From the Ashes . . .
By Kimberly
Darren watched Alexandra as they walked back through the halls of section three. She was looking at everything.
"It's a duplicate of Section One - just a little smaller . . ." Alexandra commented, "So is working for Nikita better than Operations?"
Darren nodded, "Yeah - we disagree on things, but she listens to someone else's opinion when they have one. It isn't quite as impersonal here. She and Larry - he's the other level 5 operative, share running this place. They're always butting heads. Larry likes it low risk, so much that he wants to give up anything risky to Section One. Nikita looks for a way to make it work. He'd let a target go rather than get violent. Nikita just wants them brought in, alive."
Alexandra nodded, "Hhhmmm, so uh . . . I guess I have to stay here tonight - are you gonna go visit the drug store and come back and spend the night with me?
Darren smiled devilishly at her, and brushed his lips across hers, "I'll be back in about 45 minutes to an hour."
She smiled, "I'll be here - hey - do they do surveillance on these rooms here?"
Darren nodded, "Electronic - I'll have the record erased."
She slipped into the room, and found her bag sitting on her bed. Alexandra sat down next to it, and went through it. Her gun, some ammunition, some medical supplies for her arm, her pack of cigarettes. She opened the side compartment and slipped her fingers in-between the fabric of the bag and the lining, and felt the little plastic packet still where she left it.
She picked her bag and walked over to the sink and let her bag rest on the back of the toilet, having palmed the packet of cocaine. She turned the water on, and bent over, making it look like she was splashing water on her face. Instead, she scooped just a little bit of the white powder onto her fingernail, and snorted it up.
She did splash her face with water then, and stood up, and looked in the mirror. She almost didn't recognize the woman in front of her. She still looked like herself, but she looked . . . scared. Haven't I managed to get rid of that look yet? Does anyone else see this when they look at me?
Alexandra turned away in disgust, and reached for her bag, slipping her cocaine back into it's hiding place. She took the bag and left it sitting down next to the bed, and stretched out, closing her eye's, letting the rush over take her.
A little while later, she heard the door open. Alexandra jammed her hand into her bag, her fingers wrapping around the gun - but stopped, seeing Darren, the stop button on his jeans undone, his fingers on his zipper.
Darren stopped, "Sneaking up on you to surprise you is not a good idea, huh?"
She groaned, and let go of her gun, "Oh my god . . . no, it's not . . ."
She scooted back on the bed, and sat with her back against the wall, her arms wrapped tightly around her, "That was awful fast - couldn't wait huh?"
Darren frowned, taking in the way her arms were protectively wrapped around her, her knees up to her chest, the glassy look in her eye.
"Yeah - they just opened a Rite-aid around the corner," Darren told, and he reached out to cup her cheek, "Alex you look like you're ready to snap and explode - are you ok?"
"I'm fine," she said, "You surprised me is all - I'm still a little keyed up. You have no idea how horrifying it was - I always thought I was safe inside section - safe from outsiders at least . . ."
Darren nodded, "Listen - maybe you should just rest tonight, relax."
"Hey," Alexandra's hand lashed out, and she grabbed his arm, "Hours ago I thought you were dead - you just can't go now! Maybe you should help me relax?"
She didn't give him time to answer. Instead, she crawled towards him, straddling his hips. She yanked of her T-shirt, exposing her breasts and wrapped her arms around his chest. She pressed her mouth to his neck, kissing him there, and she whispered, "Please don't leave me, not now Darren . . ."
The plaintive, begging tone in her voice broke his heart. Darren knew something wasn't right in her head at the moment, but he thought it had to be the result of the last 7 months. He rubbed his hands up and down her bare back to sooth her.
"Easy Red, I'm not going anywhere, I'm still here," he said softly.
She moved her mouth from his neck to his mouth, kissing his bottom lip, then the corner of his mouth. But she became impatient, and pushed her tongue through his lips, demanding entrance. Darren kissed her back, laying her back onto the bed. He moved over her, his hands cupping her breasts, his finger's tweaking her erect nipples. His mouth left hers, kissing her neck, moving along her collarbone. He moved farther down, taking one nipple into his mouth, pulling her sweats and panties off with one hand. once he had her free of the last of her clothing, he slid his hand in-between her thighs, caressing the sensitive labia.
