Alternate Existence
She was just sixteen. She never wanted this. She never wanted any of it. She didn't want to be an agent. She didn't want to even learn to fight. And most of all, she didn't want to learn her mother was a foreign spy.
Chapter 2: Ask No Questions
A/N: I've changed Khasinau's name's spelling in here, as it was brought to my attention that I'd spelled it wrong! I fixed the first chapter, too. If you catch a missed correction, feel free to point it out.
A/N: Okay, I'm pretty sure there is at least one inconsistency in this story, if not specifically this chapter, but I can't find it. So, if you find something that doesn't quite fit with something else I've said, lemme know, could ya? I'd really appreciate it!
Sydney sat stunned as the limo pulled out of the parking garage. Mr. Casinou had been waiting, just as he'd said.
Her mother was a spy. She wasn't an accountant, she was a spy. For a government agency no one was supposed to know about. That way why, her mother had said, she could never tell anybody. Mr. Casinou had only insisted that she tell Sydney because he hoped to recruit Sydney to work for them when she was old enough. They'd recruited some as young as eighteen, she'd told Sydney to get her interest.
Laura Bristow was a government spy.
She went by a different name at work, an alias, she said. Irina Derevko. That was to protect her anonymity, and Sydney's. Sydney had to remember never to call her mother Laura Bristow in front of her colleagues; she was Irina Derevko.
And she, Casinou was explaining, would not be Sydney Bristow.
"You will answer only to Angelina Derevko," Casinou said in his heavy accent. 'You are Irina's daughter, you tell no one anything else. You ask no questions. You do what I tell you. Understood, Angelina?"
Sydney took a moment to realize he was speaking to her still.
"Yes, sir," she answered quickly.
Casinou smiled, and despite the knowledge that he was a good guy, he looked distinctly evil to Sydney.
"There, now, we're going to get along just fine, Angelina," Casinou said softly, and his voice sent a chill up Sydney's spine. But she didn't let it show.
She'd already learned the most important lesson about her mother's world, and she would soon come to apply it to every one of the operatives of the KGB: only let them see what you want them to see.
Casinou saw a defiant teenage girl with a lot of spunk.
The building looked innocent enough, but Sydney knew now that it was only a cover. She'd been by the Alderidge Bank a few times, but she'd never known it was where Mr. Casinou worked. Now she knew.
The bank, as far as she could tell, was fully operational. But she and Irina Derevko and Casinou got into an elevator marked Authorized Personnel Only, and rode down to a sublevel not even acknowledged by a button. They had to be three of four floors underground.
When the elevator doors opened, first Casinou and then her mother stepped up to allow a red light to shine in their eyes, then Casinou pressed a code into a security pad.
"Retina scan," Laura Bristow told her daughter. "It's like a fingerprint. You'll be scanned into the system later, no doubt."
Sydney only nodded.
Sydney and her mother followed Casinou to his office and sat down in front of his desk. He remained standing. A few moments later a man in his early thirties stepped in and closed the door.
"This is Agent Denosivich, Angelina," Casinou said. He seemed to repeat her alias every time he spoke to her as if afraid she'd forget it. "You'll go with him and do as he says. He'll explain to you the rules here."
Sydney looked to her mother. She nodded.
"Go. You'll be fine," she assured.
Sydney, none too happy, rose and followed Calvin Denosivich.
He led her through a maze of halls, into a part of the building that finally looked like a basement.
"This is our training area," Agent Denosivich said easily, a crooked and uneasy grin on his face. Sydney wondered distantly if it was she that made him nervous. May be he just didn't like kids. "I don't know if anyone's told you, but Casinou hopes to have you prepared to go operational by the time you're eighteen." He looked at her, concern prominent in his deep blue eyes. "You're what? Fourteen?"
"Sixteen," Sydney said, an edge to her voice.
Denosivich looked vaguely surprised. He wasn't nervous, Sydney realized. He was worried. Something about her, like he didn't want her here.
