Something in the Water . . .
It was just a hair before 4:00 AM when she strolled into the briefing room. Section looked like she felt too. Tired. The halls were pretty much empty, the lights dimmed, the computer screens all on standby. It just felt . . . limp. But she knew better. If there was a terrorist who sneezed on any part of the globe, Section was ready to pounce.
Birkhoff was there, and he was busily scanning something on a terminal, typing intermittently, making small noises that told Nikita he was intent on what he was doing. Madeline smiled at her and said good morning. Operations looked over at her with gaze that wasn't quite hostile, but close. But he was Operations. It was never good news in Section One.
" Where is Darren?" Operations demanded.
" On his way," Nikita told him, " He'll be here any moment."
As if on cue, the young man strode in, his shirt untucked, a soft cotton T-shirt, over jeans and sneakers. He had on a denim jacket, and his hair hung loose, a slight shadow on his cheeks and chin. She'd only spoken to him 20 minutes ago. She'd only been called 22 minutes ago.
" Birkhoff," Operations said.
Nikita frowned. Why wasn't Michael called in?
The holographic screen popped up, and two photographs appeared. One was of a man, obviously Hispanic, the other one was a women, obviously English or American.
" Antonia Hernandez, Spanish upper class, rich family background, a long history of politics and organized crime. His game is guns and drugs - chemically engineered. His wife, Claire Hernandez, raised in America in a series of foster homes. Records of her mother are almost non existed. She'd not been in contact with any government entity since Claire was taken away from her," Birkhoff told them.
" Hernandez has a drug that is about to go onto the market, that is extremely addictive - and incredibly difficult to manufacture, therefore very pricy. It is also highly toxic. If this drug hits the streets - any streets, the death toll will be in the hundreds of thousands - and according to rumors, it can be passed through skin to skin contact."
" Why isn't a drug enforcement agency on him then?" Nikita asked, " this sound like more their forte."
Madeline nodded to Birkhoff, and another photo came it. It was a picture Nikita had seen before. She'd never met the man in person, but she had a sinking suspicion she would.
" Conner McNarry, Ultra violent IRA terrorist. He is offering a substantial amount of money for a large amount of the drug. Our sources tell us that his is planning to dump it into the water system in London. Needless to say, it would be a massacre no one is prepared for."
Nikita leaned back in her hair, and saw Darren take in a deep breath out of the corner of her eye. He had to be thinking about the same thing she was, the thing they'd just been told.
" You're job," Madeline told them, " Will be to go into Hernandez's house as Mr. and Mrs. Bardello, find out if the rumors about it's chemical properties are true, get a sample, tag the main players, and destroy the lab."
" What do we have on the Bardello's ?" Nikita asked after a moment.
Birkhoff brought up a file without photographs, " Jose Bardello has an American mother and a Spanish father, upper class, raised in America but he has strong ties to Spain. He's also an up and coming large scale drug dealer - with an impressive record of evading authorities - Until yesterday. His wife's background is unknown. Some say English, some American, some Australian. Her parents were English and American, and she spent some time Australia. There are no photographs on file anywhere. Her first name is Rachel."
" So no one will recognize that we are not really them?" Darren asked.
" No, they won't," Madeline told him, " Michael will be taking a team to cover the water supply in London, Richards will be closing a net around the Hernandez Estate. Our primary objective is to stop the problem at the source. We will need total containment, names of everyone remotely involved. It will be near impossible to secure all the possible contamination points. You leave within the hour, see me in a few minutes for wardrobe and complete background packets."
" Why don't you go get our gear from Walter," Nikita suggested, wanting to get Darren out of the room. She didn't want to ask why Michael was on a backup team, and not one of the main players. Something wasn't right.
Darren nodded slowly, not sure he was comfortable with Nikita's expression. She was always serious on missions, but there was something else in her expression, as if she was worried about something. But he was new at this, and he knew better than to ask her here, with an audience.
Nikita followed Madeline into her office.
" Was there something you wanted to ask Nikita?" Madeline asked, walking towards a closet.
Nikita took a deep breath. Madeline never volunteered anything unnecessarily, and hid things on purpose.
" Why is Darren going on this with me, and not Michael - it can't be because he looks Spanish - Hernandez has to business with other nationalities - the Irish for example," Nikita said.
