As Walter calibrated the new explosive detonator, he watched Nikita walk toward his work station. The darkness and depression were missing from her face and attitude. There was an identifiable spring in her step, something that had been missing since she had discovered Michael's secret cover.
"Hi, Walter," she said as she gave him a hug and a kiss on his cheek.
"Hi, Sugar," he replied with a lecherous grin. "I could be mistaken, but I would swear someone got her tires rotated last night."
Nikita cut her eyes toward him and gave him a half smile. "You might
be right," she replied in a whisper. "Does it really show?"
Walter thought for a minute before answering, "You might as well have a
sign painted on that luminous face of yours, Sugar. Dare I ask who
performed this miraculous transformation?"
Nikita averted her eyes, then glanced at him over the top of her gold-rimmed
glasses as she gave him a secretive smile and a tiny shake of her head.
"Oh," Walter said as he nodded. Only one partner could have produced the Nikita he saw before him today. Michael. "So how is Michael?" he asked.
Nikita smiled and whispered, "He's in a pretty good mood, too, but he left for Italy this morning for some down time."
"So you two have obviously ‘come to terms?'"
Nikita shrugged, "I'd like to ‘think' so, but I've thought so before and been wrong. I'll just have to see how things go, when he returns from Italy."
"So what's he going to do in Italy, Sugar?" Walter asked, looking over the edge of his glasses at Nikita, as he continued to work on his new device.
"Relax, think, walk on the beach, take in some museums, catch some rays maybe," Nikita said and grinned at the thought of Michael ‘catching some rays."
"Yeah, that's a real image for you," Walter chuckled. "Listen, Sugar, I'd bridle that contented look, if I were you. No need to let ‘them' know you're happy for a change. They'd be bound to do something to remedy it, if you know what I mean."
"I do know exactly what you mean, and I have a meeting with Madeline in five minutes." Nikita took a deep breath and attempted a more dignified expression. "How's this?" she asked.
Walter shook his head. "I can still see it in your eyes, Sugar.
Better not keep her waiting."
Madeline awaited Nikita's arrival for a private pre-briefing session. The intel she had received earlier that morning was alarming. Moira had contacted two of her other daughters, and one of them had made the mistake of relaying her mother's whereabouts to a cousin still in Ireland. In other words, the Irish faction of Eire Fein knew the location of Moira Fogherty and her grandson Sean Samuels, and Madeline expected that their reaction would be swift and their retribution terrible.
The door to her office opened, and Nikita entered, wearing an ivory turtle neck sweater that was cropped at the waist and tan cargo pants. Gold-rimmed glasses were pushed to the top of her head and acted as a headband. Her appearance was casual, but neat. Madeline detected an fluid ease in her movements that had been missing. The rigid and dour Nikita of the last month had been banished, and the lighter, brighter version now sat in front of Madeline, with a face that was flushed with health and joie de vivre.
"You're five minutes late, Nikita. This is--" Madeline started in an effort to establish her dominance over the younger operative.
"Not by my watch," Nikita interrupted. "Besides, it couldn't be avoided."
"Punctuality is crucial, and this mission is urgent. I am sending you to retrieve Moira Fogherty and Sean. She has had inappropriate communications with her family, and Eire Fein has been notified of her whereabouts. We have to get there first." Madeline went through the motions of offering Nikita tea, but it was declined with a negative shake of the head..
"And if we don't."
"That is not an option. If we lose Sean, we lose Michael. Michael has experienced more in the way of loss than anyone here in Section and managed to survive, but I am afraid he would not want to survive the loss of his son. Michael is too valuable to Section, therefore his son's rescue is of immeasurable value to Section.
"What about Moira Fogherty?" Nikita asked.
Madeline's only response was a blank stare, for as far as she was concerned, Moira Fogherty could rot. Madeline had taken Michael's earlier threat seriously and was now forced to mount a costly mission to bring the child to Section's level five for buffered hostiles.
"What's going to happen after we bring him back, Madeline? Is Section going to keep a four year old boy locked away in one room for how long?"
"That's not your concern, Nikita. Your formal briefing is in five minutes." Madeline looked at Nikita with a gesture of dismissal.
Nikita rose to leave, but was stopped by Madeline's question, "Did Michael catch his plane for Italy this morning?"
"How would I know?" she bluffed.
Madeline gave her a genuine smile. "I would have assumed after his having spent the night with you and your having had intimate relations at least twice, that you would have the intel on that particular piece of information."
Nikita was never surprised when Madeline knew the most intimate details of her life. The damn cameras must be back, but they would have to wait, she thought.
