Chapter 27: A New Alliance Member

"Mr. Sark!" Sloan said, his surprise, quickly turned into anger. "No one informed me that you were in the building, I would have made sure you had a better reception." Sloan said frostily narrowing his eyes. The double meaning to the statement was clear; if Sloan had known that Sark was in the building he would have made it a much harder entry. Ever the consummate professional, Sloan stood up and held out a hand. Just seconds before Sloan retracted it, Sark shook it sending him a clear message. Though Sark was in enemy territory, Sark still had the upper hand.

Already seated around the table were Marshall, Jack, and Dixon. Marshall sat with his mouth open and his eyes glued to Sark. Jack looked as if having Sark sit in on a meeting was nothing out of the ordinary and Dixon looked like he was ready to pull out his gun and shoot Sark if he made the wrong move.

"Mmmister Sark." Marshall stuttered in his excitement. "Nnnnow that I have you hhhere, I was hoping you would let me know how you imbedded that disk with an evolving worm program." Marshall was referring to the disk that Sark had send with instructions for Sark and Sydney's first mission together.

"Marshall? Isn't it?" At Marshall's emphatic affirmative nod Sark continued. "If I told you, then I'd have to kill you." Sark said with a deadpan face.

Marshal gulped and turned pale with fear.

"It was a joke." Sark explained.

"Oh, joke, yeah. Ha! Ha!" Marshall expelled a sigh of relief and dropped the subject.

"Before I start the meeting, there is something I need to do." Sloan said with a sly smile. He pushed a button on his desk and the room was flooded with a dozen men wearing sever black suites and ties that denoted them as security personnel. "Checkmate Mr. Sark." Sloan said.

"I believe the correct term is check, Arvin. Checkmate would mean that I had no more moves." Sark said devoid of fear. He stood up and changed the monitor to view surveillance camera footage. The monitor showed a dozen men tied up and gagged.

"Did you really think I would come here unprotected?" Sark said glibly.

"Do you think that just because you have some of my men, I'm going to let you go free? My organization doesn't cooperate with kidnappers or terrorists." Sloan replied still tasting victory.

"You disappoint me Arvin, look closer." Sark magnified the picture so that a person's face filled the monitor. Arvin's reaction was immediate. He stood up and grabbed the ID of the nearest agent and looked at it. Sloan angrily threw the tag on the table, which slid within reach of Sydney. She picked it up and looked at it. Instead of the normal SD-6 written on the top of the ID, it said SD-1.

Sydney was confused, why was Sark under the protection of SD-1? She looked to Sark for explanations who instead of explaining, nodded to his men giving them the signal to leave the room.

"I understand that it will be difficult to set aside previous misconceptions you have about me and The Man." Sark said for the benefit of those sitting at the table. "What you know about The Man was incorrect information fed to you by the enemies of the United States. We in fact work for a different branch of the same organization." Sark's wording was brilliant. For the members that knew the truth about SD-6 it took on a different meaning then for those who still thought they were working for the CIA.

There was chaos in the room; each person had their own questions that needed to be answered. Sark waited until the room was quiet again and then continued.

"As you all know, due to the covertness of the SD divisions, we sometimes overlap in jurisdictions. When our two groups overlapped several months ago our division was given the information that you were the enemy and vice versa. It has since come to our knowledge that we are in fact working for the same organization." Sark silently dared Sloan to disagree, but Sloan remained silent.

"We saw a video of you shooting the leader of FTL. Sydney and I were there when you made a deal with K-directorate that resulted in the death of their leader. The CIA would never sanction that kind of action." Dixon said bluntly.

"You're right Mr. Dixon, the CIA wouldn't. Though I was involved with the elimination of FTL's director, Quan Li, it wasn't an execution. What the cameras didn't show was that Quan Li had given the go ahead on a mission that would release an Ebola like virus in Washington D.C. He wouldn't rescind the order forcing me to kill him allowing me to deal with his successor and cancel the mission." Sark explained.

"Then how do you explain the death of Ilyich Ivankov, the head of K- Directorate?" Dixon asked believing Sark's explaination.

"I went undercover as an assassin for hire when we discovered that someone within K-Directorate was about to launch a coup from within. We figured out that it was Levro Kessar, Ivankov's successor, when he approached me a week after wanting me to stage Ivankov's death. Since I didn't want to kill him myself, I hired Ivankov's bodyguard to do it. Essentially, Ivankov was already a dead man, only this way we were able to get a hold inside K-Directorate." When Sark finished, Dixon and Marshall were completely convinced. Sydney knew something was up but she remained quiet.

"Now I understand why the CIA didn't respond when I called for help when were infiltrated." Dixon said shaking his head. "They must have thought it had to be an error since they knew that a mission was in progress."

"To insure that something like that will never happen again, we have decided to swap one of our top operatives with one of yours."

"I never agreed to anything of the sort. Contrary to your belief that you run this section, it is I who am the director and I will not let you take any of my operatives!" Sloan said angrily hitting the table. "This meeting is over!" He concluded, walking out of the conference room and into his office. Jack followed him closing the door behind him.

