02x06 - Salvation

[destinyros2005]

(Sydney and Vaughn meet on a rooftop of a building, both wearing sunglasses.)

VAUGHN: Your mother's trial starts this morning.

SYDNEY: How long do you think it'll last?

VAUGHN: Could be a while. With eighty-six counts of espionage against her, the prosecution alone could take months just to present their case.

SYDNEY: I want to see the opening arguments.

VAUGHN: I'll arrange for a closed-circuit feed into the ops center.

SYDNEY: Thanks. You know any jokes? 'Cause I could use one.

VAUGHN: This grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says, "Hey, we have a drink named after you!" And the grasshopper says--

SYDNEY: "You have a drink named Doug?"

VAUGHN: Well, I was going to use Phil.

SYDNEY: Well, Phil is certainly no funnier than Doug.

VAUGHN: No, I know, I'm sorry. It's a non-humorous, uh...

(They giggle together.)

(SD-6 briefing with Sloane, Jack, Sydney and Marshall.)

SLOANE: Mr. Sark. As you know, he's proven himself to be a key player in the world of international organized crime. Now he may be developing a bioweapon systemized form a virus that we've never seen before. This is Klaus Richter, a former employee of Sark's whom we've recently taken into custody. A routine medical workup revealed that Richter may have been exposed to the virus before we picked him up. Marshall?

MARSHALL: Thank you, sir. Okay, now, take a look on your screen here. These little squiggly things -- that's just a normal flue anti-body, something that you might have if you got a common cold, or cough, something. Now let's take a look at Richter's blood work. Now this shows antibodies one thousand per cent above normal levels. Very similiar to the Ebola virus, most notably massive hemorrhaging. Except that this virus works by breaking down bonds between cells, so basically Richter's body in just a couple of days is gonna look oooh like, well, did you ever see that movie "The Fly"? Do you remember that little poor red-assed baboon when he was, like, turned inside out?

SLOANE: Thank you, Marshall. We recently uncovered a charter agreement indicating that Sark rented a medically equipped 727 to transport three patients presumably suffering from the same virus as Richter to a private hospital in Geneva. This hospital is one of Sark's business fronts. We believe he's assembled a team to study the virus. Your objective is to infiltrate the facility and acquire the research. Jack, you'll be entering the hospital as a patient in need of a kidney transplant. Sydney, you'll be accompanying him as the loving daughter who's agreed to donate one. I trust this one won't be too much of a stretch, hmmm, for either of you?

(Outside the conference room, Jack catches up with Sydney.)

JACK: We should talk.

SYDNEY: We have nothing to talk about.

JACK: I know you have questions. You can either be angry, or you can be informed.

(In another office, Jack uncaps his magic pen which is really a signal jammer.)

JACK: Please try to understand what I'm about to tell you, Sydney. After your mother left, I tested Project Christmas on you because I didn't want you to be a victim. I thought it was my responsibility to teach you how to think strategically, to see through people's lies, to be as strong as you could be in an environment where one mistake could cost you your life.

SYDNEY: Then you should've told me the truth before I ended up here.

JACK: Yes, you're right! I never intended you to lead a double life. I imagined recruiting you into the CIA after you finished college. But Sloane got to you first, and that is a mistake I will never live down.

SYDNEY: I'd like to believe you, but I don't trust anything you say.

(She caps his pen and leaves.)

(At the operations center for the US joint task force on intelligence, a young agent named Rick walks Vaughn and Sydney to a monitor.)

RICK: Closed-circuit's online, the proceeding start in about a minute. And the feed will be right over here.

VAUGHN: Thanks, Rick.

RICK: Sure.

(He leaves. Sydney looks at the monitor.)

SYDNEY: That's Senator Douglas. Where's the judge?

