Chapter 5 Mystery
Title: Once Again
Author: Tasha
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure
Summary: J/I Takes place after Endgame
Disclaimer: I do not own Alias and am not making any money from this fic.
Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long since I updated. A major case of writer's block, two trips out-of-town without Internet access, and then my shock from the season finale have left me with not much to write. I hope you guys like this chapter and forgive me for not updating forever.

Barely five minutes after Agent Vaughn had left his office, Jack was interrupted again by a knock on his office door.

"Come in," his voice was commanding.

"Director Bristow, London has just contacted us. An enemy agent walked into the American embassy yesterday." His secretary's soft voice carried from the doorway.

Annoyance visible on his face, Jack raised his eyebrows at the young woman. "How is this relevant to me?"

"But…Mr. Bristow…" she spoke hesitantly now.

"Christy, can you not see I am busy?"

From her expression, he saw she didn't. "Mr. Bristow, she says she will only talk to you. They've transferred her to the holding cells in this building."

Jack kept his usual poker face, but mentally his brain began to calculate. "Who exactly is this person?"

"She won't give us a name, but says she is prepared to make a full report if you talk to her."

"What exactly do we know about this agent?" Jack asked wearily.

"London performed a face recognition check and I have the results…ah, I had the results. Just one second, I think I left what they sent on my desk. Sorry," she laughed.

Christy hurried out of the office, blonde ponytail swinging. Jack wondered, idly, how someone so intelligent saw the need to act like she had left her brain at home. Christy Harrow had an IQ of 136 and above-average skills in almost all areas. All of her test results had been forwarded to him following her hiring. Yet, she seemed to live up to her cliched reputation as a blonde. She came back into the room before Jack could begin to reflect on her career choice.

"Here you are, Mr. Bristow. If you don't need anything else, I'll be going." Her gaze told him exactly what she was offering. Toying with the idea of telling her that he was not interested in anything she had to offer, he waved her away. While Christy was a very pretty girl, Jack had no respect for any woman who tried to hide her intelligence, much less desire for any relationship.

He reached for the folder and opened it, any thoughts of amorous secretaries leaving his mind. His gaze flicked over the picture and he froze.

"Angela?" He spoke the name out loud, in a low, amazed tone. Jack forced himself to look back at the clear, colour photo that was situated at the top of the report. It wasn't until he let his breath out in a whoosh that he realized he had been holding it.

The woman in the picture wasn't Angela. She looked like her, yes. She had the same light blonde hair, the same cool grey eyes and the same diamond-shaped face. But this woman's nose was wider, more turned-up and her cheekbones more prominent, perhaps because she was thin. Logically, this woman could not be Angela, simply because Angela would be in her 50's and this woman, as haggard as she looked, could only be in her late thirties. With each glance at the picture, he realized that the agent had only a passing resemblance to Angela Gregory. He pushed the thought aside, dismissing it.

Jack read the single sheet of paper that accompanied the photo. The face recognition program had not provided a real name, only several aliases. Clara Danner-Mitchell, Simone Remillard and Giovanna de Marco had proved not to exist, although that did not surprise Jack. If this agent had refused to tell the CIA her name, it meant that she had no records.

"Jesus, were the agents that debriefed her rookies or just incompetent?" he asked himself aloud. Right now, the CIA did not even know her name, let alone her reasons for turning herself in or where her loyalties lay.

It was intriguing, he thought, as he stood up and left the office. Jack walked briskly through the Ops Centre and down to subfloor 5, where the prisoner was being held.

Holding up his badge, Jack spoke to the security guard. "I would like to have access to the detainee that was sent here yesterday from London."

"Certainly, Director Bristow," the young agent pressed several codes and the steel door in front of them swung forward with a grinding sound. "Go ahead. Her's is the first cell on the right."

Jack nodded brusquely to the agent and walked under the opened door, hearing it clang shut behind him. He walked down the narrow corridor, the only sound that of his footsteps and tried not to remember how many times he had walked down these halls when Irina had been a prisoner here. He almost expected to see her waiting in the cell. He almost wanted her to be.

Instead of Irina Derevko in the glass cell, he saw a thin blonde woman, facing toward the wall. She was lying stretched out on her steel bed, motionless. He watched her turn and saw her eyelids lift, revealing emotionless grey pupils. She moved into a sitting position and off the bed as if it was the ultimate effort. The woman walked toward the glass, slowly, never breaking eye contact with Jack.

"Director Bristow," she stated. Jack was strangely unnerved by the stare she gave him. He was used to expressionless faces, eyes that gave nothing away but this woman seemed to be strangely emotionless, rather than very good at hiding them.

"Don't you recognize me?" she asked slowly, painstakingly.

Jack gave her his iciest glare. "I don't have time to play games. You can either tell me everything you know or you can rot in here for the rest of your life. It's your choice."

The woman's face twisted into what might have been called a smile, except for the emptiness of her eyes. "But Jack, I'm your daughter."



Author's Note: I know the story has been in need of a major plot twist, so there you go. The next chapter will follow closely on the heels of this one, because it would just be cruel to leave you guys hanging like this. As always, reviews are really appreciated.