AN: Music for this chapter (on repeat): I Miss You by Blink 182, Save Me by Remy Zero, Ashes to Ashes by Hans Zimmer from Black Hawk Down Soundtrack, This Woman's Work by Kate Bush, Fear by Sarah McLachlan
SEVENTEEN
o
*I Miss You*
As soon as they landed in LA, they threw themselves into helping the CIA locate Sloane and Cuvee. For almost two months, every time they had a lead, it would suddenly run cold, leaving them no further along in their investigation then they were before convincing Jack that Sloane had a mole working inside the CIA.
Both Jack and Sydney spoke with Irina at least once a week since they'd last seen her, checking in on her condition and the baby. Father and daughter had actually started having weekly, porch-swing talks about a wide variety of topics but mostly, about how much they missed being with Irina.
Sydney had told her father all about the beautiful little town in the country where Irina was born and had spent the earliest years of her life. She told him about Vaughn's family, and how overjoyed his grandmother was to find out she still had part of her son alive in Vaughn.
Jack was could hear the excitement and awe in Sydney's voice over the time she'd spent with her mother and he was elated, that she was finally getting her mother back.
It was on a Monday morning in late October that Jack awoke with a terrible feeling that something had gone terribly wrong. He called Sydney to make sure she was ok and then tried Irina…multiple times with no answer on her emergency line. By the time he arrived at work, he was panicked and already making flight-arrangements to St. Petersburg.
"Dad, what is it?" Sydney stood in the entrance to his office, watching as he hurriedly threw papers into his briefcase.
He motioned for her to come in and shut the door. He took out his pen to give them time to talk without the CIA hearing. "I can't get a hold of your mother. Something is not right. I just know it. I'm going to her."
"Well have you tried Katya?" Sydney asked trying to keep the panic from her voice.
"Yes, no answer." Jack looked up and placed a hand on Sydney's shoulder.
"You think Sloane or Cuvee's gotten to her?" Sydney's eye's started to tear up. "Don't you."
"I don't know what to think, I just know something is not right if both your mother and her sister aren't answering their phones."
Just then Jack's secured cell phone started ringing.
"Bristow." He answered quickly, hoping it was Irina.
"Jack. She's gone." Katya's quivering voice came over the line and Jack sank into his seat.
"What happened?" He felt the bile rising in his throat and swallowed it. "Start at the beginning."
"Last night, we… we were getting ready for bed and Irina said 'goodnight.' She went upstairs and I went into the kitchen with Dmitri, the next thing I know is that Dmitri is falling to the floor beside me, I turned to look and a man dressed in black, wearing a ski-mask has just shot me with something. As I slid to the floor a short man with grey hair and glasses appeared, telling the men to search the rooms for Irina."
'Sloane,' Jack seethed internally.
Katya's voice was trembling, "I just awoke and she's, she's gone, Jack! I don't know where they've taken her." She started sobbing into the phone.
"Are you ok? Is Dmitri, ok?" Jack asked in rapid succession causing Sydney's heart to sink, knowing that it wasn't her mother on the phone after all and something bad did indeed happen.
"Yes, we're both fine. Just tranquilizers." She sobered.
"Katya, I want you to use your and Irina's contacts through her organization and the government to search all airport logs for any small privately owned aircraft that left last night in the St. Petersburg area."
"Ok." She sniffled. "Jack, we have to find her."
"We will." Jack hung up the phone and stood in front of Sydney. "Sloane's taken your mother."
"Oh God," She started sobbing and he pulled her into his embrace. "What are we going to do?"
"I'm going to tell Devlin and Kendall, and we're going to use the CIA's resources to find her." He brushed the hair behind her ear, trying to comfort her and himself.
"And then what? Dad have you forgotten she's wanted by the CIA as well?" Sydney could not imagine this having a happy outcome.
"Sydney, we must find her whatever way we can. I will try to work something out with Devlin on the other matters. Her status has to be changing with all the new information coming in on her about the none existent deaths she facilitated."
Sydney nodded that this was the best option and they went to break the news to everyone else.
"Goddamn it, Jack!" Kendall boomed and threw a file he was holding when Jack told him about Sloane kidnapping Irina, causing the entire task force center to stop what they were doing.
"And what would you have done if it was your pregnant wife?" Jack started to shout back then calmed himself.
"I don't have a wife!" Kendall shouted back and slammed his fist onto the desk.
"Can't imagine why not?" Weiss said under his breath to Vaughn as they watched the display.
"Well just try for one second to put yourself in my shoes. What would you have done differently, what would you do now?" Jack stepped up to Kendall's challenge. "I've already gotten the approval from Devlin." Seeing the smoke start coming out of Kendall's ears he continued. "This is a chance to bring down Sloane once and for all and save Irina from whatever the hell plan he's concocted!" Adding softly so that only those closest could hear. "You saw the tapes… I cannot let her go through something like that again," He paused seeing Kendall soften slightly at the mentioning of Irina's torture tapes, "and I'm not about to lose another child."
"This wouldn't have happened, Jack, if you'd been honest about your 'contact.' We could have brought her in under protective custody." Kendall shifted his weight uncomfortably. "We could have worked something out."
Jack saw the hundreds of eyes on them and grabbed Kendall by the arm, pulling him into his office where he pulled out the pen again. "Right, since the CIA's Immunity Agreements are so trustworthy! I wasn't about to let her turn herself in without something in writing before hand, witnessed by at least twenty-five different individuals including the goddamn President! And I especially wasn't about to let that happen before we find Sloane's mole."
Kendall sighed in frustration. "Well where do we start looking then. Every lead we've had has run cold because of this proverbial mole."
"We've had our suspects and we've been patiently monitoring them for the last month. Time has run out." Jack stood straighter. "We have to start weeding out the mole, now."
"And how do you propose we do that?"
"By scaring the shit out of them, narrowing down suspects. We make each of them think we're 'on' to them. We need to leak the information covertly to Ops, via rumor, that there is a mole within the ranks. The mole will be so panicked knowing we are 'secretly' hunting for them, they're bound to make a mistake."
