SEASON THREE EPISODE GUIDE

3.01 - The Two (airdate: 9/28/2003)
Sydney is where we last left her, in a Hong Kong safe house. Vaughn tells her she's been gone for two years. Will survived the apartment fire, he says, but she died and her remains were identified. Vaughn's now a teacher, but the CIA sent him to take her back. Syd attacks Vaughn and escapes the safe house. She fights two CIA agents standing guard and Vaughn finally brings her down with a dart.  She wakes in the Stafford Naval Hospital. Dixon is there; he's now director of their division. Weiss calls Dixon away — he says Agent Scott Kingsley has the chip and is on a train to Avignon. He says the Covenant is moving to intercept and get the chip. A lead has placed a Covenant outpost outside Paris. Dixon returns and reveals that Jack has been in solitary for a year, courtesy of NSC Senior Director Robert Lindsey.  On train in Lyon, France, a gunman shoots and kills Kingsley. He finds the chip. It shows the schematics for an undetectable spy drone that, the CIA believes, could be used as a bio-weapon delivery system.  Sydney sees Marshall and Carrie, who is pregnant. In a meeting, Syd tells Dixon she was held captive in The Covenant's Paris base and heard Kingsley's name. Kingsley is just one of eight recent murders of CIA agents. Lindsey's adamant that Sydney go on this mission. Syd agrees on the condition that she gets to see her father. Lindsey agrees.  Syd tells a handcuffed Jack, who's been charged with resisting authority for contacting Irina (#6 on the CIA Most Wanted List), that she lied about The Covenant's Paris outpost in order to see him. He urges her to regain her CIA clearance and continue his research into her disappearance. He knew she was alive and has evidence. He also tells her that Vaughn isn't worthy of her grief.  In a Paris hangar, Weiss leads Syd and small team looking for the chip. They are attacked. Weiss is knocked unconscious and his throat about to be slit by the man on the train. Syd saves him. She admits she was lying and now if she goes back, her clearance will be pulled. Syd must identify this man. Weiss advises her to see Sloane, who now runs the World Health Org. in Zurich and is a consultant for the CIA.  She barges into Sloane's office. He was expecting her and identifies the man — Gordei Volkov — a Russian hitman. Blaming him for her predicament, she threatens to kill Soane. He says he's been redeemed, that the Rambaldi device delivered a message of peace. He then gave the CIA info to dismantle two dozen terrorist cells. Syd doesn't buy it.  Finding an old contact, Syd discovers Volkov has a meeting in Prague. She ambushes him, blows up his car. In the ensuing melee, Syd stabs him and retrieves the chip as he dies. She returns to Lindsey, threatening to destroy the chip unless he releases her father. He acquiesces.  Vaughn meets Syd. She's angry with him for looking for closure. She says she would have had faith and waited. But now she realizes it would have been an absolute waste if she had.  Jack returns to the CIA and takes Syd to a storage room. He shows her videotape of a Russian diplomat named Andrian Lazarey. On the monitor, a blonde Sydney stabs the man in the neck, killing him.

3.02 - Succession (airdate: 10/05/2003)
In Berlin, a helicopter lifts an elevator carrying two CIA agents out of its shaft. Satisfied that Syd is not brainwashed, Jack dissuades her from admitting to the CIA that she killed Lazarey. Later, Weiss helps Syd move in to a neighboring apartment. He says that Vaughn was reluctant to return to the CIA.  The team learns The Covenant, a loose affiliation of Russian nationals, is behind the kidnapping. They will execute the men unless their demands are met. Syd volunteers to retrieve a package in a Munich adult movie theater. Dixon informs Syd of a therapy group for those who have lost their memory. Jack tells Syd that she was cremated and Vaughn spread her ashes at sea.  In the theater, Syd opens the package — it's the head of one of the CIA agents. Shoved in his mouth is a note demanding the the CIA exchange Sark for the remaining agent. Syd objects but Lindsey says Sark has no more secrets and, based on info provided by Sloane, believes they want to kill him.  Syd visits Vaughn at his classroom; he's a French teacher. She tells him she could cope with his return to the Agency. After her death, Vaughn says, he lost control and started drinking. He was deeply in love with her, but he doesn't regret moving on with his life.  Jack confronts Sloane, doubting his redemption and blaming him for Syd's disappearance. Jack offers to stop his efforts to invalidate Sloane's pardon if he gives details. Sloane gives Jack a disc with his own leads into Syd's death. Despite Sloane's denials, Jack says he'll bury Sloane for his involvement.  In a CIA jail, Sark denies knowledge of Syd's death. At the exchange in the Sonora desert, Sark is unsure why The Covenant wants him. The trade is interrupted by a Lindsey-ordered Delta Force helicopter. In the confusion, Sark and the CIA agent, a scientist, are taken by the Covenant. Syd later threatens Lindsey in the men's room for pulling that stunt. A man named Ushek San'ko says that Sark killed his brother, and demands $800 million. He says Sark, unbeknownst to him, is worth that much. Vaughn is reinstated while Jack discovers that Sark and San'ko withdrew $800 million in gold bullion from a Grand Cayman bank. The money belonged to Lazarey, a murdered Russian diplomat and descendant of the Romanov family. When he died, it went to his son … Mr. Sark.  Weiss tracked the scientist to a Frankfurt nightclub, run by Otto Edel, a drug dealer. Jack believes The Covenant is responsible for Syd's two year absence and compelled her to assassinate Lazareey. He's contacts Irina, who offers her help.  At the club, Syd poses as a chemist offering to triple Edel's sales by making his drug more addictive. She threatens to overdose him, but he locates the alarm terminal. Vaughn remotely helps her deactivate the alarm. Syd opens the torture room where the scientist is held, shoots the torturer. The dying torturer remembers her, said she kept her promise to kill him. He says that she was his favorite because she never broke.  At therapy, others discuss their amnesia and ensuring nightmares. Syd later interrupts Dixon to tell him that although she still has feelings for Vaughn, she won't be a part of the group. Dixon introduces Syd to the woman to whom he was speaking, Lauren Reed, the new NSC liaison, who'll be investigating Lazarey's murder. She's Vaughn's wife.

3.03 - Reunion (airdate: 1012/2003)
A fireball drops from the sky, devastating Moscow's Gorky Park. At the CIA, Dixon explains the fireball was a falling satellite and that it nearly prompted a nuclear response from Russia. Echelon picked up a call between Sark and Boris Oransky, an employee at a French firm that built the satellite. He and Sark discussed moving to "Phase 2." Sark has been tracked to a Mexico City hotel. Dixon orders a team to follow him. Syd believes they should apprehend him and argues with Lauren. Vaughn defends Lauren, saying that capturing Sark will do nothing to shut down The Covenant. Later, Vaughn asks a furious Lauren to give Syd the benefit of the doubt.  Jack tells Syd that the NSC has murky footage of Lazarey's murder. He again tells Syd not to admit her guilt because of the dangerous techniques the CIA would use to extract her memories. Jack views the tape with Lauren and Marshall, who requires 72 hours to make the tape clear for identification.  In Mexico, Syd, disguised as a Gaucho, locates Sark and Oransky in a cafe. Oransky gives Sark photos and codes, and mentions the word "Medusa." Sark leaves and Syd is discovered by Oransky's thugs. Oransky takes a hostage and forces Syd to drop her gun. Marshall determines the frequency of Oransky's earpiece and pushes 180 decibels of feedback through it. Syd attacks the thugs but Oransky escapes.  Syd tells Weiss she remembers something about Medusa at SD-6. Weiss tells a curious Syd that Vaughn met Lauren when she deposed during the investigation into Irina's mother.  Dixon discovers that Medusa was an SD-6 project. It's an anti-satellite weapon that can cripple a network of satellites. Oranksy destroyed the Russian satellite to discover their protocol for nuclear attack. The pictures Syd took reveal a motorcade to the Russian Science Ministry, where Medusa is stored. Russia claims not to have anti satellites so the CIA must get to it before Sark. Despite Syd's protests, they decide Sloane can help them get into the Science Ministry.  Syd, Vaughn and Lauren travel to Zurich, where Sloane — who has a relationship with the Ministry due to his cancer research — refuses to help them. But after Syd threatens him, he agrees to admit them to a Ministry banquet. Sloane taunts Vaughn and Lauren.  Meanwhile, Jack bribes computer expert Pierre Lagravanese to corrupt the image of Lazarey's murder. Jack's given a virus, which he must upload to a terminal with administrative privileges. He installs the files.  At the Ministry, Syd and Vaughn once again feel an attraction. Vaughn creates a diversion, allowing Syd, who's stolen a diplomat's fingerprints, to gain them unrestricted access. In an elevator, they change into Russian military uniforms. Down in the bunker, Sark has murdered the guards. Marshall and Dixon watch Lazarey's murder as Jack is corrupts the files. The image won't render.  Syd and Vaughn engage in a firefight with Sark. He locks them in a sublevel and disconnects the elevator. Oransky goes after Syd while Sark bolts. Syd and Vaughn rig the generator to blow and crawl out intake vent as Oransky is killed and Medusa is destroyed. Weiss gives her a 3rd edition of Alice in Wonderland, a favorite of Syd's that was destroyed when her apartment burned.