Alexandra felt his mouth leave one breast, moving to the other. She tilted her hips up as his fingers stroked her at the apex of her thighs. Her body was assaulted by a thousand sensations, and as her high started to wear off, Darren was creating a new one. She felt her muscles start to contract, the core of her being seemed to swell and shatter, and she gasped, crying out softly. Her hands had been buried in Darren's hair, and she felt him moving now sitting back. She opened her eyes, and saw him shed the last of his cloths, and roll the condom down his thick swollen shaft.
She pushed herself up, "Lay back, where I was."
Darren stretched out, and felt her hand grasp him, felt her almost too warm sheath stretch to accommodate him. She sank down slowly, savoring the full feeling, the tight coil that started to build inside of her again.
She arched her back, rocking back, then forward, unsheathing then resheathing him. Darren reached up, gently squeezing her breasts, tweaking her nipples as she rode him. She looked down, watching him, and then up at his face, the aroused smile on her face intoxicating. Together they rode through the waves of mutual pleasure, until Alexandra started to climax again, and Darren let go of his own tightly held control, and let his own release come. Alexandra collapsed down onto him, snuggling into him as his arms wrapped around her.
* * *
Somewhere at one of the substations . . .
Kristie had learned how to be a light sleeper. So when she heard the knock on her door, she was awake instantly. She sat up, and reached for the light, "Yeah?"
The room was bare, compared to her own back at Section one. In the four months that she'd been at Section one, she'd done small things to make her room, her own. Walter had managed to scare up some bubble lights for her. She missed seeing them now, they were cheery somehow. Section One certainly wasn't - and this place wasn't much butter.
The man who filled the doorway was Stephan. She'd met him a few days ago. He was one of the level 5 operatives at this substation. One of the first things she noticed was his eyes. They were Bluish green, with gold ringing in the pupils. His hair was short, well kept, and light brown. His lips were supple, almost feminine, full. He was tall too, 6'4 with long powerful legs. All in all a very handsome man. Not so long ago, she'd thought Michael was the most beautiful male specimen out there, but now she thought she'd met his rival. But where Michael was dark and brooding - a side of him Kristie hadn't really seen much of until she arrived and section, Stephen seemed more . . . light . . . for lack of a better word. He was sensual, but he didn't have that dangerous air to him. But she knew in reality he had to be just as lethal as Michael. In the few short months that she'd been in section, she'd learned how dangerous people were here.
"I'm running really short staffed," Stephan told her, "And one of the other cold ops told me that you were due to be released from training early. How far along are you?"
She took a deep breath, "I never started any valentine op training, but the sensei seemed to be happy with me. I've scored well in the sims for assaults and tactical . . . I've been here about four months."
Stephen sighed, "Four months? Christ - you're still a baby here!"
Kristie took exception to that, "Hey - I was sleeping - if you have something for me to do, tell me, otherwise, I'd rather sleep than listen to some full of himself big shot gloat in the doorway!"
Stephen felt his temper rise, but checked himself.
"Can you assist comm support?" he asked her.
"In my sleep," she told him, thinking about what she used to do 7 months ago.
"Fine, get dressed, we leave in half an hour."
Lora leapt up from the bed, not caring that Stephan was still standing there. She was clad in a pair of white thongs and a snug tank top, outlining her full breasts well. She knew the effect she had on men. It was one of the few weapons she had here. She used it well. She looked back at him when she reached the dresser, and yanked open the drawer.
She expected to see desire in his eyes, lust, some kind of acknowledgement. She saw amusement instead.
"Head up to briefing as soon as you're properly dressed," he told her, and left, closing her door.
She grinned, tossing her tank top on the bed, and pulling on a bra, jeans and a T-shirt, socks and sneakers. He'd known what she was up to, and was amused . . . so this one had a brain in his head that he used, not just a libido that ruled him . . . hhhmmm a challenge . . . and it had been a good four months since she'd been with a man. As she walked up to briefing, she wondered how long it would take to get this one on his back.
Kristie made a point of getting to know the comm specialist she was assisting on the flight over to Germany - where this mission was taking place. Tai was the comm specialist she was going to be assisting. There were over 20 operatives on this mission - and from what he told Kristie later on, he was not exactly their top comm specialist. There were three others, one of them was nursing a broken leg, so she couldn't leave the substation. The two other's were out on missions. Tai had been more the trainee/assistant. Cora had been the person who knew all the inn's and out's of monitoring. But Cora had been killed yesterday in an assault. A hostile had gotten to the van.
