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This was bad, Sydney thought, as her eyes trailed the K-Directorate agents warily.
She'd been on her ''dinner date'' with Gregoran when one of his men came up to him, whispering in his ear. He stood, calmly wiping his chin with a napkin before coming around the table, lifting her by her elbow. Next thing she knew they were both on a plane; to where she didn't know, but the sight of all the guns and weaponry - and Anna - had left her nauseous.
Apparently, K-Directorate had gotten intel, a chance of a lifetime opportunity, to infiltrate SD-6. The irony wasn't lost on her, as SD-6 had gotten a similar chance and sent her inside; at least they were subtle by just sending her undercover instead of the twelve people K-Directorate was sending in to storm her usual place of work.
She and Gregoran had stayed in the van while the other operatives had entered the building after setting gas off into the ventilation system to knock out everyone and tie them up. When it was safe, Gregoran had entered the building. As she trailed behind him as best as she could in her dress and heels, he informed her where they were at.
''I need to know that you will be alright in this place, Sasha,'' he said, a hand on her shoulder intended for comfort as they rode the elevator down.
''Why wouldn't I be?'' she asked, giving a curious tilt of her head while trying to swallow down the bile in her throat. ''I'm with you.''
He smiled, coming closer. ''Sasha. This place, these people - they are the ones who killed your parents.''
She must have looked convincingly shocked enough because when the doors opened he'd left without a second thought. Nothing had happened as of yet. Anna and a team had been sent to break into the vault while another team went to the server room. Gregoran himself stayed behind to ''chat'' with Sloane, a few of his lackeys covering the doors. So far, it didn't seem like anyone recognized her. People she worked with everyday didn't even seem to give her a second look - except for one.
Noah's eyes had widened ever so slightly when he'd seen her walk in behind Gregoran, and she'd sent him a quick wink, a mere twitch, to let him know she was still in play; that she hadn't been compromised. As Gregoran played the triumphant victor, she got as close to Noah as she dared. She'd leaned her hip into a desk across from him, curiously picking up a file and pretending to read it. When she was sure no one was looking, she carefully pushed her hand through the slit in her dress and unsnapped the gun holster wrapped around her leg, the fabric falling back in place as she removed it. She'd waited another beat before tossing it to Noah, who'd quickly hid it between his legs. That had gotten the attention of the people on the ground around him and they gave her a second look; they still looked perplexed and she inwardly cringed. How different can I possibly look? she thought. She turned her body more towards the desk, still ''reading'' and eased her lower arm back and up, slowly pulling out the knife from the open-back of her dress; tossing that to Noah as well.
She knew she'd need his help to get out of this mess. K-Directorate would likely kill everyone once they'd gotten what they'd need, and if Anna got the inclination to run a ''Sasha Petrovic'' on SD-6's server her cover would be blown anyway. He was armed now, as best as he could be at least, and the only thing left that he needed would be a scrambler that K-Directorate had used in place of SD-6's key cards. No way would she be able to get one off the guards without coming off as suspicious; her only option was Gregoran himself.
With quick thinking, she flopped the folder in her hands down and set at the computer. She could feel one of the guards narrow his eyes at her but Gregoran himself still hadn't noticed. She opened up the database search engine. ''Pietr?'' she queried.
Gregoran turned around staring at her, brows furrowed.
She stood, looking at the computer in confusion. The Russian flowed off her tongue. ''You said these people ... that they were the ones responsible for my parents deaths. Why can't I find them? There's no files even mentioning them,'' she said, shaking slightly.
Gregoran buttoned the jacket of his three-piece suit as he made his way over to her, skirting around the desks and the people on the floor. ''My dear Sasha; when you came to work for us I made sure to erase any trace of them. I didn't want you reading anything about their deaths; why would I put you through that? Besides, I couldn't have these people make any connection to you; just imagine what they would have done to you if they had. Do you not trust me?''
While he'd been speaking, she'd snagged the scrambler from his belt and hid it in her hand. Placing a tired hand on her cheek, like she had a headache, she said, ''I trusted a man once - he left me in the tunnel of love.''
''Silly man,'' Gregoran murmured. Taking her arm, he said, ''You can trust me, Sasha. Come, perhaps bringing you inside wasn't a good idea. Why don't you go back to the van,'' he said, and he began steering her away.
As she turned, with Gregoran blocking her from the guard's view, she tossed the scrambler to Noah. She knew he would get her meaning. The ''tunnel of love'' was a reference to their first op together: ''love'' for Paris and ''tunnel'' for the sewer they'd swam through. He'd left her there, as she was unwilling to swim in the dark, unknown depths of water at the time, but he'd come back for her. She was impressing the same thing on him now: I'm leaving, but I'm coming back.
<O>
As soon as the guard Gregoran had sent with her left, slamming the door shut behind her, she started formulating a plan. There were three teams, and a total of twelve people. Three with Gregoran, four in the vault and five in the server room. While only going after the three guards with Gregoran sounded like a good idea, seeing as it would free the home-team agents, she dismissed the idea quickly. It would alreat the other agents and they'd be on her before she could even rescue any of them. If she went to the server room first, there were more guards to deal with and any hang ups in the download of the servers would alert the team in the vault - and Anna. The only way was to go after the people in the vault first. Her eyes landed on the gas they'd used when they first got there through the windshield.
