Chapter 26
Sydney strolled into the CIA, heels clicking on the hard, shinny floor, her arms swaying at her sides as half the room looked up as the government's greatest agent walked through the door. Her face split into a dimple- enhanced grin and she waved shyly at Marshall who was across the room, smiling at her. An agent she was not familiar with walked up to her and handed her a folder of loose sheets. Sydney smiled at the short chubby man and thanked him politely.
She wasn't interested in the folder though, she could hardly stop herself from scanning the area for her father and Michael. She sat down at her desk, leaving her shoulder bag beside her and did her best to look like she was just going through the motions.
Sure enough, however, fifteen minutes into writing up an over-due report, she sensed someone headed towards her and looked up to see both men coming directly at her.
On Vaughn's face, a well-assembled façade of anger and frustration was present while her father sported a more deadened look of shock and bemusement. They stopped beside her desk and Jack spoke, "Kendall wants a meeting in his office, now."
"What about?" Sydney played her part perfectly and the look of confusion on her face was convincing enough that Vaughn couldn't help the flicker of admiration and a smile.
"That doesn't matter," Jack snapped at her and stormed off not waiting for them to follow him.
Sydney stood up, locking down her computer as was the current policy and moving after her father with Vaughn by her side. They all entered Kendall's office together and it was into an air filled with tension that could have been cut with a knife.
Kendall motioned for them all to have a seat, which they did, begrudgingly. Then he spoke, "Agent Bristow, this morning, before you arrived, we were contacted by Mr Sark. He had a proposition for us."
Sydney's brow creased on cue.
Kendall sighed, as though surprised at himself for even bringing this to a discussion, perhaps he was being stupid, but he felt this wasn't an offer which should just be swept under the rug and classed completely ridiculous. If this was pulled off, he'd be able to retire with a generous pension.
The brief pause allowed Sydney to push for more information, "What was his proposal?"
Kendall looked up and eyed her, he wasn't too surprised that neither Jack or Michael had bothered to tell her, their stern eyes and pursed lips made it plainly obvious that they were deeply disturbed by the fact he'd even dreamt of pursuing this.
"Mr Sark has offered to turn himself in." Sydney's eyes widened and she opened her mouth, her expression openly gleeful. Kendall quickly went on, "In exchange for Derevko."
The joy fell away from her face in pieces as she watched the two men beside her watch her. "Oh," she stated simply.
Kendall stared her down and she felt herself forced to say something else, she took the view they'd agreed on. "Well, can't we just make sure we release her in a way in which we can recapture her?"
Jack answered her, the familiar curt tone in his voice, "Sark has made it perfectly clear that he swaps with her only if she agrees on the terms of her release. So tracking her, releasing her in a position where she can be captured or anything else we can come up with is completely out of the question. She'll see right through anything we throw at her."
He turned from glaring at his daughter to glare at Kendall, "This cannot be pulled off successfully. If it could, Sark would not have offered himself up in the first place."
Kendall pursed his lips and looked from Jack to Vaughn to see if he had any support there. The look on the young agent's face told him to keep looking. If Sydney didn't give him something, he wasn't going to stand a chance. He moved his eyes to the brunette in front of him and raised an eyebrow at the thoughtful look that he found on her face.
"What?" he asked her.
He saw her look to her father before she answered, voice strong but slow, "I can't really see the problem with asking her what terms she'd agree with. I mean, if we offer her something hard and then see where we can negotiate her to. There's no real harm in that."
Kendall agreed and would have brought it up himself except Jack hearing it from Sydney was more likely to agree than Jack hearing it from him. "We offer her full house arrest with absolutely no way of escape, see what happens."
Jack pursed his lips but nodded while Vaughn, seeing he was on his own could only continue to glare at the wall behind Kendall's head.
He only needed two votes out of three to have enough confidence to try this. And he had them. Quickly, he dismissed the threesome from his office and watched as they walked to the door where they each went their own separate way. The fantasy of having Irina under house arrest and Sark behind bars, not to mention the resulting recognition for him, playing out in front of his eyes.
Irina sat, cross-legged on the floor of her cell. They should have been there by now, but they weren't. She wondered if something had gone wrong, if they'd somehow worked out that her and Jack had rigged the tapes to loop themselves while they talked about things they shouldn't have.