Madeline pulled an outfit out of a closet, and hung it on a rack, " do you have concerns about Darren's ability to perform?"
" No," Nikita answered, " It's just that he's new, he's still on supervised status, and this is a pretty risky mission."
" You're a senior operative," Madeline pointed out, " Are you concerned about your abilities?"
Nikita shook her head, " No - I'm sure I can provide a 'satisfactory' performance - but this has particularly been Michael's forte - so something must be going on."
" Mr. McNary would recognize Michael," Madeline answered, turning around to look at Nikita, and holding out an outfit on a set of hangers, " Mrs. Bardello, put this on."
Walter had been surprised when Darren came to his station, saying Nikita had sent him to pick up their equipment. Walter would want to brief both of them on their toys for the game, and Walter knew that Nikita would remember that. But he didn't say anything. Nikita obviously wanted to talk to Madeline sans Darren the green operative. So Walter played along, and went through the routine with the equipment, and handed over Darrens to him right there.
" I have to go over a few things with Nikita first, some of these are new," Walter told him, " Tell her I'll be ready and waiting."
" Sure thing Walter," Darren said, and opened his mouth, and then closed it, and turned to go.
Walter shook his head, " Go ahead and ask.."
Darren smiled sheepishly, " I uh . . . I've got to be one of the greenest operatives in Section, and they're sending me with one person who knows what they are doing into a huge thing - it doesn't make sense."
Walter leaned forward, beckoned Darren to lean forward, " It doesn't - trust Nikita's gut feelings."
Darren nodded, and stood up, and turned to head back up to Madeline's office. Section was starting to wake up. Operatives seemed to be pouring in from everyone. He spotted Alexandra across the main floor, walking over to the stairs that lead to the briefing room. She saw him and nodded slightly. He smiled back, and headed for the stairs that lead to Madeline's office.
Darren and Nikita had role played on their way to the airport, quietly in the airport, and every other chance they got, when they didn't have to be worried about being overheard, which wasn't often. Nikita wanted Darren to be ready to act his way through this. His Spanish was near perfect. His accent was right on. He'd been maintaining the personality since they left section.
" 'kita," Darren asked softly, so no one else could hear them, while they were waiting for the limo to be brought around at the airport, " Is Michael the jealous type?"
Nikita looked over at him, " Not really . . . why?"
He looked at her as if to say ' like you don't know'.
" We're playing husband and wife here," Darren answered, " I don't want to end up on his bad side."
Nikita shook his head, " Work is Work, we're work with other people all the time, and we're just friends."
Darren looked at her skeptically, " then you need glasses to see the way he watches you when you're not looking."
Nikita watched him for a moment, wondering if Madeline had seen the same thing, but held her tongue. Michael wasn't so careless - but then - Darren saw something he shouldn't have.
" Missions and personal lives don't mix, don't worry about it, besides, no one is having sex on this one," Nikita told him.
Darren shook his head, " You can't leave your personal life out of work Nikita - it always seeps through, somehow."
Nikita was about to open her mouth to argue, but stopped. She was about to sound like Madeline, or Operations . . . or Michael.
" Try really hard," Nikita told him, " Don't worry about it, trust me."
Michael was frustrated. He didn't like to be on the backup plan. There were to many things that could go wrong on the primary side of this. Nikita still had a soul left, and made decisions with it. God only knew what Darren would do. He was still too reckless. Barely disciplined. What he didn't want to acknowledge was that his was petrified for Nikita's safety. He couldn't protect her from here, and he knew she would be thinking of protecting her green partner.
He looked out over the water plant. Section one had completely taken it over. There were some regular techs there, but very few, and nothing was added anywhere without a chemical test being performed. Water samples were taken hourly.
Richards was a good operative, but he didn't have Michael's vigilance or what Nikita would call gut instinct or intuition. Even if Michael refused to believe or acknowledge that it existed, he still wished Nikita was in charge of the net. She'd know everything that went in and out.
But Nikita was needed in the primary mission. She could think on her feet, and Michael knew as well as Madeline and Operations did, she'd do what ever it took to make sure that chemical did not get out. Madeline had made it very clear how many innocent lives would be lost - and that was a definite string attached to Nikita's heart.