"Sloan, what the hell is going on?" Jack demanded.

"We had a surprise visit from The Man last night at an Alliance meeting." Sloan explained. "Jack, The Man is your wife, Irina Derevko."

"What?" Jack said pretending to be surprised. He already knew that Irina was The Man, since Sydney's capture and release.

"That's not all." Sloan said grimly, telling Jack in detail what happened at the meeting.

All 10 Alliance members were seated at the conference table when Irina walked into the room.

"Good evening gentleman." Said Irina sitting down in a chair that her bodyguard pulled out for her at the head of the table.

"How dare you come in here!" Spluttered an Alliance member. He gestured to his bodyguard to remove her only to find that his bodyguard wasn't behind him but someone else. The other members found that their bodyguards weren't in the room either.

"You all know me as The Man, but as you see, I'm a women. A woman with the means to destroy you." The ten replacement bodyguards each pulled out a gun and primed it. "But if I wanted you dead, it would have already been done. Mr. Sark!" Irina called over her shoulder.

"Gentlemen, the terms of the agreement are clear. Ms. Derevko will joined the Alliance when she receives a seat as a full Alliance member as well as one other seat for the person of her choosing." He passed out legal documents for each of the members to sign.

"That's outrageous, I wont stand for this!" Said an Alliance member. The man standing behind him aimed his gun at the member's head. Before he pulled the trigger, Irina put up her hand stopping him. There are presently eleven members from the original twelve and twelve sects. I don't see a problem."

"But you want 2 seats, that would add up to thirteen." Said a member.

"Ah yes." She nods and a member at the end of the table is shot in the head. He is removed from the table quickly and the blood and brains wiped away. "Now there are ten. I know his passing won't be a great loss since you scheduled his execution days ago for selling Rembaldi artifacts to K- Directorate, artifact in which I now have. Besides, I've already taken over SD-1 to saved you the trouble." Irina said nonchalantly.

A brave member spoke up. "Though you do present a persuasive case, before I agree to your induction into the Alliance I would like to know who you'll pick for the extra seat."

Another member chimed in. "I would agree to your induction into the Alliance on the condition that the members will have the right to vote on your choice for the additional seat."

"That is agreeable to me only if Mr. Sark is allowed to go wherever he pleases." Irina bargained.

"What do you mean? Isn't he the person you want in the second seat?" Said a confused member.

"Mr. Sark isn't interested in a seat within the Alliance. He's a free agent and beholden, not even to me. He has his own resources separate from my own. Though not a member, I want cleared him to have access to other sections." Irina explained.

"Why do you want to make it a condition when you know that he is already protected, none of the members would act against him knowing that his death would cause problems for all of us?" Asked a member referring to the damaging information Sark had retrieved from Milan.

"Having universal access and keeping him protected are two different things. You can either let him in when he shows up or expend valuable resources fighting him." Irina explained looking at Sloan who had been silent the entire meeting.

"I agree to the deal and would like to vote on your induction." Said a member thinking that Irina was being a fool for asking for a privilege that would have come anyways.

Each of the members pressed a button on their chair. The vote came up unanimously in favor of Irina joining the Alliance.

"Thank you gentleman, now I would like to put in Jack Bristow's name for the remaining seat."

Jack interrupted Sloan's narrative of last nights meeting. "Me? She knows that I'll destroy her the minute I get the chance!"

"She's up to something Jack, I wish I knew what it was." Sloan said. "Maybe she wants to throw the others off by making you their focus. Some of the members believe that you were behind her the entire way."

"Me? They shouldn't underestimate her, she would never be someone's puppet." He changed the subject. "Why didn't she vote in Khasinau? He's a more logical choice." Jack asked knowing that Alexander Khasinau worked and was completely loyal to Irina.

"I don't know." Sloan said thoughtfully. "The vote will be held tomorrow and I will vote for your placement in the Alliance."

"Do you think that they'll vote me in?" Jack asked curious.

"I've talked to 2 members who have told me that they will vote the way I will." Sloan replied. "I have a meeting with a third in an hour. Anything you want him to know?"

"If I get in, I will do everything in my power to destroy her." Said Jack determinedly.

"We wont be able to reach her unless we destroy Sark first." Sloan said thoughtfully.

"No, Sark is too useful to us. What I've found out about him is that he has contacts everywhere. It doesn't make sense, why would Irina made it a point that she is separating herself from Sark with a warning that he is as strong as her?"

"Maybe because she wants to split her resources and share only half with the Alliance?" Sloan guessed.

"I don't think so, I think Irina knows what Sark's agenda is and it's not going to be to strengthen the Alliance."

"You mean you think that Sark's objective is going to bring us down?" Sloan said as if it was an unbelievable thought.

"If he'd wanted that, he would have made sure that no member left last nights meeting alive. He wants something else and I'm going to find what it is." Jack said darkly.