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 5: As To The Validity

"I want a report on Angelina's status."

Irina burst into Khasinau's office unannounced and clearly furious. Khasinau simply looked at her, completely unmoved.

"Don't look at me like that! I've heard the rumors! You can't have her in here four days a week! That's too much!" Irina ranted precisely.

"I only planned on three," Khasinau said. "But then I was sure we'd have to relay and re-teach groundwork. Denosivich assures me this is not the case. I've approved a match between Angelina and Anna next Friday."

Irina's already angry face hardened until a more wary man would have seen the smoke threatening to come out her ears.

"Espinosa has been training for six months! Until you dragged Angelina," she said with customary emphasis, "Into this agency, Espinosa was talked of as the most promising trainee we had."

"Promising because of a certain haughty self-assurance that will make her unstoppable some day," Khasinau said slowly. "But she's not a natural fighter."

"I want to see her report," Irina said, backtracking to her original statement.

"No."

Khasinau turned back to his work, a clear and final dismissal.

Irina used all of her available will power to avoid strangling the man where he sat. Sure, they'd been involved before he'd assigned her to Jack Bristow, but she'd changed during those years, and now she couldn't see what it was about Khasinau that had ever attracted her.

They'd only been home five minutes when the phone rang. Jeffrey picked it up and was mildly surprised to hear Sydney's voice.

"Syd? Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she assured quickly.

But she wasn't. It sounded like she strained to keep her voice light and carefree. Jeffrey didn't say anything, though. Sydney knew he was there if she wanted to talk.

He realized he'd been too quick to suspect she was keeping secrets as she uttered their secret phrase as they hung up. They'd always talked on the phone before, so it hadn't occurred to him that they couldn't now.

Sydney was already in the basement by the time Jeffrey got there. She must have either used the light blue cell phone sitting beside her on top of the washer, or she moved damn fast.

They Jeffrey noticed that she looked nervous, edgy, despite her seemingly relaxed demeanor.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly, gracefully hopping up next to her in the line of washers.

"My phone is tapped," she said miserably, looking straight ahead. Her eyes hadn't moved once since he'd walked in.

"What?!?"

"My phone is tapped. My cell phone, too," she repeated resignedly. "There are cameras in my home. In my room." She turned her head, and only her head, to look at Jeffrey. "Denosivich keeps saying things that just sound ominous. Like he knows something is wrong, and he's trying to warn me."

"They're…what?!? That…all that doesn't sound like the government. If they're just protecting you, why not tell you? This is crazy."

Jeffrey stopped, deep in thought. When Sydney didn't say anything else, he continued.

"Sydney, none of this makes sense. You're sixteen, you're not even working for them yet, you can't even fight very good yet. Your mother is a spy, for Christ's' sakes. What do they need to watch you for?"

"Unless…" Sydney trailed off and shook her head, unwilling to voice her thought.

"Unless they aren't really CIA," Jeffrey finished for her pointedly.

"No. I mean, all this seems horrible, but then there's Agent Denosivich," Sydney argued. "He's just…he seems real."

"But you say he's warning you."

"Intelligence is a dangerous profession," Sydney said, talking herself out of believing anything was wrong. "He's probably just trying to get me to stay out."

Jeffrey shook his head.

"I don't think so, Syd. I think this KGB is hiding something."

I think the KGB is hiding something.

The words pounded through her mind as she stepped onto the elevator, growing louder as she pressed buttons to take her to the basement.

…hiding something…something…

The words echoed, overlapped each other, became an overwhelming murmur of voices.

Her heart thudded in her chest, her breathing was too fast.

Sydney closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Jeffrey's words had haunted her for a full day, ever since he'd spoken them, then abruptly left her alone in the basement. After a long moment, she finally felt stable enough to face her handler.

Denosivich was waiting for her as usual when she came into the training room. He worked her hard, as he always did, demanding more from her than she could of herself.

"What do you want form me?" Sydney finally gasped from her position on the mat where Denosivich had thrown her. "I can't do that move!"

"You can!" Denosivich yelled back. "You can and you will! You don't always get another chance and when the time comes you have to be ready!"

Sydney stared furiously at him, but her fury soon abated, replaced by a quiet curiosity.

"Why are you trying so hard? I know you don't want me here," she said softly.

For a split second, Denosivich considered telling her everything, and to run far far away, where they couldn't reach her. But he couldn't, and eh knew that.

"I just want you to be ready, Lina," he said softly, offering his hand.

Nothing could have sounded more ominous to Sydney.

Denosivich was left very unsure about what actions to take. Lina had seemed extremely suspicious, but she'd shown a history of very little restraint. If she was suspicious of him, he was pretty sure he'd know of it without a doubt.

She had reveal she knew he didn't want her there. She was either more perceptive that he'd realized, or he was slipping, letting his guard down around her like some rookie.

Denosivich sighed and paced around the training room he'd yet to leave, even though Lina had been gone for an hour. There were only two more sessions before Lina would face Anna. He had no doubt that Lina would be ready; that wasn't what worried him. There was some quality about Anna that he himself saw…would Lina sense it? If Lina decided Denosivich's second trainee was a bad person, would that be the clencher in her mind as to the validity of the organization? And more importantly, would Lina Derevko continue to trust a man she believed to be part of the very agency she no longer believed in?

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