3.04 - A Missing Link (airdate: 10/19/2003)
As Syd and Jack view the tape. Lazarey says "Julia" before he dies.  A team stole four vials of Ebola from a French epidemiology lab. Lauren and Syd question Laszlo Bogdan, a team member who was infected and captured. He says The Covenant plans to mutate the virus … and his team was set for a second heist. Dixon IDs the team, led by a deadly freelancer named Simon Walker. Syd is to pose as a security expert, join Walker's team and track whatever they steal back to The Covenant.  A flirtatious Vaughan gives Syd a lipstick tracking device. In Sevilla, a disguised Syd meets Walker. He calls her Julia and greets her with a hot kiss. He says he's missed her. Syd is coy and says she wants to work with him again. "What, no future in murder?" he asks. Meanwhile, Syd meets the crew. They test her by making her steal a 150 carat diamond necklace from Princess Demetria of Greece. Walker gives her a tranquilizer gun and a knife, then calls the police. She has seven minutes to do it.  Dressed as a maid, she dopes the guard and enters the suite. The princess is sleeping; Syd dismantles a phone, creating an amplifier, and cracks the safe containing the necklace. As the police arrive, she darts the princess and jumps out the window into a pool far below. She returns to Walker with the necklace.  On the plane home, Vaughn, who had heard the whole thing, asks her what "Julia" was all about. She's mum, admitting she can't trust him because of Lauren. At the CIA Jack says Vaughn has been snooping. Syd considers admitting her guilt.  Marshall creates a safecracking device for Syd. Dixon calls a meeting with Syd, Jack and Vaughn. Jack has shown him the video of Lazarey's murder and told him Syd was conspiring to keep it a secret. Dixon is displeased but says that she was not responsible. He prohibits Vaughn from mentioning this to Lauren. Syd realizes Jack manipulated the situation so the NSC, ie., Lauren, wouldn't find out. Later, Syd apologizes to Vaughn.  In Spain, Walker receives pictures of Syd and Vaughn. Syd returns to Walker, and as they kiss she tries to extract info — she learns they met in Algeria. But the game is up and he puts a knife to her throat and shows her the photos. She says Vaughn is her supplier. Vauhgn calls Marshall, telling him to create a criminal record for himself on Interpol, which he does just before Walker checks it.  The team plans to go to a storage facility 35 miles outside Ibiza, run by disease control ministry. They'll have five minutes to get the package, a temperature-sensitive biological element. Sark walks into the safe house to talk about the deal! Syd manages to elude his notice. Lauren tries to pry info about The Covenant from Sloan. He says that they'll be able to create a bio-weapon against specific targets with the new theft. Sloane baits Lauren, says she in her job because of her father, a Senator.  Walker and Julia break into the facility's refrigerated vault. Syd has about a minute to crack the safe, but Marshall's device won't work. She reroutes the hardware and breaks in before the temperature rises too high. They steal the canister and put it in a cooler. As they switch vehicles, Syd grabs the transmitter from the lipstick. Vaughn is in the other vehicle! They've discovered he's CIA. To gain some control over the situation, Syd stabs him in the ribs. Walker then kicks him down a hill and they leave in a new vehicle.

3.05 - Repercussions (airdate: 10/26/2003)
A frantic Sydney phones Jack, telling him to activate the transmitter that she put on Vaughn. Later Syd breaks into Simon Walker's room only to find the bio-weapon gone; he has sold it to Sark. He kisses her and they part.  Weiss finds Vaughn. As he recovers in the hospital, Syd tells Lauren that she stabbed him in order to save him. Lauren is incensed. The CIA picks up an aircraft in the Ural Mountains deploying the bio-weapon against a prison. They notice Sark extracting the sole survivor — Abasi Bomani, the largest arms dealer in Africa. The Covenant tailored the weapon to spring Bomani.  Since Sloane had turned in Bomani years ago, the CIA decides to tap him for more info. On the plane to Mexico City, Lauren pressures Syd to transfer to another field office. Syd is defiant. As they enter Sloane's building, he's kidnapped before their eyes; forced into a van by Sark and Bomani. Sloane, trying to prevent his torture, says he can legitimize Bomani.  Lauren apologizes for threatening Syd. Later, Vaughn dreams of Sydney kissing him, then stabbing him. He wakes to find Lauren at his side.  Sloane returns to the CIA, says Bomani let him go in exchange for info — his Yakuza contacts have developed an AI computer virus that probes networks and writes itself. It can crash markets, ruin banks, paralyze the military. He wants the CIA to disable the virus, but not destroy it. If Bomani finds it destroyed, he'll kill Sloane, who suggests he's now valuable as a double-agent working for The Covenant but loyal to the CIA. Syd is dubious but Marshall's lie-detector tests verify Sloane's sincerity.  Jack, posing as a potential client, meets Simon in Paris in order to learn more about Syd's past. Javier IDs Jack and tells Simon that his daughter is Syndey Bristow, alias Julia Thorne. Simon baits Jack, who ultimately murders him when he refuses to divulge any info.  Marshall must see the code in order to render the virus harmless, so he's chosen to go with Syd. They enter the Osaka casino dressed as a cowboy and his floozy. He joins a blackjack table and cleans up, thanks to his skillful cheating. Allowing himself to be caught, he and Syd are taken to a back room. With Marshall's hands about to be cut off, Syd leaps into action. Together, they handle the thugs. Marshall breaks into the system and disables the virus just before Sark and Bomani enter the casino. They hide as Sark transfers the useless code to his server.  Mission completed, Syd visits Vaughn in the hospital, where she happens upon Lauren tenderly kissing Vaughn.

3.06 - The Nemesis (airdate: 11/02/2003)
Sloane tells Syd that intel about The Covenant's next move is encoded in an image of the Vatican on a web site. She says that he'll never have her trust or Jack's friendship.  At the CIA, Dixon says The Covenant is after device that can interface with Russia's launch control, given them access to their nuclear arsenal. Its designer, Robert Lang, altered his appearance and is on the run. He is to retrieve new identity papers from Heinrich Strauss at a Milan nightclub. The Covenant wants to grab Lang and the device. Dixon assigns a reluctant Syd to be Sloane's handler and says Allison Doren is alive. An unnerved Syd later says she will kill Allison.  Sark meets Allison in Strassburg, rekindling their love. Allison explains that The Covenant found her and Syd after their fight. She recovered in 6 months and has been working for them since. Sark says will find his father's murderer and Allison swears Syd will pay for her scars.  Lindsay tells Lauren that a Russian government source has info that could lead to Lazarey's murder and that The Covenant has moles in the Russian government. He swears Lauren to secrecy and sends her to meet the source in Moscow. Lauren lies to Vaughn about the trip. He gives Lauren a database of Lazarey's phone calls, suggesting the murderer may be traced through calls.  In Milan, Syd is disguised as a Euro clubber. Vaughn uses a Marshall-made mini x-ray camera, rigged via Syd's necklace, which can spot facial reconstruction. Sark and Allison appear. Lang retrieves his papers and bolts when Allison kills Strauss. They all chase Lang, but Allison finds him first and extracts a tooth before killing him. Syd discovers the body, whereupon Allison knocks her unconscious.  Back at the CIA, the x-ray images of Lang's tooth reveal a filling that is a Radio Frequency Identification chip. Lang used the chip to open the launching device. Lauren discovers a call from Lazarey's murderer and tracks it, through voice analysis, to the London address KNG Microtech. The office is empty but Lauren discovers it was leased to Julia Thorne.  Syd forces Sloane to meet with Sark and Allison in Prague and get them to divulge the location of the device. Using his cover as a double-agent, Sloane coaxes Sloane to admitting the device is in a vault in Sophia, Bulgaria. Syd makes Sloane ask about her past. Allison says The Covenant ordered her not to kill Syd because they want to retrieve something her memory. This makes Syd want to undergo CIA memory retrieval, which Jack vehemently opposes.  Dixon sends Vaughn and Syd to Sofia. He privately admits to Syd that he wants Allison dead because she murdered his wife. Using a tracking device, Syd and Vaughn find Allison in an abandoned building in Sofia and give chase. Allison corners Syd and says that Syd had discovered a formula for a medication in the Rambaldi journal — which was ultimately used to heal Allison's wounds. Syd grabs Allison's gun and shoots. She alive, but barely. They find the device on her body.  Syd's suspicions are raised when Vaughn knows nothing about the formula. They find the ambulance overturned, the medics dead and Allison missing.

