Disclaimer: I don't have any connections to the actually existing organizations or people mentioned in this fiction. I just need to use them to make my story logical.
Chapter 7 Los Angeles, CIA HeadquartersThe briefing room was engulfed in silence. All agents, except Kendall, were staring at Jack as if he had grown a second head. Dixon's eyes had widened remarkably along with Weiss', Vaughn had dropped the file he had been skimming through while Sydney was staring at her father unbelievingly. Marshall was feeling more and more uncomfortable by the second; he really should have quit a long time ago.
"The President of the United States?" Dixon was the first to speak his mind.
The fact that capturing Sloane was their first priority wasn't so shocking; the surprising thing was that the president himself gave the orders to leave the search for Irina Derevko on the background.
"Yes." Jack himself had difficulty to comprehend why he had got such orders. "I talked to him myself."
"So we are supposed to go after Sloane, but let Irina Derevko do what she wants?" Vaughn realized that his question had come out a bit harsher than he had meant it. He was relieved when Sydney hadn't caught his accusing tone.
"No. We won't let her do what she wants, agent Vaughn." Jack bit out. "Our priority is to apprehend Sloane, but that doesn't mean that we are going to stop looking for Derevko. Or Sark for that matter." Vaughn felt a little uncomfortable under Jack's harsh gaze. He had never been exactly afraid of the older man, he respected him and tried not to be on his bad side, which unfortunately happened more than he wished.
"Do we have anything on him?" Weiss steered the topic a little.
"No." Jack turned to him. "Since he escaped he hasn't appeared anywhere on the radar."
"So we have three terrorists on the loose with no way of tracking them." Weiss stated out loud.
"Right now, that's the situation." Jack let Weiss' comment slide.
"But are they all working on their own or together?" Dixon pondered.
"We have no indication that they are working together, but we have no indication that they have parted ways." Kendall said disappointedly.
"But, Mrs. Derevko ratted Sloane out," Marshall pointed out. "I mean, uh, she told Syd where to find him. And Sark helped you into the facility."
"Irina giving Sloane out may be an act to make us think that they are no longer working together, but it may also be true." Jack admitted Marshall had a point. "We have to prepare for the option that could do more harm: Derevko and Sloane are not on friendly terms anymore."
"Uh, why is that bad?" Marshall asked. "Couldn't it mean that one could help us capture the other?"
"It's not likely that either of them would help the CIA in any way." Jack pointed out.
"So we assume that they have parted ways, but which side is Sark on?" Dixon asked no one directly.
"Well, when he appeared in the arena, he was working for Irina. There's a big chance he still does, but he may work for Sloane, too. He also may be parted from both of them and have his own agendas. There is no telling what he may do." Jack said.
"Sark doesn't have it to work on his own. He needs someone to guide him. We need to find out who he is loyal to." Sydney didn't have so much faith in Sark's abilities to make it on his own.
"Ah, if Mrs. Derevko double-crossed Sloane, doesn't it mean that they may start attacking each other? I mean, Mr. Sloane isn't exactly, uh, the forgiving type-" Marshall seemed worried.
"Sloane may want to get revenge on Irina." Marshall smiled triumphantly when Jack agreed with him.
"If they start fighting each other then we're screwed." Weiss realized that he had said those words out loud; he shrank into his chair. "I mean we may have problems." It wasn't the greatest policy to speak like that to his superiors.
"You're right, agent Weiss. Derevko has a widespread organization and we don't know its whole extent. And Sloane's contacts make him as dangerous." Kendall agreed. "If one attacks and the other retaliates, we may face international catastrophes."
"I don't know if catastrophe is the right word. Let's hope they're not going for mass-genocide yet." Jack injected.
"Let's hope." Kendall tossed back.
"Right now we have no new leads, so we are going to go over everything we have on the three of them. Every little clue. There may be something we missed or thought as unimportant before." Jack ordered. "Meeting adjourned."
Agents poured out of the briefing room and spread around the office to work on their leads. Only Sydney stayed behind to talk to her father.
"Dad?" She approached him.
"Yes, Sydney." He turned to her and waited for her to continue.
