A/N: I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter. Did you all not like it? This chapter's a little longer, but not too much happens. It will set the stage for things to come, though, and it will make the connection I have hinted at more clear. Please read and review, though! Without reviews, I don't know that you all are reading. And reviews really do help me find out what I am doing wrong. Plus, I really really really want to know what you all are thinking of my story so far. So please, REVIEW! Thanks. )

Disclaimer: I don't own Lost or Alias.

ALIAS

"Numbers"

Part Three

Previously on Alias...

(CIA PRISON)

SYDNEY: "The Covenant is interested in the equation from the Rambaldi music box."

SLOANE: "I remember. The same box I sent you to retrieve in Siberia. It played a formula for zero-point energy. You destroyed it on behalf of the CIA."

SYDNEY: "The CIA was able to record the equation. But the DSR said it wasn't an equation for zero-point energy."

SLOANE: "What was it, then?"

SYDNEY: "Numbers. Four, eight, fifteen, sixteen, twenty-three, forty-two. What do the numbers mean, Sloane?"

SLOANE: "They're as much a mystery to me as they are to you."

(CIA PRISON - LATER)

DIXON: "You're being moved."

SLOANE: "Where?"

DIXON: "Kendall has requested that you be transferred to DSR custody, to an off-the-books location."

(CIA OFFICE)

JACK: "Director Kendall had Sloane transferred to DSR custody earlier tonight. The convoy transporting Sloane never made it to the DSR facility. We think there's been a breach here at the Joint Task Force."

SYDNEY: "What's going to happen?"

JACK: "Langley's sending someone to look into the matter. Every activity of this field office is subject to the supervision of whatever bureaucrat Langley sends to deal with us, until the investigation is wrapped up."

SYDNEY: "Do you have any idea who's responsible for the leak?"

JACK: "Yes, I do."

(COVENANT FACILITY)

SARK: "Two years ago, a Rambaldi artifact was retrieved from Siberia. The artifact was a music box. The box played a tune, encoded in which were numbers. Tell me, Sloane, what is the significance of those numbers?"

SLOANE: "I am afraid you're wasting your time, Julian. That box was destroyed before I was able to get my hands on it."

SARK: "But I am sure the CIA shared with you their findings."

SLOANE: "Yes, they did. But I have no idea what those numbers mean."

SARK: "Well then, perhaps you could be so kind as to inform me how to find Irina Derevko."

SLOANE: "I'm sorry, all of my efforts to find Irina in the past two years have been in vain."

(SARK hits SLOANE in the face.)

SARK: "I'll give you a few more minutes to evaluate your position here."

(SARK leaves.)

(Gunshots are heard. The door to the room is kicked down.)

IRINA: "We must hurry. There's a helicopter on the roof. We have to get up there before Sark and the Covenant get to it."

SLOANE: "Why have you come here?"

IRINA: "Because I need you. I assume you're smart enough to know why."

(END OF RECAP)

LOS ANGELES

Sydney looked at Weiss as she entered the briefing room. Dixon had been busy talking with the woman from Langley for almost an hour since Sydney had arrived. Weiss exchanged a wary glance with Sydney, the kind what might give before going through something very unpleasant.

The Joint Task Force had already had its fair share of Washington and Langley bureaucrats getting in the way of things. Lindsey, Yeager...Sydney thought.

"Good morning," Dixon said, as Sydney, Weiss, Marshall, Carrie, Lauren, Vaughn, and Jack all took their seats. "As you are aware, Arvin Sloane is once again at large. En route to a DSR facility, his convoy was ambushed. We believe that the Covenant is responsible." Dixon stepped back to allow the woman next to him to introduce herself.

"My name is Alyssa Cole," the woman said, in a polite but detached manner. "I've been assigned by Langley to investigate the breach at this field office. I hope you will understand that during the course of this investigation, certain personal freedoms must be given up temporarily in order for us to do a thorough and accurate job of tracing the leak to its source."

"No relation to McKenas..." Marshall said, before shrinking back as Alyssa gave him a barely concealed look of annoyance. "...I assume...I should really just let you get back to what you were doing..."

