"What didn't you handle, 'very well'?" Sydney asked her grandfather, as her mind returned to the present and the comment her grandfather had just made.
"His getting arrested and the publicity that came with it. I suppose if it wasn't for Sean the arrest would have been just another student protest, but because of Sean it made it more sensational."
"What were the charges?" Sydney asked.
"Let's see," Don said remembering back thirty-five years. "If I remember right, there was breaking and entering, unlawful trespassing, malicious destruction of private property and, conspiracy to overthrow the government." He looked over at Sydney and said, "I think that covers it."
Sydney's eyes grew a bit at the list of charges. "Wow! What happened?"
Don gave a sarcastic laugh. "You don't really think he'd tell me, do you?"
Then he became serious and told her, "I don't know the details, but he belonged to this group that called themselves The Student Libertarian Movement. There was a big anti-war protest downtown. It was November of 68. Jon and some of the other protesters broke into a government office while the protest march was going on. They broke up some furniture and destroyed some documents."
"Apparently the police had gotten wind that there might be a problem like that. It was almost as though they were laying in wait for them. Jon and the leader of the group were caught and thrown in jail. I didn't hear about the arrest until three days later when that reporter came to try and interview me."
"I went down to the jail and bailed him out. He was suspended from the University for the rest of the semester. Part of his bail agreement required that he come back and stay here, until his trial."
Don paused as he thought about those days so many years ago. It was his chance to make things right with his son, but that's not how things turned out. He continued with his story. "I brought him home and he went right back to his old ways. He locked himself in his room and would only come out to talk to his lawyer or to use the phone. I don't know who he was trying to call, but he would be awfully upset because whoever he was calling was not taking his call."
Don may not have known who he was calling, but Sydney had a pretty good idea that it was is CIA handler. She also, rightly assumed, that the CIA was distancing themselves from him. The minute he was arrested, he was on his own. It's just that he was too inexperienced to know this, but he was about to find out.
What Sydney didn't know was that it was information that Jack had supplied to his CIA handler that alerted the police to the break-in. The CIA was after Ken Brady, the leader of the SLM. Breaking into a government office was the best way of getting him off the college campus. The fact that Jack got caught was not their concern. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your pawn to protect the king.
"When I asked him who he was trying to call," Don continued, "he told me it was none of my business." At this point Don stood up and started to pace the porch.
"I guess, I just should have left him alone like he asked, but I felt a responsibility to straighten him out. I kept demanding that he tell me why he got involved with that group. Then I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life." Don looked down at the ground and shaking his head he told Sydney, "I brought Sean into the argument."
Don stopped his pacing and leaned against the porch rail. "I told him he was disgracing his brother's memory by associating with the SLM. I told him that Sean would be ashamed of him for making such a mess out of his life."
"There were only two occasions that I have ever seen your father truly angry. Once was when I said something about your mother and the other was when I accused him of betraying his brothers memory."
"I'll never forget the look he gave me. His eyes became so dark." It gave Don a chill to remember that conversation and what happened next.
"Sean! Sean!" Jack screamed at his father. "That's all anyone around here ever cared about. Well I'm sorry he was the one who died and not me, but there's not a whole hell of a lot I can do about that, is there? And don't think Sean died for any worthy cause, because he didn't. We have no business over there. It's not our fight. Sean did died for nothing."
"When he said that, I don't know what happened, but I slapped him. I slapped him so hard that he fell to the ground." Don looked at Sydney with tears in his eyes, "Sydney I swear to you, I never raised an angry hand to either of my boys, before that day."
Sydney gave her grandfather a sympathetic smile. She got up and walked over to him. She laid her hand on his back and said, "It's Ok, grandfather. What happened after that?"
"I tried to apologize to him, but...." Don shook his head in frustration, "I never could talk to that boy. After his mother died I did try, but he would never open up. You never knew what he was thinking. He never...."
Sounding like a man who was defeated, he said, "Never mind, I guess I tried too little too late. If I was there for him when he was younger, things may have been different. I wasn't a very good father. I guess you figured that out already." He smiled at Sydney and said, "It's nice to see that Jon is a better father than I was."
Sydney smiled back and said, "Well, we've had our issues." Then she asked him what became of the police charges.
"The next day he called his attorney and said he wanted to make a plea bargain. He spent three months in jail. He had to pay a $1000 fine and he was placed on probation until he completed 500 hours of community service."
Don became quiet as he thought about those days, so long ago. "He changed after that," he told Sydney.
"How do you mean?" she asked.
"It's hard to say, exactly." He tried to search for the right words to describe the change he saw in his son. "There was a hardness that came over him. It was as though he was suspicious of everyone he encountered. He didn't trust anyone."
Don looked at Sydney and smiled. "He didn't trust anyone, except your mother. I know I had my issues with her, but she did make him happy. There was no doubt about that."
