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Irina stood in front of Cuvee who was tied up on a chair. She was in the dark, her face impassive.
Blood was on Cuvee’s face and he saw that Irina had a gun in her right hand. But she didn’t point it on him. Actually she just watched him, hate spoke out of her face.
“You have no idea how long I waited for this. To torture you for what you did to my daughter.” She slanted her head to the right. “Tell me. Did Nadia feel like this when she was in your custody?”
“Irina, you don’t understand. This was a necessary step to…” The former KGB-Agent stopped him with a shot in his leg, which started to bleed. She knew this wasn’t enough to kill him, but it was enough to let him feel much, much pain. Which was what she wanted, she wanted to see that son of a b**** suffer.
“What have you done to her?” Irina asked with a surprisingly calm voice that was more frightening than anything else. When no answer came, Irina took out a knife and stuck it in the leg she just had shot. He screamed in pain. “I ask you again, what have you done to my daughter? I can’t imagine you kept her, because you like having little girls around you.”
“I injected Nadia with a green fluid. Your daughter was supposed to give us an equation, which only she is able to give us when she received the whole dose. She didn’t get everything. “
“And the last dose could have killed her.” Irina said and watched Cuvee who nodded. Then she took the gun and shot him in the head. He was dead immediately. The former KGB-Agent still looked at him, disgusted. His dead was too easy. She could have let him suffer much longer, but the wish to see Nadia was stronger than the wish to torture somebody who wasn’t worth it.
Irina went to the door and ran outside in the night. She saw a little girl who was running away from Katya. Her heart made a jump. Nadia! Of course after all the girl had been through she couldn’t trust anyone and she didn’t know Jack. Irina should have thought about that before.
Irina was faster than Nadia and grabbed her in time. “Hey! Hey! It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s me. It’s alright.” She tried to make the girl stop fighting against her grip and finally the girl calmed down in her mother’s arms. That or maybe she was just too exhausted to fight any longer. Irina just held her tight, enjoyed the feeling to hold her little girl in her arms. At least she seemed okay, even though Irina knew nothing was okay.
“Come on. Let’s get you in the car,” the former KGB-Agent said reassuringly, lifted Nadia up and carried her to the car. She hurried, because she knew that guards would soon come in search for Nadia.
Katya and Jack ran towards her. “Damn it! Nadia was just too fast for me.” Katya breathed heavily but she was relieved that Irina had caught her.
“Or you’re too slow. How could you let her out of your sight considering what she’s been through?”
“Could we discuss this later? Guards are coming. Let’s get in the car and leave!” Jack interrupted Katya who had already opened her mouth to respond.
Jack got in the car first, on the drivers seat. Katya followed behind and took place on the front passengers seat while Irina and Nadia took the backseats. Irina took Nadia on her lap.
The girl whined and finally recognised her mother. “Mommy….,” she sobbed.
“Everything is alright, sweetheart. He’ll never hurt you again. I promise. I’m here now.” Irina placed a kiss on Nadia’s head and rocked her daughter gently to make her fall asleep. Even though the girl had slept before her rescue, she seemed very exhausted. Probably because of the injections Cuvee had given her.
Irina wanted Nadia to sleep to recover from the exertions of the past days. It would take some time to heal, basically the mentally wounds, but also the physical wounds.
The former KGB-Agent could see a lot of mental damage, because Nadia was fighting sleep. Probably she was afraid of the nightmares.
Soon they were on a highway. Jack had told Irina sooner that they would go to a safe house which was one hour outside from Moscow. Nadia fell asleep after the first fifteen minutes. The exhaustion was too strong. Irina sighed in relief while she gently stroked her daughter’s hair.
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Safehouse Moscow
Jack stepped into the room. “I called Arvin..”
“Shh…” Irina interrupted him. Nadia lay in a bed. Irina was about to cover her up when Jack entered. The girl finally slept, even though it was a restless sleep. Irina just felt relieved that her daughter slept at all. “Not here. I don’t want to wake her up” his wife whispered while she led him outside.
“How is she?” Jack asked. It was obvious how concerned he was about Nadia.
“She had a rough day. She’ll need time to deal with everything that happened over the last days.” Irina let out a sigh and glanced back at her daughter who mumbled some unintelligible words in her sleep. The former KGB-Agent wondered what nightmares she had. Actually she didn’t want to know. All she wanted was to go back to her, so her daughter wasn’t afraid.
“Irina, I called Arvin,” her husband started.
“Is Sydney okay?” was Irina’s question before he could add anything.
“Yes. She asked if her sister is alright.” Jack smiled as he remembered talking to Sydney on the phone. His daughter also asked about Irina and if she would come back. Jack had told her that he couldn’t make any promises.
Both, Jack and Irina, knew that Jack was obliged to take Irina to the CIA. She would either spend her life in prison or die through death penalty. The CIA-Agent knew, his wife had no illusions about her destiny and ironically he wasn’t sure if he could allow that. How should he explain that to Nadia and Sydney?
