CHAPTER TEN
"What do you mean you can't stop it?"
Marshall's face is much panicked. "I just came in to tell you."
Sloane and Dixon could only watch as Marshall ran out of the room, mumbling hysterically about the future of their database.
Both men followed him out. Everyone was looking at Marshall, who left a trail of papers in his wake.
"People, calm down. Everything's going to be alright." Sloane reassured them, as everyone in the office seemed to have figured out they were being attacked. By what or who, that they don't know. But Sloane is pretty sure that it's Angel and Athena.
Sloane and Dixon went to Marshall's office and found him furiously typing on the computer, trying to prevent the virus from completing its job. From where they are standing, they could see that their resident genius is profusely sweating from the stress.
"Marshall, calm down." Sloane said. He ordered Dixon to call Director Chase for additional instructions.
"Mr. Sloane, this virus… if I can't stop this… APO will be screwed."
Sloane raised a brow. He hasn't heard Marshall speak like that before.
Minutes ticked by so fast, he didn't realize that he has been standing in Marshall's office for about an hour.
"Director Chase instructed that our backup files be uploaded in the main database of the CIA." Dixon whispered to Sloane when he arrived. It took Director Chase almost an hour to instruct him on what to do. Obviously, they were all unnerved with what Angel and Athena can do.
Suddenly, a loud beeping noise was heard. It was followed by a cartoon-like evil laugh. The words "GOTCHA" appeared on the screen.
Marshall felt confusion overcoming him. He hurriedly checked all their files.
They were all there, safe. They weren't touched by the virus at all.
"It's… they're fine."
Sloane approached him. "Marshall, what is it?" Their tech kept quiet for a while, inspecting their database. Inspecting every data in their computers.
"There was no virus. It was a trick…" he trailed off. "It was to get our attention… but…"
Sloane placed a hand on Marshall's shoulder. "Marshall, did you stop it?"
He faced his boss, really confused. "There was no virus to begin with."
"No virus?" Dixon walked towards them. "Are you sure?"
"There's no virus. I mean, the files weren't even touched. They used a… I don't know, but it simulated what we see onscreen of computers when a virus is corrupting a huge bulk of data."
Another beeping sound. Marshall pushed his chair and rolled towards another computer, where he sends and receives emails.
The clicking of the keyboards was the only sound in the room. Both Sloane and Dixon are waiting for Marshall to finish.
Marshall opened the file sent to him. He has no idea who sent it.
'Marshall, if this turns out to be the real attack…'
He clicked on the attachment. A video started to play.
"Uh, sir…?"
Marshall could hardly believe with what was in the video. It could be some sort of snuff film. But one could clearly see that it is a direct feed. His computer is automatically recording the video too.
"What is it Marshall?" He approached the desk and looked at the screen.
"It's Irina Derevko. She's… alive."
x-x-x-
"Alive?"
The five agents looked at him as if he grew two heads. He nods his head and leans on his chair.
"Yes, Irina Derevko is alive, but not well." Sloane couldn't scrutinize the faces of the agents since he is talking to them through a monitor. But he can easily identify shock in their faces. Especially Sydney and Nadia.
"But I… she's dead!" Nadia turned to Sydney. "You lied to me! You told me she was dead."
She is clearly distressed. A few weeks ago, she and Sydney were flying to Moscow to visit their mother's grave, the next thing she knows, she's alive. Like some sort of monster coming back to life.
"I didn't lie to you." Sydney replied, defensively. "Dad told me that she's dead." She looked at her father. Her eyes are blazing in anger.
"People settle down. There is more to this issue." Sloane interjected. "Marshall received a live feed after Angel and Athena's assault-"
"Attacked? Angel and Athena attacked our computers?" Vaughn interrupted. "When?"
"Yesterday-"
Vaughn cut in again. "And you're telling us this now!"
"Agent Vaughn, it was a ruse to get our attention. Nothing was destroyed. They wanted to inform us that Irina Derevko is alive." Sloane took the glass of water on his desk. "The video sent was their proof, although we did tests to make sure that it was her. The video also showed us something that can lead us to her."
Sloane pressed a key on his computer. A few seconds later, the printer in the warehouse in San Francisco printed three pages of documents.
"Boris Yulochev. He was once part of the KGB, once a member of the K-Directorate and currently a member of the Cadmus Liberation Front." He sipped his water and waited for Jack to say something. He hasn't spoken a word ever since he revealed that Irina is alive.
"The Covenant has Irina Derevko?" Weiss commented. "Are we sure on this?"
Sloane nodded his head. "Currently, we have men tracking Yulochev down."
Jack looked at the flat screen monitor in front of him. "What was in the video?"
He could see that Sloane is a bit apprehensive in answering his question. Sydney looked at her father once again. His face is expressionless. The surprised he showed a few minutes ago is masked with indifference.
"Things." He answered, clasping his hands together.
Sydney saw the discomfort through his actions. 'Did the video made him uncomfortable?'
