme bowed his head at his nephew to return the greeting. In French he
said, “How is your head?”
Vaughn brought a hand up to find that a bandage had been placed there. “Not too
bad. Are we in
Vaughn looked at the man he'd been afraid wouldn't help them all those months
ago. David had been reluctant, but when Sydney and Vaughn had explained their
situation to him; that Sloane had tortured them for months and now trusted
them, he had agreed to help.
"Thank you," he said in French. His uncle bowed his head again and
Vaughn turned to
“So we’re in
He nodded and set his head back on
“Michel,” his uncle answered in French. “There were two cars behind you and the
blonde woman. I got you out of the car, but one of the cars were getting closer
and I had to depart.”
“You don’t know where she is?”
“No Michel,” David answered, “I do not know where she is.”
Vaughn sighed. “Damn.”
“I am going to go prepare something for us to eat,” David said. Once he was out
of the room, Vaughn turned to
“We need to get back to Sloane. He’s going to get suspicious and—Syd?”
“Vaughn, did you get any kind of look at anyone in the cars?”
Vaughn shook his head. “No, why?”
“Well, obviously it had to be Sloane. Who else would try and go after
you and Julia?”
Vaughn was still slightly confused on what she was getting at. “Okay…”
“Vaughn, think about it. Have you ever seen Sloane with any type of switch to
activate the cyanide?”
“I always assumed that he had it with him with the security stuff when we were
in LA.”
“Exactly. That would insure that we would never see
him without one.
Vaughn looked at her, finally jumping on her thought train. “You don’t think…”
“Because,” Vaughn said softly. “You were too worried that any wrong move would
get me killed. We both were.”
“Don’t,” he demanded. “Hindsight is not only 20/20, Syd, it also can’t be
corrected.”
*****
“Irina, what the hell are you doing?”
“Wondering why you tried to kill Michael Vaughn and Julia Thorne tonight.”
Sloane knew he shouldn’t be surprised. “You followed them.”
“Of course I followed them,” She answered spitefully. “I know how important
that man is to
“I got a tip.”
“From whom?”
A gun cocked behind her. “Me.”
“Arvin,” Irina began smoothly, as though she didn’t have a gun pointed
at the back of her head. “Who is your new puppet?”
“Why not ask me, love? The name is Simon Walker.”
*****
Eric Weiss walked as fast as he could out to the parking lot…
And he bumped straight into Jack Bristow.
“Agent Weiss, come with me. We’re going to
“Well, actually, sir,” Weiss stammered. “That exactly what I
was going to call you about. Do you know a Nicole Robinson?”
Jack stopped. “What?”
“Nicole Robinson. She called me because they couldn’t find you at dispatch. She
said that Sydney and Vaughn are in danger, not that I already didn’t know that,
but she said that she wouldn’t give details unless you and I met her in Hong
Kong.”
“I will explain on the way,” Jack told him as they got to his car. “Get in.”
*****
“Mr. Walker,” Irina said. “I suggest you put that away.”
After that, it was quite hard for him to finish that sentence with a bullet in
his head.
Irina looked disgustedly down at the man than back at Sloane. “Why bother with
him?”
“He told me that Julia asked him to steal the cube. She then left him in the
hotel room without it. I merely went after her to get the whereabouts of it. I
knew Michael was in that car and I thought that maybe he was in on it also.”
Irina leaned forward, her palms resting flat on Sloane’s desk. “If you thought
that Michael had betrayed you, Arvin, then why didn’t activate your cyanide
chip?”
Sloane looked at her. “Because I didn’t feel the need.”
Irina looked at him, realization spreading over her face. “You satanic
bastard.”
“I heartily agree,” A familiar voice said from behind Irina.
“
“Right here,” Vaughn said as he and
“What is it that you all suspect?” Sloane said as he surreptitiously reached
for a gun.
“If you are getting your gun,”
Sloane looked at them. The look in their eyes gave him no doubt that they would
be happy to enact that threat.
“Activate it,” Vaughn said suddenly.
Sloane’s gaze turned to the younger man. “Pardon?”
“You heard me. Activate the cyanide chip.”