"Who do we get to start the rumor?"
"Marshall." They both said at the same time and Kendall slapped Jack on the back in search of the bumbling man who was going to help them find their mole.
Twenty-six agonizing hours later, Katya had called with the information that a man fitting Arvin Sloane's description was seen boarding a jet with another man carrying a sleeping pregnant woman at the airport in Novgorodskaya. The flight landed in Istanbul, Turkey yesterday but from there disappeared.
Sydney hadn't slept since her mother's disappearance and sat at her desk, rubbing her temples in frustration.
"Hey, thought you could use some fuel. You've been burning the midnight oil." Weiss sat down on her desk offering up a sandwich, fries and a generously large cup of coffee.
"Thank you." She smiled at him sweetly. "You're a good friend."
"So… those days the three of you just 'disappeared," Weiss stole a fry and popped it into his mouth, "You were actually in Russia with your mom?"
"Yes." She admitted, hating that she had to lie to her friends, "Are you mad?"
"No." He smiled, "If my pregnant mother was on the Most Wanted List, I probably wouldn't offer up that information either."
Sydney was relieved that those closest to her understood her reasoning.
"Mike filled me in on everything. Said your mom was pretty 'ok' and not as horrific as we all thought she once was." Sydney nodded sadly in agreement. "He said she even took the two of you to meet his grandmother and uncle and that you ran into his cousin at your mom's club. That you actually 'stayed' in Alexander Palace." He shook his head, "Sounds amazing. Next time you guys go, I want to come along. He said you have a 'hot, single cousin' who's a model I might be interested in."
That comment got Sydney to laugh in spite of the tragedy surrounding the day. "I think you're perfect for each other actually." She smiled and stuffed a fry into her mouth. "She likes to ask questions too."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked preparing to get back to work.
"Nothing, Eric." She laughed.
"Ok, whatever you say 'Grand Duchess." He smirked loving the startled reaction from Sydney. "Or should I call you, Tsarevicha?" He asked earning him another bewildered look. "It's pretty common knowledge around here now." He smiled and dodged the evil glare she was flinging his way.
Two hours later:
"Jack!" Vaughn and Weiss raced to his side, pulling him into the 'flirting corner.'
"You know how you had us bug all the payphones in a ten mile radius of Ops with call tracers and optical cameras?" Weiss ran on excitedly.
"Yes." Jack's patience had run out long ago.
"With the Intel we received from Katya about Sloane's plane landing in Istanbul… we scanned all the phone records and found that at the very same time, a call made less then a mile from here was routed through Istanbul to a cell phone." Vaughn stopped to take breath and Jack's heart sped up.
"We scanned the footage taken from the phone booth at the time that call was placed and came up with a match." Weiss finished for Vaughn and opened a manila file containing video stills of the mole.
"Patrick Dennings: Analyst working with us on loan from NSA. Twenty-seven, no wife, no kids but massive gambling debts that were recently paid off… in full." Vaughn provided the background.
"How convenient." Jack snapped the folder shut.
"He's do to arrive at work any moment." Weiss shifted uncomfortably.
Jack's eyes snapped up and went in search of Kendall. He briefed Kendall and Dennings was shot with a mild tranquilizer dart in the parking ramp as he arrived.
Jack had taken the liberty of being the one to question him while Kendall paced behind the double-sided glass. Turned out the man was fairly weak and started talking after the first jolt of electrocution.
"Look, I was in trouble with gambling debts. They were going to kill me if I didn't come up with the money. This man approached me. Said he could help, if I helped him." He rambled, seeing the nasty look in Jack's eyes he pleaded again. "Look, man, I just needed the money so I agreed to help! He just wanted information that's it! I did what he told me to do and he paid me."
"So you paid your gambling debts with the life of my wife and unborn child, is that correct?" Jack touched the two ends together making them snap and crackle with the electrical current.
"No! I just gave him information." Patrick tried to back away from the crazed man with the cables.
"That led to the kidnapping of my wife. And now, she and my child may be dead because you helped a crazed terrorist to find her." Jack cranked the dial on the machine.
"No, man, I swear to you! He isn't going to kill her. He needed her alive." Dennings started to cry.
"Why?"
"I don't know exactly."
Jack cranked the currant up on the amp again and moved to touch Denning's leg once more.
"Ok! Ok! He's going to use her to create the perfect child. The child in 'Rambaldi's Prophecy."
"How? She's already pregnant." Jack paused in his movement.
"I don't know! I asked the same question and he said it was an 'unfortunate problem that he'd deal with." Patrick rambled on, sweating profusely.
At hearing that, Jack sent a burst of electricity firing through the man's body.
"Where are they?" Jack screamed at the young man withering beneath him.
"I don't know!" Dennings could barely make out.
"Where are they? " Jack screamed again.
"Maybe in Morocco."
Jack stopped. "Maybe Morocco?" He threatened to electroshock him again.
"Yes! Sloane had some medical equipment shipped there last month. He routed it through Spain to Morocco. Please, please, man, believe me! I'm not making this up. I have the coordinates. Just please stop!"
"I swear, to God, if there is one, that if you're lying… or if its too late when we get there… Nothing on this Earth will save you from the torture I will inflict upon your body living… and then dead."
-Undisclosed Location-
The last thing Irina remembered was falling fast asleep in her bed, and having a horrible nightmare that she was drugged and kidnapped by Sloane. Her head pounding, feeling as though she had a hangover, she struggled to open her eyes.
Finally able to open them in slits, she tried to move her hand to shield her eyes from the bright lights but found her arms bound to the bed. Panic hit her in an instant and she forced her eyes open whether they were ready to dilate or not.
There, sitting so smug at the end of her bed was Arvin Sloane. She hadn't been dreaming.
"Good morning, Irina." He smiled moving to stand at the bed beside her. "I hope you slept well and that the journey here wasn't too rough on you or the baby." He placed his palm over her belly and caressed the mound beneath the nightgown she was now wearing that was not her own.
