Eyghon
Author's notes: I hope this chapter is coherent, I changed so many parts so often… This is going to be longer than I expected, maybe 10 chapters, I'm very excited, I have so many ideas!
Chapter 3: First contactThe following day of their arrival, on Monday night, after their first visit to the Bristow's house the three agents had set up a 'plan of escape'. They needed to get out of the United States as soon as they had the girl. The first step was to steal two get-away vehicles, an easy task that Nikolai managed just fine. He took a white van and a silver SUV, the latter being the only inconspicuous vehicle that could fit two –breathing- people in its trunk. He had driven them to an isolated warehouse "owned" by the SVR near the outskirts of LA. They would then come back with their hostage, ditch the van and take the SUV instead.
An agent would get rid of the van while they would be on their way to Nevada. Once there, they would switch vehicles again and drive to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas where a private jet would be awaiting them. The CIA would check every American, Mexican and Canadian airport after having found nothing at LAX. Many jets were continuously flying in and out of LAS; the SVR's would be one of many, an untraceable way of leaving the country.
Irina had designed the plan with Probulov's help, who would take care of his business with Jack on his own. The plane in Las Vegas was courtesy of the SVR, and Nikolai and her would pilot it themselves, as it was not essential to involve professional pilots, even trusted by SVR. The flight would be untraceable to Russia, their final destination, but they would make a quick stopover in France and take another SVR jet, just to be safe. Once in Russia, they would hide their hostage in a random house, on loan from a SVR agent who didn't need it. Even if the CIA discovered that the Bristow girl was in SVR custody, they would start with checking known possible locations such as warehouses, maybe safe houses, but they would never think of an agent house. It would be impossible for them to check anyway, because even the organisation's other agents were not privy to those personal information.
Today Nikolai was driving the van, they were waiting for Sydney a few blocks away from the mall, parked in a street perpendicular to the one she would be on. They knew where she was coming from and where she was going, no need to take the risk to be seen by the CIA agents by following her from her house to the inside of the mall parking. Around 14h00, her burgundy SUV passed them, closely followed by a black Sedan. Valenkov pulled out of their parking spot, turned left and ran the intersection's orange light to not get left behind. They could see a head above the passenger seat, probably Francie, as expected. In the Sedan, Irina recognised the agents from last Wednesday, they had kept the same shifts all week long. Today they would probably go back to the snack stand.
On the way to the parking garage, Irina had readied herself to act like an agent. This mission was no different than the countless others she had lead. Nikolai and her were on their way to capture her innocent daughter… no, scratch that. Nikolai and her were on their way to capture an important target for the SVR's interests. This was not an innocent girl, this was not her daughter. This was a soon-to-be prisoner of the SVR.
She was doing that for her country. 'My country, what a joke!' She had ceased believing in that crap years ago, when the KGB, supposedly acting for the good of Russia, had forcefully pulled her out of her assignment in America. 'They made me give her up'. They had stolen her motherhood from her, they had kept her from seeing her baby girl grow up into what she was seeing today.
America had felt like home for years, home was where Sydney and Jack were. She was angry at her country for throwing her in hell when she had came back, but what would the United States have done with her if she had been caught? After all, today there was the "scandals" of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Grahib, who knew what the US government was hiding at the time? The fact that people "cared" about what happened to the Iraqis, Afghans and whoever else was in there didn't mean that anyone would have cared about Russians prisoners during or after the Cold War. Certainly they would have found a way to get back at her for "killing" their agents. Bunch of fools, if they knew! They could have left her to rot in there for years… Or maybe they wouldn't even have bothered with her and just sent her to the electric chair without other form of trial… But in this case, she wouldn't have what Russia was "giving" her today, the chance to see her daughter as a grown woman…
"We're almost there." Interrupted Nikolai.
Lost in her thoughts, Irina hadn't noticed that they were one block away from the parking garage. When they had come back from their first visit there, Nikolai had opened himself a back door in the mall security system so he could hack into it later.
