Chapter 5: Decision

Jack stared at his best friend for a moment.  Then his body reminded him that he was supposed to be breathing; he let out a strangled sob.  "Is she…"  He couldn't say it; he couldn't ask if the woman he loved more than life itself was dead.

"She's alive," Arvin said.  "She's got some broken bones, but she'll be all right."

"Thank God," Jack said.  But…if she was alive, and she was going to be all right, why did Arvin look as though the world were ending?  He pushed that aside.  "Where is she?"

"The naval hospital," Arvin said.  "She was driving your car, so the police called the CIA first."  He paused.  "I already talked to Emily; we're going to take Sydney over to my house, and then I'll take you to the hospital."

Jack nodded.  "Come in," he said.  "Help me with Sydney…I don't want to wake her…"

Arvin nodded.  He could see that the man in front of him was on the verge of breaking down.  He could only wonder what would happen when Jack found out the truth…

***

Irina moaned as she regained consciousness.  The tremendous pain running through her right leg made it difficult to think at first, but then her training took over and she was able to compartmentalize.  She remembered the two jolts, first as the car came out of nowhere, the second as her own car hit the tree.  Was she in a hospital?

She opened her eyes.  She was definitely not in a hospital.  She was sitting in a small, bare room.  The only features were a large mirror on one wall, which was doubtless a one-way glass, and an empty folding chair.  Her right leg had a rudimentary splint on it and was propped up on what looked like a small table.  Her hands were down and behind her; she tried to lift them and was rewarded with the feel of metal cutting into her wrists.  Handcuffs.  She wondered who was holding her.  Had the CIA found her out?  Had she somehow upset the KGB?  Or had yet another organization somehow found out that she was a spy?

Her question was answered when the door opened and Mark Dawson entered.  "Laura Bristow," he said as he sat in the chair.  "Or should I say Irina Derevko."

Irina inhaled sharply.  The CIA knew everything.  Of course they did, she thought, her mind racing.  If they had just suspected her they wouldn't have staged the accident.  "Jack and Sydney are in danger," she said.  "If they know I've been discovered…"

"I've already foreseen that possibility.  It's been taken care of," Dawson said.  Irina closed her eyes and let out a small sigh of relief.  "Who are you working for?"

If Dawson knew her real name, then he already knew who she was working for.  This was a test to see if she would cooperate.  A sudden wave of despair washed over her.  It didn't matter what she said, she realized.  Even if she didn't say a word, they undoubtedly had enough information to convict her of espionage.  If she refused to talk, she would be interrogated, and they would, eventually, make her talk.  When she was no longer useful to them, she would die.  Perhaps there would be a public trial, perhaps a quiet murder; it didn't matter.  If she did cooperate, they would bleed her of information and then get rid of her in the same way.  Sydney's face swam into her mind.  Whatever she did, she would never see Sydney again.  In fact, Sydney and Jack would probably have to "disappear" and be given new identities to protect them from KGB retaliation.

Sydney didn't deserve this.  Jack didn't deserve this.  And it was the KGB's fault for getting them all into this mess.  She had long ago stopped feeling patriotism for her country; she had continued to pass information to the KGB only because there was no way out.  Now, though, there was a way out.  It would end in her death, but that didn't matter.  She would talk.

Irina looked directly at Dawson and said, "I work for the KGB."