"You bastard!" She hissed wriggling against her restraints in attempt to get his hand off her.
"Now, now, Irina. There is no need to be hostile. I think that if you calm down and hear me out, that you might be interested in a 'new' partnership in the sake of Rambaldi. Despite the fact you shot me, I am still willing to work with you."
"I'd rather be dead." She glared at him, her vision slowly returning to normal.
"Well, that too can be arranged when I'm finished but it would be such a shame for your other two children to have to grow up without their mother like Sydney did." He smiled smugly, knowing he had her full attention now.
"Two other children? What are you talking about, Arvin?"
"Well, the beautiful baby girl your carrying now of course," Seeing her startled expression that he knew the sex he added, "Yes, we took the liberty of giving you an ultrasound when you arrived to make sure that the baby wasn't harmed in any way. I know you think I'm a monster but I would never hurt an innocent child on purpose. I've told you before how much I love Sydney and think of her as my own."
"I warned you to never speak to me of your love for Sydney again! Especially not after what you did to her. Killing her fiancé, her best friend, and sending the double to kill her. Using her for bait in Moscow! Do you have any idea what Gerard Cuvee is capable of? What he could have done to her? How badly he could have hurt her?"
Sloane was suddenly put on the defense, "I never intended for Sydney to be harmed in anyway in Moscow. That was never part of the plan. Cuvee didn't follow the plan. But enough about that, Irina," He brought the chair closer to her bed taking a seat beside her, "I've managed to decode all the Rambaldi manuscript pages. What we've been searching for all this time was right in front of us."
"What are you talking about?" Irina asked again, annoyed. "I don't care about any of it anymore."
*Save Me *
"Oh, but you should, Irina. It is your destiny as it is mine."
"Would you stop being so cryptic, Arvin?" Irina yelled at him. "Just tell me if you think I need to know so badly."
"It is not I, who has been less then forth coming with their' knowledge Irina. How long have you known that your family, the Romanov's, family advisor Rasputin was a direct descendent of Rambaldi?"
Irina remained silent.
"And isn't it interesting that it is you, 'The One' the 'The Romanov' the Tsar of Russia, who also happens to be 'The Chosen One' in Rambaldi's prophecy whose direct descendent Rasputin, was murdered by your family…"
"He was a traitor who sold my family out for money and power!" Irina shouted.
"He was a brilliant man with magical powers just as father's father before him. They all carried the greatness of Rambaldi inside them." He paused and straightened his short stature, "But now the time has come for the descendents of the two houses, Romanov and Rambaldi, to begin a new by creating the child that will bring all the world within our grasp." He paused waiting to gauge her reaction. "I can see your mind is racing trying to figure out, who is the descendent from the house of Rambaldi that will father your child, Irina. I won't keep you in suspense any longer," He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "It is I."
"You're insane if you think I am ever going to have a child with you! I will never let you put your slimy hands on me!" She spat in anger.
There are other ways." He replied calmly. "And yes, I am aware that unlike me, you are willing to kill an innocent baby, so I cannot trust you to carry such a precious gift."
"What the hell does that mean?" She screamed angrily as two nurses came in and injected something into her IV line, bringing on a wave of nausea. "What are you doing, Arvin? I'm pregnant for God-sake! You're hurting my baby!"
"I've taken all the necessary precautions I can to ensure your child's safety during the operation and when she's born, as she needs to be healthy. She will make some wonderful, desperate family very happy when I sell her on the Black Market." He stood back as they began to wheel Irina into surgery.
"No!" She screamed fighting the anesthetics. "I will kill you if you take my baby!"
"She deserves a decent mother, one who won't abandon her at the first sight of trouble. She will be loved, Irina."
*Ashes to Ashes*
"We need to move faster!" Jack shouted into his com-link as they raced their Humvees through the desert night, thankful for the cloud cover. The last thing they needed was the moon illuminating their arrival.
"We're going as fast as we can, we should be there ten minutes." The young Marine corporal driving answered back.
They had landed in Casablanca a little less then an hour ago and were now racing west into the Sahara where Sloane's compound was supposedly located given the coordinates they'd gotten out of Dennings.
Once stopped a mile away at their drop point, everyone got out to evaluate their' surroundings.
"These aren't the coordinates!" Vaughn shook his head, holding up a map and pointing to where the compound was supposed to be. "That's a giant sand dune. The son-of-a-bitch lied, Jack!"
Jack wasn't about to give up and grabbed the map and coordinates from Vaughn.
"I've doubled checked them."
Jack threw the map in the sand and reached for his pack, searching for his night vision goggles. Snapping them in place he scanned the massive dune in the horizon. "There!" He shouted, pointing to a faint, blinking, red light near the bottom of the dune. Picking up his pack and gun he began moving; Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss, and Dixon followed; the Marine and Delta troops on standby for the extraction order. "They disguised the compound as a dune so it wouldn't be spotted from the air."
"Genius." Weiss shook his head and locked his goggles into place.
They began crawling the last 100 meters on their bellies to an overlooking dune before splitting up into teams of two and three.
"I've got three guards in the front, Boy Scout, how many do you have?" Dixon searched the compound with his night-scope binoculars.
"We've got three in the back as well. On my signal, move in."
There was silence for a moment and then, "Go! Go! Go!"
The guards were simultaneously attacked and had no idea what hit them. Dixon and Weiss stormed in the front, their priority to disarm the security systems from the main office and loop the cameras, giving Vaughn, Sydney and Jack time to find Irina and Sloane.
Weiss and Dixon made their way into the main office and Weiss began scanning the rooms for Irina and Sloane's location while Dixon began looping the cameras.
"Okay, I've got her and Sloane." He pounded furiously at the keyboard, as he signaled Vaughn with their location. "Boy Scout, they have her in the far end of the compound. Looks like they are in an Operating Room, they just finished surgery on her." He swallowed hard.
"What?" Jack took over from Vaughn, "What is their location, now!"
Weiss scanned the camera monitors finding the threesome and began directing them towards the operation room.
