THE FINAL CHAPTER—just read!

Redemption
Chapter Sixty

"JJ?" Sydney called out surprised and put away her gun. "What are you doing here?"

He walked closer to the group before speaking. "I followed Marshall," he explained glancing around the darkened interior. "You were all gone and I figured you must be up to something. I guess I was right."

"JJ, you shouldn't be here-"Sydney began.

"No, I need to be here," he protested. "I have information for you. It's about Kat."

"What do you know?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"I have a friend in security, Garcia-"

"How good a friend? Do you trust him?" Will interrupted.

JJ's eyes met Sydney's as he spoke. "I trust him, he's a very, very good friend." JJ pulled an empty metal folding chair from against the wall and sat down beside Carrie. "He was in the room during Kat's interrogation. You... we have to get her out. I know she didn't do whatever they say she did. She's good."

Jack's eyes immediately locked on JJ as he spoke the final words. The boy's hesitance and concern were worrisome. "Agent Cruz," his voice caught the attention of the others and they all looked at him. "What happened to my daughter?"

"He hit her, hard."

"Who did, your friend?" Will asked angrily.

"No, it was Branden." JJ rubbed his eyes and gathered his thoughts before speaking. "He was questioning her in the interrogation room, Garcia and another guard were there in case she tried anything, not that she would of course. They gave her a lie detector test and she failed. Then she wouldn't answer their questions; she wouldn't say anything at all. Not a word, she just stared at the wall the whole time. Then he said something about her mother and she snapped, but not like you'd expect. She jumped up and he hit her. Slapped her pretty hard but she didn't do anything, she just sat back down. He would ask her a question and she would turn it around to say something about him in the most polite manner you'd ever heard. It could have been about the question, his clothes, or anything at all. To say her remarks were insulting would be kind."

Jack raised his hand to scratch his chin and hide a small smile. He knew exactly what his daughter was like when she was pissed off. He had been on the receiving end of those remarks on occasion during her first few months in LA.

"She was cruel, stoic and if I didn't trust Garcia, I wouldn't have believed him at all." JJ paused for a moment and the others got the sense that the worst was yet to come. "She started to loose her cool and Branden was getting really angry. She said something else, it set him off and he hit her. Hard. Really hard. Garcia said that Kat never saw it coming. Her head snapped back and she fell off the chair. Her hands were still cuffed behind her back and no one could stop her. She smashed her head on the table and lost consciousness immediately. Branden had Garcia bring her back to the cell. She woke up twenty minutes later." He looked around at everyone's faces. "I want to help."

"He's not going to get away with this," Sydney said angrily.

"He won't Sydney, he won't." Jack squeezed her hand gently before turning to face JJ. "You understand that by coming here-"

"Kat's my friend Agent Bristow, I'm going to help."

Jack was silent, he wasn't entirely sure that JJ could be trusted or that the information his friend had was correct. But Sydney seemed to trust the young agent and she usually had good judgement. "Agent Vaughn, when you talked to Katarina, did she say anything else? Anything that might give an indication as to what she was lying about?"

"No," he shook his head regretfully. "The only other thing she said was to tell Sydney she was alright, to ask you to feed her cat and Weiss, she wanted me to remind you to make copies of the pictures she wanted. She said you'd know which ones, from her birthday party I guess."

"Yeah, sure," he nodded. "I know which ones." He was about to say something else but was cut off by Jack's cell phone.

Jack answered it quickly spoke for a few moments and then hung up. "That was Devlin," he said to Sydney. "He pulled a few strings, we can see Katarina."

"Oh thank god," Sydney sighed.

Jack stood and began placing the files he'd been examining back into his briefcase. "Sydney, Vaughn, go back to the office, I'll follow in a while. Everyone else take the scenic route home. Sydney will contact you if we have any new information."

Sydney and Vaughn left immediately and the others followed with the exception of Weiss Jack noted who seemed to be taking an exceptionally long time to gather up his documents. "Is there something wrong Agent Weiss?" Jack asked as soon as Will left.

"I need to talk to you."

Jack stood and waited for the agent to continue.

"On the plane, when she was sleeping, she was talking in her sleep."

"What did she say?" Jack asked curiously.

"I don't know," Weiss shrugged. "I couldn't understand her- she was speaking Russian."

"That's not uncommon. Katarina often speaks other languages when she has nightmares-"

"Yes she does but it's always a mixture of English and French or English and Russian or English and Italian, whichever language it is, it's always a mixture. On the plane, she didn't speak a word of English the entire time she was asleep." He watched Jack nod slowly and make a notation on a pad of paper. "There's something else." Weiss fingered the photograph in his pocket slightly before holding it out to Jack. "In Morocco, Sark dropped this," he explained as Jack took it. "Kat confirmed that it was her in the picture."

Jack examined it closely and tried his best to swallow the lump building in his throat. It was his daughter, with Sark.