"Well, anyway, I have to give you a rundown of the rules here, then we're going to do a little introductory training. Novice stuff, just to see where to start with you. Then we'll scan you into the system so nobody has to come get you everyday. You know what a retina scan is?"
"I know that's how you get past security around here," she replied impudently.
"Good enough. Now, basically, the most important rule here is secrecy. If you tell anyone about this place, or about the KGB, you endanger their life as well as your own. So just keep your mouth shut, all right?"
Sydney smirked and nodded.
"Next, you show up here when you're told, no arguments. If you skip out when Casinou says you be here to play with your friends, you are once again endangering their lives as well as your own. I'm not kidding."
Realization dawned, and Sydney's eyes flashed.
"Is that a threat?" she demanded.
"No," Denosivich said. "It's a warning. Security around here is tight, and if you screw up, security sector is not slow about cleaning up your mess," he said passionately.
His fervor confused Sydney. He made it sound like this security sector was horrible, like they'd kill people. The government didn't do stuff like that. Did they?
Sydney nodded slowly, fear taking hold now.
"So, basically, don't say anything to anybody, and follow orders."
"And if any of your friends ask you anything, lie your little ass off." Denosivich turned and opened a door, revealing a mat covered floor in an otherwise bare room. "One more thing," he said after a slight hesitation. "Never volunteer anything."
They walked in, and Denosivich turned around once more.
"Let's get started," he said, picking up one of the shields that her old karate teacher had used. She hadn't taken a class since she was ten.
Denosivich toed off his sneakers, telling Sydney to do the same, then they moved to the center of the room.
"How'd you end up here, anyway?" he asked. "Why does Casinou wasn't to train you so early?"
Sydney shrugged.
"I'm Derevko's daughter. Didn't everyone assume I'd join someday?"
Denosivich shook his head.
"Didn't even know she had a daughter," he said. "What's your name, kid?"
"Angelina," she answered promptly.
Denosivich grinned.
"All right, Angel, let's see what you've got. Kick me."
Sydney smirked and took up a stance; it was like riding a bike. Before Denosivich had time to register that her stance suggested she had a clue, her sock-clad foot hit the target and Denosivich went sprawling. Her kick was still powerful, even in jeans. She hadn't kept up the karate, but she'd kept in shape. Denosivich landed with a muffled "Oof!"
As he sat up and shook his head a little, as if clearing out cobwebs, Sydney stepped close and smirked down at him.
"I prefer Lina," she said simply. "You make Angel sound patronizing."
Denosivich accepted the hand she offered to help him up and laughed.
"I'll remember that," he said.
Sydney grinned. This guy wasn't so bad. She might just like him after all.
"You told me you wouldn't train her yet!" Irina snarled. "You said if I'd only introduce her to this life, with the promise I'd see she had some training prior to her eighteenth birthday, you'd leave her alone."
"Irina, you waited too long to tell her. You waited until the last minute. I'm not sure I can trust you to see to her training yourself. I'll see to it, and I'll know when she's ready. Perhaps I can make an agent out of her sooner that I'd hoped," Casinou suggested.
"She's not prepared for this," Irina argued. "She doesn't even know any Russian. And we both know that's the official business language within the agency."
Casinou shrugged.
"We'll make some exceptions and add that to our training agenda for her. She'd a promising prospect, I must say. She had your spirit, Irina. You were only too eager to join us when you were sixteen."
"This is different. Sydney is different..."
"Angelina," Casinou prompted fiercely.
"She was raised here! To Angelina, American views are right. I can't help that. To her, this is her home, not the enemy."
Casinou shrugged.
"So I'll add disillusioning your daughter to Denosivich's to-do list," he said austerely. "I want her, Irina, and I'll have her. There's nothing you can do about that."
So, what do you think of Denosivich? I'm aiming for a certain persona there, so if you could just tell me what I did get across, that'd be great. Review, please! I don't post without reviews...