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"Mea Culpa"
Original airdate: December 9th 2001
written by Danielle C.
Sydney lies unconscious, entangled in the ladder a few feet from the bottom
of the cave. She wakes up and tries to climb to the surface to find Dixon. She
searches the area and spots a blood trail leading to Dixon lying on his side
with a single gun shot wound to the chest. Sydney asks him why he wasn�t wearing
his bullet proof vest. He is in and out of consciousness. Sydney pulls out the
Sat-Com phone Vaughn gave her before she left for the mission. He told her it
could be used anywhere, anytime to get in contact with the CIA. At the time, she
thinks it is too heavy and balks at carrying it with her, but Vaughn convinces
her to take it, just in case!! She uses the Sat-Com to contact the CIA to get
emergency assistance for Dixon. She uses her CIA codename, Freelancer, instead
of her SD-6 codename. Dixon is still in and out of consciousness, asks her who
Freelancer is�Sydney continues to apply pressure to his wound and tells Dixon to
hang in there, help is on the way.
Back in LA, Sydney recounts everything to Vaughn. She tells him that once the
chopper arrived, it evacuated her and Dixon to a hospital in Buenos Aires. She
was worried about what Sloane was going to do once he found out about her
betrayal, but she figured out a way to keep her double agent status intact. She
called Sloane and told him that she dragged Dixon back to the Humvee and drove
him to the hospital herself. She wasn�t sure if he believed her, but SD-6
airlifted them back to LA, and sent Dixon to Angel of Mercy Hospital. Vaughn
says that that is good, but Sydney says, �No, it is an SD-6 hospital.� When she
arrived at the hospital, a doctor asked Sydney if she had been briefed on her
cover story. Sydney asks about Dixon�s condition. The doctor tells her that he
is not sure if Dixon will make it. She tells Vaughn that she had to lie to
Dixon�s wife, Diane. She tells Diane the cover story: She and Dixon were
standing outside of the bank, when men with guns jumped out and demanded the
Bank�s bank codes. Sydney had them in her briefcase. They were about to shoot,
when Dixon pulled Sydney out of the way and was shot in the process. Dixon saved
her life. Diane just can�t believe what happened. Vaughn tells Sydney that Dixon
will make it and she tells him that he can�t be sure. Dixon lost a lot of
blood�she was afraid to remove her hand from his chest and that is why she used
the Sat-Com phone in front of him. Vaughn tries to reassure Sydney. He says
Dixon was in and out of consciousness, but Sydney says that Dixon repeated her
CIA codename twice. Sydney suggests that the CIA station agents at the hospital,
they can�t because Angel of Mercy is an SD-6 hospital. Vaughn again tells Sydney
that Dixon will be alright.
At SD-6, Sloane reviews Mr. Dryer�s findings from Sydney�s functional imaging
test. He tells Dryer that he must be under a lot of pressure to find the mole.
Dryer says he is just doing his job. Sloane says that Sydney�s test does not
reveal any spikes, she didn�t falter at all during the questioning. Dryer says
Sydney is the mole. Sloane says that is a heavy accusation made by a desperate
man. Dryer calmly says he is not desperate, but curious as to why Sloane feels
the need to defend Sydney. Just as calmly, Sloane tells Dryer that he does not
have to defend Sydney, her results defend her. Dryer comments that her results
are too perfect. Dryer tells Sloane that everyone has a specialty and that this
is his. Why won�t Sloane recognize that Sydney has made a lot of mistakes
lately, most of all this recent one? She should have retrieved the Rambaldi
journal, but didn�t and now K-Directorate has it. Dryer tells Sloane again that
Sydney is the mole. He threatens Sloane by telling him that if he doesn�t follow
protocol, he will go straight to the Alliance. Sloane angrily tells Dryer, �not
to do a damned thing, he will take care of Bristow.� Dryer nods and walks out of
Sloane�s office.