She told herself to calm down, told herself that it wasn't that bad, they might have been delayed be any number of harmless things. Maybe Sydney woke up late and everything was running late because of that. She wanted to roll her eyes at the thought, she doubted her daughter had to ability to run late.
At that very thought, she felt the ground vibrate as the metal bar gate rose and Kendall walked through. She'd planned on having a little more help in the form of Jack or one of the other present, but this proved he really was that interested in being in the higher powers' good books.
"Good morning, Mr Kendall." She said, getting up and moving to stand at the glass. "What can I do for you?"
She watched him survey her for any sign she wasn't what she was supposed to be. When he was satisfied that she had no idea what was going on, not that she could have, he told her, "Mr Sark has offered to hand himself over to us in return for your release."
"Ah," Irina paused and then grinned, "You don't think he's just going to play you? Get you to let me out and then decide not to turn up?"
Kendall glared at her. "I'm here to negotiate the terms of that release..."
"Terms?" she sounded incredulous. "Mr Sark should have specified those to you."
"No, he said that if we came to an agreement, he'd know." Kendall watched her like a mouse eyeing a piece of cheese. He just wasn't sure where the household cat was at that time.
"So, what are you offering?" she asked him complacently.
"We take you out of this cage and put you under full house arrest."
An eyebrow perked up and she smiled at him, "You, Mr Kendall, have a very skewed version of 'released'."
He frowned at her through the glass. "Yes, and you Ms Derevko, really don't have much to bargain for." She let her face fall despite knowing she had everything to bargain with. "What would you agree to?" he asked.
She took her time, she had to make it look like he thought of it, she couldn't let him suspect her, "I understand your need to keep me in a position where you can keep an eye on me, I know your government does not trust me and I know that you want to be in a position of control over both me and Sark. I want a contract, signed by the head of the CIA, giving me a guarantee that, unless I break the law, I may not be pulled back into CIA custody."
"Fine," Kendall agreed, "But you're not just going to be allowed to walk out the front door."
"I realize that, she told him, but I am not going to be thrown into a little house somewhere where every morning I can see four armed guards outside my window. And if your definition of house arrest involves cameras, you can leave now." His definition did involve cameras, lots of them, and bugging devices and traces on her phone and computer, but he wasn't about to leave, she wanted out, to him that was plainly clear, but what could he offer her?
"Look, I'm sorry, but I can't just cut you loose. The best I can offer you is house arrest."
She glared at him and replied with a flat, "No."
"Then what?"
God the man was dumb, "I can deal with being watched but at least give me the façade of privacy. I don't mind house arrest, as long as it looks like, at least to me, that I'm actually living by myself."
Kendall looked at her, "And how the hell do you propose I do that?"
She shrugged and returned to sitting on the floor, her eyes slowly sliding shut, apparently she was bored with the conversation.
"Ms Derevko..." she made no answer. He stood there for a while longer, analyzing the situation he found himself stuck in bit by bit. If she had a weakness, he knew it. "What about Jack?"
Her eyes shot open and he was thrilled with the small victory, she quickly hid it though, "What about him?"
"What if I let him organize the circumstances-"
"No," she cut him off.
"Well what then? You want it to appear not to be under house arrest while still unable to leave. How do I achieve that?"
"A big house with big grounds, perhaps a high fence, I don't care, just organise it." He glared again and she wondered if she'd pushed too far.
"No," it was his turn to reject the offer, "You could do anything in there. You'd have to have an agent live in with you."
"There is no way," she said, again getting to her feet, "That I am going to live with a complete stranger."
Kendall threw his hands up in the air in frustration, "Well I'm not going to put your daughter in the position, I hardly think it wise to throw Agent Vaughn in a house with you, one of you would end up dead. And Jack, well, again, one of you would kill the other and I hardly think any one of them would agree to all this anyway."
"Well then," Irina said, "We don't have a deal." She promptly moved to the back wall and sat down facing it, signaling the conversation well and truly over. For a few minutes, she sensed Kendall behind her, staring the back of her head down through the glass but eventually he left and she turned around, letting a small smile of anticipation escape her lips. Now it was up to Jack. If he played this right, they were home free.
A long chapter, I'm so proud, for a girl with a concentration span shorter than her little finger nail, this was pretty good.
