sydneymicheal
Cadet
*looks around*are you here...are we getting an update soon?
Absolution
- Thread starter YoungStarsOwner
- Start date
*looks around*are you here...are we getting an update soon?
YoungStarsOwner
Cadet
A/N Honestly I have no real excuse for the fact that it has taken so long, other than I have been busy. I had exactly two days off the whole month of August, I woke up at five am babysat and drove kids to daycare, usually had another job at 9 or 10 till 4 or 5 and then an evening job… (as you can see I’ve been busy.) I’ve now finally started my new job as a nanny. I work 9-5 Monday to Friday, The kids are great, (well the baby is, the other is a pain) but I still am busy babysitting all weekend. I have no time lol. I feel so bad, Absolution has been in progress for almost a year and I am only on the tenth chapter. I wrote all of Redemption in one year. (sigh) sorry, my life is so disorganized at the moment I can’t concentrate on anything. Sorry for all the rambling enough of my troubles and on with the most important thing. THE MOLE IS REVEALED!!!!! This chapter is completely unbeta’d and literally took me a month to do the last scene so I am just posting it as is so you all don’t have to wait any longer. Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter Nine Recap
Kat spent an interesting night with Sark and learned that as a child, she had killed a man under hypnosis and that she and Sark had been trained as children, by Khasinau to work together. Kat begins to seduce Sark in order to “thank him.” Sark stops her advances and tells her not to use sex as a means of power or as a way to thank someone. He then decides to show Kat how ‘good’ intimacy can be.
Absolution
Chapter Ten
Sark was silent as they rode to the airstrip. Kat stole glances at him every once and a while, but he was occupied with his work and paid her no attention. Several documents lay on the seat beside him as he flipped through one. He hadn’t said more than five words to her all morning. When she woke in his bed that morning he was already gone and hadn’t appeared until mid morning when he announced that they would be leaving for the airstrip. Kat had attempted to discuss the previous night with him, but he’d promptly declared that there would be no discussion. Gone was Julian, the man who had been so kind to her the night before. In his place Sark had returned; cold and distant.
The driver stopped the car on the dirt road and opened Kat’s door; the airplane was already waiting for them. She looked over at Sark who hadn’t moved at all.
“Are you coming?” she asked.
He looked almost surprised that she had asked and motioned to the plane, “Katya’s waiting for you.”
Kat resumed her seat. “Are you angry at me?” she asked, “about what I said last night?”
“Why would you think that?” Sark didn’t look up from his papers.
“Because you won’t talk to me.”
“Katia, I’m not angry with you.”
“But last night-“
“Last night was a mistake,” Sark interrupted. “What I did to you, I shouldn’t have done.” He glanced at her quickly to judge her reaction. She had grown pale and her eyes were clouded with uncertainty.
“I liked it,” she said softly. “Thank you.”
“It wasn’t right.” Sark shook his head. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I don’t care,” she shrugged. “I was scared, I won’t deny it. I was scared… at first but after a while I wasn’t and it felt good. You were right; I hadn’t felt like that before. When you touched me, it was like rollerblading in Times Square at night, I felt alive…”
“Rollerblading down a mountain?” Sark raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t you know how?” Kat asked.
“It’s not high on my list of life experiences.” Sark set his folder aside and got out of the car, Kat followed quickly. He came around to the other side of the car and picked up her small bag. “Are you sure?” he asked guiding her towards the plane where Katya waited.
“It’s the truth, I promise. I know you think that I’m just a little girl, but I’m not.” Kat touched his arm forcing Sark to stop and give her his full attention. “I didn’t ask you to stop because I didn’t want you to.” She took her bag from him. Standing on the tips of her toes she reached one hand up to the side of his face and kissed his cheek. “Thank you… for last night, for everything. Good bye Julian.”
“Good bye Katia.”
Kat proceeded to the steps where her aunt Katya waited impatiently. She stopped. “Will I see you again?” she asked softly. “Then I can teach you how to blade, everyone should know.”
“Perhaps,” he nodded. “I’ll come if you ever need me.”
“But how will you know?”
“I’ll know,” Sark assured her. Without another word he returned to his car and drove off.
~ ~ ~
“What’s going on?” Garcia asked Marshall as he entered the busy Rotunda. He’d been called in on his day off, and a quick survey of the area revealed that Agent Weiss and JJ had also been called in. “Did they find Agent Bristow?”
Marshall snapped the case containing his tech gear closed. “No,” he shook his head. “We caught Sark. Well another agency did, but we’re taking custody. Kendall’s ordered us all there; he’s not taking any chances.”
“Flinkman, Garcia,” Jack interrupted briskly. “The convoy leaves in five minutes.”
Across the room Sydney, Weiss and Vaughn were preparing to go.
“What do you think happened?” Weiss asked as he loaded his gun.
“Sark finally slipped up,” Vaughn shrugged and slipped his gun into the holster. “See you out there,” he told Sydney who nodded quietly.
“Syd?”
Sydney glanced at Weiss briefly before lowering her gaze.
Weiss noticed the slight tremble in her hands as she loaded her weapon. “What’s wrong?” he asked, but she didn’t respond. “Sydney, what’s wrong?” he repeated.
“Katy was with him,” she said softly.
“What?” he was astounded. “What are you talking about, when?”
“Eight days ago, in Australia.” Sydney lowered her voice. “My dad caught them on an airport security video.”
“Why didn’t you-“
“I know,” she slid her gun into the holster. “Weiss, we didn’t know who we could trust. I had to protect her-“
“And I wouldn’t?”
“I didn’t know what you’d say to Lisa-“
“You can trust her,” Weiss said angrily. “She’s a good person Syd.”
“I know she is, and I know that you care about her very much, but Weiss, the thing is that if Sark has been captured… where is Katy now?”
The question went unanswered.
~ ~ ~
Once the steps had been lowered, Katya proceeded down to the waiting CIA agents.
“Hold your fire,” Dixon commanded the agents, he turned to Katya. “Drop your weapons.”
“I am unarmed,” Katya responded and set her bag on the ground.
“Where is Sark?” Jack asked.
Katya shrugged and took a few steps towards them. “I am not aware of his itinerary.”
As Katya removed her sunglasses, Jack realized who it was and it was everything he could do not to get his hopes up. “Then why the charade?”
“Would you have come otherwise?”
There was no response.
“As I suspected.” Katya crossed her arms over her chest. “I have some information you maybe interested in.”
“What is it?” Kendall asked.
“The identity of your mole,” Katya replied with a smirk.
“Where is Bristow?” Director Branden demanded.
“You’re so certain that it is her,” Katya spoke as more of a statement than a question.
“Look, I don’t know who the hell you think you are-“
“Would you like to know?” Katya pulled out her cell phone and held it in the air. “Katarina’s bank records, the deposits led to a telephone number, it was quite simple to trace,” She began dialling.
“Drop the phone,” Branden ordered raising his gun.
The agents were silent as the shrill ringing of a cell phone belonging to one of their own filled the air.
Weiss’ eyes grew wide as he realized where the ringing was coming from. “You bastard.” He grabbed JJ by the lapels and the younger agent dropped his still ringing cell phone. “How could you do it to her?”
Weiss managed to get a well directed punch to JJ’s eye before Garcia pulled him back. And the other guards under Kendall’s orders cuffed JJ.
“We’re expected to simply believe this?” Branden narrowed his eyes. “Where’s Bristow? Where’s your proof?”
Katya retrieved a portable DVD player from her bag. “You should see this also.”
Garcia released Weiss; Agent Vaughn had him under control. He couldn’t look at JJ, he couldn’t meet his eyes. JJ had betrayed him; the man he had considered spending the rest of his life with, had betrayed them all.
Weiss glared at JJ. His hand hurt like hell, but the satisfaction of seeing the man who had betrayed his best friend, bleeding from a small cut above his eye and grimacing in pain from a broken nose, was well worth it. Hearing Kat’s voice, his attention was now focused on the screen. The screen jumped a little distorting the image, but as tired and worn out as she looked on the screen, he was so happy to see her.
“If you’re seeing this, I guess things didn’t go exactly as I’d planned. When I was taken from the transport, it wasn’t my idea; I didn’t know it was going to happen. The people who took me believed that I was innocent of the charges. They wanted to help me find the truth and they did. We went over and over the evidence against me, repeatedly. Everything pointed to me. The logs and bank records everything. When we looked at the wire transfers someone found an anomaly; a phone number used to do the transfers, but it wasn’t mine. We traced the number and when I found out who it belonged to, I couldn’t believe it. I was angry and hurt. I trusted JJ Cruz and he betrayed me.”
Garcia felt numb as he listened to Kat’s voice on the recording. He could hear the words, but they just wouldn’t register in his mind.