Kristie took a deep breath, "So why didn't she shoot them or something?"
"They blew up the van," Tai told her, "She didn't have a chance."
Kristie swallowed hard, "Jesus - I thought that we would be able to monitor if they were getting close."
"We should be able to - there was a lot of interference," Tai told her, "you do know where there's a hand gun under the floor boards, and an assault rifle in the wall bin - right?"
"Yeah," Kristie said, "I remember . . ."
"Hey, Kristie," a voice said off to the side.
Kristie turned it was Stephan.
"That happens very rarely, there shouldn't be any interference in this area," he told her.
She nodded, "Sure."
"I just don't want you cracking up on me," He told her, turning back to his magazine.
She was instantly irritated as his condescending tone.
"Actually, I'm used to making other people break, so if I were you, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about me," she told him.
She rested her head back against the seat, and closed her eye's, somehow knowing that Stephan had looked back over at her, considering calling her on her cocky attitude.
* * *
Nikita was all business this morning. Michael had to admire that. She was on the top of her game, as Operations would say. Michael knew she could make the impossible possible when it came to the lives of people she cared about. There were lots of people in Section One who fell into that category.
She'd pulled all previous Section One operatives for this mission and a few operatives that were previous agency staff. She's started the briefing on the plane, going through it in detail. There wasn't much room for errors on this mission. The location they were attacking was one of the major hubs for Legion - or so they hoped. Their goal was go in exterminate, collect a few of them for questioning, and hack the computer. It was hard core data gathering by force.
The problem would be in that they didn't know exactly what to expect when they got there. Intel suggested that the force there was only 20 strong. There were conflicting reports of how strong their security system was. Both Gayle and Birkhoff were on this mission. Alexandra found herself teamed up with Darren, so they were both content.
After they were done briefing, Nikita curled up in one of the seats next to Michael, content to doze. They hadn't slept much last night. Michael watched her doze off. He'd never considered that he'd ever be answering to Nikita, besides that little stint with Petrosian. He'd hated it then, but this time, he admired her instead. She put things in a way that wasn't condescending, it was true teamwork. She looked tired though, and not just tired from last night. She'd been working hard for months. He could see it in her eyes, the way she smiled - which he suspected was rare. He knew they were rushing to save an entity that would separate them again, but they had no other choice. As it was, if they couldn't maintain structural integrity . . .
He heard Alexandra and Darren talking softly across the aisle. Darren was grilling her on things that had gone on in Section one since he'd been gone. He told her about a friend he'd made in Section three, how she'd been killed. Darren told her he'd thought about how she went to that church, and lit candles. He'd thought about taking up the practice himself, but it didn't feel right, going into a church without Alexandra. Then Darren told her about some of the places he'd gone to in Seattle, places Alexandra had told him about.
Michael couldn't help but remember the last time he'd been in Seattle, with Nikita. On the run . . . how different would things be if they were still on the outside. Michael closed his eyes, and saw Nikita wiping down a table in that club in Australia. He tried to picture her with a huge swollen stomach, pregnant, and his heart ached, thinking of what they'd given up, then the lives they'd saved by coming back.
When they landed in Paris, and rode in tense silence to their target site, Michael was afforded brief glances of a city he's spent a lot of time in by himself. He thought he'd like to show Nikita the Paris he knew some time.
* * *
Kristie really didn't know what she expected Germany to be like. It wasn't the menacing depressing air she got from movies though. The countryside that she saw through the windows was beautiful in some parts. They passed through a small, depressed village, and she had her first real glimpse of life in another country.
"Kristie, we're almost there," Tai nudged her.
Kristie sat back down and configured her monitor the operatives she would have to track. She fastened on her head set, and linked into the radar system that would tell her where her operatives where, and where the hostiles were.
"Ok, I'm up and running," Kristie said after a moment, and she looked over at the group of operatives, "Good luck you guys."
A few of them smiled and nodded at her. Stephan patted her back, "Don't hesitate Kristie. If it looks like trouble, it is."
