Chapter 12 – The Fall
Notes: See Chapter 1.
[MOSCOW – early morning, 2 weeks later]
Two people—a man and a woman--are sitting across from each other at a café, reading the local papers. The man puts down the cigar he has been smoking and speaks first, in Russian. "Have you seen this morning's reports?"
The woman pauses for a second to sip her latte before replying. "Yes. I had not thought they would move so fast in shutting down the Alliance." She sighs. "This will change the field considerably now, with one less major player on the scene. But, it will also set us back for some time. The CIA now has all the Rambaldi technology we have been trying to acquire."
A few more minutes pass by before she speaks again. "Any news on Sark?"
"No. But I think it would be…prudent to consider him lost to the organization. If he had wanted to escape, he would have done so by now, by my estimation. I think he's cut a deal with the CIA to lead them to us, Irina." He stares fixedly at her. "You know it will only be a matter of time before Sydney, Jack Bristow and Michael Vaughn come for you."
He isn't sure if it was the light in the café or a trick of the mind, but for a brief moment he had thought that he had seen a flicker of sadness register in her eyes.
"Yes, I know. I know now that it was a mistake to send Sark and give him the choice of obtaining the File from either her or the CIA. Because he knows that Sydney is my only weakness. And by keeping her alive, she continues to make me…vulnerable." She fixes her brown eyed, steely gaze on Khasinau. "I should have had Sark terminate her. I didn't. And that's a lesson I don't intend to repeat a second time. If they come for me, I'll make sure it's the first and *last* time they try."
With that final, chilling tone, she rises from her seat, and calmly walks out of the café.
Notes: See Chapter 1.
[MOSCOW – early morning, 2 weeks later]
Two people—a man and a woman--are sitting across from each other at a café, reading the local papers. The man puts down the cigar he has been smoking and speaks first, in Russian. "Have you seen this morning's reports?"
The woman pauses for a second to sip her latte before replying. "Yes. I had not thought they would move so fast in shutting down the Alliance." She sighs. "This will change the field considerably now, with one less major player on the scene. But, it will also set us back for some time. The CIA now has all the Rambaldi technology we have been trying to acquire."
A few more minutes pass by before she speaks again. "Any news on Sark?"
"No. But I think it would be…prudent to consider him lost to the organization. If he had wanted to escape, he would have done so by now, by my estimation. I think he's cut a deal with the CIA to lead them to us, Irina." He stares fixedly at her. "You know it will only be a matter of time before Sydney, Jack Bristow and Michael Vaughn come for you."
He isn't sure if it was the light in the café or a trick of the mind, but for a brief moment he had thought that he had seen a flicker of sadness register in her eyes.
"Yes, I know. I know now that it was a mistake to send Sark and give him the choice of obtaining the File from either her or the CIA. Because he knows that Sydney is my only weakness. And by keeping her alive, she continues to make me…vulnerable." She fixes her brown eyed, steely gaze on Khasinau. "I should have had Sark terminate her. I didn't. And that's a lesson I don't intend to repeat a second time. If they come for me, I'll make sure it's the first and *last* time they try."
With that final, chilling tone, she rises from her seat, and calmly walks out of the café.