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Date Posted: 14:47:06 03/05/08 Wed
Author: Mary
Author Host/IP: 66.162.52.3.gen.fullservice.net / 66.162.52.3
Subject: Characters & Shadows - Chapter 39
In reply to: Mary 's message, "Characters & Shadows - Cont." on 11:19:55 02/28/08 Thu

Chapter 39

Marco was briefing the teams surrounding him, “There will be three teams that go in before primary team arrives on site. Davids, Vongrat, and Tomias will lead the teams. First the lobby is secured, then the elevators and the final team will meet up with the advance team members on the fourth floor. Primary team will arrive on site exactly eleven minutes later and we will not move until I have word from all the teams that you are in place and your area is secured. Two pulses to let me know at any moment that there is an issue. I have the final say at all times about abort status.”

“Keep all weapons secure. This is strictly a secure mission, I know I’ve said it before, but we have no reason to believe that anyone knows we are coming and taking out innocents on this run will have dire consequences. The objective is to protect Mr. Fanning while he sees the target. Then get out without incident. Am I clear on this?”

A room of nods and some yes sir’s answered him.

“Good. We leave in fifteen. Double check all equipment and know your marks. No mistakes.”

Marco took a moment as they all began to disburse to check his own equipment. Both guns were loaded and the extra slips were in place.

It was time.

*****

Adrian was back in headquarters now and she was personally overseeing this mission. She could leave nothing to chance and she knew it. This was too important to too many high level people and she was looking forward to the promotion that she knew this would afford her. As worried as she was about Marco and his performance, she knew she had many back-ups in place to make sure this was cleaned-up nicely.

She knew of Nikita Fanning’s condition, having done a status check with Carla while en route, and she didn’t like the idea of probably losing hear at this point. But there was greater good that had to take precedence here. David Fanning had been directly responsible for the death of tens possibly hundreds of thousands of lives, getting him was paramount. It wasn’t always easy being in her position, sometimes the decisions made were very difficult indeed. But she made them because she believed in what she was doing and she always kept the bigger picture in mind.

This had given her a lot of leeway with her superiors in her methods of bringing down these terrorists. Overall she was quite pleased with how things were going.

She picked up her tea that had been steeping and turned her attention back to the monitors to watch the mission unfold

*****

Walter did not have a good feeling about this at all. Just a few moments ago Brian had come down the hall and told Walter that he needed to get everyone together to give them an update on Nikita’s condition. He had the latest test results and blood work and he said that he wanted everyone to be there for Michael. Walter knew that this was going to be bad. He had moved quickly assembling the small group of friends and they joined Michael and Brian in Nikita’s room.

Michael, while pale and obviously physically drained, turned to look at all of them as they came in the room. He noted that Brian would not meet his eyes and that told Michael more than anything else. This was bad, very bad.

Carla looked at Michael and noted that while his eyes were red they were dry now. She had silently slipped out of the room after witnessing Michael’s emotional release next to Nikita a while ago. She had been ashamed to overhear such a love and depth of feeling. She was also ashamed of her role in all of this. But she still checked in with Adrian because she knew that she had to. It’s not like she had a choice in any of this, she tried to tell herself – even as she felt the syringe in her pocket full of the antidote that could save Nikita’s life. Adrian was watching, they all were watching, every act and every word was being monitored at this point. There was nothing that she could do other than let this play out as profiled. Nikita just had to hold on for a while longer.

Brian looked over the sullen group and using his best doctor voice began to explain the dire situation, “As you know Nikita’s condition has continued to deteriorate. Major organs in her body are starting to shut down, the latest being the lungs. The ventilator has taken a lot of stress off her at the moment allowing oxygen to get to her bloodstream.”

When Brian paused for a moment he felt all the eyes of the room boring into him, “The latest tests that I just reviewed show that this failure is continuing at an alarmingly faster rate. There is nothing at this time that either I or the experts at the CDC know to do to reverse the effects. I need you all to be prepared. I don’t believe there is much time left. I’m sorry.”

There was a collective gasps from the occupants of the room and Madeline turned her head to cry as Carla pulled her into her arms. Birkoff stood there stunned and Walter was crushed. But Michael just stood beside Nikita never breaking contact as he held her hand and asked his friend, “How long?”

Brian moved to stand beside Michael, “We don’t know for sure. I have to be honest with you Michael, you need to have some final moments with her now. Don’t wait.”

Michael just stood there barely breathing, he couldn’t feel anything at all, nothing. He heard what Brian was saying and he understood the direness of the situation but he simply didn’t think he could even move at this moment.

Brian looked at Michael and worried that he might be going into shock, “Michael?”

Walter came over and gently shook Michael’s shoulder, “Hey amigo. You still with us?”
It took a moment but Michael finally blinked his eyes a few times and came back to himself. “Yes,” he replied politely and softly. “I’m here.”

Brian looked at Michael and determined that for the moment he was ok, “I need to check on things. I won’t be far if you need me.”

Michael replied quietly, “Thank you.”

Brian just shook his head sadly as he left the room, “Yeah.”

“What can I do for you?” Walter asked Michael.

“Is a miracle too much to ask?”

Walter just reached out and took him in his arms, “Aw, I wish I could, I wish I could.”

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