Jack
Blood roared in Jack's ears. Everything he had forced himself to believe over the past 20 years had been turned upside down. He found it difficult to breathe. He strained against his guards, wanting to shout out questions to her, but Cuvee got there first.
"Odd way to show your love," Cuvee sneered. "Stealing secrets from him and getting him locked into prison for 6 months! With lovers like you, who needs enemies?"
Irina flinched, but seemed to gather herself together. Instead of responding to Cuvee, she looked directly at Jack, pleading for understanding with her eyes. The room seemed to become smaller - just the two of them together, going back in time.
"It began as a mission. I was so proud to be selected. I never doubted that what I was doing was right, that America was the enemy of my people. I was handpicked, hand-trained by Cuvee. There were several possible targets, but you were the agent with the most potential."
"Our first few "accidental" meetings proceeded just as planned. They went well, and we all agreed that I would focus my efforts on seducing you."
She hesitated. "And then you seduced me."
Jack swallowed, remembering their first night together. They had decided to go out for Chinese food after studying at the library. The restaurant had been full, so Jack had suggested eating takeout back at his apartment. He did not remember much of the meal, but remembered very clearly the night that followed. Wild with passion. Exploring every part of her body. They had finally fallen into an exhausted slumber at dawn.
"That was the beginning of the end. Cuvee congratulated me on so totally duping you. All I could think about was how soon we could be together again. With each successive meeting, I slipped further and further into the abyss. As soon as we would part, my eyes would yearn for your smile, my ears for your laugh, my body for your touch. I told Cuvee that I had you completely fooled. But I knew that I was the fool, and that one day I would pay."
Irina
Irina's eyes welled up with tears. She paused to recover herself - she could not show weakness to Cuvee. She looked across at Jack, but his face was shuttered. Please let him believe me, she thought. It had not been her plan for him to find out so soon. She had hoped to, over time, rebuild some trust before opening up his old wounds. But she had no choice now.
"Ahem," interjected S&G. "Perhaps we could return to Bristow?"
"Wait," snarled Cuvee. "She's lying. She betrayed him for years." Turning to Irina, he said, "Tell him."
Irina paused. She saw the flash of pain across Jack's face. He had been so committed to what he had been doing. She could still feel the drug's pull, but she no longer fought it. Now that she had started, she knew she needed to finish. She might never get another chance. She looked across at him again.
She took a deep breath, and resumed, "Soon, I was being pressed to provide intelligence on your work with Project Christmas. They were expecting photos of your briefcase contents, taped conversations of your phone calls. In their wildest dreams they could not have hoped for what really happened - that at night, in bed, we would talk about your work together. That you needed someone to act as a sounding board, someone you could absolutely trust. Me."
"I was sickened by the thought of betraying you as absolutely as you trusted me. I resisted for a while, saying that you were too careful to bring information home. Occasionally I would provide them with intelligence which had been gathered from other sources, not from you."
She sighed. "But in those days, part of the recruitment process for deep undercover agents was to ensure that sufficient family remained at home to ensure the loyalty of the agent. Too many had gone native - the organization knew how to deal with that problem. My parents had both died when I was in my teens. I had a younger sister that I had almost raised myself. My handler started bringing pictures of her to our meetings. The message was clear. Once Sydney was born, of course, he would just bring surveillance photos of Sydney."
She saw Jack's eyes flash. He had been unaware of the danger Sydney had been in every day of her young life.
"And so I began to provide regular updates on Project Christmas. Moscow was gratified. It was a very tightly controlled project, and I was the only source they had. What they could not realize, because they had no way to validate the intelligence, was that the information I fed to them was bad - mostly taking them down the dead ends that you had already investigated and discarded. By that point, I knew almost as much about the project as you did. I could create very credible intelligence which did not hurt the project at all."
"Jack, I did what I could to protect Sydney. I did not betray you."
Jack
Jack looked at the floor. He could not meet her eyes. She was lying. He did not know how she had been able to fight the serum, but she had. When the CIA had imprisoned him they showed him intercepts from Irina. The intelligence she had provided had been the most up-to-date, damaging information possible to leak to Moscow. His throat tightened in despair. It was all a lie.