She typed a few keys on Nikolai's laptop, instantly disabling the security cameras inside and outside the underground parking. They were nearing the access ramp, one car behind Sydney's. The CIA agents were getting out of their car, parked around the same spot as last week. 'Good boys'. Sydney directly went to level-2, and the SVR's agents followed, parking their van a few meters away from the exit ramp. They pulled their masks on, they were already wearing gloves so no prints would be left inside their car or anywhere else in this place.
Irina took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the task ahead. As a SVR agent, it was her duty to bring their target in, by whatever means possible. There was no place for mistakes… or feelings.
Both agents walked stealthily between rows of cars, closing in on their target. Sydney had parked half way between the exit ramp and the elevator, Irina and Nikolai had a two minutes window to act.
They came from behind, Irina struck the black girl over the head with her gun, letting her collapse on the ground. She then picked up the car keys, which had escaped her daughter's grasp when Nikolai had grabbed her. For an instant, their eyes met, Sydney's full of terror and incomprehension, Irina's stone cold. Seeing the masked woman heading back to her fallen friend, Sydney struggled even more against her captor, screaming under the hand covering her mouth. Valenkov dragged her away from the brightly lit alley, towards a free spot next to a pillar, where he waited for Irina to come and give him a hand. They didn't need the girl to kick in cars while passing them, the littlest of shock could set off a shrilling alarm. He was tempted to use his taser to calm her down, but that would admit that she was giving him a hard time.
Irina didn't look back, simply picked up Francie and threw her over her shoulder as if she were a potato sack.
Sydney finally seemed to recall that she had teargas in her bag, her father had insisted that she carry one with her at all times, arguing that young women were easy targets for robbers in Los Angeles's streets. She didn't think it would ever come in handy, but she wasn't about to complain about having it right now.
Irina made her way back towards the burgundy SUV and dumped the body in the trunk, locking it and throwing the keys away. With the force of the blow, the girl wouldn't wake up for hours, and by the time she was rescued, the SVR agents would be long gone.
Sydney's hand finally closed on the tiny bottle, she closed her eyes and pressed the button, aiming the spray behind her, where she thought the man's eyes were. Miraculously it worked and he let go of her mouth, but was still holding her against him with the other.
"Let go damn it!" She tried to hit him, without much success, her only satisfaction being that he was still groaning from the pain in his eyes. The commotion had alerted his colleague, who was now hurrying towards them. Sydney had momentarily forgotten about the woman.
At that moment, the elevator's door opened, the woman barely had time to duck in the row of cars before the occupants could see her. She soon joined Nikolai and Sydney, who was frantically struggling against the man. Irina brusquely pressed her taser against Sydney's neck, causing her to instantly loosen her grip on Nikolai's arms, but she wasn't out yet. She felt defeated, she hadn't seen the woman coming, too busy struggling to notice her creeping behind the row of cars, out of sight of the newly arrived people. She was about to use the little strength she had left to try and scream, despite Nikolai's hand still covering her mouth, but the woman, seemingly reading her thoughts, pulled out her gun, training it on the people who had just walked out of the elevator: A woman and two children, a little boy and a little girl.
"You make a noise and they die." Murmured the woman, looking at her straight in the eye. She was not bluffing, Sydney knew. She resigned herself and quietly watched as the family-minus-a-father took off in a silver SUV parked a few cars from her own.
The woman grabbed her legs while Nikolai held her under the arms. They carried her to their van, the woman took the wheel while the man threw her in back, pinning her down on her stomach. She wouldn't keep still so he hit her in the ribs, causing her to cry out in pain.
Irina flinched as she heard her daughter's cries. She tightened her hold on the steering wheel, causing her knuckles to turn white.
Meanwhile, her colleague managed to tie his captive's hands behind her back, tightening the rope around her wrists. She was still gasping for air when he pulled a black cloth over her eyes.
"You stay down, you don't move." He ordered. "She's secured." He announced, pulling his mask off, while Irina did the same. They were now in the street going along the mall, the CIA agent's car was parked at the same spot, they hadn't notice anything and wouldn't for hours.
"How are your eyes?"
"Fine! That little btch…" He kicked the prostrate figure in the legs and she pulled herself into a foetal position.
"There's a bottle of water beside you, pour some into your eyes."
