Day 4 continued
Dusk was two hours away as they gathered the gear they needed: Two hand guns, a semi-automatic, smoke bombs, and night vision goggles among various other tools, for each of them. They piled everything into the car and began the wait for dark.
Jack sat as far away from Irina as he could, brooding. He heard her walk over, but refused to acknowledge her.
"How's you're head?"
"It hurts," he replied, bluntly.
"Can I do something?"
"Yeah. Leave me alone."
"No," Irina was adamant. "We need to be in top form tonight. You're going to talk to me whether you want to or not." At his silence, she continued, "Whatever was going on at the inn . . . when you woke up . . . you weren't acting normally. If you know what it was, then tell me!"
"You want to know? You really want to know?" Jack stood, using his height to try to intimidate her.
It didn't work. "Yes, I do."
The genuine concern in her voice had him perplexed. "Why are you doing this? Why do you even care?"
"I do care. I've always cared, Jack. You don't have to believe me. Just trust me enough right now to let me in."
He hesitated, but answered. "They were panic attacks. After I was put into solitary, I began having panic attacks. When I was first released, I would have them almost every night. I eventually learned how to control them, but it took a long time."
"That's what you meant when you said I was the reason," Irina deduced.
Jack nodded.
"Why now?"
"Why am I having attacks? You. Plain and simple. Working with you," he was brutally honest.
"That's a shitty thing to say, Jack!"
"You wanted to know, Irina. I'm not going to sugar coat the hell I went through the last twenty years. While you were living the high life as an international terrorist, I was picking up the pieces of my life."
"I didn't have a choice in leaving! The KGB would have killed you and Sydney if I hadn't gone. And my family in Russia was being threatened as well."
"Damn it, why didn't you tell me? I would have found a way to protect you, your family!"
"Would you really? Would you have helped a Russian spy who had endangered your country?"
"Did you want to stay with me and Sydney?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Just answer the question."
"Yes! I loved, love, both of you. I never wanted to leave. I hadn't given my handler anything worthwhile in over a year. I wanted them to think that my pool of information had dried up; maybe they would leave me alone to live my life with you and Sydney."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want you to hate me," Irina said softly, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Well, you did a real bang up job there, didn't you?"
They sat, nursing their hurts until Irina spoke, "I told Sydney once that my love you her and for you wasn't a contrivance . . ."
"She told me."
"Jack look at me!" She lay a hand on his cheek and forced him to do just that. "No matter what you think, my love for you was the only thing that got me through three years at the prison in Kashmir."
Jack tried to summon his anger back, instead he found himself asking, "Why were you in prison so long?"
"I was luck it wasn't longer. My superiors feared, with good reason, I had fallen in love with you, with Sydney, with my new life. They wanted to make sure I hadn't blown my cover, that I was still loyal to Mother Russia. They were very thorough in their investigations."
"What did they do to you?" Jack wasn't sure he really wanted to know.
"What didn't they do? They used any means available. Cuveé was particularly vicious; you saw how he was when we were there last year. He felt my body belonged to him and used it accordingly. I finally convinced my superiors of my loyalty and Cuveé that I enjoyed his . . . attentions."
"I'm sorry," and he truly was. No matter his feelings toward her, no woman should have to endure that. "I had no idea."
"No, you didn't."
"Why didn't you come back?"
"At first, I was watched too closely. And I don't think you would have been receptive to a dead KGB agent coming back into your life. Eventually, the KGB stopped watching but I discovered information surrounding the Rambaldi mythology that put Sydney at risk. I felt my duties as her mother could be better served by keeping tabs on the artifacts and those who chose to pursue them. That's why I created my own syndicate."
Jack glanced down at his watch; it was already half-past six. They needed to be on their way to the Covenant facility.
"We're going to have to finish this conversation at another time. We need to get a move on."
That he wanted to continue speaking at all bode well for the future of their relationship, Irina thought.
Jack and Irina snuck around the perimeter of the compound, taking out guards and security systems at will. They managed to reach the mainframe without a major incident and Jack began to search the database for the files they needed, while Irina kept watch.
He found the information, downloaded it to a disc, then took an extra thirty seconds to encrypt it and send it to the secure server as a precaution. As he finished, all hell broke loose.
Gunfire echoed around them; Jack shoved Irina to the floor and followed quickly after. Eventually, the cacophony died down. Through the smoke, they saw a man enter the room.
"Irina. So nice to see you again."
"Gerard?"
"Of course, my dear. Now," Gerard Cuveé spoke to his guards, "take the man, interrogate him. The woman is with me."
"You set me up!" Jack hissed at Irina.
"Jack, no! Remember what I told you. I would not betray you or Sydney again! Jack!"
There was something in her eyes that convinced him, especially when the guards grabbed him; she sounded almost desperate. Two of the guards held him as a third began lobbing body shots. It wasn't long before he was sagging to the ground, yet the beating didn't stop. Irina ran to cover him, absorbing as many of the blows as she could.
"Don't," he gasped, "I believe you. One of us needs to stay on his good side."
"You stupid bitch!" roared Cuveé. "You would protect this American scum?!"
"He is my husband!" she was defiant, "I won't let you hurt him again!"
"Take them both to be interrogated. But leave the whore for me; I will deal with this traitorous bitch myself."
Jack saw a fleeting moment of panic cross Irina's face and felt a knot form in his stomach as they were pulled apart.