Sydney had to contain the impulse to vomit. She had seen these types too many times, both at the CIA and SD-6. The ones who actually worked for the government were usually only slightly better than the likes of Karl Dreyer and Ariana Kane.

"Wait," Vaughn said, "you believe one of us is the source of the leak?"

Alyssa looked at Vaughn with a curious expression. "At this moment, everyone in this field office is a suspect, Agent..."

"Vaughn," he replied.

Alyssa smiled, as she took a notepad and scribbled something down on it.

"Agent Cole, with all due respect," Weiss spoke up, "we've already traced a previous leak to Sloane. Do you really think there is another mole here? I mean, the evidence is there, but isn't it possible that the Covenant has known where Sloane is this entire time? Like, they had a tracking device planted on him or something?"

"That is certainly a possibility," Alyssa said, "Agent..."

"Weiss," he supplied.

"Yes, Agent Weiss," Alyssa continued, "that is a possibility. However, we shouldn't throw out any possibilities at this time. It is also possible that Sloane was not the only mole the Covenant had here."

"Or that he was framed," Jack said.

Alyssa smiled. "You must be Jack Bristow. You're reputation precedes you."

"Thank you," Jack said, without a hint of gratitude in his voice.

"Now, Agent Bristow, why do you say that Sloane could have been framed?" Alyssa asked, as she leaned over her notepad.

"During the time he was in our custody, he repeatedly denied his involvement in the Sark leak," said Jack. "Furthermore...I have known Sloane for almost thirty years, Agent Cole. Throughout the time I have known him, I have never known him to be sloppy in covering his tracks. If he was involved in the previous leak, he would have taken much greater steps to conceal his involvement than those that were apparently taken. In retrospect, the evidence that led to his arrest too conveniently pointed to him."

Alyssa was now furiously scribbling down notes on her paper. "Agent Bristow," she said, looking up, "why is it that you did not speak up about this when Sloane was first implicated?"

"Perhaps I was too ready to believe that the man who had betrayed both me and my daughter so many times before had betrayed us yet again," Jack said, looking Alyssa straight in the face. "There had been no evidence prior to the incident of any real loyalties of the Covenant, and that, in and of itself, made me suspicious. Sloane is not the type to lay idle."

"Interesting," Alyssa said, as she wrote down yet another note and then tore off the paper to use another sheet.

"Agent Cole, do we have any idea where Sloane is now?" Sydney asked. "It's Sydney Bristow," she added.

Alyssa looked from Jack to Sydney. "So far, we haven't been able to turn up anything of value. However, ECHELON has been provided with all known voice recordings of him, as well as known aliases and similar information about known associates. We're doing the best we can to find him."

A few minutes later, the meeting was over. Agent Cole told them all that she would be calling each of them in for questioning later, and then they all left.

XXXXXXX

"What?" Lauren exclaimed over the phone, trying not to talk too loud so that no one would here her.

"Derevko was here," said Sark over the phone. "Sloane is gone."

"Well that's bloody fantastic," said Lauren. She would have strangled Sark if he was in front of her. "What will you do now?"

"Your mother has already taken care of informing headquarters of this setback," he said. "Until then, we'll have to wait and see what our contacts turn up. Tell me, is the CIA working to find Sloane as well?"

"Yes," Lauren said. "They've tasked ECHELON and provided it with everything they have on him."

"Excellent. Do your best to gain access to their efforts," said Sark.

"Sark," she said, and her tone became more distressed. "I may require an extraction soon. Langley's sent someone to investigate the leak, and sooner or later, the evidence will point to me."

Sark was silent. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, love," he said. "Until then, as long as it appears that your not hampering their efforts to find Sloane, they won't identify you as a potential mole."

XXXXXXX

Sydney stepped out of her car at the oil wells. She couldn't remember how many times she had made secret rendezvous here, away from the watchful eyes of SD-6.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice," her father said.

"What is it you needed to tell me? Who do you think's responsible for the leak?" Sydney asked.

"Did you notice that Ms. Reed was quiet during the briefing this morning?" Jack said.