SENATOR DOUGLAS: (on screen) Distiguished witnesses, I know you were expecting opening arguments for the prosecution of Irina Derevko, but as of this morning a plea agreement has been reached with the defendant. In regard to the eighty-six counts of espionage leading to the deaths of twelve United States operatives, Derevko has pled guilty on all counts. A select penalty jury was empanelled early this morning and the decision was predictably swift. Derevko received the maximum sentence under federal statute -- death by lethal injection. Since she's opted to forego all appeals, the execution will be carried out three days from today. Session adjourned.

(At Sydney's house, she sits in bed writing.)

SYDNEY: (voice over) Confidential to Deputy Director Devlin.

(Sydney jogs in the park where she can request admittance to the joint task force offices and her mother's cell.)

SYDNEY: (voice over) I'm writing to inform you that my father, Jack Bristow, did willfully deceive the CIA into believing Irina Derevko violated her immunity agreement. I'm committing this statement to paper so it may be used in an officiial capacity to halt my mother's execution.

(She passes the vet and stops.)

SYDNEY: (voice over) Despite her past crime, I can't in good conscience allow her sentence to be carried out when she kept her word to cooperate with us. It is not Irina Derevko who should be answering to these charges.

(Sydney drops a folded up piece of paper into the vet's cup instead of the coin.)

SYDNEY: (voice over) It is my father.

VET: We have a dead drop. Request pick up. Looks like a letter.

AGENT: Copy that. Sending agent for retrieval.

(Francie's restaurant. Sydney and Will sit at a table together.)

SYDNEY: When my mom first came back, I wanted her dead. How the hell did I become the person who's trying to save her?

WILL: That doesn't mean that you have to be her best friend. It means that you did the right thing.

SYDNEY: (smiles) How are you?

WILL: Oh, I got my, uh, thirty days sobriety chip. Even though I wasn't ever a drug addict, I'm kind of proud.

(He shows her. It's attached to his keychain.)

WILL: Oh, by the way, you know anybody who wants a car? I'm hocking mine.

SYDNEY: You're selling your car?

WILL: Yeah, well, it's either that or I quit paying my student loans. I can't afford to have bad credit and a criminal record.

SYDNEY: Well, I know you're going to say no but I can lend you money.

WILL: Yes, I'm gonna say no. But thank you.

(Francie comes over wearing an apron and rubber gloves and starts cleaning a plate sitting on their table.)

SYDNEY: Hey.

FRANCIE: (frantically rubbing) In the morning, I got rear-ended by four frat guys coming home from a party. Two of them threw up while I was getting their insurance information.

SYDNEY: At least they had insurance.

WILL: Why are you cleaning like this? You're acting like Howard Hughes.

FRANCIE: Well, the Zagat guy is coming to give his review today. I want this place spotless.

SYDNEY: There's a hamburger behind you.

(Sure enough, there is. A young skater guy wearing a giant hamburger outfit and carrying a skateboard approaches Francie.)

CLIFF: You know, Francie, I worked up through Los Feliz and Atwater Village.

FRANCIE: Oh, cool, Cliff, thanks. Give me just a second? Okay, I told him I'd give him a couple bucks if he just handed out some fliers, got the word out.

WILL: Hamburgers aren't on the menu, are they?

FRANCIE: Garden burger.

SYDNEY: How much are you paying that guy?

FRANCIE: Twelve bucks an hour.

WILL: Hamburger's making more than I am.

FRANCIE: Keep cleaning, sweetie.

(She leaves. Will looks at Sydney.)

WILL: I gotta clean.

SYDNEY: I gotta catch a plane.

(They stand and hug.)

WILL: Be safe.

SYDNEY: Okay.

(At the joint task force offices, Vaughn follows Devlin, showing him a piece of paper.)

VAUGHN: Sir, if you'll recall Project Christmas was developed by Jack Bristow to train potential CIA recruits at a young age. Now, based on the research Irina Derevko stole from him, the KGB developed their own version of the project.

DEVLIN: Yes, I recall.

