Day 1, Five Days Earlier
"Dixon, I'm taking some time off."
"Now, Jack?" he was a little stunned. Jack never took any time off; it just wasn't in his nature. Even when Sydney had been killed six months ago, he'd continued to work, trying to find the answers.
"I have the days. I need to get away," Jack offered no further explanation.
"How long?"
"Possibly a month. If I'm ready earlier, I'll let you know." Jack left the office, walked through the OP's Center without looking at anybody, and made it to his car without being stopped. He had been concerned that he'd be questioned more thoroughly. He breathed a sigh of relief and sped home.
Turning of the state-of-the-art alarm system, Jack entered his split-level colonial, still cautious. He went to the den and accessed a secure server and typed in his email address, Sure enough there was a message from It was the second one in as many days and the reason why he was taking leave from the CIA.
Distinguished Composer,
Pack a bag and be ready to leave tomorrow. I'll be waiting for you in the perfect honeymoon location. Details will be in your morning paper.
Music Lover
Jack raised a hand to his head and rubbed his temples. Why the hell did Irina have to be so perverse? He had no desire to go back to Ireland; too many memories persisted there.
He was only reluctantly working with Irina in the first place. It was just the thought that Sydney's return could be expedited that made him willing to share information at all. They had been doing that, and only that, for six months; each of them going on separate, clandestine missions. This would be the first time they would be working together since Panama.
Irina had sent him an email this morning explaining that a new organization, 'The Covenant,' had information relating to Sydney's disappearance as well as her relationship to Rambaldi. She needed his help to infiltrate one of their bases and steal a disc that had the information. He'd reluctantly agreed and went to inform Dixon of his need for time off, assuming Irina would get him whatever other information he needed.
Jack sighed again and went to pack his bags. He tried to will himself to sleep a few hours later, but the anticipation of garnering intel on his daughter kept him awake until after midnight and he was up at five o'clock the next morning. In his newspaper, as promised, was a message from Irina:
SUOVZEDNERTADNALLLIWXALFOTUONEVENOOSUOYEESNOTTALLSYTROFTHGILFDETINUEKAT
