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Chapter Nine – Truths have Consequences

'My mother always says; Truth Takes Time. But what happens when your time has run out. What happens when you have been lying to survive and suddenly you find yourself out of time to come up with more lies to cover yourself? What happens when one of the people who you trust is getting suspicious and asking you about it, should you do what your Mother said you should? Should you kill him just because he is about to learn the truth? My mother also says that truth has consequences.'

She looked around the small restaurant, suddenly finding it overcrowded for this conversation to take place and smiled a little at the totally obvious agents over on the table by the door, why hadn't she spotted them before?

"I'll give you what you want but not here, and certainly not with your…bodyguards over there. I'm going to leave and go to this address, it's an abandoned warehouse, meet me there in thirteen minutes, I'll wait seven, and if you are not there then I'll disappear." She said standing up and grabbing her purse. "Oh and Sark make sure the muscles stay at home or else I'll leave." She said and left. She smiled kindly at the two agents and stole their olives. Making sure you covered your weaknesses was half of the game.

She jumped into her red Ferrari. She contemplated informing her mother but decided against it, instead decided to solve this problem first and then tell her once it was sorted. The warehouse she had made him go to was an old warehouse that she had used more than once when running missions with Simon Walker. She waited thirteen minutes and like expected he showed up, she stayed hidden, lurking in the shadows looking for any signs of his agents. When they were no where to be seen she emerged from the shadows. He heard her footsteps and came face to face with the barrel of her handgun. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Julia, what's going on? I thought you said I was going to get some answers not a bullet lodged in my brain." He said slowly backing away from her. She kept her façade up but really inside she was hurting and it was taking all her effort to make sure the gun didn't shake.

"I can't do that Sark. I have a lot of the answers but I can't share them, the truth has consequences Julian, this is just one of them and you don't know the half of it. I'll give you two questions, I'll answer them and then I need to make sure no one else ever finds out those answers." She said emotionlessly. Even though on the inside it was ripping her apart.

"Two questions?" He asked making sure, even though he was trying to hide it she could see his uneasiness. She nodded and for the first time he locked his eyes with hers, her façade started to crumble, and the gun unwillingly started to shake. "Are you the associate?" He asked, still looking at her eyes. Her eyes that had started to let the tears escape.

"Yes." She said and she could feel the warm tears spring down her cheeks, the tasted salty as they hit her lips.

"Do you want to do this, kill me I mean?" He asked stepping forwards, so the gun was pressed against his heart. "I love you Julia, don't do this. Give us a chance."

"No. It has to be this way, you know who I am if that gets out I am as good as dead. If my mother finds out that you know…she'll kill you first. I can't risk it, Julian this is the only way." She said taking a step back, tears still flowing freely. Why did he always have this effect on her, making her façade disappear?

In the middle of the night, on West Street warehouse 3 one gun shot went off, that sounded the beginning…

At the same time on the other side of town Irina Derevko pulled up in her car outside of a public park where she was going to meet someone she had spoke to for the first time in sixteen years last week. Someone who thought she was capable of killing their daughter.

"I hear this time of year gets really cold." She said sitting next to him on the bench overlooking the sea. He looked up at her, a complete emotionless glare. One very much like 'Julia' wore most of the time. It was frightening how similar it was.

"Yes, so did I but it's great for the birds." He said emotionlessly, which gave Irina the impression he had a lot of contrasting opinions.

"So you contacted me, wanting to speak openly." She told him, and he nodded. She was intrigued at the bold move.

"Yes, I just wanted to know, how you could do it? To me? To Sydney? And to yourself? Before your 'death' you seemed happy, we were happy as a family. Why spoil that?" He asked not looking at her; they were both just happy to look over the sea.

"I was happy Jack. Back in Russia I was one of three daughters and lived at home with my mother and father, being with you and Sydney it was like having my family back. But then the KGB ordered my extraction." She told him honestly. Truth had consequences; she knew this but at this moment in time so did lies.

"If you were so happy then why kill Sydney, my daughter, your daughter. A seven year old child." He asked his façade breaking. Her own doing the same thing.

"I was leaving Jack; I wanted to take Syd with me. I couldn't and wouldn't have killed her, she's still out there Jack. A strong, stubborn twenty-three year old woman who has me running in circles most of the time. You've even met her…twice." She told him, she couldn't bring herself to lie to Jack, after all these years she still loved him. To this he looked at her, and for the first time they looked into each others eyes and they both could see the sorrow and loneliness behind them. Jack was also could see the truth in her eyes.

"Julia…" He whispered realising why she had seemed so familiar. "My Sydney, my daughter is the associate?" He asked not breaking eye contact.

"Yes, and I'm sure if you could overlook that fact then you two could become acquainted. But Jack, listen, tonight I have an offer to make to you, and the CIA. The IA are not a threat to America or anyone, we merely collect data. I suggest, if your superiors grant it, a pardon for me and my agents, and then we work with you to discover the mysteries of the intelligence service. This would allow you to gain access to your daughter, because as my SIC I'm sure you'd deal with her a lot." She said and stood up. She couldn't stay too long. "And not to mention the mole we already have in place." He smiled and for the first time in a while she felt things were going to be alright.

"I'll see what I can do; I'll contact you in this internet forum. It's safe." He said and they parted ways. She looked at his retreating form and told herself she was doing this for her daughter, giving her a chance to know her father. But deep down she knew, that just a little, she was also doing it for herself.

Sark couldn't believe it, when the gun went off he thought he was dead. He had closed his eyes, not wanting to see the impact the bullet would have on his body but after a couple of seconds went by and some more he realised he hadn't felt anything. He opened his eyes and saw a defeated looking Julia Thorne, the gun hanging from her hand at her side and tears running down her cheeks. He looked behind him and saw that the bullet had hit the wall, she had missed on purpose. The clatter of the metal gun on the floor made him jump a little. He turned to face her and in a quick large stride had enveloped her in a bear hug. She cried and he felt his own eyes begin to tear up but he wouldn't let them flow.

"I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it Julian." She whispered into his jacket, and he hushed her quiet and stroked her hair. His father had been right, it was best to hide and protect her identity because she meant too much to him. He loved her, and that wasn't just a way to stop her from pulling the trigger, he had meant it.

"I love you." He whispered to her again. Wanting her to know how he felt. She stopped crying shortly after and looking up at him.

"I love you too." She whispered and walked out of the embrace, picked up her gun and left. Leaving him very confused but happy with the knowledge that she loved him too.

TBC…..

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