“I tried so hard to think of the signs, to reason that there had been things he’d done or said that would reason as to why he’d done it; mistakes he’d made… I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t want it to be true. The more I searched for reasons, for the truth, the more I realized there wasn’t any truth to it. JJ didn’t betray me, or his friends or the agency. He couldn’t, he’s a good man, an even better agent and he was used, just like I was.”
Vaughn glanced at JJ seeing utter relief on his shocked face. He still hadn’t said a word in his own defence since the accusation. JJ had looked horrified and was likely just unable to believe it was happening, which resulted in his non-defence appearing as if he really was guilty.
On the screen, Kat held everyone’s attention. “We kept looking, re-examining all the evidence we had. We got copies of the recorded phone conversations, the ones where I supposedly admitted that I was a member of the covenant, that I told them the identity of the undercover operatives in Columbia. I knew of course that it was a fake, because I never said those things, but the CIA techs said that it was authentic, even Marshall said it was real.”
Kat paused her explanation and took a sip of water before she continued. The image flickered slightly reminding all that they still had no idea where she was. “The people I was with had the recording analyzed using a new technology that the CIA doesn’t even have yet and the technician confirmed that it was a fake. Whoever did it took recordings of my voice and pieced them together and filtered them through a background. The technician said that it was nearly impossible to determine how many different conversations there were or where they were even from. The only thing it proved was that it wasn’t me.
“The words alone were not enough to figure out anything. The technician isolated the background of a section of recording, separating each of the fragments from the applied background and their original backgrounds. One of the original background noises was unusual, it took days before I realized what it was, but when I did, it narrowed down the suspects significantly. It was a sneeze, belonging to agent Weiss. The fragment had been taken from a meeting when I first came to Los Angeles. Agent Weiss had a cold, and the meeting was confidential, there shouldn’t have even been a recording, but there was.
“There were only four other people besides myself in that room. We focused the investigation on those four people, and then we broke into a Covenant facility and found proof; bank records from an off-shore account tracing back to the mole; the real mole.
“I need real proof. I told him everything and he betrayed me, he betrayed this agency and this country. He used the secrets I told him in confidence against me and sold them to the highest bidder. I need to see him for myself, I need a confession, and I need to know why, so I am going to arrange a meeting.”
Sydney could literally feel her heart stop as she watched the image of her sister change to that of a dingy old warehouse. The footage was easily identified as that of the meeting, although the mole was not in the cameras view and his voice couldn’t be heard. Kat turned and a look of fear and confusion crossed her face. “Why did you do it?” she asked the mole.
As she watched her sister on the small screen, Sydney’s hands flexed over her gun, adjusting her finger over the trigger. She felt her blood run cold as the mole stepped into view, but the hat he wore shielded his face from the camera. She gasped as he raised his gun and fired to shots at her sister. A third shot came from beyond him and Kat fell to the ground, blood seeping over her clothes.
“Kat?” Will whispered scarcely able to believe what he had just seen. Was she dead? As Sark came into view, he was certain she was. Sark would never have missed the chance to kill an American CIA Agent.
Jack clenched his jaw as he watched Sark kick his daughter. After a brief conversation with Sark, the mole finally turned showing his face to the camera.
“You bastard! Where is Kat?” Vaughn shouted.
“Dead.”
The sound of a gun being cocked startled all. “Of all the lies you’ve told, you said one truth.” Kat stood on the bottom step of the plane’s stairs, her pale green dress fluttered in the wind and her red hair spilled around her shoulders. “Bristows really do come back from the dead.”
Robert Lindsey’s hands were jerked behind his back and cuffed. He was shocked at seeing the girl he thought he’d killed alive and well.
Kat kept her gun level with his chest as she walked towards him.
“How?” Lindsey asked in disbelief.
“You didn’t really think, I’d have gone without a plan,” Kat now stood with the barrel of her gun mere inches from his heart. “Besides, you’re a lousy shot.” She dropped the gun to her side and put the safety on.
“You were working with Sark,” Lindsey accused.
“I was working for myself,” Kat corrected. “There’s just one thing I want to know, why did you do it? What was worth selling out your country?”
Lindsey’s mouth was set in a thin line, “simply,” he said. “The Covenant pays better.”
Kat stepped back and held out her gin to Kendall. He took it and slid it in his pocket.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“It’s good to have you back Agent Bristow,” a rare compliment passed his lips and he nodded to Director Branden. “I believe you owe her an apology.”
Branden was not too quick to admit his mistake and took it upon himself to order Lindsey be placed under heavy security awaiting transport to Camp Harris.
“Katarina.”
“Daddy!”
Kat turned and launched herself into Jack’s arms. He hugged her tightly lifting her off the ground. “Are you alright?” he asked gruffly pushing her hair away from her face.
“I’m fine.”
Jack frowned examining the bandage on her upper arm from where Lindsey had shot her.
“It’s fine, really, it’s just a graze. I’m fine,” Kat reassured him.
Jack examined her face quickly, it was still cut and bruised from her encounter with Lindsey, her extraction, and the interrogation with Branden, but otherwise she seemed to be fine. He glared at Branden, “it would serve you well to never lay a hand on my daughter again.”
“Katy,” Sydney pushed past Branden, enveloping her sister in her arms. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” Kat promised. “Really… I’m fine.” She spotted JJ’s bloody swollen nose next and examined it her brow furrowed. “Who did this?” she demanded.
”It was me,” Weiss admitted, sending an apologetic glance JJ’s way.
“It’s okay,” JJ shrugged. “I’d have done it too. I just can’t believe that they implicated me as well.”
“It was a fail safe,” Vaughn explained. “You’re the new guy, the one with the least amount of history, the most likely to be a mole.”
JJ’s eyes met Garcia’s, he couldn’t help but feel a stab of anger at the thought that even his lover could have believed for a moment that he was the mole. Maybe, they didn’t trust each other as much as they had originally believed. Kat on the other hand, hadn’t believed it for a moment and had done everything to prove not only her own innocence, but his as well. It had been an overwhelming day.
“Shiner,” Weiss hugged her gently. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Positive,” she nodded.
“Katarina,” Jack took her by the arm and led her away from the others. “Where is Sark?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kat didn’t miss a beat.
Jack’s face was stoic. “I saw you both on the security footage at the Sydney airport; where is Sark, Katarina?”
“I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “He’d never tell me anything.”
“You’d better be telling me the truth,” Jack said softly before walking away. Kat watched him go blinking back the tears in her eyes; why did disappointing him hurt her so much.
~ ~ ~
Within an hour of Kat being home, her father was gone. Jack had been called away to an emergency op in China, with Vaughn and Sydney. They were scheduled to return three days later, the same day Kat and Weiss were being sent to New York for reasons they did not know.
“Are you packed?”
Jack made his presence known and set his overnight bag on the kitchen counter.
Kat nodded. “Eric’s picking me up in a half hour. Do you know why we’re going? Devlin has always restricted me from any ops in the city.”
“It’s not an op,” Jack answered. “You’re just going to answer some questions.” He turned away and retrieved a pair of glasses from his overnight bag. “Your alias is Claire Alexander, keep your hair red, wear the glasses and stay off the streets.”
“Sure.” Kat turned around and took a bite of her sandwich.
“Are you angry with me?”
“Should I be?” she mumbled.
“Don’t be insolent.”
“I’m not insolent.” Kat stood and carried her plate to the sink.
“Katarina-“
“You could have at least said goodbye,” Kat dropped her plate.
“You’ve never cared before.”
“Who said I cared?”
“You did.” Jack crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter. “Katarina, what is really the problem?”
“Do you know Yelena?”
“Your mother’s sister,” Jack clarified. “What do you want to know?”
“I met her; she was nice; sad, but nice. Does she have any family, any kids?”
“She did.”
“What do you mean?”
“Her husband and son died about fifteen years ago.”
“How old was he, her son?”
“Five.”
“He was so young, how did they die?”
“They just did, that’s all you need to know.”
“It was something to do with me, wasn’t it?” Kat realized. “Tell me, or I’ll just find out on my own; either way I’ll know.”
Jack nodded knowing his daughter was relentless. “They were murdered by the KGB in retribution for hiding you and your mother when she took you from Khasinau in Moscow. Even after they were killed, she wouldn’t tell the KGB where you were.”
“Another person died because of me,” Kat said softly. “It’s like this never ending curse.”
“Katarina,” Jack said sharply. “This was not your fault, you were a child, Yelena made a decision. No one could have known the KGB would kill her family.”
“That doesn’t make it right!”
“And it doesn’t make it your fault either.”
“You don’t understand what it’s like,” Kat broke off.
“What are you talking about?”
“To be the cause of so much pain.” Kat turned to leave the room. “I have to change, Weiss will be here soon.” Kat paused in the doorway, “Daddy?”
