1It had been 36 hours since Isabelle was taken and Vaughn and Syd were now ready for desperate attempts to get her back. Sydney was about to go lone wolf and Vaughn knew it. He tried to talk her out of it.
"Syd, you can't possible think this is the right way to get her back. What are you gonna do? Go guns a blazing on every Covenant soldier you find?" he asked as Sydney was packing her weapons and artillery.
"If that's what it will take," Syd said.
"Syd, you will get killed before you get any closer. Let's just wait."
"Wait for what? Wait until it's too late? Vaughn, this is our daughter we're talking about. She's thirteen months old. She can't survive on her own. She needs us. And I need her."
"Fine, but I'm coming with you."
"Vaughn, stop. I'm doing this alone. If something happens..." Sydney tried to put this in words as best as she could. "You have someone to come home to. Isabelle is my person."
"I cannot lose you. Both of you," he said staring at her, meaning every single word.
"Fine. Meet me at Dover Airfield on 2100."
Sydney and Vaughn left the weapons room, only to run into Weiss. He told them that Sark was on the line, asking to speak to Sydney. They went into Marshall's office so he could trace the call. The call was put on speaker.
"Hello?" she said.
"Agent Bristow, how lovely to hear your voice."
"Sark, where's my daughter?"
"Don't worry, she's safe. At least for now," he said with a hinted smirk. Vaughn clenched his fist as he heard this.
"What do you want?"
"Quick to the point, aren't we? No time for fun then."
"Sark, what do you want?"
"What the Covenant wants is for you to release two prisoners from Camp Williams. And if you don't, sweet Isabelle will have to face her fate soon enough. Give us our prisoners and we just might return your daughter. If not, well you'll see..." Sark said, ending the call.
"Sark! Sark!"
Sydney and Vaughn looked Marshall who then shook his head. They couldn't trace the call. Now Sydney was now more than ever, hell bent on getting those prisoners out. She walked out of Marshall's office, with Vaughn and Jack following right behind her.
"Syd, where are you going?" Vaughn asked.
"Where do you think? I'm going to get those prisoners out," Sydney said trying to get out of this conversation.
"Sydney, you know that Camp Williams is a covert NSC detention camp. You can't just ask them to hand over the prisoners," Jack said.
"I know. That's why I'm going to break them out."
"They will shoot you on-site before you even make it to the entrance," Jack warned.
"Dad, I have to do something. I am not going to sit here and watch for the proper channels to be gone through. We only have twenty-four hours."
"Syd," Vaughn said to get her attention.
"What?"
"We're coming with you," he said on behalf of him and Jack.
"What? Why?"
"If you think we're going to let you go on your own, then you're dead wrong. We are her family. We're all she's got and we can't lose each other," Vaughn said. Jack nodded with a slight crook in his smile, glad that Vaughn was stepping up despite betraying his daughter.
Jack went off to go hire freelance mercenaries for the job while Sydney and Vaughn figured out their strategic plan to get into the camp. Williams is a 10,000 sq. ft building with soldiers based on every wing. No one comes in or out without sliding a key card. Cameras in every single hallway and motion detectors for the black wing – some of the worst scumbags the public has never heard of because for once the government did their job, which was where the prisoners were being held.
The plan struck at 2100 tonight. Syd and Vaughn and the group of mercenaries slid down from the helicopter. Jack was going to run the mission from up top. The roof was the least secure part of the building so they entered from the top into the black wing. Guards were immediately aware of the intrusion and rushed over to the black wing – the most secluded wing from others. Vaughn took a shot below his shoulder, meaning he would have to get a cast. But he brushed it off to get the prisoners. Their goal was to get in and out of there in eight minutes. They had borrowed one of Marshall's toys to get into the wing; Vaughn and Syd entered the wing and then grabbed the prisoners. They ran back to the roof, hoping back on the helicopter while armed guards were attempting to shoot the it down.
"Vaughn, your shoulder."
"It's fine. I'll have medical services patch it up when we get back."
They flew back to the office, Jack personally escorting the prisoners to holding for the time being and Lauren hugging Vaughn as Sydney watched from afar.
"Michael, what happened to you? You're bleeding," Lauren said.
"Oh, it was nothing," he said casually.
"Not nothing. Let's go down to medical right now"
"Okay, but there's something I have to do first."
Vaughn left Lauren's side and walked towards Sydney.
"Hey," he said to Sydney. "Are we ready?"
She nodded and then dialed the number that Sark used before.
"Agent Bristow, do you have my men?"
"Yes, let's meet."
"2400 Riverside St in two hours," he said ending the call.
Vaughn put his hand on her arm, rubbing it slightly to comfort her. Lauren saw from where she was standing and was currently seething with anger. She was starting to regret this plan. It always starts off hard and ends easy, she thought in order to calm herself.
Jack, Sydney, and Vaughn received an earful from Dixon for violating protocol and disobeying his orders. In the end, it was slap on the wrist for them. Dixon hated himself having to do this to his family but it was his job uphold the rules here.
They later went to the meet. Sark and his men came minutes afterward. Sark came out of the car, carrying the baby in a car seat.
"Where are my men?" Sark asked. Vaughn opened the car door to let the men out.
"They're here," Sydney shouted.
"On the count of three. One, two, three."
Sark met them halfway and set down the car seat while Vaughn pushed the men onto the other side. Sydney ran to her daughter, who was oblivious of her surroundings and now kicking her feet out of joy. They walked back, with Vaughn hugging them and kissing his daughter.
"Isabelle, thank goodness. You're alright, sweetheart," Vaughn said.
"We should go get her checked out. Make sure she's alright," Jack said.
They got in the car and drove back to the office so Isabelle could be checked out. After thirty minutes of testing the little girl for any evidence of trauma, she was cleared to home. Sydney and Vaughn sighed in relief.
"Thanks Doc," Vaughn said reaching his hand to shake the doctor's hand.
"Let's go home, sweetie," Sydney said turning towards the exit.
A/N: Hey everyone, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. It looks like things are going well, aren't they? But for now... Anyways, please review! Thanks!