"What kind of things?" Vaughn asked.
Sloane let out a deep breath. How can he end this meeting without showing the proof that Irina is alive? The video rattled Marshall, it shocked Dixon. What more to Sydney and Nadia?
"It's a surveillance video." He said. "I've assigned several men to track down Yulochev. Dixon is currently arranging for the temporary release of our bait for Mikhail Premenov." He glanced at the monitor. Sydney and Nadia are stoically staring at him, though he could sense their anger even from where he is. Jack's face is expressionless, as usual and the only people in the room showing emotions are Vaughn and Weiss.
"A bait for Mikhail Premenov? What is he-" Weiss was cut off by Sydney.
"I want to see it."
A grim smile appeared on Sloane's face. "It will be… pointless for you to see it."
This remark made Sydney raise a brow. "Pointless? What's so pointless about wanting to see it?"
"We've already identified Derevko. It's pointless for you to-"
"I'm not the only one who wants that surveillance video."
Sloane sighed at the stubbornness of Sydney Bristow. He looked at them. They are all expecting an answer and they're not going to accept a no. Well, except for Jack.
He typed something on the computer. A few minutes later, the image on the screen changed to a grainy black and white. Two figures are on the screen. A woman, chained to the wall, and a man walking round her.
"Where is it?"
"I don't know."
Everyone (except Nadia) recognized the second vice. It is no doubt Irina's.
"We know you know. We know what it is. We just don't know where. But you do know, right?"
A pause.
"No."
They heard the sound of whip lashing. The video was too grainy for them to see where it hit but when they heard it again, they were sure that the whip lashed flesh.
"You're going to get more, Irina."
She kept quiet, still as stone.
"I'm going to ask you one more time. Where is it?"
He didn't wait for her answer and instead hit her again. Stroke after stroke, he shouted at her, demanding an answer to his question. She screamed in pain, her only answer to his question. That angered him more. He hit her harder.
The five CIA agents could only stare at the screen. Tears are streaming Sydney's eyes. She has never seen such brutality exerted on a human being. And now she has seen it, thanks to her stubbornness in asking Sloane to show it to her. To them.
She looked at Nadia. Her sister's face is pale and fear is traced on her face.
'That's my mom? What… why?' Nadia looked at Sydney's way. She's crying. She then looked at Jack. His face is stoic, serious but his hands are clenched.
'He cares for her still?'
Nadia couldn't bear to look at the screen. She couldn't take it. The woman being whipped is her mother. She's being tortured in front of her and she's not doing anything.
Sydney suddenly stood up and cried as she left the room. Vaughn followed her out immediately.
After a few minutes, the video stopped. Sloane reappeared on the screen.
"We're still tracing the source of the transmission. We'll contact all of you again." He said and ended the meeting. He was too abrupt. He didn't want to face everyone, especially Nadia, after he showed them that.
Jack looked at the remaining agents, Nadia and Weiss.
"We'd meet later, maybe after dinner. Knowing Marshall…" He trailed off when he saw Nadia angrily staring at him. "I suggest that we all put this at the back of our head so that we'll be able to finish this mission."
"You really hate her, do you?" Nadia could barely hide the angry tone. "After you've seen her being tortured, after you saw Sydney cry, you're still approaching this as something trivial… like a crease in your suit."
Nadia stood up. "I'm so glad you're not my father." And then, she stormed out of the room. Jack just blinked with her comments but the last part hurt him a bit.
Weiss looked at him, uncomfortable that he's the only left with him.
A few minutes later, he stood up and left too.
Jack could only sigh. Finally, he relaxed his clenched fingers. A ball of crumpled paper rolled out of his hands. He could only wish that the pieces of paper that was Boris Yulochev. He wants to kill him with his bare hands. He wants to make him suffer for what he has done.
But he knows that it's futile to get angry. They don't have any leads on Irina's location yet. And as far as the espionage world knows, she's dead. His contacts wouldn't be able to help him.
He stood up and left. He still has papers to check.
x-x-x-
(Almost two years ago, Prague)
Another argument, another fight. He can't believe that every time they take a step forward, a misunderstanding ensues and they take two steps back.
"Stubborn woman." Jack muttered under his breath as he assembled the silenced sniper that he will use to 'kill' Irina.
'Let's hope she's the good actress I always thought and accuse her to be.' He finalized all the things needed and waited. A glance at his watch told him that their 'show' is about to start.
He is on top of one of the buildings, fronting the hotel where Irina is staying. The CIA is expecting that he'll finish the job he asked for as cleanly as possible. They didn't know that they will be led into deception, again.
The CIA has been re-interpreting Rambaldi's prophecies, and all the interpretation says of the destruction of the earth. Irina told him that they're wrong and she showed him proof. Deciding to stage Irina's death is helpful because it will rid them of CIA's threat to her. She can also help in protecting Sydney. And Nadia.
'I wonder who's analyzing Irina's manuscripts…'
For this death, they planned on using real bullets but they settled with using blanks. It will hurt but it won't really kill.
