“The Nemesis”

Alias season 3, episode 6
Original air date: November 02, 2003

Sloane approaches Sydney while she's running in the park to give her some intel. She emphasizes that if he has information, Lauren is his handler and he should go through her only. He flatters Sydney by telling her that she was the best he ever saw at serving two masters. Sydney reiterates that he will never regain her trust nor her father's friendship. At the same time, Vaughn unloads to Weiss about how difficult it is for him to be actively engaged in preventing Lauren from doing her job. Weiss reminds him that he's under direct orders not to let Lauren find out about Sydney's murder of Lazarey.

When the CIA checks out Sloane's intel, they find it to be both accurate and intriguing: the Covenant is after a device designed by Robert Lange, a German contractor, which tests for flaws in the security of Russia's nuclear command and control system. The device can override all of Russia's security protocols. Lange discovered that he was duped by the Covenant and is now on the run. He's altered his appearance and is scheduled to meet someone in Milan to pick up new identity papers. Dixon sends Sydney to Milan to intercept Lange and retrieve the device. He also pulls Lauren and Sydney aside to let them know that Sydney is now Sloane's handler, over Sydney's objections. Sydney learns at roughly the same time that Sark does that Alison Dorn is still alive — she's now working with Sark to kidnap Lange and steal the device.

Dorn explains to Sark that after the shoot-out with Sydney, she was retrieved by the Covenant, nearly dead, and brought back to life. She and he both agree that Sydney will pay for the scars on her body.

Lauren and Vaughn tiptoe around each other, now that they're unable to discuss their work with each other fully. Vaughn's off to Milan with Sydney on her mission, and Lauren's meeting with a contact who gives her all of Lazarey's phone records, so that she can track down his murderer. Lauren turns the phone records over to an NSC analyst to screen for everyone who called Lazarey leading up to his murder.

Sydney and Vaughn are equally uncomfortable around each other, now that they're on a mission together again. Sydney also has to deal with her new knowledge of Alison's reappearance. Both Sydney and Alison head to the club in Milan where Strauss and Lange are to meet. Sydney scans people's faces with a camera in her necklace that can detect facial reconstruction. When Sydney identifies Lange, Alison attempts to shoot him from a balcony. Vaughn goes after Alison while Lange tries to escape. Sydney catches up with Lange to find him dead in an elevator with one of his teeth removed. Alison comes up behind Sydney and knocks her out, but doesn't kill her.

Sydney's confused about why Alison didn't kill her, but realizes that the Covenant must have ordered her not to. Marshall analyzes the x-rays that Sydney took of Lange's face to discover that Lange had an RFID chip implanted in his tooth. Sydney meets with Sloane to give him instructions on his next mission: gain Sark and Alison's trust to find out where they're headed, so that the CIA can learn where the device is located. Sloane points out to Sydney that if Sark learns it's a set-up, he'll kill Sloane, and Sydney points out that she'd be only too happy to hear it.

Lauren's analyst is not able to match any of the voices on Lazarey's phone, but he does identify a phone call with a woman who was setting up a meeting with Lazarey for the time at which he was killed. He traces the call to a company in London, and Lauren finds their office. She discovers that the office was rented by Julia Thorne a year ago.

Sloane catches up with Sark and Alison in Prague and lets them know that their chartered plane has been compromised. They agree to let Sloane make other arrangements for them to get to Bulgaria. Sydney orders Sloane to ask them where she's been for the last two years. Reluctantly, he asks Alison why she didn't kill Sydney when she had the chance. Alison explains that the Covenant ordered her not to, because they want to retrieve something from Sydney's memory first. Neither Alison nor Sloane nor Sydney has any idea what that might be.

Vaughn and Sydney catch up with Alison in Bulgaria, at which point Sydney and Alison have a showdown. Alison tells Sydney that her life was saved because in the Rambaldi journal that Sydney uncovered, there was a formula that healed her when she was on the brink of death. Sydney kills Alison again, or at least, she thinks so. They recover the device, but the ambulance that Alison was in goes missing on the way to the hospital.