3.07 - Prelude (airdate: 11/09/2003)
Syd wakes from a nightmare in which she sees an angel-like figure, then pulls strange tubes from her mysterious scar. Shaken, she asks a CIA psychiatrist about the memory-retrieval procedure. The doctor shows her Kenneth Blake, a man whose memory was retrieved at the cost of his sanity.  The Mexican police capture Simon's lackey Javier, who offers up info about a CIA agent used by terrorists to kill a Russian diplomat.  At the CIA, Sloane says The Covenant wants him to attend a Chinese governmental function in order to steal data. China intends to mount a microwave laser on a satellite as an assassination weapon. It would make the victim appear as if he died of natural causes. He wants Syd to accompany him and corrupt the data. Syd will access the motherboard, connect to Marshall, who will corrupt the system.  Vaughn and Lauren travel Mexico to interview Javier. Jack advises Vaughn to impede the investigation. Vaughn disagrees, saying Lauren is their best chance to keep Syd's secret from NSC.  Syd and Sloane attend the Beijing ball posing as lovers. Syd secretly assembles a toy car controlled by Marshall, which he uses to follow a guard to the security system. Sloane persuades Syd to dance for the sake of their cover. Marshall shuts down the system. Syd gladly slaps Sloane in order to give the impression they're having a lover's spat.  Meanwhile, Jack has bribed the Mexican police to detain Vaughn and Lauren. When they're released, they find Javier dead in his cell, an apparent suicide victim. Vaughn tells Jack if he ever puts his wife in danger again, he'll kill him. Jack tells Vaughn that maybe now he understands the compromises one makes when a loved one is in danger.  Syd finds the vault, retrieves the case and connects to it, allowing Marshall to corrupt the code. The guards repair the security system and spot Syd. She fights off the guards as Marshall finishes his job. Afterward, Sloane says the day she was found in Hong Kong, he received a letter in Syd's handwriting, address to Sydney Bristow. He gives it to her. A key and paper fall out. It's a series of numbers, a code.  Sark pays a visit to Lauren. He says that he had planned for Javier to be extradited and forced to confess the identity of Lazarey's murderer. He gives her a dossier, which includes a picture of Lazarey and Julia Thorne. Sark identifies Thorne as Sydney.  Jack looks at the note Sloane gave Syd. He says the cipher text was devised by Irina. It's the address of a penthouse in Rome.  Vaughn and Lauren argue about keeping Sydney's secret. He says Dixon ordered him not to divulge anything, but she'll have none of it. Vaughn says Lindsey will ship Syd off to Russia if he finds out. Lauren admits that she's already reported Syd. Vaughn then tells Syd everything and arranges for her to fly to Rome and pick up a new passport.  Syd asks him why he's helping her. He says some things don't change. "I'm not going to lose you twice," he says, and they hug. Later, Vaughn tells Jack he'll do anything to help Syd.  Under Lindsey's authorization, Lauren takes control of the task force from Dixon, relieving him for "obstruction of justice."  Syd enters her apartment in Rome. Through the window, she sees the figure she dreamt of. She searches the medicine cabinet and finds a bottle is prescribed to Julia Thorne. The Italian police barge in.

3.08 - Breaking Point (airdate: 11/23/2003)
Now in Lindsey's custody, Sydney is imprisoned and tortured at Camp Williams, a secret NSC detention facility. She befriends Campbell, another prisoner.  Lindsey relieves Dixon, who takes full responsibility for hiding Syd's secret. Lauren accuses Vaughan of aiding a fugitive, while he says Lindsey is funded by black money. Unconvinced, Lauren travels with Lindsey to Washington to observe Syd's interrogation.  Vaughn goes to Jack, who tells him that Sloane will help them, making it look like The Covenant is trying to break out Syd. They put together a team of eight mercenaries. They will steal the Camp Williams blueprints from the FEMA building.  Lindsey pressures Lauren, who's unaware of Syd's torture, to write a fair report of their treatment of Syd. He says he will threaten Syd with the memory-retrieval surgery in order to force her to decode a message found under her desk in Rome. He promises it will only be a threat.  During her torture, Syd steals a paper clip. When Lauren suspects torture, Lindsey blackmails her by threatening to nail Vaughn for aiding Syd. Syd picks the lock with the clip, kills her torturer and breaks free. Lauren sees the guards beat Syd.  Jack and Vaughn contact Brill, an old comrade, who joins them for a fee of $3 million. Jack takes Vaughn to a storage facility of guns and money.  At FEMA, Sloane, in a van, knocks out their phone system and routes all calls to a fake number. Vaughn answers their request for a technician and Jack goes in. Meanwhile Sloane and Vaughn break into the building's sub-basement. Tapping into the phone lines, Sloane poses as a director and calls away Jack's guard. Vaughn pushes in a video snake and snaps images of the blueprints that Jack holds up to the camera.  Jack is discovered and Sloane saves his life by taking a bullet for him. Sloane's allergic to morphine so Jack extracts the bullet without anesthesia. Jack wonders why Sloane saved his life. Sloane says he's a reformed man and that Jack and Syd are all he has left — his absolution, considering his crimes. Vaughn has Marshall access classified docs on NSC's computer network. Marshall finds that all files pertaining to Camp Williams have been removed. Lauren arrives, admits that Vaughn was right and offers her help.  Lindsey tortures Campbell to force Syd to reveal the code. She capitulates, says they are coordinates but doesn't know to what. Campbell then reveals himself to be a fake. They knew Syd's profile, which reveals her major weakness to be empathy. Lindsey informs her that she will undergo the neuro-stimulation surgery in one hour.  Jack, Vaughn and the team speed to the facility. Lauren, already there, opens the main gate. Jack enters, finds Syd's cell empty — she's on the operating table. The team finds her just in time and a gun battle ensues. Lauren shoots and kills Campbell. They take Syd to a chopper, where Sloane waits. Syd says she gave Lindsey the wrong coordinates.

3.09 - Conscious (airdate: 11/30/2003)
Hiding out in a warehouse, the team devises a plan to frame The Covenant for Sydney's extraction: Lauren will tell Lindsey that she escaped The Covenant but they're still holding Sydney in return for the Rambaldi device. Sloane will confirm the story with Lindsey. Jack and Vaughn will say they were investigating Syd's trail. Lauren needs to look as if she was mistreated; Syd gladly punches her.  Sloane also suggests Syd contact a Yale researcher named Dr. Edward Brazzel, who's invented a non-invasive technique for treating long-term amnesia. Jack and Syd later track her secret coordinates to a location near the San Andreas fault, where they find a severed hand bearing a Rambaldi tattoo. Meanwhile, Lindsey has the FBI arrest Dixon for impeding a federal investigation. Lindsey is suspicious of Lauren's story but agrees to trade for Syd.  The group visits Brazzel's lab and find him and his assistant Kaya to be extremely eccentric. He believes dreams contain memories so, through a cocktail of dangerous drugs, he fools the brain into entering a lucid dream state. Once in this state, Syd must follow the thread of her last memory — and be wary of new, traumatic memories.  Brazzel administers the drug and Syd enters the dream state. It's a surreal mix of past and present. She remembers being picked up by 3 hooded men after her fight with evil Francie. They inject her with something. She regresses to childhood — she cuts a birthday cake, which becomes a severed hand, and sees the face of a strange man. Back to the hooded men; she follows as they take her limp body to Room 47. Lauren guides her away, saying "You know better," then tries to strangle her with hanging plastic.  In the real world, Brazzel revives Syd as she goes into cardiac arrest. When she awakes, she kisses Vaughn passionately, believing herself still in a dream.  Syd says it was Lazarey's hand. Marshall's forensics prove the hand was attached to a living man only 4 months ago. Jack says the incriminating tape could have been a performance. Syd tells Vaughn that Lauren strangled her, but Brezzel says it was probably just a representational figure. Syd goes back under.  Sloane meets Lindsey, who says he'll make the trade but wants Sydney assassinated in what appears to be a Covenant doublecross. Lindsey tells Sloane, who's wary of entrapment, that he knows what he's up to and gives Sloane an envelope containing some sort of proof.  DNA from the Kremlin confirms the hand belonged to Lazarey, which means Syd didn't kill him and Lindsey has nothing on her.  Syd is dreaming again. She's in a car, called a St. Aidan, with Dixon. She takes the box that contained the severed hand and walks into her apartment. Weiss and Marshall are there gambling. She enters the hanging plastic. Lauren tells her to leave. Syd chokes Lauren, who becomes a Sydney doppleganger. They struggle, the double says to trust Lazerey. Sydney shoots and kills the double and enters Room 47. "Oh my god," she says.

