Chapter Three
Loose Threads

May 21st, 2000

Jessica Bennet had spent the better part of three weeks following Jennifer Stewart. Originally the plan had been to wait another year before eliminating her to keep the NYPD from drawing any parallels between her death and her associate, Diane Cavanaugh, but fate had intervened. She had been informed by Hal that she had been contacted by an unknown operative from the Russian Consulate. The timetable had to be stepped up if the Russians were reaching out to their old contacts.

Every morning at just before dawn she would start her run through Central Park. It had taken her several days after finding where she entered the area after which she had spent several mornings shadowing her on her run to make certain it was consistent, all the while picking out the most advantageous locations where her blitz style ambush of the woman would go undetected.

Within half an hour she was rewarded by the quick, silent pounding of feet coming down the footpath as Jennifer Stewart approached. When she came into arms reach, she pulled a very realistic NYPD badge from her coat pocket and said,

"Excuse me miss, could I ask you a few questions?"

The woman stopped in place and stretched to keep her muscles for tightening up.

"What is this about, detective?" she replied.

"I'm working a homicide and I was wondering if you had scene any suspicious activity in the last few days." She said back

"None that I recall," Jennifer replied, "outside of the usual creeps that is."

"Thank you for your time miss..."

"Stewart, Jennifer Stewart." the woman offered.

Just as she turned to get back into her stride, Jessica struck, grabbing the woman's shoulder with her free hand and drove the K-bar directly into the younger woman's kidneys.

Her target twisted as she slid to the ground, guided by the hand that had gripped her shoulder so she wouldn't make too much noise on her way down. Her eyes going wide with...recognition?

"Johanna?" she pleaded as she slipped into shock, bleeding out on the ground, "Why..."

She never finished her anguished plea, as the shock to her kidneys caused her to slip away. For the first time she was looking right into her victim's eyes as the her confusion faded and the light in her eyes went out. Jessica finished the job almost by rote, applying the shallow postmortem stabs in a haze of confusion. She staggered back from the woman's body when she was done. She felt like she was going to be sick.

She couldn't get the thought out of her mind, a woman she had never laid eyes on before today looked her dead in the eye, called her by another woman's name as if she knew her. But she also could not shake the feeling that she did in fact recognize her, that she had met Jennifer Stewart before. Knew what foods she liked, what clothes she favored, mundane things that weren't found in a file.

Her thoughts were spiraling out of control as she slipped into a public restroom, changed in the stall and slid the business suit and heels along with the badge into the trash, buried under half a roll of paper towels before washing up in the sink in the running attire she had packed in her large purse.

She walked out of the public restroom and ran the remainder of the circuit, as fast has her legs could carry her. Wishing beyond reason that she could outrun the confusion in her mind. Outrun the visions of a life that seemed both alien and all too familiar. A life that was not her own. Could not be, because her family was dead, vaporized in Oklahoma City by a man bent on revenge. She was not Johanna Beckett, she was Jessica Bennet.

She felt like she was going crazy. Like there was another person in her head, fighting to get out, fighting for control. She needed help, she needed someone to make this nightmare stop.

She was on the phone with Dr. Bristow before she was even halfway home. Irene would help her make sense of all this, make the noise and confusion in her head go away.

She wanted this nightmare to end.


One hour later

Irina Derevko had warned Senator Bracken about this exact set of events. Johanna Beckett's psychological conditioning was fraying, allowing memories of her past life to surface. Her most recent target had recognized her before she died, she had called her by name. It had very nearly sent her into a fugue state this time. Thankfully she had built into her conditioning a deeply seated command to seek her out when she became confused or agitated.

The senator seemed to have the notion in his head that she simply waved a magic wand and Johanna Beckett was gone, replaced by Jessica Bennet. This process was meant to turn a trained agent into a quiet, unassuming member of society. Someone who led an unobtrusive life until called upon to act, not the opposite. He didn't seem to understand that. He didn't grasp the complexities of what was going on here.

Under the right circumstances, (or the wrong ones depending on who was asking) her true personality could come back with a vengeance. She had a contingency plan in place now if this came to pass, which was becoming more likely by the day. She knew her former husband was working deep cover for the CIA inside a group called SD-6. If all else failed she would turn herself over to him. She would likely spend the rest of her life in a CIA lock down facility, but it was better than the alternative.

If he intended to keep Jessica Bennet around as his personal enforcer or avenging angel, he had to get her out of New York, get her into an established routine when she wasn't active. The next time this happens she wasn't sure she would be able to put her back together again.

The consequences would be dire.