“Yes sweetheart?”
“Are you sure you don’t know why we have to go to New York, what these ‘questions’ are about?”
“No sweetheart.” Jack watched her go; he hated lying to her.
~ ~ ~
A/N I hope no one is disappointed with the revealing of the mole. I had this all planned out before Lindsey went bad on the show! Ah well, hopefully you’ll have comments anyways.
Chapter Nine Recap
Kat spent an interesting night with Sark and learned that as a child, she had killed a man under hypnosis and that she and Sark had been trained as children, by Khasinau to work together. Kat begins to seduce Sark in order to “thank him.” Sark stops her advances and tells her not to use sex as a means of power or as a way to thank someone. He then decides to show Kat how ‘good’ intimacy can be.
Absolution
Chapter Ten
Sark was silent as they rode to the airstrip. Kat stole glances at him every once and a while, but he was occupied with his work and paid her no attention. Several documents lay on the seat beside him as he flipped through one. He hadn’t said more than five words to her all morning. When she woke in his bed that morning he was already gone and hadn’t appeared until mid morning when he announced that they would be leaving for the airstrip. Kat had attempted to discuss the previous night with him, but he’d promptly declared that there would be no discussion. Gone was Julian, the man who had been so kind to her the night before. In his place Sark had returned; cold and distant.
The driver stopped the car on the dirt road and opened Kat’s door; the airplane was already waiting for them. She looked over at Sark who hadn’t moved at all.
“Are you coming?” she asked.
He looked almost surprised that she had asked and motioned to the plane, “Katya’s waiting for you.”
Kat resumed her seat. “Are you angry at me?” she asked, “about what I said last night?”
“Why would you think that?” Sark didn’t look up from his papers.
“Because you won’t talk to me.”
“Katia, I’m not angry with you.”
“But last night-“
“Last night was a mistake,” Sark interrupted. “What I did to you, I shouldn’t have done.” He glanced at her quickly to judge her reaction. She had grown pale and her eyes were clouded with uncertainty.
“I liked it,” she said softly. “Thank you.”
“It wasn’t right.” Sark shook his head. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I don’t care,” she shrugged. “I was scared, I won’t deny it. I was scared… at first but after a while I wasn’t and it felt good. You were right; I hadn’t felt like that before. When you touched me, it was like rollerblading in Times Square at night, I felt alive…”
“Rollerblading down a mountain?” Sark raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t you know how?” Kat asked.
“It’s not high on my list of life experiences.” Sark set his folder aside and got out of the car, Kat followed quickly. He came around to the other side of the car and picked up her small bag. “Are you sure?” he asked guiding her towards the plane where Katya waited.
“It’s the truth, I promise. I know you think that I’m just a little girl, but I’m not.” Kat touched his arm forcing Sark to stop and give her his full attention. “I didn’t ask you to stop because I didn’t want you to.” She took her bag from him. Standing on the tips of her toes she reached one hand up to the side of his face and kissed his cheek. “Thank you… for last night, for everything. Good bye Julian.”
“Good bye Katia.”
Kat proceeded to the steps where her aunt Katya waited impatiently. She stopped. “Will I see you again?” she asked softly. “Then I can teach you how to blade, everyone should know.”
“Perhaps,” he nodded. “I’ll come if you ever need me.”
“But how will you know?”
“I’ll know,” Sark assured her. Without another word he returned to his car and drove off.
~ ~ ~
“What’s going on?” Garcia asked Marshall as he entered the busy Rotunda. He’d been called in on his day off, and a quick survey of the area revealed that Agent Weiss and JJ had also been called in. “Did they find Agent Bristow?”
Marshall snapped the case containing his tech gear closed. “No,” he shook his head. “We caught Sark. Well another agency did, but we’re taking custody. Kendall’s ordered us all there; he’s not taking any chances.”
“Flinkman, Garcia,” Jack interrupted briskly. “The convoy leaves in five minutes.”
Across the room Sydney, Weiss and Vaughn were preparing to go.
“What do you think happened?” Weiss asked as he loaded his gun.
“Sark finally slipped up,” Vaughn shrugged and slipped his gun into the holster. “See you out there,” he told Sydney who nodded quietly.
“Syd?”
Sydney glanced at Weiss briefly before lowering her gaze.
Weiss noticed the slight tremble in her hands as she loaded her weapon. “What’s wrong?” he asked, but she didn’t respond. “Sydney, what’s wrong?” he repeated.
“Katy was with him,” she said softly.
“What?” he was astounded. “What are you talking about, when?”
“Eight days ago, in Australia.” Sydney lowered her voice. “My dad caught them on an airport security video.”
“Why didn’t you-“
“I know,” she slid her gun into the holster. “Weiss, we didn’t know who we could trust. I had to protect her-“
“And I wouldn’t?”
“I didn’t know what you’d say to Lisa-“
“You can trust her,” Weiss said angrily. “She’s a good person Syd.”
“I know she is, and I know that you care about her very much, but Weiss, the thing is that if Sark has been captured… where is Katy now?”
The question went unanswered.
~ ~ ~
Once the steps had been lowered, Katya proceeded down to the waiting CIA agents.
“Hold your fire,” Dixon commanded the agents, he turned to Katya. “Drop your weapons.”
“I am unarmed,” Katya responded and set her bag on the ground.
“Where is Sark?” Jack asked.
Katya shrugged and took a few steps towards them. “I am not aware of his itinerary.”
As Katya removed her sunglasses, Jack realized who it was and it was everything he could do not to get his hopes up. “Then why the charade?”
“Would you have come otherwise?”
There was no response.
“As I suspected.” Katya crossed her arms over her chest. “I have some information you maybe interested in.”
“What is it?” Kendall asked.
“The identity of your mole,” Katya replied with a smirk.
“Where is Bristow?” Director Branden demanded.
“You’re so certain that it is her,” Katya spoke as more of a statement than a question.
“Look, I don’t know who the hell you think you are-“
“Would you like to know?” Katya pulled out her cell phone and held it in the air. “Katarina’s bank records, the deposits led to a telephone number, it was quite simple to trace,” She began dialling.
“Drop the phone,” Branden ordered raising his gun.
The agents were silent as the shrill ringing of a cell phone belonging to one of their own filled the air.
Weiss’ eyes grew wide as he realized where the ringing was coming from. “You bastard.” He grabbed JJ by the lapels and the younger agent dropped his still ringing cell phone. “How could you do it to her?”
Weiss managed to get a well directed punch to JJ’s eye before Garcia pulled him back. And the other guards under Kendall’s orders cuffed JJ.
“We’re expected to simply believe this?” Branden narrowed his eyes. “Where’s Bristow? Where’s your proof?”
Katya retrieved a portable DVD player from her bag. “You should see this also.”
Garcia released Weiss; Agent Vaughn had him under control. He couldn’t look at JJ, he couldn’t meet his eyes. JJ had betrayed him; the man he had considered spending the rest of his life with, had betrayed them all.
Weiss glared at JJ. His hand hurt like hell, but the satisfaction of seeing the man who had betrayed his best friend, bleeding from a small cut above his eye and grimacing in pain from a broken nose, was well worth it. Hearing Kat’s voice, his attention was now focused on the screen. The screen jumped a little distorting the image, but as tired and worn out as she looked on the screen, he was so happy to see her.
“If you’re seeing this, I guess things didn’t go exactly as I’d planned. When I was taken from the transport, it wasn’t my idea; I didn’t know it was going to happen. The people who took me believed that I was innocent of the charges. They wanted to help me find the truth and they did. We went over and over the evidence against me, repeatedly. Everything pointed to me. The logs and bank records everything. When we looked at the wire transfers someone found an anomaly; a phone number used to do the transfers, but it wasn’t mine. We traced the number and when I found out who it belonged to, I couldn’t believe it. I was angry and hurt. I trusted JJ Cruz and he betrayed me.”
Garcia felt numb as he listened to Kat’s voice on the recording. He could hear the words, but they just wouldn’t register in his mind.
“I tried so hard to think of the signs, to reason that there had been things he’d done or said that would reason as to why he’d done it; mistakes he’d made… I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t want it to be true. The more I searched for reasons, for the truth, the more I realized there wasn’t any truth to it. JJ didn’t betray me, or his friends or the agency. He couldn’t, he’s a good man, an even better agent and he was used, just like I was.”
Vaughn glanced at JJ seeing utter relief on his shocked face. He still hadn’t said a word in his own defence since the accusation. JJ had looked horrified and was likely just unable to believe it was happening, which resulted in his non-defence appearing as if he really was guilty.
