02x21 - Second Double

[destinyros2005]

"Second Double"

(Vaughn falls back, sitting on the sofa at Sydney's. She's on top of him. They kiss as she works his suit jacket off of him.)

VAUGHN: I couldn't take it.

SYDNEY: Me either.

VAUGHN: Seriously. I thought I was losing my mind.

SYDNEY: Me too.

(She loosens his tie.)

SYDNEY: That was the longest debrief of all time.

VAUGHN: I was staring at you the whole time. Did you notice?

SYDNEY: Yeah.

(She takes off her jacket in between kissing him.)

SYDNEY: I think my dad noticed, too.

VAUGHN: No, he didn't notice.

SYDNEY: Why do you think he assigned you the investigation?

(She leans back and pulls her shirt off and over her head. Holding his loosened tie that dangles on either side of his neck, she pulls him to his feet. They kiss.)

VAUGHN: 'Cause it's a big job. It's a big deal.

SYDNEY: (smiling) Really?

VAUGHN: Mm-hmm. Someone unauthorized accessed our computer systems. We're gonna find them.

(He unzips her pants in the back.)

VAUGHN: (smiling) I'm the point guy.

(Sydney flops down on the sofa and looks up at him, smiling.)

SYDNEY: You're the point guy?

VAUGHN: I'm the point guy.

(He takes off his shirt and tie and climbs on top of her. They kiss.)

VAUGHN: Where are Will and Francie?

SYDNEY: They're out. They won't be back for hours.

(Meanwhile, Francie sits in a room somewhere with her laptop. She's listening in on Sydney and Vaughn and speaking on her cell.)

VAUGHN: (off camera, recording) You're so beautiful...

FRANCIE: Will Tippin may be compromised.

(Sark is in a warehouse.)

SARK: Our superiors deal in absolutes. Either he is or he's not.

FRANCIE: The CIA is on a mole hunt to find out who accessed the defense satellite communications system. It's only a matter of time before they trace it back to Tippin, and then to me.

(Sark stands in front of Irina's desk in her office.)

SARK: I assume Sloane will want Tippin k*lled before the CIA interrogates him.

IRINA: Sloane's gone. Perhaps for good. We can't wait for his return.

SARK: If the CIA uses regression therapy to find out who he's been leaking information to, our Los Angeles asset will be compromised.

IRINA: I don't want Tippin k*lled. I've set up a meeting with someone who can help us re-acquire the Di Regno heart. He'll get us the plans to the NSA facility where they keep the Rambaldi artifacts. In the meantime tell our asset Tippin's frame needs to be convincing.

(Francie and Will's bedroom, middle of the night. Will is in bed, under the covers, flat on his back with two separators holding his two eyes wide open. Francie sits at the side of the bed, getting her equipment ready.)

FRANCIE: Starting tomorrow, you'll be asked questions that only Will Tippin can answer -- places you've been, things you've said and done. You'll remember some things and forget others. The more personal the question, the less you will recall.

(She puts some drops in his eyes.)

FRANCIE: In fact, the more you try to recall the details, the more elusive they'll become. Do you understand?

WILL: Yes...

FRANCIE: Now, listen carefully. Do not move.

(She charges a laser and points it straight into his eye. The red laser crackles into his retina.)

(The next morning, Sydney and Will are jogging along a road together.)

SYDNEY: I'm not supposed to tell you this.

WILL: What?

SYDNEY: It's supposed to go through channels.

WILL: What? Oh, it's bad, isn't it? An operation based on my analysis went historically wrong.

SYDNEY: You passed the upper-level analyst test you took last week.

WILL: I did?!

SYDNEY: With one of the highest marks. Congratulations!

WILL: Whoa. You know what this means? I mean, not that it means anything for sure, but I heard that guy Roberts is retiring.

SYDNEY: I know.

WILL: Which means there's a senior spot for an analyst.

SYDNEY: Which you're now qualified to apply for.

(A black SUV drives up and squeals to a stop. Various agents climb out with g*ns pointed at Sydney and Will.)

AGENT: Hands up! Hands in the air!

AGENT MCCAIN: Hands up!

WILL: Whoa, whoa!

(Will and Sydney put their hands up.)

SYDNEY: What's going on? Who are you?

MCCAIN: Special Agent McCain, FBI. Mr. Tippin, you are under arrest.