3.10 - Remnants (airdate: 12/07/2003)
Sydney tells Jack about a dream — she's with Will in her old apartment and there's cereal box that says St. Aidan. Jack advises Syd to contact Will, who's in the witness protection program. Brezzel believes Syd's memory of the missing time has been removed and that the precision of the extraction indicates she may have been a willing participant.  Syd visits Will in Wisconsin. Suspicious, he pulls a gun but she proves her identity, saying he's her oldest friend and that she loves him. Finally, he believes her and they hug. Sloane, under pressure from Lindsey, contracts Syd's assassin in Buenos Aires at a cost of $500K. Later, Jack socks Lindsey when he doubts his and Vaughn's sincerity and speaks brazenly about Syd. Now in custody, Jack advises Vaughn to push Syd away for her sake.  Syd tells Will that Allison Doren is alive and working for The Covenant. He remembers that St. Aidan was the codename of an old Agency contact. He arranges to meet St. Aidan in Warsaw. Meanwhile, Sark attacks Brezzel at his lab and hooks him up to a morphine drip. Before he overdoses, Brezzel reveals that Syd was going to contact Will. St. Aidan meets Will — it's Lazarey. He refuses to talk about The Covenant. Syd has Will say that Julia Thorne sent him, that she trusts him and she's in danger. "Do they have it?" he asks. "Have they been to Gratz?"  Sark appears and shoots Lazarey with a tranquilizer. A gun battle ensues. Syd and Will escape. Later, Will and Syd talk about the old days. She's lonely and, in a moment of vulnerability, they sleep together. Laying in bed, Syd realizes that she had "it," whatever that is, and assumes she would have hidden it in the Hotel Verlustzeit.  In a torture chamber, Sark confronts his father, who initially doesn't recognize him. He says he staged his death to give Sark his inheritance. Sark says the inheritance now finances The Covenant. Lazarey says they are true evil and refuses to talk … Until Sark ignites a blowtorch.  Will and Syd check into the Gratz hotel, posing as rock stars. Syd taps into the security system through the onscreen checkout and finds the location of a safe deposit box belonging to Julia Thorne. After disabling the security cameras, she breaks into the box, but Sark steals the object from under her nose. Allison attacks Will with a knife while Syd chases after Sark. In close combat, Will plunges the knife into Allison, killing her. Syd knocks out Sark and steals the object.  Syd contacts Sloane, and prepares for the trade on the San Pedro docks. A team posing as The Covenant takes the Rambaldi device in exchange for Syd. The sniper fires — and kills Lindsey. Syd opens the crate in which the Rambaldi device is stored — it's filled with junk. Sloane says it was a setup engineered by Lindsey, who never intended to hand over the Rambaldi device. Syd doesn't believe him and promises he won't get away with it.  At the CIA. Vaughn gives Syd the cold shoulder as Jack observes. Marshall examines the box — it contains human tissue and Milo Rambaldi's name is etched in the side. Will tells Syd that he's gotten no closure or satisfaction from killing Allison. He says he's going to stay in Wisconsin and promises to see her again.

3.11 - Full Disclosure (airdate: 1/11/2004)
Agents from the Dept. of Special Research take possession of the Rambaldi Cube before Marshall can finish his own analysis of the tissue contained inside. Later, Syd is tranquilized and taken aboard a jet, where she sees Kendall, who reveals he's not FBI but Special Research. The Covenant has ambushed his team and now has the Cube. He says he knows what happened to Syd's missing two years but kept silent because she asked him to.  Nine months after she was buried, he says, Syd called him from Rome, where she had escaped from The Covenant. She told him that she saw her funeral, paralyzed by a neurotoxin, from the back of a van. Her torturer, Oleg Madrczyk, had injected Syd's DNA into the teeth of a corpse, causing a false identification. She was taken to St. Petersburg, where she was called Julia Thorne and brainwashed. She killed a Covenant prisoner to prove her readiness.  Syd is shocked at this tale, but Kendall says her Project Christmas training prevented her from being turned. She killed that man, who was doomed anyway, to protect herself and deceive The Covenant. She then contacted Kendall, who advised her to continue as Julia Thorne in order to gather info. Syd recalls the pain when she observes Vaughn with Lauren but stays away for safety's sake.  Julia/Syd then partnered with Simon Walker to search for the Cube. She discovered Lazarey, an expert close to uncovering the artifact. Although The Covenant wanted Julia/Syd to kill Lazarey once he found the Cube, Kendall orders her to cut a deal with him and work together — so she fakes his death at her hands. Back in the jet, Kendall says he believes Syd is Rambaldi's Chosen One and that The Covenant wanted both her and the Cube to fulfill the prophecy.  Julia and Lazarey find and retrieve the Cube in a cave in Namibia's Fish River Gorge. She has to amputate Lazarey's hand when a closing vault door crushes it. She never delivered the Cube to Kendall, however. He instead got a disc that showed Syd revealing that she was hiding the Cube and having her memory erased so it could never be found. She tells Kendall never to tell her what she's been through.  In the jet, Kendall says Rambaldi's second coming is by way of a child. The Covenant will use the DNA in the Cube to fertilize the egg of the Chosen One. Syd looks at her scar — The Covenant extracted her eggs!  Kendall says he respected her wishes, but four months after Hong Kong she went straight for the Cube. Why, he wonders. She remembers the package Sloane gave to her — the code and the key to the Rome apartment, which led her to Lazarey and the Cube. It was all a trick. Syd calls Marshall, who had secretly put a tracking device on the Cube. Meanwhile, Sark observes a series of test tube fertilizations.  At the CIA, Dixon admits he knew the truth and was ordered not to say anything — a reversal of their SD-6 days. Syd, Dixon, Vaughn and Weiss parachute into Patagonia and storm to The Covenant's facility. Although Sark escapes, they find the fertilization equipment. Kendall wanted it brought back back for analysis but Dixon allows Syd to torch it all. Vaughn and Weiss rescue Lazarey.  Later, Sark makes a phone call, ordering his father to be killed. As Lazarey is transported to a hospital, he asks Syd if she knows about the "passenger." He's then assassinated by a sniper. Lauren packs up her gun and flees the scene.

3.12 - Crossings (airdate: 1/18/2004)
In a North Korean jail, Syd passionately kisses Vaughn before they're both led, in chains, to a firing line.  The backstory: In Los Angeles, the CIA learns of a phantom offshore brokerage account. Encoded in the names of the stocks is a message — a top Covenant official, Leonid Lisenker, wants to defect. Syd and Vaughn will travel to N. Korea and, posing as auditors, spirit him away.  Lauren asks Syd out to dinner during Vaughn's hockey night but Vaughn warns her not to socialize with Syd. Later, Lauren secretly meets with Mr. Zisman, a Covenant agent, to discuss Syd and Vaughn's assassination. Lauren hesitates but soon informs him that they'll board a jet at Dover Air Field. The Covenant poisons the pilots.  Mid-flight, Syd gets angry at Vaughn's aloofness and says they can no longer work together. The jet veers out of control as the poison pilots take ill and die. Syd and Vaughn gain controls and take evasive maneuvers to avoid incoming missiles. The jet goes down. They survive the crash and flee the N. Korean military. They have 8 hours to meet the defector. As Syd and Vaughn commandeer a jeep, she admits to sleeping with Will but says she's moving on.  Jack suspects the Covenant is responsible and Dixon, disobeying orders, tells the team to help in any way. Sloane calls to offer help but Jack denies him. He instead contacts Irina, who directs him to Syd's apartment. Once there, he meets Katya, Irina's sister, who confirms Syd's survival and offers her help on the condition he murder Sloane. She calls it a "preventative measure."  In LA's Koreatown, Jack and Katya enter a restaurant and call on the owner, Mr. Cho, to repay a debt to Katya. When he declines, she stabs his hands with skewers and demands he contact Mr. Kwan.  Syd and Vaughn arrive in Gai-Li and identify Lisenker. They see him with Sark, who's been informed of the defection through Lauren's treachery and is posing as a CIA agent. As a knife-wielding Syd confronts him, N. Korean troops appear. Sark flees as Syd and the others are caught.  Jack enters Sloane's Zurich office, prepared to kill him. Meanwhile, Katya calls Sloane to tell him to back off Irina. She says he's not protected by his friends, even by Jack, — who's visible on Sloane's security system — and that his life is a favor from her. She then calls Jack and tells him to abort. Sloane tells Jack that he never forgot what it feels like to narrowly escape death.  Syd and Vaughn are beaten in prison. Vaughn admits he pushed her away on purpose. She says they always find each other. They kiss passionately before they're led out to the firing squad. One soldier turns on all the others, it's Mr. Kwan. They then rescue Lisenker and escape.  They're welcomed back to the CIA. Syd notices that Vaughn runs to Lauren. Jack tells Katya he knows what she did, that she destroyed Sloane's trust in him. He wonders to what advantage it served Irina. She says Irina's intentions will become clear to him some day. And then she kisses him ferociously. 