On the screen, Kat held everyone’s attention. “We kept looking, re-examining all the evidence we had. We got copies of the recorded phone conversations, the ones where I supposedly admitted that I was a member of the covenant, that I told them the identity of the undercover operatives in Columbia. I knew of course that it was a fake, because I never said those things, but the CIA techs said that it was authentic, even Marshall said it was real.”
Kat paused her explanation and took a sip of water before she continued. The image flickered slightly reminding all that they still had no idea where she was. “The people I was with had the recording analyzed using a new technology that the CIA doesn’t even have yet and the technician confirmed that it was a fake. Whoever did it took recordings of my voice and pieced them together and filtered them through a background. The technician said that it was nearly impossible to determine how many different conversations there were or where they were even from. The only thing it proved was that it wasn’t me.
“The words alone were not enough to figure out anything. The technician isolated the background of a section of recording, separating each of the fragments from the applied background and their original backgrounds. One of the original background noises was unusual, it took days before I realized what it was, but when I did, it narrowed down the suspects significantly. It was a sneeze, belonging to agent Weiss. The fragment had been taken from a meeting when I first came to Los Angeles. Agent Weiss had a cold, and the meeting was confidential, there shouldn’t have even been a recording, but there was.
“There were only four other people besides myself in that room. We focused the investigation on those four people, and then we broke into a Covenant facility and found proof; bank records from an off-shore account tracing back to the mole; the real mole.
“I need real proof. I told him everything and he betrayed me, he betrayed this agency and this country. He used the secrets I told him in confidence against me and sold them to the highest bidder. I need to see him for myself, I need a confession, and I need to know why, so I am going to arrange a meeting.”
Sydney could literally feel her heart stop as she watched the image of her sister change to that of a dingy old warehouse. The footage was easily identified as that of the meeting, although the mole was not in the cameras view and his voice couldn’t be heard. Kat turned and a look of fear and confusion crossed her face. “Why did you do it?” she asked the mole.
As she watched her sister on the small screen, Sydney’s hands flexed over her gun, adjusting her finger over the trigger. She felt her blood run cold as the mole stepped into view, but the hat he wore shielded his face from the camera. She gasped as he raised his gun and fired to shots at her sister. A third shot came from beyond him and Kat fell to the ground, blood seeping over her clothes.
“Kat?” Will whispered scarcely able to believe what he had just seen. Was she dead? As Sark came into view, he was certain she was. Sark would never have missed the chance to kill an American CIA Agent.
Jack clenched his jaw as he watched Sark kick his daughter. After a brief conversation with Sark, the mole finally turned showing his face to the camera.
“You bastard! Where is Kat?” Vaughn shouted.
“Dead.”
The sound of a gun being cocked startled all. “Of all the lies you’ve told, you said one truth.” Kat stood on the bottom step of the plane’s stairs, her pale green dress fluttered in the wind and her red hair spilled around her shoulders. “Bristows really do come back from the dead.”
Robert Lindsey’s hands were jerked behind his back and cuffed. He was shocked at seeing the girl he thought he’d killed alive and well.
Kat kept her gun level with his chest as she walked towards him.
“How?” Lindsey asked in disbelief.
“You didn’t really think, I’d have gone without a plan,” Kat now stood with the barrel of her gun mere inches from his heart. “Besides, you’re a lousy shot.” She dropped the gun to her side and put the safety on.
“You were working with Sark,” Lindsey accused.
“I was working for myself,” Kat corrected. “There’s just one thing I want to know, why did you do it? What was worth selling out your country?”
Lindsey’s mouth was set in a thin line, “simply,” he said. “The Covenant pays better.”
Kat stepped back and held out her gin to Kendall. He took it and slid it in his pocket.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“It’s good to have you back Agent Bristow,” a rare compliment passed his lips and he nodded to Director Branden. “I believe you owe her an apology.”
Branden was not too quick to admit his mistake and took it upon himself to order Lindsey be placed under heavy security awaiting transport to Camp Harris.
“Katarina.”
“Daddy!”
Kat turned and launched herself into Jack’s arms. He hugged her tightly lifting her off the ground. “Are you alright?” he asked gruffly pushing her hair away from her face.
“I’m fine.”
Jack frowned examining the bandage on her upper arm from where Lindsey had shot her.
“It’s fine, really, it’s just a graze. I’m fine,” Kat reassured him.
Jack examined her face quickly, it was still cut and bruised from her encounter with Lindsey, her extraction, and the interrogation with Branden, but otherwise she seemed to be fine. He glared at Branden, “it would serve you well to never lay a hand on my daughter again.”
“Katy,” Sydney pushed past Branden, enveloping her sister in her arms. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” Kat promised. “Really… I’m fine.” She spotted JJ’s bloody swollen nose next and examined it her brow furrowed. “Who did this?” she demanded.
”It was me,” Weiss admitted, sending an apologetic glance JJ’s way.
“It’s okay,” JJ shrugged. “I’d have done it too. I just can’t believe that they implicated me as well.”
“It was a fail safe,” Vaughn explained. “You’re the new guy, the one with the least amount of history, the most likely to be a mole.”
JJ’s eyes met Garcia’s, he couldn’t help but feel a stab of anger at the thought that even his lover could have believed for a moment that he was the mole. Maybe, they didn’t trust each other as much as they had originally believed. Kat on the other hand, hadn’t believed it for a moment and had done everything to prove not only her own innocence, but his as well. It had been an overwhelming day.
“Shiner,” Weiss hugged her gently. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Positive,” she nodded.
“Katarina,” Jack took her by the arm and led her away from the others. “Where is Sark?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kat didn’t miss a beat.
Jack’s face was stoic. “I saw you both on the security footage at the Sydney airport; where is Sark, Katarina?”
“I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “He’d never tell me anything.”
“You’d better be telling me the truth,” Jack said softly before walking away. Kat watched him go blinking back the tears in her eyes; why did disappointing him hurt her so much.
~ ~ ~
Within an hour of Kat being home, her father was gone. Jack had been called away to an emergency op in China, with Vaughn and Sydney. They were scheduled to return three days later, the same day Kat and Weiss were being sent to New York for reasons they did not know.
“Are you packed?”
Jack made his presence known and set his overnight bag on the kitchen counter.
Kat nodded. “Eric’s picking me up in a half hour. Do you know why we’re going? Devlin has always restricted me from any ops in the city.”
“It’s not an op,” Jack answered. “You’re just going to answer some questions.” He turned away and retrieved a pair of glasses from his overnight bag. “Your alias is Claire Alexander, keep your hair red, wear the glasses and stay off the streets.”
“Sure.” Kat turned around and took a bite of her sandwich.
“Are you angry with me?”
“Should I be?” she mumbled.
“Don’t be insolent.”
“I’m not insolent.” Kat stood and carried her plate to the sink.
“Katarina-“
“You could have at least said goodbye,” Kat dropped her plate.
“You’ve never cared before.”
“Who said I cared?”
“You did.” Jack crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter. “Katarina, what is really the problem?”
“Do you know Yelena?”
“Your mother’s sister,” Jack clarified. “What do you want to know?”
“I met her; she was nice; sad, but nice. Does she have any family, any kids?”
“She did.”
“What do you mean?”
“Her husband and son died about fifteen years ago.”
“How old was he, her son?”
“Five.”
“He was so young, how did they die?”
“They just did, that’s all you need to know.”
“It was something to do with me, wasn’t it?” Kat realized. “Tell me, or I’ll just find out on my own; either way I’ll know.”
Jack nodded knowing his daughter was relentless. “They were murdered by the KGB in retribution for hiding you and your mother when she took you from Khasinau in Moscow. Even after they were killed, she wouldn’t tell the KGB where you were.”
“Another person died because of me,” Kat said softly. “It’s like this never ending curse.”
“Katarina,” Jack said sharply. “This was not your fault, you were a child, Yelena made a decision. No one could have known the KGB would kill her family.”
“That doesn’t make it right!”
“And it doesn’t make it your fault either.”
“You don’t understand what it’s like,” Kat broke off.
“What are you talking about?”
“To be the cause of so much pain.” Kat turned to leave the room. “I have to change, Weiss will be here soon.” Kat paused in the doorway, “Daddy?”
“Yes sweetheart?”
“Are you sure you don’t know why we have to go to New York, what these ‘questions’ are about?”
“No sweetheart.” Jack watched her go; he hated lying to her.
~ ~ ~
A/N I hope no one is disappointed with the revealing of the mole. I had this all planned out before Lindsey went bad on the show! Ah well, hopefully you’ll have comments anyways.
sydneymicheal
Cadet
I am so glad you finally updated and revealed who the mole is. You had me worried for a minute about JJ I'm glad it wasn't him Robert Lindsey is an ass. I'm just sorry Jack won't get to him. At least not right now. Where is Irina? I wonder what's really gonna happen in New York. Thanks for the pm and finally revealing who the mole is. Congratulations on the new job.
