Chapter 21
Once Jack and Sydney were out the door, Irina sat down on the couch and watched as Tatiana picked up the manuscript and flipped through it. "How much do you know about Rambaldi?" she asked in Russian.
"I know that he was an inventor and a prophet who lived about 400 years ago, and that the CIA has most of his inventions and some of his manuscripts. The Covenant has a lot of manuscripts, too," Tatiana answered in Russian. "This shouldn't be too hard to decode."
"You think so? It took me years to learn to decode Rambaldi."
Tatiana shrugged. "Deciphering a code is easier than going into a place where you don't know the language and learning it by listening, and I can pick up a new language that way in about two weeks."
Irina raised an eyebrow. "How many languages do you speak?"
"Forty or fifty, I guess. I've never really kept track."
"I'm impressed."
"It's easy to learn new languages when you're five. And the more languages you know, the easier it is to learn new ones."
"That's true." Irina was quiet for a moment. "Let's move to the kitchen table. Then we'll see how far you actually get with decoding this thing," she said with a smile.
***
An hour and a half later, Sydney and Jack returned. They soon found Irina and Tatiana in the kitchen. "That was fast," Irina said when she saw them.
"Tatiana, they don't seem to know you're missing yet," Jack said.
Tatiana frowned. "Then why."
Sydney looked annoyed. "The new big giant head from the NSC just got here to investigate Lindsey's murder. He apparently had to call us all in to introduce himself. I swear, he's almost as bad as Lindsey was."
Irina raised her eyebrows. "Wait, Lindsey's dead? When did this happen?"
"Apparently right around the time I was talking to you online," Jack said. "I was meaning to ask you if you'd had anything to do with it."
"I wish I could claim responsibility, but unfortunately I can't."
"I can," Tatiana said. They all turned to her in shock. "He was working for the Covenant," she continued. "I killed him and his Covenant contact and left plenty of evidence of his espionage."
"Shouldn't you have turned him in to the CIA?" Sydney said.
"Are you sorry he's dead?" Tatiana countered. "He's probably been persecuting you both on the Covenant's orders." Sydney continued to look skeptical, but to Tatiana's surprise Jack looked understanding. "He was the lousiest spy I have ever encountered who went more than ten minutes without getting caught," she continued "Kresniev had been feeding him false information about the Covenant; if he'd been caught and interrogated and the CIA and NSC had acted on what he told them, it would probably have gotten a lot of American agents killed."
"I see," Sydney said. She couldn't help feeling a little betrayed. True, she had only known Tatiana for a few days, but she just hadn't expected her sister to be someone who could murder with so little provocation. But then, it did sound like her actions had been for the greater good.
"Well. How's the deciphering going?" Jack said, breaking the tension.
"We've only gotten through a few pages, but what we've found is very interesting," Irina said. Sydney and Jack both moved to sit down at the table, intrigued. "Apparently, all four of us are directly descended from Rambaldi, Sydney and Tatiana doubly so. And so is Sloane."
Once Jack and Sydney were out the door, Irina sat down on the couch and watched as Tatiana picked up the manuscript and flipped through it. "How much do you know about Rambaldi?" she asked in Russian.
"I know that he was an inventor and a prophet who lived about 400 years ago, and that the CIA has most of his inventions and some of his manuscripts. The Covenant has a lot of manuscripts, too," Tatiana answered in Russian. "This shouldn't be too hard to decode."
"You think so? It took me years to learn to decode Rambaldi."
Tatiana shrugged. "Deciphering a code is easier than going into a place where you don't know the language and learning it by listening, and I can pick up a new language that way in about two weeks."
Irina raised an eyebrow. "How many languages do you speak?"
"Forty or fifty, I guess. I've never really kept track."
"I'm impressed."
"It's easy to learn new languages when you're five. And the more languages you know, the easier it is to learn new ones."
"That's true." Irina was quiet for a moment. "Let's move to the kitchen table. Then we'll see how far you actually get with decoding this thing," she said with a smile.
***
An hour and a half later, Sydney and Jack returned. They soon found Irina and Tatiana in the kitchen. "That was fast," Irina said when she saw them.
"Tatiana, they don't seem to know you're missing yet," Jack said.
Tatiana frowned. "Then why."
Sydney looked annoyed. "The new big giant head from the NSC just got here to investigate Lindsey's murder. He apparently had to call us all in to introduce himself. I swear, he's almost as bad as Lindsey was."
Irina raised her eyebrows. "Wait, Lindsey's dead? When did this happen?"
"Apparently right around the time I was talking to you online," Jack said. "I was meaning to ask you if you'd had anything to do with it."
"I wish I could claim responsibility, but unfortunately I can't."
"I can," Tatiana said. They all turned to her in shock. "He was working for the Covenant," she continued. "I killed him and his Covenant contact and left plenty of evidence of his espionage."
"Shouldn't you have turned him in to the CIA?" Sydney said.
"Are you sorry he's dead?" Tatiana countered. "He's probably been persecuting you both on the Covenant's orders." Sydney continued to look skeptical, but to Tatiana's surprise Jack looked understanding. "He was the lousiest spy I have ever encountered who went more than ten minutes without getting caught," she continued "Kresniev had been feeding him false information about the Covenant; if he'd been caught and interrogated and the CIA and NSC had acted on what he told them, it would probably have gotten a lot of American agents killed."
"I see," Sydney said. She couldn't help feeling a little betrayed. True, she had only known Tatiana for a few days, but she just hadn't expected her sister to be someone who could murder with so little provocation. But then, it did sound like her actions had been for the greater good.
"Well. How's the deciphering going?" Jack said, breaking the tension.
"We've only gotten through a few pages, but what we've found is very interesting," Irina said. Sydney and Jack both moved to sit down at the table, intrigued. "Apparently, all four of us are directly descended from Rambaldi, Sydney and Tatiana doubly so. And so is Sloane."