" 1600 water checks passed," Alexandra said, walking up to Michael, " heard anything?"
" We won't for a few days," Michael told her, looking at the bottled water she was drinking.
" Yes, It's safe," Alexandra answered, " the thought did cross my mind that the fasted way to take out the water sanitation crews would be to poison them. Tox lab is testing everything, surfaces of pipes even."
Michael nodded, and watched the redhead wander off. Nikita would be proud of how she handled herself. She was all business first, thought of all the extra's.
" A demonstration?" Hernandez said, pouring himself, Darren, who he knew as Jose a drink, as well as Nikita/Rachel, " You don't trust anyone, do you?"
Nikita was relieved once she'd seen Darren's performance as Jose. He slipped into the role like it was a second skin.
Darren accepted the drink, and waited for Hernandez to drink first, " I didn't get where I am today trusting people. I'm willing to pay top dollar, I want top product. I want to see why it's so addictive so quickly. The DEA said that about crack."
Nikita shuddered inside. She knew what crack did to people. She'd never been a user herself, but she'd seen others. She saw the results.
Hernandez watched his two guests. Jose wasn't quite what he expected. His age was hard to place. He was came off as slick, his reputation ruthless. He reminded Hernandez of evil itself. But today, Evil had millions to invest. He would deal with Evil for a day or so.
His wife was a puzzle. She was relaxed, she sat on the sofa, looking board with all that was happening. Hearing her husband talk about millions of dollars didn't even raise her eyebrows. But she was probably used to this. Rumor had it that Bardello didn't make a move without his wife - and Hernandez knew why. She was a beautiful woman, and an attentive wife. He'd already seen several affectionate gestures between the two of them. She could also be used against Bardello too, if he was truly in love with her.
" That can be arranged," Hernandez told him, " This evening, after dinner. I'm sure you're tired from your journey, and I have another guest arriving shortly, feel free to enjoy my home."
Darren took Nikita's hand, and led her from the room, playing the gallant husband, " Would you like to rest my sweet?"
" I think so," she said, a sweet pouty smile on her face, " you know flying tires me so."
Darren put his arm around her waist, and they made their way up to the bedroom they'd been given. Once inside, they'd made another sweep for bugs, camera's, and any other surveillance, and Nikita picked up the walkman and head phones that was really the receiver for the bug she'd planted.
" I've got a clear signal," she said quietly, " You're doing fine, but don't let up."
" We have to move tonight, don't we," Darren said quietly, his expression tormented, pained, " do you think we could possibly do this when most of the help is away?"
Nikita looked over at him, and saw herself four years ago. The loss of life from any innocent was unacceptable to her then, she didn't like it now, but she'd managed to accept it - barely. She knew exactly what was going through Darrens mind right now. He was counting the bodies. The mother, the fathers, daughters, son's, someone's friend . . . .
" We'll try to blow the lab and computer at night, hit Hernandez and his engineer, individually if we can," Nikita told him, " I know it's hard Darren."
" When will it get easier?" Darren asked her suddenly, " I guess you know my background, why I'm here - I'd never killed a person using a gun before I was in Section - and in the last month, I've killed three men. Sure - one of them was a definite scum bag, and the other two were probably close - and I know that woman is dead - but somehow . . . there was an awful lot of blood Nikita."
Nikita nodded, and closed her eye's, " It took me four years . . . and it's not easy still. When it gets easy, you might as well cancel yourself. I try to remind myself that for the lives I have to take, I am saving hundreds - thousands, of truly innocent people."
" How do you cope though?" Darren asked, running hand through his hair, and turning an anxious gaze on her, " I'm not sure I can do this so long!"
" I . . . just did - do - I try not to dwell on it to much. I keep busy outside of Section," Nikita said, and stood up, and pushed him down into a chair, " You just have to keep reminded yourself why what we do is important, and lean on your friends."
" Which I really can't have outside of section," Darren added, " Talking to Alex is like talking to a brick wall most of the time."
" She's having a hard time adjusting too," Nikita said quietly, and then she heard a door open over the headphones, " I've got something here. . . ."