ALIAS_chick
Cadet
YAY! you updated.
this is an awesome fic.
this is an awesome fic.
Michael_Vartan_Hottie
Cadet
awesome update. as i said before if you need help let me know .
NadiaSantosFan
Cadet
Aww please update soon! I have been following this fic on ff.Net and its really cool!
sydneymicheal
Cadet
Update?!?!?!?
azstreetdrummer
Cadet
cool
sydneymicheal
Cadet
Are you gonna finish this story?
YoungStarsOwner
Cadet
Absaloutly it will be finished eventually.... I've just got so much going on right now with full time work and school and others that I don't have time to write, but it will be done. I have next week off from work, so i am hoping to get some writting done and catch up on my reading.
Thanks for the support and encouragement everyone!
Erin
sydneymicheal
Cadet
I agree...
YoungStarsOwner
Cadet
aww you guys are sweet! I'm so sorry I haven't updated. I promise I will not abandon the story. Right now I am just too busy to have time to write. I haven't had time to write a single word in weeks. I keep anticipating that things will die down and then something else starts.
Sorry
Erin
Sorry
Erin
sydneymicheal
Cadet
Are we close to getting an update? I miss this story. 
YoungStarsOwner
Cadet
A/N
If anyone is still reading this story. I cannot appologize enough for the delay in posting this. I just don't have time to write, everytime I anticipate things dying down, they start up again. So all I can say is that I try my hardest to get the chapters out asap.
That said I hope you enjoy
Chapter 11
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Weiss grumbled as he held the door open for Kat. “If your father finds out he is going to kill me.”
“He will not,” Kat objected. “Besides, how is he going to find out, I’m certainly not going to tell him.”
“Knowing Jack, he’s probably tapped into the satellites,” Weiss laughed and looked around. “So this is it?”
Kat took off her sunglasses and surveyed the room, “this is it.”
It was almost like coming home again, if Joe’s had been home of course. The amount of time she’d spent at work in the months before she was kidnapped had certainly qualified the bar as home. It was the only place aside from LA that felt like a home.
“It’s exactly as I remember, as if I never left,” Kat smiled. The bar was only semi full and Kat even recognized a few Tuesday night regulars. Jake, the retired NYPD cop who’d always kept an eye on her and the other waitresses and Greg, a twice divorced construction worker, whose young son had been diagnosed with diabetes the year before. She wanted so much to say hello and catch up on their lives, but that impossible. The Kathryn Summer they’d known was dead.
“I still can’t picture you working here.” Weiss glanced around.
“I could take care of myself,” Kat responded.
“Besides, Joe always kept a look out for us. He never let any of us take any felgercarb.”
“Sounds like a good guy,” Weiss remarked.
“He is,” Kat smiled. She glanced around. “All the waitresses are new, even the bartender, I don’t recognize anyone.”
“People change Kat; no one stays the same forever.”
“I know, I guess I just thought coming back might be different… I’ll be right back.”
Weiss watched her go to the washroom, he knew coming here wasn’t a good idea, but he never could say no to her; especially since she’d seemed so much happier since coming to New York. A picture above the bar caught his eye. It was her, a candid photo of Kat in her uniform, a microphone in one hand, a tray in the father. She was smiling, exuberating life. An order notebook hung from a chain next to the picture.
“My best waitress,” a voice said.
“Pardon?” Weiss turned to see a man in his mid-fifties carrying a box of scotch behind the bar.
“That’s Kathryn,” he said gesturing to the picture. “She was my best waitress, an old soul but a heck of a sweet girl; had a voice like an angel.”
“Was?” Weiss questioned.
“She was killed in a car accident a few months ago.” He held out his hand. “I’m Joe, this is my place.”
Weiss shook his hand, “Sam Anderson”
“I haven’t seen you in here before,” Joe remarked pouring Weiss a beer.
“I’m just in the city for a few days on business.”
“How did you happen into my little hole in the wall?” Joe asked filling a pitcher of beer for a waitress.
“We were just passing by,” Weiss explained. “My associate needed to use the restroom.” Weiss kept an eye on the door wanting to make a quick exit once he saw Kat. He didn’t need to wait long, she appeared moments later and he dropped a bill on the counter, with a quick, “gotta go.”
Kat was surprised at his reaction until he quietly said the bartender’s name. She looked to the bar immediately, she knew she shouldn’t have, but until Jack, Joe was the closest thing she’d ever had to a father.
Joe twisted a dish towel in the mug he was drying, he watched as Sam and his colleague left the bar quickly. The inner door always stuck, he usually left it open, but someone had closed it. He was about to call out to one of the waitresses, but the girl lifted the handle and opened it with ease. As she passed through the door, she looked back and their eyes met momentarily before she looked away. Joe walked out from behind the bar and made his way to the window watching.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Weiss told Kat angrily. Placing his hand on the small of her back he guided her down the street.
“He never used to work Tuesdays, just a sec,” Kat stopped and slipped off her heeled shoes.
“Kat-“
“What?” she shrugged. “My feet hurt.”
“There’s felgercarb everywhere,” he gestured to the sidewalk.
“And my feet still hurt; I’m careful-”
“Sam,” a voice called out.
“They both recognized it immediately as Joe’s.
“Just keep walking,” Weiss said in a low voice. Joe was not about to be put off.
“Sam,” he called again, his next words stopped the two dead in their tracks. “Kathryn.”
“I can’t,” Kat said softly, hesitating.
“You have to, let’s go,” Weiss nudged her arm.
“Kathryn,” Joe called again. “Kathryn Summer, I know it’s you. No one else would have the guts to walk down Seventh Ave without any shoes.” He stood and waited. “Don’t walk away from me.”
Kat turned slowly and faced him.
“It is you.” Joe could see past the wig and colored contacts. “How… why—“he could barely get the words out. “They said you were dead, a car accident in Florida of all places, why you even went there in the first place god knows, what the hell…”
“I am.” Kat walked towards him, Joe of all people deserved the truth, whatever truth she could give him. “I mean Kathryn is. My name is Katarina and you can never tell anyone about this.”
“If you do, your life could be in danger,” Weiss followed. “Her life would be in danger; you could get her killed.”
“Oh, Kathryn, what kind of mess did you get yourself into?”
“Not a mess,” she shook her head. “I found a family. My family, friends, and a real life. I’m happy. Probably for the first time in my entire life, I am really happy.”
“You sure you’re all right?” Joe gestured to her wig. “This doesn’t make sense, why are you hiding, pretending to be someone you’re not.”
“I’m fine,” she reassured him. “I can’t tell you what is going on, or what could happen tomorrow, just know that for now, I’m okay.” Kat smiled affectionately. “You’re a good guy Joe, one of the best I’ve ever known.”
“You’re still my best waitress,” he grinned. “Even if you did nearly burn down the kitchen.”
“Your place too,” Weiss laughed.
Kat shrugged, “who knew I couldn’t cook,” she said with a smile. She turned to Weiss, “give me all the money you have, I’ll pay you back as soon as we get home.”
“What for?” Weiss asked pulling out his wallet.
Kat added the bills Weiss had given her to the ones from her purse and handed them to Joe. “Make sure Patty gets this please Joe, I’ll send more as soon as I can.”
“Kathryn-“ Joe began.
“I know it’s not much,” Kat interrupted. “I’ll send more, you’ll know it’s from me, just get it to her, leave it anonymously-“
“Kathryn-“
“Just don’t let her know it’s from me-“
“Kathryn-“
“What?”
“Patty’s gone,” Joe said softly.
“Gone? What do you mean?”
“She died,” he tried to break it to her gently.
“What?” Kat gasped. “What, when?” her voice was quiet, strained.
“About three months after you… left. She was murdered in her apartment, a John did it.”
“What about Jade?” Kat asked softly.
Joe shook his head no and handed back the money. “She didn’t suffer, neither of them did.”
Kat handed the money back to Weiss. “We should go, I shouldn’t be here, this was a mistake.” She managed a weak smile. “It was good to see you Joe.”
“You too,” he replied still amazed at the entire situation.
Take care of yourself okay.” Kat stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. “I hope that someday I can come back.”
“Me too,” As Joe hugged her he was struck at the thought that in all the time he had previously known her, she’d never showed him any real kind of affection, though he knew she felt it, she couldn’t show it. “Be good, stay safe.”
Kat squeezed his hand before turning and walking away.
Weiss followed and waited a few minutes before finally speaking, “you okay?”
“Fine.”
“Kat, who’s Patty and Jade?” She had never mentioned them before.
Kat shook her head. “No one important, not anymore.”
“Maybe not now, but they were,” he pressed her.
“Eric, just leave it alone, let’s just go.”
