Chapter 7: Dealing
The doctor motioned to Dawson that he wished to speak to him. Glancing at Jack, Dawson pulled the doctor outside the room.
"She's definitely in shock," the doctor said. "And from what she said she's got at least one broken rib, probably several. She needs to be in a hospital, soon."
Dawson nodded. "I need to talk to her for just a little while longer. Is there anything we can do for her now?"
"A blanket would help. And some water."
Dawson nodded. He got a blanket and a Styrofoam cup half-full of water, then went into the interrogation room. Irina's head had fallen to the side, and her eyes were closed, but she opened them and lifted her head when she heard the door close. The doctor was right, Dawson thought as he spread the blanket over her; she didn't look good. She looked surprised at the blanket, and even more so as he held the cup to her lips and let her sip some water. As much as he hated treating anyone the way she'd been treated, it was probably better than the KGB treatment of their prisoners, he realized.
"Thank you," she said softly.
"Do you love your daughter?" he asked abruptly.
A confused expression appeared on her face. "More than anything."
"More than the Soviet Union?"
"Mr. Dawson, if I still cared about the Soviet Union, our conversation a little while ago would have gone quite differently."
He nodded. "I have a proposition for you. Assuming Jack agrees, of course. He's here, by the way. He didn't take the news well."
She looked away. "I didn't think he would." She looked back at him suddenly. "Wait. If he's here, where's Sydney?"
"She's safe," Dawson said. "I wouldn't bring her here, but she's protected. In any case, as I said, I have a proposition for you. Basically, we'll make it look like this was just a random car accident, you'll keep pretending to be Laura Bristow, and we'll give you information to give to the KGB. You won't know what's true and what's not. If you don't agree, you'll get the death penalty. If you agree, you'll get immunity as long as you're helping us."
She hesitated only briefly. To go along with Dawson's idea would mean betraying her country to a far greater degree than she already had tonight, but that didn't matter. She had already lost Jack; he undoubtedly hated her now, but that didn't matter. Sydney. Sydney was the only important thing left. "I'll do it," she said. "But eventually the KGB will want to extract me."
Dawson nodded. "That's why I'm also giving you an incentive to keep them in the dark as long as possible. If they decide to extract you, we'll do our best to pull you out first. Then you'll go to prison. Right now, the sentence would be fifty years, but for every year you keep it up we'll take five years off. Pull it off for ten years and you get a full pardon. Is that acceptable?"
Irina nodded.
"Good," Dawson said. "I'll be back shortly." He walked out the door, leaving Irina alone again.
***
"You want me to…to take her home and pretend like nothing has happened?" Jack Bristow was furious. He had watched, although he couldn't hear anything, as Dawson talked to his wife, who seemed quite calm to him, and his despair had grown into rage. "I would much rather go in there right now and put a knife in her gut. She lied to me for ten years! And now I'm supposed to pretend that everything is normal?"
"Jack," Dawson said quietly, "if you don't, then you and your daughter will have to 'disappear' and get new identities. And even then, there's a pretty good chance of the KGB finding you. Do you want to do that to Sydney?"
Jack stared at Dawson for a moment. "You bastard. You know exactly how to manipulate me, don't you? You couldn't care less what happens to me and Sydney; all you see is your chance to pass false information to the KGB."
"That's not true, Jack. Yes, passing false information is my primary goal, but you're one of my best agents and I'd hate to lose you. And you know I have three children myself; I'd hate to see anything happen to your daughter."
Jack managed to control his rage enough to keep him from punching his boss. "I want to talk to her," he said.
"Just don't hurt her; she's in bad enough shape at the moment." Jack glared at him. Dawson moved closer and said softly, "If you were to, say, hit her a few times where it doesn't show once you get home, no one here would blame you. But she's already in bad shape at the moment; we're transferring her to the hospital as soon as we've got this worked out."
Jack nodded curtly and opened the door.
Irina looked up when she heard Jack enter. He had his poker face on, but she could see anger in his eyes. For the first time since they had met, she was afraid of him. "Jack," she said.
"Is it true?"
She dipped her head slightly. "I'm sorry."
He pulled the extra chair toward her and sat, leaning forward so that his face was only inches from hers. "Dawson wants me to pretend that nothing happened. I'm going to do it, but never, ever think for one second that I'm doing it for you. It would have been better if you had died in that accident. I'm doing this for Sydney, and only for Sydney. Do you understand?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"Good." He stood and turned toward the door.
"I love you, Jack."
Just another lie, he thought. Without turning back to her, he walked out the door.