Darren nodded, and kept quiet, while she listened for a good hour. McNarry wanted a huge, enormous quantity as soon as possible, and he was willing to pay for the rush job. Hernandez was trying to explain why he needed at least another day. It was a long process to make. He simply didn't have that much on hand, but he could have it, by tomorrow afternoon.
" We have to move tonight," Nikita said, looking over at Darren, " McNarry is gone move tomorrow afternoon."
She turned on a pda and sent the intel to Birkhoff, who would tell Michael and Richards.
Alexandra knew when Michael had gotten additional Intel. He'd slept only a few hours since they were there, always vigilante, always watching. They were the last line of defense. If everything else went wrong, they could not fail. He stood up there on the walk, calmly, talking with someone on a pda. They were communications silent unless more Intel was available.
One of the other operatives, Ryan, who was standing next to her, shook his head, " Cool as a cucumber."
Alexandra looked at him, " He has to be. I wonder what he was just told."
Ryan looked over at her, " He'll let us know if it's important."
Alexandra frowned, not sure she liked the all accepting attitude of the operative she was standing guard duty with.
" Listen, I gotta take a piss," Ryan told her, " I'll be back in minuet."
Alexandra nodded, and watched the other man go, and saw him reach into his pocket, and palm a vibrating pda. She turned back to her view of the main processing floor, and alarm in the back of her head went off, but she couldn't put her finger on it for a few moments.
She looked up at Michael again, and saw him typing something into the pda, and then it hit her. Only one person of the two person teams had a pda, and she was carrying the one that she and Ryan had. So where did Ryan get one? And why was it vibrating.
She pulled it out and quickly typed up a message and sent it to Michael, asking him if Ryan had a pda and if he'd been sent a message, she had the team pda herself.
She saw him look over at her, and he shook his head no, and sent her back message. Get it.
Alexandra started down the corridor towards where she knew the men's bathroom was, and let her hand dangle over her gun, strapped to her hip. She listened at the door, heard movement inside, and pushed open the door.
She could see one of the plant workers, who looked up surprised, and she held her finger over her lips, and gave him a stern look, and moved along the stalls. Ryan's boots were facing the toilet, so she knew he wasn't sitting on it, and she heard the tell tale clicks of the pda keys.
She stepped back, brought her foot up, and slammed the door in with her foot, sending Ryan flying forward, his pda hitting the floor and skidding several stalls over.
She scrambled after it, scooping it up, and glanced at the message briefly, and ran out the door.
'Will arrive tomorrow. midnight crew. Advise of section operatives here.'
Ryan came out of the bathroom, his gun in his hand, and Alexandra was waiting just around the corner, lashing out with her foot, dropping him to the ground, and she jumped on him, wedging her knee on the back his neck, keeping her body ready and poised if he tried to throw her.
" Who are you talking to on the pda and who is coming tomorrow night," she demanded, and reached down, pulling the comlink from his ear.
" Stupid bitch," he snarled, and heaved.
She'd been expecting it, knowing he had the strength to topple her, so she rolled, and fired four shots. Two in the buttocks, where the vest didn't cover, one into the shoulder and one into his knee. It never occurred to her until after she was done firing at that she'd been able to aim, fire and re aim so quickly.
She heard Michael order four teams to converge on them, and she leapt onto Ryan again, disarming him. Seconds later she was surrounded by eight operatives and Michael.
" His pda," she said, handing him the small black communication device.
" How much does McNarry know?" Michael said calmly, his French accent still soft and silky.
" Fuck you!" Ryan yelled at him.
Alexandra was barely able to scramble off of him before Michael yanked him up , dragged him to a corner on his knee's, and shoved his own gun into the back of his head.
" How much?" Michael said, " Your dead either way, tell me, and I'll make it quick."
" Fuck you," he hissed again.
Michael holstered his gun, brought back his foot, and slammed it into Ryan's back, off to the side of his spine, and Alexandra heard the tell tale sound of breaking ribs, and knew that Michael had just destroyed one kidney with the second kick.
Ryan rolled onto his stomach, and Michael landed a kick dead center, and then one to the groin.
Alexandra watched in awe. She'd never doubted that Michael was lethal, but she'd never seen him violent. He was so graceful all the time, he still was.
" How much," Michael demanded, his voice menacingly quiet.
Ryan gasped for air, " Fuck . . .you!"