“Shiner, come on, don’t shut me out.”
“I’ve got a headache, I just want to go.”
Weiss let it go, pressuring Kat would never head any results, and it only made her more defensive and less likely to share anything. If he knew Kat the way he thought he did, he would know who Patty and Jade were by the end of the night.
Apparently Weiss didn’t know her well enough, he went to bed that night still wondering who Patty and Jade were and what tomorrow would have in store for them.
* * *
Kat had debated on whether or not to wear the wig that morning, she decided to, but was now regretting it. She sat with Weiss in a meeting room at the New York branch of the FBI, the room was hot and stuffy making her head itch. She checked her watch, “I’m giving them five more minutes to get this going, if they’re not here, I’m leaving. What do you suppose the FBI wants anyways, why wouldn’t we have just gone through Director Schreiter in LA?”
Weiss stopped drumming his fingers on the table. “Honestly, I have no idea; this whole situation is making me uneasy. I called a buddy of mine who works at the FBI Field branch in New Jersey and he hadn’t heard anything about the CIA being involved with the FBI here.”
“This is driving me mental,” Kat stood abruptly going to the window, she leaned her forehead against the cool pane of glass for a moment, she turned hearing the door open.
A man and a woman entered, both dark haired, in their late thirties, or early forties. They weren’t FBI, their visitors’ passes, identical to her own made Kat immediately suspicious.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting,” the woman began. She set a stack of files on the table. “My name is Olivia Benson, this is my partner Elliot Staebler, we’re detectives with the NYPD, special victims unit, we investigate sex crimes.”
Kat could literally feel the blood draining from her face.
Detective Benson opened the top file revealing a picture of a young girl half dressed and obviously posed on a bed. “We need to speak to you about this picture.”
If anyone is still reading this story. I cannot appologize enough for the delay in posting this. I just don't have time to write, everytime I anticipate things dying down, they start up again. So all I can say is that I try my hardest to get the chapters out asap.
That said I hope you enjoy
Chapter 11
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Weiss grumbled as he held the door open for Kat. “If your father finds out he is going to kill me.”
“He will not,” Kat objected. “Besides, how is he going to find out, I’m certainly not going to tell him.”
“Knowing Jack, he’s probably tapped into the satellites,” Weiss laughed and looked around. “So this is it?”
Kat took off her sunglasses and surveyed the room, “this is it.”
It was almost like coming home again, if Joe’s had been home of course. The amount of time she’d spent at work in the months before she was kidnapped had certainly qualified the bar as home. It was the only place aside from LA that felt like a home.
“It’s exactly as I remember, as if I never left,” Kat smiled. The bar was only semi full and Kat even recognized a few Tuesday night regulars. Jake, the retired NYPD cop who’d always kept an eye on her and the other waitresses and Greg, a twice divorced construction worker, whose young son had been diagnosed with diabetes the year before. She wanted so much to say hello and catch up on their lives, but that impossible. The Kathryn Summer they’d known was dead.
“I still can’t picture you working here.” Weiss glanced around.
“I could take care of myself,” Kat responded.
“Besides, Joe always kept a look out for us. He never let any of us take any felgercarb.”
“Sounds like a good guy,” Weiss remarked.
“He is,” Kat smiled. She glanced around. “All the waitresses are new, even the bartender, I don’t recognize anyone.”
“People change Kat; no one stays the same forever.”
“I know, I guess I just thought coming back might be different… I’ll be right back.”
Weiss watched her go to the washroom, he knew coming here wasn’t a good idea, but he never could say no to her; especially since she’d seemed so much happier since coming to New York. A picture above the bar caught his eye. It was her, a candid photo of Kat in her uniform, a microphone in one hand, a tray in the father. She was smiling, exuberating life. An order notebook hung from a chain next to the picture.
“My best waitress,” a voice said.
“Pardon?” Weiss turned to see a man in his mid-fifties carrying a box of scotch behind the bar.
“That’s Kathryn,” he said gesturing to the picture. “She was my best waitress, an old soul but a heck of a sweet girl; had a voice like an angel.”
“Was?” Weiss questioned.
“She was killed in a car accident a few months ago.” He held out his hand. “I’m Joe, this is my place.”
Weiss shook his hand, “Sam Anderson”
“I haven’t seen you in here before,” Joe remarked pouring Weiss a beer.
“I’m just in the city for a few days on business.”
“How did you happen into my little hole in the wall?” Joe asked filling a pitcher of beer for a waitress.
“We were just passing by,” Weiss explained. “My associate needed to use the restroom.” Weiss kept an eye on the door wanting to make a quick exit once he saw Kat. He didn’t need to wait long, she appeared moments later and he dropped a bill on the counter, with a quick, “gotta go.”
Kat was surprised at his reaction until he quietly said the bartender’s name. She looked to the bar immediately, she knew she shouldn’t have, but until Jack, Joe was the closest thing she’d ever had to a father.
Joe twisted a dish towel in the mug he was drying, he watched as Sam and his colleague left the bar quickly. The inner door always stuck, he usually left it open, but someone had closed it. He was about to call out to one of the waitresses, but the girl lifted the handle and opened it with ease. As she passed through the door, she looked back and their eyes met momentarily before she looked away. Joe walked out from behind the bar and made his way to the window watching.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Weiss told Kat angrily. Placing his hand on the small of her back he guided her down the street.
“He never used to work Tuesdays, just a sec,” Kat stopped and slipped off her heeled shoes.
“Kat-“
“What?” she shrugged. “My feet hurt.”
“There’s felgercarb everywhere,” he gestured to the sidewalk.
“And my feet still hurt; I’m careful-”
“Sam,” a voice called out.
“They both recognized it immediately as Joe’s.
“Just keep walking,” Weiss said in a low voice. Joe was not about to be put off.
“Sam,” he called again, his next words stopped the two dead in their tracks. “Kathryn.”
“I can’t,” Kat said softly, hesitating.
“You have to, let’s go,” Weiss nudged her arm.
“Kathryn,” Joe called again. “Kathryn Summer, I know it’s you. No one else would have the guts to walk down Seventh Ave without any shoes.” He stood and waited. “Don’t walk away from me.”
Kat turned slowly and faced him.
“It is you.” Joe could see past the wig and colored contacts. “How… why—“he could barely get the words out. “They said you were dead, a car accident in Florida of all places, why you even went there in the first place god knows, what the hell…”
“I am.” Kat walked towards him, Joe of all people deserved the truth, whatever truth she could give him. “I mean Kathryn is. My name is Katarina and you can never tell anyone about this.”
“If you do, your life could be in danger,” Weiss followed. “Her life would be in danger; you could get her killed.”
“Oh, Kathryn, what kind of mess did you get yourself into?”
“Not a mess,” she shook her head. “I found a family. My family, friends, and a real life. I’m happy. Probably for the first time in my entire life, I am really happy.”
“You sure you’re all right?” Joe gestured to her wig. “This doesn’t make sense, why are you hiding, pretending to be someone you’re not.”
“I’m fine,” she reassured him. “I can’t tell you what is going on, or what could happen tomorrow, just know that for now, I’m okay.” Kat smiled affectionately. “You’re a good guy Joe, one of the best I’ve ever known.”
“You’re still my best waitress,” he grinned. “Even if you did nearly burn down the kitchen.”
“Your place too,” Weiss laughed.
Kat shrugged, “who knew I couldn’t cook,” she said with a smile. She turned to Weiss, “give me all the money you have, I’ll pay you back as soon as we get home.”
“What for?” Weiss asked pulling out his wallet.
Kat added the bills Weiss had given her to the ones from her purse and handed them to Joe. “Make sure Patty gets this please Joe, I’ll send more as soon as I can.”
“Kathryn-“ Joe began.
“I know it’s not much,” Kat interrupted. “I’ll send more, you’ll know it’s from me, just get it to her, leave it anonymously-“
“Kathryn-“
“Just don’t let her know it’s from me-“
“Kathryn-“
“What?”
“Patty’s gone,” Joe said softly.
“Gone? What do you mean?”
“She died,” he tried to break it to her gently.
“What?” Kat gasped. “What, when?” her voice was quiet, strained.
“About three months after you… left. She was murdered in her apartment, a John did it.”
“What about Jade?” Kat asked softly.
Joe shook his head no and handed back the money. “She didn’t suffer, neither of them did.”
Kat handed the money back to Weiss. “We should go, I shouldn’t be here, this was a mistake.” She managed a weak smile. “It was good to see you Joe.”
“You too,” he replied still amazed at the entire situation.
Take care of yourself okay.” Kat stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. “I hope that someday I can come back.”
“Me too,” As Joe hugged her he was struck at the thought that in all the time he had previously known her, she’d never showed him any real kind of affection, though he knew she felt it, she couldn’t show it. “Be good, stay safe.”