WILL: Arrest? Arrest for what?!

SYDNEY: Who approved this?

MCCAIN: Agent Bristow, do not interfere with this.

(Will is handcuffed.)

MCCAIN: Tippin's being detained under the patriot act on suspicion of espionage.

(Will is being led into the SUV.)

WILL: Espionage?

SYDNEY: Don't say anything until you hear from me! Who ordered this?

MCCAIN: Your father.

(The SUV drives away, leaving Sydney alone in the road.)

(Debriefing with Sydney, Vaughn, Jack, Marshall and Kendall.)

SYDNEY: This is insane. Will is not a traitor.

JACK: Over the last month we've had two breaches of our defense satellite communication systems. The first disabled our coverage over Panama allowing Derevko to escape. The second was a download of our imaging archives specifically the raid on Sloane's villa in Tuscany.

SYDNEY: There's no way Will's working for Sloane.

MARSHALL: Um, Syd, excuse me, sorry. Um, when I ran a diagnostic on the network I found that Will's user account was active in two places simultaneously. A glitch which has since been corrected. However the satellite footage was accessed from one of those accounts.

SYDNEY: Anyone could have logged on with his user ID.

KENDALL: Or he did it himself.

SYDNEY: I have known Will for years. Trust me on this.

JACK: There's another possibility... that the man we have in custody is not Will Tippin. Project Helix. The doubling prototype that you destroyed in Poland was designed to reshape a person's physical attributes to identically resemble someone else. The prototype's database revealed two scheduled recipients of the procedure: Dr. Markovic who was k*lled, and a second unknown individual.

SYDNEY: You think Will is the double.

KENDALL: We found Provacillian in Will's car. It's a medication usually taken by gene therapy patients to keep the body from rejecting the DNA mutations.

VAUGHN: What about giving him an ocular scan?

MARSHALL: Actually, that's a really good point, Mr. Vaughn--Michael. Um, I probably shouldn't call you Michael. Mr. Vaughn. Uh, an ocular scan is often used--

JACK: Tippin's being transferred to medical services as we speak. They'll scan him and have the results shortly. But there's something else. A digital recording was found among Tippin's things. It was taken by the surveillance equipment you found in your apartment several months ago.

(Jack gives Sydney the remote control. Kendall leaves. Jack follows. Marshall just sits there, oblivious, and then realizes. He leaves Vaughn and Sydney alone. He sits forward and Sydney stands up. She hits play. On the screen plays the footage from "Double Agent" when Sydney and Vaughn had sex while Francie watched nearby with the help of the camera in the TV.)

(Medical services. Will is in front of a large machine which takes the ocular scan of his eye.)

(Irina's old cell. Will is inside, Sydney once again on the other side of the glass.)

WILL: They think I'm not me?

SYDNEY: They don't know what to think. Someone breached the system and they're freaking out. They disabled all WI-FI access points and reset all user accounts and passwords. It's a witch hunt.

WILL: What was that eye scan?

SYDNEY: It's a test. It analyzes your retina. Someone who's been doubled develops proteins. They're like markers. They found proteins.

(Will, shocked, steps away from the glass. Upstairs, watching the video surveillance, is Dixon and Vaughn.)

WILL: Syd, that's impossible. It doesn't make any sense. Wait a second. I was assigned to do research on Markovic. This must be a set-up. Go to my office, everything I've been working on is there. I'm innocent... you know that, right?

SYDNEY: Do you remember that time when we had too much to drink, the night we kissed?

WILL: It was amazing. Of course I remember that night, in your apartment.

SYDNEY: Do you remember where it was in my apartment, what room?

(Sydney has tears in her eyes as Will struggles to remember.)

SYDNEY: It's a small apartment.

WILL: No, I know, of course, it was um...

SYDNEY: We were--we were eating.

WILL: It was in the kitchen.

(Upstairs, Vaughn still watches. Dixon walks away.)

WILL: Syd...

SYDNEY: I spilled something on your sweater. Do you remember what that was?

WILL: Syd... I swear it's me.

(Dixon, Jack, Vaughn and Sydney upstairs in the ops center.)

JACK: Pull Tippin's phone records, read his e-mails, get his financials. If he's the double, going over the records could lead us to his handler.

SYDNEY: Or exonerate him.

DIXON: Sydney, he couldn't answer your questions. Look at the evidence.