Michael smashed one knee cap and then the other, and Ryan howled and screamed the whole time.
" How much," Michael demanded.
Ryan gagged and spit blood, and gurgled out, " Fuck . . . you . . ."
" Call housekeeping, and advise Operations," Michael said to the air, and Alexandra knew he was talking to their communications center, and then he turned to two operatives " You two take him to the comm center and hold him until we can get him transported back, don't let him die."
Michael then turned his attention to the pda, and typed in a message.
Alexandra waited until he was done, " What did you send?"
" I told him that the section operatives were arriving tomorrow, on the housekeeping staff," Michael answered, " get back to your post."
Nikita had changed into pants. It was just a pair of dark slacks, a dark sweater, and sensible shoes. She tucked the gun into the back of her waist band, two of Walter's explosive make up compacts in her pocket. She'd given Darren two packs of red and green gum, just in case - when mixed, they exploded after 30 seconds. She looked back at Darren, who was anxious, and not even trying to hide it.
" Now is not the time to crack up," Nikita said quietly, but briskly, " Push it back, promise yourself a good cry away from Section One - or we will both die here, tonight - and so will Michael, Alex, dozens of other operatives, and hundreds of thousands of people."
She felt for him - deeply. She knew that feeling, that ache, that self loathing, knowing you had no choice, knowing you were damning your soul to hell for the lives that were going to be lost at your hand - despite everyone else you would save - you hoped. It struck her that she might sound a little too much like Madeline, or Michael. Just do the job, you have no choice. Didn't I once swear I'd never do this to someone else . . .
Darren looked up at her, and managed a nod. His hands were shaking. He hadn't had time to think much last time. He'd just reacted. Everything had gone to hell quick. It was different now - he knew he was going to go out and kill someone. He'd planned it - kinda.
" Now, Jose," Nikita said quietly, " We have a dinner to attend. Take your antidote pill, and a deep breath."
He stepped into the role, and slipped a hand around the curve of her hip, and they headed down the stairs for dinner with an elite drug manufacturer, and a terrorist.
As agreed upon earlier, Nikita would continue to play the wife who wasn't to interested in really scientific complicated things. She went on the tour of the lab with Darren and McNary, and stood just behind Darren, using his body to hide the c-4 she was planting, and then made some inane excuse that she was a little lost in all this, would Mr. Hernandez mind if she borrowed a book from his Library?
Hernandez dismissed her without a thought and Darren, playing the possessive husband, kissed her cheek, and told her he'd collect her tonight when business was done. Nikita left, after planting six radio detonated c-4 charges around the lab.
She made her way to the library, and turned on the computer, loaded the disk, copied the hard drive, and installed the virus program set to go off in 6 hours. She dropped a poison into the ornate crystalline liquor decanters, knowing that Hernandez would bring everyone back here afterwards, and serve drinks. In six hours, they'd be very drowsy - if they weren't already asleep, slip into a coma and simply die. She and Darren would be fine - and she had extra doses of the antidote on her if they needed it.
She picked up a book of poetry she already knew, and settled back into a chair to wait, and listen. It wasn't an hour later when all three of them were back, and drinking Hernandez's expensive liquor - of which Darren drank very very little. After another three hours of polite chit chat, McNary excused himself to go to bed, Darren and Nikita did the same after another half an hour. In reality, they were awake and waiting, listening to the bugs Nikita had planted, and waiting.
" Here," Nikita said, " It's the antidote again."
Darren swallowed the pill with a glass of water, and looked at Nikita with anxious eye's, " What is this stuff gonna do to me?"
Nikita managed a smile, and wished she could take away some of the anxiety - even though she was feeling enough of her own.
" We might be a little nauseated - but that's all, Section wants us to bring this engineer back," Nikita told him, " We'll be in better shape than Alex was though."
Darren nodded a little, and looked out the window, into the dark night. His thoughts seemed to stray to the redhead a lot, more so now than when they were in training, " I bet she'll turn out to be better doing this undercover stuff than I."
Nikita looked over at him again, frowning. He was standing by the window, hands in his pockets, his whole body tense.
" What makes you say that?" she asked him softly, standing up, and walking over to the window to stand next to him.
Darren sighed, and looked down at the blond, his eye's full of anguish, " She'd be a lot calmer than I am right now - she didn't even blink when she'd been told she was gonna be gassed."