Kat squeezed his hand before turning and walking away.
Weiss followed and waited a few minutes before finally speaking, “you okay?”
“Fine.”
“Kat, who’s Patty and Jade?” She had never mentioned them before.
Kat shook her head. “No one important, not anymore.”
“Maybe not now, but they were,” he pressed her.
“Eric, just leave it alone, let’s just go.”
“Shiner, come on, don’t shut me out.”
“I’ve got a headache, I just want to go.”
Weiss let it go, pressuring Kat would never head any results, and it only made her more defensive and less likely to share anything. If he knew Kat the way he thought he did, he would know who Patty and Jade were by the end of the night.
Apparently Weiss didn’t know her well enough, he went to bed that night still wondering who Patty and Jade were and what tomorrow would have in store for them.
* * *
Kat had debated on whether or not to wear the wig that morning, she decided to, but was now regretting it. She sat with Weiss in a meeting room at the New York branch of the FBI, the room was hot and stuffy making her head itch. She checked her watch, “I’m giving them five more minutes to get this going, if they’re not here, I’m leaving. What do you suppose the FBI wants anyways, why wouldn’t we have just gone through Director Schreiter in LA?”
Weiss stopped drumming his fingers on the table. “Honestly, I have no idea; this whole situation is making me uneasy. I called a buddy of mine who works at the FBI Field branch in New Jersey and he hadn’t heard anything about the CIA being involved with the FBI here.”
“This is driving me mental,” Kat stood abruptly going to the window, she leaned her forehead against the cool pane of glass for a moment, she turned hearing the door open.
A man and a woman entered, both dark haired, in their late thirties, or early forties. They weren’t FBI, their visitors’ passes, identical to her own made Kat immediately suspicious.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting,” the woman began. She set a stack of files on the table. “My name is Olivia Benson, this is my partner Elliot Staebler, we’re detectives with the NYPD, special victims unit, we investigate sex crimes.”
Kat could literally feel the blood draining from her face.
Detective Benson opened the top file revealing a picture of a young girl half dressed and obviously posed on a bed. “We need to speak to you about this picture.”
sydneymicheal
Cadet
I wonder what's going on?
I am so glad you updated...
Can't wait for more.
Thanks for the pm.
I am so glad you updated...
Can't wait for more.
Thanks for the pm.
YoungStarsOwner
Cadet
Absolution
(previously)
**Kat and Weiss are sent to NYC for a meeting though they are not sure why. **
Kat had debated on whether or not to wear the wig that morning, she decided to, but was now regretting it. She sat with Weiss in a meeting room at the New York branch of the FBI, the room was hot and stuffy making her head itch. She checked her watch, “I’m giving them five more minutes to get this going, if they’re not here, I’m leaving. What do you suppose the FBI wants anyways, why wouldn’t we have just gone through Director Schreiter in LA?”
Weiss stopped drumming his fingers on the table. “Honestly, I have no idea; this whole situation is making me uneasy. I called a buddy of mine who works at the FBI Field branch in New Jersey and he hadn’t heard anything about the CIA being involved with the FBI here.”
“This is driving me mental,” Kat stood abruptly going to the window, she leaned her forehead against the cool pane of glass for a moment, she turned hearing the door open.
A man and a woman entered, both dark haired, in their late thirties, or early forties. They weren’t FBI, their visitors’ passes, identical to her own made Kat immediately suspicious.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting,” the woman began. She set a stack of files on the table. “My name is Olivia Benson, this is my partner Elliot Staebler, we’re detectives with the NYPD, special victims unit, we investigate sex crimes.”
Kat could literally feel the blood draining from her face.
Detective Benson opened the top file revealing a picture of a young girl half dressed and obviously posed on a bed. “We need to speak to you about this picture.”
Chapter 12
Kat couldn’t breathe, she stared at the picture. “I’m afraid I don’t understand what it is I can do for you.”
Weiss glanced back and forth from Kat to the picture. The detectives were both staring intently at her. Although a little pale, Kat had not shown any reaction to the picture.
“We need to know where this picture was taken,” Benson said.
Kat looked her straight in the eye, “I can’t help you,” she said. “I have no idea where it was taken or who it is.”
“We know it is you Miss Summers,” Detective Staebler said.
“Obviously there has been some kind of mistake,” Weiss interrupted. “Her name is Bristow, Kat Bristow. You’ve got the wrong person.”
“We don’t have time to pussy foot around this,” Staebler said a tinge of anger in his voice. “It took a felgercarb load of favours to get us this meeting. It doesn’t matter who she is now, she was Kathryn Summers, and we need to know what she remembers about this picture and the person who took it.”
“I don’t care what you went through,” Weiss said angrily. “You’ve got the wrong person, she’s already told you she can’t help.”
“Listen, I don’t know how you do things in the FBI, NSA or CIA or wherever it is you are from, but here we help each other. There is a pedophile out there abusing little girls. He did it when she was a child and he’s still doing it. We need to find out who it is and stop them from hurting any other children!”
Kat’s gaze shifted from the scene in front of her to the window and beyond. She couldn’t hear the men arguing, she couldn’t feel the coldness of the room, or see the picture on the table before her. She was floating away on a cloud, back to the beach where the sand tickled her toes, and the waves washed her footprints out to sea. She was safe there; safe with her doll Sophie, with the buckets and shovels, and the sand castles that never washed away.
The voices were overwhelming. She couldn’t block them out anymore; the beach couldn’t block them out. Eric was arguing with the male detective. Their voices were loud and overwhelming. He was angry demanding to speak to their superiors, the detective was talking in a raised voice, demanding co-operation. The woman was speaking to her now, showing her the picture of the little girl.
“You have to help us.” Detective Benson spoke softly leaning down and placing the picture in front of her. “There are other little girls out there who need your help to stop this man.”
Kat closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t help you,” she said hoarsely. Her head was beginning to hurt with the noise in the room. “I’m not who you think I am.”
“Look at this!” Detective Benson thrust another picture in front of her, then another and another. They were all of the same girl. Dark haired, dark eyed, posed in front of the camera, in very little clothing.
Kat pushed them away. She stood knocking over the chair, she had to get out, it was stuffy in the room; she needed fresh air. Weiss called her back but she ignored him and ran past him, out the door and to the elevator. She punched the button but the door wouldn’t open and so she ran to the stairwell and down the stairs, her footsteps echoing in the empty corridors.
Grew up in a small town
And when the rain would fall down
I’d just stare out my window
Dreaming of what could be
And if I’d end up happy
I would pray
The sun was bright and shocking as she burst out the front door of the office building ignoring the security guard who tried to stop her. She whirled around glancing in all directions before taking off at a run down the crowded city streets. She heard Weiss yell after her, but she didn’t stop, she just kept running.
Trying hard to reach out
But when I tried to speak out
felt like no one could hear me
Wanted to belong here
But something felt so wrong here
So I prayed
I could break away
She ran until she could run no more, until her lungs ached and her legs burned. She ran across the streets ignoring pedestrians and cars concentrating on just moving. She had a stitch in her side that grew worse with each step she took, but it didn’t matter, she just had to get away.
I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly
I’ll do what it takes til’ I touch the sky
Make a wish
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won’t forget all the ones that I loved
I’ll take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Kat finally stopped running when she reached Battery Park. She stumbled and collapsed onto a nearby bench gasping for air. She closed her eyes, but when she did so all she could see in her mind was pictures the detectives had shown her. It was her; she’d known that right away. God, she’d been so young; she hadn’t thought of the pictures in years. She scarcely remembered them even now.
Buildings with a hundred floors
Swinging around revolving doors
Maybe I don’t know where they’ll take me but
Gotta keep moving on, moving on
Fly away, breakaway
Kat drew her knees up to her chest and wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. God, how she hated crying, it always made her eyes itch. She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her cheek on her knees. When she closed her eyes she could hear the click of the camera shutter closing, could hear the heavy breathing, but she didn’t see him. She stared past him at the tiny red flowers covering the opposite wall and started to count them 1…2…3…4…5…
I’ll spread my wings
And I’ll learn how to fly
Though it’s not easy to tell you goodbye
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won’t forget the place I come from
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway, breakaway, breakaway
~ ~ ~
“Marshall, I just need you to pin point her cell phone… no you can not… Marshall no, just do it.” Weiss ran a hand through his hair as he paced the common area of the hotel room.
“Yes, Marshall she’s fine, I just need you to get her location.” Weiss sank into the overstuffed arm chair as he waited for Marshall to locate the signal. He shot up suddenly. “What do you mean you can’t,” he asked incredulously. “Can’t you track it with the phone off? Well what kind of useless technology are you using! NO! Marshall NO! Do not get Jack. Do not tell Jack, do not let him find out Marshall!”
felgercarb Weiss swore inwardly realizing that Jack had overheard Marhalls end of the conversation. “Hello Sir.”
