Vaughn looked appraisingly at Jack and turned to go after Sydney, but Jack
stopped him, placing a hand on his arm.
"You know as well as I do that Devlin will not authorize a strike of such proportions without further proof that Derevko's intel can be trusted," he said evenly. "Sydney believes her mother has only her best interests at heart. I need to know right now, Agent Vaughn, where you stand."
Vaughn swallowed, discomfited by the older man's scrutiny. To finally be free of the Alliance, to defeat Arvin Sloane, to be allowed to share a life with Sydney--it was everything they had so ardently desired. And yet, remembering the enigmatic and coolly calculating expression in Irina's eyes, he was filled with doubt. Could he really stake their lives simply to test whether Irina Derevko's last words could be trusted?
He felt the heat rise to his face, and the skin over his angled cheekbones flushed. "I can't answer that."
"Try," Jack suggested laconically.
Vaughn looked down at the scuffed pavement and then up at Jack. "Irina could have come to the United States with the intention of turning herself in to the CIA and becoming a double agent, as she described," he stated quietly. "Or, perhaps it was the KGB plan all along for her to infiltrate the CIA and pose as a double agent, which would effectively make her a triple. After all, how would the CIA know?"
"And?" he urged.
"If the idea was to prevent the assassination of key political figures by the KGB, Irina could have made up a plot to kill a particular target, even when there was no operation planned, and she would look like a hero when the supposed assassination attempt did not succeed--meanwhile taking care of her true objective of eliminating the CIA agents best positioned to gather intel about other KGB operations."
There was a glint of approval in Jack's eyes. "You see now, Mr. Vaughn, why I can't allow Sydney to trust Irina Derevko or the information she has provided."
Vaughn shook his head. "Yes, but the fact that the KGB made her a triple agent doesn't eliminate the possibility that she was playing both countries off each other for her own mysterious ends. In the end, if Sydney IS right and her mother's information can bring down SD-6--that's an opportunity we can't afford to lose."
"Then you must do as you see fit," Jack stated dismissively, moving towards the door.
Now it was Vaughn's turn to forestall Jack's exit. He moved in front of the other man, his jaw set in determination.
"Did you know that Irina Derevko was the Savant and that my father was her handler?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't think that this was something that I should know?" Vaughn shot back incredulously.
"The revelation that Irina was involved in your father's death was upsetting enough. We did not want to put further strain on your--working-- relationship with Sydney."
"So you withheld the truth? What's it with you and the truth, Jack?" Vaughn asked mockingly. "Is it that you're above the truth? Beyond it? Or just plain afraid of it?
"This conversation is ended."
"No it isn't. While we are on the subject of Sydney's best interests, what was her involvement with Project Christmas?" Vaughn asked, barely able to contain his anger and disgust.
Jack eyed him sharply. "How do you know about Sydney's involvement in Project Christmas?"
Vaughn's eyes flashed. "I didn't know. I only suspected, but you couldn't resist, could you, Jack?"
The two men locked gazes. Jack's eyes were steely and cold, but Vaughn would not back down. Not this time.
"It won't be long before Sydney realizes the truth herself. How can you expect either of us to trust you, when you've been far from honest with us?" he seethed.
"Let me make something perfectly clear to you, Mr. Vaughn," Jack said curtly. "I accept you love my daughter, but that does not give you the right to question me or my actions. Everything I have done has been done to protect Sydney--including involving her in Project Christmas. You, of all people, should understand this."
"I understand that you committed Sydney to a life of espionage, before she was able to recognize the cost!"
"Sydney was a committed to this life simply by fact of being Irina Derevko's daughter!" Jack roared in a crescendo of emotion.
Vaughn closed the gap between them. "When Sydney came to work for the CIA, I told her we were the good guys. I promised her that together we'd bring down the Alliance. But now I find I can hardly distinguish between the Alliance and the US government. Murders covered up for political gain. Children brainwashed to supply the CIA with super agents. I am beginning to wonder if I've been duped by the very people I trusted most--just like your daughter."
"What do you wish me to do?" Jack asked, his voice level.
He looked at Vaughn--the striking image of his father. William Vaughn had died an ardent idealist, done in by political realists. At the moment, his son seemed hell-bent on sharing the same fate.
"I want you to help me reopen my father's case," Vaughn stated firmly.