"Well, Madeline, to answer your question. Yes, Michael did make his plane to Italy. Is there anything else you would like to know? Like ‘why' I was 5 minutes late?" Nikita challenged.
Madeline smiled. "The reason for your tardiness was obvious on the surveillance tape and uh-perfectly understandable."
Nikita could not resist a parting shot. "Is that how you get yours,
Madeline? Watching Michael and me?" Nikita tossed her hair
and left without waiting for a response, but if she had waited, she would
have seen the smile fade from Madeline's face.
Michael shut his eyes as he reclined in his comfortable first class seat and flew to Rome, Italy on a 757 jet. The hours en flight would enable him to resume the unceasing introspection that had been a part of his life for years. So much had happened in the last couple of months, and he felt he would be forever marked by the experiences. He had nearly died, and the near death experience that had resulted from his poisoning had, of necessity, been shoved to the back realm of his psyche; however, he now had five hours to himself with no pending missions to consider. Instead, he began to consider the sense of personal mission he had initially felt, when he had first regained consciousness.
In one aspect, it had been a reprieve from the negativity that had tormented his inner life. The idea that his life had a purpose and had ‘always' had a purpose was new to him. Since being recruited, he had accepted that Section One's purpose was his own, but the intelligent entity with whom he had communed during his near death experience had impressed upon him the idea that he was more than the sum of his parts and that he, Michael, could make a difference in the world he knew and the rest of the world would benefit.
Michael nearly moaned aloud as he thought how dismally he had betrayed that principle. He thought of Nikita, his son Sean, his late wife Stephanie and himself. In trying to end the betrayals, he had succeeded only in watching his wife murdered in front on his eyes. It was too late for her, and Michael could never change that she had been a part of a mission and not his true love. His son had been whisked away by Section One, but Michael vowed to himself that he would recover him and save him from Section.
He knew it was his undeserved good fortune that, somehow, Nikita had been able to forgive him for the lies of omission and betrayal. He would never have expected her to continue love him after discovering the truth about his second life. He knew he deserved her hatred and disgust, and he had accepted her anger as his due. Nikita, who was synonymous with light and hope, had apologized to ‘him,' when he should have been groveling at ‘her' feet, begging for forgiveness. There was no one to compare to Nikita, at least there never had been in his life.
Simone had been his first mature love, and with the memories of the hot and tender lover she had been, she would always occupy a special place in his heart, but the regrets existed there too. She had preferred revenge and death to life with him. Michael had experienced so many losses and to attempt to rationalize them by telling himself, that there was a purpose to his life and losses was a difficult feat.
Nikita redeemed him and made him, if not whole, a more integrated being,
and she had begun the difficult task of reweaving the disparate halves
of his soul. Michael sighed, closed his eyes; and as the calming
thoughts of Nikita continued to wash through his mind, he fell asleep.
As she headed toward the official briefing, Nikita felt the sharp irony of her being apprised of Michael's son's whereabouts, while he had been kept in the dark. Madeline's apparent knowledge of their ‘intimate relations' the previous night also told Nikita that Madeline also knew about Michael's plan to find Sean and flee Section One, and that he had asked her to join him. Yet, Madeline still had assigned her to bring Sean into the Section One confines. Nikita wondered if the imminent danger of Eire Fein finding Moira and Sean was real or a red herring. At any rate the result would be the same, Sean would remain under Section One's control and so would Michael.
Madeline would have also heard Michael mention the comm device that he had given her ‘once before.' If Madeline had not known how Nikita escaped from the Freedom League conflagration, she did now. Whether Madeline would share that intel with Operations, Nikita did not know, nor how Madeline would use the intel on her own. In Section One, knowledge was power, and Madeline had more knowledge than Nikita could comprehend comfortably.
What a dilemma, she thought. In less than five minutes I will know exactly where Sean is, but if I share that knowledge with Michael, and he is able to mount his own successful rescue, Section will likely be waiting and cancel him.
Nikita arrived at the briefing area as she tried to mask any obvious signs of conflict Operations arrived a moment later, and within two minutes the remainder of the team was assembled.
Operations did not waste any time before starting the briefing. A picture of Moira Fogherty flashed on the Vid Comm screen. "This is Moira Fogherty, the sister-in-law of a deceased high-ranking member of Eire Fein. She had been relocated by us, along with her young grandson to Phoenix, Arizona. She has, however, communicated with members of her family, who have inadvertently shared that information with remaining members of Eire Fein in Northern Ireland. She is deemed a traitor by them and forfeit, along with the child. She is remains a source of valuable intel on Eire Fein and therefore still valuable to Section One. She and the grandchild are to be retrieved and returned to Section One for a complete debriefing, then Eire Fein can do what they will.