3.13 - After Six (airdate: 2/15/2004)
At the CIA, the team discusses info gleaned from Lisenker, the Covenant defector: He had hidden a microdisc containing Doleac Agenda, a "playbook" detailing plans for the six Covenant cells, in an impenetrable Chamonix chalet. Syd and Vaughn are to travel to Athens posing as diamond smugglers seeking the aid of Toni Cummings, the criminal expert who designed the chalet's security system. Under pressure from Jack, Syd has Dixon replace Vaughn with Weiss.  Jack visits Sloane, who forgives him for the Katya incident. He says Emily's absence is a void that all his charity work can't fill. Jack tells him to stay focused and maintain his cover as a double agent. Syd, talking to CIA psychiatrist Dr. Arnett, says she can't move past Vaughn, whom she calls her "soul mate."  Sark, leering at Lauren, confronts her and says he knows she killed his father. Knowing that she's Covenant too, and he proposes that they murder the six Covenant cell leaders, steal the keys to their respective headquarters, then meet with the head of Covenant operations in St. Petersburg. They'll then demand more power within the Covenant in return for not turning the keys in to the CIA.  In Athens, Syd and Weiss lure Cummings to offer details of the chalet's lethal response security system. She gives them the schematics but says there is no way to pass the deadly obstacles. Marshall gets to work.  Sloane shoots up, then calls Jack and tells him he needs a psychiatrist. When she visits him, he tries to manipulate her. She won't give in. Later, she says that she understands him. Sloane says he has a secret regarding Jack and Syd that wears on him.  Dixon, reporting that Covenant officials are being killed, believes it's because the Covenant knows they're after the Doleac Agenda. Syd and Vaughn leave for Chamonix immediately. Jack accompanies them in order to execute Marshall's plan remotely.  On the plane, Vaughn says he understands why Syd requested Weiss on the earlier mission. Syd stands firm and refuses to be "the other woman." Jack says the Agenda is encrypted in a microdoc hidden in the cork of a bottle of Chateau Margot 1953.  At the chalet, Jack establishes a laser link to the security server, allowing Marshall to tap in. They have five minutes to get to the cellar. They inflate Marshall-manufactured inflatable Kevlar decoys, which trigger the machine guns to fire until they empty their clips. Carrie, Marhall's girlfriend, goes into labor and demands they get married before she has the baby. Weiss goes online and certifies himself as a minister and performs the ceremony while Marshall guides Syd and Vaughn through the chalet. They make it though an electrified tunnel and an acid kill zone, and find the bottle in the wine cellar as the alarm sounds. They barely make it out, as Jack kills two pursuing guards.  Believing Lauren to be in LA, Sark travels to St. Petersburg to meet the head of Covenant operations — it's McKenas Cole, the former SD-6 rogue. Cole knows Sark's game; Lauren's double-crossed Sark. He knows the CIA has the Doleac Agenda, however, and believes Sark's treachery benefited them. As thanks, he gives Lauren and Sark leadership of the North American cell. He then tells Lauren to stop her husband's extracurricular activities. At the CIA, Lauren tells Syd to stay away from Vaughn.

3.14 - Blowback (airdate: 3/07/2004)
Vaughn, unable to sleep, stares at his father's watch, which stopped the day he met Sydney. As Vaughn leaves, Lauren's phone rings. At the CIA, Dixon presents the team with a new mission: The Shining Sword, a Filipino terrorist organization, has acquired a next-generation bomb called a plasma charge, which they're shipping to Europe. The CIA has traced a Shining Sword transmission from a digital storage facility in Vancouver. Syd and Vaughn are to rent vault space at the facility and search for a detailed archive of the shipment. Someone within the Agency, Dixon adds, may be leaking info to the Covenant.  Syd and Vaughn, posing as astronomers, arrive at the facility. They secretly download the shipping info and pinpoint location of plasma charge. Their uplink to Marshall, however, is sabotaged by a virus. Suddenly, they're attacked by a facility employee, who is mysteriously shot dead. Syd and Vaughn lose the murderer after a car chase through a parking garage. Back in LA, Marshall tells them he received 63% of the data; he'll need 12 hours to extrapolate the rest. Sydney recalls the previous day was the anniversary of Vaughn's father's death. Lauren calls, interrupting their conversation.  In Zurich, Sloane apologizes to Barnett and asks her out to dinner. She agrees "for professional reasons only." She thinks his transformation from spy to humanitarian is remarkable and asks about the secret he's harboring. He's offended and explodes at her, so she walks out on him.  Marshall's data reveals the plasma charge is on a Liberian freighter in Lisbon. Once on the boat, Syd and Vaughn, using a tracking device, are again fired upon.  We go back to the opening— after Vaughn leaves, Lauren receives a call from Sark. He wants the plasma charge and tells her to get a lock on it, which she does via Dixon's team meeting. Syd tells Lauren that's she's not responsible for the problems in Lauren's marriage. Lauren then meets Sark at the Vancouver facility, where they plant the virus and force the employee to fire at Syd and Vaughn. When he misses, Lauren kills him and flees. After escaping, Lauren and Sark get shagadelic.  Sloane apologizes to Barnett. He tells her his secret — he had a one-night affair with Irina Derevko. Jack and Emily never knew. Though he's never tried to prove it, he believes Syd is his daughter.  Back to the gun battle on the boat — Syd finds the plasma charge. Vaughn stops Lauren, who's wearing a mask, and demands that she show herself. Before she does, Sark corners Syd and threatens to kill her unless Vaughn drops the gun. "If you love her, you'll drop the gun," Sark says. Vaughn drops it. Lauren punches him and runs. Syd breaks away from Sark and chases Lauren while Vaughn goes after Sark, who has the charge. He engages the timer and tosses it to Vaughn, who, with Marshall's aid, stops the countdown with seconds left.  Later, Lauren meets Vaughn at a bar. Sark calls to goad her. She kisses Vaughn at Sark's behest. At the office late, Jack takes Syd out to dinner. 