"And I am telling you now is not the time," Jack warned. "If you pursue this any further, you will be putting both yourself and Sydney in grave danger. It would be more than foolish to do anything at this juncture to jeopardize the CIA's support and protection when both Sark and Arvin Sloane will stop at nothing to kill you."
Vaughn fixed him with a mutinous glare. "So are you saying I should just sit on the information that the CIA knowingly traded the lives of 12 of its officers for faulty KGB intel and that they killed my father when he threatened to reveal it?" he said in a harsh whisper.
"What I am saying, Agent Vaughn," Jack replied, his words clipped, "is that neither you nor Sydney are in a position of power right now. You cannot afford to fight wars on both fronts simultaneously. Defeat Arvin Sloane and then you can investigate the CIA's involvement in your father's death."
"So you acknowledge there is a connection?" Vaughn asserted.
"I started to suspect something when I was taking part in the investigation into your father's death," Jack began, his voice strained. "The details I uncovered did not coincide with the official report. When I read over the files describing your father's meetings with the Savant, certain dates and locations sounded familiar." Pausing to gather his thoughts, he continued, "there were correspondences--academic conferences--lectures Laura attended-- family vacations--" Looking with shame and self-recrimination into the young man's eyes, he continued "I never confronted her. It seemed-- preposterous--the delusions of a paranoid mind. Still, I wondered. I continued to investigate the deaths of the 12 agents, and it grew increasingly apparent to me that the CIA was somehow complicit in the murders. However, it was not until after Laura's--death that I realized the unassailability of the connection."
"That's why the FBI was investigating you," Vaughn rejoined. "Just like my father, you threatened to reveal what you knew, so they charged you with treason. You had been married to a KGB agent, after all, so you were easy to frame. But the CIA reinstated you later, with a full pardon. Why?"
"They were aware of my ties to Arvin Sloane, to SD-6," Jack explained tersely. "In return for my--freedom, I became a double agent."
"But Sloane must have realized at some point that your loyalties were divided. That's why he recruited Sydney," Vaughn replied, no longer waiting for Jack's confirmation. "To keep the scales tipped in his favor. You couldn't bring down SD-6 without implicating Sydney, so you gave the CIA just enough information to keep them satisfied, but not enough to inflict serious damage to SD-6 or the Alliance."
Vaughn marveled at the gamesmanship, all around. Jack had played a cool game, evading check time and time again, but his success did not come without cost. He had protected his daughter, but his talents had helped the Alliance grow more and more powerful, with cells cropping up around the globe. Vaughn thought of the many-headed hydra depicted on the chart he first showed Sydney. It was ironic enough that the very thing that had brought them together constantly threatened their future happiness. It was even more ironic that Sydney had sworn to bring down the organization her father had aided and abetted in order to deliver her from harm.
There was only one question left, and Vaughn knew he must ask it.
"Sloane grew disaffected with the CIA and became one of the original Alliance members. Why did you keep up your ties with Sloane? What convinced you to join SD-6?"
"After Laur--after Irina left, for a time, my mind was--clouded," Jack answered, after a lengthy pause in which he weighed the cost of what he was about to say with what might be gained in the process. "I lost my faith in many things I once believed in. I have done many things I am not proud of, some things that I--regret."
His gaze alighted once more on Vaughn.
"This is the sign of sore loss that I have suffered there....this is the badge of false faith that I have found there..." he quoted in French.
"And I must bear it on my body till I breathe my last. For one may keep a deed dark, but undo it no whit, For where a fault is made fast, it is fixed evermore," Vaughn finished softly.
It was Gawain's lament after being tricked by the Green Knight's wife and forced to recognize the limits of even his good virtue. Vaughn thought of a young, idealistic Jack Bristow betrayed by his wife, deceived by his country, coming once again within the orbit of Arvin Sloane's influence.
"Yes." Jack affirmed, seeing a flicker of compassion he would not normally tolerate in the younger man's gaze. "I think you understand. The question is, Mr. Vaughn, if you are truly the Azure Knight Rambaldi spoke of, can you do what must be done to protect Sydney and not lose your soul or your life in the process?"
He reached out stiffly and put a rather awkward hand on Vaughn's shoulder, and then exited through the same chain-link gate his daughter had stormed out of minutes before, leaving Vaughn alone in the darkened warehouse, gazing mutely after him.