"Gotcha," she told him, already keeping her attention focused on the screen.
Stephan had to smile. He had to admit he was a lot more comfortable having two people monitoring - and Kristie struck him as someone who just did what it took.
"Ok, we have hostiles inside the compound, both floors, we're scanning12," Tai said.
Kristie watched the green blips on her screen spread out around the compound, and slowly start to work their way in.
"Hey! Marcel and Carla - you've got someone coming towards you from the east," Kristie said suddenly - in the hallway I think!" she barked out, annoyed at how nervous her voice sounded.
Both Marcel and Carla stopped.
"How many feet?" Carla's voice asked.
"30," Kristie told her, "now . . .25."
Kristie heard Tai telling someone that he had company as well. Stephan suddenly had a red dot running toward him.
"Stephan, you've got one, from the south - no, two of them!" Kristie snapped.
The red blip that was approaching Marcel and Karla suddenly went out.
"Uh - Tai," Kristie said, covering her transmitter, "I just lost that red blip on Marcel and Carla - and I'm scanning full out."
"He's dead," Tai told her.
'Oh' thought to herself, and continued to monitor. She continued to call out a where the hostiles were as the teams moved through the house.
At the top of her screen, she saw a warning that someone inside was transmitting something.
"Lloyd, you're almost on top of communications, and they're starting to transmit," Kristie warned him, "there are two in there."
Lloyd's green blip burst through where the door would be, and then darted back out. The infrared scanner registered an explosion.
"Kristie, tell me what you're seeing," Stephan ordered.
"Lloyd's still alive - the red dots - I mean hostiles are dead - and we have a fire in their comm room." she reported, "And we have 4 hostiles left."
"Bring them in everyone," Stephen ordered, "Tai, watch exterior communications, Kristie, tell us where to find our targets."
"Ok, Marcel and Carla, you have on to the east of you, two doors down," Kristie began, " Lloyd, you've got one to your . . . west, looks like he's in a utility closet . . .the other two are down stairs . . ."
She watched and informed as they went. Lloyd had his target first, and was on the way back to the van. A few times he stopped as his target struggled against him.
Kristie glanced at Tai as they listened to Lloyd curse, and finally knock his target unconscious. He moved a little slower now, dragging him along. A few minutes later, and everyone was working their way back to the van.
Kristie had Lloyd five feet from the van when suddenly his target - the red blip moved, and they heard Lloyd curse.
"Lloyd! Report," Stephan demanded.
"He fucking woke up, I' m . . ."
Kristie yanked up the floor compartment, grabbed the 45, slammed the clip home and bailed out the side door.
"Kristie wait!" Tai called out.
But Kristie was beyond listening. The red blip turned out to be a rather large man, who was currently strangling Lloyd on the ground. His back was to her. Kristie jammed the gun into the back of her jeans and dove for the unsuspecting target, knocking him off Lloyd. She rolled, yanked her gun back out, and head butted him with it, with all the strength she had. He wavered, then collapsed to the ground.
"Kristie! Lloyd! report!" Stephen snapped at them through the comm link.
"Target is now unconscious again, and Lloyd is . . ." Kristie felt around his neck for a pulse. All she found were some uneven hard ridges. His neck was at an odd angle too, "Holy shit - Lloyd is dead, his neck is broken!"
Kristie looked over at the target who was still unconscious, "What do I do with the target?"
"I'm almost there, don't do anything else!" Stephan ordered her, "Tai - what's our periphery look like."
"Clear as a bell," Tai reported.
Kristie looked up and saw Stephen drag his target by. She heard him shove the man into the back of the van, and then he came back out, and check the target, then Lloyd.
"Damn, Kristie get back to your station." Stephan snapped, then he went back over to the other target, bound his wrists and ankles, and dragged him over to the van.
Kristie watched as Stephan loaded them up like sacks of grain, including Lloyd, sedating all of them. A few minutes later, they were all back in the van, much more cramped.
"Go," Stephan ordered, just as the door were closing.
Kristie remained quiet for the drive back to the plane. Stephan was angry when he looked at her, when she'd been outside, standing over Lloyd's dead body and the unconscious bulk of the hostile. It wasn't her fault, surely he knew that . . .
The van drove up the belly of the plane, and a few other operatives secured the prisoners. Stephen held back, and motioned for Kristie to stay back as well too.
