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Chapter One
Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
Wherein our plot begins and there is a bit of Yaughn bashing
Happily humming to herself Sydney typed diligently away at her computer at the CIA Operations Center. Her ring flashed pleasantly as the movement of her hands flicked it into and out of the light. Hitting the print button she smiled contentedly down at her ring. Whenever her job annoyed her she had only to glance at the ring to recall all the pleasant memories it evoked and she was instantly in a better mood. She knew some of her co-workers had noticed and Vaughn certainly had.
~A Couple Days ago~
Sydney typed at her computer still working on the endless paperwork that followed any abduction or unaccounted for time. A discrete cough had her looking up.
“Hey Vaughn,” she smiled and turned back to her typing.
“Sydney, can we talk?” he soulfully wanted to know.
“Sure,” she pleasantly replied, “Let me just finish this.”
Ten minutes later she saved one more time before closing the file. Turning in her seat she was surprised to find Vaughn still standing by her desk, “Have you been standing there the whole time?”
“I wanted to talk,” he repeated.
“Yes I… Never mind,” she shook her head as she stood up and followed him to the small closet like room they usually talked in. She glanced around and for the first time wondered what the small room was supposed to be used for. She politely turned her attention to Vaughn and waited.
He had a long face and was looking, for him, particular melancholy. “Sydney, you know we’ve been through a lot together starting from your walking into the CIA, to me being assigned your handler…”
She tuned him out when she realized he was actually going to list everything they’d been through together. She glanced down at her clasped hands and tilted them, letting her ring alternately catch the light and move out of it. She really couldn’t decide where the ring looked better, in bright light or in dim light. In the bright light it really gleamed green, but the brighter lights also over powered it some. Dimmer light didn’t give it much opportunity to glow but it did stand out more. She smiled as the lime green seemed to pulse softly in the diffused light.
“Sydney. Are you listening to me?”
“Hmm,” she absently looked back up at Vaughn.
Seeing he had her attention again he glared down at her ring. She reflexively crossed her arms, hiding her ring from him, not like the way he was glaring at it.
“You preoccupied with that ring,” he grumpily said.
Irritated she pursed her lips, “Was there something you wanted to talk about beside my ring?”
He face shifted back to its usual wrinkled appearance, “Sydney, these past few weeks we’ve been drifting apart. We haven’t,” he paused awkwardly, “we haven’t been intimate for nearly a month.”
“We haven’t?” she asked, surprised, and tried to remember the last time she’d been ‘intimate’. She thought back several weeks, New York City, Julian’s apartment, that huge Jacuzzi. She smiled dreamily then frowned, “It has been nearly a month hasn’t it.”
Vaughn was nodding, “I think we need to either recommit to the relationship or,” he stumbled uncomfortably over his next words, “break it off.”
She uncrossed her arms and straightened her jacket, her ring catching the dim light, “If that’s what you want.”
Vaughn started to smile happily.
“I hope we can still be friends and I hope this won’t affect our working relationship,” she smiled and patted his shoulder as he stared at her dumbly. Opening the door she strode back to her desk to check on the status of the Rambaldi mirror analysis and when it was going to be transferred.
~~
Ever since then Vaughn had been walking around the offices looking hurt that she hadn’t been more upset. What was he expecting? For her to sit around crying, she had better things to do.
Accordingly she picked up the folder with the latest intel they had gathered from their newest guest, who was currently residing in the same row of cells as her mother had. The folder was depressingly slim; they didn’t know the woman’s name nor even what she truly looked liked. Her dad had received an anonymous message and, fortunately, had immediately dispatched a team to Francie’s restaurant. The team had arrived just in time to apprehend a woman with Francie’s face, the other recipient of Project Helix.
There had been a brief gunfight, some damage was done to the windows of the restaurant, but Francie was none the wiser that her life had been in mortal peril. A team had been assigned to watch Francie 24/7, but with Project Helix destroyed and their plan found out she was confident that her friend’s life was no longer in danger from that quarter. Obviously the woman worked for Sloane and-or her mother and obvious to her, but not the agency since she decided not to disclose her suspicions, Julian Sark had been the one to send her dad the information.