VAUGHN: One of our assets in Moscow just sent this over. (gives him the paper) It's a test questionnaire administered to a group of first graders in the early eighties. The test was designed to identify kids who would make good agents in the Soviet secret service. Reading over it, what really struck me is how similiar these questions are to a standard IQ test given to first graders in this country.

DEVLIN: Where are you going with this?

VAUGHN: Remember the rumour going around the agency around the Cold w*r about the Soviets raising sleeper agents as Americans? Now, I know it sounds potentially paranoid, but this is how they would do it if they managed to get their test in circulation here. They could have contacted hundreds of kids.

DEVLIN: Interesting, but unlikely.

VAUGHN: I just think it would be intersting to analyze tests from--

DEVLIN: Stop. We can't spare a single agent right now, much less a team for a project that at best has historical value. The KGB doesn't even exist anymore!

(Plane heading to Geneva. Sydney looks over some papers. Jack sits at the back of the plane, reading a newspaper. He looks over at Sydney, throws down his paper and gets up to sit across from her.)

JACK: I see your mother's latest maneuver had its intended effect on you.

SYDNEY: What maneuver would that be?

JACK: Pleading guilty, accepting the death penalty.

SYDNEY: Yep. She's got us right where she wants us.

JACK: Not us. You. Your mother's no fool. She must have deduced I set her up, so why do you imagine she pled guilty? Because she was struck by a crisis of conscience?

SYDNEY: I think she knew the verdict was a foregone conclusion.

JACK: She pled guilty to keep you from witnessing her trial, Sydney, from having you see photos of the agents she savagely m*rder*d, including Vaughn's father. She knew if you sat through that, whatever sympathy she'd managed to elicit from you would vanish, so she cast herself as the victim to compel you to save her and guess what? You fell for it.

(He reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket and tosses Sydney's folded up letter on her table.)

JACK: I thought you deserved a second chance to think things over. Here's your letter.

SYDNEY: How'd you get that?

JACK: I spent a decade with this woman and another twenty years analyzing how she could have deceived me for so long. Trust me when I tell you, I am protecting you.

SYDNEY: No, you're not. I think you loved Mom so much that when she left you, you lost your soul. You know what else I think? I think the kind of man who'd use his own daughter to frame her mother, who'd test psych experiments when she was six-years-old is the kind of man who looks at his daughter and sees his greatest mistake.

(Jack's eyes fill up with tears.)

JACK: You can't honestly believe that.

SYDNEY: It's true, isn't it? If Mom hadn't fooled you, if you hadn't been so gullible, I never would have been born. I'm going to finish reviewing the mission now.

(He goes back to his seat.)

(Will has his old Ford Bronco parked with a For Sale sign that says he's only asking $2500. He sits on the hood. Vaughn's fancy Lincoln-esque car drives up. He gets out and walks to Will.)

WILL: Thanks. Thanks for coming.

VAUGHN: Of course. Is everything all right?

WILL: Okay, look, I don't -- I don't know how to say this other than to just say it. I need a job. With all the publicity, no one will hire me. I thought maybe you could help me out. I mean, I don't mean to be an agent. I know the CIA has a ton of front companies -- defense contractors, shipping companies. I'll work at a desk, anywhere, just as long--

VAUGHN: Look, I know this will drive you insane, but we can't employ you because you have a criminal record.

WILL: I have a criminal record because of a drug habit I never had.

(Vaughn nods.)

WILL: You know anybody who wants to buy a car?

VAUGHN: There might be something. I have a discretionary fund used for informants. Totally off the books. I could pay you to do research.

WILL: Seriously? Man, I would so owe you.

(Vaughn gives him the piece of paper he showed Devlin.)

VAUGHN: This is a list of questions, please keep them to yourself. All I need you to do is find out if any of these questions ever appeared on a standardized test in the United States over the last twenty years.

WILL: Okay, the more you tell me the faster I can get you what you want, so--

VAUGHN: I pay by the hour. Take your time.

WILL: Thank you.

VAUGHN: You're welcome.

(They shake on it.)