Sydney got up and walked away from her grandfather. He thought that the sadness in her eyes was from the loss that she and her father suffered, due to her mother's death. He was wrong of course. The sadness that she was feeling was because she was beginning to realize why her mother's betrayal effected her father so deeply.
Although Don may have been wrong about Sydney's reaction to his comments regarding her mother, he was right in his observation that Jack had changed after his arrest.
Jack felt betrayed by the CIA and by Clayton Stewart. He was angry at them for having abandoned him. After he went to jail, he never again attempted to contact them. It was two months after his release that he received a message to come the headquarters in Langley, Virginia. He considered not going, but decided he would go so that he could tell them what he thought of them and their policies.
When he arrived at Headquarters he was placed in a conference room. A half hour later Ben Devlin and Mark Tucker entered the room. They told Jack that they were impressed with how he handled himself over the last six months. Jack told them that their opinion's meant nothing to him and that he no longer wanted anything to do with their organization.
They kept him in conference room for the next four hours, in order to convince him that he was a valuable asset to them and that he needed them as well. They promised him that if he continued to work for them, they would have his arrest record expunged. They suggested that rather than do field work he could do some analysis work for them, until he felt comfortable with going out into the field.
Jack was never sure why he agreed to that deal. He believed it was because of Ben Devlin. Their was something about him that he felt he could trust. He agreed to stay on as long as he never again had to work with Clayton Stewart. Devlin assured him that he would never again have to deal with Stewart. He told him that when he felt ready to return to the field that they would be assign a new handler. One that he would be comfortable working with, he promised him.
Three months after doing analysis work, Jack became bored. He got word to Devlin that he was ready to get back into the field.
Devlin told him he had the perfect handler for him and that the handler would contact him within the week.
It was a Wednesday night, three days later, that Jack received the call. He was in his dorm room studying for a physics exam when he was told that he had a phone call. "Yes," he said as he answered the phone.
"Meet me in the history section of the library at one o'clock tomorrow," the caller said as he hung up the phone.
As Jack was sitting in the library waiting to meet his new handler, he wondered if he was making a mistake. Before he had a chance for anymore second thoughts a man who appeared to be about 10 years older then him, sat across from him.
"Jack Bristow." It wasn't a question, he knew who he was. Then holding out his hand, he said, "My name is Arvin Sloan."
Sydney learned a lot about her father this afternoon. There were one thing that everyone appeared to be avoiding. They hadn't yet told her how two of the most important people in her fathers life died.
"Would you tell me how Sean died?" She asked her grandfather.
"His getting arrested and the publicity that came with it. I suppose if it wasn't for Sean the arrest would have been just another student protest, but because of Sean it made it more sensational."
"What were the charges?" Sydney asked.
"Let's see," Don said remembering back thirty-five years. "If I remember right, there was breaking and entering, unlawful trespassing, malicious destruction of private property and, conspiracy to overthrow the government." He looked over at Sydney and said, "I think that covers it."
Sydney's eyes grew a bit at the list of charges. "Wow! What happened?"
Don gave a sarcastic laugh. "You don't really think he'd tell me, do you?"
Then he became serious and told her, "I don't know the details, but he belonged to this group that called themselves The Student Libertarian Movement. There was a big anti-war protest downtown. It was November of 68. Jon and some of the other protesters broke into a government office while the protest march was going on. They broke up some furniture and destroyed some documents."
"Apparently the police had gotten wind that there might be a problem like that. It was almost as though they were laying in wait for them. Jon and the leader of the group were caught and thrown in jail. I didn't hear about the arrest until three days later when that reporter came to try and interview me."
"I went down to the jail and bailed him out. He was suspended from the University for the rest of the semester. Part of his bail agreement required that he come back and stay here, until his trial."
Don paused as he thought about those days so many years ago. It was his chance to make things right with his son, but that's not how things turned out. He continued with his story. "I brought him home and he went right back to his old ways. He locked himself in his room and would only come out to talk to his lawyer or to use the phone. I don't know who he was trying to call, but he would be awfully upset because whoever he was calling was not taking his call."
Don may not have known who he was calling, but Sydney had a pretty good idea that it was is CIA handler. She also, rightly assumed, that the CIA was distancing themselves from him. The minute he was arrested, he was on his own. It's just that he was too inexperienced to know this, but he was about to find out.
What Sydney didn't know was that it was information that Jack had supplied to his CIA handler that alerted the police to the break-in. The CIA was after Ken Brady, the leader of the SLM. Breaking into a government office was the best way of getting him off the college campus. The fact that Jack got caught was not their concern. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your pawn to protect the king.
"When I asked him who he was trying to call," Don continued, "he told me it was none of my business." At this point Don stood up and started to pace the porch.
"I guess, I just should have left him alone like he asked, but I felt a responsibility to straighten him out. I kept demanding that he tell me why he got involved with that group. Then I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life." Don looked down at the ground and shaking his head he told Sydney, "I brought Sean into the argument."
