Part 5
It was several hours later, almost dawn, when Jack awakened. After making love, they each fell into a deep sleep. It would be the last time, he thought, for a while. Now as he opened his eyes, he felt her next to him left arm flung over his chest. He felt an ache in his heart. It had been a long time since he’d had the warmth of her body next to him. Their lovemaking had been passionate and complete.
Jack leaned down and whispered, “Irina, sweetheart, wake up. We need to hold a conference with Sydney. She’s probably nursing Isabelle by now.”
“Yes, of course.” She slid out of bed and went around to where he’d left her clothes. “I’m showering first. Don’t come with me,” she continued, a twinkle in her eye, “or else we might be delayed.”
Fifteen minutes later, they both had showered and were now dressed. Jack made sure his clothes didn’t look as though he’d slept in them. He followed Irina out of the room and down the hall. Sydney was several doors beyond the nurse’s station. Irina paused there, murmuring something to the young nurse. She nodded and picked up the phone at her desk.
“What did you say to her?”
“Just asked her to round up some coffee and breakfast, if there was any left. They have a very good kitchen here.” She walked swiftly a few more steps, before stopping at Sydney’s door. She peeked inside; then opened the door wide.
“Hi, Mom! Dad!” Sydney looked well and she was nursing Isabelle. The hospital provided a baby’s bed on wheels. Sydney and the baby spent the night together. “You both look like you got some sleep.” She checked under the light sheet covering her. “Mom, you want to hold her?”
Irina hurried to that side of the bed and took Isabelle gently in her arms. Her face wore the widest smile. She grinned at Jack. “How about Grandpa? Shouldn’t he have a chance to hold her?”
“Dammit, Irina, give her to me.” He joined her on that side of the bed. Isabelle was sound asleep having enjoyed her ‘breakfast’.
“Hey, be careful!” Sydney chuckled as she watched her father gently take the baby from her mother. She rearranged her gown pulling it together.
“Humph,” said Jack. “Young lady, I had no problems holding onto you when you were this size.”
Irina almost giggled as she remembered how gingerly Jack had held Sydney for the first time. He was afraid he’d crush her in his hands.
“Okay,” Sydney started, but then stopped as the nurse came in with some food: a glass of milk, pastries, and a pot of coffee.
Jack put Isabelle in the hospital crib as Irina took the rolling table from the nurse. She poured coffee for Jack and herself and handed the milk to Sydney. It took them a few minutes to finish.
“Okay,” said Sydney once again. “I’d really like an explanation of why you had me tortured?” She stared at her mother coldly.
“Sydney, I’m sorry you thought it was torture, because it wasn’t meant to be.” Irina stood facing her daughter, staring straight into Sydney’s eyes. “I needed a stimulated hypnosis to find out information you had, but didn’t know you had. However,” she glanced at Jack who was standing at the foot of the bed holding Isabelle, “your PC training obviously was enhanced enough so you lied while under a hypnotic state. That, darling Sydney, was remarkable considering the circumstances.”
“You brought Vaughn back,” Sydney whispered. “We talked and I didn’t want to leave him. He made me come back.”
Irina sat on the bed and took Sydney’s hands in hers. “Sweetheart, the information was in your memory…something you saw but didn’t know you saw it. We had to stimulate that memory to get what I wanted.”
“Which was…?”
Irina went on to explain why she wanted it and where it was located. She told Sydney everything she told Jack. This time, she did not hold back. It was too important her daughter know everything.
“…I wanted to beat Prophet 5 to the information.” She ended the telling with that statement. “I want to destroy that formula.”
“If you do that, won’t they still want us?”
Jack nodded. “You know they will, Irina. They’ll come after all of us. I don’t want that to happen. We have to find a way to make sure they never will.” He frowned. “We have to do it without anyone else knowing.”
“Just how are we going to do that?” Irina said. At that moment, she was running various scenarios in her head and had not come up with an idea yet, especially one that didn’t require some outside help.
“I have an idea,” said Sydney. Her parents waited expectantly... “We’re going to need Renee and Kelly. She glanced at Irina. “Can we reach Renee…and Grigor?” Irina nodded, her eyes widening.
The evening shift changed at seven that night. The nurse checked the files on patients who were on the floor. One had checked out…the young woman whose mother had helped deliver the baby. She put the file in the out box and began making rounds. It was not unusual for mothers, who had given birth a day or so earlier, to leave. They were always happier having the baby with them at home.
Meanwhile in Sofia, the capitol of Bulgaria, at a building used for Prophet 5’s Russian server headquarters, a communiqué from Moscow arrived for Nicholai Dubachev, the station chief. Information that Sydney Bristow, who was carrying the child they were looking for, had disappeared. They could not track her whereabouts after the helicopter took her from a freighter three hundred miles away in the Mediterranean. Furthermore, no one knew who assisted her, but they suspected that her mother, Irina Derevko, and father, Jack Bristow, were responsible. No satellite pictures were available to trace the helicopter although reports received from boats chasing the freighter that the ‘copter turned northeast toward Bulgaria.