Sydney is having lunch with Francie and Will. She has just told them the same
cover story she told Diane. Will asks if Dixon is going to be okay. Sydney tells
them that he is still in ICU. Will begins to ask a bunch of questions and
Francie asks him to stop being a reporter. Will is just asking because he cares
and he finds it weird that this is happening to Sydney again so soon after
Danny�s death. Francie interrupts Will and says, �Leave her alone or I am going
to kick your ass.� Will shuts up and says �thank God� Sydney is okay.
At SD-6, Sloane shows a tape of a bank robbery. He says at first glance it looks
like an ordinary bank robbery, but it just part of a distraction. While some men
were cleaning out registers, two men were hacking into the bank�s mainframe and
rerouted funds. The men work for Hanini Hassan. Sydney doesn�t understand why
Hassan would be attacking a US Bank. Sloane explains that Hassan was accessing
his funds that were recently frozen by the US government. Jacks walks into the
room and is glared at by Sydney. Sloane says that the CIA has put up with Hassan
in the past because he has provided good intel, but now Hassan has packed up and
relocated and the CIA doesn�t know where he is. Hassan has been missing for over
two weeks. Jack says that Hassan cannot be trusted as a free agent; they must
bring him to justice. Agent Russick asks Jack where Hassan had the money
rerouted to. Sloane tells them that is what they need to find out. Hassan could
use the money to buy protection from a Middle Eastern country, then could join
with a hostile country and provide them with all the arms they would ever need.
Jack tells everyone about Jared Jaresi. Jaresi is an accountant with only one
client: Hassan. Jaresi is known for his parties at his villa in Tuscany. Lots of
dignitaries and diplomats attend his parties. His next party is Friday and
Sydney will be going in�alone, since Dixon is still in the hospital. Her mission
is to retrieve Hassan�s offshore account numbers from Jaresi�s computer, then
dead drop it at Donati Park, five miles from the party. She leaves tonight.
Will is at a friend�s shop describing Danny and his death while his friend
inspects the bug. The friend picks it apart and finds the bug, calling it a
micro electro mechanical system technology; next generation. Wills asks if it is
Government Issue when his friend tells him to shhh!! They are being listened to
right now, the bug is on!!!
Syd is packing and Francie can�t believe she has to go on another trip so soon
after Dixon�s shooting. Francie asks Sydney her opinion on a wedding dress in a
magazine. Sydney says you can�t shop for a wedding dress in a magazine. She
suggests they go to a boutique, Francie agrees. They plan to go Saturday. The
phone rings: Joey�s pizza.
Sydney and Vaughn meet in public sitting at opposite tables outside of a
restaurant. Vaughn tells Sydney that SD-6 doesn�t want to bring Hassan to
justice; they want revenge for what Sydney did in the past. When Hassan bought a
nuclear weapon from SD-6 and then Sydney stole the core back, Hassan assumed
SD-6 double crossed him. So, Hassan promised to sell SD-6 10 stinger aircraft
missiles. He took the money and didn�t deliver the missiles. Sydney says SD-6
wants to send a message to everyone they do business with: Don�t mess with SD-6.
Vaughn tells Sydney that the CIA wants to bring Hassan to justice, but they also
want SD-6 to have the money so they can tag the money. They want to see where
SD-6 takes it and where they spend it. It will give the CIA a profile of how
SD-6 does their banking. Vaughn slips her a device that will copy whatever she
gets from Jaresi�s computer. Vaughn asks her if she is okay. She recalls getting
briefed by Marshall. Marshall gives Sydney a device that will �suck� all the
information from a computer�s hard drive. She just needs to place it on or near
the hard drive to work. It will not take long. Sloane interrupts and asks to see
Sydney.
Sloane tells Sydney she passed her test, her numbers were normal. Sloane tells
Sydney he knows this is a difficult time for her. He doesn�t blame her for not
talking to him the way she used to or hating him since Danny�s death. He says he
begged Security Section not to kill Danny, but Sydney doesn�t believe him.
