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Date Posted: 13:29:15 05/26/08 Mon
Author: Mary
Author Host/IP: cpe-69-135-186-204.woh.res.rr.com / 69.135.186.204
Subject: Good and Evil - Chapter 12 and Chapter 13
In reply to: Mary 's message, "Good and Evil - Chapter 12+" on 13:22:50 05/26/08 Mon

Chapter 12

The Ostrava mission was going as profiled and the team was performing well. Nikita watched carefully on her monitor as Trepanier and the team moved through the foundry. They were hitting every mark and she was pleased. It was very important that they take this substation out of play and they had planned this surgical strike carefully. The team was comprised of operatives from both Section One and Section Three. Myra and Nikita had consulted closely with Trepanier about who was to be on the team.

She listened as the mission progressed.

“Red Team there is four hostiles ten degrees to your north, approximately 30 clicks from your current location. You will need to take them out of play before proceeding,” Quinn’s calm voice came over the channel.

Trepanier replied, “Got it.” He motioned his team to move and they took flanking positions in pairs and moved to take out the hostiles. A firefight ensued but the Section operatives easily overpowered the resistance and then moved to plant the charges.

“I’m arming, Egress team be ready.” Trepanier ordered. “One minute. Everybody out.”

The operatives began to move. Gunfire was heard and Quinn and Jason moved quickly to determine the origin. Nikita called down from the Perch, “What’s happening”

Quinn replied, “I’m not sure yet. Hostile fire. Searching for location.”

“Comm this is Blue Team. We are engaged.”

“I have you Blue Team,” Jason responded as his fingers flew over the keyboard. “No worries. There is a stairwell to the left, twenty degrees off your scope. Do you have a visual confim?”

“Yeah I got it,” replied Blue Team leader. “But we’re penned in. Can you send back-up?”

Jason looked up to the Perch for Nikita’s command. They both knew in that moment of eye contact what lie inevitably ahead. The timers were set and there was no time for backup, sending them in would just mean more loss of resources at this point. Jason changed channels and asked Operations, “Fifteen seconds ma’am?”

She nodded, “I’ll take it.”

In the Perch Nikita took a breath and opened the channel to Blue Team, “Blue Team Leader?”

“Yeah?” he answered back over the gunfire.

“This is Operations. Thank you for your support of Section.”

“What? Where is backup? Get us the hell out of here!!”

Nikita closed her eyes for a moment and felt the pain of the last five seconds tick down as the team tried to fight their way out. The explosion was heard throughout Comm. Then there was silence.

Trepanier’s voice was heard, “Mission complete.”

*****

She waited at van access for them to arrive. She stood tall and stopped herself from cringing as the door screeched open and the teams disembarked. They all filed past her looking tired and Trepanier was the last one out. He stood in front of her for a full second staring directly at her before he asked, “We’re they in abeyance?”

“No,” she replied honestly.

“May I ask why no backup?”

“Backup was onsite. There was not time to send them in.”

“So we let them get slaughtered,” he was angry. He didn’t like to loose good people, and the team members of Blue Team were good.

“The decision was mine. We would have lost the backup team too. A decision point was made to minimize the loss of resources.”

“Of course.”

“I need you in de-brief in fifteen. Don’t be late.”

He walked off and she stood there and took a long deep breath before she went to munitions.

“Walter?”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

She looked down, and for the first time since she had become Operations she seemed almost unsure of herself standing there in front of Walter, “Can you have dinner with me in the Tower tonight? I need to talk with you.”

She seemed almost fragile in her question and Walter was concerned, “Sure Sugar”, he replied softly so no one could here him use the pet name. “You ok?”

He watched as she transformed back into Operations right before his eyes. “Yes, I’m fine. I’ll see you at 9:00?”

“Yeah, sure.”

*****

Walter hated the Tower. He would only come here for Nikita. He wished that she could still have an apartment outside of Section but he knew that Oversight would never allow that to occur. Every Operation’s of every Section lived onsite, there were no exceptions. Not only were the security risks too high of trying to protect someone of her position, but the need to be accessible 24/7 was imperative to the basic tactical operation of Section.

He knocked on the door and waited. Receiving no answer he assumed her to be busy and put his hand on the scanner to be read and then preceded through the door. He walked into the main sitting room and was extremely pleased to see that all the cold black leather and chrome that had been here before was now replaced. The whole room was done in soft grays and crèmes. Not exactly the Nikita style he had gotten used to, but better than what used to be here.

He took a seat and waited for her. The tower was made up of many rooms and she could be in any one of them either showering, working out, perhaps a mission required her input. He knew to wait patiently, or at least as patiently as Walter could wait. She would send someone out if she were to be delayed very long.

