Emergency Room, General Hospital
It had been a long day for Doctor Tom Hardy, newly christened Chief of Staff. One circuit around the ER would complete his busy day. Nurse Johnson greeted him at the central desk.
"Epiphany, what are you doing here?" asked Tom.
"We were short-handed and I could use the overtime. Holiday bills are coming in," said Epiphany.
"I wasn't aware we had staffing problems in this department," said Tom.
"Lately we have had issues and not just here," said Epiphany.
"Give me an example."
"I'm not a snitch, Tom."
"Just give me a starting point. Senior staff members in all departments should never hesitate to let me know if there's a problem," said Tom. "I want to make the hospital better. I can't do that without information."
Epiphany sighed. "Check up on Janitorial, Long Term Care, Floors 3 and 4 and Lab Services. Lots of late sick calls and no-shows. Staff attendance is down 30%."
"What? That's not possible. Not all of them."
"You don't have to believe me, doctor. Unless you're the smart man I know you are." Epiphany was about to say something when the ER doors slid open.
A tall slender man ran in with a child lying limp in his arms. "Help me! Please my daughter's hurt!"
An orderly immediately led the man into an examining room. Tom heard Doctor Leo Julian shouting orders. He observed the ER team of nurses, technicians and doctors work smoothly to triage the patient. He felt a burst of pride at the staff's professional skill and team work.
Epiphany led the patient's father out of the room. Tom talked with the distraught father outside the exam room allaying his fears and answering his questions.
"She was playing and watching television. I fell asleep," said the father. "I don't know what happened."
"What the hell are you doing?" came Leo's voice. "Put those paddles down!"
"She's not breathing," said a male voice.
"She's not breathing?" The father lunged forward.
Tom held him back saying, "Let them do their work. They'll take good care of her."
A series of shouts and crashes came from the exam room. A male nurse was forcibly dragged out by Leo and the orderly.
"What happened?" asked Tom rushing to intercept. He took over the situation. "Leo, get back to your patient. I've got this."
"I think he's high," said Leo as he ran back to the room.
"He better not be. Not in MY hospital," said Tom. He and the orderly dragged the resisting and increasingly delusional nurse into a side room.
The Cottage, Villa Scorpio
Surrounded by family and friends, Sean had begun to relax his lapse outside forgotten. But then he met Ava Korolev. He knew who she was and vice versa. Everyone in the old WSB knew the sisters Ava and Pavla Nemcova. They had been two of the DVX's best until Pavla's sudden and unexplained defection to the West. Love had been Pavla's explanation and Vincent, her son, was proof enough. Love for Ava had meant staying in Moscow until now.
"Ava? I'll be honest. You're the last person I would expect to see here," said Sean giving Ava a kiss on both cheeks.
"This is certainly not Paris," said Ava.
"Why are you here?" pressed Sean.
Ava remained silent. She looked at Anna.
Anna answered, "Ava, her daughter Nina and son Ivan have defected. They're here as my guests and my charge."
"D-d-defected? You?" said Sean. "Sorry. That came out wrong. I have to sit down."
"Pavla tells me that it is overdue," said Ava. "We owe much to Anna and Robert."
"Robert had a hand in this? Why doesn't that surprise me?" asked Sean.
Ava was puzzled. "You did not know?"
Sean shook his head. "I've been out of the intelligence loop for a long time, Ava. We're all playing catch up a lot."
"Yes. There are many spies here. That is surprising." Ava glanced around the room. "The DVX does not encourage close associations after retirement."
"But it happens anyway," said Sean. "Birds of a feather flock together. If you're here, then your husband must be following."
Ava's eyes were downcast. She said slowly, "I doubt that. He had to stay to help Mr. Skinner, I mean Robert." She looked at Anna. "I have not fully understood all the aliases and names yet."
"Neither have I," replied Anna.
Sean's voice rose and carried around the room, "Robert's working WITH the DVX directly?"
"What's that?" asked Frisco leaving his conversation with Bobbie and coming closer.
"Of course not! Why would you ever think that?" asked Anna.
"Because of … where's Andrew?" asked Sean looking around and not catching sight of the young man in question.
"He's in the lab working on some plant experiment."
"Robert and the DVX, hmm, makes one think," said Frisco. "So much happening in Russia right now."