SYDNEY: I have reasonable doubt.

DIXON: The information Tippin fed Sloane led directly to Diane's death! Excuse me.

(He leaves.)

SYDNEY: If someone wanted to set Will up, his is exactly what they would do -- plant these clues, condition him. I'd like permission to assign Francie protective detail. If Sloane is targeting my friends, she could be next.

JACK: Done.

SYDNEY: I'd also like to speak to her about Will. She might have information that could help.

JACK: Tell her what you think is necessary, but only what's necessary.

(Francie and Sydney's place.)

SYDNEY: I need to know if he's been acting strangely.

FRANCIE: What's wrong?

SYDNEY: Forgetting things or saying things Will wouldn't normally say.

FRANCIE: Sydney, what are you talking about? Where is he? Is he okay?

SYDNEY: Just think about it.

FRANCIE: (sighs) He has been distant lately.

SYDNEY: For how long?

FRANCIE: I guess since the two weeks he spent in Chicago with his family. Sydney, what's going on?

SYDNEY: There are going to be some men outside in a van. They're security. They're going to be watching the apartment, watching you, protecting you.

FRANCIE: Why? Syd, you're creeping me out.

SYDNEY: I don't work for a bank.

(Briefing room.)

JACK: We downloaded valuable intel from Tippin's computer on the work he was doing to locate the second double. He managed to identify the man who invented the computer imaging equipment used by Dr. Markovic.

KENDALL: This is Dr. Hans Jurgens. He's a chief scientist at Miracorps, the largest hospital supply company in the European union. His equipment was used to monitor the patients during the gene therapy that was required to complete the doubling process.

JACK: A controlling assumption is that he was personally involved in the process.

SYDNEY: So we think he knows the identity of the second double.

KENDALL: If the guy we've got isn't Tippin then we can't trust his intel. At best, it's a dead end. At worst, it's a trap.

SYDNEY: I think it's him.

KENDALL: I'm getting bored with your hunches. (to Jack) Pardon me. I say we move the prisoner to Camp Harris for unrestricted interrogation.

SYDNEY: I'm not letting my friend be taken to a place like that.

KENDALL: We can't keep letting your daughter's personal relationships take precedence over everything else in this office!

SYDNEY: Think! If Will's innocent he's not trained to handle t*rture. He'll say anything you want him to say.

KENDALL: If he's not innocent then he may know where your FRIEND is!

JACK: FOR NOW, TIPPIN STAYS HERE! Five hours ago we acquired surveillance of Jurgens in Berlin. Contact in country. We'll meet you at Bendix office building downtown then brief you on the operation. Your plane leaves in a half an hour.

(Will sits in his cell and hears the doors buzz open. He looks over and sees Dixon with a guard. Dixon hands over his g*n to the guard and looks at Will. He enters the cell. Will stands up.)

WILL: Man, I'm so glad--

DIXON: Stop.

(He calmly gives Will a file. Will opens it to see a picture.)

DIXON: That's what they recovered from my wife's car after the b*mb went off.

(Will steps back, horrified, and sits down.)

DIXON: That's why we couldn't have an open-casket funeral for her. Turn the page.

WILL: Ugh...

(He does so. There are two fingerprints.)

DIXON: First fingerprint is your right index finger. The second is the partial they lifted from the remote detonator we found among your things. The prints are a match. You have Sydney fooled but I'm not gonna play games with you. You are not Will Tippin.

WILL: Oh, you can't, Dixon. You can't think that I--

DIXON: Help me find Arvin Sloane and I will do what I can to help you avoid the death penalty.

(Will stands.)

WILL: Dixon, please!

DIXON: If you refuse to cooperate--

WILL: You have to believe me!

DIXON: --then I assure you, you will suffer.

WILL: I swear to God!

DIXON: Now, when you're done with this act--

WILL: This-this is not an act!

DIXON: --you will tell me...

WILL: Dixon! Dixon!

DIXON: --what I want to know.

WILL: I'll prove it to you!

DIXON: How did we meet?

WILL: Sydney introduced us.

DIXON: Where?

WILL: It was um... she had a party and there was a bunch of us together and... and, uh, I remember what we were talking about and uh... Dixon, somebody did this to me. I can't-I can't remember.

DIXON: Mm-hmm.