*****
The night was dark, which made it easier in case she ran into any guards, she had the element of surprise.
Nicole knew that this had to be one of the more stupid things she’d ever done,
but she wasn’t going to wait at the safe-house to wonder how the hell she had
gotten to downtown
Agent Weiss had given her his cell-phone number, one that the CIA didn’t have,
and told her to call him if need be.
She’d done just that. But when she got his voice mail, she simply said, “I’m
sure that Agent Bristow is prepared enough to have the schematics of the
Covenant headquarters. Meet me there, instead.”
Dumb? Yes.
But she needed to confront Sloane and get
She got to the security post, ready to shoot whoever was manning when she saw
that the job had been done for her.
What is this? She checked the man’s pulse for sure. When she didn’t find
any, she stood up and pressed the button for entry.
She walked to the open door and went in; the only sound that was made was the
small click of the door behind her.
******
“You can’t, can you?” Vaughn sneered in disgust. “There is no damn chip, is there?”
Sloane actually had the gall to smile. “You’re correct, Mr. Vaughn.”
“You son-of-a-b****,”
Sloane looked passive as he answered, “Somewhat. But there are two more issues
that should be addressed.”
The three of them, even Irina, were so shocked over Sloane’s admission that
they didn’t see it. Before any of them could do anything about it, Sloane
brought his gun so it was point blank with Vaughn’s chest...
And he pulled the trigger.
tbc
Clues to Remember: 16
”No!”
Only to find that she was gone.
Sloane wanted to see that Vaughn was dead and was about to go around the desk
to be sure when he heard the familiar click of a gun cocking.
“Irina told me on her way out you were still back here. Hello, Arvin,” Jack
Bristow said, walking slowly into the office. Eric Weiss and Julia were behind
him.
Wait a minute. “Julia, what are you doing?”
“The name,” she responded angrily, “Is Agent Nicole Robinson, you son of a
b****.”
“Don’t kill him,”
Jack did, in fact, have a small helicopter waiting, but wondering what he
daughter was thinking, he kept his gun trained on Sloane. “
“Please, dad,” She pleaded, “He will die, but there is one more thing we
need to do, first.”
Sloane was confused, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it because the butt of
Jack’s gun came crashing down on his head.
*****
The grave was peaceful. A nice spot had been chosen
for it; the funeral, she was sure, had been beautiful.
Kneeling down, she sniffed softly and wiped at stray tears before dropping the
rose she had brought with her.
“I’m sorry,” she said tearfully. “I am so sorry. I wish I could have done more,
been more prepared. I’m sorry I didn’t see it; I should have.
“I wish you were still here. We were supposed to grow old together, remember?
But, it certainly isn’t your fault; it’s mine.”
Slowly, she stood back up and with one more look at the grave, she turned and
headed back to her car.
There was someone else she needed to see.
*****
He could hear them; the clanking of the metal bars as they went up mocked him
as they sounded through the hallway. The symbolism of the bars going up and
down made him think of the freedom he knew he would never have.
He hadn’t been surprised by the visitor on the other side of the glass.
“Hello,
The angry visage of Sydney Bristow would have scared him had he been anyone
else but Arvin Sloane. He was used to the expression, however.
The silence that followed that was deafening.
“Your husband?”
“Yes,” she said firmly. “We got married right before you caught us with
Sloane supposed that he shouldn’t have been surprised. “Well, like I said after
the death of Mr. Hecht, Mr. Vaughn’s death was your fault.”
The tears were in
“The circumstances weren’t so different,
She shut her eyes, briefly. She had two more questions to ask. “Why Vaughn? Why not just shoot me?”
Sloane looked at her. “Because I still love you, Sydney, as if you were my own
daughter.”
Had she not been blocked by the glass partition, she was sure she would have
strangled him simply because of the gall he had to even make such a comment.
“Right before you shot Vaughn, you said there were two
things that needed to be addressed. What are they?”
Sloane’s eyebrow rose in surprise. “Is it really that important?”
“I had wanted to convey that Michael, your mother and yourself underestimated
me. I obviously had the chance to shoot Michael even under the glare of three
guns.”
“And the second?”