The orders given were to make every effort to locate and capture Sydney Bristow and her baby as well as locate and capture Irina Derevko and Jack Bristow. If they resisted, shoot. The orders definitely underlined the no-kill of Sydney and her child. Prophet 5 wanted her and her baby alive.
Back in Burgos, the Bristows checked into one of the larger hotels. Renee had put in an appearance with Kelly. Irina handed her a key to another room. They had arrived from Tzarevo only a few minutes earlier. It was a fast trip by a car stolen the night before. Earlier, Irina and Jack had gone to look over the server facility only to find the building empty. Shocked, they made their way inside where they found an empty matchbook cover from a café in Sofia.
Irina cursed and Jack agreed. For some reason, the server had been moved and they were sure it was now somewhere in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capitol. Back at the hotel, the group met to discuss their next move. It was Renee, who said she would get them a car big enough to carry the five of them.
Twenty-four hours later, the plane from Moscow landed at Sofia’s International Airport in Bulgaria. Several passengers disembarked most of whom were Bulgarians. Last to leave the plane were four Russians, a father and three sons, who were, they said, at customs here to visit friends. Outside the terminal, a taxi whose driver held a sign, which they recognized, picked up the four. He drove them to a local hotel in the center of town.
He was paid and the foursome watched him disappear around the traffic circle.
Grigor and his sons registered. They split up; Petr stayed with his father and the other two young men took the room next to theirs. They unpacked and waited. An hour later, Grigor’s cell phone rang.
“Da?”
“Welcome to Bulgaria, old friend.”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. Sydney has had her baby…a girl!”
Grigor beamed. “Good. She is well?”
“Fine. Did you bring the necessary equipment?”
“Da. I am having Petr and Stephan put everything together. It will be ready in…” he glanced at Petr, who showed him five fingers, “…five hours.”
“Jack and I will be there in five minutes. What room number?”
“Four thirty three.” Grigor snapped his cell shut. “Irina will be here in four hours. How about Georges and I get food and bring here.”
“Yes, Papa! Good idea.” Petr turned back to the small table on which there were many parts of something. “We will have it ready in plenty of time.”
There was a knock on the door. Grigor walked over, looked through the peephole, and saw Irina standing in front. He opened the door, swooping her up into his massive arms. Jack and Sydney followed.
“Irina! You are okay?” Grigor put her down.
“Yes, yes, you big oaf!” She kissed him on both cheeks. “Did you bring the equipment?”
“Yes, of course.” He grinned at Jack. “Mr. Jack!” Then he saw Sydney with the baby in her arms. “Sydney, you are mama now!” He leaned down from his six foot seven height and kissed her on both cheeks. “Can I?” he put his massive hands out, asking to hold her.
“Of course,” she smiled, placing Isabel onto his hands. She knew Grigor had practice as he was the father of five.
Grigor held the baby. “She is very small.”
“And you are very big!” Sydney laughed. “She’s normal in every department.”
Grigor smiled. “She is very beautiful.” He kissed Isabelle gently on the forehead and then handed her back to Sydney. Turning to Jack, he pounded him on the back, almost knocking the other man down. “Now you are grandfather, like me!”
“Yes,” Jack answered with a smile. It was a long time since he’d seen the gentle giant and each time he was amazed by Grigor’s devotion to Irina and the family. “How is your wife?”
“Good. I think she is glad I go away for trip. Is vacation for her too!” He turned to Irina. “So little one, what is it you need for us to do.” He gestured toward Petr, Georges, and Stephan who had stayed in the background, letting their father do most of the talking.
“We need to hack into computer server here in Sofia.”
Grigor stared, “…and,” He knew that wasn’t all.
Irina put her hand on his arm. “We have to disappear. In order to do that, we need to hack into the server so Sydney can make some changes. Once the servers are programmed, we will be safe.”
“Safe, where?”
“That is not information we can share.” She thumped him on the chest. “Do you think I want to bring trouble to your home?” She shook her head. “If no one knows where we are then no one follows.”
He nodded. “How long?”
“Until some issues are resolved. There is a possibility we will never return.”
“But, Irina…” He looked devastated.
“Grigor, my dear friend, you have a home and children. You run my apartment house. You will collect the rents and keep them for repairs. Maria knows how to keep books so that will be her job.”
“But that is no fun,” he answered. “With you and Mr. Jack and Sydney, I am having fun.”
“Not this time.” Irina’s demeanor and voice was serious. “You can have fun helping us. Now let’s go over our plan, the options in case of trouble, and what we need from you and the boys.”
