Chapter 7

Irina watched him put the shirt back on with a tinge of regret. She sighed and turned to shift the few pieces of furniture in the room so that they would be more comfortable. She knew what would be coming next, and was not looking forward to it. She grimaced to herself. You could almost set a watch by Jack's analysis.

"Irina?" said Jack, on cue. He turned to her. Several questions had been nagging him since Sloane had first captured them. "Irina, how did you know that Sloane would walk through that door?"

Irina paused, considering her answer. She was entering dangerous territory, especially fraught because their relationship was still so fragile. Choosing her words carefully, she replied, "There are, to my knowledge, only two people in the world who fully understand the scope of Milo Rambaldi's work. One of them is Arvin Sloane. The other one," she looked directly at Jack, "is me."

"There are gaps in what Arvin knows, as there are gaps in what I know. I am sure that Arvin believes that I could help him fill in his gaps, and help him achieve his objectives. Since the fall of the Alliance, I have been expecting Sloane to consolidate his position. When you told me of the single intel source for the mission, I believed it was planted." She shrugged her shoulders. "It was not a huge leap from there to conclude that I was the objective."

"What if Sloane had captured you?" queried Jack, trying to digest what she had just told him.

"Arvin Sloane, with complete Rambaldi knowledge, would be a very dangerous man."

Jack frowned. "If the CIA had known this, they wouldn't have sent you."

"If the CIA had known, they would have demanded the information for themselves. Information I'm not inclined to share." She locked eyes with Jack. "With anyone."

Jack's eyes narrowed. "What do you know that you're not telling us?"

"It's not up for discussion Jack. Sorry."

"Then what are you going to do with the information you have?" he growled, exasperated.

"Also not up for discussion," she responded, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"That's not good enough," Jack snarled back.

"It will have to be," she said in a steely voice. Jack recognized the tone, and knew from long experience that he would get nothing further from her.

"Fine," he said coldly. Suddenly he felt tired. From the jetlag, from the adrenaline rush of the escape, from the run, from fencing with this woman who he knew yet didn't understand. Who he desired yet couldn't have. "We need to rest," he said curtly. "We'll take turns - you first."

Irina nodded in agreement, relieved to have the cross-examination ended, but sorry to have expended what little good will she had accrued. Silently she organized herself on the mattress, turning away from him to face the wall.

As he watched her curl up and quickly drop into sleep, Jack marveled that a woman of Irina's complexity could look so innocent at rest. For the thousandth time, he tried to guess her long-term strategy. For the thousandth time, he concluded that he didn't have a clue. One thing was now clear, though - keeping her out of Sloane's hands and returning her back safely to the US were now of paramount importance.

He scrutinized her closely. He hadn't been able to do that in person since her return. Watching her sleep on the monitors and sitting next to her while she did it in person were very different things. He could hear her slow, even breathing. He could smell her scent. The whole being of the room transformed when she was in it, he thought to himself. He leant over to caress her, then snatched his hand back as he realized what he was doing. His face burned. Abruptly, he stood up and walked across the room.