Sloane smiled at this. “What was her real name? Ah yes. The answer to that
question,
She stopped, but didn’t turn.
“Why didn’t you want your father to kill me, Sydney? If you didn’t want Jack to
do it, I’m surprised that you didn’t take the chance to enact your
revenge.”
Without turning around, she said, “There are people who need closure.”
Without another word she continued down the hallway.
She found the person she was looking for a minute or two later, at one of the
computers in the Rotunda.
Nicole looked at her. “Hey, how’d it-“
Bewildered, she got up. “Oookay…”
She followed
A sense of dread filled her and Nicole knew this would have had to been
addressed sometime. She had been debating, actually, whether to even tell them
at all.
“Is that right?” She stalled.
Nicole sighed and sat down in the nearest chair. “I knew,
Nicole looked down at her feet. “He told me about it when he told me that he
was implanting the listening devices.”
She could see that
“You should have told us!”
“
“Why in the hell not! Dammit, all of this could have been prevented!”
Nicole took a deep breath and began to explain. “
Nicole smiled sadly. “Actually,
“It means that you were there long enough to know that Sloane had built up a
following. He had contacts, people loyal to his organization, agents…It
doesn’t matter where or who you were,
“That is the shakiest logic I have ever heard,”
Her head snapped up. “What?”
“Anything else that you need to tell me while we’re here?”
Damn. “You mean Simon.”
“The guys with his brains spilled out on the floor of Sloane’s office?”
“What makes you think that?”
“I’m not stupid, Nicole, so stop treating me like I am. I put two and two
together.”
Nicole sighed. “He’s dead, now,
“It matters because it was another lie.”
“I don’t have to tell you everything about me, Sydney.”
“No,”
Nicole didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to.
*****
The hallway was practically a blur as she rushed through. She didn’t even stop
when her cell phone rang.
“Sydney Bristow.”
“How’d it go?”
She smiled for the first time since she’d left him. “It worked. How’s the
safe-house?”
“Empty. And I’m glad that it worked. Did you go to the graveyard to see her?”
“Do you feel a little better, at least?”
“I will after he’s dead for all the muders he's commited Including
Francie's.”
“That’s actually what I’m calling about, other than to just hear your voice, of
course.”
She smiled. “And?”
“Jack told me, since he knew that you were in with Sloane, that they’ve
decided.”
She bit her lip at the sound of his voice and slowed down. “So
soon?”
“Seems 48 hours is long enough to decide,” he said, so softly that she
almost didn’t hear him. “We got it, Syd. We got the death penalty.”
*****
One Week Later
The room was white, which bothered him a bit. It was
ironic, really, that a room such as this was a color that meant pureness. hope.
The guards led him in and un-cuffed the bindings on his ankles. The cuffs that
were holding his wrists near his midsection were also removed before he was
forced to sit on a metal table.
His ankles were bound, but strangely enough, his wrists and chest were not
secured right away.
The guards continue to hold onto his upper arms and one bent down to say, “Take
a look.”
He was confused; he had already looked around the room…
But then it occurred to him. He was supposed to take a look at the witness
section.
He did what was wanted of him; there really was no point in resisting. He was
going to die, anyway.
He noticed that
That was the back row.
The front row had Nicole Robinson next to Eric Weiss, who was next to Will
Tippin who was sitting next to Jack Bristow.
He thought back to the last forty-eight hours and it was than that he realized
that
“He will die, but there is one more thing we need to do, first.”
“Right before you shot Vaughn, you said there were two things that needed to
be addressed. What are they?”
She had used the word ‘shot’ and it occurred to him then that the only time
Sydney had used the word ‘murder’ had been when she had first gone in and that,
Sloane realized, had simply to plant the idea that he, had killed the man that
Sydney loved.
He, at least, must have been wearing a bullet-proof vest. If only he’d aimed at
the head.
There were more clues, he was sure. But, at this time, he was more displeased
with himself for not seeing all of this earlier.
The signal was given from
As the chemicals that were to end his life started to seep into his body, he
read the message in Michael Vaughn’s eyes.
Your last mind-game. We win.
tbc
Clues to Remember: Epilogue
The apartment was dark as she walked in, which was to be expected. She hadn’t
occupied it in over two years.
