“A Missing Link”

Alias season 3, episode 4
Original air date: October 19, 2003

Sydney argues with Jack that they ought to go to Dixon and tell him that she's responsible for Lazarey's murder, but Jack remains adamant that she not do so. He insists that the CIA and NSC would subject her to too much in their attempts to recover her memory. While they're discussing it, Sydney's called into headquarters.

When she arrives, Lauren briefs her on a heist in France, which involved a four-man team stealing Ebola virus. Lauren and Sydney interview one of the team members, who was infected with Ebola during the heist. After pressing him to reveal what he knows before he dies, he finally tells them that he doesn't know who hired them, so he can't help them stop the "second job." Marshall explains that the second job likely might be to acquire something that would make the virus airborne, and therefore more deadly. Dixon runs through the team that had been assembled by a man named Simon Walker, and says that as Walker gets ready to replace the security man on the previous team — the man Sydney interviewed in the hospital — he's sending Sydney to pose as a security hacker to get hired.

Sydney seeks Walker out in Sevilla, accompanied by Weiss and Vaughn, who are keeping tabs on her via audio only. When Walker sees Sydney, the first thing he does is kiss her passionately and call her "Julia." He says it's good to see her after so long. She rolls with it, conscious of the fact that Lazarey appeared to be saying "Jewel" or "Jules" or something similar in the assassination video. Walker asks her why she wants on the team, since he seems to know her as an assassin only. She says she's been brushing up on hacking skills, and to test her, the team requires that she steal a necklace from a safe in the hotel above them.

She cracks the safe, using the telephone earpiece to hear the safe clicking, grabs the necklace, tranquilizes the princess who's sleeping in the room, and dives into the pool below to evade the police. She meets back up with Walker, who is impressed. They allow her on the team, but as they make their plan for Phase II, one of Walker's men tells him that "Julia" can't be trusted: he has photos of her with Vaughn, whom he believes to be CIA.

Before going on the Phase II mission, though, Dixon calls Vaughn and Sydney into his office to reprimand her for the videotape that Jack has just turned over to him. Dixon says he understands that Sydney kept it secret so that she wouldn't be pulled off active duty, and that Vaughn had no knowledge of it, so for the time being, neither of them will be sanctioned. However, since he wants the operation to move forward, he decides to withhold the tape from the NSC and commands that Vaughn keep the information from Lauren. Jack tells Sydney privately that he had to leak the info to Dixon, because Lauren was getting too close.

Sydney returns to Walker, getting a little friendly with him in bed. While they're rolling around, though, Walker confronts her about Vaughn. He accuses him, and her, of being CIA. She says he's just her parts supplier, and Vaughn quickly gets Marshall to upload a fake Interpol profile for him, which includes arrests for security-related offenses. Sydney tells Walker to check Vaughn out, and he does, finding the fake profile. They steal the canister, and make their escape.

However, as they're leaving, they pause to change vehicles. As they do, some of Walker's bodyguards pull Vaughn out of their new Jeep. They say they've found CIA equipment on him, and Walker prepares to shoot Vaughn in the head. Sydney stops him, though, saying she wants to do it herself, since he's betrayed her. She takes Walker's knife and jams it into Vaughn's gut, sending him over a cliff.