(Dixon grabs Will by the throat and begins to choke him. Will gasps and his hands go out to hold on to something. He ends up grabbing Dixon's coat by the shoulder and struggles for air. Dixon calmly looks at him with his hand around his throat.)

WILL: Argh!

DIXON: You m*rder*d my wife.

(Will falls to his knees, choking.)

DIXON: You m*rder*d my wife.

(Veins are popping out of Will's forehead, his face is blood red. He struggles.)

DIXON: You m*rder*d...

(He suddenly lets go of Will, who falls on the floor, gasping and coughing.)

WILL: Oh! Oh God... oh God... oh...

(He coughs and gasps for breath. Dixon walks out of the cell like nothing happened. Will sits up and rubs at his throat, still coughing.)

(Dixon walks upstairs.)

KENDALL: Dixon. Tippin's being tranferred to Camp Harris. I want you to supervise.

DIXON: It's my understanding Director Bristow decided he's not to be moved.

KENDALL: He's been overruled by the DOJ. Convoy leaves in ten minutes.

(Sark is on his cell with Francie.)

SARK: She what?

FRANCIE: Bristow broke her cover with me. She told me she's CIA.

SARK: Did she give you an explanation?

FRANCIE: Given what's happening with Tippin, she was concerned with my safety, of all things.

SARK: Bristow's willingness to confide in you is an advantageous development that will be lost if Tippin gives you up.

FRANCIE: I intercepted a DOJ transmission. They're moving Tippin to a more secure location. Once he's there he will be unreachable.

SARK: Organize a team to intercept the transport and extract him. To the CIA, this will confirm his value to us.

FRANCIE: And once we have him?

SARK: k*ll him.

(In Berlin, Sydney and Vaughn enter an elevator. A man stands inside.)

CONTACT: Have you tried the restaurant upstairs?

SYDNEY: Yes, the bratwurst is excellent.

CONTACT: Hello, my friends. We've tracked Jurgens to a local sex club he frequents. Leather, whips, latex, chains. All the good stuff.

VAUGHN: How long's he gonna be there?

CONTACT: Could be a couple of hours.

SYDNEY: I say we move in now.

(Vaughn looks at her and slowly smiles.)

SYDNEY: What?

VAUGHN: Nothing.

(Techno music plays in the sex club where women and men are wearing latex and dog collars. And, for a few people, leashes. Jurgens is there. Vaughn sits at the bar, not in costume, thank goodness, and sips a drink. Sydney walks in wearing red leather and a black wig. He watches her as she enters and she sits next to him at the bar.)

VAUGHN: I'm glad I'm not the one in leather.

SYDNEY: You'd look cute in a teddy.

VAUGHN: Jurgens is with the security team against the wall.

(Sydney looks over at him, takes a drink from Vaughn's glass and chews the ice cubes. She walks over, her whip in hand.)

SYDNEY: (German) Which one of you boys has been the most naughty?

(She whips Jurgens.)

SYDNEY: (German) You?

JURGENS: (German) Perhaps...

SYDNEY: (German) Yes, I think you have.

JURGENS: (German) Must I be punished?

SYDNEY: (German) I think so. (whips him) Come with me.

(She takes him by the tie and leads him out. In a room somewhere, Jurgens is clad only in his underwear. He is standing with his ankles cuffed to the wall and his arms above his head, cuffed.)

JURGENS: (German) I like to sing when I'm being punished. Is that okay?

SYDNEY: Nein!

(She whips him on the butt.)

JURGENS: (German) Okay...

SYDNEY: (German) Now, Dr. Jurgens, I have a few questions to ask you.

JURGENS: (German) You'll have to whip it out of me. (pause) How do you know my name?

(Vaughn enters with a briefcase.)

SYDNEY: Hello, honey.

VAUGHN: Hello, dear.

JURGENS: Who is he?

SYDNEY: Your wife's name is Alba, right?

JURGENS: How do you know my wife?

(Vaughn takes out a laptop and digital camera from the briefcase and takes pictures of Sydney draped around Jurgens.)

JURGENS: Oh no!

(Click. Another pose.)

SYDNEY: Hi Alba.

(Click. Another pose.)

JURGENS: Oh, please...

(When several pictures are taken and Jurgens has whimpered enough, Sydney stands before him.)

SYDNEY: We know about Project Helix, that you built it for Markovic.

JURGENS: You do?