Nikita looked out into the night as well, " She internalized everything - just like Michael. Both of them throw up this blank - all business mask, and just go . . . but their way isn't always better. I can't maintain that stony emotionless routine long - but my passion is my strength - it will be yours too, if you let it. What Alex will have to fight, just like Michael does, is the loss of her soul."
Darren managed a nod, " How long have you known him?"
Nikita felt the corners of her lips turn up, " Four and a half years."
" You must be close," Darren murmured.
" He's a good friend," Nikita told him, " I was - still am in some ways - his material."
Darren looked at her for a moment, " Just a friend?"
Nikita looked up at him for a moment, " What makes you think otherwise?"
Darren actually smiled a little, and looked out into the night again, " The way he looks at you, the way you look at him, the way you work together. It's intimate."
" Sections policy is -"
Darren held up a hand, " I know, I've had it drilled into my head, believe me - it was just a question."
Nikita reached up and pushed his hand back down, giving it a quick squeeze, " What you have to remember about Section One is that they own your life, they can order you to do anything - what they don't own is your soul. As long as you still keep your heart, and soul, reasonably intact, you'll be OK."
He nodded, and laughed, " I remember when life was so simple Nikita. All I had to do was study for my exams, be to my shitty job on time, and try to not piss off my stepfather."
She patted his back, " I remember when my biggest goal was to beg enough change for a big mac or a slice of pizza - but it's time to move."
She stepped away, checked her gun, the radio remote, and the pda.
Darren picked up the black blazer and slipped it back on, checked his own weapon, and followed her to the door, and waited while she checked the hall.
The house was almost deserted at that time of night. By now, if Hernandez and McNarry were not dead, they soon would be. The staff was asleep in their quarters on the far side of the house, and Nikita and Darren were making their way to the lab, where the man who engineered the designer drug would still be hard at work, trying to get the huge order filled.
The door to the lab wasn't locked, but they didn't expect it to be either. Nikita turned the door handle slowly, and eased the door open, and they both slipped inside.
He was bent over a pot, adding in something, and Nikita pulled an inoculater out of her pocket, pressed it to his skin, pulled the trigger, while Darren's hand suddenly snaked out to cover his mouth. The last thing they needed was for him to scream. He struggled for a moment, but only a moment, and instantly slumped back into Darren, who eased the slight man to the floor, and pulled his lab coat off of him, and then pulled him back up, and over his shoulder.
" OK, let me check the hall first," Nikita said quietly, pocketing a hard plastic container of the drug. Madeline wanted a sample, and though Nikita wasn't sure she wanted to know what for, she would follow orders.
" It's clear," Nikita said, " Just down the hall, into the garage, we take a car, and go."
She stepped out, holding the door for Darren, who had one hand on his gun, the wrapped around the unconscious engineers legs. They started down the hall, and just as they were about to reach the door, it opened - and a chauffeur stepped through, and opened his mouth to yell.
Nikita knew something was up, but she couldn't see what. She was watching their back side. What she did hear though, and see, was Darrens free arm flinch, she heard the cough of the silenced gun, two times, and heard the thud as someone hit the floor, saw him roll, blood streaming from his mouth and nose, and from one of the wholes, which was right in the center of his forehead.
She rushed forward, and yanked open a utility closet, and dragged the body inside. Darren turned to get out of her way, knocking his unconscious burden's head into wall with a loud thunk, and winced. Nikita looked over at him, and had to repress a grin. It wouldn't do if they returned the man to Madeline with a concussion he would die from . . .
" Keys," Nikita said, pulling a ring out of the dead man's pocket, " Stand back again while I check the garage - we don't want anymore surprises."
Darren turned again, and once again, nailed the engineer's head, and Nikita heard him hiss, and turned back to look at Darren, who looked ready to jump out of skin. She could carry the man herself, but it would be a blow to Darrens already damaged psyche right now.
" Clear," she said, stepping back, " Watch your step, their steps are steep," she told him.
He stepped passed her, this time, managing not to rack the unconscious man's head on the door frame, and he quickly moved down the stairs, " Which car?"
