Redemption
Chapter 17
The silence was deafening. Kathryn absently scratched her arm while she tried to concentrate on the papers in front of her but it was impossible. Her cast had finally been removed that morning and she felt like she would scratch right through her skin. She glanced up at Jack his concentration never faltered as he shuffled papers making notes on a small pad of paper. Absently she clicked her pen surveying the plane replaying the past two days over and over in her mind.
She stared straight ahead. Jack waited for her answer perched on the edge of his desk. "What were you thinking?" he repeated.
"Well what was I supposed to say, I couldn't very well say no. They assured me that there was no danger at all and obviously if they were asking me they didn't have any other choice-" Kathryn was interrupted by a knock on the office door. Weiss poked his head in.
"Dixon and Kendall are ready for us in the briefing room."
"Thank you Mr. Weiss we'll be right there." Jack stood up and walked towards the door. "We will finish this conversation later," he whispered in her ear as he passed. Grudgingly she stood and followed him out.
"Alright people, this is a fairly simple mission but I don't want anything to go wrong." Kathryn took a seat next to Eric in the briefing room nervously glancing at the others in the room.. On the other side of her sat Marshall whom she'd met once or twice, across from her sat Jack, his clear distaste of the fact that she was even in the room was well hidden. To his left was Kendall a man she had instantly disliked the moment she'd met him. Dixon stood in the middle as he explained the mission. "For the last four months two of our agents have been undercover at Ryerson Communications in Spain." A photograph of a young man, with sandy colored hair and emerald eyes flashed across the computer screen. "This is Agent Jake MacGyver. He's been working closely with the owner of the Communications department Marco Ruggiero. Based on his Intel we've been able to recover plans for a new type of satellite system, which would make it impossible to trace certain numbers, which would be programmed into the computer system. He's undercover as JD Salenger; he and Ruggiero have become friends. Langley had an agent set up to go in as Salengers fiancée during an upcoming party at the Communications office. The problem came up when Agent MacGyver mistakenly said his fiancée was 18 instead of 28. That's where you come in Kathryn."
She met Jack's eyes momentarily before focusing her attention back on Dixon.
"Any of our other agents that would match the profile and look young enough are not fluent in Spanish and Russian like MacGyver said his fiancée was. Kathryn although you are not a CIA agent you are our only option." Kendall looked directly at her as he spoke.
"Kathryn you will be going in as Alexia Deveraux, Salenger's fiancée. Jack I want you to go in as her cover Samuel Deveraux, Alexia's father and a rich oil tycoon from the south-"
"How's your southern accent?" Kendall interrupted.
"Simply darling," she drawled and Eric hid a smile as she glared at Kendall, her obvious distaste for the man showing through.
"According to Salenger, Alexia is relatively quiet well educated fluent in Spanish and Russian, from South Carolina born and raised. You graduated Highschool last spring and are planning on marrying after you are finished college majoring in Spanish and Russian languages. You want to become a College Professor. Agent Weiss will be monitoring security from the outside and during the party our second agent Paul Collins will distract Ruggiero while the other three of you gain access to the restricted section of the operations Center, download the schematics and implant a virus into their system. Kathryn, you are simply along for the ride backing up MacGyver's cover, you are to stay with Jack or MacGyver at all times I do not want anything to go wrong."
"I understand," she nodded.
"Surely there must be some other agent-" Jack sighed closing the missions folder.
"There isn't-" Kendall shook his head.
"She's not trained-"
"Her past performance clearly indicates that she can handle herself. I'm counting on you to keep an eye on her, will this be a problem?" Kendall's voice clearly indicated that there was no question about Kathryn's participation in the mission. She had agreed and that was the end of it.
"No," he said reservedly.
"Good, you're in and you're out, two days. Marshall go over Optec."
"Sure, how's everybody today," Marshall awkwardly standing up. "I've got some great stuff for you guys, most developed specifically for this mission. I've got something great for you Agent Sull- well you're not really an agent are you Ms. Bris- er you're not really a Bristow either, though you look so much like Syd one could get easily confused sorry Ms. Sulli-"
"Kat's fine," she interrupted him suppressing a laugh as he wiped his forehead nervously.
"Well for starters there's this," he passed her what looked like a tube of lip balm. "I'm really proud of this one, looks like lip balm right, you know you'd put on when your lips are dry or chapped, a little boost of moisturizer keeps them soft and supple well all you do is twist the cap and tada, it's an auto injector for your insulin, small and easy to carry, you can keep that one, I'll show you how to refill it later."
"Cool, thanks," she nodded inspecting the tiny injector.
He opened a jewelry case showing her the jewelry inside it. She held her breath never having seen anything so beautiful.
"Pretty swank huh," Marshall grinned impressed with himself. "The earrings are your com link the necklace is a camera and then your dress has a ton of fiberglass beads in it, perfect for enhancing vocal communications, anything you say will come through crystal clear."
Kathryn sat back taking in everything around her. Jack was mad at her there was no denying that fact even though he kept it well hidden from the others. It was clear to everyone that he was not comfortable with her involvement in the CIA. She couldn't understand what the big deal was; after all there was no danger. Right?
Jack glanced up at Kathryn for the tenth time in last five minutes. "Must you do that?" he pointed at her pen painfully aware that she was irritating him on purpose.
"Sorry," she set it down on the seat beside her. "I can't believe you're still mad at me, what was I supposed to tell them?"