"What the hell were you doing?" Stephan demanded.
"I . . . I was trying to help - he was gonna get away - and I thought I could save Lloyd!" Kristie defended herself.
"You," Stephan said, his voice menacingly quiet, "Are not a cold op yet. I don't give a shit how good Michael thinks you are. You never abandon your post unless I order you to, you got that? I won't stand for this cocky show boating shit! I don't know how you're used to Michael treating you, but right now, I own you! You got that!"
Kristie held her tongue for a moment; "I don't work under Michael, if you must know. I don't get graded by Michael, if you must know, and right now, I'd trade his sorry cold ass attitude for your arrogant temper any day of the week! You don't own, me, Section doesn't own me. I have options!"
Kristie tried to shove past him. Stephan grabbed her shoulder, pushed her back, "Options? What options do you have? You think you'll ever be out of here?!"
"I can die, can't I?" Kristie snapped at him, "And someone did run from this thing, didn't they?
"Recruits are implanted with a tracker," Stephan told her, still holding her shoulder, "It's in a bone. I couldn't even begin to guess where - but it would be one you couldn't get along without. Ribs, spine, pelvis . . . so whatever idea's you have in your head about running, forget them. Hell doesn't come close to what they'll do to you if you run Kristie. Not even Michael can protect you from that."
Kristie shrugged our of his grip, "What's your deal with Michael. I hardly know him."
Stephan laughed, "I pulled agency records. I'd say you know him real well, probably every last inch of him."
Kristie laughed, "And is that little statement you made supposed to bother me? Fucking someone doesn't mean you know them. It means they seemed worth your time and you felt like getting off. Being a Section One op, I'd have though you'd know fucking someone and knowing them are two totally different things."
Kristie yanked free of him, and jumped out of the van.
Stephan stayed behind a moment, trying to destroy the vivid picture in his head of Kristie having sex with Michael. Something about it made him frighteningly jealous.
* * *
Michael felt, rather than saw Nikita move. It felt good too. He missed more than his wife, he missed his partner. She'd sent Darren and Alexandra in on point, but both of them had moved at the same time, both of them obviously used to leading whomever they worked with. Darren gestured for Alexandra to go ahead.
They had 12 teams of two. Birkhoff and Gayle warned them where the hostiles were, and quickly worked their way through the building, securing a few of them when it was feasible to be questioned later. Michael and Nikita made it to the comm center first, and Birkhoff talked Michael through hacking into the system to be downloaded.
An hour after it started, they were disappearing into the night.
"That was almost too easy, they weren't prepared for us," Nikita said softly to Michael, once they were on the plane again. She looked at back at the door where the prisoners were. Maria wouldn't be up to questioning these people.
"Is your profiler up to this kind of interrogation?" Michael asked her, as she settled back into her seat.
"No," Nikita told him, "I'll have to do it . . . I'm not so sure I'm up to it. We don't have a set of Torture twins here. I'll start with penathol."
She looked over at him, "Felt good
Michael managed a smile, his eye's furtively darting around, and his fingers slipped into hers, hidding in between their bodies, "It did. Alexandra and Darren certainly enjoyed it. I didn't hear much chatter from them at all
* * *
Kristie couldn't sleep. Something was nagging her in the back of her mind, and she didn't know what it was. So, despite the fact that the alarm clock said it was 3:00 am, she got up, got dressed in work out clothing, and started to head down to the gym.
On her way, she passed by the main floor, and stopped for a second, seeing Stephen's striking figure standing over one of the comm techs. I pulled agency records. But Alexandra and Birkhoff had blown the computer core. Michael up loaded an evac sequence . . . had Kristie been there long enough to warrant an agency file, and why would her involvement with Michael be known to the agency?
Stephan looked up and over at her, taking in her attire and raised an eyebrow. Kristie started over to him, defiance in her eye's.
"Not your normal late night attire, you're damn near overdressed," Stephan said, glancing from her, back to the computer screen.
"I couldn't sleep, I was gonna go work out
Stephan frowned, "They might . . . you're thinking the agency has records they shouldn't have?"
"Madeline told me when she first started profiling me that she was in a quandary about what to do with my records
Stephan looked down at the woman who had been working on the computer, "Track my agency record search from the day before yesterday, inquiry on Kriste Wolfe."