(In Geneva, Jack and Sydney meet the hospital employee. Sydney's wearing a ridiculously large blonde curly wig. Sydney and Jack are all smiles and have their arms linked.)

SPINNAKER: Mr. Harris, I'm Jan Spinnaker, hospital administrator. Welcome to St. Auburn's.

JACK: (Southern accent) My daughter, and the very twinkle of my eye -- Marion.

SYDNEY: Daddy, stop it! It's so nice to meet you.

SPINNAKER: A pleasure to meet a daughter who'd sacrifice so much for her father.

SYDNEY: I would do anything for my Daddy.

SPINNAKER: This way, please.

(Spinnaker turns. Sydney and Jack both drop their smiles and their arms. They walk behind him.)

(Down the stairs they go. Jack motions to a briefcase handcuffed to his arm.)

JACK: The computer in this satchel provides me a secure link to my money. The satchel cannot be removed from my arm during the operation.

SPINNAKER: All arrangements have been made--

JACK: Now, I chose your hospital for its high security standards.

SPINNAKER: We employ security with training equivalent to the secret service. You won't be disappointed.

JACK: Very good!

(Jack and Sydney, wearing hospital gowns, are wheeled into an operating room on separate gurneys. Jack has his briefcase still handcuffed.)

MARSHALL: (voice over) Okay, you're going to Geneva to get a sample of a top-secret virus. Now, your cover is you're going in for kidney transplants. Well, now, you're probably thinking now, "Hold on a second, Marshall! We need our kidneys!"

(Flashback to the briefing with Marshall, continuing.)

MARSHALL: Well, don't worry. They're not going anywhere because of this. (He holds up the briefcase.) Now, basically, when you are positioned in the OR, press this button lightly twice. It will activate a t*nk of halothane.

(Operating room. A doctor places masks over Sydney and Jack's faces.)

MARSHALL: (voice over) Now, halothane is the same anesthetic they're pumping through your masks.

(Jack hits the button twice.)

DOCTOR: Why don't you both try counting backwards from ten?

JACK AND SYDNEY: Ten... nine... eight...

MARSHALL: (voice over) Which leads us to question number two.

(Flashback to briefing.)

MARSHALL: If they're pumping anesthesia in the room and you're also gulping it down -- what did I do with -- by the maskful, then what's going to prevent us from passing out ourselves?

(He takes out a small vial in a zip-loc bag.)

MARSHALL: The solution is in the solution. It's a mix of anti-anesthetia and I also, for good measure, threw in a time release synthetic caffeine that I use in my decaf every morning. Just take it right before you head into the hospital and trust me, you won't fall asleep.

(He winks.)

(In the operating room, nurses and doctors start passing out.)

JACK AND SYDNEY: Six... five... four... three... two... one...

(Everyone's knocked out.)

(Outside the OR, Sydney and Jack walk out in full doctor garb. They calmly pass the guards and walk to the elevator.)

(They get to the research wing. Jack sh**t the two doctors behind the desk with tranqs.)

JACK: They'll be out for fifteen minutes.

(He gets behind the computer and brings up the files.)

JACK: They've all been sedated for the pain. Patient zero's in there. Get a blood sample, I'll download the viral research.

(Sydney enters the room with patient zero. His bed is closed off and there are gloves inside that she slips on from the outside. The patient's skin color is a nasty green. Sydney stares. He has a slow heartbeat. Sydney looks around when suddenly he grabs her arm. She gasps.)

PATIENT: Irina?

SYDNEY: I need help!

(Jack stops whatever he was doing and rushes over.)

JACK: Don't struggle. He could tear the gloves off, you could become infected. I'll up his morphine.

(He taps a few buttons on the monitor beside the bed.)

PATIENT: Irina?

(Jack looks, alarmed.)

PATIENT: Irina?

(He lets go of Sydney and falls back a little, drugged up. He presses his bloody hand against the glass. Sydney jumps back.)

JACK: His vitals fell below the preset warning levels. The doctors will be alerted. Work fast.

