The re-emergence of Charles Sand, a First Tier Operative and Madeline's husband, has given rise to many questions.
Sand's Mission to Red Cell:
Nine years ago, Sand was apart of a team sent in to take down Red Cell. Sometime during that mission, Sand was exposed and the rest of the team taken out during egress. He stayed alive by feeding Section's disposable intel to Red Cell and then by striking up a relationship with one of Red Cell's soldiers, Abel Goellner. When Goellner became an independent player, he took Sand with him. Sand, aka Karel Giraldi, functioned as the middle man for Goellner in his dealings with various others.
As Sand told Nikita at their initial meeting, he never knew how or why his mission had gone bad. (See below: The Triangle).
Nikita's and Michael's Mission to Take Down Goellner:
During their first meeting, Sand told Nikita that during his investigation, per Goellner's orders, he found that there were some strikingly similar features to his last mission to the one that Michael and Nikita were running now (how Sand knew that they were Section operatives is unknown at this time).
Were Michael and Nikita being set up?
Background:
It has now come to light that Charles Sand was Madeline's husband. When or where these two were married is unknown. It is possible that they came into Section together.
Sand had informed Nikita that he had been attempting, from the start, to contact Section. None of his communiques had ever been answered. He had assumed that his channel had been terminated upon his "death." From Nikita's and Birkoff's research into the communication channels, it was found that someone had compromised Sand's mission for no apparent reason and that Sand's communiques had been received by Section, but rerouted. The person who had rerouted the transmissions was Operations. Nikita came to the conclusion that for unknown reasons (at this point Nikita did not know that Sand was Madeline's husband) Operations had knowingly left an operative with a perfect record to be captured by an enemy with the likelihood that he would be killed.
Armed with this information, Nikita went to Madeline (as per Charles request if Operations still was immoveable). At first Madeline did not tell Nikita that Sand was her husband, but asked her what she knew. Nikita proceeded to tell her what she knew - Charles Sand, First Tier Operative, etc. She told Madeline that he was an incidental on her current mission and that Operations wanted him killed. Nikita further stated that she thought this was extreme especially since he was Section. When Madeline informed Nikita that it was not a good thing that they appear not to be able to account for all their operatives, Nikita them told her that Sand was not unaccounted for, but that he had tried numerous times to contact Section and that Operations had rerouted the communiques.
At this, Madeline countermanded Operations order - bring Sand in. She told Nikita that she would deal with Operations. Nikita asked who Sand was. Madeline informed her that Sand was her husband. At this point, Nikita knew that Operations was manipulating her.
The Triangle: Operations, Madeline and Sand:
Did Madeline suspect that Operations may have had her husband killed? When Sand "died" did she turn to Operations for comfort? In this observer's opinion the answer to both is yes. It would explain a great deal of the behaviors that has been noticed in the past months.
It has been obvious that after the attempt on his life, Operations wanted to revive the relationship that he and Madeline once had. She, on the other hand, was not comfortable doing so stating that they both were entirely too busy to consider reopening the relationship. For the last couple of months, Operations has relentlessly pursued Madeline and at times seemed obsessive. When Madeline was kidnaped by Enquist, he did everything in his power to stop Michael from carrying out the mission. This in and of itself begs the question is Operations still capable of performing his duties in an unbiased manner.
All of the above begs the question - Did Operations send Sand on a mission with the intention of his never returning? Given the facts that we have (1) Sand's exposure originating in Section and (2) Operations rerouting his communiques and then deleting them, the only conclusion is yes. If Operations and Madeline's relationship started soon after that, in the guise of Operations comforting Madeline, then it would follow that Operations had premeditatedly gave Sand up to the enemy.
If there was a chance for the restarting of the relationship, Operations deception has made that unlikely and he knows it. Madeline's "congratulations" was dead give away.
The Death of Charles Sand
Operations ordered Nikita to kill Sands during the Goellner retrieval mission. Even armed with the information that she had on Sands and Operations part in the failed mission, she knew that she had no choice but to do as she was ordered. From the mission tapes, it can be seen that Nikita, although planning to go through with it, was extremely upset and was very relieved when Madeline stopped her. It can also be seen that Nikita was greatly disturbed by the Madeline's apparent killing of Sands.
Did Madeline kill Sands? If she did,
then she did for the very simple reason that she knew that Operations would
never let him live and that his death at the hands of Section may very
well be torturous. By killing him herself, she saved him that pain.
If she did not kill him, where is he know. As of this moment, I still
do not have Housekeeping's report and will not comment further until them.