TBC
It was several hours later, almost dawn, when Jack awakened. After making love, they each fell into a deep sleep. It would be the last time, he thought, for a while. Now as he opened his eyes, he felt her next to him left arm flung over his chest. He felt an ache in his heart. It had been a long time since he’d had the warmth of her body next to him. Their lovemaking had been passionate and complete.
Jack leaned down and whispered, “Irina, sweetheart, wake up. We need to hold a conference with Sydney. She’s probably nursing Isabelle by now.”
“Yes, of course.” She slid out of bed and went around to where he’d left her clothes. “I’m showering first. Don’t come with me,” she continued, a twinkle in her eye, “or else we might be delayed.”
Fifteen minutes later, they both had showered and were now dressed. Jack made sure his clothes didn’t look as though he’d slept in them. He followed Irina out of the room and down the hall. Sydney was several doors beyond the nurse’s station. Irina paused there, murmuring something to the young nurse. She nodded and picked up the phone at her desk.
“What did you say to her?”
“Just asked her to round up some coffee and breakfast, if there was any left. They have a very good kitchen here.” She walked swiftly a few more steps, before stopping at Sydney’s door. She peeked inside; then opened the door wide.
“Hi, Mom! Dad!” Sydney looked well and she was nursing Isabelle. The hospital provided a baby’s bed on wheels. Sydney and the baby spent the night together. “You both look like you got some sleep.” She checked under the light sheet covering her. “Mom, you want to hold her?”
Irina hurried to that side of the bed and took Isabelle gently in her arms. Her face wore the widest smile. She grinned at Jack. “How about Grandpa? Shouldn’t he have a chance to hold her?”
“Dammit, Irina, give her to me.” He joined her on that side of the bed. Isabelle was sound asleep having enjoyed her ‘breakfast’.
“Hey, be careful!” Sydney chuckled as she watched her father gently take the baby from her mother. She rearranged her gown pulling it together.
“Humph,” said Jack. “Young lady, I had no problems holding onto you when you were this size.”
Irina almost giggled as she remembered how gingerly Jack had held Sydney for the first time. He was afraid he’d crush her in his hands.
“Okay,” Sydney started, but then stopped as the nurse came in with some food: a glass of milk, pastries, and a pot of coffee.
Jack put Isabelle in the hospital crib as Irina took the rolling table from the nurse. She poured coffee for Jack and herself and handed the milk to Sydney. It took them a few minutes to finish.
“Okay,” said Sydney once again. “I’d really like an explanation of why you had me tortured?” She stared at her mother coldly.
“Sydney, I’m sorry you thought it was torture, because it wasn’t meant to be.” Irina stood facing her daughter, staring straight into Sydney’s eyes. “I needed a stimulated hypnosis to find out information you had, but didn’t know you had. However,” she glanced at Jack who was standing at the foot of the bed holding Isabelle, “your PC training obviously was enhanced enough so you lied while under a hypnotic state. That, darling Sydney, was remarkable considering the circumstances.”
“You brought Vaughn back,” Sydney whispered. “We talked and I didn’t want to leave him. He made me come back.”
Irina sat on the bed and took Sydney’s hands in hers. “Sweetheart, the information was in your memory…something you saw but didn’t know you saw it. We had to stimulate that memory to get what I wanted.”
“Which was…?”
Irina went on to explain why she wanted it and where it was located. She told Sydney everything she told Jack. This time, she did not hold back. It was too important her daughter know everything.
“…I wanted to beat Prophet 5 to the information.” She ended the telling with that statement. “I want to destroy that formula.”
“If you do that, won’t they still want us?”
Jack nodded. “You know they will, Irina. They’ll come after all of us. I don’t want that to happen. We have to find a way to make sure they never will.” He frowned. “We have to do it without anyone else knowing.”
“Just how are we going to do that?” Irina said. At that moment, she was running various scenarios in her head and had not come up with an idea yet, especially one that didn’t require some outside help.
“I have an idea,” said Sydney. Her parents waited expectantly... “We’re going to need Renee and Kelly. She glanced at Irina. “Can we reach Renee…and Grigor?” Irina nodded, her eyes widening.
The evening shift changed at seven that night. The nurse checked the files on patients who were on the floor. One had checked out…the young woman whose mother had helped deliver the baby. She put the file in the out box and began making rounds. It was not unusual for mothers, who had given birth a day or so earlier, to leave. They were always happier having the baby with them at home.
Meanwhile in Sofia, the capitol of Bulgaria, at a building used for Prophet 5’s Russian server headquarters, a communiqué from Moscow arrived for Nicholai Dubachev, the station chief. Information that Sydney Bristow, who was carrying the child they were looking for, had disappeared. They could not track her whereabouts after the helicopter took her from a freighter three hundred miles away in the Mediterranean. Furthermore, no one knew who assisted her, but they suspected that her mother, Irina Derevko, and father, Jack Bristow, were responsible. No satellite pictures were available to trace the helicopter although reports received from boats chasing the freighter that the ‘copter turned northeast toward Bulgaria.