Sydney asks why you would stop the order to kill Danny when you were the one who
ordered it. He tells her it was because of her he wanted to stop it. He tells
her that he always knew there was something special about her. He tells her that
he has known her father since 1971. He knew her mother; he went to her parent�s
wedding. Sydney is very surprised. He continues by telling her that he has known
her since she was a baby. He was out of the country for most of her childhood,
but he always kept tabs on her. He always thought of her as his own daughter.
Sydney just looks at him, dumbfounded. Sloane just wanted to tell her all this
before she went on her mission.
Sydney tells Vaughn that it was like Sloane was saying goodbye to her. Like he
knew she wasn�t coming back. Vaughn tells her she is going to be okay and she
will get through it. Vaughn asks Sydney to contact him when she gets back.
Sydney says, �I know, with the account numbers.� Vaughn replies, �No, contact me
with or without the account numbers, as soon as you get back.�
Sydney says ok.
Sloane meets with another SD-6 agent in his office. He tells him that he needs
to send a communicae to SD-4 in Rome. ATTN: Spinelli. He wants him to put it out
through server 5.
�I am ordering with Security Section�s full knowledge the assassination of an
SD-6 officer. A close range hit. This officer is scheduled to make a dead drop
at Donati Park tomorrow; that is when the kill should take place. The target�s
name is Bristow, Sydney Bristow.�
In Tuscany, Sydney parachutes down close to Jaresi�s party. She strips the
parachute off and is now in a formfitting black dress with a matching black wig.
She walks right into the party from outside. She finds Jaresi and recalls
Marshall telling her to find something Jaresi has touched. He gives her a cell
phone which really is a biometric sensor. It will lift the fingerprints off
anything. It can also create a liquid latex duplicate of the print. She will use
the duplicate print to get into Jaresi�s secured study. After Jaresi leaves his
glass on a table, Sydney uses the sensor to copy his fingerprints, and then she
heads to his study. On her way she sees a portrait of a bride. She remembers she
was supposed to meet Francie at the wedding boutique. We see Francie in a
wedding dress sitting sadly waiting for Sydney.
Will is sitting in a bathroom stall talking to the bug. He wants to talk to
whoever is listening. He gives out his cell phone number and asks the person to
call him. He jumps when his phone rings. It is Francie looking for Sydney.
Back in Tuscany, Sydney uses Jaresi�s fingerprint to enter his study, then
copies his hard drive.
At CIA headquarters, Weiss notifies Vaughn that Sydney�s cover has been blown.
He pulled a cummunicae off one of the SD-6 servers that states at 10pm at Donati
Park, someone will assassinate Sydney. Vaughn calls someone and tells them that
he needs an extraction team in Italy, they only have two hours. Vaughn tells
Weiss he is going to find Davenport and to get Jack Bristow on the phone
After Sydney copies the hard drive, she exits the study only to be caught by a
guard. She pretends to be drunk. The guard tells her this floor is not for
guests. She asks where the bathroom is and pretends she is getting ready to
throw up. He tells her the bathroom is upstairs and to watch her step.
Jack calls Vaughn. Vaughn tells Jack that he wants to get Sydney out of Italy.
Jack tells Vaughn that it could be a mistake and to wait. Vaughn doesn�t want
to. Jack replies, �Don�t do anything until you hear from me.� He hangs up. Jack
goes to Marshall�s office and finds him dancing with headphones. He tells
Marshall that he sent a communicae to SD-4, but they never received it. He asks
Marshall to check the server logs. Marshall brings up all the outgoing messages
sent in the last 72 hours. Jack asks if this includes every server. Marshall
says yes, and then says except server 5. He tells Jack that his message wouldn�t
get routed through server 5 anyway. Jack tells him to look anyway. Jacks see the
message: Sloane to Spinelli�
Back at the CIA, an agent tells Vaughn and Weiss that a team is in place at
Donati Park. Six agents are armed and ready and placed throughout the park. They
have a live feed of the park and watch the area. Jack shows up and tells Vaughn
to call them off. Jack tells him that no execution has been ordered, it was a
set up. He tells Vaughn that the communication was only sent out so the CIA
would see it. SD-6 knows there is a mole and this is a test to see if Sydney is
the mole. Vaughn doesn�t want to take that chance, he wants to get Sydney out of
there and they can argue about it later.
