Disclaimer: See Prologue.
A/N: I don't read the Alias books (you know, the ones about her being an agent in SD-6 before the whole "Danny Incident," so if those mention her actual first, I don't know about it. Anyway, thanks to all for reviewing and encouraging. You make it feel like Christmas.
"Tell me about your first, Sydney."
"That's disgusting, Sark."
"Well, humor me, please. I have no access to the outside world and to any sort of entertainment. I must work with what I have. Now if you would oblige me…" He gestured for her to continue.
She glared at him. "If I tell you mine, than you have to tell me yours."
"Naturally, it's only fair."
"Fine then. I was twenty. Newly field trained, and it was in one of my first missions."
"Things got a little carried away, I presume?"
"Well, it wasn't on my list of things-to-do," she snapped.
"Who was he? Do you even remember?"
"Of course! What do you think I am, a monster?"
He quirked an eyebrow at her response.
She sighed. "He was thirty-four. Middle management for a Paraguayan drug cartel. I was sent in because he had backstabbed the CIA—well, Sloane, I mean. He had a wife, twenty-six years old, and two daughters, five and three."
"A family man? Sydney, I'm surprised. I didn't think your high morals would allow you to do that."
"It's not something I'm proud of." She threw him a dirty look. "Your turn."
"Mine was affluent. Had three yachts, houses all over the Mediterranean and England. It happened in England. You see, the fool sold Irina false information, leading to the death of one of her operatives. The man was sixty-eight. I was seventeen."
"Seventeen?" she asked, clearly shocked. He nodded, face impassive. "What was it? A sniper rifle?"
"A knife."
She shook her head, stunned. "Damn Irina."
He shrugged, giving her a half smile. "It was training. Do you remember how after riding the highest, fastest roller coaster in the park first, all the other rides don't even scare you? It's like that. She told me that I had to kill with a knife first off, so then all the other kills would come easily."
"Did it work?"
He let out a short bark of laughter. "Not one bloody bit."