Irina glanced in the rear-view mirror, and wished she hadn't. Her heart sank at the sight of her sobbing daughter, huddled on the floor. 'This is my fault'. She had suggested the whole kidnapping idea, she had designed the plan almost all by herself, and she had known all along what it would entail. And all that trouble for what? To save a husband that she hadn't seen in years, who believed her to be dead? To save Sydney's father who didn't seem to be much of a father but was acting like a complete jerk? But wasn't she somewhat being selfish? Did Sydney want her father to be saved?
After a one-hour drive, they came near a warehouse, Irina went out to open the door and close it back when they were in. Except for Probulov, they were the only ones involved in this mission, they had no other help whatsoever, except for the 'valet-parking'. Chevchenko had made it clear that secrecy was essential, so the least people knew the better. Certainly, the CIA would go to all of their contacts, and no one would be able to tell them anything if no information was leaked. Derevko, Probulov and Valenkov were Chevchenko's best agents, and the four of them knew they could trust each other, besides Irina's blood relation to their hostage, that is. But she had been the one to come up with the plan so her boss had no reason to doubt her loyalty.
She got out of the van and opened the door, allowing Nikolai and Sydney to get out.
Facing her daughter after ten years of emptiness, being at a reaching distance of her was wonderful. But seeing her hunched posture, her quivering form, hearing her erratic breathing… Irina felt pain.
"Are you coming?" Nikolai was waiting for them near the SUV.
She snapped out of her thoughts and marched Sydney towards his position. She sat her on the edge of the trunk and pulled her sleeve up, accepting the syringe Nikolai was ending her, along with a vial of clear liquid.
"What are you doing?" Asked Sydney, scared even though she couldn't see someone was able to stick a needle into her.
"Relax, I'm just going to inject you a mild sedative…"
"No! Please no! I hate needles! I'll behave I swear…"
"Why do you even bother Irina, just do it and let's get going." Growled the man, his annoyance growing.
Glaring at the young man, she swiftly took hold of her daughter's arm and injected her with the syringe's content.
"Please, don't…" She gasped as she felt the prick of the needle on her arm. Tears rolled from behind the blindfold down to her cheeks. She felt herself go limp, strong arms catching her before she could hit her head.
"We have a long way ahead of us, it's better if you are asleep." Said Irina quietly, sounding like she was apologizing, but not sure if Sydney could still hear her. She felt sorry for the girl, she remembered how upset she would get when she was little and she had to be vaccinated. She would sulk all day and get angry at her mother for making her go to the doctor, not knowing that the pain from the shot hurt her mother as much as it did her.
Her Russian accent was showing strongly, has been since she had gotten out of Kashmir, ten years ago. Now, there was no way that even her own daughter would ever recognise her, but it wasn't because of the accent alone. No, in those twelve years of absence, two of which she had spent in "re-education", she had changed, both physically and emotionally. She would never be the same again, she had known the moment her car had plunged into the cold water that fateful night.
Irina gently laid Sydney's now unconscious form in the back of the trunk, and climbed in after her.
The agents wanted to travel as discreetly as possible, so they changed vehicles and configurations after each major step. A couple had entered the parking garage in a white van, a woman had went out and would drive to the warehouse, a man would drive to Nevada in a silver SUV, a couple would drive to Las Vegas's Airport in yet another car. There was no way to connect them together, to follow them to their final destination.
"Here is your earpiece." Nikolai and Irina would be able to communicate in case of necessity.
"Don't forget. Don't drive too fast. We don't need to be pulled over by the police."
"Make sure the girl stays out and let me take care of my business." Replied Nikolai harshly. The woman didn't mention that she had to help him subdue Sydney and that he had just commented on her methods a minute ago.
He put in a row of suitcases after her and covered everything with a blanket, completely hiding the two women from sight.
Several hours after the silver SUV had left the premises, a young man in his twenties entered the deserted warehouse and left with the van. He drove for a good hour to "Joe's breaker's yard" after having cleaned it up. He parked it in a row of other white vans, nobody would notice it. The CIA wouldn't find it for days if not weeks.
Halfway to Nevada, as she was still lying into complete darkness, only inches away from her unconscious daughter, Irina wondered: Putting her daughter through this hell…
Was it worth it?
TBC