"Sir, we have a security breach!" A guard, heavily armed, stormed into the operating room, paying no mind to the fact that it should have been a sterile environment.
"Hurry!" Sloane instructed the man placing test tubes containing Irina's eggs into a dry ice container.
Once securely packed, Sloane ripped off the surgical mask he was wearing and began running out with the rest of the men where they came face to face in a standoff with Sydney, Vaughn, and Jack.
A shootout followed though, the threesome, were at a disadvantage having to take very precise shots as to not hit Irina, lying directly behind the glass and Sloane's guards; one stray bullet could kill her.
"Let us go, Jack, and you can have your precious Irina. I don't need her anymore. I'll leave with what I want, and you with what you want… we both win." Sloane yelled from behind the corridor he was hiding.
"Never!" Jack screamed back, loading another round of ammunition.
"Then I'm afraid my friend, you've left me with no choice." Sloane emerged from behind the wall, the dry ice container securely under, one arm, a semi-automatic aimed directly at Irina's head behind the glass.
"No!" Sydney shouted and lunged forward, only to be stopped by her father's arm.
"Ok, Arvin." Jack knelt slowly, lowering his weapon to the floor. "We'll let you go. Just don't shoot. Please."
Vaughn and Sydney lowered theirs' as well.
"My how times have changed, Jack," Arvin smiled snaking his way toward the door, protected by his guards, "Not too long ago you asked for my help in tracking down your traitorous wife, so that 'you' could kill her. You, Jack… almost had her executed for something she didn't do and then you tried to kill her again in Moscow. Now here you are begging me to spare her life. I think I'll do us all a favor and rid her from our lives."
In what felt like slow motion, Sloane raised his gun and fired, the sound of the glass window shattering deafening.
"Mom!" Sydney screamed seeing the red blood instantly seeping from Irina's body.
Jack and Vaughn simultaneously lunged for their strewn weapons firing at a retreating Sloane. Jack took a hit in the shoulder trying to shield an unprotected Sydney from the hailstorm of fire.
Vaughn fired at them until his magazine ran empty and only the sound of clicking remained. "Jack, are you okay?" He helped him to his feet noticing the blood running down his arm, and then helped Sydney.
"I'm fine. Sydney?" He scanned his daughter for any sign of blood, seeing none he ran to Irina whose heart monitor was now going ballistic.
"Get the extraction team in here immediately, we have two hit, I repeat we have two persons hit!" Vaughn spoke frantically, into his Com.
"Shit! Get out now, Boy Scout! They've overridden the system and activated a self-destruct!" Weiss grabbed his gun and made way for the extraction point with Dixon, sending the message through that they would need immediately medical attention.
"Come on Irina, hang on!" Jack commanded her unconscious form as Vaughn and Sydney flew around the room searching for gauze and other materials to stop the bleeding in both Irina and Jack.
"Thank God, his aim was off." Jack pointed with his eyes to where the bullet actually hit the metal surgical table just beside Irina's head and instead bounced up and went through her shoulder. He worked feverishly to stuff gauze in the wound to stop the bleeding long enough to get out of the building.
Sydney grabbed an additional IV and unhooked her mother's current one, squeezing as much fluid as she could into her. "How are we going to get her out?" She asked, panicked looking at her father's injured arm and down to her very pregnant mother. "You can't carry her."
"No, but I can." Vaughn dove right into action propping Irina up and then scooping her up into his arms, with Sydney following closely behind, squeezing the IVs.
"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Weiss was screaming into their Coms, as they did the best they could to run out of the compound with Irina, and Jack about to pass out.
Vaughn's arms, legs and lungs were burning by the time they reached the top floor and ran as fast as they could away from the building.
They'd made it nearly 500 feet away when the building erupted in explosion, the force blowing them all forward.
Vaughn shielded Irina and the baby, while Jack covered Sydney. Weiss and Dixon ran back to help them with Weiss picking up Irina and placing her in the back of the Humvee.
"A medical chopper is on their way, we're going to drive as far, and as fast as we can to meet them!" Dixon shouted over the roar of the engines. "Sloane got away." He confirmed for Jack, who was stroking Irina's forehead while the onboard medical team attended to he and Irina. "He had a helicopter waiting for him."
*This Woman's Work*
Once meeting the chopper, they were flown out sea where they landed on the US Naval Aircraft carrier the USS Kitty Hawk, currently at sea off the shores of Western Africa. A team had whisked Irina and Jack away immediately, taking them in separate directions to be treated.
It had been two hours since Irina had been taken into surgery and now there was nothing left to do, except to sit and wait.
Jack had taken up residence right out side the operation room the moment his wound was treated, where he joined Sydney and Vaughn who were already waiting for word.
As the first hour went by, Weiss and then Dixon had come to wait with them as well. Each of them taking turns pacing the halls and thankful for the young Seaman assigned by the Captain to bring them coffee, food and anything else they might need. Dixon had called Kendall for Jack, relaying the mission status and to report that they had Irina in their custody, but that she was in Serious Condition.
Around the second hour, the Captain himself, came down when the rumors started circulating the carrier that the people they'd brought on board were actually CIA agents and the pregnant woman in surgery was actually a high priority terrorist, accused of murdering at least thirteen CIA agents while undercover for the KGB. The fact that this same woman was also married to, and carrying the baby, of one of the CIA agents who was waiting in the hall for her to get out of surgery, and the mother of another, fast becoming the hottest topic on the ship.
Jack, Sydney and Vaughn, all assured the Captain that Irina was no threat to the carrier or crew, especially in her condition but he insisted on posting a guard outside the operating room door anyway.
It was in that third hour that time really began taking its toll. Jack and Sydney's minds racing with all kinds of thoughts… 'What if they lose the baby? Would they have to take the baby early? What if they lose Irina? What if they lose them both? What was left unsaid between them? Did she really know how much they loved her? Did she have the strength to fight for her life one more time?' There was nothing they could do, but wait and pray for another miracle… two actually.
It was in that fourth hour that Jack was shaken from his line of thinking.