Blood roared in Jack's ears. Everything he had forced himself to believe over the past 20 years had been turned upside down. He found it difficult to breathe. He strained against his guards, wanting to shout out questions to her, but Cuvee got there first.
"Odd way to show your love," Cuvee sneered. "Stealing secrets from him and getting him locked into prison for 6 months! With lovers like you, who needs enemies?"
Irina flinched, but seemed to gather herself together. Instead of responding to Cuvee, she looked directly at Jack, pleading for understanding with her eyes. The room seemed to become smaller - just the two of them together, going back in time.
"It began as a mission. I was so proud to be selected. I never doubted that what I was doing was right, that America was the enemy of my people. I was handpicked, hand-trained by Cuvee. There were several possible targets, but you were the agent with the most potential."
"Our first few "accidental" meetings proceeded just as planned. They went well, and we all agreed that I would focus my efforts on seducing you."
She hesitated. "And then you seduced me."
Jack swallowed, remembering their first night together. They had decided to go out for Chinese food after studying at the library. The restaurant had been full, so Jack had suggested eating takeout back at his apartment. He did not remember much of the meal, but remembered very clearly the night that followed. Wild with passion. Exploring every part of her body. They had finally fallen into an exhausted slumber at dawn.
"That was the beginning of the end. Cuvee congratulated me on so totally duping you. All I could think about was how soon we could be together again. With each successive meeting, I slipped further and further into the abyss. As soon as we would part, my eyes would yearn for your smile, my ears for your laugh, my body for your touch. I told Cuvee that I had you completely fooled. But I knew that I was the fool, and that one day I would pay."
Irina
Irina's eyes welled up with tears. She paused to recover herself - she could not show weakness to Cuvee. She looked across at Jack, but his face was shuttered. Please let him believe me, she thought. It had not been her plan for him to find out so soon. She had hoped to, over time, rebuild some trust before opening up his old wounds. But she had no choice now.
"Ahem," interjected S&G. "Perhaps we could return to Bristow?"
"Wait," snarled Cuvee. "She's lying. She betrayed him for years." Turning to Irina, he said, "Tell him."
Irina paused. She saw the flash of pain across Jack's face. He had been so committed to what he had been doing. She could still feel the drug's pull, but she no longer fought it. Now that she had started, she knew she needed to finish. She might never get another chance. She looked across at him again.
She took a deep breath, and resumed, "Soon, I was being pressed to provide intelligence on your work with Project Christmas. They were expecting photos of your briefcase contents, taped conversations of your phone calls. In their wildest dreams they could not have hoped for what really happened - that at night, in bed, we would talk about your work together. That you needed someone to act as a sounding board, someone you could absolutely trust. Me."
"I was sickened by the thought of betraying you as absolutely as you trusted me. I resisted for a while, saying that you were too careful to bring information home. Occasionally I would provide them with intelligence which had been gathered from other sources, not from you."
She sighed. "But in those days, part of the recruitment process for deep undercover agents was to ensure that sufficient family remained at home to ensure the loyalty of the agent. Too many had gone native - the organization knew how to deal with that problem. My parents had both died when I was in my teens. I had a younger sister that I had almost raised myself. My handler started bringing pictures of her to our meetings. The message was clear. Once Sydney was born, of course, he would just bring surveillance photos of Sydney."
She saw Jack's eyes flash. He had been unaware of the danger Sydney had been in every day of her young life.
"And so I began to provide regular updates on Project Christmas. Moscow was gratified. It was a very tightly controlled project, and I was the only source they had. What they could not realize, because they had no way to validate the intelligence, was that the information I fed to them was bad - mostly taking them down the dead ends that you had already investigated and discarded. By that point, I knew almost as much about the project as you did. I could create very credible intelligence which did not hurt the project at all."
"Jack, I did what I could to protect Sydney. I did not betray you."
Jack
Jack looked at the floor. He could not meet her eyes. She was lying. He did not know how she had been able to fight the serum, but she had. When the CIA had imprisoned him they showed him intercepts from Irina. The intelligence she had provided had been the most up-to-date, damaging information possible to leak to Moscow. His throat tightened in despair. It was all a lie.