"What? Dad, no-" she said. Much as she despised Lauren, she couldn't see her as an enemy agent. Didn't Vaughn trust her? Shouldn't that have been enough to confirm her innocence?

"During one of your first missions back," he continued, "it was Lauren who was frustrated that the blueprints for the Medusa anti-satellite weapon had been lost. Why would the United States government want anti-satellite weapon schematics if they had been denied to the enemy anyway?"

"Dad-"

"When Sark was to be transferred to our custody, did it not strike you as strange that she was concerned for the way he would be treated?"

"Dad, you're forgetting that she helped me escape Lindsey. If she was Covenant, why would she want to help me?"

"After you escaped NSC custody, the Covenant planted a series of clues that they hoped would lead you to the Rambaldi DNA cube." Jack looked Sydney firmly in the eyes, with his most serious expression. "Lauren helped you escape because the Covenant still needed you to find the Rambaldi artifact for them."

"Dad, it could all be a coincidence-"

"Here's a coincidence," Jack said, becoming more annoyed. "The black box from Sark's plane recorded him talking with his Covenant partner. He said to his partner, 'Not if I see you first, love.' After you exchanged the Rambaldi box for Dixon's daughter, I overheard Lauren saying these same words to Vaughn."

"Dad, do you really think that Sark invented those words? Like I said, it's just a coincidence," Sydney said. However, she was beginning to feel that Lauren was, in fact, the mole. But she was not so sure whether it was her jealousy or any real gut feeling that was making her feel this way.

"Sydney, stop being so stubborn!" Jack said. "I was married to your mother for ten years. After her betrayal, I saw every little action she did while she was hiding her work from me for what it was. Lauren has been using those same tricks on Vaughn, as well as the rest of us."

"If you're so concerned, why haven't you gone to Agent Cole with this?" she asked.

"Because Lauren is NSC. She has access to higher level resources than we do. Lauren is also very good at covering her tracks. Do you really think Agent Cole would believe me any more than you do?"

Sydney sighed. She was torn between wanting to believe her father, for so many reasons, and wanting to believe that Lauren was innocent, despite all that she had done to take Vaughn away from Sydney. Perhaps Sydney felt so out of a desire to protect Vaughn from the betrayal that had changed her father so much.

"We should go to Dixon with this," she said.

ULAN BATOR

In the midst of a city in the process of rapid modernization, a worn but sturdy looking yurt, the kind of tent the nomads who wandered the steppes used, stood amongst others of its kind in an open field surrounding by the concrete buildings of the modern age.

Outside of this particular yurt, a Mongolian man, dressed in a traditional coat and cap to protect him from the fierce, cold wind, sat next to the entrance, an old Soviet AK-47 cradled in his arms as he smoked a cigarette.

Within the yurt, a man and a woman were talking. Both were not from here, as evidenced by their physical features and the way they talked.

"The Passenger," Irina said. "What do you know about it?"

"You mean our daughter?" Sloane replied. "That Rambaldi prophesied that she would serve as a direct conduit to him, that she is the key to his endgame."

"Then you know about how she will lead to Rambaldi," Irina said, handing Sloane a bowl of hot soup.

"Yes," Sloane said, gratefully taking the soup in both hands. "Tell me, Irina, what do the numbers mean? Four, eight, fifteen, sixteen, twenty-three, forty-two?"

Irina returned with another bowl of soup for herself. "I don't know," she said. "I found them written on the side of a page of one of Rambaldi's manuscripts. Perhaps they have nothing to do with his endgame. Or perhaps they are somehow connected to the Passenger."

"Rambaldi," Sloane said, after taking a sip of broth. "What does that even mean? How will she lead us to Rambaldi?"

"I don't know," Irina said. "But we have to find her. Before the Covenant, before the CIA do."

"Yes," Sloane said. "You have no idea at all what she will lead us to?"

"The same manuscript I found those numbers written in spoke of a place," Irina said. "Rambaldi described it as a 'special' place. A place where his followers would be safe from the forces of the passage of time."

Sloane grinned. "Rambaldi's endgame, then," he said. "His life's work: immortality."

ALIAS