"Agent Bristow?" A doctor in blue scrubs approached him solemnly, removing her hair cover.
"Yes," Jack stood immediately with a sinking feeling in his chest. "I'm Agent Bristow."
"Mother and baby are both doing fine." The doctor offered a small smile to the weary group. The rumors behind the woman they'd been operating on making it all the way into the Operating Room during surgery.
A giant sigh of relief went up around the room.
"Both are holding in Stable condition for now."
"Did you have to take the baby?" Jack's heart pounded in his chest thinking about his daughter being born prematurely.
"No." She smiled, "Mom' was able was able to hold onto her. We were able to stop the labor the shock to her system threw her body into. The baby is still fairly tiny and needs all the time in the womb she can get. 'Mom' should be able to deliver normally if there isn't too much stress put upon her heart during labor. Otherwise a Caesarean birth will be necessary."
"Oh, thank you, God." Sydney squeezed her father's arm.
"I do have some questions. How long ago did your 'wife?" She paused waiting for Jack to confirm the rumor before continuing.
"Yes, my wife."
"How long ago did your wife have open heart surgery and what were the circumstances surrounding it?"
"About five months ago. She was shot… she sustained a tear in her Aorta and punctured lung." Jack offered to the stunned doctor who wasn't dismissing the part of the rumors that proclaimed this woman one 'bad-ass terrorist' any more.' Clearly, this woman had a way of finding trouble. "And I'm going to assume that the egg extraction surgery, was performed in the last ten hours as she was still unconscious from the previous anesthetic when she was brought in?" She looked around, surprised to find 'surprise' evident on their faces.
"Yes, she just had surgery but, excuse me," Jack looked horrified, "did you just say egg extraction?"
"Yes, you didn't know what surgery had been performed on her?" She looked incredulously at this woman's supposed husband.
"No… it's a long story." Jack sighed and dropped heavily into the chair. "How long before she's conscious?"
"I would say at least another 10 hours given the copious amounts of anesthetic she's been given in the last 24 hours and the combined stress on her body and the baby."
"Isn't all that anesthetic going to hurt my sister?" Sydney asked, just now realizing if it was knocking her mother out for this long, what was it doing to the baby. Receiving a strange look from the confused doctor she elaborated, "The baby."
'Ah, another part of the rumor proved true. 'This' agent was her daughter.' The doctor thought to herself. "She should be fine. Babies in the third trimester are rarely affected by substances such as alcohol and narcotics that would terminate or cause defects as they do with babies in the first and second trimesters." She tried to reassure them, "Besides, she's hung on this long, with your mother's previous bullet wound earlier in the pregnancy, the surgery to remove your mother's eggs and this last incident…I would bet that your baby sister is just as tough as her mother. She's a fighter." She smiled. "I'm Lt. Julie MacKenzie in case you need anything else."
"Thank you, doctor." Jack clasped her hand with both of his.
"You can go in and sit with her once she's out of Recovery, which will be another hour or so." She glanced down to her watch. "Go get something to eat, take a warm shower or catch a quick nap. She is Stable. They're both, okay. I promise." She nodded, seeing that in their stubbornness, they weren't going anywhere.
14 hours later...
"Mom." Sydney was at her mother's side instantly, seeing Irina's eyes struggling to flutter open.
"Sydney. " Irina's voice was raspy, still unsure if this was reality or if she was still in the nightmare.
"Yeah, Mom, its me." Sydney gently took hold of her hand and stroked the hairs off her mother's brow. "Dad's here too."
"Jack." She turned her head slightly to see Jack standing beside her. "Am I dreaming or hallucinating?"
He bent over and kissed her on the lips, "I'm here."
"The baby…" Her eyes flew open and she glanced down the bed, happy to see the giant belly still there, Irina's eyes started to tear.
"She's ok, Irina." Jack dropped his forehead to hers. "You're both ok. Sloane shot you in the shoulder while he was escaping, but you're both ok."
Irina's hand immediately sought out the new shoulder wound covered in bandages. "He said he was going to sell her on the Black Market, Jack." A lone tear escaped, making its way down her cheek.
"Who was going to sell who, Irina?" Jack reached up and brushed the tear away.
"Arvin… was going to sell Lena on the Black Market." She ran her hand over her baby still protected within the confines of her body, and Sydney began to cry seeing the horror in her mother's eyes.
"You're safe, the baby's safe…he can never hurt this family again."
"Yes, he can, Jack." She gained control over her emotions again. "He did it… didn't he? He stole my eggs." She looked back and forth from her husband and daughter.
"Yes." Jack took a seat on the bed next her.
"Jack… your arm?" Irina reached out tentatively, running her fingers over the soft material of the sling, having just noticed now that her vision had returned to normal.
"Sloane's men. It's nothing." He smiled at her, getting a small smile in return at his 'word play.' "Irina, do you know what he's planning to do?"
"Where are we?" Irina asked suddenly noticing her surroundings.
"In the sublevels of the USS Kitty Hawk."
"We're on an aircraft carrier?" She looked at Sydney bewildered. "Where?"
Sydney was of course, surprised that her mother knew what the USS Kitty Hawk even was, but then again…"Yes. Off the cost of Africa."
"Africa?"
"Sloane was holding you in a compound disguised as a giant sand dune in the Sahara. You had no idea where you were?"
"No. I'd just barely been awake when he told me his insane plan and asked me to join him," Seeing the flash of panic on both Sydney's and Jack's faces she continued, "Of course I said 'no' or 'I'd rather die', or something along those lines. And then I was off to surgery so that he could steal my eggs." She added under her breath, clenching her fists. "How did you find me? And how'd we get here?"
"It's a long story that I promise to fill you in on shortly, but why does Sloane want your eggs? Other then we know you're the one in the prophecy." Jack tried to get the conversation back on its original track.