Jack tells Vaughn that if he pulls her out, it will prove that the CIA has
intercepted Sloane�s message and Sydney will be exposed. Vaughn questions Jack,
asks him if he knows this for a fact. Jack says out loud he doesn�t know why he
is even talking to Vaughn. He pulls rank and tells another agent to abort
Vaughn�s extraction plan. The agent asks Jack if he has verified the
information, because if they pull back and he is wrong, Sydney could die. Jack
yells, �You are killing her if you don�t!!� Vaughn asks how he could be willing
to risk something like this. Jack explains that if Sydney makes her scheduled
dead drop, she will have proven herself loyal to SD-6. He and Vaughn continue to
argue. Vaughn tells Jack that there is someone in that park ready to kill
Sydney. Jack tells him that he knows how Sloane operates and that Sloane is
bluffing.
Sydney approaches her dead drop. One of the CIA agents asks who an unknown man
is who is walking directly towards Sydney. Various people walking and sitting
throughout the park are potential assassins. Sloane sits in his office watching
via a live feed of Sydney approaching her dead drop. The unidentified man is
slowly approaching Sydney. Weiss is anxious and asks what they are doing??
Vaughn yells at Jack, �Promise me you are not wrong about this!� Jack just sits
there and tells everyone to hold their positions. A CIA agent in the park
prepares to take out the unidentified man, but Vaughn tells him to standby. The
unidentified man walks past Sydney and she makes her dead drop. She�s in the
clear. Sloane smiles. A sigh of relief is had by all!! Weiss says he just lost
30 lbs. waiting!!!
Back in LA, Francie and Will are drinking and watching a movie, �His Girl
Friday.� Will explains that this movie was the reason why he wanted to become a
reporter. The movie made being a reporter look fun. Will says being a reporter
is not fun; it is a pain in the ass. Will gets out the pin (bug) and shows it to
Francie. He tells her it�s a bug and he�s a mess trying to figure out where it
comes from and what�s going on. His cell phone rings and it is the person behind
the bug. He tells Will to stop talking about the bug and to tell Francie it is
the wrong number. Will is visibly shaken and takes the bug from Francie.
Dryer tells Sloane that by sending his directive through server 5, a higher
level intelligence could have detected his order was bogus. Sloane tells him
that if someone was hacking into their computer network, they wouldn�t know SD-6
was setting them up. His point to make was if Sydney was their agent, they would
have pulled her out. Dryer says to Sloane that if Sydney was the mole, he
(Sloane) had effectively let her go because her people would have intercepted
the communicae and pulled her out. Sloane doesn�t flinch and tells Dryer he has
his answer regarding Sydney Bristow. Dryer asks Sloane what he is protecting.
Sloane replies that there is still a problem at SDD-6 and he suggests Dryer keep
looking for the mole and to stop questioning every decision Sloane makes.
Sydney is in her tub when Francie comes in. Sydney apologizes for not making it
to the boutique. Francie says it is okay and that it was insensitive of her to
ask for her help shopping for the dress. Sydney asks why. Francie says because
Sydney was supposed to be getting married and she is sorry and walks out. Sydney
runs after Francie and tells her she didn�t make it because of work and that is
the only reason. She tells Francie that they will go next week to shop for her
wedding dress. Francie asks about Dixon, he still hasn�t woken up.
