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I, Evergreen Mountaineer, wrote this chapter

Chapter Two

17 years later

"We've recently received intel on a group who, for the past twenty years, we thought was a myth." Jack Bristow paced in front of a long table inside the conference room. Outside the building, Los Angeles was sweltering in 90+ degree heat, and inside the CIA's division building it wasn't much better. The air hadn't been working properly and everyone had shed their jackets, ties, and coats hours ago. Everyone except Jack, who was stubbornly sweating the heat out under a sports coat and a silk tie, though his appearance didn't look as sharply cut as it normally did. His gray hair, normally neat and slightly wavy, was plastered against his head and slightly mussed, as Jack kept running his hands through it impatiently. But his green eyes were intense and sharp as ever as he moved around the room. "We haven't found out yet who is in charge of this group, but we have identified several members."

Jack paused before sliding thick folders to his companions in the room. The man on his left was tall, even sitting down, and his dark skin shone with sweat, his top collar button undone. Marcus Dixon pulled the folder to him and opened it, studying the contents with hard eyes, but not speaking yet. Next to Dixon was a young man, in his mid-20s. His name was Michael Vaughn, and he had been with the CIA for a few years already, but he had only recently been promoted as field officer. He had been quite successful on the missions he had been on, many believed that he was soon going to become one of the agency's top agents. His thin face sported a stubble beard, and his light green eyes were focused on the folder which he had just opened with calloused hands. His brow seemed to be furrowed all the time, and now it was even more so. He looked up at Jack as he spoke, then back to the folder.

Jack clicked a button on the remote control he held in his hand and a face appeared on the screen. It was of a woman, and even though the black and white picture was slightly fuzzy, there was no mistaking the malicious look in her eyes. Her hair was long, slightly wavy, and her skin dark. Her eyes glared back at them all and there was a hint of a smile on her lips, as if she knew of the horror and destruction that she had created.

"This is the person in charge of this organization. Her name is Irina Derevko." He paused, but continued a second later, and no one detected the slight change in his voice. It had hardened slightly, but he was able to hid it. "For what we know of her, she worked for the KGB, a Russian organization, and she is one of the most dangerous agents in the field today. Not much has come to us about her, but we know that we can't let her continue." He moved over and paused again.

"Derevko has taken command of this agency and she seems to be gaining more allies every day. But she is deadly, as I have mentioned, and won't stop at anything to achieve her endgame."

"What is her endgame?" Vaughn asked immediately.

"Unfortunately, we don't know," Jack replied, nodding at Vaughn. "What we do know is that she has several agents captured and if she gets her way, they will not survive." he paused again. He didn't know whether to proceed...

A few days ago, a contact had alerted Jack to Irina Derevko's involvement in a foreign group that was intent on achieving an endgame...but no one knew what that was. When Jack saw the first photo of Derevko, he nearly passed out, a very un-Jack Bristow-like reaction. He had seen this woman before. Taking a copy of the picture home with him, he rummaged for hours before he found it. A wedding picture...he held the picture of Derevko up next to the picture of himself and his young bride. Except for twenty-five years difference, the women were identical. It wasn't Irina Derevko, or at least that wasn't her name as he knew it. It was his wife, Laura. She hadn't died. What he could come up with in the following days, was that she had faked her death, joined the KGB, and then created this alliance of enemies. Why she had done this was beyond him, but he was surprised at how quickly he had dismissed her. She was an enemy now.

That wasn't the end of the story. His connection had also provided him with pictures of all of Derevko's agents, or all the agents that they knew of. He had gone through every single one, slowly, methodically, memorizing their names, stats, photos...until he came upon one. It gave him the biggest shock of his life, bigger than when he had first seen Laura's picture. It was a photo of a young woman, early 20s, one of the few colour photos he had. Her hair, shoulder length and straight, was dirty blonde, and her eyes, sharp and intelligent, were dark brown. Her face was serious, but even then he could detect a hint of dimples on her cheeks. What he was shocked about was how much she resembled Irina Derevko. Which means she would resemble Laura...it couldn't be. Again, his dusty photo album came out, and he flipped the pages hastily until he found a picture of a group of people. It took him a few minutes to be able to look at that photo, for it was one of the last ones taken before his wife and daughter had perished in the accident. Finally, he was able to look. Himself, Laura and two young girls. The younger girl was about three years old, but able to stand by herself. Her hair was black and her skin dark, suggesting a South American heritage, his youngest daughter, Nadia. Next to her was her sister of six, whose hair was brown and long and straight, and her eyes held the same intensity. He blinked back tears as he looked at Sydney, his precious daughter.

Jack hadn't wasted any time. He immediately gone to one of his agents within the CIA who specialized in creating images from pictures that were years, even decades old. As Jack had requested, he had created an image of Sydney as she would look today. Again, he could barely bring himself to look over at the photo. It was frightening how much his daughter would have looked like her mother...he compared the image to the picture of the agent working for Derevko. It was a perfect match. It was his daughter. Which meant that she was working with Derevko, working for the same drastic and horrible outcome. But it was his daughter. And he had to save her. In his heart, he thought that Sydney wouldn't turn. She wouldn't be like her mother, evil, possessive. He had to extract her. But he couldn't let his agency know that she was working for Derevko. From then on, Sydney became one of Irina's hostages, an agent they had to save.

"The agent whom we have been instructed to save goes by the name Julia Thorne. She was born and raised in the United States, but was kidnapped and taken overseas to be raised a spy. From what we've heard, she's one of the best spies in the world and has succeeded at many operations. She's being held against her will, however and she is an American, and must be saved." He took a breath. "We've received word that Derevko and her agents are making a move in Australia to capture some diplomats. We're going to interrupt their plans and extract Throne. Vaughn, Weiss, you'll be heading this operation."

A man on the right of Jack looked up briefly before retuning his gaze to the pages in the folder. Eric Weiss was a well-set young man with dark eyes and dark hair and mustache. He was immensely intelligent, and had been working with the agency for several years. Next to him sat a young woman with long dark hair by the name of Nadia. Her dark brown eyes were intently focused on her father, Jack.

"We've planned extraction when they are in Ballarat, North Victoria. We've gotten you into the same party that they will be attending. There you will identify Thorne and get her out of there. Remember, Derevko will most likely be there, or be watching, so you must go in and out with Thorne unidentified and unnoticed. Wheels up in an hour. That's all." Jack clicked off the monitor as the agents around him rose to leave. "Nadia, stay back a moment."

As the others left the room, Nadia closed her folder and stood up. Jack waited until everyone was out of the room before addressing his daughter. "Nadia, there's something I have to tell you." He paused briefly, watching her, but she didn't say anything. He sighed. "There's something I didn't tell everyone about the people in that group. It's called Prophet Five and it is one of the most dangerous groups we have gone up against."

Nadia's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "Why didn't you tell everyone else this?"

Jack shook his head. "Just listen."