Reviews please
Sydney strolled into the CIA, heels clicking on the hard, shinny floor, her arms swaying at her sides as half the room looked up as the government's greatest agent walked through the door. Her face split into a dimple- enhanced grin and she waved shyly at Marshall who was across the room, smiling at her. An agent she was not familiar with walked up to her and handed her a folder of loose sheets. Sydney smiled at the short chubby man and thanked him politely.
She wasn't interested in the folder though, she could hardly stop herself from scanning the area for her father and Michael. She sat down at her desk, leaving her shoulder bag beside her and did her best to look like she was just going through the motions.
Sure enough, however, fifteen minutes into writing up an over-due report, she sensed someone headed towards her and looked up to see both men coming directly at her.
On Vaughn's face, a well-assembled façade of anger and frustration was present while her father sported a more deadened look of shock and bemusement. They stopped beside her desk and Jack spoke, "Kendall wants a meeting in his office, now."
"What about?" Sydney played her part perfectly and the look of confusion on her face was convincing enough that Vaughn couldn't help the flicker of admiration and a smile.
"That doesn't matter," Jack snapped at her and stormed off not waiting for them to follow him.
Sydney stood up, locking down her computer as was the current policy and moving after her father with Vaughn by her side. They all entered Kendall's office together and it was into an air filled with tension that could have been cut with a knife.
Kendall motioned for them all to have a seat, which they did, begrudgingly. Then he spoke, "Agent Bristow, this morning, before you arrived, we were contacted by Mr Sark. He had a proposition for us."
Sydney's brow creased on cue.
Kendall sighed, as though surprised at himself for even bringing this to a discussion, perhaps he was being stupid, but he felt this wasn't an offer which should just be swept under the rug and classed completely ridiculous. If this was pulled off, he'd be able to retire with a generous pension.
The brief pause allowed Sydney to push for more information, "What was his proposal?"
Kendall looked up and eyed her, he wasn't too surprised that neither Jack or Michael had bothered to tell her, their stern eyes and pursed lips made it plainly obvious that they were deeply disturbed by the fact he'd even dreamt of pursuing this.
"Mr Sark has offered to turn himself in." Sydney's eyes widened and she opened her mouth, her expression openly gleeful. Kendall quickly went on, "In exchange for Derevko."
The joy fell away from her face in pieces as she watched the two men beside her watch her. "Oh," she stated simply.
Kendall stared her down and she felt herself forced to say something else, she took the view they'd agreed on. "Well, can't we just make sure we release her in a way in which we can recapture her?"
Jack answered her, the familiar curt tone in his voice, "Sark has made it perfectly clear that he swaps with her only if she agrees on the terms of her release. So tracking her, releasing her in a position where she can be captured or anything else we can come up with is completely out of the question. She'll see right through anything we throw at her."
He turned from glaring at his daughter to glare at Kendall, "This cannot be pulled off successfully. If it could, Sark would not have offered himself up in the first place."
Kendall pursed his lips and looked from Jack to Vaughn to see if he had any support there. The look on the young agent's face told him to keep looking. If Sydney didn't give him something, he wasn't going to stand a chance. He moved his eyes to the brunette in front of him and raised an eyebrow at the thoughtful look that he found on her face.
"What?" he asked her.
He saw her look to her father before she answered, voice strong but slow, "I can't really see the problem with asking her what terms she'd agree with. I mean, if we offer her something hard and then see where we can negotiate her to. There's no real harm in that."
Kendall agreed and would have brought it up himself except Jack hearing it from Sydney was more likely to agree than Jack hearing it from him. "We offer her full house arrest with absolutely no way of escape, see what happens."
Jack pursed his lips but nodded while Vaughn, seeing he was on his own could only continue to glare at the wall behind Kendall's head.
He only needed two votes out of three to have enough confidence to try this. And he had them. Quickly, he dismissed the threesome from his office and watched as they walked to the door where they each went their own separate way. The fantasy of having Irina under house arrest and Sark behind bars, not to mention the resulting recognition for him, playing out in front of his eyes.
Irina sat, cross-legged on the floor of her cell. They should have been there by now, but they weren't. She wondered if something had gone wrong, if they'd somehow worked out that her and Jack had rigged the tapes to loop themselves while they talked about things they shouldn't have.