Especially Nadia needed her mother now more than ever after all she had been through.
Irina sighed in relief. “Good.”
Jack nodded. Both kept silent for a few minutes. Then it was Jack who started to talk again. “Irina, Nadia needs to see a doctor. You told me that Cuvee injected her with something. We need to make sure that this fluid doesn’t have any negative effects on her.”
To his surprise Irina nodded, though she didn’t seem happy with this solution. But somehow she seemed to know that this was the best for Nadia, even though their daughter wouldn’t see it that way. She would probably be scared, just as her parents were.
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Irina hadn’t had a good feeling from the moment on she had walked into that medical office. Now she was holding Nadia in her arms, who seemed to be scared to death, even though Jack and Irina had tried to calm her down, but at this point, both of them knew how pointless it was. It hadn’t worked with Sydney either, when they had to take her to the doctor.
Nadia seemed to know what was coming next. Irina was nervous, but she was successful in not showing it to Nadia, though she couldn’t say if Jack had noticed. At least he hadn’t said anything about Irina being nervous.
The former KGB-Agent could see that he was worried about what the doctor would find out about Nadia’s condition and what kind of examination she would do.
At least it was a doctor Jack knew, though this fact didn’t comfort Irina at all and neither did it comfort Nadia.
“Mommy, I don’t want to be here. Can we not just go home?” The sound of Nadia’s scared and tired voice made Irina feel bad about doing that to her little girl, and all because of that bastard Cuvee.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I promise I’ll stay with you all the time. I won’t let anything happen to you. Okay?” Irina wasn’t sure if Nadia believed her. However, the little girl nodded, but didn’t seem fully convinced.
“As soon as we’re done here, we can go back to L.A. and see Sydney,” Jack announced, looking at Irina.
His wife nodded, while wondering herself how the first meeting of the sisters would be. Would they hug each other or would they say nothing at all and just look at each other?
Irina didn’t have an answer to that question, but she was curious to find out. She didn’t doubt that Sydney and Nadia would like each other, Irina just asked herself how long it would take.
The door in front of Jack’s and Irina’s seats opened and Dr. Valenko stepped outside, smiling as she recognized Jack. “Jack. It’s been a long time.” She gave him her hand, which he was taking with a smile, while Irina wondered where they knew each other from. But she remained silent, only watching the scene.
“It’s been two years, actually. It’s good to see you, Dr. Valenko. I’m glad to see you’re okay. May I introduce Irina Derevko to you? We were…we are married.” Jack saw the astonishment in his wife’s eyes and couldn’t help but smile on that. He had finally managed to surprise Irina Derevko. He looked in her direction as if he wanted to say ‘What? Did you think you’re the only one, who can surprise?’ “And that’s Nadia, my second daughter. She’s the reason we’re here,” he informed the doctor, who was smiling. She liked children and she knew how afraid they all were of doctors.
“Hey, Nadia. Your daddy told me about you. We’re going to do a blood test at first.” Nadia didn’t take the hand of Dr. Valenko. She bit her lip and looked very much like her mother at that moment.
“A blood test? Does that mean it will prick?” The girl asked with big eyes, scared to death. After all she had been through the girl didn’t want any more needles. She snuggled herself into her mother’s arms, who did her best to soothe her.
Irina glanced at Jack. A blood test? He hadn’t said anything about that! If she had known, they wouldn’t be here. But now they were here and it was too late to go back. Besides, they needed closure if the fluid had any lasting effects on Nadia.
Her husband looked back and Irina knew he was having almost the same conversation with himself.
Nadia let out a sob when she saw the syringe. Given the experiences she had already made with injections and syringes, it didn’t surprise Irina at all. “No! I don’t want…No more needles, mommy!” the girl sobbed.
It broke Irina’s heart seeing her like that. But it had to be done. There was no way to spare her from this. “Oh sweetheart! I promise, I won’t let anything happen to you, just keep still for a second, will you.” Irina knew it was futile right now to calm Nadia down, but nevertheless she had to try.
Softly she stroked her daughter’s hair, but held her firmly in place as Nadia tried to break free. Jack had to help. It was impossible to calm Nadia. She struggled and desperately tried to break free. “Hurry doctor!” Irina ordered.
Normally it took just a few minutes to take a blood sample, but Nadia struggled so violently, that it took them fifteen minutes until the doctor finally got what she wanted and only because Nadia was too tired to fight any longer.
Now they girl lay sobbing on her mother’s lap. Irina was in the waiting room with Jack and Nadia. She stroked her little daughter’s black hair and mumbled soothing words into her ear.
Jack watched the two of them while asking himself how the same person, who was trying to soothe Nadia as best as she could, could have left him and Sydney six years ago. As if he had met another person, not the Irina he had imagined at first after he had learned the truth about her, that she was KGB. Maybe it was worth a try to rebuild the family. Sydney needed a mother and Nadia obviously needed one, too.
The doctor came in. Jack stood up, while Irina laid Nadia on one of the chairs in the room. Her daughter had fallen asleep after fighting this hard in order not to be pricked.