"You have no idea how serious this is." Jack set aside the papers and leaned forwards in his seat. "Working with the CIA is not something you just decide to do when you wake up one morning. Sydney and I are trying to keep you out of danger, not put you right in the middle of it-"
"You don't care about me so why bother pretending," she stood up her arms crossed over her chest defensively. "You don't even care about anyone not even your own daughter. The only reason you're keeping me around is because you still think I know what The Contessa is-"
"Do not presume to tell me who I do and do not care about, it is of no concern of yours-"
"Don't pull that crap with me, I can see right through you-"
Weiss cleared his throat and stood up unable to believe that Kathryn was egging Jack on. She had no fear of him, anyone who stood up to Jack Bristow was usually left with a broken bone or two; she had guts. She knew he wouldn't touch her so either she was trying to get something out of him or just trying to piss him off. "I'll just go…… check on the flight status," he mumbled excusing himself deciding it would be better to steer clear of this fight, not that either of them even noticed his departure.
"And what is that Miss. Sullivan, you don't know anything about me."
"I know that you're a liar, you lied to Sydney most of her life. You're completely devoid of capacity for any human emotion-"
"And look at who I am talking to," Jack stood matching her stance. "Turning yourself on and off like a light switch when you feel like it, is not an appropriate way to handle yourself."
"It's worked for the past seventeen years, not that I care what you think. I've been taking care of myself since I was five years old so don't try to act like some kind of a father to me. You're not my father and I don't need one. I had a father and now he's dead and I've been doing just fine without one."
"I am not trying to-"
"When Danny died, you couldn't even show up at his funeral for your own daughters sake. You're a horrible father, you lied to her, her whole life-"
"Do not try to tell me what kind of a father I am. You're just a child you don't know anything about me or the real world or my relationship with my daughter."
"She's your daughter it doesn't get easier than that. Just forget it," she muttered shaking her head and she sat down, already tired of the cat and mouse game. Jack had barely even raised his voice. "You're just like her."
"Just like who?" His response was short, clipped. He appeared to be only mildly interested but inside she knew he was dying to know.
She didn't answer at first debating on whether or not she would satisfy his curiosity; she decided to. "Just like Irina. You're a liar just like her." She expected silence but found none.
"Do not compare me to that woman-" She almost thought she detected hatred in his voice, almost but not quite, she'd hit a nerve.
"Why not," she shrugged pretending not to care. "It's true. Not even three weeks ago I came to you and asked you if Sydney was okay. You looked me straight in the eye and you lied. You said she was fine. She wasn't fine. She was lying in the hospital with a bullet in her stomach!"
"That was Sydney's decision to make. She didn't want you to worry, you were already dealing with enough-"
"You still lied to me," she said calmly. "My entire life has been one big lie and I would appreciate it if you would respect that the next time I ask you a question. I want the truth; I don't care what the costs may be. I want the truth!"
"Then I would appreciate it if you would refrain from speaking of things you know nothing about. Irina Derevko is a woman that I would be happy if you never saw nor spoke of again. She is manipulative, unpredictable and dangerous and the fact that she is your mother will not change a thing. After this mission is finished, if I ever hear of you agreeing to do anything for the CIA without speaking with Sydney or I first, I will put you in protective custody myself. While we can only hope that Covenant has decided that you do not know anything about The Contessa, we can't guarantee that and I promised my daughter that I would do everything I could to keep you out of harms way. I intend to keep that promise to her."
"You don't hate her do you."
Kathryn's question hung in the air unanswered.
"If you're finished, we land in 30 minutes, I want you to get ready and then get Agent Weiss so we can go over the plan again."
"But we've gone over it ten times already-"
"And we'll go over it another ten times until I am satisfied. Am I clear?"
She was silent for a moment before standing and grabbing her knapsack, "as glass." She walked past him stepping inside the planes small restroom. She changed into the skirt and blouse she'd been given and combed her hair into a braid as Sydney had instructed. She pinned it up and fitted the red wig over her brunette locks. The reflection in the mirror was not her own. It was Alexia Deveraux who looked back at her. Long fiery red hair, red eyebrows, lightened eyelashes, violet eye shadow and soft pink lip-gloss. It was an odd feeling not looking like yourself. She began to understand Sydney's words, when they'd talked about Sydney going on missions several nights before when neither of them could sleep. She hadn't told Kathryn specifics but told her what it felt like. Mission after mission, alias after alias, disguise after disguise blending together until suddenly you're not even sure who you are anymore. If your true identity is just another set of false papers; just another lie.
It had been six weeks and three days since her entire life changed. The time had passed by so quickly full of therapy sessions, meetings with Kendall and Lindsey and Eric the only person who seemed to be on her side. He never talked to her about anything that was said in those meetings. The details that he knew surrounding her upbringing sometimes even scared her to know that he knew that much. He'd made it clear to her; nothing that was said in those meetings would ever pass his lips without permission. Stuffing her clothes into the bag she took one last look in the mirror. "Hello Alexia Deveraux."
Jack and Eric were already going over the mission specs when she returned and for the first time she noticed that Jack looked 15 years younger; his hair had been darkened removing most of the aging gray. She sat next to him on the couch listening to their discussion.
"Oh almost forgot," Eric handed Kathryn and Jack each a small container.
Jack opened his and expertly popped the colored contacts into his eyes. He turned to Kathryn his eyes having changed from a hazel brown to a brilliant shade of blue. "Ever worn contacts?"
She shook her head.
"Tilt your head back."
Kathryn followed his instructions and after a few tries he had placed the contacts into her eyes. Eric handed her a mirror; her eyes were now the same shade of blue as Jacks. "I don't even look like me anymore," she whispered.
"Good, that's exactly what we want," Jacks response surprised her. "We don't want anyone to be able to connect Alexia Deveraux to Kathryn Sullivan. It seems unlikely that The Covenant has any connection to this but we can't be too careful."
"They're not after me anymore."
"We don't know that." Jack closed the files and turned to Kathryn. "Tell me about Alexia Deveraux."
Kathryn sighed and swallowed hard. She took a sip of juice and began going over her cover story for the eleventh time that afternoon.