Nikita trotted over to a sedan, and started trying keys, after looking for any tell tale signs of alarms. None, it was probably one of the chauffeurs personal cars. She found one that worked, and pulled the back door open, and Darren leaned forward to dump the body in, whacking the engineers head on the door frame.
" Shit," He muttered, " Maybe we should cover him up with something."
" Car cover," Nikita said quietly, pulling one off of the limo next to them, and tossing it to Darren, who threw it over their captive in back.
Nikita waited until he was in the passenger seat, and started the car, " Be ready, we'll probably have to run that gate."
Darren nodded, and sat back and watched anxiously as she drove them down the narrow road to the gate. Once they had the gate in sight, she saw four guards standing there, obviously surprised to see a car coming.
" We won't be able to talk our way through that will we," Darren said softly.
Nikita shook her head, " Brace yourself."
He saw her reach into her pocket, and a second later, the bombs exploded behind them, making the entire world shake, lighting up the night in a hideous orange glow.
The guards flinched, dove for cover even though they were far out of range, and she floored it, and hoped the was as flimsy as it looked.
Darren closed his eye's just before they hit it, and offered up a silent prayer, bracing his knee's against the dash, and an arm over his face.
They hit, lurched, and the gates popped open, flying up and to the side, and Nikita kept her foot pressed firmly down on the accelerator, " Call Richard on the cell and get us a meeting point."
" How did it go?" Michael asked, his soft French accented voice sounding like silk to Nikita's ears.
She had just come out of debriefing with Madeline. She was tired, in desperate need of sleep, but not until after her report was done - then, maybe, she'd get to sleep in a little tomorrow . . .
She looked up into his silvery green eye's, calm, but maybe a little concerned, if one knew what to look for.
" It went pretty good," Nikita told him, " He was nervous, no more than I was when I was in his position though."
" Did we get everything we wanted to?" he asked her, looking down the hall, seeing Madeline standing at the end of it, waiting for him. But she stayed back.
Nikita knew he wasn't just asking about the sample. He wanted to know if they'd managed to take out Hernandez, and get the engineer.
" Hernandez and McNary were canceled via poison, the lab was destroyed, we got the engineer, and only had to kill one Chauffeur," Nikita told him, " The whole operation went smooth as silk really."
" And McNary and Hernandez never suspected it was the two of you that were the Section Operatives?" Michael asked her.
Nikita was about to say no, of course not, when she realized what he'd said, " That sounds like he knew that there was someone there-"
She stopped as she saw Ryan being carried out by two Operatives, flanked by six of them. He was beaten up pretty badly. Alexandra followed the entourage out, her expression almost grim, but more blank, her gaze following the group for a moment, and then she turned to go down to debrief instead, nodding slightly to Nikita.
" Alexandra caught Ryan communicating with someone, probably McNary, and we gave who-ever it was false information, and relayed to Section to warn you."
Nikita's eye's darkened, and she looked at the floor, " I never heard a word."
Michael nodded slowly, " I have to go."
She nodded and turned to go down the opposite hall.
" Do you, have any plans later tonight" Michael asked quietly.
She smiled, " How much later - it's almost six and we have reports to do."
" Does the time matter?" he said, his voice suddenly husky.
She shrugged, and the smile broke into a full grin, " You've got a key."
Nikita had planned on staying awake actually. She'd raced home after her report, showered put on a slinky black satin nightgown, and slipped into bed, leaving the stereo on, thinking she'd listen to music and wait for him.
But sometime between the 2nd and 3rd track, she'd fallen asleep.
She woke up to a quiet click, a key in her door, and she tensed, and relaxed, it would be Michael, but her hand strayed to her gun, just the same. It was only after another few moments that she knew it was him. She heard a bottle being put on the counter, heard the pop of a cork, and moments later, he stepped into her bedroom, two glasses of wine in hand.
" What's the occasion?" She asked, sitting up.
Michael didn't answer for a moment. His eye's were drinking in the sight of her. Blonde hair tousled, blue eye's luminous, and against the black satin, she looked like porcelain. But he knew she wasn't so fragile.
" No occasion," he said softly, setting the glasses on her bedside table, and shedding his jacket.
Nikita watched as he moved around the room with fluid grace. He folded the coat over the chair, and sat down on the side of the bed, facing her, and handed her a glass.