The former KGB-Agent was watching her daughter for a while with a smile, before she turned her attention back to Dr. Valenko.
“I sent the blood test to a lab in Saint-Petersburg. I should get the results next week. You can take your daughter home, but keep in touch, so we can tell you what we found out.” The doctor was smiling so friendly that it was impossible for Irina to not like her, even though she and her husband seemed to have a history. Maybe she would ask Jack how he had met the doctor and if she had ever been more than just a friend, though it was none of her business. Or was it? After all she was still his wife, despite the circumstances of their marriage.
“Thank you. We will call you next week. It’s better for us to make contact. Given the danger Nadia was in, some people could still be after her,” Jack answered. He thought about asking the CIA for help, but that would mean, he had to tell them, that Irina was involved, which would mean he had to take her into custody and his daughters would lose their mother, again. The question was what Irina wanted. Did she want to be the mother their daughters needed so desperately?
“Okay. I’ll see you soon. It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Derevko,” the doctor said and went back. Irina just smiled back and glanced at Nadia who was still sleeping. She realized that Nadia wouldn’t be safe as long as the people Cuvee worked for were out there. Sydney wasn’t safe, too. She was also Irina’s daughter and she was the Chosen One. Los Angeles seemed an obvious solution.
“We can’t go back, Jack,” she suddenly said. Her husband looked at her in surprise. Irina could see distrust in his face and wasn’t surprised about that. She knew how this had to look for Jack. “If we stay in L.A., we’ll die. The people Cuvee worked for will still be after Nadia and as soon as they know who Sydney is, they will come after her as well. It doesn’t end with Cuvee.”
Her husband didn’t know what to answer to that. Irina’s deliberations seemed rational. He had thought about hiding too if he was honest to himself. But could he trust Irina after everything that had happened? Seeing how she treated Nadia, how lovingly she was with her meant ‘yes’ was the right answer. But remembering all Irina had done to him and Sydney meant he still couldn’t trust her. She had betrayed him and their first daughter. Who told him that she wouldn’t do it again? After all she was still Irina Derevko and not Laura Bristow, even if he liked to see her as Laura.
“I see why you don’t want to go to Los Angeles. So you can take Sydney and Nadia. For the record, I still don’t trust you. I made that mistake once and I won’t do it again. And what do you mean by ‘they know who Sydney is’. Who is she?”
She smirked to his surprise. Did she find that funny?! This situation was serious and she was smirking! Jack frowned in anger, but waited for her reply. “Sydney is my daughter. They will use her to hurt me, to make me give them Nadia. Jack, you don’t have time to distrust me. Deep in your heart, you know it’s the only option we’ve got. Are you really that embittered that you would sacrifice our two daughters just to peeve me?”
In his heart, Jack knew she was right. It wouldn’t take them long to find Nadia once they were in L.A.. Sydney was also in danger, because she was Jack’s and Irina’s daughter and an easy target. Irina and Katya couldn’t help him in L.A., because the CIA would take them in custody immediately. “You’re probably right. I’ll make arrangements to take Sydney out of the country. What do you suggest?”
“We should go to Paris. I have friends there who can help us. Maybe we will find a way to keep Sydney and Nadia safe until we found out who Cuvee worked for.”
Jack frowned again. “I thought he was a former colleague. He used to work for the KGB.”
“It appears that the CIA doesn’t know everything, do they?” Irina smiled when she saw the confusion on his face. “I doubt Cuvee was loyal to the KGB. He must have worked for another player.”
“I’ll take Nadia with me and meet you with the girls in Paris.”
“No!” Irina replied sternly. “Do you think I’m an idiot?! You take Nadia with you and I won’t have a chance to get her back? Nadia is staying with me, so I can make sure that you come back with Sydney.” The former KGB-Agent went back to Nadia and woke her up. “Sweetheart, wake up. It’s time for us to go.”
It was incredible how her voice changed from cold into soft when she was talking to Nadia. Almost like a real mother, Jack thought while he was watching them. He had no choice but trust Irina that she didn’t try to fool him or their daughters.
“Mommy? No more needles?” the girl asked sleepy with a yawn.
Irina smiled lovingly and put a kiss on her daughter’s forehead. “No sweetheart! No more needles. We’re going to Paris.”
“Paris?” Nadia looked puzzled and glanced at her father. She was looking at him, but asked her mother: “Does Daddy come with us?”
“He’ll pick up Sydney and join us later, honey. We will be a family again, won’t we, Jack?” Irina also glanced at Jack now.
He joined Nadia and Irina and kissed his second daughter the same way Irina had done before. “Yes, we will, sweetheart. You are a special little girl.” Suddenly Nadia hugged him. It was the first time and Jack felt overwhelmed and held her tight. Irina watched, being as surprised as her husband was. She hadn’t expected Nadia to accept Jack so easily, but she was glad that Nadia did. “I love you sweetheart.” Jack whispered into Nadia’s ear and kissed her hair.
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