(He goes back to the computer to leave Sydney get the blood sample. Jack speaks into his transmitter.)

JACK: Eagle eye, this is blackbird. Requiring early extraction, LZ Bravo.

(A helicopter takes off nearby.)

AGENT: Copy that, blackbird. ETA -- LZ Bravo, three minutes.

(Sydney gets the blood sample. Jack starts downloading the research.)

JACK: Come on. Come on, come on, come on!

(He finishes and closes up the disc. Sydney and Jack walk down the hall together and pass two doctors. The doctors show up and see the others passed out behind the desk. One of them grabs the phone.)

DOCTOR: This is Dr. Giselle, I need security teams on the research level, now!

(Sydney and Jack hide inside a lab room, the alarm wailing behind them.)

JACK: We need to get to the roof.

SYDNEY: The elevator won't come to this floor!

JACK: Security will flank us from both sides of the hall.

SYDNEY: We can't reload the tranqs fast enough to take out another four people.

(Guards start coming their way, yelling and shouting. Inside the lab, Jack smashes a cabinet door, glass flying everywhere.)

JACK: Find some iodine. Ammonia and iodine form an unstable compound when they're mixed together.

(The guards are down the hall.)

GUARD: Initiate level three lockdown, perimeter and elevators!

(Sydney gets the iodine and they start mixing.)

SYDNEY: I've got this!

(The helicopter lands on the roof.)

AGENT: Blackbird, we're on the roof, we're waiting for you!

(The DNA mixer starts spinning with the iodine and ammonia inside. Jack and Sydney walk out with their arms raised.)

JACK: Don't sh**t!

GUARD: Against the wall!

(They throw Sydney and Jack up against the wall and start frisking. They remove their tranq g*ns. The expl*si*n happens with the idione and ammonia, making a few guards fall to the ground. Jack elbows one of the guards in the face and knees them in the chest. Sydney punches the other guard. Jack flings another guard into the wall and punches him in the stomach. Sydney ducks a punch and kicks another guard.)

SYDNEY: Bypass the lockdown, I'll hold them off!

(She kicks another guard. Jack runs down the hall and forces the elevator doors open with his hands. Sydney takes the guards' g*ns and runs down the hall, sh**ting at them. They slowly start to get up. She runs to the elevator where Jack removes the panel and starts wiring. Sydney runs. The guards sh**t at her. She hides behind a partition.)

JACK: Buy me ten seconds, I need more time!

(Sydney sh**t back at them. Jack starts wiring the elevator. Sydney sh**t some more and hides.)

SYDNEY: a*mo!

(She drops the empty cartridges from her g*ns and goes to Jack. He loads both g*ns. She turns over and sh**t at the guards again. They're getting closer. Sydney sh**t at them with two g*ns going. Behind her, the elevator starts to move.)

JACK: Sydney!

(The doors close as the guards sh**t. She falls in.)

(Up on the rooftop, Jack and Sydney run to the helicopter and climb in. Sydney looks back at the hospital as they lift off.)

JACK: If you're wondering why that man mistook you for your mother, he worked for her. I skimmed the research as it was downloading. Before she surrendered to the CIA, Irina deliberately ordered Sark to expose some of her own operatives to the virus in order to study it. Ask yourself if that's a person worth saving.

(The helicopter flies away.)

(In Sloane's office at SD-6, Jack and Sloane talk.)

SLOANE: I had toxicology analyze the glass of wine that somehow made its way into my house last week. They found a compound called VTX which counteracts the effects of sodium morphate. Sodium morphate is the poison I used to... end Emily's suffering.

JACK: I see two possibilities. Either Emily predicted your intention to euthanize her, took the necessary countermeasures and is now playing a game with you, or the more likely scenario -- someonewants you to believe Emily's alive or worse, they'll try and make the Alliance believe it, too.