SYDNEY: We also know that he used it to double himself and one other person. With Markovic dead, you're the only one who knows the identity of the second agent.

JURGENS: I do not know!

VAUGHN: I assume your wife's e-mail address is still the same?

JURGENS: What?

(Vaughn tilts the laptop so Jurgens can see the monitor. He has the pictures from the digital camera up on the screen.)

VAUGHN: She's going to love these pictures.

JURGENS: No, no, no, no, wait! I just built it for Markovic, I was not there for the procedure!

SYDNEY: Your wife is going to love having these new pictures to add to your scrapbook.

JURGENS: I do not konw the name but there is a way you can find it. The computing power required to model a person's entire genome is tremendous so during the doubling process Markovic had to reconnect it to an off-siste computer facility, a server farm.

SYDNEY: Which server farm did he use?

JURGENS: I do not know! I swear to God! Please do not send those pictures! Please let me go! Please! Let me go! (sobs)

(Vaughn and Sydney prepare to leave. Vaughn slaps down the memory card from the camera onto the table.)

VAUGHN: Here's your pictures.

(They leave.)

JURGENS: Please give me back my pants!

(Kendall, in the ops center, types at a computer. Jack walks up to him.)

JACK: Please explain this transfer order.

KENDALL: Tippin is stonewalling. We need to break him before his handler realizes he's been compromised.

JACK: Unrestricted interrogation is premature.

KENDALL: Justice Department didn't agree. Tippin is a credible thr*at to national security which means from now on they want to be consulted on every decision of this investigation. What did you think, Jack? That I just forged a transfer order on CIA letterhead?

JACK: You went behind my back.

KENDALL: That's hardly unheard of in this office.

JACK: So what is this retribution for me taking your parking space?

KENDALL: No, I did what my job compels me to do. Nothing more, nothing less. And if you can't see that I'm trying to protect the lives of everyone in this operations center then I overestimated your intelligence.

(In a prison bus, Will is handcuffed and sits beside a guard who holds a g*n. There's an SUV ahead and one behind them. In the SUV behind them is Dixon and the driver.)

DIXON: (radio) That was Roosevelt Road. ETA twenty minutes.

(In the SUV ahead of the bus...)

MAN: (radio) Copy that.

(Will sits in the bus, looking out the window, when suddenly one of the tires of the bus is sh*t out.)

DIXON: sh*ts fired!

(The bus careens down the road, crossing over to the other side of the road and then coming back, skidding along the pave. It topples over on its side. Inside the bus, Will bangs his head.)

WILL: Ugh!

DIXON: We've got a sn*per!

(The driver in the SUV is sh*t by the sn*per in the hills next to the road. A black van pulls up and various men in fatigues climb out. Dixon sh**t one of them.)

FATIGUE MAN: Move out, move out!

(Fatigue Man climbs on top of the toppled bus.)

FATIGUE MAN: GO!

(Other men get out and sh**t at the CIA guards. Dixon sh**t one of the fatigued men and looks for the sn*per. Inside the prison bus, the guard with the g*n comes to just to see Fatigue Man sh**t him from above. Will comes to. Above, Fatigue Man sh**t the bus's side and stomps on it, letting him drop down into the bus. Dixon sh**t at the sn*per. Fatigue Man climbs in the bus and gets the keys from the dead driver. He goes to Will.)

WILL: Wait a second, no!

(He unlocks the handcuffs and grabs Will.)

FATIGUE MAN: Come on! MOVE IT!

(He starts leading Will out the back. A CIA man sneaks in and sh**t Fatigue Man who was right in front of Will. Will stares in shock. Two fatigued men stand behind the CIA man and sh**t him. Will gets the g*n from the dead Fatigue Man and jumps out the back of the bus. Dixon is sh**ting outside and sees Will aim the g*n inside the bus. Will sh**t the two fatigued men and runs outside near the bus.)

DIXON: Tippin!

(Will runs across the road and slides down the embankment, not stopping. Dixon finally gets the sn*per in the hills, who rolls down the slope. Will runs away. Dixon looks for him, but he's gone.)

(Sydney marches into the ops center.)

SYDNEY: You son of a bitch! You transferred Will to Camp Harris after we agreed to keep him here!

JACK: Sydney...

KENDALL: Hey, for the time being your father may be my superior but I am yours. Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me like that?