She told herself to calm down, told herself that it wasn't that bad, they might have been delayed be any number of harmless things. Maybe Sydney woke up late and everything was running late because of that. She wanted to roll her eyes at the thought, she doubted her daughter had to ability to run late.
At that very thought, she felt the ground vibrate as the metal bar gate rose and Kendall walked through. She'd planned on having a little more help in the form of Jack or one of the other present, but this proved he really was that interested in being in the higher powers' good books.
"Good morning, Mr Kendall." She said, getting up and moving to stand at the glass. "What can I do for you?"
She watched him survey her for any sign she wasn't what she was supposed to be. When he was satisfied that she had no idea what was going on, not that she could have, he told her, "Mr Sark has offered to hand himself over to us in return for your release."
"Ah," Irina paused and then grinned, "You don't think he's just going to play you? Get you to let me out and then decide not to turn up?"
Kendall glared at her. "I'm here to negotiate the terms of that release..."
"Terms?" she sounded incredulous. "Mr Sark should have specified those to you."
"No, he said that if we came to an agreement, he'd know." Kendall watched her like a mouse eyeing a piece of cheese. He just wasn't sure where the household cat was at that time.
"So, what are you offering?" she asked him complacently.
"We take you out of this cage and put you under full house arrest."
An eyebrow perked up and she smiled at him, "You, Mr Kendall, have a very skewed version of 'released'."
He frowned at her through the glass. "Yes, and you Ms Derevko, really don't have much to bargain for." She let her face fall despite knowing she had everything to bargain with. "What would you agree to?" he asked.
She took her time, she had to make it look like he thought of it, she couldn't let him suspect her, "I understand your need to keep me in a position where you can keep an eye on me, I know your government does not trust me and I know that you want to be in a position of control over both me and Sark. I want a contract, signed by the head of the CIA, giving me a guarantee that, unless I break the law, I may not be pulled back into CIA custody."
"Fine," Kendall agreed, "But you're not just going to be allowed to walk out the front door."
"I realize that, she told him, but I am not going to be thrown into a little house somewhere where every morning I can see four armed guards outside my window. And if your definition of house arrest involves cameras, you can leave now." His definition did involve cameras, lots of them, and bugging devices and traces on her phone and computer, but he wasn't about to leave, she wanted out, to him that was plainly clear, but what could he offer her?
"Look, I'm sorry, but I can't just cut you loose. The best I can offer you is house arrest."
She glared at him and replied with a flat, "No."
"Then what?"
God the man was dumb, "I can deal with being watched but at least give me the façade of privacy. I don't mind house arrest, as long as it looks like, at least to me, that I'm actually living by myself."
Kendall looked at her, "And how the hell do you propose I do that?"
She shrugged and returned to sitting on the floor, her eyes slowly sliding shut, apparently she was bored with the conversation.
"Ms Derevko..." she made no answer. He stood there for a while longer, analyzing the situation he found himself stuck in bit by bit. If she had a weakness, he knew it. "What about Jack?"
Her eyes shot open and he was thrilled with the small victory, she quickly hid it though, "What about him?"
"What if I let him organize the circumstances-"
"No," she cut him off.
"Well what then? You want it to appear not to be under house arrest while still unable to leave. How do I achieve that?"
"A big house with big grounds, perhaps a high fence, I don't care, just organise it." He glared again and she wondered if she'd pushed too far.
"No," it was his turn to reject the offer, "You could do anything in there. You'd have to have an agent live in with you."
"There is no way," she said, again getting to her feet, "That I am going to live with a complete stranger."
Kendall threw his hands up in the air in frustration, "Well I'm not going to put your daughter in the position, I hardly think it wise to throw Agent Vaughn in a house with you, one of you would end up dead. And Jack, well, again, one of you would kill the other and I hardly think any one of them would agree to all this anyway."
"Well then," Irina said, "We don't have a deal." She promptly moved to the back wall and sat down facing it, signaling the conversation well and truly over. For a few minutes, she sensed Kendall behind her, staring the back of her head down through the glass but eventually he left and she turned around, letting a small smile of anticipation escape her lips. Now it was up to Jack. If he played this right, they were home free.
A long chapter, I'm so proud, for a girl with a concentration span shorter than her little finger nail, this was pretty good.
Reviews please