Alias- Jack & Laura

38) Worst Situation

"Agent Bristow," Director Levy said, his expression betraying nothing. "Have a seat." Jack did so. Levy took a seat as well and nodded to Dawson, who also sat. Levy studied Jack for a moment before speaking again. "Agent Bristow, you must realize that the discovery of your wife's deception is a major event. The fact that she was able to remain undercover for so long, and to gather so much information, is quite frankly a travesty, and requires severe reevaluation of the Agency's security protocols. And from what Director Dawson has told me, you are far from blameless."

"I realize that, sir." Jack had spent a great deal of the past few days berating himself. In addition to the classified projects that he'd flat- out discussed with her, there were all the documents he'd brought home and left unsecured on his desk or in his briefcase, all the times he'd opened his safe with her in the room undoubtedly observing the combination-hell, more than once he'd asked her to get him something from the safe and told her the combination, then forgotten to change it for days or weeks. "I can only say that I deeply regret my lack of discretion."

"You're lucky, you know," Levy said. "If both Irina Derevko and her former handler hadn't insisted that you knew nothing, you would have had a hard time convincing us that you weren't assisting her."

Jack hadn't even thought of that possibility. "Sir, I assure you that I would never willingly do anything against the interests of this country."

"I understand that. However, I am going to order that a formal reprimand be placed in your file." Jack nodded. He had expected at least that much. "And now we must deal with the current situation. I have to say that I am not entirely in agreement with Director Dawson's actions; however, now that things have been instigated, we might as well see them through. I will be keeping a very close eye on the situation from Washington, of course." Jack nodded, and Levy looked to Dawson to continue.

"Agent Bristow, did you attempt Twilight on Derevko?" It took Jack a moment to process the fact that "Derevko" meant Laura; he nodded. "And did it work?"

"Briefly," Jack said. He dug in his briefcase and pulled out the tape and his report on what had happened, then handed them to Dawson. The report was rather edited, leaving out Jack's conversation with Laura after her hallucination. "I got most of the way through the list before she sneezed and went into a hallucination."

Dawson skimmed the report, then handed it to Levy while Jack sat uncomfortably. "Anything else to report?" Dawson asked when Levy was finished.

"She had a visit from her handler in the hospital early Sunday morning. He was concerned because she was in the naval hospital, but she convinced him that nothing was wrong."

"Hmm. I think a review of the hospital's security protocols is in order, Mr. Dawson," Levy said. Dawson nodded. Levy turned to Jack. "Director Dawson said that you were quite clearly not in favor of his actions on Thursday night. Quite understandable, since you're the one that has to live with her. How do you feel now?"

Jack considered how to answer for a moment. He knew that whatever he said had a good possibility of getting him in trouble. "Her responses while in Twilight indicate that she is sincere in her desire to cooperate with the CIA," he said carefully. "In light of that, I think we have a great opportunity here."

Levy frowned. "Nice professional answer, Bristow. But I'm well aware that this intimately affects just about every aspect of your life. How do you really feel?"

Jack was taken aback. The general rule in the CIA was that the personal feelings of its agents were to be kept private, the assumption being that the agent would deal with them on his own. "I.I'm not really sure, sir," he answered somewhat more honestly. "It was a very big shock, and I'm still working through it."

Levy nodded. "Now that you've had some time to think things you ever suspect anything? Was there ever anything that just didn't add up?"

"Small things," Jack answered. "Nothing big enough to make me even consider that she might be a spy, just.a few popular culture references that were unfamiliar, that sort of thing."

"I see," Levy said. "I want to talk to Derevko myself this afternoon. Director Dawson has a plan to get her in here."

Dawson nodded. "Her doctor at the hospital, Dr. Nielson, recommended counseling for her-'unresolved childhood trauma' was the reason he gave. I really don't know what that's supposed to mean, but the important thing is that we now have a plausible reason to bring Derevko in for debriefings. I think seeing a CIA psychologist would be a good thing as well, for both of you." Jack raised his eyebrows. He hadn't realized that Laura's doctor had suggested counseling-she hadn't mentioned it to him-and he certainly hadn't expected Dawson to send either one of them to a shrink. Dawson continued, "We'll work out the details of the counseling later. She probably can't drive with that leg, can she?"

"No."

"All right. Call her and have her take a cab in; tell her it's for the counseling."

"Our daughter gets out of school at 3:30," Jack pointed out.

Levy and Dawson looked at each other. "I'll make sure I'm done with her by three," Levy said. "Now I have some other things to attend to; let me know when she gets here." With that, he left Dawson's office.

"Agent Bristow, I'm pulling you out of the field for the next month or so." Jack nodded. He'd been planning to request that anyway; he needed to be around until Laura could drive again. "Your immediate assignment is to write a report about your initial meeting with your wife. I want to know when, where, and how you met, what she told you about her history, her behavior, anything you can think of. Finding out how the KGB operates in this sort of situation will be very helpful in preventing something like this from happening again."

That was a reasonable request, Jack thought. He'd been afraid that the CIA would want a report on every detail of his and Laura's lives for the past ten years. "Yes, sir."

Dawson dismissed him; as Jack left his office, he mused that it could have been much worse.