Part 2
Sydney's POV
I wanted so badly to ask him for details. Was Sark also programmed? But as I was contemplating whether the answer was worth giving Sark the satisfaction of knowing I wanted something, four guards came barreling around the corner, and we had our hands full trying to take care of them. Only two guards were down when the alarm went off, and Sark and I quickly finished off the remaining guards and went our respective ways.
Two days later I'm still faced with the same dilemma. My father, Vaughn, and Will have all asked if I'm okay, so apparently I'm not hiding my inner turmoil very well. Around eleven I head to the pier, hoping to calm down. The moon is just a small sliver, and in the dim light, I can't see anyone else out here. Normally standing on the pier brings my thoughts to Vaughn, but I'm too worried right now to think of anything but Sark. I hear a voice behind me and flinch,startled.
"Miss Bristow, what a coincidence to meet you out here."
I still can't bring myself to ask Sark about Project Christmas, so I merely nod and turn my gaze back out to the pier. He shrugs and brings his own gaze onto the water, silent for a moment.
"I know you have no reason to trust the information I'm about to give you. But if you can get level 6 access to the CIA database you'll find this information."
"Sloane hasn't given my that kind of access."
"No, Miss Bristow, I mean the real CIA database. No need to pretend, I've known of you double agent status for some months now."
He knows. But he hasn't told Sloane. This is not something I want to deal with right now. As if sensing my thoughts, Sark speaks again.
"I'm not going to tell anyone, Miss Bristow. However, you persist in turning down my job offers, and before you do that again, I want you to know who you're turning me down to work for."
Suddenly I'm confused again. I thought this was about Project Christmas, not about me working for Sark. Sark motions to the manila envelope in his hand and continues.
"As I said earlier, this information requires level six access. However, you will find the information quite worth your time."
Level six access is what Devlin has. Probably only ten people in this country have level six access. Only an incredibly good hacker could get past all the firewalls, but what truly alarms me is not how to access the information, but what the information actually is. What could possibly need to be hidden that well? For all I know, Sark could be lying, and the information could just be forged. However, I have to admit Sark seems sincere, which is extremely strange. I'm used to seeing his trademark smirk and cocky grin, but today his expression showed nothing but sincerity, and strange as it may seem, sympathy. Finally I nod and Sark hands me a thick manila envelope.
"Project Christmas wasn't a new idea, but this was the first time that extensive progress was made so quickly. Your father did as much work at home as in the office, so you mother had direct access to any and all information. Because of the importance of the project, your mother was relaying information as fast as she could, and the KGB turned around and improved the ideas to form their own project. They began to take unwanted orphans from throughout Europe and test them. With no family to search for the children, no time limit to work on them, the KGB project went much farther than Project Christmas. They didn't bother to erase memories, began to make training more intensive and more dangerous than the CIA did. Fully one fourth of all the children died during training."
Sark tells me all this with an expressionless face, but his voice sounds suspiciously hoarse, and I realize he's reliving old memories.
"You were one of those children, weren't you?"
Sark nods slightly, then glances away, and for a split second a look of pain flits across his face, but a second later the mask returns, and I wonder if I imagined it.
"How many children did they take? How many people were involved?" I wonder, and Sark smiles mirthlessly.
"I was in the program for four years. During that time at least three hundred finished the program, and that's not counting everyone that died during training. There were probably 50 ...teachers," he finishes, for lack of better word.
"You said that was while you were in the program. How many were there altogether?"
"I haven't gotten the records on the first two years, but at least two thousand people."
"Two thousand?! How could that big a project be hidden?"
"The project was being simultaneously conducted in fifteen countries. But you're right, something that big can't stay a secret for long. A number of moles, from the CIA and other agencies, managed to infiltrate the project. This was the primary reason the project was scaled back so far."
My mind is buzzing, and a scary thought comes to mind, but I can't bring myself to voice it. Finally I ask, "When did the CIA become aware the KGB had a mole, that they were developing their own project?"
"Open the envelope."
On the top of a sheaf of papers is a stack of memos and reports between the head of the CIA at that time, and his two senior assistants, one of whom was Devlin. One month into the development of Project Christmas, the KGB project was discovered. CIA operatives in deep cover in both England, Russia, and Ukraine immediately attempted to infiltrate the program. Four operatives had successfully joined by the end of the second month. Simultaneously, the CIA began to investigate the US project to find the mole. In two weeks, all CIA officers had been ruled out, and in three more weeks my mother was revealed to be the mole. A quiet investigation was started, a file opened. My mothers file was under the papers, and when I see the date the file was started, I gasp.
"Sark, this date is over a year before my mother faked her death. I don't understand!"
"Keep reading, Miss Bristow."
Under her file are another set of communications, these between the CIA director, the head of the FBI, and the president. Based on recommendations by the heads of both the CIA and the FBI, the president decided that my mother would not be brought into custody yet. Derevko could lead the CIA back to the core of the KGB, and it was thought that catching the leaders was more valuable than bringing one KGB operative into custody. CIA moles within the KGB programming project were also sending back valuable information, and a push was being made to introduce this information in Project Christmas. Irina Derevko was already know to have killed eight CIA agents, but it was decided that their loss was not great enough to outweigh the information gleaned from the KGB project, and from the possible KGB heads my mother could lead them back to.
I gasp in horror and grasp the rail of the pier for strength.
"They knew she was a... those officers,dead...they knew and..."
I can't continue, and Sark quietly studies my face for a minute before replying.
"Yes, Sydney. The CIA knew your mother was a KGB agent for an entire year before she disappeared."
Suddenly this is too much, and I feel the tears begin to build in my eyes. The government I've been risking my life to protect has betrayed me. I turn and run from the pier before Sark can see the tears streaming down my face.
To Be Continued...
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