He looked at the scope and found her sitting on the chair, the way they planned it. She's wearing a blue blouse and black slacks. Strands of hair are framing her face and she seems bored. As she pushed her hair away from her face, he saw diamonds sparkling in her wrist.
'Diamond bracelet… dying in style.' He thought, a bit amused. His finger hovered in the trigger. His heart is beating so hard that it's distracting him.
Sweat began to trickle down his back. Timing is critical. He doesn't want to make her blind, does he?
Seconds passed. Jack squeezed the trigger.
x0x-x0x-x0x-
(A couple of hours later)
"Are you okay?" Jack called out as he fixed the food on the table. He placed the shrimp dumplings on the bowl, the fried rice on the other and the egg rolls on the plate.
"I have a brig bruise in my head, but overall, I'm fine."
He went to the kitchen and took an ice pack from the fridge. They are in his safe house in Prague. Their performance is finished and the CIA enjoyed it. He had made them believe Irina is dead. Currently, they think that he's now burying her.
"Irina?" he entered the bedroom. She's not there.
"In the bathroom."
Jack knocked first before entering. He found Irina, covered only by a towel, blow drying her hair.
"Uh, for your bruise." He looked at her in the mirror as he showed her the ice pack.
Tense silence followed. They haven't resolved anything from that fight.
Irina glanced at him and then at his hands. "Thank you."
His eyes saw that, together with her bruised left temple, her left eye is swollen.
"I didn't hit your eye… did I?" Jack asked, alarmed. He approached her and gently touched the bruised part.
"No… I hit the glass table when I fell down. The medicine you gave me delayed the swelling, I guess." She winced when his fingers probed a painful spot. She turned off the hair dryer and faced him.
"You have a wound." A cut is visible above her left eyebrow.
He opened the medicine cabinet and took the first aid kit. Why didn't he notice it before?
'Must be because of all that fake blood I sprayed on her.'
Irina sighed, a bit desperate to turn the attention away from her. "Jack, I'm fine."
"Just be still. I'll be done in less than a minute."
His soul returns to him every time he's with her. Every time they talk, eat and sleep together, every time they fight and argue and then make up… he lets go a part of him. Yes, they had a past to mend and secrets to still reveal but they can go past that. He stopped thinking of her as Laura. For one thing, there was no Laura to begin with. And contrary to Sydney's belief, Laura ceased to exist after the first year of her parents' marriage.
They flirted with different alliances in the past thirty years and it always ended with Jack on the CIA's side and Irina on the other end of the spectrum.
"Are you done?" Irina asked impatiently.
Jack smoothed the bandage and set the scissors aside.
"Yeah, all done."
Irina looked at him in the eye. "Thank you." She took a deep breath. Their recent fight was her fault. He asked her a simple question, something from the past. She refused to answer, fearing that it might lead to questions about the twins. It took a few minutes baiting before the question and answer became a heated argument. Patience in debates is never their forte.
Should she apologize?
"Uh, I…" Irina trailed off. Jack raised a brow. Maybe later. "I need to get dressed."
Jack actually thought that she was going to apologize. He shrugged and turned to leave the bathroom. "Dinner's going to get cold."
Irina has a hard time apologizing to people. Even before.
He was on his way out the bedroom when Irina called him. He turned around and saw her standing in front of him.
"I'm sorry. For… shouting at you."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a deep and sincere kiss.
x0x-x0x-x0x-
She snuggled closer to the warmth of his skin as the feeling of safety encapsulated her. He's the only person who can lull her to a deep sleep and no one else.
A soft sigh escaped her lips as her eyelids fluttered close.
"You're not hungry?"
He slowly caressed her back. It pleased him to hear her purr when he touched a very sensitive part on her back.
"Dinner's cold." Her spine tingled when his fingers brushed up to her neck.
"I do have a microwave oven, you know."
Irina moved slightly and her breast rubbed against his chest. He groaned in pleasure and pulled her closer. When he did, he felt the scratches on his back, courtesy of Irina's nails.
He felt her lips on his shoulder. "I bit you."
"Well, I bit you too." He lowered his head and trailed soft kisses on her neck and on her shoulders. "I bit you here." He planted a kiss on a bite mark. "And here… and here…"
Jack rolled Irina on her back and started to brush his lips across her chest.
"I thought you're hungry." Irina laughingly teased and stroked his hair.
He crawled on top of her and kissed Irina on the lips. "Do you want to eat?" Jack asked after a few minutes.
She brushed away the hair on his face. "Yes." She replied and smiled at him.
He kissed her again and then rolled off the bed. He took one of the terry bathrobes and handed Irina the other.
She pursed her lips when she received the article of clothing.
"You're going to help in the reheating, dear."
She put on the robe and climbed out of the bed. "You want help in nuking food?"
Jack raised a brow, noting her use of the word 'nuke'. He once heard teenagers use it. He smiled at her. "Well, I want you with me. Is there something wrong with that?"