Don stopped his pacing and leaned against the porch rail. "I told him he was disgracing his brother's memory by associating with the SLM. I told him that Sean would be ashamed of him for making such a mess out of his life."
"There were only two occasions that I have ever seen your father truly angry. Once was when I said something about your mother and the other was when I accused him of betraying his brothers memory."
"I'll never forget the look he gave me. His eyes became so dark." It gave Don a chill to remember that conversation and what happened next.
"Sean! Sean!" Jack screamed at his father. "That's all anyone around here ever cared about. Well I'm sorry he was the one who died and not me, but there's not a whole hell of a lot I can do about that, is there? And don't think Sean died for any worthy cause, because he didn't. We have no business over there. It's not our fight. Sean did died for nothing."
"When he said that, I don't know what happened, but I slapped him. I slapped him so hard that he fell to the ground." Don looked at Sydney with tears in his eyes, "Sydney I swear to you, I never raised an angry hand to either of my boys, before that day."
Sydney gave her grandfather a sympathetic smile. She got up and walked over to him. She laid her hand on his back and said, "It's Ok, grandfather. What happened after that?"
"I tried to apologize to him, but...." Don shook his head in frustration, "I never could talk to that boy. After his mother died I did try, but he would never open up. You never knew what he was thinking. He never...."
Sounding like a man who was defeated, he said, "Never mind, I guess I tried too little too late. If I was there for him when he was younger, things may have been different. I wasn't a very good father. I guess you figured that out already." He smiled at Sydney and said, "It's nice to see that Jon is a better father than I was."
Sydney smiled back and said, "Well, we've had our issues." Then she asked him what became of the police charges.
"The next day he called his attorney and said he wanted to make a plea bargain. He spent three months in jail. He had to pay a $1000 fine and he was placed on probation until he completed 500 hours of community service."
Don became quiet as he thought about those days, so long ago. "He changed after that," he told Sydney.
"How do you mean?" she asked.
"It's hard to say, exactly." He tried to search for the right words to describe the change he saw in his son. "There was a hardness that came over him. It was as though he was suspicious of everyone he encountered. He didn't trust anyone."
Don looked at Sydney and smiled. "He didn't trust anyone, except your mother. I know I had my issues with her, but she did make him happy. There was no doubt about that."
Sydney got up and walked away from her grandfather. He thought that the sadness in her eyes was from the loss that she and her father suffered, due to her mother's death. He was wrong of course. The sadness that she was feeling was because she was beginning to realize why her mother's betrayal effected her father so deeply.
Although Don may have been wrong about Sydney's reaction to his comments regarding her mother, he was right in his observation that Jack had changed after his arrest.
Jack felt betrayed by the CIA and by Clayton Stewart. He was angry at them for having abandoned him. After he went to jail, he never again attempted to contact them. It was two months after his release that he received a message to come the headquarters in Langley, Virginia. He considered not going, but decided he would go so that he could tell them what he thought of them and their policies.
When he arrived at Headquarters he was placed in a conference room. A half hour later Ben Devlin and Mark Tucker entered the room. They told Jack that they were impressed with how he handled himself over the last six months. Jack told them that their opinion's meant nothing to him and that he no longer wanted anything to do with their organization.
They kept him in conference room for the next four hours, in order to convince him that he was a valuable asset to them and that he needed them as well. They promised him that if he continued to work for them, they would have his arrest record expunged. They suggested that rather than do field work he could do some analysis work for them, until he felt comfortable with going out into the field.
Jack was never sure why he agreed to that deal. He believed it was because of Ben Devlin. Their was something about him that he felt he could trust. He agreed to stay on as long as he never again had to work with Clayton Stewart. Devlin assured him that he would never again have to deal with Stewart. He told him that when he felt ready to return to the field that they would be assign a new handler. One that he would be comfortable working with, he promised him.
Three months after doing analysis work, Jack became bored. He got word to Devlin that he was ready to get back into the field.
Devlin told him he had the perfect handler for him and that the handler would contact him within the week.
It was a Wednesday night, three days later, that Jack received the call. He was in his dorm room studying for a physics exam when he was told that he had a phone call. "Yes," he said as he answered the phone.
"Meet me in the history section of the library at one o'clock tomorrow," the caller said as he hung up the phone.
As Jack was sitting in the library waiting to meet his new handler, he wondered if he was making a mistake. Before he had a chance for anymore second thoughts a man who appeared to be about 10 years older then him, sat across from him.
"Jack Bristow." It wasn't a question, he knew who he was. Then holding out his hand, he said, "My name is Arvin Sloan."
Sydney learned a lot about her father this afternoon. There were one thing that everyone appeared to be avoiding. They hadn't yet told her how two of the most important people in her fathers life died.
"Would you tell me how Sean died?" She asked her grandfather.