The woman typed for a few minutes, "This isn't . . . these files look like someone tried to erase them
"Can you see where it was saved to in tandem? A cd or zip drive maybe?" Kristie asked.
The woman typed for a moment, "Went to a C.D."
"Whose system is that?" Stephan asked softly, "Then I want you to hide our inquiry."
"Hold on a minute . . .Ok, Roger Carlos . . . and he's a decript tech. The down load took place at the exact time Section One main HQ was breached," the woman said looking up at Stephan, "And I'm backing out . . . I'm gone."
"Contact the other level 5's," Stephan told her, "all the substations. I want a video conference call on a scrambled channel in half an hour
Kristie stood back, and watched the main floor became a flurry of activity, with all of the comm techs patching people into the conference.
* * *
Nikita watched Michael's expression, "You don't like this Stephan guy, do you."
Michael looked over at her. They were in her office, waiting in front of the video, the mute button on so their conversation would not be overheard.
"He's a good operative, that's all that matters," Michael commented.
Nikita smiled, "Michael, sometimes what you don't say speaks volumes. So it's personal."
Michael looked over at Nikita, "He trained an operative named Claire, and got attached. Madeline felt he couldn't effectively do her valentine Op training
"Had I thought about it, I would have sent Kristie to a different substation
Nikita sighed, "He wouldn't do anything stupid would he?"
Michael was quiet for a moment, "He tandem trained, as a Valentine Op, the same way I did. He'd manipulate her to get to me. He knows me well enough to know I'll feel responsible for her being here."
Nikita nodded, "So tell me more about Kristie."
Michael looked up into her cornsilk blue eye's, and was relieved to see concern there, and not jealousy and distrust.
"Five years ago, I was sent to seduce Kristie, and use her to get to her boyfriend. He selling something to red cell
"What's she like?" Nikita asked him.
Michael's twitched into a smile, "Lots of attitude, aggressive but kind. She's attractive
"Is she being trained under Birkhoff, or as a cold op?" Nikita asked him.
"Cold op," Michael said, "Her psych evaluations pinned her as a good Valentine op and a good cold op. I suspect Madeline will tandem train her. Alex was supposed to start her valentine op training this month
Nikita bit her lip, "I'd hoped that would never happen to her."
Michael nodded, "She doesn't know. She called herself a whore the other day Nikita. When we were waiting for the pickup, some men drove by, asked her 'how much for an hour'. She made a comment that she might as well, that she whored for section."
Stephan's voice sounded through the speaker, and Nikita hit the button to put them on line, "Nikita and Michael are here."
"I was checking agency records on one of the recruits Michael sent to my substation," Stephan began, "and I found records on her. I found out that the agency was not supposed to have those records, so I had them traced
"Do we know where he is?" someone asked.
"He's at the agency daily apparently," Stephan said, "He's scheduled to be there in 2 hours."
"We don't know who he sold us out to though," another voice said.
"No, not yet. If we call George
"TEN?!" One of the voices said.
"We want to make a show of force," Madeline said, "And we don't know if he's being watched by whatever entity paid him to do this. I'd put a surrounding pattern of 20 on the outside."
Nikita looked at Michael, both of them thinking the same thing. Everyone else had come up as empty handed as them. All it succeeded in doing was pissing off a lot of groups, and they'd gathered a lot of random intel.
"Do we have a profile yet?" Michael asked.
"No," Madeline said, "I'm going to let Jerome and Stephan develop the profile to bring in Carlos. Nikita, Michael and I will meet outside the Carlisle at 1:30. George has a weekly meeting there at 2:00. He likes to be early. Jerome and Stephan, you'll want to time your mission to coincide with our meeting."
Nikita hung up the phone, "We have to leave within the hour if we're going to make it there in time."
She stood up, and looked at Michael, "I'm sure wardrobe can find something other than sweats for you to wear too."
Alexandra groaned, "I'm still on closed quarters?"
"Until Nikita comes back, yeah," Darren said, "Relax, I'll keep you company."