Will gets a call from the �bug� man. Will asks who he is, but all the man will
say is to go to a certain location and wait.
At SD-6, Sloane tells Sydney and Agent Russick, that analysis has gone through
the information copied from Jaresi�s hard drive. He says Hassan is more paranoid
than they could have predicted. The account numbers were not on the computer.
Analysis has found the bank that the money has been rerouted to, but still
doesn�t know the account number. They have deduced that the account number is
located in a safe deposit box at Omnicore Incorporated Bank in Geneva
Switzerland. Sydney will go in with Russick as backup as Kristiana Stephens, a
representative of Dreisberg Diamonds. She will be looking for a bank to
recommend to her clients for high volume storage. They leave tonight. Sloane
leans into Sydney, pats her shoulder and tells her that she did a great job in
Tuscany.
Sydney and Vaughn meet in their secret basement and discuss her Tuscany mission
and how it was a trap. Sydney tells Vaughn that Sloane gave her an out even if
she had been the mole. Vaughn reminds her that Sloane thinks of her as a
daughter. Sydney tells him not to remind her and asks him how they knew it was a
trap. Vaughn explains that it was her dad that figured it out. Sydney says it is
going to take forever to take SD-6 down. Vaughn hands her a transmitter and
tells her they will be able to hear everything going down when she is in
Switzerland. When she opens the safe deposit box, she is to read the account
number out loud. Sydney says SD-6 will get the numbers then. Vaughn tells her it
doesn�t matter; the CIA will tag the account and will track every move SD-6
makes with the money. Vaughn knows it isn�t a crushing blow to SD-6 and Sydney
tells him that every little bit helps.
Will is at a payphone when it rings. The bug man asks Will if he was followed
and Will says not a chance. Bug man asks Will how far he is willing to go to get
answers about Kate Jones. Is Will willing to go all the way? Will asks if his
life is in danger. The bug man remains silent, finally Will says he�s in, he is
ready.
In Geneva, Sydney approaches a bank employee and asks for Mr. Franco. Mr. Franco
begins to give Sydney a tour of the bank. He takes her into the vault where
Sydney sprays something in his face and it knocks him out. She finds the safe
deposit box, opens it and gives Russick and the CIA the account number. Russick
transfers the money to an SD-6 account, while the CIA tags it. Sydney is having
trouble getting the safe deposit box back into its slot. Meanwhile, a guard is
on his way to the vault looking for Mr. Franco. By the time the guard gets
there, Sydney is bending over Mr. Franco on the ground and tells the guard that
Mr. Franco fainted and she was going to call an ambulance.
In LA, Will goes to his car and finds the words GLOVE BOX written in dust on the
driver�s side window. He looks around, then gets into his car and retrieves a
mini cassette tape. He puts the cassette into his tape recorder. At first all he
hears is distorted noises, and then he is startled when he hears three gunshots.
Marshall notifies Dryer that while Sydney was in Geneva, another transmission
took place when she relayed the account number to SD-6. It wasn�t an SD-6
transmission. Marshall asks if he just got someone into trouble?? Dryer takes
the information to Sloane.
Sydney is awakened by the phone. It is Diane. Dixon has woken up. Sydney goes to
the hospital and just as she and Diane are walking towards Dixon�s room, Sloane
emerges. Sydney goes in and tells Dixon it is good to see him. Dixon says it is
good to see her, too!! She gets teary eyed and grabs his hand as she sits down.
Sydney asks if he remembers what happened. He says the last thing he remembers
is walking out to try to link to the satellite and that sweet smile of hers.
Sydney smiles and Dixon says that is the smile! Sydney looking relieved leaves.
She is in the underground parking lot, where she notices men approaching her.
They begin to chase her. It is Security Section. They hit her with their car,
and then give her a shot in the neck. They stuff her into the car and drive
away. Sloane gets a call, �We got her.� Picture from
Two Evil Monks |
