Orignial airdate: 02/10/02
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?
~info provided by the Official Alias site
