COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Eyghon

Author's notes: A short chapter, but essential to what's coming next. Don't panic, it's not the end yet. I write the hours 'à l'Européenne', so you need to know that 16h47 means 4.47pm while 7h47 means 7.47am. 0h00 means midnight and 12h00 means noon. I could have changed that to accommodate you but it adds a little 'Frenchiness' to my story and I like it. Thanks to Lenafan for the help and the corrections. You're the best!

Chapter 10: The deal is off

It had been one hour since the disk was taken away. Jack hadn't been happy to relinquish his bargaining tool, but the other 'choice' he had was not acceptable.

The man's phone rang, "I see," were his only words.

Jack didn't flinch, keeping his face expressionless, his hand discreetly inching towards his holstered gun.

"Agent Bristow, I'm very sorry you decided not to trust me." He shook his head from side to side, as if sad. A shot rang out, followed by another.

They had been driving in silence for around one hour now. Sydney wondered what had happened to her parents and where she was being taken. She was worried for her mother. She had promised she would protect her and yet she wasn't there. She couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. She thought of the last time she had seen her father. They had had a huge fight about her having a party. She had ended up breaking his car's window. When she had come back the following day, he was gone. She hadn't seen him since. He didn't left a note, didn't call, nothing.

She had been disappointed in him many times, but it was never that bad. He was not a bad parent. He was just out of the loop, but not in the same way as other parents. He was never there, never took any interest in her.

What if it was the last time she saw him?

Two figures lay slumped on the ground, two pools of blood merging into one on the cold pavement. The snipers surrounding the cathedral square were supposed to execute Bristow at Probulov's hand signal. Instead, it was his body lying there, shot to death between the eyes. Something had gone seriously wrong, but he needn't worry about it, he was dead.

Jack Bristow coughed and opened his eyes. His face was smeared in blood, his blood. He had been shot in the left shoulder but he was alive. He was not the only one sprawled on the ground. The telephone man was dead. Jack had no clue what had happened but he now knew he had sentenced Sydney to death the second he had decided to have this destructive program installed on the disk. He had killed his little girl. There was no way he could find her, the dead man in front of him would provide no answers.

A screeching noise jolted Sydney out of her bleak thoughts. She couldn't see what was happening as she was still blindfolded. She felt fear seize her as the men around her started yelling in Russian. She heard guns going off. Shots were fired from and toward her car. There were clank noises and jolts as if another vehicle was bumping into theirs. A violent explosion shook their SUV, which started to spin, out of control. There was another loud noise and the car came to a dead halt.

Sydney, who wasn't wearing her seatbelt, had slipped from her seat to the ground during the attack. She was stuffed between the backseat and the front seat, which had been acting as airbags. She finally managed to remove her blindfold by rubbing her head against her raised knees. She took a tentative look around her. Apparently, none of the car's occupant was wearing his seatbelt. The man in the passenger seat had his head embedded in the windshield. The young girl felt bile rise to her throat.

She didn't have time to check on Nikolai, not that she cared about his health, because her door was jerked open. More bullets were fired, aimed at the three male occupants of the vehicle. The shooter was determined to make sure his job was done. Nikolai's body quietly collapsed against the wheel. The man previously sitting beside Sydney slumped on the backseat at her eye-level, brain matter pouring from bullet holes in his forehead. He was definitely dead now. She screamed. The masked shooter grabbed her and forcibly pulled her out of the wrecked car.

Sydney's eyes widened as they passed chaos. Two more men dressed in black from head to toe had emerged of a battered SUV. It had probably been used to ram into the second car, causing it to explode. Sydney noticed one of the men was approaching the vehicle she had just left. He set it on fire with what looked like gasoline. His colleague was looking for something down into the ravine, presumably the other car, or what was left of it. He motioned for the driver to push the giant ball of fire toward him. Sydney watched as it tumbled down into the ravine, joining the second car.

Shattered glass and pieces of metal crunched under her feet as she was dragged toward the waiting SUV. She felt bullet shells roll under her feet before she collapsed in her captor's arms.

As soon as Chevchenko received the news, several hours later, he launched a search for Agent Irina Derevko, his prime suspect. He didn't have much trouble finding her, as she was in her office, a few doors down from his. He summoned her in his office, curious as to what she had to say.

"Agent Derevko, when did you arrive in Moscow?"

"Mid-afternoon, sir. I believe it was around 14h00."

"Why did you leave your duty?"

"I was bored. Three men from Security Section showed up. I thought there were more than enough to handle the situation." Chevchenko's brows furrowed. "I felt the assignment in itself was beneath me," she added haughtily.

"I see. So you are not aware of the new developments of this case."

"Last I heard, Mikhail Probulov was heading to the meeting place. Why these questions?"

The older man sighed. "The agents transporting the girl were ambushed. We recovered four bodies. They are burned beyond recognition. Only DNA tests will provide their identity but we believe them to be those of ours agents."

"Our agents? The four of them?" Irina looked surprised.

"Yes," curtly nodded Chevchenko.

"What about the girl?"

"Missing."

"Did we get the disk?"

Chevchenko scrutinized her face, looking for any sign proving she knew more than she was letting on, but found none.

"Probulov was killed, along with two of our snipers. The disk is useless."

"Bristow?"

"Back in America, out of our reach."

"What happened? How could everything go so wrong?"

"That's what I'm asking you."

"I beg your pardon?"

"The girl. She's yours…"

"With all due respect," interrupted Irina, getting angry, "she's not. She's merely a pawn in my plan, plan with which I recall coming to you. Why would I sabotage my own work?"

"Two cars were attacked and destroyed, resulting in the death of one of my best agents and three security agents. An American agent killed a senior officer while a third party, still unknown, executed two snipers. Can you explain that to me, Agent Derevko? Can you tell me how we lost seven of our people?" bellowed Fyodor.

"I can assure you I have nothing to do with a leak or the incompetence of my colleagues. I invite you to check with Security Section, I was here all afternoon."

"I know you were there," softened the man, "but now we have a useless disk and seven unexplained death among our ranks. I am not even talking of the humiliation of this whole agency."

"What is our next move?"

"I want the people who did that."

"I don't believe it comes from the CIA, it lacks their…incompetence. It was a well-planned, well-executed job. No witnesses, no prisoners. An overkill executed by professionals. I think it was an outsider job."

Chevchenko nodded, thoughtful. "I agree. They were probably mercenaries hired by Jack Bristow himself."

"Should I go after him?" Asked Irina. She was the only remaining senior officer alive in the Moscow cell. It was her plan, her mission, so it would be her duty to go after Jack if her superior deemed it necessary.

"No. We do nothing." He sighed and sat back in his chair, resigned. "We lost enough people over this man. Let's hope the loss of his daughter will keep him from the field for a long time. Dismissed."

Irina quietly left the office; relieved Jack was out of danger, at least for now.

She was worried about Sydney though.

TBC