Author's Note: I realise this took ages to write- I got caught up in real life, then my keyboard broke (no doubt helped by the coffee that someone spilt on it…), then my muse just went and abandoned me! So I'm going to try and make do without it…
Oh yes, I have advice for other author's on this site: don't try and write several stories at once. I'm trying to write 4 at the moment, and I keep forgetting which one is which. I'm going to have to learn…
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"Cassandra. Why don't you start by telling us when you first began to suspect Arvin Sloane?" asked the man in front of Francie is a calm voice. No one had told Francie his name, and it didn't seem likely that he was going to volunteer it. Francie concentrated on everything she'd been told about interrogation, preparing herself to deliver the response that the CIA had told her to use. She cleared her throat.
"I was originally going to perform deskwork- be an analyst or something. But Arvin Sloane took me aside before I could start work. He informed me that I was to follow Agent Sydney Bristow. He told me that he didn't really suspect her, but her father's position in the company meant that she had to be under surveillance…"
"What do you mean "her father's position in the company meant that she had to be under surveillance"?" asked the man in a level voice. Francie looked up at him, but his face betrayed nothing. She gave a brief smile.
"That's what I asked him, actually. He told me that her father had worked in covert operations, and due to his high placement she would be the most obvious tool for blackmail," Francie explained. The man wrote a few notes on the notebook, and Francie struggled not to stare at the pen. She longed to know what was written there, but the man kept it hidden. He probably hadn't written it in English anyway. Finally he nodded for her to continue.
"Well, anyway, I accepted the job and was placed into the same graduate school as Sydney. I met her, made friends with her, even became her flatmate, the whole time concealing the fact that I was also working for them."
"Them?"
"I was instructed not to reveal the name of my company to anybody. I guess it's just habit now."
"Continue."
"There was nothing to suggest that Sydney wasn't loyal to her work, and in the years I worked with her I began to wonder why I was there. I'd been told that it was abnormal for anyone to spend so much time undercover. However…"
"Yes?"
"During the last year I noticed…things. Abnormalities, discrepancies, and I approached Sloane about it. He brushed me off, saying it was just normal glitches from the increased workload the company had been doing and not to worry about it. I tried to do as he said, but the discrepancies increased."
"What kinds of discrepancies?"
"Little things at first, but then they increased. My reports were altered a few times, made to incriminate Sydney. And the mission where Sloane sent assassins after her to try and flush her out. He was determined that the mole was Sydney, even though there was no evidence to suggest so and plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise."
"So you met with Sloane again?"
"Yes. I told him of some of my suspicions."
"And what did he say?"
"He said that I had spent too much time undercover, than I was absorbing into my role. After that he refused to listen to anything I said. So I met with Agent Bristow."
"Jack Bristow?"
"Yes. I told him everything I'd noticed, and he informed me that he'd been noticing the same kinds of things. I didn't want to accept it at first, but all evidence said that Sloane had been compromised."
"When did this occur?"
"About a month ago. I met with Jack Bristow two times afterwards, and I think our conversations were recorded. Somehow Sloane knew that we'd found him out. Then things began to escalate. I think the death of his wife affected him more than he'd let on, and he was desperate to save himself. I don't know. So he tried to frame Sydney."
"…And?"
"And I learnt later that he'd sent out a message to all the other SD cells that he'd found out the identity of the mole and had them in custody. But the next day we found out that he'd killed himself. We found evidence of his betrayal in his files afterwards, but didn't inform many people inside SD-6."
"…All right, Cassandra, we're going to stop now. We need to go over a few things- it wont take long. Someone will be with you shortly," the man said, then closed his notebook. Francie hadn't noticed until after she'd finished just how much he'd written down. The man walked over to a panel in the wall, pushed it slightly and removed a tape. Francie wasn't surprised; Weiss had told her that the conversation would be recorded. She leaned back in her seat and watched the man left. Then she buried her head in her hands.
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Author's Note: I know this was really short, and I said in the previous chapter that the chapters would be longer now, but I have the worst case of writers block ever. Any suggestions on how I can fix this would be GREATLY appreciated. So would reviews, but I guess you already know that. Thank you for all your support, and for sticking with this story- I know it's getting rather long. The end is in sight (sighs in relief.)