SLOANE: If they think that I failied to carry out the one condition of my admittance, that I have been betraying them the whole time, then they'd be forced to assume that my entire division is rogue. Then we'll all be in danger.

(Self-storage building, meeting with Sydney and Vaughn.)

SYDNEY: I don't think I can ever forgive my father for the things he's done, but maybe he's right about what he's been saying all alone. Maybe her cooperation is partof some eleborate strategy he's more equipped to see than I am.

VAUGHN: Look, your father's asking you to let her die for something she might do. I don't think you can live with that. Good work in Geneva.

SYDNEY: Thanks.

VAUGHN: The CIA is analyzing the copy of the disk you brought back. If SD-6 plans on using the virus as a w*apon we might be able to get a jump on the antidote thanks to the blood work you brought back.

SYDNEY: I hope so.

VAUGHN: Oh, listen, there's something else you should know. Will came to me for a job.

SYDNEY: He did?

VAUGHN: Well, he didn't want to bother you so I hired him off the books to do some research.

SYDNEY: On what?

VAUGHN: Just background on the old KGB version of Project Christmas. Of course, I didn't tell him that. He thinks he's comparing IQ tests against the public record. I just figured it was your perogative to tell him more.

SYDNEY: That was really nice of you, thanks.

VAUGHN: You're welcome.

(Jack and Sloane walk down a sidewalk together in the afternoon. They're about to get into their stretch limo.)

SLOANE: There's nothing more boring than a commerce bureau luncheon. Thanks for joining me, Jack.

(He stops. Across the street stands Emily, staring at him coldly. He stares and then she's gone.)

JACK: What is it?

SLOANE: Did you... see that?

JACK: See what?

(Sloane starts walking across the street in the middle of traffic. Emily has started to walk down the street. Horns honk at Sloane as he stumbles across the way. He starts jogging, frantically following her. She picks up the pace and walks briskly down the sidewalk. He breaks out into a run, dodging people and following her. He sees her go inside a building so he enters as well. He flings open the door, breathing heavily, and walks up the aisle. She's nowhere. Sloane looks up and sees a giant cross -- he's inside a church. He starts backing up and bumps into a priest.)

PRIEST: Can I help you?

SLOANE: Aaaah! Did you see someone come in here just now? A woman?

PRIEST: No, I've been alone all morning.

(Jack has entered.)

JACK: Father, would you excuse us, please?

(He leaves them alone.)

JACK: Sit down.

SLOANE: Now you tell me you saw her!

JACK: I saw a woman but it could have been anyone. You may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by intense feelings of guilt. Arvin, you have walked into a church. A place to confess.

SLOANE: She's alive. She knew the alarm code. She could have come into the house undetected.

JACK: There is a clear way to know for certain but I hesitate to suggest it.

(Sydney meets up with Devlin.)

SYDNEY: Sir, there's something I have to report. While it appeared that my mother sent me into a trap in Madagascar, in truth, she was unaware that there was any danger.

DEVLIN: Yes, I know. I have your father's statement right here. He told us himself this morning.

SYDNEY: What?

DEVLIN: A hearing has been scheduled with the joint intelligence committee.

SYDNEY: My intention wasn't to punish my father, sir, it was to stop my mother's execution from going forward.

(His cell rings.)

DEVLIN: Yes? I'll send her down right now. They'd like to see you in medical services.

(Sydney walks in where several doctors are gathered.)

SYDNEY: You asked to see me?

DR. NICHOLAS: Agent Bristow, I'm Doctor Nicholas.

SYDNEY: What's going on?

DR. NICHOLAS: Five weeks ago you infiltrated one of your mother's labratories in Taipei where you discovered a Rambaldi device. How long were you in proximity to the device?

SYDNEY: I... it took me about a minute to rig it with expl*sives. I made it to the other side of the door but Vaughn was submerged. I don't know, maybe another minute or two. Will someone please tell me what's going on?

DR. NICHOLAS: We believe the device is the source of the virus that infected the men in Geneva. Unfortunately, you and Agent Vaughn may have been exposed. I'm sorry. We'd like to draw some blood and keep you under observation.