"She calls him Julian-"

"I'm aware of that Agent Weiss. Have you told anyone else about this?"

"No," he shook his head.

"Good, don't." Jack placed the photograph into his inside pocket and grabbed his briefcase.

"Jack what do you think it means? Her and Sark?"

"It means that Katarina knows more than she's telling."

Weiss leaned against the table and watched Jack leave. Had he just gotten Kat into even more trouble?

Sydney stood with Vaughn in the hallway of The Rotunda waiting for her father. Devlin had miraculously pulled some strings and managed to get both Jack and Sydney in to see Kat. Certain members of the Senate Advisory Counsel had been protesting Kat's involvement with the CIA from the moment she was rescued from The Covenant and brought to LA and they were determined to make an example of her no matter how much some believed she was being set up. Branden's intrusion into their lives was proof of that.

"You alright?" Vaughn asked squeezing her hand gently.

"Once I see Katy," she managed a smile. "I'm worried about her. I'm not entirely sure she can handle this."

"Kat's strong Sydney. Next to you, she's the strongest woman I know." Vaughn hugged her close and kissed the top of her head. "She's overcome so much. For her, this is probably like a bump in the road."

"That's what I'm worried about," Sydney sighed. "I don't think she realizes just how much trouble she's in-whether she did it or not and I know she didn't do it. She's always so strong and fearless when she needs to be but someday she's going to break-"Sydney stopped seeing her father. "Dad?"

Jack approached the two. "We can see her now."

Kat sat on the floor in the back left corner of her cell with her legs drawn up tight to her chest. Her arms were wrapped tightly around them and her chin rested on her knees.

Her head ached. The continuous pounding had been subdued slightly by some aspirin that a doctor from medical services had given her. She was surprised to see the doctor. He'd been called after she woke and was in and out so quickly she was sure that Branden must not have authorized him. The doctor had checked her vision and pupils and promptly declared she didn't have a concussion but would need to take it easy.

One of the guards, Garcia, had been the one to give her the aspirin with a gentle smile and she was positive that he must be JJ's boyfriend. JJ had been very tight lipped about his new partner only mentioning that he was a security guard at the rotunda and that he was Hispanic. As Kat was downing the aspirin she caught Kendall out of the corner of her eye talking with the doctor. He must have been the one who'd authorized the doctor. Although she and the director had disagreed on many occasions she seemed to have a new found respect for him and realized he wasn't the hard ass he always portrayed.

She didn't need to look in a mirror to know Branden had done a fair amount of damage to her face and she couldn't deny that she hadn't deserved it either. He'd hit the left side of her face, just above and to the left of her eye. The skin was tight and painful to the touch and her eye was swollen closed. She hadn't seen it coming and she didn't remember the initial contact of his hand against her skin. What she remembered most was falling, not being able to stop herself and the agony of pain when the side of her head smashed on the corner of the table. It had cut and bled but not enough to warrant stitches.

In the beginning, she had co-operated. They gave her a lie detector test and everything had been fine until she'd started to fail it. Branden dismissed everyone else from the room other than herself, Garcia and another guard. He started to question her, demanded answers, accused her of things she hadn't done and all through it she didn't say a word. She didn't defend herself or deny his accusations. It wouldn't get her anywhere. Branden was convinced she was a traitor and there wasn't any changing his mind so she didn't bother wasting her energy. She did however take pleasure in the fact that her silence pissed him off. Then he got nasty. An off-handed comment about her mother had been the one that finally broke her. She jumped up yelling and he slapped her. Not hard, but hard enough that she calmed for a while and decided to turn the tables on him until he hit her again and this time the interrogation was over.

Branden had asked a lot of questions about Julian. 'No, not Julian,' she reminded herself. Sark. He'd asked her a lot of questions about Sark. Julian and Sark, they were so different, yet the same. The Julian she remembered or rather thought she remembered was not the man he was today. Of course, back then he had only been a boy with shining blue eyes and a mop of curly blond hair.

Sydney and Jack approached the cell quietly. Kat hadn't heard them nor made any movement in the past ten minutes according to Garcia.

"Katarina?"

She lifted her head and it was painfully obvious to both Jack and Sydney that Garcia had been telling the honest truth.

"Daddy," her voice was wistful and earnest. She stood up stiffly in obvious discomfort and slowly walked towards the glass wall.

"Kat-your face," Sydney began.

"It's okay," she interrupted. "I can't say I didn't deserve it. It doesn't hurt that much anyway."

"Katarina-"

"I'm okay Daddy," she whispered. "I'm just confused. They're saying I did things that I didn't do or at least I don't remember doing-"

"Kat don't worry we already have evidence that you didn't send that communication to the Covenant. We're going to get you out of here soon," Sydney said confidently.

"But what about the records?"

"What records?"

