They drove to the warehouse where they were to meet their CIA contacts.  When they reached the building and got out of the car, Irina gave him a peck on the cheek.  "Let's go," she said.

Walking to the door, they took in their surroundings.  They were in what seemed to be the run-down part of the city.  Every building looked empty, and most likely was.  But, Jack thought, that could just be CIA precautions.  It was early morning and they could hear the noise from downtown Tokyo as they walked.  Meeting the door, Jack opened it and let Irina in before him.  They followed the directions they had been given and came upon a mini operations center.  It seemed a little much to Irina, but she said nothing.  An agent saw them and stood, walking to them.

"Agent Bristow, Ms. Derevko, I am Agent Watson.  We will be monitoring the mission from here and you will bring the artifact, whatever it is, back here."  He focused his attention directly on Irina.  "What exactly is this artifact?"

Jack was also interested in her answer.  He had no idea what it was the CIA wanted so badly.  She had kept relatively quiet about the mission the whole time they had been in Tokyo.  He focused on her, waiting for her answer.

She felt Watson's eyes on her, as well as Jack's.  They were both waiting for her reply.  "It is a Rambaldi manuscript—his study of the human body."  She heard Jack's sharp intake of breath and she refused to look at him.  "It's in a bank vault downtown," she continued.

So that's why she hadn't said what it was before, Jack thought.  Something like this could well put them out in front of Sloane in this whole Rambaldi mess.  If they had this manuscript in their possession, it would be a great advantage.  He was brought out of his thoughts when Watson began to talk.

"Okay.  Agent Bristow will accompany you into the bank vault and you will retrieve the manuscript.  Easy enough.  Now--"

"Not quite, Agent Watson," Irina interrupted.  "I chose this bank because of its tight security.  No one but the vault owner is allowed anywhere near the vault.  They won't let him back there, only me."

Watson let out an exasperated sigh.  He wasn't too sure he wanted Irina Derevko going to retrieve a Rambaldi manuscript by herself.  He knew what she was capable of, knew that only dental records could recognize William Vaughn when she was done with him.

Seeing the agent's internal conflict, Jack stepped in.  "I can assure you, she won't be going in without some sort of way for us to monitor things."  He pointed to Irina's necklace.  "This will be both our eyes and our ears while she is in the bank.  The earrings will allow her to hear us.  Trust me, Kendall would not have let her out of her cell without some way to watch her."  He was tying to sounds uninvolved—like a handler of an asset should be.  It was tough.

Blowing out yet another sigh, Watson looked relieved, like he was glad Jack had brought his worries into the open and not himself.  He had only met Irina Derevko minutes ago, but he was scared of her.  How could Bristow be around her for so long and not be frightened? he wondered.  He realized that both Jack and Irina were staring at him, waiting for him to say something.  He cleared his throat.  "Yes, well, that works out then."  He looked at Jack.  "I assume you will go to the bank and wait in the parking lot in order to monitor the situation?"

Jack nodded.  "Of course."

"Then, I respectfully request that some of my men accompany the two of you."  His eyes shifted down, looking at the ground, as if afraid Jack might say no.

"Fine," Irina agreed.  "But, we really should be going."

Watson called on a few other agents, making quick introductions.  He asked Jack if he would take a CIA van instead of the rental and he agreed.  Then, Jack, Irina and the other agents loaded into the van, Jack making sure he had a computer hooked up to the necklace and earrings.  The look on Irina's face told him she was thinking the same thing as him—how did Watson get to be in such a high position in the CIA?  He wasn't exactly the smartest or bravest cookie in the batch.  He shook his head of all thoughts except those needed for the mission, which wasn't many.

In the van, they went over the game plan.  Irina would enter the bank, get the manuscript and return to the van.  It was simple and didn't really require three other CIA agents, but Jack wanted to appease Watson.  He would monitor Irina from the van, watching and listening through her jewelry.  He didn't exactly know what the other three would do, but he also didn't really care.

Irina gave them directions to the bank and the driver parked the van in an underground lot next to it.  Jack gave her a reassuring smile as she stepped out of the van, secretly wishing she would hurry up so they could get away from the extra agents.  He alone had an earpiece, so what was their point anyway?  He was musing on this when he heard Irina in his ear.

"OK, Jack, I'm going in."

"Copy."  He turned the monitor on and was rewarded with a view of the inside of the bank.  Marshall's necklace had been a perfect choice.  He watched and listened as Irina made her way through the bank, first talking to a teller and then to someone who he assumed was the manager of the vaults.  His Japanese had never been all that great, but he understood enough of what was being said to know that she was being led to her vault.

She followed the manager down several flights of stairs into a small, circular room.  Her vault was on the other side of the lone door that was on the far side of the room.  The manager told her he would be waiting for her when she came back out and she proceeded to the door.  She entered her code and the door opened with a loud buzz.  Irina stepped into the vault, closing the door behind her.  She was surprised by what she saw.  "Jack!"

"What is it?"

"There's nothing here.  The vault is empty.  I haven't been here in years.  In fact, the only time I was here was to put the damn thing in here."

"What do you mean it isn't there?" he asked, making sure only she could hear him.  Obviously, he knew what she meant.  He could see that the vault was empty.  He believed that she hadn't been there in years, so where the hell was the stupid manuscript?  He was trying to come up with a plausible explanation when Irina swore.

"Sark," she spat.  He could see she was holding something.  He looked closely and could make out writing in neat, tiny letters: 'Better luck next time.'

"How?" Jack asked.

"I don't know.  When I left, he didn't know about this vault, but if he somehow learned about it, my guess would be he would have stopped at nothing to get that manuscript so he could offer it to Sloane."

He watched the monitor, thankful the other agents weren't paying attention to what was going on in the bank.  He saw Irina exit the vault and return to the manager, heard her launch into a conversation that began with "sumimasen ga…" (excuse me but…).  He watched as the man led her to what was presumably his office, saw him pull a file and give her sheet of paper, heard him say Sark's name.  He momentarily tuned out when he heard Sark's name, but was brought back in when Irina forcefully told the manager she had signed no such form.

The manager was frantically explaining that everything had looked to be in order when Sark had come bearing her signature on a form that temporarily signed the vault over to him until the day Irina came back to the bank herself.  He assured her that Sark had been the only one to access the room, as if that should make her feel better.

She left the manager's office and headed out of the bank.  She couldn't believe that Sark had found out about the vault; she had done her absolute best to keep it from him.  How did he find out?  She exited the bank and went straight for the van.  When she reached it, Jack opened the door and helped her in.  Neither said a word, they didn't need to, their looks were saying everything:  Irina asking if he believed her words, Jack assuring her that he did.

One of the agents interrupted, asking if she had retrieved what she had gone after.  She answered with a curt "no" and told the man to drive back to the warehouse.  Knowing not to mess with Irina Derevko, he complied.