"Has Allison Doren said anything?" She asked unsurely. Sydney wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer, but she asked anyway.
"Not yet."
"Okay." Sydney said quietly and gave him a sad smile. Sydney walked towards the door, but before exiting the door, she turned around.
"Dad?" She seemed unsure for a second. "Would you like to have dinner tonight?" Sydney suddenly asked. She and her father had a complicated relationship, to put it mildly. She knew that they had come a long way, but they still needed to work on it. Dinner was a good start for communicating outside of work.
"I would." He answered.
"Pick me up at seven." Jack nodded and Sydney gave him a brighter smile. Then she turned around heading towards her desk, but with a better mood that before.
Jack was surprised at Sydney's offer. He realized how much their relationship had grown. Two years ago he had left her sitting alone in a restaurant fearing to create a relationship with her. He had felt incompetent as a father and didn't want to disappoint Sydney. Now he realized that it had been a mistake, but fortunately he had another chance, which he would use. He wanted to know the wonderful person his daughter was.
RussiaJulian walked into his room and started packing things he would need to take along with him. He always travelled light, but there were things he needed to keep with him. While packing his thoughts unintentionally went to what was awaiting to happen. He had no idea what it was, but he felt that danger was ahead. He was never the one to believe in a sixth sense, but now he felt that something was about to happen. Luckily, being a part of this family had taught him to be prepared for anything and everything. That, and not to interfere when one of the three sisters was in a bad mood with knives close by.
In reality, Julian Derevko wasn't very different from Julian Sark, who he had played for the past two years. The only difference between the two men was that Julian Derevko wasn't as merciless as Julian Sark. He hadn't been keen on the idea to torture Will Tippin a year ago, but it was either him or someone who didn't care if the man lived or not. That way he could make sure that Sydney's friend was alive at least. He promised silently that one day he will apologize to him, he had a heart.
Suddenly Julian stopped stuffing things into his suitcase and stood still in the middle of his room. Great, now he was talking about himself in a third person. If he continued on this way, he soon would need a shrink. The mental picture of him lying on a sofa at the psychiatrist's couch, talking about his problems made him smirk. That bill would be big.
The things he did for this family. His personal life had practically decreased to the point of non-existent. He was wanted by quite a few intelligence agencies in the world. Half of the criminals of this planet wanted either to work with him and the other half wanted to kill him. And now he was working with a lunatic, whose life work has been to find out what a fifteenth century madman had written. Fan-fricking-tastic.
Truthfully he knew that he couldn't refuse helping any member of his family. That was just the way he was. Families may be separated, members all across the world, but in important things they would stick together, no matter what consequences. That was why he was subsequently looking after Sydney from time to time. The fact that she didn't know he was related to him or the fact that almost all of their encounters have been ended in gunfights didn't mean that he didn't care for her. She was family as much as Alex was to him and he hoped that one day he would get along with Sydney as well as he got along with Alex, despite that he and Alex had grown up together, and despite the fact that Sydney thought of him as the scum of the earth.
"Promise you won't do anything overly bold and stupid." Julian's pondering was ended and he turned swiftly around to see Alex in the threshold.
"Like what?" He prompted with a raised eyebrow.
"Like getting yourself killed." Alex continued without breaking her serious facial expression.
"I promise I'll play safe." He smiled and turned his attention to filling his suitcase.
"Good to know." Alex walked into the room and sat on the bed next to Julian's suitcase.
"Are you going to stay out of trouble?" Julian didn't expect a conclusive answer and he didn't get one.
"I can't promise that." A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Julian knew that Alex couldn't resist the pull to do something mind-bogglingly unreasonable.
"You have something planned, don't you?" He dropped his things in the case and turned fully towards his cousin.
"You never know." She evaded truthfully answering him.
"Just remember your own advice." Julian sat next to his cousin.
"I don't think this will get me killed." Alex answered cryptically. "It may make life for a couple of people much more enjoyable."
Julian knew what she was hinting at. "Messing with her life is as safe as walking in a bear's cave."
"I like bears." Julian refrained himself from rolling his eyes at the woman's faux-innocent words, no one could fight with his cousin in verbal contests. "Especially Winnie the Pooh." She added sarcastically.