"The bank records. Director Branden showed them to me. Bank records in my name, with large deposits and my signature and videotape and computer transmissions from my account. Syd, I don't remember any of it. He's saying I did it, but I don't remember-"

"Katarina, who are you protecting?" Jack asked bluntly.

Her eyes grew wide and she was taken aback. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. You need to tell me who you're protecting."

Jack's voice was anything but sympathetic or compassionate and the manner in which he spoke was one he would use with another agent, not with his daughter. As Sydney watched her father and sister, she became painfully aware that Kat was tapping her left index finger against the glass in a repetitive pattern.

"I thought you believed me. Why don't you believe me?"

"Who is it Katarina, is it Sark? Julian? Are you protecting Julian?"

"I thought you believed me, why don't you believe me?"

"Are you protecting Julian?"

"Stop calling him that. You don't know him."

"Are you protecting Sark?"

"Don't call him that, it's not his name it's... Julian."

Kat was crying now and every tear felt like it was stabbing Sydney in the chest. "Katy just tell us the truth, are you protecting him?"

"Yes, no... I don't know." Her voice trembled and her splayed against the clear glass, gripping it.

"Why?" Jack asked. "Weiss showed me the picture, is it because of that?"

"No," she shouted."

"Then tell me why you're protecting him. Why are you lying for him."

"I don't know."

"Why are you loyal to him?"

"I don't know!" she screamed. "Please Daddy stop. Please just stop," she begged. "I can't hurt Julian. I won't betray Julian."

It was her last words that signaled to the others that someone else was there. Director Branden had been listening down the hall just out of sight, unnoticed by either Jack or Sydney. "Well, well well, finally the admission of guilt."

Both Jack and Sydney watched as Kat grew pale and the realization of just what she'd said hit her.

"That was not an admission of guilt," Sydney protested.

"That certainly is what it sounded like to me." Branden turned to face Kat. "You're going down. The evidence speaks for itself."

"You can't have any reliable evidence because I didn't do anything," Kat said angrily.

"We'll get a confession," Branded stated confidently. "At 0800 hours you're being transferred to Camp Harris for unrestricted interrogation. We'll get a confession."

"No, you have no grounds." Sydney seethed.

"Oh we have more than enough grounds. Your sister is a traitor to the US government and we will find out the extent of her betrayal." Branden motioned the guards over and addressed them. "Please escort Agents Bristow from the premises."

Neither Sydney nor Jack tried to fight off the guards. It would only have made things worse for Kat.

"Katarina." When she looked to Jack, he could see the undeniable fear in her eyes. She knew exactly what unrestricted interrogation was and that it would be decidedly worse than anything The Covenant or Viktor Melnikov had done to her. "We'll figure this out."

Silently she watched them go, not noticing the tears that slid down her cheeks.

"Looks like you've finally run out of time," Branden commented as he begun to walk away.

"I didn't do it," she whispered though no one could hear. "I didn't do it you sonofabitch," she shouted much louder. Her voice screamed out the next words and they echoed down the hallway reaching Sydney and Jack. Both her fists slamming against the glass wall. "I didn't do it!"

Defeated Kat slowly turned her back against the glass and slowly slipped to the ground her knees hugging her chest. She slipped her hands around them and held them as tight as she possibly could.

"I didn't do it."

Weiss leaned his head against the car window. He was driving to Camp Harris to complete Kat's transfer. He wasn't sure why Kendall had chosen him. If anyone he should be the last person to do it, but he followed orders.

The car he was in was following the transfer bus where Kat was located with three armed guards. He knew it was wrong. Kat wouldn't hurt a fly unless provoked and she definitely wasn't working for The Covenant. If she were, he'd know... right?

He'd seen her face, as she was loaded into the bus. Her hands and ankles were shackled together and she'd looked defeated. There wasn't that spark of defiance that he's always admired. She seemed almost accepting of the situation and he had to wonder if she indeed had accepted it.

Camp Harris. Weiss couldn't understand how it had gotten this far. How had everything spun so far out of control so quickly and no one could stop it. The CIA, or rather higher up members of the CIA believed that Katarina Bristow was a traitor to the US Government and was working for The Covenant. They had evidence; communications, video, bank records and more that he didn't know about that all indicated Kat as being the mole. He was positive that Kat was not The Covenant mole. It wasn't even a question for him, but if it was the truth than why wasn't she being honest about Sark? Why was she protecting him?

Kat leaned against the back of the seat and angled her head to look out the window. It wasn't an easy feat but it was far more interesting than watching one of the guards pick his fingernails. The scenery of empty roads sped by and Kat realized how little of LA she'd actually seen. It had been nearly nine months since everything began. Nine months since she'd been kidnapped by The Covenant and discovered the family she never knew she'd had. Nine months later it felt like everything was slipping away.