SYDNEY: My friend may be dead!

KENDALL: Your friend arranged for an armed as*ault team to facilitate his escape!

SYDNEY: How exactly did he do that from a holding cell? He didn't even get a phone call!

DIXON: Syd, I was there. I saw him with the g*n. He fired into the transport.

SYDNEY: Are you sure it wasn't self-defense?

JACK: Would you excuse us please?

(Dixon and Kendall leave.)

SYDNEY: I know it's not smart to lose my cool with Kendall.

JACK: Sydney, you have to accept the possibility that the man we have in custody is not your friend.

SYDNEY: Dad, I don't believe it.

JACK: I understand.

SYDNEY: 'Cause if it wasn't Will then Will is most likely dead and I can't handle that.

JACK: We received your intel from Berlin, we're analyzing the list of server farms now. As soon as we have a lead on a facility, you'll know. Go home, get some rest.

(Irina meets with a contact. He opens a briefcase full of money.)

MAN: I have to admit, I was surprised when I was contacted.

IRINA: The plans, please.

MAN: What surprised me is you want blueprints to a government storage facility, rumor being that you're working with CIA now.

(He hands them over.)

MAN: Do me a favor. Let me know how you plan on doing it.

IRINA: Doing what?

MAN: Getting past the new access control system. Because unless you know how to cr*ck it, these blueprints won't do you any good.

(Sydney and Francie's. Francie is crying.)

FRANCIE: Oh, I just can't believe it. It seems so insane.

SYDNEY: I know.

FRANCIE: I mean, how is it even possible that someone could look like Will and sound like him? I mean, it's just so ridiculous. Does the CIA have any idea where Will might be? I mean, the real Will?

SYDNEY: I'm sorry but I'm not authorized to give you any details.

FRANCIE: Syd, don't do this to me.

SYDNEY: Francie...

FRANCIE: Sydney, you're my best friend. You just told me that you're a spy and that my boyfriend's a double and now you're telling me you're not authorized?

SYDNEY: The answer is we don't know.

(Her cell rings.)

SYDNEY: Hello?

(At a public phone booth somewhere, Will is sunburned and dirty and scraped.)

WILL: Syd, it's me.

SYDNEY: Will, where are you?

(Francie perks up at that.)

WILL: I didn't escape! An as*ault team hit the bus, they tried to take me hostage or k*ll me, I don't know! But someone's framing me!

SYDNEY: The FBI and CIA both have you on a sh**t-to-k*ll watch list. You have to tell me where you are.

WILL: Oh, so Kendall can take me to Camp Harris, treat me like a t*rror1st? Not a chance.

SYDNEY: I won't let that happen. If you are Will, you know I will do whatever it takes to make sure that nothing happens to you. Please let me bring you in.

(Pause. Will considers his options and rests his head against the phone booth.)

WILL: Syd, I love you. I can't-I can't trust you. Not anymore. Meeting you-meeting you destroyed my life. You want to help me? Prove I'm innocent.

SYDNEY: There may be a DNA record of the surgical procedure. It could clear you. It's-it's on a server farm somewhere in Europe.

(Francie once again perks up.)

SYDNEY: I'm gonna find it, I promise.

WILL: Okay, okay, this may be nothing but Markovic laundered money through real estate. He had a farm in Marseilles. Maybe it's not a cow/pig farm, maybe it's a server farm.

SYDNEY: Marseilles. Do you remember where?

WILL: No, no. I got to go. I got to go.

(He hangs up. Sydney turns to Francie.)

FRANCIE: Syd, where is he? Is he okay?

SYDNEY: I have to go.

FRANCIE: No, talk to me. Tell me what's happening.

SYDNEY: I can't. I'm sorry.

(She hugs her.)

SYDNEY: Please try to understand.

(Sark and Francie chat on cell phones as he sits down waiting for Irina.)

SARK: Sydney Bristow's headed to Marseilles?

FRANCIE: Should I follow her?

SARK: Stay there. Finding Tippin is your priority.

(He hangs up when Irina walks in.)

SARK: How did it go?

IRINA: The NSA facility uses state-of-the-art locking mechanisms.

SARK: We've bypassed systems like that before.

IRINA: The access codes I downloaded from the CIA Echelon system won't work anymore. The NSA uses a time-synchronized key card.

(Sark stands up.)