Nicole turned on the hallway light and sighed contentedly. She’d always loved
this place and had thought, often over the last two years, how she’d loved to
be back here in her home. She was glad that the
Though she still remembered where all of her furniture was and where all of the
light switches were, it didn’t stop her from bumping into the hallway table as
she had often done before her mission.
She cursed sharply before kicking off her shoes to land under said table. She’d
have to move the damn thing eventually, but, right now, all she wanted to do
was relax.
She reached the living room and when she at least had her jacket unbuttoned,
she reached down to snap one of the lamps on. She was in for a surprise when
the light not only illuminated the living room.
It also illuminated the sight of her former handler seated comfortably on her
couch.
*****
“That’s one crazy-ass story,” Eric Weiss started incredulously as he sat with
Vaughn looked at Sydney, who nodded. He said, “You guys knew I was alive; he
didn’t. It was just something we needed to do. He spent the entire time
screwing with us. We had one thing that we were supposed to remember that
entire time and it was that if either of us made one wrong move…”
“He would activate a cyanide chip,”
“It isn’t your fault,” Jack said, “Arvin Sloane was a manipulator. He had a
talent for such. You couldn’t be expected to have figured him out so quickly.”
“If we had,”
“You would also never have been able to get Nicole Robinson out of there,” Jack
responded. “Now that Sloane is dead, her mission is over, and Mr. Tippen and
Agent Kendall are out of protective custody. You are both free. You can all get
on with your lives, now.”
“We just want to make sure that you guys aren’t mad about us keeping this from
all of you before.”
“Of course we aren’t mad,” Will answered. “Well, okay,
I was at first. But we understand.”
“I don’t,” Eric said playfully, taking a swig of his beer.
Vaughn laughed as
“I realized, Marcus, that I had no right to be judge mental of your decision
when Sydney and I had, at one time, done the same.”
“We had a talk that went something like that the night Nicole told us who she
was,” Vaughn said. “We all kept secrets. Not like it’s never been done before.”
“That’s for damned sure,” Weiss retorted.
****
“Nicole,” Chase said, “Congratulations on your recent achievements.”
Nicole looked at her. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“You deserve an explanation.”
Nicole snorted. “Oh, so now you’re going to tell me what’s going on?”
“I couldn’t before. It was vital to my agenda.”
Incredulous, Nicole said, “And what agenda would that be?”
Chase cocked her head to the side, regarding her former asset pensively. “I was
never really CIA, Nicole.”
“Excuse me?” Nicole balked.
“What do you know of the DSR?”
Frowning, Nicole answered grudgingly. “I know it stands for the Department of
Special Research and I know that they are interested primarily in Rambaldi, but
that’s it…Oh god.”
Chase nodded. “I’m apart of that organization.”
She scoffed. “You son of a-that’s you wanted the three of us kept in. No, four of us. You brought Marcus Dixon into this mess,
too! You were using us to get more Rambaldi artifacts!”
Chase nodded, not bothering to negate her theory. “Yes.”
In complete disbelief, Nicole sunk into the nearest chair.
Chase continued. “The DSR outranks the CIA in case of a national emergency-“
“Rambaldi is not a case of national emergency!”
“Yes it is,” Chase snapped. “We told only the highest ranking CIA officer. That
was how I got to be your handler and the director of the Los Angeles Joint Task
Force Center. We needed to get those artifacts away from Sloane before he had
the chance to try and use them. That, Agent Robinson,
constitutes as a national emergency.”
“No,” Nicole said bitterly. “It was your excuse to get what you wanted.”
“Possibly,” Chase conceded. “But that doesn’t change the fact that because of
your partnership with me, Sloane is now dead and isn’t a danger to us,
anymore.”
Nicole gave an indignant snort. “Don’t delude yourself, Agent Chase. Because of
you, I endangered Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn. If I
hadn’t listened to you-“
“If you hadn’t listened to me, Agent Robinson, you would all be dead, right
now.”
“You don’t give a damn about us! We were a means to an end! It's just
convenient for you that Sloane was executed in the process. Now you can feel
good about using us to get Rambaldi artifacts.”