3.15 - Facade (airdate: 3/14/2004)
Daniel Ryan, a freelance bomb maker whose bombs are impossible to defuse, destroys a bank in Belfast as a calling card to The Covenant. If he fails to cut a deal with The Covenant in 48 hours, he'll give notice to other terrorist groups with a bombing in the U.S. When the CIA learns that The Covenant is to meet him at the Black Stag Bar in Belfast, they send Weiss and Syd.  Using Covenant defector Leonid Lisenker as a source of info, Syd poses as a Covenant agent. To improve her credibility with Ryan, she rescues him from an attempted CIA kidnapping led by Weiss. Ryan wakes in a CIA-built replica of the hotel room in which he does business with The Covenant. The ruse nearly fails, but Lisenker appears and vouches for Syd. Ryan accepts the deal on the condition that the details be handled by Sark, whom he's never met but knows is The Covenant's North American co-commander.  Vaughn appears, posing as Sark. Ryan tells him the details will be given to him on a flight from Rome to Paris by an associate who will recognize him. He says the second bombing will be called off once the associate meets Sark. The CIA hurriedly issues a communiquι that compels Sark to board that flight, which Vaughn is also on. The associate never shows up, however, meaning that Ryan wanted Sark on that plane for an unknown reason.  Sloane, sleeping with Judy Barnett, receives a call from a desperate Syd. He says Ryan's brother Christopher was killed by The Covenant. After some research, Syd remembers that The Covenant made her kill Christopher to test her Julia Thorne identity. Ryan plans to get revenge on The Covenant by blowing up Sark's flight.  On the plane, Vaughn arrests and handcuffs Sark. After a call from Syd, he finds the bomb in the cargo hold. Marshall discovers that the detonator is based on barometric pressure — the bomb will explode if the plane descends below 18 thousand feet. If Vaughn detaches the motion sensor, Marshall says, they may be able to fool the bomb into thinking it's in high altitude.  Syd, Weiss and Lisenker reveal themselves to Ryan, hoping the revelation convinces Ryan to stop the bomb. Syd appeals to Ryan's compassion, saying she was tortured by The Covenant and made to assume the Julia Thorne identity.  Vaughn uncuffs Sark, and together they try to disable the motion sensor. Ryan agrees to help and dials in a deactivation sequence. It's only a ploy — he had heard a rumor that Julia Thorne had killed his brother — he activates the bomb, as well as the one Marshall had been studying in his office!  With the clock ticking, Jack chokes Ryan until he passes out, then revives him. If he doesn't give them the code, Jack says, he won't be revived next time. Ryan gives it up with one second to spare. The danger over, Sark attacks Vaughn, who knocks him out and turns him over to the French authorities. When Vaughn returns, a tearful Syd embraces him.

3.16 - Taken (airdate: 3/21/2004)
Senator Reed, Lauren's father, arrives to oversee Sark's interrogation. He tells Jack that they must learn the identity of Sark's partner in The Covenant. Lauren advises against torturing Sark.  The plane carrying Sark to Dover Air Force Base from France lands in the desert, 60 miles short of the runway. Syd and Weiss board the plane, only to find the pilots and guards dead and Sark missing. The dead appear to be frozen. Meanwhile, Dixon learns that Sark has kidnapped his two children. Sark demands the release of five international prisoners in 48 hours — an impossible task. A shaken Dixon demands the team find the mole.  Marshall, analyzing the flight voice recording, learns that Sark made a phone call and referred to someone as "love" before he bailed out over Arizona. The CIA traces Sark to Nogales. Syd, Vaughn, Weiss and Dixon enter the compound but the kids aren't there — it's a trap. They barely make it out before the place blows.  Marshall searches the FAA database and discovers Sark's flight was accessed from Switzerland via Dr. Barnett's IP address. Jack immediately arrests Sloane and jails him. Syd stops Dixon from beating him. Dixon returns home to find his boy safe but The Covenant now demands the release of ten prisoners. Dixon appoints Jack as team leader and privately tells Syd that The Covenant's demands are false. They're actually demanding a Rambaldi object, from Project Black Hole, located in the Nevada Desert. Syd agrees to help him retrieve it.  Syd sneaks into the facility via a steam shaft while Dixon enters with his clearance. Dixon gains access to the security system and opens a grate for Syd, just before she's steamed. Dixon directs Syd to the correct room and she outfoxes a mechanized guard to retrieve the object — a cube. Engraved in it is the name Irina.  Jack learns that The Covenant is close to locating a key to operate the cube. The contents, he tells Syd, will threaten her life. Nonetheless, Syd decides to exchange the cube for Dixon's daughter. Senator Reed, learning that Dixon stole the cube, deploys a team to bring him into custody. Lauren appeals to Vaughn to help Dixon.  With Federal choppers searching for Dixon, he, Jack and Syd meet Sark and Dixon's daughter. Vaughn has Marshall misdirect the chopper's GPS systems. Dixon gives Sark the cube. Sark fits the girl with a collar armed with a deadly toxin as insurance that he escapes. Syd volunteers to wear the collar. Jack disarms the collar as Sark flees.  A furious Barnett, visiting Sloane in jail, believes she's been used. Proclaiming his innocence, Sloane asks that she keep mum about his secret. Jack overhears Lauren call Vaughn "love."

3.17 - The Frame (airdate: 3/28/2004)
Vaughn and Syd travel to Mexico City searching for the key to open the Rambaldi box. Via Vaughn's contact Kishell, they learn that the box contains a bio-weapon. In 1941, they learn, two Soviet archeologists found the "map," an etched crystal revealing the location of the key. The men turned on each other, however, and died in the Karoo desert. Kishell has images of Covenant kingpin Kazari Bomani at the site — with the crystal. In the background is a truck belonging to Omnifam, Sloane's humanitarian organization. Kishell says The Covenant refers to the map as The Passenger.  Later, Sloane explains to Syd that the CIA forced him to partner with Bomani to stay close to The Covenant. If his pardon is revoked, she says, the death penalty will be reinstated. He says all Omnifam trucks can be tracked with GPS. He offers to give her the tracking codes in return for creature comforts.  At a restaurant, Vaughn tells Lauren that he wants to separate. Lauren says it's about Sydney and storms off — straight to Sark, who tells her to kill her father, which would compel Vaughn to return to her out of compassion. Meanwhile, a suspicious Jack prints out Lauren's phone records. Visiting Senator George Reed, Jack meets his wife Olivia. He then reveals to the senator the paper trail leading to his Lauren. Reed is incensed and denies his daughter's involvement.  Marshal tracks the Omnifam trucks to the Russian consulate in Gaborone, where the CIA believes Sark and Bomani have the map. Syd and Vaughn enter a function at the consulate, posing as a Russian couture designer and a waiter, respectively. They engage in a firefight with Sark and Bomani and escape with the crystal. On the return flight, Vaughn tells Syd that he's separating from Lauren.  Marshal is unable to interpret the crystal's kaleidoscopic data. Syd gives Sloane The Iliad in return for his help. He says that there are four disks that fit into the box's carved slots. He tells them to look under water. With this information, Marshal is able to use the data to pinpoint a rock formation off the coast of Okinawa.  Lauren realizes her computer has been accessed by Jack (she has an intrusion detection program). She calls Sark, who again advises her to kill her father and then frame Jack. Lauren visits her father, who's now convinced of Lauren's guilt. He suggests that he can help her get out of it and they could start over to patch their relationship. Olivia walks in, takes the gun from Lauren, and shoots him! She says, "Sark said you might back out."  During the investigation, Olivia tells Jack that, before killing himself, George had grown distraught about asking Lauren to do things that he later regretted. He mentioned the Covenant, she says.  In the Sea of Japan, Syd and Vaughn scuba to an underwater cave and locate the keys. Bomani arrives and says The Passenger is Irina's legacy. Syd fights Bomani while Vaughn battles Bomani's mercenaries. Syd beats Bomani, but he destroys their scuba equipment and flees with the keys. They use a tank with a broken valve to act as a propulsion device to rocket them to the surface. On the plane back, Syd says Vaughn's problems are unfortunate, but she's hopeful. He asks her out to coffee when they get home.  Dixon refuses Lauren's resignation, telling her that she was acting at her father's instruction with what she thought was approved government protocol. Jack tells Dixon there's no reason to believe it wasn't suicide, but Dixon says they may still have reason to hold Sloane. Vaughn and Syd arrive and learn of Senator Reed's death. To Syd's dismay, Vaughn embraces Lauren. Later that night, Vaughn calls Syd to tell her he's back with Lauren.  Sloane demands to be released after he learns that Senator Reed was Covenant. But Dixon says the senator's records indicate he consulted with Sloane about Rambaldi and that Sloane handed over certain artifacts to him. The pardon has been revoked, Dixon says, and he'll be executed in two weeks.