SARK: Presumably a CIA agent, under the proper duress, could obtain such a key card. I'm about to confess something that will either delight you -- which I hope is the case, that would be nice -- or it will make you furious. While you were away Will Tippin was ordered to Camp Harris for unrestricted interrogation. They would have found out about our asset.

IRINA: What did you do?

SARK: I instructed that he be extracted and k*lled.

IRINA: I told you I didn't want him k*lled. Your asset could have been pulled from the field.

SARK: Yes, I know, but the situation had changed. Sydney, out of fear for Francie's life, told her she was going to Marseilles to recover evidence that would clear Tippin.

IRINA: Is he dead?

SARK: No, he's at large and believed to have escaped which should provide us the leverage we need to get into the NSA. If we recover the evidence in Marseilles before Sydney we can foirce her hand. Proof of Will's innocence in exchange for her aid in securing a key card.

(Outside, night. Jack and Sydney meet at what looks like an observatory.)

JACK: We just got the forensics report back on the detonator we found among Tippin's things. Will's fingerprint was placed on the trigger after it was wiped down.

SYDNEY: This is great, now we have evidence that confirms he was being framed.

JACK: Yes, still it will take hours for Justice approval to infiltrate the server farm. Take Vaughn with you. The two of you will go in tactically. I'll have Marshall prepare your op-tech.

SYDNEY: Kendall's going to report you.

JACK: I'm aware of the consequences.

SYDNEY: When the DOJ hears, you initiated an op without their approval--

JACK: Sydney, I've been doing this longer than you have. I'm not cut out for management anyway.

(She smiles and kisses Jack on the cheek. He watches her leave.)

(Ops center. Kendall walks over to Jack.)

KENDALL: We need to talk.

JACK: Yes, I know. I've been sanctioned by the DOJ. I'm no longer in charge of this operations center. That honor goes to you.

KENDALL: Maybe I'm a slow learner, Jack, because I don't understand you. A month ago you maneuver me out of my job and now here you are, handing it back.

JACK: I belong in the field.

KENDALL: You know, we can help each other. We don't have to be adversaries.

JACK: I appreciate your magnaminity.

KENDALL: (smirks) Now you're just mocking me.

JACK: Yes.

KENDALL: You know, part of the reason I sent Tippin to Camp Harris was to protect Sydney.

JACK: Why do you think you have your job back?

(Restaurant, at a table outside. Jack sits, alone, with a drink. A waitress comes over.)

SARAH: Thanks, Mr. Bristow.

JACK: Thanks, Sarah. Keep the change.

(She leaves. He takes another drink. Behind him, someone walks over to his table and takes the seat across from him. He's shocked, holding his drink midway to his mouth. It's Sloane, who takes off his sunglasses and smiles.)

SLOANE: It's good to see you, Jack.

JACK: I assume that since you're sitting across from me with so little regard for your life I'm in the cross hairs of a sn*per r*fle.

SLOANE: Two of them.

JACK: Of course.

SLOANE: I've missed your poker face.

(Jack just stares at him, same expression as always.)

SLOANE: (nods) So... there's something I want you to know. I forgive you.

JACK: Excuse me?

SLOANE: Your betrayal of SD-6. I'm curious, Jack. When did our friendship end?

JACK: The moment you recruited Sydney over my objections.

SLOANE: Ahh. I thought so. If I had known that decision would cost me our friendship and my relationship with Sydney, I would have done things differently.

JACK: Self-pity doesn't become you.

SLOANE: Oh, Jack, on the contrary. I'm here to make you an offer. I don't expect an answer now.

JACK: What would that be?

SLOANE: Come back to our partnership, Jack. I will tell you everything I've learned about Rambaldi.

JACK: An obsession I've never shared.

SLOANE: Well, now's the time to sign up. For years I collected his artifacts, as if that was the point. I thought Rambaldi's work was that window to the past. Today... I am one move away from proving to you that it is so much more than that. And this time Sydney won't be a pawn in our venture. Jack, sit here for a while, think about it.

JACK: We will never work together again.

SLOANE: The thing of it is, you are going to work with me -- sooner than you think. The men who have you in their sights have been instructed to put a b*llet in your brain if you dial your cell or leave this table within thirty minutes.

(He gets up and puts his glasses on again.)

SLOANE: We'll see each other again, Jack. Trust me on that.