Irina looked at him annoyed, "One of the predictions Rambaldi made was the massacre of my family, the Romanovs, during the Revolution. This 'act would change the course of many lives', which obviously it has." Irina grasped Sydney's hand and held it tightly, "Before the massacre, my family's long time, trusted friend and advisor Rasputin, began plotting against them with the Revolutionaries. My grandfather, Nicholas, ordered him to leave and never return or he would be punished by death. Rasputin returned and was executed for his crimes against the family, which included plotting to have them killed."
"Ok, but what does this all have to do with Arvin Sloane stealing your eggs?" Jack interrupted not seeing where this was going.
"Dad, let her finish!" Sydney scolded her father finding all this terribly fascinating, as it was her history.
"Rambaldi had also predicted this, the division of those two houses, because Rasputin was a direct descendent of… Rambaldi. According to Rambaldi's prophecy, the descendents of those two opposing houses, Rambaldi and Romanov, would be the ones to fulfill his ultimate prophecy, to begin anew, by creating the child that will bring all the world within his or her grasp."
"This just keeps getting more bizarre…" Sydney could hardly wrap her mind around it all. "So, who is the descendent of Rambaldi that Sloane plans on fertilizing your eggs with to create this child?"
"You once told me that Arvin believed himself to be a descendent of Rambaldi?" Jack swallowed hard, mentally putting the pieces together in his mind.
"Yes." Irina looked to him with sad eyes, "Rasputin is Arvin Sloane's great-grandfather. 'He' is the descendent of Rambaldi. He plans on fertilizing them himself."
"Eww!" Sydney her head at the terrible thought of Sloane making a child with her mother. "But wait! Rambaldi prophesized that you, 'The Chosen One,' the Romanov descendent, would 'bring the world its greatest gift, or its utter desolation," She paused thinking back to the prophecy, "Which the 'greatest gift' has to be this 'union child."
Things were rapidly coming together for Sydney as well, "And 'utter desolation'… by stopping the creation of this 'gift child' of Rambaldi's descendent… by stopping Sloane."
"Or the other way around," Jack began using reverse psychology, "That Irina's 'greatest gift to the world' would be the stopping the creation of this 'union child' by stopping Sloane, or bringing 'utter desolation' to it, if she doesn't stop it… and the child is born."
"Yes." Irina breathed a sigh of relief, "That is what I believe too." She was so happy to have Jack who could run game theory with her, think along the same lines.
"Think about it, Sydney, if he, Rambaldi, wanted this 'child' to be born, he would write the prophecy using reverse psychology and still be able to write the 'truth," Jack paused making sure she was keeping up with this line of thinking, "By phrasing the words just so…if any government or organization, like the CIA for example, read and interpreted the prophecy the way you just did Sydney, the way most people would…they'd believe that unless this child was born, the world would, 'fall into utter desolation,' and therefore do anything in their power to keep your mother, 'The Chosen One' from stopping this 'prophecy child's' birth."
"Making Mom the proverbial 'bad guy." Sydney was catching on.
"The wording and expected interpretation, is like Rambaldi's own failsafe to ensure this child would be born." Jack added, now that they were all thinking on the same page.
"And then the prophecy 'would' come true, because by the birth of that child, would bring 'utter desolation to the world' we know. My God, that's brilliant." Sydney was amazed by it all, "Well, it makes sense," Sydney poured a cup of water for herself from her mother's tray and then one for each of her parents. "Sloane: evil. Rasputin: evil. Rambaldi: evil… think about all of those horrible inventions of his..." She shook the mental image of the burned corpses left behind in Mexico after one of Rambaldi's inventions out of her head. "Evil runs in that family obviously, it's not a stretch of the imagination to believe that 'this child' will be as well. No offense, Mom. I don't mean that you have-"
"No offense taken, Sweetheart," Irina smiled and took her hand again. "I know what you meant."
"Well, it also explains why Sloane tried to kill you once he had your eggs." Jack ran his thumb over the back of Irina's hand, "He wanted to get rid of the only real 'threat' to this child's birth… you. Because according to the prophecy, only 'The Chosen One' can stop him."
Irina closed her eyes and covered them with her hand, "I just want this to be over." When a minute of silence passed, with eyes still closed, "So can you please tell me now how Sloane got me in the first place, how you found me and how we ended up here?" In a second her mind flashed and she grabbed Jack's arm, "Katya… Dmitri… are they ok?" Her eyes filled with fear, remembering they were at the house too.
"Yes," Jack smiled, "They're fine. Sloane used tranquilizer darts." Relief flooded over Irina as Jack continued. "Katya tracked Sloane's plane to Istanbul and from there it disappeared. We realized sometime ago that the CIA had a mole and we knew we had to flush him out. Agents Vaughn and Weiss traced the mole's call from a payphone in LA that was routed through Istanbul to a cell phone that was unregistered. We knew we had Sloane's mole so…"
"You interrogated him." Irina nodded along.
"Yes…" Jack agreed quietly, "And he confessed to giving Sloane your location and tipping him off. He told us Sloane had recently shipped medical equipment to the coordinates in the desert where we found you."
"And why this ship?"
"With both you and Dad shot," Sydney began, "we needed a CIA approved medical facility ASAP."
Jack and Sydney proceeded to fill Irina in on all the details surrounding their escape from the exploding compound and Irina's 'real savior,' Agent Vaughn.
Three short raps at the door announced a visitor. The young Seaman from before stood at attention when Jack opened the door.
"Yes."
"Agent Bristow, you have a shore-to-ship call from a Director Kendall." The young man stood nervously, his eyes wandering briefly to the beautiful pregnant woman in the bed he'd heard so much about. Thinking she 'didn't look all that dangerous but intriguing… and who was that hot girl next to her?' "Captain says you can take it on the bridge. I am under orders to bring you there now, sir."
"Thank you, Seaman." Jack nodded solemnly, looking back to Irina and Sydney. Sydney looked somewhere between, panicked, frustrated and terrified. Irina's gaze just held on Jack and then nodded, silently giving him her approval to go. She had no other choice.
"We're going to have to bring you in." Sydney looked sadly at her mother.
*Fear *
"I know." Irina ran her hands over her large belly, thinking about going back to that cell, pregnant and so close to her due date.