"You're barking up the wrong tree, Frisco," said Anna. "Robert's in England on a client project. We're not civil servants anymore. We still have to work."
"Uh, huh, whatever you say," said Frisco.
"And I say that you should go mingle. It's a party. A lot of people here haven't seen you for ages," said Anna.
"Is that an order?"
"Following orders was never your strong suit," said Anna. "This is Robin's welcome home party. It's not about our past work. All right?" Anna steered Ava towards Tiffany and made introductions.
"Methinks she protests way too much," said Frisco to Sean.
"She's right," said Sean.
"Not you, too?"
"What do you mean?"
"Shutting me out," replied Frisco. "This six month decompression period has to be a joke."
"Decompress from what?"
"Robert's rule. He doesn't hire inactive agents until they've had at least six months to readjust to civilian life. So, here I am twiddling my thumbs."
"Good rule."
"It doesn't apply to ME," Frisco insisted. "You can tell me."
"Tell you what?" asked Sean. The circular conversation was beginning to confuse him.
"Felicia told me that Tiffany suspected something was going on. Like you, Anna and Robert were back in the spy game but keeping super secret. I want to help. Fill me in," said Frisco.
"Tiffany said that?"
"Yeah. Besides the business with Andrew, Felicia and I have always suspected that Robert's business ventures were more than what it seems on the surface. Lately, I'm getting the same vibe," said Frisco. "I mean look at this place, Sean. Robert and Anna are NOT country people. And the staff of ex-military and ex-intelligence on the payroll? Or the inside of the Barn? There's something underground there. No one will tell me but I have two eyes. Command and Control has to there somewhere. And I won't even start on Andre aka Grant Andrews. Robert's always been selective on what Felicia and I knew or didn't know. He said it was for our own protection but I'm starting to put two and two together and coming up with twenty! Now, we have defectors, agents disappearing or dying and Faison's back in the picture in a big way. And this guy who kidnapped Robin is still out there. My head is spinning I tell ya!"
Sean chuckled. "If anyone knows anything, it would be you. You were there after the tanker explosion. You were in charge of Andrew's WSB security coverage. You are in the know, my friend."
"That's old stuff. There's something else going on," said Frisco. "Anna is worse than Robert. She's strict. No one on the 'staff' will talk to me or Felicia about work anymore. C'mon, man, spill it."
"I know nothing. Less than nothing."
Frisco studied Sean's face. "You're not as good a liar as you used to be."
Sean's eyes narrowed. "I'm tired, Frisco, not being evasive. I've been taking a lot of trips like Tif said." He leaned closer to the younger man. "Just between you and me, I agree with you. There IS a lot more going on than they're saying. They're keeping whatever it is very close to the vest. There, happy?"
"Good to know it's not just me."
"Well, I think we need to keep our ideas to ourselves. Convince our wives that nothing is going on. We don't want them getting involved and maybe hurt. Or our daughters," said Sean. "Agreed?"
"Absolutely. It's nice to have someone else in my corner, you know," said Frisco.
"I got your back. You know that."
Frisco watched Felicia laughing in one group and Tiffany and Anna talking. "We had it lucky. We have each other - you, me, Robert, Anna. Other agents don't have anyone. Not really. We understand each other and what our work has done to us over the years."
"We're a strange breed," said Sean. "But we do look after our own in or out of the Bureau."
"And that's why we have families and roots to come back to. I never realized how important that was," said Frisco. "Ross … Ross only had his wife. He didn't tell her anything. He had no close friends. No wonder he was always such a prick."
"Ross was dedicated. I'll give him that. What happened to him was unfortunate."
"I dream about the look in his eyes, Sean. He was begging me to kill him and save him at the same time."
"You were-"
"I did the last interrogation but, I swear, I didn't intend to kill him. He hated what Faison did to him but he was tired of fighting. He begged me, Sean." said Frisco.
"You had no choice. You did your job," said Sean. He looked away. "It's what we're supposed to do."
"I drove him over the edge and he jumped over into cardiac arrest," said Frisco. "All that time, I was thinking that it could have been me sitting there instead."
"It's not your fault, Frisco."
"The whole thing was unbelievable. All those years and no one picked up a clue. How much damage has his double life done? How many agents paid the ultimate price?"
"It's over and done with. Put it out of your mind."