(He walks away. Jack looks over his shoulder.)

(Marseilles. Night. Outside the building, Sydney talks to a few of the agents who all wear black except for Vaughn who sits on the hood of a car, dressed in casual street clothes.)

SYDNEY: The chief of security holds a killswitch that enables him to wipe clean all of their data storage at any sign of att*ck. To prevent the destruction of the information we need, I will proceed to the security room and secure the killswitch.

VAUGHN: After confirmation from Agent Bristow you'll expedite through a facility where you'll consider everyone you encounter as hostile. We'll upload the file on the second double to a CIA server. Any questions?

(No one responds.)

VAUGHN: Agent Bristow...?

(She takes a bottle of champage and shakes it. She pops the cork and sprays it all over Vaughn. She smiles. He licks at the droplets that run down and off his nose.)

(Cut to the streets of Marseilles in front of the building. Hip hop music plays from Vaughn's car stereo as he swerves down the street and comes to a stop before the guards. He climbs out of the car with a bottle in his hand.)

VAUGHN: (playing drunk) H-hey! What is this, a private club? (giggles)

GUARD: Un American?

VAUGHN: Is this Paris? Where is--? Come on, can I...

GUARD: Hey, hey, monsieur...

VAUGHN: (stumbles) Whoa, whoa, whoa... Look, I had a little too much to drink. It's no big deal.

(Sydney sneaks up to the fence and cuts part of it out.)

VAUGHN: Is this the fancy club or is...

GUARD: Non, non, monsieur.

VAUGHN: Oh, I love you, man. I love you. Can I come in? I just want to...

GUARD: Non, non, non.

VAUGHN: Look, look, I know I've had a little too much to drink but I really just want to come in for a little bit. I hear--it's my friend. He told me, told me to come here. No, come on. I love you, man!

(Vaughn tries to hug the guard as Sydney sneaks in successfully.)

VAUGHN: Oh come on, let me just... I just want to go inside the club!

(Sydney waits for a guard to walk by on the roof and then sneaks by.)

VAUGHN: Listen, I love you, man! I do! I just, please, I love you, man.

(The guard pushes him away and tells him to get into his vehicle.)

VAUGHN: Hey, okay, okay,! All right. You're so grumpy, man.

(He gets in the car. Sydney runs to the side of the building and fires her cord up to the top. It tightens at the ledge. She hooks it onto her belt and starts climbing the wall. Vaughn drives around to the side and gets out, taking off his outer shirt and getting his gear. Sydney, at the top, sh**t the guard in the neck with a tranq. He goes down. She climbs over the ledge.)

VAUGHN: What's your status, Mountaineer?

SYDNEY: I'm going in.

VAUGHN: Copy. We'll move in.

(Guards walk by inside. The security guard with the killswitch looks at the monitors. He turns around to see someone. Sydney, meanwhile, slides down a pole and inside. She looks at a security camera up high on the wall and runs by. She runs in the main room, entering the security wing, and sees the back of the killswitch guard. He's not moving. She turns him around and sees that his throat has been cut. She steps back.)

IRINA: Hello, Sydney.

(She jabs at Sydney, shocking her. It crackles. Sydney falls to the ground.)

SYDNEY: Ahhh!

VAUGHN: Sydney!

(She's shocked again.)

SYDNEY: Ahhh!

IRINA: I know what you're after. Your friend's suspected of being a double. You believe the information on this server could clear him.

(She holds the killswitch in her hand and is about to hit the button.)

SYDNEY: No, don't--!

(She does. The power goes off and on.)

VAUGHN: Go, go, go!

(The agents drive up and sh**t the guards. They enter. Alarm wailing. Sydney is gasping on the floor.)

SYDNEY: You erased it...

IRINA: I transferred a copy to a secure location. I'll give it to you. In exchange, I want you to do something.

SYDNEY: Go to hell!

IRINA: If you don't, you'll never clear Will's name. He'll be tried as a traitor and ex*cuted. I'll be calling on you soon, Sydney.

(She runs out.)

(Will hides behind a pillar in the middle of nowhere. A car drives by and he ducks. Then, a horn honks twice and he sneaks a peek at a blue Ford Focus that has arrived. He runs over and climbs in.)

WILL: Thanks for coming.

FRANCIE: You okay?

WILL: Yeah. Yeah, I am now.

(They drive off together.)