But after about twenty minutes, which is an eternity in Section, particularly for an Operation’s and especially for Nikita, Walter began to get worried. He picked up the phone and called Comm.

“Jason here.”

“Yeah Jase, Walter. Is Nikita on down time?”

“Sure is. The boss lady left her station exactly forty-seven minutes ago. We have instructions to contact her in the Tower.”

“Ok Jase. Thanks.”

“Anything wrong?”

“No I don’t think so. I’ll be in touch.”

“I’ll be here, scopin’ the ladies and running missions.”

Walter hung up and looked around. He had been to the Tower often enough in his years to know his way around. He walked down the hallway and checked the sleeping rooms but they all were empty. Then he thought of the workout room and as he opened the door he heard her. There was Nikita sitting against the wall with her knees drawn up against her chest, head down, crying like her heart was breaking.

Walter slid his old body down the wall beside her and she looked up at him with tear filled eyes. He smiled at her as he put his arm around her and put her head on his chest holding her close as she continued to cry, “Aw Sugar, I’ve been wondering when this all would get to you. Let it out. Just let it out.”


Chapter 13

Jason completed his shift and left Section as instructed. Driving through the night he followed the directions sent to him and soon he turned into the long driveway that led to his destination. He got out of the car and went immediately to the front door, he entered the code that he had been given and then put his hand on the scanner. Clearance was granted and the front door opened on its own.

He stepped inside to the warm house and waited. His wait was short.

Madeline came down the stairs, “Jason, right on time. It was good of you to come.”

“Hello Madeline. Good to see you again.”

“Please come in. Myra is in the den and we have many things to discuss.”

The den was inviting, comfortable, and surrounded by shelves of books. “Jason nice to see you again.”

“And you too Myra.” Jason took a seat after the ladies had sat and waited.

Madeline began, “Can you tell us about the Ostrava mission?”

“Blue Team was taken out of play.”

“The entire team?” Madeline questioned.

“Yes. It went as you profiled. Nikita did not have a choice. There was no time for the backup team to assist.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“Feel? I did the job.”

“Yes, and it was an excellent job,” Myra praised. Madeline had explained to her how important positive feedback was to keep the programming solidly in place.

“Yes I must agree with Myra. The execution went exactly as planned. You know there will be upcoming missions that we will be needing your additional assistance with?” Madeline was extremely pleased the Gelman process was solidly in place in the young man.

“But of course.”

“We want the Section to run as efficiently as possible. An exceptional organization requires exceptional management to lead it. It is not enough to just be good at what you do. You must excel, you must have the broader perspective in mind and have the ability to be ruthless as needed to meet strategic goals.” Myra quoted verbatim the message intended to sustain his programming.

“You know Nikita shot Trepanier earlier this week.” Jason calmly informed them.

Madeline smiled, “Yes we were alerted to the incident. What is your opinion?”

Jason replied immediately, “He should have been cancelled. He has been a liability for many missions now. If she was goin’ to shoot him, why bother with just a wound? Waste of ammo.”

“I thought she was tying to make a point, “ Madeline reasoned, while testing the programming solidity.

“He didn’t need a new point. He needed cancelled. Leadership must be strong and focused.”

The two women exchanged a look and then Myra continued, “We couldn’t agree more. While Nikita is an excellent operative with tactical capabilities, her strength is not in strategic leadership.”

Jason paused thinking, “Then she needs to be removed.”

“That’s quite a bold statement,” Madeline replied lightly.

“No, just a logical one. Isn’t that how you want me to think?” Jason asked with a bit of doubt in his voice.

“But of course it is,” Madeline assured him. “We just want to be sure that you are ready for what is coming.”

“I’m ready. It’s time to do a little house-cleanin’ at Section, remove some of the dead wood.”

Myra, “We agree with your assessment. But it must be kept quiet until all is ready.”

Jason smirked, “Now why would I want to go tellin’ them and let them in on the game before the fun begins? But our girl Nikita will not go quietly, she is a fighter.”

Myra sighed, “Yes, she is a problem. But if Oversight can be convinced that she is ineffectual enough then they will remove her from her post so fast that all her ‘Daddy’s friends’ won’t even be able to stop it.”

“And what about Michael?” Jason asked.

“We are closely tracking him and he will not interfere with our dealings with Nikita.”

“You two ladies seem pretty sure of that.”

“We are,” answered Myra. “How can Michael be worried about Nikita, when she is already with him?”

Jason frowned at the riddle placed before him, “I like a good game, but that just isn’t logical. I left Nikita just hours ago in the Tower with Walter.”

“Did you really? When is Nikita not Nikita?” asked Myra with a smile.

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