"I'm sorry." Sydney added softly, ashamed that there was nothing she could do.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Sydney. This is my mess." Irina extended her hand, waiting for Sydney to accept it before continuing. Squeezing her daughter's hand she continued. "It will be okay."
Less then a minute later, a Marine Officer appeared at the door. "Excuse me, ma'am." He pushed past Sydney and went to stand beside Irina. "Sorry, ma'am," He took Irina's uninjured arm and cuffed it to the metal railing of the bed. "But I'm under Captain's Orders to secure you until the doctor gives clearance for you to be moved to the brig, to await your transfer."
Sydney moved to stop him, put up a fight on her mother's behalf, but Irina shook her head 'no.'
The young Marine fumbled nervously, finding it hard to concentrate with Irina trying to look him in the eye. With another "Sorry, ma'am," he was out the door.
"Mom," Sydney rushed to her side when he was gone.
"Sydney, it's ok." She reached her cuffed fingers out to her daughter, "I'm not going anywhere, anyway. But, Sweetheart, I have a request. Could you please tell Michael to come in here?"
Sydney's ears and smile perked up at her mother's request and the use of Vaughn's first name.
"I would like to speak with him. Thank him for saving my life and your sister's." Irina smiled shyly at her daughter.
"Ok," Sydney leaned forward and kissed her mother's cheek, "I'll send him in."
"Thank you."
A very nervous Vaughn appeared at the door moments later. He knocked, and wiped his sweaty brow before entering.
"Agent Vaughn." Irina greeted him with a smile from where she was propped up in her bed. One arm chained to the railing, the other in a sling.
"Irina." He smiled nervously standing by the door.
"Come sit." She nodded with her head towards the chair next to the bed that Sydney had just left.
Hesitantly, he moved and took a seat, uncomfortable under Irina's stare.
"I asked Sydney to find you, because… I understand it was you, who saved our lives, mine' and the baby's. "
Vaughn's gaze shifted nervously towards the floor.
"You didn't have to and I know you did it for Sydney, but I wanted to say, thank you, Michael."
Vaughn's eyes flew up to meet hers. "It was the right thing to do." He answered, his eyes never leaving hers. "And I didn't just do it for Sydney."
Irina's lips curled into a smile small, looking away for a moment with a slight nod of acceptance. She and Mr. Vaughn were making some headway and it pleased her.
"How are you feeling?" Vaughn cleared his throat, still intimidated by conversing with this woman.
"Like I've been shot and drugged and there is, what feels like a small car, sitting on my bladder, but otherwise ok."
That comment got Irina her intended response, for Vaughn to crack a smile.
"Do they really think this is necessary?" He tugged slightly on her cuffs causing the metal to clink and Irina's dangling hand to sway.
"I guess they're worried I will try escaping by offing three thousand sailors and commandeering this ship." She shrugged.
"What are you saying? You aren't capable of doing so?" Vaughn snickered, enjoying the banter.
"I didn't say I wasn't capable of doing so, Agent Vaughn," She smiled her Cheshire cat grin, "but it does make it quite a bit more difficult while I am still under the influence of drugs, recovering from a gun shot wound, unable to use three of the four fingers left on my only other hand and nine months pregnant. Not that I intend to."
Vaughn couldn't stop his smile and started to laugh. He could see now where Sydney apparently got her humorous side from... Irina Derevko of all people.
"Jack," Irina looked up and smiled as Jack entered the small room.
"Vaughn," Jack acknowledged the younger man and then noticed Irina's new 'bracelet.' "What the hell is this?" He strode quickly to Irina's side giving Vaughn an accusatory, stern look.
"It wasn't his doing, Jack," Irina interjected on Vaughn's behalf as Jack took seat on the edge of the bed. "A young Marine officer said it was Captain's Orders until I was 'okayed to be moved to the brig', which I assume means onboard prison."
Jack nodded solemnly that it was, "The doctor will be in shortly to check you over," he paused hesitantly, "and then you'll be taken to the brig. I'm sorry, but I am under Orders, too."
"I understand," Irina looked away momentarily in thought about what all this means. "And then?"
"A transport will be here in 10 hours to take us back to shore. From there you'll be transferred to the facility in LA." He gave Irina a small smile when her eyes perked up thinking about being near Jack and Sydney at least, "I got Devlin to approve it. From there, we'll work out the details on how we can get you released… before the baby arrives."
Four days later:
CIA Operations Center
Los Angeles, CA
"Syd," Marshall flew over to where Sydney sat staring at a computer screen, scanning possible new Intel into Sloane's whereabouts and the decoded Rambaldi documents about the 'union child', "The call just came in." He said breathlessly, "The plane landed twenty minutes ago from Washington…" He scanned his watch, "Your mother should arrive in five minutes." He gave her a sad smile.
"Thanks, Marshall." She nodded, bracing herself for her mother's arrival.
The Department of State had demanded that Irina be kept at Langley for questioning before releasing her to be transferred to Los Angeles. Both she and her father were refused access to Irina and neither had seen her since she was escorted off the runway at Reagan International, four days ago when they'd landed. Sydney snapped from her thoughts when she saw her father and Kendall approaching.
"You've heard?" Jack asked.
"Yeah," She looked sadly at her father, "Marshall just informed me."
"Let's go."
Kendall glanced up at the monitors showing the arrival of the armored truck transporting Irina. "She's here."
The doors of the truck opened and Irina felt temporarily blinded by the guard's flashlights as they stepped up to unlock her shackles. The arm of the shoulder she'd been shot in, was securely fastened to her body with an immobilizing device to help healing, her shackled wrists, resting upon her belly were connected to a waist chain that hung below her very pregnant belly, connecting to the shackles of her feet. Two guards, she recognized from her previous stay, helped her off the back of the truck. A sudden surge of dread coursed through Irina as she was escorted into the cell-block. The sound of the shackles clanking together and dragging across the floor bringing back horrible memories she'd rather not remember...
