| Subject: Chapter 7 |
Author:
Juli
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Date Posted: Tuesday, June 06, 03:13:12pm
In reply to:
Juli
's message, "Anti-Virus" on Wednesday, May 17, 05:25:56pm
Chapter 7
Michael began to become conscious of something tickling his nose. He opened his eyes to see long strands of blonde hair across his chest and face. Awareness came quickly, and Michael gently brushed the hair away from his mouth and nose. It was just beginning to get light. He could just make out the furniture in the room. Nikita had one leg draped across his thigh, and one arm across his chest. It amazed Michael that he could feel the stirrings of arousal after the number of times they had made love the night before.
Nikita’s continued sleep gave Michael a quiet moment to reflect on how to proceed. He was thinking about his decision of the previous evening. He was going to tell Wolfe that they couldn’t hack his system. Birkoff and Walter would be irritated – especially Birkoff – since they had never failed to gain access before. But Michael knew they would understand. Birkoff could not stop talking about the little brunette waitress at Papa Pig’s from their reconnaissance visits there. And Walter had been seeing someone for years, although he never really shared the details.
Michael knew that he could easily get into the system after what had happened with he and Nikita, but he didn’t want to exploit her. What had exploded between them the night before, was rare and precious, and he didn’t want to mess it up.
“What a serious face! I hope you aren’t regretting last night,” Nikita said rubbing her eyes.
Michael smiled and shook his head. “No. No regrets,” he said, smoothing her hair back from her face.
“Good,” she said, kissing his arm she had been laying on. She sat up and stretched, making Michael’s mouth go dry. “Do you want to go for a run?”
Michael shook his head and pulled her to him for a kiss. After a moment, Nikita giggled and squirmed out of Michael’s arms and off the bed.
“Uh – uh. No you don’t,” she said with a smile.
Michael pouted.
“Come on,” she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him up. “We’ll drive to your place so you can change and run from there.”
“Alright,” Michael said, conceding defeat.
Carla was just coming in the front door of the apartment, as Michael and Nikita walked out of Nikita’s room, laughing.
“Well, well,” she said, with a knowing smile.
“Good morning,” Nikita said, beaming. “Carla, this is Michael. Michael, Carla,” she said, introducing them.
“Pleased to meet you,” Michael replied, extending his hand.
“And I am VERY pleased to meet YOU,” Carla told him, shaking his hand.
“We’re going running,” Nikita told her, grabbing Michael’s hand.
“I would think you would be too tired,” Carla mumbled as they headed out the door.
Michael opened the door of the Porsche for Nikita and she slipped inside, sinking into the buttery leather.
They made the short drive quickly, and soon, Nikita was standing in Michael’s bedroom in his leased beach house, waiting for him to change. She was jogging in place, warming up for their run, and glancing around the room at the same time. It was pretty sparse.
“You gonna decorate this place?” she called into the bathroom.
“I haven’t had a chance yet,” came the muffled reply.
A cell phone ring jingled out from the pocket of Michael’s jacket laying on the bed.
“Your phone’s ringing,” she called again.
“Can you see who it is?” Michael shouted through the door.
She fumbled with the phone and looked at the display.
“It says ‘Walter’” she told him.
“Answer it,” Michael replied.
“Hello? Michael’s phone,” she said, flipping up the phone.
“Uh, who’s this?” a gravelly voice came across the line.
“Nikita,” she said with a giggle. “Michael’s, uh, indisposed right now.”
“Really?” came the reply, laced with humor and interest. “Now that’s very interesting.”
The bathroom door opened, and Michael walked out in running clothes.
“Here,” he said, holding out his hand for the phone. “What do you need, Walter?” he asked, pulling Nikita in for a kiss.
He pulled away to answer. “No, not yet. And I’m not going to either,” he responded.
Michael had to hold the phone away from his ear at the shout that followed.
“Walter, I’ll talk to you later ok? I have to take care of something on this end first,” Michael explained. “Yes… this morning… Ok… goodbye, Walter,” Michael said, flipping the phone shut.
“What was that all about?” Nikita said, between nibbles on Michael’s scratchy chin.
“I’ll explain everything. Let’s go,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her towards the door.
An hour later, they sat on Michael’s back deck, enjoying a cold bottle of water and the ocean view.
“So, you were supposed to seduce me into giving you my access code?” she asked, still assimilating it all.
Michael nodded, feeling slightly ashamed. Nikita was quiet for a moment.
“So were all those guys that were hitting on me lately…?”
“Yes, they were from us. A set up,” he confirmed, not looking at her eyes.
To his surprise, Nikita laughed. “I thought Carla was setting me up,” she said.
“You seem to be taking this a lot better than I had hoped,” Michael told her.
She stood up from her chair and straddled his lap, throwing her arms around his neck.
“Why should I care? I should thank you. You told me all about it and didn’t hack into the system using me, so…” she broke off abruptly as a thought occurred to her.
“What is it?” Michael asked.
“Can you still do it if I give the password?” she asked, her brow furrowed.
“Yes, but I told you, I’m not going to. I’m going to tell Wolfe that…”
Nikita cut him off. “No, I mean, I want you to. Your computer guy, what’s his name?” she asked.
“Birkoff?”
“Yeah, Birkoff. Can he check something out for me?” she asked.
Michael leaned away from her so he could study her face. “Why?”
She climbed off his lap. “Michael… my work right now is on infectious diseases. Wolfe has the team working together, but I can’t figure out why. The others are working on totally different stuff than I am. I keep getting a bad feeling about it all. I just want to know what’s going on,” she explained.
“Would it make you feel better if we did?” he asked her.
Nikita nodded.
“Then let’s go. We’ll shower and then go talk to Birkoff. We’ll stop by your apartment and get the laptop, in case we need it. Also, your notebooks. Walter can take a look at everything,” he told her.
Nikita felt relieved. She had been honest. She didn’t care that the only reason that she had met Michael was because of some weird security training. She was just glad that she met him. He had proven to her right off the bat that he was more interested in her than in achieving his business objective. And now, she would have someone to share her concerns with. If Wolfe was trying to do what she suspected, it would be good to have someone who knew more about it than she did.
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