SYDNEY: If Sloane pages me, this is gonna be a problem.

DR. NICHOLAS: Your father's been informed. He's covering for you.

(Sydney walks in the isolation room. Vaughn's sitting in a T-shirt on the side of a bed. He gets up when she enters. She stands there.)

VAUGHN: I know.

(She walks closer and they both sit down, side by side. He puts his arm around her. She then puts her head on his shoulder.)

(Later, Sydney's sleeping in a hospital bed parallel to Vaughn's. He's watching her sleep. She slowly wakes up. He smiles.)

SYDNEY: Hi.

VAUGHN: Hey.

SYDNEY: Did you close your eyes at all?

VAUGHN: On and off. You talk in your sleep.

SYDNEY: No! What did I say?

VAUGHN: "Don't frost the pie!" It seemed really important.

(They laugh.)

SYDNEY: No idea. (pause) You think we're sick?

VAUGHN: I don't know.

SYDNEY: Vaughn, can I tell you something?

(The door opens and Dr. Nicholas enters, interrupting them.)

DR. NICHOLAS: Agent Bristow, your tests came back negative for antibodies, you're free to go. Agent Vaughn, your tests at this point are inconclusive. We did find a heightened level of antibodies in your blood stream but you could simply be fighting off a cold. We won't know for a few more hours. You'll have to stay.

SYDNEY: You said Sark tested patient's blood at the first sign of infection. What was the sign?

DR. NICHOLAS: Hemorrhaging from the fingernails.

(He leaves.)

VAUGHN: It'll be fine. Your dad's hearing's in an hour, you should go.

(She nods and puts on her boots. She gets ready to leave.)

SYDNEY: I'll see you soon.

VAUGHN: Yeah.

(Jack's hearing in front of Senator Douglas and the others.)

SENATOR DOUGLAS: Agent Bristow, this hearing's been convened to determine an appropriate punishment for the crimes depicted in your statement. Before we begin our inquiry, do you have anything to say?

JACK: Only that despite my admission of guilt, I still firmly believe Irina Derevko is a thr*at and will prove it at her earliest possible convenience.

SENATOR DOUGLAS: Is that how you justify lying to your superiors, endangering other agents?

JACK: Yes.

SENATOR DOUGLAS: Why this sudden change of heart?

JACK: Deferentially, Senator, my reasons are my own.

SENATOR DOUGLAS: I see. Reviewing your file, I was shocked to discover how many times you've displayed behavior that at best can be characterized as rogue. You have lost the benefit of the doubt here, sir, and your silence will not suffice. So again, I ask you, why the change of heart?

JACK: My daughter convinced me that I acted unethically.

SENATOR DOUGLAS: Isn't it a fact that you knew your daughter intended to turn you in and that you b*at her to the punch only by an hour in order to secure a degree of leniency from this body?

JACK: No, sir, that is not the case. (pause) Sydney Bristow, my daughter... has come to believe that when I look at her, I see the embodiment of all my flaws. And this afternoon when I learned that she may have been exposed to a life-threatening disease, I realized that she might die believing that. But nothing could be further from the truth.

(Fade to Sydney watching the hearing on the monitor in the joint task force building.)

JACK: When I look at her, when I look at the little girl who raised herself to become one of the most extraordinary human beings and one of the finest agents I've ever had the privilege of knowing, I see only the promise of my own redemption. Turning myself in was the only way I could think of to make that clear to her, to prove that despite... my limited abilities as a father, I love her more than I could ever say.

(Sydney sits at a restaurant table alone. A waitress puts down a drink in front of her.)

SYDNEY: I didn't order this.

WAITRESS: It's from the gentleman at the bar.

(Sydney kind of rolls her eyes and looks, only to see Vaughn standing there motioning to his cell. Her own cell phone rings.)

SYDNEY: You okay?

VAUGHN: Yeah, clean bill of health. Apparently, I am fighting a cold.