Making sure the garage was clear, she jumped out of the van and ran toward the far wall. She'd just managed to grab the hose when she heard a tsk.
''I knew something wasn't right about you,'' Anna said, leisurely making her way to Sydney, ''but Pietr would not believe me. I wonder what he'll think now.''
Anna had taken three steps forward, ready to fight, when Sydney flipped the valve switch and aimed the hose, spraying a burst of gas right into Anna's face. Anna sputtered before passing out on the concrete floor.
''That worked well,'' Sydney thought, but she didn't fool herself into thinking that the rest of the plan would be so easy. She was right.
''Espinosa, get back here; we're almost through. Espinosa? Anna?''
Sydney stared in horror at the walkie-talkie laying a few feet away. Screw the plan, she thought, grabbing Anna's guns, extra ammo and the gas canister and taking off at a dead run. She needed Noah's help now.
<O>
By the time she'd made it back to the room where the SD-6 employees were being held, bullets were already flying. When the agents in the vault couldn't get ahold of Anna, it raised red flags, and they knew that someone else was in the building. When the K-Directorate agents and Gregoran made their move to find out who, Noah must have made his.
She peered through the door seeing Noah, hands free, crouched behind a desk, returning fire. One of the guards was already down, his throat slit and his gun in Noah's hands. She saw Noah come up to fire; it didn't do much good though, the reinforced walls of SD-6's interior was what the guards were hiding behind. He managed to get one of them in the arm before the unmistakable sound of the gun being out of ammo clicked and he ducked back down.
Hearing the sound as well, the guards moved out from the wall. They were closer to him than she was. With horror, she saw the team from the server room come in from the side. Noah was in their direct line of fire. She raised the machine gun she taken from Anna, firing at them. She hit the first, but once they realized someone else besides Noah was in play they took cover. Taking Anna's pistol she threw it to Noah, and he quickly found a new hiding place. She ducked behind the wall as the K-Directorate agents fired back, shattering the glass panel door she'd been behind.
''Syd!'' Noah yelled, and he covered her as she ran to him. He crouched behind the desk, unexpectedly grabbing the back of her neck and pulling her to him, his lips crashing into hers.
She was caught in a pendulum of feeling safe in his arms and being acutely aware of the danger around them as K-Directorate guns continued to shoot at them. He took her breath with him as he pulled away, his eyes reflecting worry before they blinked into focus and she could tell he was back in ''mission mode''.
Stand, shoot, sit, stand, shoot, sit, was the mantra running in her head. Soon the seven remaining agents were down, and with the last remaining bullets from his gun, Noah shot Gregoran in the throat; the Russian man grabbing his neck in a fruitless attempt to apply pressure before knocking into a chair as he fell to the ground.
Noah, grabbed her arm and led them in a crouched run across the room. The agents from the vault had arrived, and with no ammo - and all the other agent's guns being out of reach - they were weaponless. It was hand-to-hand for this one, which meant a surprise attack. Sydney tapped his shoulder and held up four fingers, letting him know how many to expect. He gave a terse nod.
They waited until the last guard had entered the room, Noah striking him first with a back kick to the knee and a fist in his face. Not wanting to shoot through one of their own, the other agents came at them and soon the fight was on, Sydney and Noah dancing around each other with hits and kicks like it was old hat, and knowing each other's bodies and moves as well they did, it really was. Between the two of them the agents didn't last long; Sydney rolling across Noah's hunched back where he had one man in a choke-hold and swinging her foot to meet the last guy's face.
Noah came up, and they stood staring at each other, their heavy breaths in time with the other. Sydney went through a quick check-list in her head, not quite believing it was over - and it wasn't. Her stricken look caused his brows to draw down and she grabbed his arm. ''The server room.''
They ran through the halls, turning this way and that before skidding to a halt outside the room. They made quick work of stopping the download and transmission of SD-6's files, turning the servers off for good measure.
''Anything else?'' he asked breathlessly.
''I don't know,'' she said after a second, ''I left Anna in the garage - although, she shouldn't be waking up for a while.''
He nodded. ''Small favors,'' he joked.
''You kissed me,'' she said, pieces of the 12 hours rushing through her mind so fast she could barely keep up, but that one stood out. ''In front of Sloane.''
''I did,'' he acknowledged. His eyes cut to her and he smirked. ''Sorry it wasn't on his desk like we'd planned, but -''
She knocked her fist against his shoulder. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer.
''Kiss me again?'' she asked.
He lowered his head, his eyes not leaving hers as lips met and tongues touched. He blinked as he pulled away, lashes fluttering with hers. ''Later,'' he promised.
It was then that she realized they weren't quite done yet; they still had to go back and untie their coworkers and then debrief. After that though, it was pizza, Noah's couch, and Noah. Dinner dates were overrated anyway.
