Chapter 5

Kendall looked over and said, "That is all I have, Mr. Bates. Do you have any questions?"

Bates turned to Jack. "Agent Bristow, do you concur that the transcript is accurate?"

"Yes."

"Did you kill Steven Haladki?"

Jack hesitated. His mind had been racing through alternatives since he had entered the room. He could refuse to answer, but that would be an implied admission of guilt. He could say that he had fabricated the story to Kane - the CIA had no physical evidence, only Kane's word - but that would only delay the inevitable. The physical evidence was at SD-6, and the CIA would send in its agent, Sydney Bristow, to recover the gun. They would probably, he thought grimly, never tell her that the gun she recovered would confirm her father's guilt.

Resignedly, he concluded that he might as well get it over with.

He answered, simply, "Yes."

Bates looked slightly surprised by Jack's response. "Would you care to elaborate?"

"Stephen Hadlaki was a mole for Irina Derevko. He had repeatedly placed my life and the life of Agent Sydney Bristow at risk. I believed that exposure of our double agent status was imminent."

"Do you have any proof that Hadlaki was a double agent?"

"He told me so himself."

"Was that before or after you crushed his hand?" asked Bates pointedly. "Do you have any other proof?"

"Irina Derevko is in this building. You could ask her."

"Isn't she your wife?"

"Yes," said Jack shortly. A more precise response would have taken hours.

Bates looked at Jack silently for a moment, then turned to Dr. Barnett. "Dr. Barnett, you have been seeing Agent Bristow for some time?"

"Yes," she responded. "We have had several sessions."

"How would you characterize his state of mind?"

"Turbulent. Conflicted about the return of his wife and his feelings toward her. Willing to do," she reflected, "anything it takes to protect his daughter."

"Anything?"

"Anything," she confirmed. "I do not know of a line he would not cross if he felt Sydney was threatened."

Jack seethed. While he had never been naïve enough to believe that she would keep what he said to her in confidence, it infuriated him that she would be here to pass judgment on him.

"Thank you Dr. Barnett," said Bates. He turned to Devlin. "Agent Bristow's service record?"

"Agent Bristow has been with the CIA for 35 years. His record is checkered, to say the least. He was imprisoned for 6 months 20 years ago under suspicion of espionage. He was almost returned to prison several months ago for a stunt he pulled in Madagascar, in an attempt to frame his wife, that placed a number of our operatives at risk. He has challenged my authority on a number of occasions."

Thanks for the reference, Jack thought bitterly to himself.

Bates turned back to Jack. "Is there anything else you would care to add for the record, Agent Bristow?"

Jack struggled to check his fury. What would Bates, or for that matter even Kendall or Devlin, know about his life as a double agent? The stress of playing a role every minute of every day, constantly under scrutiny, knowing that one slip could result in death? Compounded by the CIA's recruitment of Sydney for the same role, so that Jack now had to watch both his back and hers? Did he have a chance of convincing them that rules could not be applied in these situations, that rules would cost them the lives of their agents?

"No," he bit out.

"We will return in a few minutes."