Kat wasn't sure what had alerted her to the presence of another vehicle. Perhaps it was the flash of light from the rocky hills just before the bus entered the tunnel or the complete darkness, which raised her suspicions. Regardless of what it was, she knew instantly that something bad was about to happen. She turned her body bracing it against the seat and one of the guards stood. He didn't even have time to ask her what she was doing when there was a sudden flash of light, a loud bang and a lot of smoke.

The driver slammed on his breaks and the bus swerved, flipping over and sailing across the empty road on its side.

Kat lay against the broken window struggling to breathe. When the bus had flipped, she'd been tossed to the opposite side of the bus and had the wind knocked out of her. She stood as best she could and saw that all three guards and the driver had been knocked unconscious in the collision. She crawled up the side of the bus as best she could trying to ignore the pain as she came into contact with shards of glass from the broken windows. She checked the pulses of both guards and was relieved to find them alive, just unconscious. She couldn't reach the driver or the third guard as they were trapped behind a screen barrier so she didn't even worry if they were alive or not.

She turned around trying to decide what had happened. Something had been thrown in front of the bus a bomb perhaps, the driver had swerved flipped the bus and then the other car... Eric!

Kat crawled to the back of the bus and looked out the broken window. The car he'd been in was upside down and there wasn't any movement. She had to get out; she had to make sure that he was all right. She began to crawl back to the guards hoping one would have keys for the shackles when she heard voices. There were shouts and gunfire and then someone began rattling the back door of the bus.

It had to be The Covenant or her Papa. They must have come for.

The rattling on the back door became more intense and somewhat frantic. The emergency door must have jammed shut in the accident. She suppressed a scream as the door was fired upon and worked at getting to the guard. There was no time to get the shackles off and she just worked on getting to a gun.

The moment her hands closed around the guard's handgun, she heard the door opening. Turning onto her back she aimed the gun as the person came into view.

The attacker kept their gun aimed at Kat and slowly pulled off their knitted ski mask. Kat's hands shook as she tried to keep the gun level. She was the first one to speak.

"I don't know whether to shoot you, or to trust you."

"If you were going to shoot me, you'd have done it already." The woman lowered her gun and held out her hand instead. "Trust me know. Ask questions later."

Kat's eyes traveled forth between the woman's hand and the gun. Making her decision Kat set down the guard's gun and held out her hands as the woman pulled her to a standing position. Kat visibly flinched as the woman knelt at her feet holding a penknife.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said and used the blade to pop open the shackles around Kat's ankles and then the cuffs around her wrists. Finally free of the restraints Kat bent and grabbed the gun she'd dropped.

"No." The woman knocked the gun from her hands and grabbed her wrist pulling Kat tightly against her body. She pulled down her mask and wrapped her arm around Kat's waist before placing the barrel of the gun against Kat's shoulder. "Fight me," she ordered. "But you're going."

Kat nodded understanding what the woman wanted and as they neared the bus' emergency doors. Kat began to struggle against her as the woman pulled her away from the bus.

Another figure cloaked in black carrying a gun approached them. "I got her," a man said and wrapped his arm around Kat holding her body tight to his.

Kat began to fight harder not knowing who he was and she kicked as the man began pulling her towards a waiting van. The man wrapped his other arm around her and held her tighter lifting her feet off the ground as they approached the van. Out of the corner of her eye she saw someone approaching with his gun drawn. Eric. The woman pulled her own gun and aimed it at Weiss.

"Nooooooooooo!" Kat kicked the man that held her, hard in the groin as Weiss turned towards her. She tried to run to him but the man tackled her from behind and flipped her onto her back. Looming over her he raised hand with the gun near her face. Kat's eyes connected with the man's and she recognized them. "Eric!" she screamed turning to the side and watching as the woman found her target once more. The last thing she would see was the woman pulling the trigger as the man came down hard with the but of his gun near her temple and Kat surrendered to the inky darkness.

Fin

A/N yes you read correctly. This is the end of Redemption. C'est finis. If you're thinking sequel the answer is yes! I'll post more information soon and if you want a PM when I begin posting the sequel let me know.

When I realized that the end of Redemption would be occurring very soon and I realized that I had been writing it for nearly one year, I worked my butt off to get the last few chapters finished. This was so that I would be able to post the final chapter on Oct 12 exactly one year after I began chapter one. Due to computer problems it's being posted on the 13 but you get the idea.

I want to really thank everyone who has been with me through out the whole ride. Especially to my dedicated readers, particularly Bleu & Christine and everyone else who continuously reviewed every chapter and offer encouragement. This is the longest thing I have ever written and I am kinda proud! That said I hope you'll all comment on the last chapter and hope to hear from some of you I haven't heard from in a while.

Thank you again and I'll post info on the sequel soon.
Erin
p.s. anyone interested in making a pic/blend for the sequel? If so send me a PM.