Julian couldn't resist it anymore and started laughing. Alex could make comments that would minimize the importance of the situation. It was a good quality.
When Julian had succeeded suppressing his laughter, he turned to Alex. "Do me favour?" He asked.
"I'll check on Sara." Alex smiled in understanding.
"How did you know I was going to ask that?" Julian was surprised.
"It's the only thing you would ask from me now, because you already made me promise that I'll be careful and it would be the only thing you can't do yourself." Alex explained quickly.
"Your logic is unbeatable." Julian shook his head in bemusement.
"You just figured that out?" Alex widened her eyes in mock-surprise.
"No, I found that out when at thirteen you talked yourself out of being accused of spray-painting the principal's office door." Julian admitted.
"Ah, yes." Alex remembered with a cheeky smile on her face. "Good times." She remarked.
"Oh, yeah." Julian and Alex sat in comfortable silence for a little while, both knowing that it may be the last moment of peace before all hell broke loose.
----
Downstairs Irina walked across the hallway to the kitchen, leaving her two sisters in the living room. She opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water. Moving through the kitchen to the back door she opened the bottle and sipped from it. She pulled the back door open and walked outside into the sunlight.
The back door of the house faced the medium-sized lake. Forest surrounded the lake and hid it and the house from sight. Irina slowly walked down the path to the lake and stepped onto the jetty. She walked to its' end and breathed deeply in. There weren't many times like this in her life, where she could just be and not worry about being in a range of a rifle. She appreciated these little moments.
For most of the last year she had spent in a glass cage, which had ridiculous similarity to Hannibal Lecter's cell. Before that it was all about not getting caught. Or killed. She didn't have many occasions where she could relax, and even if she did, she never completely let everything go. She was too paranoid for that. But it wasn't a bad thing, being paranoid was the thing that kept her alive.
She shook her head to clear her mind from thoughts and looked over the lake, silently hoping Sydney would see this sight one day. Although Sydney wasn't the only person Irina hoped to be standing here with her.
Irina Derevko wasn't a person who could be easily confused. She always had a retort and she had the skill to speak herself out of difficult situations, and if that didn't work, she always carried a small handgun and a knife with her. Nothing surprised her anymore, because she had seen to many horrible things. She had done horrible things herself. But there was one person who could completely and utterly confuse her: Jack. He could make her feel like a teenager, which was ridiculous; she was a leader of a criminal empire for goodness sake.
Years ago when Irina went by the name of Laura she could read her husband. She could tell what he was feeling even when his emotions weren't visible. She remembered that time fondly, when they finished each other's thoughts and sentences. She missed that time, but knew that the bond they shared had been permanently broken. And she had been the one to break it.
Jack had improved his poker face over the years and Irina had lost her ability to read her husband. It didn't strike odd to her that she still thought of him as her husband. She had never stopped thinking of him that way, despite her efforts. He always had been and always will be her husband.
Irina lowered herself to the wooden surface and sat with her legs over the edge of the jetty. This place had so much serenity to it. Whenever things went haywire, she retreated here to hide, heal or plan, whatever was necessary. Irina looked over the lake and suddenly she remembered a conversation held years ago.
It was a hot summer day. Jack had taken the day off to spend it with his wife, who had had that title for only seven months. For seven months they had been experiencing the thing people called marriage. They had argued, fought and Irina had even broken a lamp half-accidentally, but neither of them would want to live any other way, because after every fight they would talk things straight and make up. But not always in that order.
Today they had put together a picnic basket and headed for the park near their recently purchased house. They were half-sitting, half-lying on the blanket under a huge oak tree. Despite it being the middle of the week, the park was full of people enjoying the beautiful weather.
"How about moving out of the city." Irina grinned and popped a grape in her mouth.
"To where?" Jack smiled, waiting for her to make her point. He knew she wasn't serious, but there was no harm in fantasizing. They had a lot of conversations about things that could happen to them, but probably never will.
"Near a lake somewhere." Irina suggested frowning as she was making it up on the way. Jack raised his eyebrows and asked.
"And what would we do there?" Jack enjoyed listening to his wife.