“You could have told them, Nicole,” Chase countered. “It isn’t my fault that
you chose to take my advice.”
“I took your advice because I trusted you,” Nicole seethed. “And you know what?
I was afraid. I hate admitting that to you of all people, but I was scared that
Sloane would find everything out and we’d all be dead. You’re just lucky he
didn’t know that
“No. He thought he was merely working for a director. As far as all of them
will know when they go back to work is that I’ve resigned.”
Nicole looked at her; anger resounded from every inch of her body. “Great. Now
it’s time that you get out of my home.”
Chase seemed to agree as she got up smoothly and walked to the door. She opened
it, and turned to Nicole as though there was something she wanted to say.
She seemed to think better of it, though, and without a word, Chase left,
slamming the door behind her.
Nicole sat down again, burying her face in her hands, before getting up and
grabbing her car keys.
*****
“How’s your uncle,” Jack asked Vaughn. “
Vaughn was kind of surprised at the question, but he answered in the
affirmative, “He helped us contact
Will Tippen shook his head. “I just can’t believe that you guys went through
all of this.” He looked at
“I plan to go see Francie’s grave tomorrow,” Will said softly. “Do you want to
go with?”
“I saw her this morning,”
There was a moment of silence before
“I want to propose a toast,” he said, “To everyone who survived this mess.”
“Here here!” Weiss held his drink up in a toast. “And to
“Hey, Bristow,” Weiss scolded playfully. “Not all of us were literary
majors.”
“Mr. Weiss, I also believe that not all of us have had the amount of alcohol
that you have,” Jack said.
The room burst out into laughter at this and as they were calming down, there
was a knock on Weiss’ door.
Weiss stood up. “I’ll get it.”
“Weiss, are you sober enough to answer a door,” Vaughn
teased. “Why don’t I get it?”
Weiss sat back down. “Suit yourself, man.”
Shaking his head, Vaughn leaned over to
Vaughn smiled at kissed her again. “Okay.”
He got up to answer the door as
“What’s that?” Weiss said, “Oh wait don’t tell me; I wanna guess. In the midst
of all this, you guys got married.”
Vaughn stopped, as did
Weiss looked between them. “I was kidding!”
Vaughn chuckled as he continued towards the door, hearing Jack questioning his
daughter. “
Vaughn heard
Her voice trailed off as Vaughn opened the door and he was surprised to see a
familiar face on the doorstop.
“Nicole? What are you doing here?”
“Uh, can I come in?”
Vaughn looked uncertain for a second, but than conceded. “Sure. How’d you…?”
Nicole smiled a little. “I checked with the hotel and they told me that you had
checked out of your hotel room and when I didn’t get Jack Bristow on the line,
I flirted with the guy at personnel for this address.”
Vaughn smiled back, than sobered. “Nicole, before we go in there, I wanted to
say…that I understand why you did what you did. I don’t like it, but I
understand. And
Nicole looked at him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Vaughn said, but was drowned out by loud laughter in
the living room.
Nicole raised an eyebrow. “Am I interrupting?”
“Only if it’s important,” Vaughn said playfully.
Nicole couldn’t help and ecstatic grin when she saw that smile for a second
time. She’d never seen him smile before now and it was then that she realized
that telling them about Chase wasn’t necessary. Maybe
someday, but not now.
“Actually, it’s not that important.”
Vaughn shrugged. “Okay. Why don’t you join us then?”
Nicole was about to answer him when someone else interrupted.
“Vaughn who was at the-”
Vaughn went and wrapped an arm around her waist and saying softly, “I asked her
to join us. Is that okay with you?”
Nicole thought, for a brief moment, that maybe
“I’m Sydney Bristow.” She looked at Vaughn lovingly, wrapping her arm around
his waist just as he had done with her. ”And this is my fiancé, Michael
Vaughn.”
Nicole smiled at the ‘fiancé part’. She wasn’t too surprised that a man like
Michael Vaughn would be officially taken off the market. They deserved to be
together without the threat of Arvin Sloane. They all deserved to live without
the threat of Arvin Sloane.
She smiled at them, reaching out to shake
END