SYDNEY: I came by to see you after the hearing but they were still running tests.

VAUGHN: I know, they told me you came here.

SYDNEY: (laughs) This is ridiculous, being in the same restaurant on the phone.

VAUGHN: Listen, Syd, I, um, I actually came by to tell you something. They're sending your father to prison.

SYDNEY: You're kidding?

VAUGHN: It gets worse. Douglas decided your mother's immunity agreement was never binding. They're going to carry out her death sentence anyway. Her execution goes ahead tomorrow at eight am.

(A plane lands in Washington, DC. Inside, Senator Douglas sits in his seat, reading over some papers.)

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Welcome back to Washington, Senator.

(He's in the back of a limo, on the highway. He reads over a file. Looks up.)

SENATOR DOUGLAS: Ed, you missed the exit.

("Ed" puts up the divider window.)

SENATOR DOUGLAS: Hello?

(He tries the door and window latches but everything's locked. The tires screech as the limo makes an abrupt stop in the middle of nowhere.)

SENATOR DOUGLAS: No! No! Hey! You're making a BIG mistake!

(Sydney climbs in, having posed as the driver.)

SYDNEY: Sorry about the detour, Senator...

SENATOR DOUGLAS: What the hell are you doing?!

SYDNEY: ...but I need two minutes of your undivided attention.

SENATOR DOUGLAS: I don't care what point you want to make!

SYDNEY: I'd like you to consider dropping the charges against my father and honor my mother's immunity agreement.

SENATOR DOUGLAS: You can't be serious.

SYDNEY: I recognize how indecisive this sounds--

SENATOR DOUGLAS: That's a full understatement, my dear!

SYDNEY: --I turned her in under false pretenses and I've come to believe my father was protecting me.

SENATOR DOUGLAS: His interest are irrelevant, it's his decisions that matter. I'm sorry, Agent Bristow, but my colleagues and I have zero tolerance for anyone who would lie to their own government, especially in this day and age. And your mother? Well, she's had it coming for twenty years. Now given what you've been through, I'm willing to forgive your little misstep tonight. Would you kindly drop me off at home?

(Sydney looks up. Thunder rumbles.)

(In the rain, four men bring up a casket from the earth. Sloane stands neary, underneath an umbrella. They rest the casket on the ground and look at him.)

SLOANE: Wait in the car.

(He waves them off. The guys leave Sloane alone. He drops the umbrella and wipes away the ground off the casket. He kneels down in the mud and opens the lid. Sloane stands in the rain. The coffin's empty. He looks up at the rain coming down on him.)

(Sydney walks in the ops center for the joint task force. Jack stands there.)

JACK: How did you persuade Douglas to reverse himself?

SYDNEY: I told him I have a secret only you and I know about. A secret that Sloane told you in confidence that poses such a thr*at to national security that we couldn't trust even the CIA to contain it.

JACK: What secret is that?

(Flashback to the limo.)

SYDNEY: One of your colleagues -- a United States senator -- is working for the Alliance. We have evidence of wire transfers totaling 6.3 million.

SENATOR DOUGLAS: To whom?

SYDNEY: That's what we're trying to find out. But without my mother and father, I'll be forced to hand over the investigation to the FBI.

(Back to Sydney and Jack, presently.)

JACK: There's no senator in the Alliance's pocket. You lied.

SYDNEY: I'm not proud of what I did.

JACK: I may not agree with your decision to interact with your mother, Sydney, but I will from now on respect that it is your decision to make. They're bringing in your mother now. I'm sure you'll want to see her.

(Thunder rumbles and the rain pours as a few agents jump down from the back of a van and escort Irina inside. Sydney watches from inside the building.)

(On her bed, in her cell, Irina faces the wall, asleep. Sydney looks at her.)

(Vaughn's bathroom, morning. He stands in front of the sink, doing his morning shaving routine. He looks down, puzzled. There's blood around his fingernails.)