Alexandra managed a smile for him. She knew exactly the kind of company Darren would keep her in too. Not that she didn't enjoy or want his attention. It was all she could think about
She settled into his lap, snuggling into him while they sat with a large group watching a movie. Nikita had arranged for a rec. room of sorts. She was tense, and she knew Darren must be able to feel it. She knew it wasn't just the mission going on right now either. Alexandra had known she was using cocaine a little too much for it to be recreational a month ago. But now that she was trapped inside Section Three, addiction glared back at her every time she looked in the mirror. She'd lit up a cigarette in her room earlier, and Darren had bitched at her a little bit, when he walked in and smelled it. Alexandra thought he'd blow up and strangle her for real this time if he caught her with the cocaine. So maybe being trapped inside this place wasn't so bad. The few days of being isolated just might keep her away from it long enough . . .
They watched two movies, waiting for a status report back. They were all poised and ready to go. When Madeline was done interrogating Carlos, they knew they'd probably have a mission in the works.
"Hey," Darren said softly in her ear, "Are you ok? You're shivering, and it's kinda warm in here."
Alexandra looked at him, "I'm fine."
The largest part of the group had broken up and moved out of the rec. room and around the station. Darren looked over at Walter, who was frowning. He'd noticed it too. Occasional tremors. Darren knew she'd had the one cigarette in four days. He wondered if the nicotine addiction and withdrawals could be that bad.
"Hey, Alex, if you're not feeling so hot, maybe you should go down to med lab
"I went this morning, my arm is healing," Alexandra said, "I'm just really really . . . tense is all."
Walter watched her face, the tension around her eye's, the tense set of her jaw. It was almost as if she was going through withdrawals, and he knew it had been days since she'd had a cigarette . . . but should it be this bad?"
Hours later, Darren had Alexandra in her room, and he was still recovering from the most recent, and by far, one of the most aggressive sessions of love making he'd been through with Alexandra. She'd attacked him, the moment he closed the door, all but ripped his clothing apart at the seems. She'd insisted on being on top, and she rode him through two orgasms. She collapsed on top of him. He was surprised to say the least. She'd dispensed with any foreplay what so ever. In the past, it had been something that she needed from him. He'd worried that she was going to hurt herself at first, when she'd first come down on him. And the more he thought about it, the more he worried about her. This wasn't like his Alexandra at all.
* * *
"George," Madeline said, stepping out and linking her arm through is.
Michael and Nikita flanked them. George was surprised, but not afraid obviously.
"I take it there's been a development," George said, "One you didn't trust to a secured phone line."
"The download of Sections data based was traced to the system belonging to Roger Carlos
"What?!" George said, surprised, "Out of the Agency? My Agency?"
"Yes," Madeline told him, "He's being picked up now, as we speak. I wanted to talk to you personally. You'll have our full cooperation. As soon as we know who he sold the data to, we'll investigate any other . . . sales . . . that he's made."
"I see," George said, looking at the three of them for a moment, "Do you know who he's been dealing with at all?"
"Not yet, but we will," Madeline told him, "I wanted to discuss the transfer of some personnel with you as well . . ."
Kristie stood back and watched the group of operatives drag the target down the hall. Madeline, Michael and a blond woman walked behind the entourage. The target was taken into one of the white rooms, and the operatives gathered around the observation window. Michael stood back, and off to the side.
Kristie walked up to him, seeing that Stephan was absent.
"Michael," she said quietly.
Michael and the blonde woman turned. The blond woman smiled at Kristie, "You must be Kristie. I'm Nikita."
Kristie had reached up to shake her hand, and almost hesitated, but didn't.
"Nikita," Kristie said, "It's good to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."
Nikita smiled, "I can imagine
Nikita turned, and walked down the hall and out of sight. She didn't have anything to do, but Kristie had been surprised to see her, and Nikita was sure that Michael wanted to talk to Kristie. It might be easier without Nikita standing there.
Michael and Kristie walked away from the crowd for a little more privacy
"I thought Nikita was dead, or did you marry a different Nikita?" Kristie asked him, a 'you are busted!' look on her face.
"I was told she was killed in an accident, last December," Michael told her, "Operations transferred her. He knew about our . . . relationship. He wasn't aware that we were married . . . and I don't want him to find out about it now."
Kristie looked surprised, "Are you serious? You married a cold op? Here?!"
Michael thought to himself, twice . . . "Yes."