Thinking of her dad, she flipped to the back of the folder to see what new information he had learned since yesterday. She herself couldn’t bring herself to confront the woman wearing Francie’s face. Frowning she noticed nothing new had been added. The woman wasn’t giving up much, but her dad was very good at what he did.
She was still frowning at the folder when Kendall marched up to her desk. “Agent Bristow, have you seen your father?”
“What?” she glanced up confused, her mind still on the lack of information, “Not since yesterday. Why?”
“I wish your father would at least, occasionally, tell someone when he takes off,” Kendall rubbed a hand over his head. “First Marshall and now Jack,” he grumbled as he stared walking away.
She dropped the folder and hurried after him, “What about Marshall?”
“He hasn’t show up for work yet either,” Kendall gruffly told her as he continued his brisk pace.
“And that doesn’t worry you?” she glanced at her watch and noticed how many hours had lapsed since the start of the work day.
“He was staying late last night to run a few more tests on that useless mirror that was brought back from Germany, before it was picked up this morning. He probably just slept in,” Kendall grouched, not noticing she had stopped walking beside him.
Eyes wide, mouth partially open, all she could think was, ‘Surely not.’
A quick perusal of Marshall’s office turned up nothing. The mirror was gone and everything was in its place on the worktops, well she assumed everything was in place seeing how everything was as messy as usual. Standing in the middle of the workspace she nervously twisted the ring around on her finger. If Marshall had accidentally activated the mirror then he most certainly would have reported it to someone, most likely her dad.
She continued to fiddle with her ring. After leaving Julian’s New York City apartment she had contacted her dad and told him the whole story, well, edited to include just the salient points. She hadn’t even told him about the ring for some reason. She knew he didn’t quite believe what she had told him, but he also knew she wasn’t prone to making up such wild tales. After checking that she hadn’t been drugged or anything of that sort he’d glossed over her account and they had worked on a cover story for her. He had suggested simply that Sark had kidnapped her and she’d finally broken free. She hadn’t quite felt comfortable with that story for some reason. Instead she suggested that the guards interrupted her and Sark’s fight and Sark had gotten away while she had been captured and subsequently broke free. He’d given her a long look, but in the end they had gone with that story.
She couldn’t be certain her father and Marshall had gone through the mirror, but there was nothing more she could do in Marshall’s office. She’d only just left the workspace when Vaughn hurried up to her.
“Sydney,” his brow was furrowed more than usual. “Someone was sent to Marshall’s and your father’s places,” he paused somewhat dramatically before rushing out, “They weren’t home.”
“No,” she calmly inquired and headed for the conference room where she could see people assembling.
“Uh, no,” Vaughn caught up with her. “No signs of struggles either,” he tried to reassure her.
She simply nodded and kept walking, until Vaughn’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“Look Sydney if you want to talk or anything. About your dad,” he looked at her with his puppy dog face.
She glanced at the hand on her arm until he removed it, “Thanks, but we don’t know anything yet.” She continued to the conference room taking a seat at the table, smiling in greeting at Weiss.
“That’s fantastic,” Kendall sarcastically exclaimed as a low level agent scurried out of the room.
“What is it?” she asked.
“An hour ago someone broke into one of our low-level security facilities and stole that mirror Agents Weiss and Vaughn brought back from Germany,” Kendall ground out.
Several alarmed glances went around the room as she concernedly asked, “Was anything else taken?”
“No.”
“Oh, well that’s good then,” she uninterestedly turned her attention to the folder in front of her.
“Care to explain your indifferent attitude Agent Bristow?” Kendal grated as everyone stared at her in some astonishment.
She calmly explained, “The mirror was already determined to have no value, so all the perpetrates got was a useless mirror. Since nothing else was taken I’d like to focus on the fact that Senior Agent Bristow and Mr. Flinkman are missing.”
Duly chastised they moved on to the business at hand.
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