3.18 - Unveiled (airdate: 4/11/2004)
Dixon asks Sloane how Il Dire (The Telling) will help The Covenant obtain The Passenger. Sloane asks to speak to Jack, even though Dixon's made it clear that Sloane's execution won't be stayed.  Dixon explains to the team that a computer worm, originating in Berlin, has targeted hospitals, laboratories and universities. They believe it's a Covenant attack, a precursor to the Rambaldi bio-weapon. Syd and Vaughn travel to a Berlin Goth club to find the culprit, a hacker known as Cypher, and learn how to stop the worm.  In Florence, Sark and Bomani use the keys to open the Rambaldi box, revealing the beating di Regno heart. The box is an elaborate writing machine that scratches a message onto a scroll of parchment. Later Bomani compares the codes gathered by the worm to the parchment. Sark learns from Lauren that the CIA has discovered Cypher. Bomani expresses doubts about Lauren's work.  Lauren tells Vaughn that, while he's in Berlin, she'll go to England to meet her mother and scatter her father's ashes in Dover. In Berlin, Syd locates Cypher with a PDA-sniffing pair of sunglasses given to her by Marshall. Before he talks, however, he's shot. Syd thinks she sees Lauren in the distance. Cypher's last act is to give Vaughn a small drive containing the files with the worm's source code.  Lauren tells Sark that she has to corrupt the files before the CIA makes a copy -- before Bomani knows that she failed. Sloane tells Jack that two years ago Senator Reed recruited him to work for The Trust, an organization within the U.S. government interested in Rambaldi, in return for a pardon. He wants Jack to prove that this group exists.  At a CIA safe house in Berlin, Syd tells Vaughn that she saw Lauren. Vaughn reacts angrily. Lauren shows up, looking to cry on Vaughn's shoulder. He notices she's wearing an antique ring. She claims its an heirloom. Syd calls Mrs. Reed to check out Lauren's alibi. Her story holds. As Vaughn uploads Cypher's data to Marshall, Lauren touches the ring to the drive. Later, Marshall tells them that flash drive's memory was wiped. He suggests it was purposely exposed to an electromagnetic pulse. However, he's able to partially reconstruct the source code and determines that its real purpose was to gather information for The Covenant.  Bomani realizes the CIA cut their data feed. Syd tells Jack that she seriously suspects Lauren. Jack pays Vaughn a visit, tells him that Irina would sometimes camouflage the truth in a kiss. An outraged Vaughn says Lauren is no Irina and he is not Jack.  Marshall finds the worm was searching for the genetic code for one woman. There are ten possibilities. Lauren downloads the data, then tells Vaughn she has errands to run. He follows her to a mall, watches her receive a phone call - Sark warns her off the drop; he wants to see her in person. Vaughn has Weiss run a tap on Lauren's phone and he overhears her speaking intensely. Later, Lauren tells Vaughn that she got a call from her mother (which explains the phone call to Vaughn).  Dixon says the ten women are actually aliases for one woman. Records reveal this woman was always treated by one doctor -- Robert Viadro in Milan. Syd and Vaughn go to Milan. Lauren is already there. Viadro knocks the amethyst from Lauren's ring but she subdues him in a Panic Room and tortures him until he reveals The Passenger's location. Syd and Vaughn arrive, fight off guards belonging to The Order of Rambaldi, and find Viadro. Vaughn also finds Lauren's amethyst. When Viadro sees Syd, he says, "You're the one from the prophecy. You will not hurt her." He tries to kill Syd. Vaughn shoots him dead.  Lauren gives Bomani a computer disc. He's about to kill her when Sark shoots him dead. Jack's contact Diego tells him the front for The Trust is Project Centrigrade. Dixon tells Jack that Barnett's notes reveal that Sloane had an affair with Irina. Jack tells Sloane that he couldn't verify existence of The Trust. Sloane says that both Jack and Syd will be affected if The Covenant finds The Passenger.  Jack tells Syd that he thinks The Passenger is Irina, because Il Dire's message said "peace," the etymology of which is a derivation of Irina. Vaughn asks Lauren what she did while he was gone. She just gives him a kiss. Vaughn checks her belongings while she's in the bath. Under the false bottom of a trunk, he finds a Goth wig, a passport and a gun.

3.19 - Hourglass (airdate: 4/18/2004)
In a Nepal monastery, Sark, looking for info on The Passenger, threatens the Rambaldi monk known as Conrad. The wise man kicks the crap out of him. Olivia Reed appears and tranquilizes Conrad. Sark then takes a manuscript regarding The Passenger, called The Restoration.  During an online chat with Irina, Jack asks her about The Passenger. The account is suddenly terminated. Vaughn admits to Syd and Jack that Lauren is the mole. Jack says he should play along. So when Lauren asks Vaughn to come to counseling, he agrees.  Dixon receives intel that The Covenant has kidnapped Conrad. In the Thar desert, Syd and Vaughn intercept the convoy on horseback. Syd jumps into the truck, beats a guard and grabs Conrad while Vaughn trails them. As they climb out toward Vaughn, Sark shoots Conrad. With his dying breath he says to Sydney, "The Passenger is your sister."  In LA , Jack reveals to Syd that Sloane had an affair with Irina. Syd confronts Sloane at his prison cell. He says he never knew he had a daughter with Irina until he reached the Nepal monastery. The Di Regno heart and Il Dire gave him the woman's DNA and the word "peace," which translates to Irina in Greek. Using Omnifam, he gained access to DNA databases but never found her. Now, he wants to protect her from The Covenant. He asks Syd to convince Jack not to hide evidence which would exonerate him. Jack later says he's hiding nothing.  Only the CIA's Project Black Hole has the codekey that can read The Restoration. Jack sets a trap - He leaks to Lauren that Marshall has The Restoration and will begin decoding it with the codekey. She copies his thumb print, using it to access the Image Processing lab to duplicate the codekey, which, in fact, is a fake.  Syd and Vaughn are shocked to find Lauren passing the fake to her mother Olivia. They overhear Olivia say The Restoration is at home in Richmond. During a counseling session, Dr. Barnett slyly suggests that Vaughn take a trip with Lauren to Richmond. Once there, Vaughn hides a sensor that Marshall uses to find a hidden safe. Syd phones him and directs him to it while Lauren and Olivia are outside. He scans and transmits the documents with a watch. Vaughn finishes just before Lauren enters. Syd disconnects her comm as they fool around.  The documents reveal a Rambaldi artifact known as the Hourglass, which was auctioned to Masa Raidon, a yakuza keeping the arkwork in a building in Little Tokyo. The manuscript says The Hourglass will reveal the location of The Passenger only to her father. Sloane will be executed in 6 hours. The Justice Dept won't stay the execution.  Syd bluffs Jack into agreeing to turn over his info on The Trust and exonerating Sloane. Jack then talks with Sloane, bringing champagne to his cell to celebrate the knowledge of a daughter. Jack accuses him of trying to take Syd away from him. He refuses to help Sloane and threatens The Passenger.  Syd treads delicately in the Yakuza stronghold but when Marshall tells her Dixon is at the execution, she kicks in to high gear. As Sloane enters his execution chamber, Syd, double guns blazing, mows down the guards and grabs The Hourglass. Sloane slowly dies as he receives a combination of lethal injections.  Syd later turns her back on her father. Lauren, informing Olivia of Sloane's death, admits that Vaughn played her. Jack, meanwhile, revives Sloane. He had given him an antidote in the bottle of champagne. Jack orchestrated, he tells Sloane, it because he needs him.

3.20 - Blood Tiesu (airdate: 4/25/2004)
Jack tells Syd that he saved Sloane because he had learned that DOJ Director Marlon Bell was part of The Trust and wanted Sloane dead. Syd tells Sloane that she didn't grieve for him.  Sloane reveals that he found a Rambaldi text that contained a formula for an elixir that would allow The Passenger to channel a message from Rambaldi. Sloane had sampled the elixir, which had no effect. Sloane explains that if The Covenant finds her, it will expose her to a massive dose of the elixir, thus killing her. He swears he just wants to protect his child. When Syd asks how to find her, he smashes The Hourglass, revealing a glowing green ball.  Dixon has Weiss tail Lauren and advises Vaughn to continue as her devoted husband in order to garner info. Lauren, however, soon loses Weiss. Ex agent Thomas Brill contacts Vaughn. He says Vaughn's father was a Rambaldi follower who freed The Passenger, then a little girl, from KGB custody and hid her. He died protecting her.  On a plane to Washington, D.C., Syd holds the green ball, a battery for a Rambaldi artifact that can locate The Passenger. The Trust has a cold storage vault in the Smithsonian secured by a five-key retinal system corresponding to the five member of The Trust -- all government officials. In D.C., Sloane makes himself known to Bell, who calls a meeting with The Trust that Sloane crashes.  Sark kidnaps and tortures Vaughn, trying to get The Passenger's location. Lauren appears and, apparently disturbed by Vaughn's condition, helps him escape.  While Sloane gathers the retinal ID's from the Trust via a hidden scanner, Syd enters Smithsonian posing as a dinosaur expert researching a paper. She charms the curator into letting her gain access to a restricted area, where she finds the vault. Jack sends the scans to Syd, who uses them to open the vault. She grabs the artifact.  Later, Sloane drops the green ball into the artifact, which etches a brain wave pattern on parchment. They use a DOD satellite network capable of remote encephalography to locate The Passenger. She's in a labor camp in Chechnya, under the alias of Talia Kozlov. Syd infiltrates the Chechen camp and finds her sister in a catatonic state and strapped to a bed.  Vaughn flags a trucker and uses his cell phone to call Dixon. Vaughn is rightfully suspicious. The truck crashes after the trucker attacks him. Sark and Lauren grab Vaughn again but Marshall witnesses it on a surveillance tape. They begin to administer the dreaded Inferno Protocol serum on Vaughn when Sark receives a mysterious phone call revealing the location. Lauren increases the dosage in order to kill Vaughn and they leave. Weiss, using Marhsall's info, finds Vaughn barely alive.  The woman wakes and she and Syd battle their way out. She tells Syd that her name is Nadia and she's with SIDE, Argentine Intelligence. Syd reveals that they're sisters. They meet up with Jack and Sloane and retreat to a safe house. Nadia recognizes Sloane, who tells her that he changed because he didn't want to meet his daughter and have her despise him.  Sark and Lauren break into the safe house. During the gun battle, Sloane and Nadia disappear. Jack and Syd realized that Sloane tipped The Covenant to give himself the opportunity to escape with Nadia. They can't relocate her by her brainwaves.  Dixon tells Syd that Vaughn shows evidence of psychological conditioning, thanks to Lauren. Syd visits Vaughn in the hospital. He says she must let The Passenger go and reveals the reason that Irina killed his father. He relays a prophecy: The Passenger and The Chosen One will battle and neither will survive. Syd is unmoved.  Sloane injects Nadia, strapped to a table, with the elixir. She convulses.

