Chapter Three: Make Your Move
Irina had been a little skeptical when Sydney had shown up at her LA headquarters with the news that Michael Vaughn was in.
"It only took you one meeting to convince him?" Irina asked unbelievingly.
"I can be quite persuasive, Mother."
Irina raised her eyebrows at the satisfaction in her daughter's voice. Well, well. She'd been a little afraid that her daughter didn't have the stomach for the kind of work she was in for, but well, if she could take such pleasure in manipulating the man she claimed to love⦠"I'm sure you can be," she said, regarding her daughter from across the mahogany desk. "But Sydney, I killed the man's father."
Sydney looked away as she dropped into the leather chair facing her mother. Ah, Irina thought. So maybe the girl did have a heart, after all. A definite liability in their kind of business. "You should have seen him, Mother," Sydney said, her voice soft. "I've never seen him like that before. I don't think he'd showered since the CIA let him go, he'd been drinking--" she shook her head as if the image had been too much for her. "I-- I played on that a little," she confessed. "All the guilt, all the sadness he felt-- I played on that. Made him angry, instead. You gave the CIA most of your adult life and blah blah blah."
"That's good." Really, Irina was impressed. She'd underestimated her daughter in more ways than one, to be sure.
"That's what finally convinced him." Sydney looked absolutely sick with herself. Irina would have faulted her for it, but she supposed she could allow the girl one weakness. Michael Vaughn could be that weakness. "I told him-- I said, It wasn't personal when she killed your father, Michael. Do you understand that? He died because he was CIA."
Irina raised her eyebrows. Yes, her daughter was very good, indeed.
"After that, I think I did him some good." Irina had to smile. So concerned with her lover's well being, even after she'd completely played with his emotions. It was touching, really. "I got him in the shower, got him to shave. He didn't have any food in the house, so I went shopping, made him dinner, some coffee. Cleaned his place up. I stayed the night, and it was the best--"
"Sex?" Irina interjected, arching one eyebrow.
Sydney shot her a dirty look. "Well, that was good, too," she said dryly. "But I was going to say, the best night's sleep I've had in a long time."
Irina rose from her chair, circling the desk to stand behind her daughter, massaging the girl's shoulders. "Because your double life is almost over, darling."
Sydney looked up, offering her a wan half smile. "Listen, I have to go."
Irina squeezed her shoulder. "Back to your lover?"
"No." Irina found the expression on Sydney's face strange-- puzzled, almost. "I have a meeting with Sloane."
Almost without knowing it, Irina's grip tightened on her daughter's shoulders. "Surely you don't intend to stay with SD-6 now."
Sydney looked up at her, smiling another of those odd half-smiles. "You don't need someone working on the inside there?"
Irina frowned. "No. I need you to be available to work for me at all times, not just when you get a break from doing Arvin Sloane's bidding."
"Of course," Sydney said quickly. "I just--"
"And your father-- God, Sydney, do you think I need you seeing that man on a daily basis?"
"Of course not," Sydney said, looking down. "I wasn't thinking, Mother. I'm sorry."
Irina gave her daughter's shoulders one last squeeze before releasing her from her grip. "Good girl," she said crisply. "But Sydney, I need you to stay on your toes, I can't have any more lapses in judgment like that."
"I understand, Mother." Sydney spun the chair around to face her, and Irina wasn't sure she liked the look in her eyes. Pleading. Weak. "You're sure you can keep me safe from Arvin Sloane?"
Irina snorted. Surely this girl didn't underestimate her that much. "Please. By this time tomorrow, we'll be halfway around the world. He'll never find you. As long as you do as I say, of course."
Sydney nodded, and Irina smiled as some of the steely resolve returned to her daughter's eyes. There. That was her girl.
"Mom," Sydney said, sounding strangely hesitant.
Irina raised one eyebrow. "Yes, darling."
Sydney took a deep breath before speaking. "Part of the reason I wanted to stay on at SD-6--"
"Out of the question," Irina snapped. God, hadn't this girl any brains at all?
"No, I know," Sydney said hastily. "I just-- I really want to bring SD-6 down, Mom." Her eyes filled with an anger so cold it startled Irina a little. "I want Sloane to suffer for all he's done to me."
Irina stared at her for a long moment. Well. It seemed she had underestimated her daughter again.
If such hatred existed in her heart, there was no telling what she was capable of.