"I could teach in the local school." Irina offered with a business-like expression. Anyone else would think she was serious, but Jack knew better. "And you could become a fisherman." Irina closed her eyes as if mentally conjuring a picture. " I can see you 4 in the morning sitting in your boat in the middle of some lake, while I'm catching up on some sleep." She managed to stay serious through her speech, but when Jack started laughing she couldn't hold back and grinned widely.
"Me? A fisherman?" Jack rolled onto his back and pulled Irina on top of him.
"Weirder things have happened." She planted a solid kiss on his lips. "And every day I would welcome you home with a kiss and dinner, because you are incapable of catching anything."
"I'm very capable of fishing." Irina gave him an unbelieving snort, but before she could express her lack of faith in his fishing skills Jack had suddenly turned them over, so that Irina was lying on her back. "But the welcoming home with a kiss has a ring to it. But only if the kiss leads to something else." He wiggled his eyebrows. Irina laughed throatily and Jack captured her lips in a kiss with more passion than before.
"Careful Jack." Irina warned him when they gave into the need of oxygen. "Soccer-moms are ready to slash our tires." Irina indicated to the group of mothers who were giving them harsh glares for their public display of affection on the blanket.
Irina laughed harder when Jack scrambled off of her and tried to sit decently next to her.
"It's not funny, Laura." Jack said exasperated.
"Yes, it is." Irina sat up next to him. After a second, she smiled slyly. "Right now they want to slash one tire. Let's make it all four." Before Jack could protest Irina pulled him into a fierce kiss, which made the critical women in the background gasp for air.
Despite being a little embarrassed, Jack couldn't keep the smile off his face when the kiss ended. Irina smiled satisfied with herself and offered Jack a grape.
"I promise, when we're old, we'll get a house next to a lake. And I'll try fishing." Jack promised.
"I'll remind you of it." Irina smiled and gave him another kiss.
Irina had always known that Jack would never fulfil the promise that day, because she knew she would be gone, but that day she had chosen to believe that. She had chosen to live in the illusion, because she loved being there and she loved Jack. Irina never knew when she had fallen in love with Jack. Had it been the day when he had helped a lost three-year-old find her mother in the mall? Had it been the day when he had sent her two-dozen roses for her birthday? Or had it been the day he proposed? All Irina knew was that on her wedding day she had been in love with him, despite what she had been convincing herself in.
Irina stood up and headed back towards the house with more determination than before. She had fought to destroy Rambaldi for a long time and she was going to finish what she started, and Sloane wasn't somebody who could stop her. She decided she was going to explain herself to Sydney and Jack. Even if they won't have a house by the lake, when they get old, at least he will understand her intentions. She was going to make sure of that.
CIA Headquarters, Interrogation room 2, Los AngelesJack and Kendall were observing Allison Doren from the mirroring room. She wasn't tormenting the guard by the door anymore, just staring at the mirror. She knew that she was being watched and was just waiting for something to happen.
"Jack, I still think that the best idea is to send her to Camp Harris." Kendall pressed. He wasn't happy with the arrangement, which had put Jack in command of the Task Force. Both men knew it and both wanted it to be over, although they had different reasons for it.
"If she won't talk to me today, send her to wherever you want." Jack said without taking his eyes off the prisoner.
"Why do you think you can get through to her today?" Kendall noticed that Jack was confident that the woman would tell him everything they needed.
"Two days ago we told her that the Helix protocol is irreversible. She has had time to think about it. Probably she doesn't believe it, but when I put solid evidence in front of her, she will be much probable to tell us what we need." Jack explained his tactics.
Kendall took the three files from the table behind them and skimmed through them. He saw that Jack had a real chance to make Doren talk, because the facts in the files were unarguable.
"Good luck." Kendall handed the files to Jack, who took them and marched out of the room without acknowledging Kendall. Without stopping he strode into the interrogation room with an unrevealing expression on his face. He threw the three files onto the table without breaking his stride.
Allison slowly pulled her gaze to the same level as Jack. Her stance didn't waver.
"It's so sweet that you brought me something to read. I already know the number of the tiles on the cell ceiling. Of course Tolstoy would be better, but beggars can't be choosers." She mocked.