"Mom." Sydney called out as both rounded a corner and came face to face. Irina finally giving a small smile at seeing her daughter. Sydney's momentary smile at seeing her mother faded as quickly, as she saw the restraints and heavily armed guards. "Dad," She looked helplessly to Jack as Irina shuffled passed them into her glass cell.
"Kendall," Jack's piercing eyes bore into the man beside him, "Was that necessary?" He watched as the guards unshackled Irina.
"I didn't have a say," Kendall looked towards the woman behind the glass he hadn't seen since her escape, almost nine months ago; her very pregnant form surprising him in its reality and catching him off guard temporarily as he waited for the men to leave the cell.
"Irina, are you ok?" Jack reached out, placing his one good hand on her arm.
His wounded arm fastened securely to his body with the same immobilizer as Irina's. He scanned her body and face looking for any signs of mistreatment or abuse. Wanting so badly to hug her but knowing he couldn't while security cameras were on with the entire Ops floor watching.
"I'm fine, Jack." She replied quietly. "I'm tired…but I'm fine."
Jack looked to the cold, hard metal bunk occupying her cell with no cushion, pillow or blanket and then to Irina's damaged pregnant body. "She can't sleep on this." He stated firmly, giving a silent order to Kendall.
"I'll see what I can do." He nodded in concession from where he was watching behind the glass. "Ms. Derevko." He acknowledged Irina.
"Agent Kendall." Irina gave a slight nod in response.
As Kendall went in search of someone who could supply the items, Sydney joined her parents in the cell…not having the same restraint as her father, she launched herself at her mother, wrapping her arms fiercely around her neck, mindful of Irina's healing shoulder wound. Neither woman said anything, but remained locked in a hug for quite sometime.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Sydney finally stepped back, unshed tears pooling in her eyes.
"Yes, Sweetheart." Irina gave a small smile trying to reassure her daughter.
"And Lena?" Sydney placed her hand over her mother's belly.
"Rapidly running out of room." She smiled at the girth of her size.
"Only five days until your due date…" Sydney let it hang in the air.
"I'm working as fast as I can to get you released before then." Jack swallowed hard, knowing what a difficult task that was.
Irina nodded and watched as a young guard, followed by Kendall, brought in a mattress, two pillows and blankets and sheets.
"Jack tells us you want to cooperate." Kendall folded his arms across his chest, having a stare down with Irina. "You've said that before…How do I know this isn't another one of your elaborate schemes? Something to further your next plan? How do you expect us to trust you again?"
"I do want to cooperate, Director Kendall." Irina's voice taking on a more serious tone, "I 'have' been cooperating. I've given you everything I'd acquired on Arvin Sloane even before I was in CIA custody…and the only plan I have now," She looked from Kendall to Jack and Sydney, "Is doing whatever it takes to help bring down Sloane and free myself, my daughters…my family from this business and try to live as normal a life as possible. I want to help." She returned her hardened stare to Kendall, "And as far as trust…well that's something that both of us are going to have to try and regain if we want to capture Sloane. I'm willing…if you are."
Kendall looked from Irina to Jack and Sydney and nodded slowly while speaking, "You should get some rest. We'll start in the morning." He nodded 'goodnight' to them all and left for the day.
"Yeah, Mom, you should try to get some sleep." Sydney grasped her mother's hand and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "I'll bring you breakfast in the morning. Ok?" he smiled, trying to not be so depressed by the situation.
"Ok Sweetheart, I'd like that." She pulled Sydney in for one last hug, not wanting to relinquish the hold on her. "Sleep well Sydney." She kissed her daughter's hairline before releasing her.
"Dad, are you coming?" Sydney paused in the doorway, eyeing both her parents.
"I'll be there in a minute, Sydney." He nodded in her direction indicating he wanted a few minutes alone with her mother.
"Ok. Goodnight, Mom." She gave a small smile and disappeared down the hall.
"Jack," Irina began when Sydney had gone, running her thumb over her aching shoulder, "I don't want to have this baby in a prison cell." She swallowed hard thinking back to the last time she was pregnant in captivity.
"I know." Jack's hand returned to her arm, leading her over to sit on the bed. "I'm going to do everything in my power to get you released, at least into my custody before that happens."
They sat side by side on the edge of her bed, Irina's good hand making circles over her belly while scanning her surroundings. The cell seemed much smaller to her now, even though its size had not changed, but hers had.
"You should go now, Jack. Get some sleep." She offered him a small smile taking her hand into his.
"I don't want to leave you." Jack ran his hand over her belly as well, his eyes locking onto hers.
"And I wish you could stay." Irina's hand recaptured his positioned just atop her stomach, feeling the baby kick in her cramped space. Her eyes started to tear up and she had to blink them back. "I am such an emotional wreck when I am pregnant." She laughed nervously. "I really am getting weak. All I do is cry lately." She smiled shaking her head and wiped at her tears. "My hormones are all over the place."
"You're not weak…" Jack reached up and touched her face gently, wanting so badly to kiss her but remembering they had a constant audience, "In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you stronger. I'm so sorry about all of this. That Sloane found you...that we didn't have you better protected-"
"Jack, this was my fault. I knew better than to stay in one place for so long." Irina shook her head with new tears in her eyes. "I just wanted to be at 'home.' I haven't been in so long." She smoothed her hands over her belly and the reason she wanted to stay in Alexander. "Deliver her in St. Petersburg with Alexei." She shook her head upset with herself, "I never should have stayed but I'm tired of running, Jack." She wiped another tear falling down her cheek. "I got careless and I got caught. This wasn't your fault."
"Nor was it yours." He reached up wiping another fallen tear from her cheek. "We will figure this out."
Irina nodded, afraid that speaking would only bring on more tears. Jack ran his hand softly over the curve of her belly, and kissed Irina on the side of the temple, whispering into her ear, "I love you, Irina. Goodnight." He flashed her a small smile pulling back. "Try to get some sleep."
Walking away from her, down the dark hall as they turned the lights out for the night, was worse then any torture he'd ever been through.