"You know as well as I do that Devlin will not authorize a strike of such proportions without further proof that Derevko's intel can be trusted," he said evenly. "Sydney believes her mother has only her best interests at heart. I need to know right now, Agent Vaughn, where you stand."
Vaughn swallowed, discomfited by the older man's scrutiny. To finally be free of the Alliance, to defeat Arvin Sloane, to be allowed to share a life with Sydney--it was everything they had so ardently desired. And yet, remembering the enigmatic and coolly calculating expression in Irina's eyes, he was filled with doubt. Could he really stake their lives simply to test whether Irina Derevko's last words could be trusted?
He felt the heat rise to his face, and the skin over his angled cheekbones flushed. "I can't answer that."
"Try," Jack suggested laconically.
Vaughn looked down at the scuffed pavement and then up at Jack. "Irina could have come to the United States with the intention of turning herself in to the CIA and becoming a double agent, as she described," he stated quietly. "Or, perhaps it was the KGB plan all along for her to infiltrate the CIA and pose as a double agent, which would effectively make her a triple. After all, how would the CIA know?"
"And?" he urged.
"If the idea was to prevent the assassination of key political figures by the KGB, Irina could have made up a plot to kill a particular target, even when there was no operation planned, and she would look like a hero when the supposed assassination attempt did not succeed--meanwhile taking care of her true objective of eliminating the CIA agents best positioned to gather intel about other KGB operations."
There was a glint of approval in Jack's eyes. "You see now, Mr. Vaughn, why I can't allow Sydney to trust Irina Derevko or the information she has provided."
Vaughn shook his head. "Yes, but the fact that the KGB made her a triple agent doesn't eliminate the possibility that she was playing both countries off each other for her own mysterious ends. In the end, if Sydney IS right and her mother's information can bring down SD-6--that's an opportunity we can't afford to lose."
"Then you must do as you see fit," Jack stated dismissively, moving towards the door.
Now it was Vaughn's turn to forestall Jack's exit. He moved in front of the other man, his jaw set in determination.
"Did you know that Irina Derevko was the Savant and that my father was her handler?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't think that this was something that I should know?" Vaughn shot back incredulously.
"The revelation that Irina was involved in your father's death was upsetting enough. We did not want to put further strain on your--working-- relationship with Sydney."
"So you withheld the truth? What's it with you and the truth, Jack?" Vaughn asked mockingly. "Is it that you're above the truth? Beyond it? Or just plain afraid of it?
"This conversation is ended."
"No it isn't. While we are on the subject of Sydney's best interests, what was her involvement with Project Christmas?" Vaughn asked, barely able to contain his anger and disgust.
Jack eyed him sharply. "How do you know about Sydney's involvement in Project Christmas?"
Vaughn's eyes flashed. "I didn't know. I only suspected, but you couldn't resist, could you, Jack?"
The two men locked gazes. Jack's eyes were steely and cold, but Vaughn would not back down. Not this time.
"It won't be long before Sydney realizes the truth herself. How can you expect either of us to trust you, when you've been far from honest with us?" he seethed.
"Let me make something perfectly clear to you, Mr. Vaughn," Jack said curtly. "I accept you love my daughter, but that does not give you the right to question me or my actions. Everything I have done has been done to protect Sydney--including involving her in Project Christmas. You, of all people, should understand this."
"I understand that you committed Sydney to a life of espionage, before she was able to recognize the cost!"
"Sydney was a committed to this life simply by fact of being Irina Derevko's daughter!" Jack roared in a crescendo of emotion.
Vaughn closed the gap between them. "When Sydney came to work for the CIA, I told her we were the good guys. I promised her that together we'd bring down the Alliance. But now I find I can hardly distinguish between the Alliance and the US government. Murders covered up for political gain. Children brainwashed to supply the CIA with super agents. I am beginning to wonder if I've been duped by the very people I trusted most--just like your daughter."
"What do you wish me to do?" Jack asked, his voice level.
He looked at Vaughn--the striking image of his father. William Vaughn had died an ardent idealist, done in by political realists. At the moment, his son seemed hell-bent on sharing the same fate.
"I want you to help me reopen my father's case," Vaughn stated firmly.