Frisco shook his head. "It makes a weird kind of sense. Faison controlled Ross and god only knows who else to protect Andrew. That's probably how he stayed one step ahead of his enemies for years."
"You're not obsessing over Faison are you?" asked Sean concerned. "He's not someone to be trifled with."
"You saying he's out of my league?"
"Yes, I am."
"You're right there. He's crazy but in a sane way," said Frisco. "When I first met him, I thought he was a clever trickster. But the man at Anna and Robert's wedding was something else."
"They blacked out all the cameras. What happened when he showed up?" asked Sean eagerly.
"Faison, Anna and Robert hustled him off to a parlay with Mac as witness. I couldn't believe it," said Frisco. "They talked for about two hours."
"Talked about what?"
"No definite idea. No one here will say a word about it. It's some kind of alliance with Faison is what I got," said Frisco. "Anna runs this place tighter than a military base. But the strangest things happened after their chat, Sean. Faison de-hypnotized Andrew out of all the knowledge he'd put there. He was doing something similar to Salim before Salim had his heart attack."
Sean rubbed at his chin deep in thought. "In front of Faison? He was in the room?"
"Uh, huh. You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Faison killed him. Somehow."
"I've known Salim for a few years. He had a bad heart but he took care of himself. He hasn't survived in the business as long as he as without knowing how to manage the stress and tension," said Frisco. "Before the procedure, he'd been resting. Under sedation."
"So his heart would have been in a relatively calm state?" asked Sean. "You don't have a heart attack during a hypnosis session unless …"
"Unless it was induced in some way during or after," finished Frisco. "I've told Anna my theory but she doesn't see it that way. Robin kept notes on everything that was said. Andrew and Robert looked at it and didn't see any trigger phrases or tricks."
"Doesn't mean there wasn't something shady happening. We're talking about Faison here."
"Exactly! But how to get proof?" asked Frisco. "And there's the other thing."
"What other thing?" asked Sean. "The alliance from hell? I can't believe they would agree to such a thing."
"Faison was obsessive, clever and dangerous before but now, Sean, he … he SCARES me," said Frisco. "It's not his behavior or even how he looks. It's just a … a feeling I got. Like he'd kill for no reason, anywhere and at any time."
"He's always been capable of that, Frisco."
"But he would do it with a reason. I don't think he needs a reason anymore."
"He's lost Andrew and now Anna. He's desperate," said Sean. "Reason be damned."
"Not desperation. There was something in his eyes. Not all the time but it was there," said Frisco.
"What?"
"Madness. Sheer raving madness. He may not have gone over all the way but he's edging closer."
"And we're treating the madman with kid gloves instead of chains and a straitjacket," concluded Sean.
"Finally! Someone else sees the problem," said Frisco. "What do we do about this?"
WSB HQ, New York City
Edwin Link hustled into Connie's office waving a piece of paper around. Connie was the center of a meeting with Lionel and other key department heads who were all monitoring the newly named Russian Upheaval.
"Yes, Edwin?" asked Connie.
"Information. Verified." Edwin stood up straight and read off the paper. "Death of Constantin Korolev confirmed. Too many witnesses at the train station to be false. Retired Army Captain Boris Lipanov has been publicly named sole director of the DVX."
"Publicly?" asked Connie trying to absorb the news.
"SOLE?" asked Lionel.
Edwin nodded. "In fact, a public release states that the DVX going forward will be more transparent than ever. Its managing officials will all be publicly named."
"The shadowy, three-headed hydra is dead," marveled Lionel. "It WAS a coup!"
"He did it," muttered Connie.
"Who?" asked Edwin.
"I meant WE did it. We outlasted them," said Connie. "We're still standing. The DVX as we knew it is gone, ladies and gentlemen."
Grinning, Edwin added, "A global conference call for agency heads is scheduled in an hour, Connie. I've confirmed your attendance."
There were quiet cheers and a few high fives exchanged around the table. Lionel left to get some champagne. Her office emptied as everyone spread the news. Connie's elation lasted twenty minutes then reality and questions settled in.
"How much of this is Robbie's doing?" Connie asked herself. A more sinister question rose up and her eyes traveled to her computer terminal. "Was this Robbie's plan all along? Infiltrate using Guardian and destroy from within?"
She walked to the windows and surveyed the city below. "If he could do this to the DVX, he could do it to anyone. Are we next?"