"And this whole time while you are thinking she's dead
Michael took a deep breath, "You still don't understand Section One. She was under orders to have no contact with Section One. Disobeying that order could get both or one of us canceled. She chose to let me believe the lie, rather than risk my life."
Kristie sighed, "OK, assuming I believe this line of incredible shit
Michael nodded, "She is. Have you met Stephan."
"OH YEAH," Kristie said, "You and him must have some history Michael. He's got a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas. But we're managing."
Michael looked up to see Kristie come around the corner with Nikita, his gaze narrowing when he saw Michael.
"What has he done?" Michael asked her softly.
"Well, for starters, he turned me down, which I don't like
"Kristie," Michael warned her.
"Just Kidding! He took me on a mission as comm support. Lloyd - one of the cold ups, got into a fight with his bad guy right outside the van. I jumped out to help. Lloyd was already dead, but I didn't know that. I knocked the bad guy unconscious. Stephan reminded me that I am not a cold op."
Kristie turned and watched him approach with Nikita. Kristie couldn't help but really look at Nikita. Tall, slender, lithe, pale blonde hair . . . Kristie turned her gaze on Stephan. Stephan watched her and Michael with a feral glint in his eye.
"Are you still doing the Valentine Op training Michael?" Stephan asked, "You'll have your work cut out for you with this one, but you probably know that already."
Both Kristie and Michael felt the accusation like a slap in the face. Nikita chose not to react. She knew Stephan was baiting Michael.
Kristie looked over at him, "You know, that's the kind of comment men with small penis's usually fling around. So are we talking centimeters here, or millimeters?"
Stephan and Michael both opened their mouths at the same time, to retort, to scold. Nikita cleared her throat, "Kristie - I heard you were a Seattle native - I've been at the substation there . . ."
Nikita pulled Kristie out from between the two men, and looped her arm through Kristie's, continuing down the hall, "Kristie, let me tell you something about the men here at Section One. Over 95 of them are in testosterone overload. Only 30 of them are worth looking at. The only women who make it here are gorgeous. So you have all this testosterone overloaded men, drooling over us gorgeous women - and keeping mind there is a 7 to 1 ratio or something awful like that . . . Pretty soon, they start to snap and growl at each other - especially the attractive ones. Michael and Stephan are some of the better looking men in Section. So if they spit and growl, then they fight - they might not look so good when they're done, and I like to look, so that kinda bothers me . . ."
Kristie laughed, "Well, except for the fact that I can't get my hands on any of them, I was having fun here. They're fun to taunt."
Nikita sighed, "Yeah, they are . . . but the problem is that those two have brains in their heads, and every now and then they use them, and get even. It's not a pretty sight, believe me."
"I've always thought brains were wasted on men," Kristie sighed, "So, you're the famous Nikita."
Nikita grimaced, "Famous? What did I do now?"
"Well," Kristie said, "Let's just say people missed you. I heard all about how Michael was a mess since you'd been killed. Then there is Alex. Now there's a woman on an emotional roller coaster. She really missed you and some guy named Darren - who I'm told is a tasty morsel himself."
Nikita laughed a little, "He's not bad - so Michael and Alex are a mess huh . . . do yourself a favor Kristie, don't get attached to anyone here."
"You know, everyone talks about that rule, but absolutely no one follows it. I'd even say Operations and Madeline are an item - if only for lack of options," Kristie said, "Of course, that's assuming Med Lab stocks Virgo."
Nikita had to laugh, "Virgo! Oh my god - I can picture it, it's sick, but I can picture it!"
"Well, I try not to. Old men are just not my thing . . ."
"She doesn't deserve to be a pawn," Michael said calmly, looking at Stephan.
Stephan watched Michael, looking for the manipulation, a crack, anything. But Michael was good, his stony expression held.
"I assume you've heard, Operations is doing well," Stephan said, "And when this threat in contained, everything will be back to . . . normal . . . soon."
Michael didn't want to go back to normal though
"Yes. What made you think to check the agency records?" Michael asked him.
"I was researching Kristie," Stephan told him, "She remembered something Madeline had said to her about her records, who would have access to them. The agency wasn't supposed to have those records. It was her discovery."
"What were you looking for?" Michael asked him.
Stephen managed a bitter laugh, "Strengths and weaknesses Michael. What do you use?"
Continue on to Back to Section One