The orders given were to make every effort to locate and capture Sydney Bristow and her baby as well as locate and capture Irina Derevko and Jack Bristow. If they resisted, shoot. The orders definitely underlined the no-kill of Sydney and her child. Prophet 5 wanted her and her baby alive.
Back in Burgos, the Bristows checked into one of the larger hotels. Renee had put in an appearance with Kelly. Irina handed her a key to another room. They had arrived from Tzarevo only a few minutes earlier. It was a fast trip by a car stolen the night before. Earlier, Irina and Jack had gone to look over the server facility only to find the building empty. Shocked, they made their way inside where they found an empty matchbook cover from a café in Sofia.
Irina cursed and Jack agreed. For some reason, the server had been moved and they were sure it was now somewhere in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capitol. Back at the hotel, the group met to discuss their next move. It was Renee, who said she would get them a car big enough to carry the five of them.
Twenty-four hours later, the plane from Moscow landed at Sofia’s International Airport in Bulgaria. Several passengers disembarked most of whom were Bulgarians. Last to leave the plane were four Russians, a father and three sons, who were, they said, at customs here to visit friends. Outside the terminal, a taxi whose driver held a sign, which they recognized, picked up the four. He drove them to a local hotel in the center of town.
He was paid and the foursome watched him disappear around the traffic circle.
Grigor and his sons registered. They split up; Petr stayed with his father and the other two young men took the room next to theirs. They unpacked and waited. An hour later, Grigor’s cell phone rang.
“Da?”
“Welcome to Bulgaria, old friend.”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. Sydney has had her baby…a girl!”
Grigor beamed. “Good. She is well?”
“Fine. Did you bring the necessary equipment?”
“Da. I am having Petr and Stephan put everything together. It will be ready in…” he glanced at Petr, who showed him five fingers, “…five hours.”
“Jack and I will be there in five minutes. What room number?”
“Four thirty three.” Grigor snapped his cell shut. “Irina will be here in four hours. How about Georges and I get food and bring here.”
“Yes, Papa! Good idea.” Petr turned back to the small table on which there were many parts of something. “We will have it ready in plenty of time.”
There was a knock on the door. Grigor walked over, looked through the peephole, and saw Irina standing in front. He opened the door, swooping her up into his massive arms. Jack and Sydney followed.
“Irina! You are okay?” Grigor put her down.
“Yes, yes, you big oaf!” She kissed him on both cheeks. “Did you bring the equipment?”
“Yes, of course.” He grinned at Jack. “Mr. Jack!” Then he saw Sydney with the baby in her arms. “Sydney, you are mama now!” He leaned down from his six foot seven height and kissed her on both cheeks. “Can I?” he put his massive hands out, asking to hold her.
“Of course,” she smiled, placing Isabel onto his hands. She knew Grigor had practice as he was the father of five.
Grigor held the baby. “She is very small.”
“And you are very big!” Sydney laughed. “She’s normal in every department.”
Grigor smiled. “She is very beautiful.” He kissed Isabelle gently on the forehead and then handed her back to Sydney. Turning to Jack, he pounded him on the back, almost knocking the other man down. “Now you are grandfather, like me!”
“Yes,” Jack answered with a smile. It was a long time since he’d seen the gentle giant and each time he was amazed by Grigor’s devotion to Irina and the family. “How is your wife?”
“Good. I think she is glad I go away for trip. Is vacation for her too!” He turned to Irina. “So little one, what is it you need for us to do.” He gestured toward Petr, Georges, and Stephan who had stayed in the background, letting their father do most of the talking.
“We need to hack into computer server here in Sofia.”
Grigor stared, “…and,” He knew that wasn’t all.
Irina put her hand on his arm. “We have to disappear. In order to do that, we need to hack into the server so Sydney can make some changes. Once the servers are programmed, we will be safe.”
“Safe, where?”
“That is not information we can share.” She thumped him on the chest. “Do you think I want to bring trouble to your home?” She shook her head. “If no one knows where we are then no one follows.”
He nodded. “How long?”
“Until some issues are resolved. There is a possibility we will never return.”
“But, Irina…” He looked devastated.
“Grigor, my dear friend, you have a home and children. You run my apartment house. You will collect the rents and keep them for repairs. Maria knows how to keep books so that will be her job.”
“But that is no fun,” he answered. “With you and Mr. Jack and Sydney, I am having fun.”
“Not this time.” Irina’s demeanor and voice was serious. “You can have fun helping us. Now let’s go over our plan, the options in case of trouble, and what we need from you and the boys.”
TBC