Nikita did not like the sound of the mission objectives. "What about the grandchild? Is he going to be turned over to Eire Fein?"
"The child's disposition will be determined at a later time, when we have the luxury of deliberation. It is essential that Moira Fogherty be retrieved as soon as possible."
Nikita knew Operations was overstating Moira's importance in order to conceal the true objective of the mission to retrieve Michael's son and knew without being told that Section One considered Moira Fogherty as acceptable collateral.
"Nikita will act as team leader on this mission. The profiler is already working on the mission profile. Since time is of the essence, I have already picked the team. Your PDA's will have the intel downloaded in approximately two hours. Departure in three hours. Any questions?"
Nikita spoke, "I would prefer to see the profile before the team is picked. This is very irregular."
Operations took a puff on his cigarette before answering. "This situation is irregular. The profile and team will stand as chosen, Nikita, unless you want to step down as team leader?"
Nikita gave an abrupt shake of her head. "No, that's fine.
No problem."
Nikita looked at her
team. There wasn't a single operative from the previous Eire Fein
mission present, and she wondered if the usually efficient Section grapevine
had done its usual thing, and if everyone knew that Michael was the father
of the child. Williams, Brady, Li, Tyler, and Renault returned her appraisal.
"Final briefing will take place en flight. See you at egress in three
hours." Nikita spun on her heel and left the area.
Operations smiled. He appreciated her brevity and her unwillingness
to step down as team leader. Michael had been correct about her.
She was a good operative, and she was getting better. The question
now would be, what would she do? As always, Section tested its best
and brightest, and it tested them without mercy.
Michael blinked his eyes and reached for his sunglasses as he exited the large international jet into the jetway. He had emailed his old friend and fellow Class Five operative, Sylvia Damico to meet him, for he would need her local resources, if he was to deceive Section One into thinking he remained in Rome for his two weeks of down time. There was the small matter of his cesium crystal to be extracted, along with need to escape Section's constant surveillance.
The gamine Sylvia was waving at him as he exited the jetway into Rome International Airport. Sylvia had always reminded him of Simone. The two women had been approximately the same height and had the same build. Only Simone's oriental features and Sylvia's curly hair had made them distinguishable from the front. Both women had been petite and of deceptive strength and skills. It was one of their characteristics that had made them such deadly operatives. They were often underestimated by their targets.
Michael threw his arms around Sylvia and kissed both her cheeks. His Italian was flawless as he greeted her, "Ciao! Comme va, Sylvia?"
"It's wonderful to see you, Michael. How's your lovely Nikita?" Sylvia asked as she returned his hug with one of her own. Sylvia had met Nikita during a recent summons to Section One, during the C5 assassinations.
"Nikita is fine. How's your love life?" Michael asked as they continued toward the baggage carousel, remembering that Sylvia had recently ended a relationship before her summons to Section One.
Sylvia's dark complexion flushed as she answered. "Better than the last time we discussed it."
Michael smiled at her and teased, "I knew you wouldn't be chaste for very long. It's not in your nature is it? Who is she?"
Sylvia struggled to keep up with Michael's graceful stride. "Oh,
God, Michael. Would you believe she's my new material? After
all your troubles, here I am falling into the same trap. She's even
tall and blonde like Nikita, and I am hopelessly smitten."
"No, Sylvia." Michael shook his head in disbelief, but he knew that
the heart was not inclined to listen to the head. "Does she know?
Have you....?" he paused delicately.
"No, Michael! I said I was smitten, not stupid. Sorry, no offense," she giggled. She's in her second year of training. Her mentor Antonio was killed on a mission last month, and she was transferred to me to complete her evaluation. I've been very careful not to let my feelings show, but I don't have the long years of practice at that the way you do, Michael. Besides, I think she's interested in me as well, but scared. I know I am."
They had reached the baggage carousel by the time Sylvia had finished her admission. Michael slung his one bag over his shoulder, and they continued to catch the shuttle to Sylvia's car. "As you are well aware, I'm no one to give advice, but be careful," Michael said with a rueful smile.
"I know. I know. Relationships between cold ops. are discouraged, but any relationship is fraught with difficulty. You know that. I've had them both ways, and so have you." Sylvia tossed her short dark curls as they entered the parking shuttle.
Sylvia's words reminded Michael of Stephanie, and Michael lost his smile. "We have to talk, but not now or here. I have a lot to tell you," he said as he looked around the crowded shuttle.
"Trouble in Nikita-land? I thought you said she was fine."
"Nikita is fine-now, but there have been complications that you don't know about. It's been a difficult month and a half." Michael refused to say any more. Sylvia nodded, respecting his need for privacy.