// Episode Summary //

Sydney is hiding in the air ducts as McKenas Cole blasts away at the ceiling when suddenly Jack appears and surrenders, allowing Sydney to remain hidden.

Sydney discovers a note left for her by her father, explaining the dire predicament: since Sloane has activated the fail-safe alarm, opening the SD-6 vault would trigger a fatal explosion. Before the intruders can hack the vault security code, Sydney must disarm three charges of C-4.

Meanwhile, Dixon manages to swipe a PDA from a desk, and secretly sends an e-mail to the CIA. Vaughn gets the message but Agent Haladki, now in charge of the SD-6 case, refuses to send a rescue team without more proof of an attack.

Against official orders, Vaughn goes to Credit Dauphine and confirms the break-in to Haladki, who again refuses to send help. Vaughn then meets up with Sydney and helps her disable the first charge of C-4. They split up to disarm the two remaining charges.

Cole realizes that someone is still loose in the building and broadcasts an order through the address system: if Sydney doesn't surrender, Cole will begin killing the hostages. He chooses Jack as the first victim, and Sydney surrenders before she can disarm the C-4.

After Sydney is taken hostage, Marshall signals to her that one of her earrings, lying on the floor, is actually a flash grenade. She detonates the device, overpowering the intruders in the ensuing chaos.

Meanwhile, the key that Will was given leads him to a locker containing an autopsy report on David McNeil's wife. Her death was allegedly a suicide, but the new evidence suggests otherwise. Will urges Kelly McNeil to go into hiding.

At the CIA, Agent Weiss learns of Vaughn's call and sends a rescue team. Jack finds Sloane in the SD-6 torture room. Only Sloane can deactivate the fail-safe, but his fingerprint is needed as verification. Both men realize that the only way to save the SD-6 is to cut off Sloane's finger.

Using the bloody digit, Jack cancels the fail-safe order seconds before Cole opens the vault. Once inside, Cole removes a small metal box, marked with the Rambaldi symbol <0>. As he tries to escape, Cole is captured by Sydney and the CIA rescue team. Vaughn opens the metal box and finds a small vial of clear solution.

SD-6 now believes that the break-in was successful, not realizing that the Rambaldi artifact is with the CIA. But mysteries remain. Who has McKenas Cole been working for? And what secrets will the mysterious liquid unlock?

// Quotes //

Dixon: You okay?
Marshall: (blood is running down his head) Except for my head injury, yeah.

Sloane: So easy for you to blame me, huh? When you know the truth. You got your own men killed. That helicopter was waiting for you...
Cole: I had a man down! I was saving Whitney's life. You know that!
Sloane: Yeah, at the expense of all the other men. Those men counted on you to lead them to safety. They trusted their life to you and you led them to slaughter.

Haladki: Any irregularities at all?
Vaughn: What, you mean other than a desperate message from an agent begging for help?

Weiss: And what if there has been a takeover?
Vaughn: (gets his gun out of his locker and loads it) If I'm not back in a couple of hours, I'm probably dead.
Weiss: Good to know.

Sydney: Dixon contacted you?
Vaughn: Not directly. Through Langley. Said SD-6 was under attack. Are you okay?
Sydney: It's true. There's a team of six, maybe seven. They've got the latest military specs. They're after something in the vault.

Vaughn: Let's just take this one step at a time. This is a charge of C-4. I can tell, 'cause it says "C-4" everywhere.

Cole: (into a walkie-talkie) Dear person beating up my men: I assume that you're an employee here. I am now standing in Sloane's tastefully minimilistic office and if you are not here standing in front of me in the next twenty seconds, I am going to start executing your friends. Starting with the man that I assume to be your partner. (He reads a piece of ID.) Mr. Jack Bristow.

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