" Michael, not to spoil the moment, but something is bothering me, why wasn't I told about a possible leak?"
Michael was quiet for a moment, his eye's never leaving her face. It struck him that there was a time when it would have been him, thinking about the mission, letting it intrude on the romantic evening - or morning in this case.
" I don't know," he said, and reached up to cup her cheek, " Birkhoff was given orders not to relay by Operations."
" A test maybe, to see what I - and Darren, would do, if things went wrong - pretty risky thing to do a test on though," Nikita said, sipping her wine.
Her eye's had been on the glass as she thought, her expression stern, serious, and then, it changed suddenly. She dipped a finger into the glass, and wiped the wine of on the inside of Michaels wrist, and watching him face, flicked her tongue over the same spot, tasting the wine, and him.
Michael felt a smile creep across his lips, the blood racing in his veins started to boil.
" If you don't want that shirt stained, I'd take it off," Nikita warned him softly.
They'd agreed to meet in a park, on the far side of town, though they both knew that the distance didn't really matter. Darren had called her, wanted to know if she had any plans, hoping she'd just know he needed to talk.
And somehow, she knew. They agreed on the spot, got off the phone, got dressed, and left their separate apartments.
He spotted her right away. Her hair hung loose, which was unusual. Normally, she wore it pulled back or pinned down. But today, the shiny flame red tendrils hung loose and wild. She had on sunglasses, and she wore a denim shirt, jeans and sneakers under a casual wool coat. She nodded to him as he approached the park bench. He'd picked his usual jeans, T-shirt and a light jacket.
" You're looking a bit stressed," she said quietly.
He laughed, it sounded nervous to his ears, " yeah, a bit, how are you holding up?"
" Can't quite bring myself to slit my own wrists," she said out loud, and then realized that the thought she'd had so often, just slipped right out.
She looked over at Darren, and he looked at her with a shocked expression on his face, " Relax, I can't do it, won't do it, how'd the mission go, rumor has it your a natural."
Darren shook his head, and let his gaze check around them, habit now, more than anything else, and he sighed, " Nikita is a good liar then. I was scared as hell. I had to shoot this guy, drink the same poison that we did two other scum bags in with. Playing the role was easy, knowing what was coming, and waiting, was hard. How did yours go?"
" Boring," she said, "Except when I caught Ryan about to sell you and Nikita out - Michael beat the hell out of him, and he wouldn't break, so they carried him off, and kept him alive - I guess for Madeline to torture."
" I heard about that, someone said you just raided the men's john and came out running with the pda,"Darren said.
She laughed a little, thinking of the picture it must have made for people hearing about it, and sighed deeply.
" Didn't catch him with his pants down though," Alexandra teased, " I wouldn't want to get on Michaels bad side, that was an incredibly ruthless beating."
Darren cringed, " Hey, don't remind me, I hope he remembers that I was ordered to act like the attentive husband with Nikita."
Alexandra looked over at him, " Oh really? And just how attentive were we?"
Darren rolled his eye's, " I should have been an actor, you know the stuff, kiss on the cheek, hand holding, arm around the waist, shoulders, that kinda thing."
Alexandra nodded, " So, you think there is something there? Between Michael and Nikita?"
Darren nodded, " Yeah, I think . . . He doesn't look at her the way he looks at you, and you are a beautiful woman Alex. You've seen them."
She nodded, " Intimacy born of a deep friendship first . . . they're lucky."
Darren nodded, " I wonder what it's like, to know someone, trust someone, that much . . . Every have a friend so close?"
She sighed, and let her gaze wonder, and it rested on the church, the stained glass windows sparking in the spring sun, " Once, she was my best friend - purely platonic by the way - but she knew the way I thought, knew my darkest secrets - at least the darkest ones I had then - and I thought I knew hers . . ."
Darren followed her gaze to the church, and knew there was something else to the story.
He felt her fingers slip into his, and she squeezed once, " we gotta change the subject, or I'm gonna start to cry."
He laughed, and squeezed her hand back, " hey, I just noticed something."
He stood up, and pulled her up with him.
" What?"
" You're like two different people, in Section, and out," Darren told her.
She nodded, " I'm should have been an actress too."
The end
By Kimberly
Email kcolu97589@aol.com
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