“Where is my daughter?” Jack demanded, his voice tinged with concern.
“She’s fine, she’s out right now,” Weiss lied. He attempted to steer Jack away from asking Kat’s whereabouts. “You knew what the meeting was about didn’t you.”
“Yes, I did.” Jack’s voice was steely.
“How could you do that to her?” Weiss asked incredulously. “You blind sided her.”
“You know as well as I do Agent Weiss, that had I told her, she would not have gone. It was not my choice. The order came from the director of the FBI. Now where is Katarina?”
She’s… fine,” Weiss breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the door click and whirled around to see Kat walking across the carpeted entranceway. “She’s fine Jack, she’s here.”
“I’m going to bed,” Kat muttered ignoring his concerned look. “Tell my father we’re flying home first thing in the morning. Good night.” The bedroom door slammed behind her.
Not Great I know, The next chapter will be great.
Comments?
(previously)
**Kat and Weiss are sent to NYC for a meeting though they are not sure why. **
Kat had debated on whether or not to wear the wig that morning, she decided to, but was now regretting it. She sat with Weiss in a meeting room at the New York branch of the FBI, the room was hot and stuffy making her head itch. She checked her watch, “I’m giving them five more minutes to get this going, if they’re not here, I’m leaving. What do you suppose the FBI wants anyways, why wouldn’t we have just gone through Director Schreiter in LA?”
Weiss stopped drumming his fingers on the table. “Honestly, I have no idea; this whole situation is making me uneasy. I called a buddy of mine who works at the FBI Field branch in New Jersey and he hadn’t heard anything about the CIA being involved with the FBI here.”
“This is driving me mental,” Kat stood abruptly going to the window, she leaned her forehead against the cool pane of glass for a moment, she turned hearing the door open.
A man and a woman entered, both dark haired, in their late thirties, or early forties. They weren’t FBI, their visitors’ passes, identical to her own made Kat immediately suspicious.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting,” the woman began. She set a stack of files on the table. “My name is Olivia Benson, this is my partner Elliot Staebler, we’re detectives with the NYPD, special victims unit, we investigate sex crimes.”
Kat could literally feel the blood draining from her face.
Detective Benson opened the top file revealing a picture of a young girl half dressed and obviously posed on a bed. “We need to speak to you about this picture.”
Chapter 12
Kat couldn’t breathe, she stared at the picture. “I’m afraid I don’t understand what it is I can do for you.”
Weiss glanced back and forth from Kat to the picture. The detectives were both staring intently at her. Although a little pale, Kat had not shown any reaction to the picture.
“We need to know where this picture was taken,” Benson said.
Kat looked her straight in the eye, “I can’t help you,” she said. “I have no idea where it was taken or who it is.”
“We know it is you Miss Summers,” Detective Staebler said.
“Obviously there has been some kind of mistake,” Weiss interrupted. “Her name is Bristow, Kat Bristow. You’ve got the wrong person.”
“We don’t have time to pussy foot around this,” Staebler said a tinge of anger in his voice. “It took a felgercarb load of favours to get us this meeting. It doesn’t matter who she is now, she was Kathryn Summers, and we need to know what she remembers about this picture and the person who took it.”
“I don’t care what you went through,” Weiss said angrily. “You’ve got the wrong person, she’s already told you she can’t help.”
“Listen, I don’t know how you do things in the FBI, NSA or CIA or wherever it is you are from, but here we help each other. There is a pedophile out there abusing little girls. He did it when she was a child and he’s still doing it. We need to find out who it is and stop them from hurting any other children!”
Kat’s gaze shifted from the scene in front of her to the window and beyond. She couldn’t hear the men arguing, she couldn’t feel the coldness of the room, or see the picture on the table before her. She was floating away on a cloud, back to the beach where the sand tickled her toes, and the waves washed her footprints out to sea. She was safe there; safe with her doll Sophie, with the buckets and shovels, and the sand castles that never washed away.
The voices were overwhelming. She couldn’t block them out anymore; the beach couldn’t block them out. Eric was arguing with the male detective. Their voices were loud and overwhelming. He was angry demanding to speak to their superiors, the detective was talking in a raised voice, demanding co-operation. The woman was speaking to her now, showing her the picture of the little girl.
“You have to help us.” Detective Benson spoke softly leaning down and placing the picture in front of her. “There are other little girls out there who need your help to stop this man.”
Kat closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t help you,” she said hoarsely. Her head was beginning to hurt with the noise in the room. “I’m not who you think I am.”
“Look at this!” Detective Benson thrust another picture in front of her, then another and another. They were all of the same girl. Dark haired, dark eyed, posed in front of the camera, in very little clothing.
Kat pushed them away. She stood knocking over the chair, she had to get out, it was stuffy in the room; she needed fresh air. Weiss called her back but she ignored him and ran past him, out the door and to the elevator. She punched the button but the door wouldn’t open and so she ran to the stairwell and down the stairs, her footsteps echoing in the empty corridors.
Grew up in a small town
And when the rain would fall down
I’d just stare out my window
Dreaming of what could be
And if I’d end up happy
I would pray
The sun was bright and shocking as she burst out the front door of the office building ignoring the security guard who tried to stop her. She whirled around glancing in all directions before taking off at a run down the crowded city streets. She heard Weiss yell after her, but she didn’t stop, she just kept running.
Trying hard to reach out
But when I tried to speak out
felt like no one could hear me
Wanted to belong here
But something felt so wrong here
So I prayed
I could break away
She ran until she could run no more, until her lungs ached and her legs burned. She ran across the streets ignoring pedestrians and cars concentrating on just moving. She had a stitch in her side that grew worse with each step she took, but it didn’t matter, she just had to get away.
I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly
I’ll do what it takes til’ I touch the sky
Make a wish
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won’t forget all the ones that I loved
I’ll take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Kat finally stopped running when she reached Battery Park. She stumbled and collapsed onto a nearby bench gasping for air. She closed her eyes, but when she did so all she could see in her mind was pictures the detectives had shown her. It was her; she’d known that right away. God, she’d been so young; she hadn’t thought of the pictures in years. She scarcely remembered them even now.
Buildings with a hundred floors
Swinging around revolving doors
Maybe I don’t know where they’ll take me but
Gotta keep moving on, moving on
Fly away, breakaway
Kat drew her knees up to her chest and wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. God, how she hated crying, it always made her eyes itch. She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her cheek on her knees. When she closed her eyes she could hear the click of the camera shutter closing, could hear the heavy breathing, but she didn’t see him. She stared past him at the tiny red flowers covering the opposite wall and started to count them 1…2…3…4…5…
I’ll spread my wings
And I’ll learn how to fly
Though it’s not easy to tell you goodbye
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won’t forget the place I come from
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway, breakaway, breakaway
~ ~ ~
“Marshall, I just need you to pin point her cell phone… no you can not… Marshall no, just do it.” Weiss ran a hand through his hair as he paced the common area of the hotel room.
“Yes, Marshall she’s fine, I just need you to get her location.” Weiss sank into the overstuffed arm chair as he waited for Marshall to locate the signal. He shot up suddenly. “What do you mean you can’t,” he asked incredulously. “Can’t you track it with the phone off? Well what kind of useless technology are you using! NO! Marshall NO! Do not get Jack. Do not tell Jack, do not let him find out Marshall!”
felgercarb Weiss swore inwardly realizing that Jack had overheard Marhalls end of the conversation. “Hello Sir.”
“Where is my daughter?” Jack demanded, his voice tinged with concern.
“She’s fine, she’s out right now,” Weiss lied. He attempted to steer Jack away from asking Kat’s whereabouts. “You knew what the meeting was about didn’t you.”
“Yes, I did.” Jack’s voice was steely.
“How could you do that to her?” Weiss asked incredulously. “You blind sided her.”
“You know as well as I do Agent Weiss, that had I told her, she would not have gone. It was not my choice. The order came from the director of the FBI. Now where is Katarina?”
She’s… fine,” Weiss breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the door click and whirled around to see Kat walking across the carpeted entranceway. “She’s fine Jack, she’s here.”
“I’m going to bed,” Kat muttered ignoring his concerned look. “Tell my father we’re flying home first thing in the morning. Good night.” The bedroom door slammed behind her.
Not Great I know, The next chapter will be great.
Comments?
I was so beyond excited and thrilled to see that you had updated. I love this story, and I can't wait to see how you will continue it and give us a great ending. This was a good chapter to get me back in the swing of things. and the song went along with it perfectly. I'm looking forward to the next update, and hoping it won't be long to wait!!!
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