Jack looked at her for a moment without saying anything, then her opened the files and put them in front of the woman so she could read them. The he leaned back and indicated that she should read them. Allison scoffed, but shifted herself so she could read the files. The more she read the more her eyes widened. She grew a little paler and her hands had an uncomfortable shake to them when she finished with the third file.
"You can choose whether you believe it or not, it's your choice, but I know it's the truth. Sloane promised you that he'll reverse the process, when your task is over." Jack assumed. "But guess what? Your task is over, but you will look like that until the day you die and nothing is going to change that. Not anymore." With every word Jack spoke, the more Allison started shaking. "Sloane doesn't care whether you live or die. You were just a person who helped him get closer to his goal." Jack pressed on. "You're going to be held responsible for all of his crimes because you are the only employee, who has worked for Sloane. Do you really want to go to prison for him?" Jack asked.
"Shut up." Doren growled lowly.
"Because you will and I promise you: you'll get to see yourself every day for the rest of your life, because I will make sure mirrors surround your prison cell." Jack was deliberately taunting her knowing that she would crack. She sprang from her chair and tried to lunge at Jack, but the restraints held her back and she fell right back to her seat. The guard from the door took a few steps towards them, but Jack waved him off.
"Tell us what we want to know and you'll get to make a deal." He promised.
"If I tell you everything I know, I want a pardon." Allison stated.
"You'll be lucky if you escape the death sentence." Jack told her.
"Fine." Allison clenched her teeth. If she was going down, she was pulling everyone down with her.
Jack smiled inwardly, his plan worked. He sat on the chair next to him. "State your name." He said.
"Are you kidding me?" Allison looked at him unbelievingly. When she realized that it was necessary for protocol, she cocked her head and smirked. "Allison G. Doren."
"Whom do you work for?" Jack started with obvious questions he knew she would answer.
"Arvin Sloane, but you already know that." She commented.
"What assignment did he give you?" He paid no heed to her comments.
"I was ordered to kill Francine Calfo and present myself as her. During the process to observe Sydney Bristow's life and work."
"You killed Francine Calfo?" Jack asked for conclusion.
"Yes. One bullet to the head." The woman showed no signs of remorse.
"Was that your only order?" Jack asked tersely.
"At first, yes. I gave Mr. Sloane the information he wanted."
"You communicated with Sloane directly?" Jack asked.
"No, I mostly communicated with Mr. Sark, but lately I got orders and answered to Sloane personally." Allison informed him. "The odd thing was that I actually never met with the man."
Jack didn't find it suspicious, but the answer to his next question did.
"But he knew you were posing as Francie Calfo?"
"Actually, no. Only Mr. Sloane and the technicians, who were present during the DNA-mutating." She answered.
"What were your other orders?" Jack demanded. When he saw confusion on the woman's face, he elaborated. "You said that at first posing as Francie Calfo was your only order. What happened later?" He rephrased his question.
"He ordered me to kill Diane Dixon." Allison showed as much remorse with this confession as she did with the first.
"And you followed these orders through?" Jack clenched his hands. He remembered how Dixon suffered when his wife died.
"Yes." Her answer was short.
"Why was Will Tippin framed as the other double?" He asked emotionlessly.
"Because I received those orders. No one could know that I was the double." Allison said.
"Did you ever meet Sloane's business partners?" Jack asked.
"You mean if I met Irina Derevko." Doren smiled coldly. "No, I didn't meet any of his business partners. And I was given strict orders to stay away from your wife." She knew she had hit a tender area.
"Why was that?" Jack didn't seem fazed on the outside.
"I really don't know. Maybe Sloane was afraid her maternal instincts would over-rule her passion for Rambaldi." Allison leaned forward.
'Not likely.' Jack thought.
"Do you have any idea where Sloane might be now?" He pushed aside his emotions and concentrated on the interrogation.
"No," Allison replied.
The interrogation went on for quite a while, Jack asked and Allison answered, at the same time to taunt Jack. On the other side of the mirror Kendall was mentally congratulating Jack on his success. Despite the man's excellent track records, he hadn't believed that Jack could make the woman talk so quickly. He was glad that Jack knew what he was doing, because time was the thing they were running short of.