3.21 - Legacy (airdate: 5/02/2004)
Sloane takes the notes that an entranced Nadia has written and pins them to a board, where they form some kind of diagram. With Sloane's guard down, Nadia stabs him with a hypodermic and destroys the Rambaldi elixir, but he subdues her. He calls a contact to deliver more bottles in exchange for $5 million. The contact then calls Sark.  The CIA intercepts the call between Sloane and the contact and learn that the elixir is stored in an inactive Russian bunker called Novgorod 21 that was once the center of Soviet Rambaldi research. Syd suggests they plant a tracking device on one of the vials.  Syd and Vaughn arrive at the bunker only to find it ransacked and the elixir missing. Vaughn begins to retrieve and upload any available data to Marshall. They find video files revealing Nadia Santos as a young girl, recording messages while under a trance. Russian guards, led by Katya Derevko, surprise them. She turns on the guards, however, and tranquilizes them. She reveals herself to be Syd's aunt then orders them to wear the guard uniforms. They run barrel through a checkpoint and escape.  In St. Petersburg, Katya says Lauren and Sark took the elixir. She reveals that the young Nadia was taken from that lab by Vaughn's father before she could complete the message. Katya, working with SRV (Russian Intelligence), says Irina gave birth to Nadia in a Russian prison after she left Jack. Katya has been helping Irina to locate Nadia ever since and is dismayed to hear that Sloane has her.  Sark and Lauren deliver the elixir to Sloane in exchange for a partnership. Sloane reluctantly accepts, and administers a does to Nadia to prove that she's The Passenger. Marshall, meanwhile, explains to Syd that the fluid contains potentially toxic proteins that trigger a muscular memory, forcing Nadia to relay the message. The memory is genetically stored only in descendants of Rambaldi. They view an old videotape wherein Dr. Jong Lee, aka Suit and Glasses, injects Nadia with the elixir. Dixon reveals that Lee was in charge of conducting Russia's Passenger experiments. He's now in a Cuban bio-weapons facility.  Jack warns Vaughn not to let his thirst for revenge against Lauren endanger Sydney. He gives Vaughn a key to his well-armed security facility -implicitly suggesting he kill Lauren.  While Jack and Katya track Sloane's bank withdrawals, he rebuffs her advances. He notices that Sloane made a large payment to a Dayton Electrical, a company that did electronics work in Chamonix. Jack makes the connection and visits Toni Cummings in prison. When Jack agrees to reduce her sentence, Cummings tells Jack that she drew up specs for a system for Sloane but doesn't know where he built it.  In Cienfuegos, Cuba, Syd and Vaughn find Dr. Lee. He says Nadia drew coordinates that would lead to Rambaldi. Vaughn tortures him by dripping acid on his leg. Sydney is shocked and appalled.  Marshall works with Cummings to get a delivery nexus for parts to Sloane's system. Cummings unsuccessfully tries to convince Marhsall to work for her. Marshall finds that Sloane's sytem is in Japan. She says she needs to travel there to determine which of the seven security variables she'd given Sloane is being used.  In Sloane's Kyoto estate, Sark urges him to increase the dosage to Nadia, who's building up a tolerance, even though it might kill her. He refuses. Sark kills Sloane's guards and Lauren ups the dose. Just then, Cummings hacks the security system and the CIA storms the compound. Sloane escapes while Syd tends to Nadia. Vaughn chases fruitlessly after Lauren and Sark, leaving Syd to dispatch Sloane's guards herself. Nadia shoots a guard about to kill Syd. They recover the drawings and texts and escape.  Dixon says Vaughn allowed Sloane to escape. Syd covers for Vaughn, despite her anger. He says she got Nadia and that's what counts. Syd says they can't work things out until he deals with his anger. Jack visits Katya and plants a kiss on her. Vaughn goes to Jack's storage facility and chooses a sniper rifle from the array of weapons.

3.22 - Resurrection (airdate: 5/23/2004)
Sydney strategically places cell phones throughout the office. She patches into the CIA computer and downloads the Rambaldi equation. Then she contacts Sark - Sydney is actually Lauren in disguise! She shoots Marshall when he questions her. As she bolts, the cell phones explode. Vaughn follows "Syd," but she knocks him out, then escapes by stealing a car.  The real Syd is interrogated by Hank Foster, Counterintelligence Threat Analysis. Believing she was somehow involved in the break-in, he reassigns her to a desk job pending further investigation.  Vaughn tells Jack that he's prepared to exact revenge on Lauren. Jack tells Dixon to have Vaughn question Sark, in order to increase the psychological fear. Vaughn beats Sark bloody during the investigation. Sark gives Lauren up.  Syd calls Vaughn, and intuits that Vaughn knows Lauren's location. She asks Jack why the Sark interrogation is classified. He dodges the question, saying that Vaughn should kill Lauren to gain closure. He says that he regrets letting Irina go.  Vaughn spies on Lauren decrypting the equation in a warehouse. He photographs the longitude and latitude, then surprises her and administers a beating. About to disfigure her with hydrochloric acid, Vaughn is stabbed from behind and collapses.  Sloane sneaks into a CIA safe house and begs Nadia to tell him the location of The Sphere of Life - the vessel in which Rambaldi's consciousness is stored. She's dubious. Before he leaves, he tells her how to find him.  Syd and Jack wait for Vaughn in the hospital. Now Syd vows to kill Lauren, whether Jack, who is alarmed at her transition, helps her or not.  Lauren appears in the jail cell next to Sark. She forgives him for giving her up. He tells her that the Rambaldi info is backed up on an offsite server and gives her the password. It's not Lauren, but Syd - who removes her mask! When she determines that the equation leads to Palermo, Sicily, she leaves immediately. Vaughn tells Weiss that Katya Derevko stabbed him and that Syd is walking into a trap. Vaughn uses Weiss to create a diversion to escape the hospital.  Syd finds Katya in the Palermo site. She says she's tracking The Covenant and that she knows Lauren is present. Katya tries to shoot Syd, but Syd had secretly removed the cartridge from Katya's gun. Syd then shoots Katya. Lauren arrives but Syd misses her shot and Lauren runs.  Nadia escapes the CIA safe house to meet Sloane, who tells her that the Sphere may be compromised because The Covenant has solved the equation. She says that she purposely altered the equation - The Covenant is looking in the wrong place. She and Sloane venture off together to find the Sphere.  Syd and Lauren fight. Lauren says that Syd still doesn't know the truth about her life. Lauren is about to finish Syd off when Vaughn shoots Lauren dead. Before she dies, Lauren tells Syd that the truth is in box 1062 in the Bank of Wittenberg. Syd and Vaughn kiss.  In Wittenberg, Syd opens the safe deposit box and finds top secret documents. She cries as she peruses files documenting her life, each one bearing Jack Bristow's signature. Jack enters and says she was never supposed to have found these documents.