"And I am telling you now is not the time," Jack warned. "If you pursue this any further, you will be putting both yourself and Sydney in grave danger. It would be more than foolish to do anything at this juncture to jeopardize the CIA's support and protection when both Sark and Arvin Sloane will stop at nothing to kill you."
Vaughn fixed him with a mutinous glare. "So are you saying I should just sit on the information that the CIA knowingly traded the lives of 12 of its officers for faulty KGB intel and that they killed my father when he threatened to reveal it?" he said in a harsh whisper.
"What I am saying, Agent Vaughn," Jack replied, his words clipped, "is that neither you nor Sydney are in a position of power right now. You cannot afford to fight wars on both fronts simultaneously. Defeat Arvin Sloane and then you can investigate the CIA's involvement in your father's death."
"So you acknowledge there is a connection?" Vaughn asserted.
"I started to suspect something when I was taking part in the investigation into your father's death," Jack began, his voice strained. "The details I uncovered did not coincide with the official report. When I read over the files describing your father's meetings with the Savant, certain dates and locations sounded familiar." Pausing to gather his thoughts, he continued, "there were correspondences--academic conferences--lectures Laura attended-- family vacations--" Looking with shame and self-recrimination into the young man's eyes, he continued "I never confronted her. It seemed-- preposterous--the delusions of a paranoid mind. Still, I wondered. I continued to investigate the deaths of the 12 agents, and it grew increasingly apparent to me that the CIA was somehow complicit in the murders. However, it was not until after Laura's--death that I realized the unassailability of the connection."
"That's why the FBI was investigating you," Vaughn rejoined. "Just like my father, you threatened to reveal what you knew, so they charged you with treason. You had been married to a KGB agent, after all, so you were easy to frame. But the CIA reinstated you later, with a full pardon. Why?"
"They were aware of my ties to Arvin Sloane, to SD-6," Jack explained tersely. "In return for my--freedom, I became a double agent."
"But Sloane must have realized at some point that your loyalties were divided. That's why he recruited Sydney," Vaughn replied, no longer waiting for Jack's confirmation. "To keep the scales tipped in his favor. You couldn't bring down SD-6 without implicating Sydney, so you gave the CIA just enough information to keep them satisfied, but not enough to inflict serious damage to SD-6 or the Alliance."
Vaughn marveled at the gamesmanship, all around. Jack had played a cool game, evading check time and time again, but his success did not come without cost. He had protected his daughter, but his talents had helped the Alliance grow more and more powerful, with cells cropping up around the globe. Vaughn thought of the many-headed hydra depicted on the chart he first showed Sydney. It was ironic enough that the very thing that had brought them together constantly threatened their future happiness. It was even more ironic that Sydney had sworn to bring down the organization her father had aided and abetted in order to deliver her from harm.
There was only one question left, and Vaughn knew he must ask it.
"Sloane grew disaffected with the CIA and became one of the original Alliance members. Why did you keep up your ties with Sloane? What convinced you to join SD-6?"
"After Laur--after Irina left, for a time, my mind was--clouded," Jack answered, after a lengthy pause in which he weighed the cost of what he was about to say with what might be gained in the process. "I lost my faith in many things I once believed in. I have done many things I am not proud of, some things that I--regret."
His gaze alighted once more on Vaughn.
"This is the sign of sore loss that I have suffered there....this is the badge of false faith that I have found there..." he quoted in French.
"And I must bear it on my body till I breathe my last. For one may keep a deed dark, but undo it no whit, For where a fault is made fast, it is fixed evermore," Vaughn finished softly.
It was Gawain's lament after being tricked by the Green Knight's wife and forced to recognize the limits of even his good virtue. Vaughn thought of a young, idealistic Jack Bristow betrayed by his wife, deceived by his country, coming once again within the orbit of Arvin Sloane's influence.
"Yes." Jack affirmed, seeing a flicker of compassion he would not normally tolerate in the younger man's gaze. "I think you understand. The question is, Mr. Vaughn, if you are truly the Azure Knight Rambaldi spoke of, can you do what must be done to protect Sydney and not lose your soul or your life in the process?"
He reached out stiffly and put a rather awkward hand on Vaughn's shoulder, and then exited through the same chain-link gate his daughter had stormed out of minutes before, leaving Vaughn alone in the darkened warehouse, gazing mutely after him.