Chapter One

Pulling the door shut behind her, Sonya noticed how dark a night it was. There was no moon in the sky which just made things even darker. It did not help that it had only been about six months since Amanda had originally grabbed her, and every time she left the apartment, she felt like she had to look over her shoulder. Walking down the steps, she looked both ways into the darkness, satisfied when she did not see anything.

The night was silent other than the clicking of her heels on the cement. She was aware of everything, listening for any sound, any sign of a tail. She would not allow herself to be victimized again. Not when she had just barely gotten over the previous threat on her life and brought Birkhoff back into her life once it was gone. Looking around she still did not see anyone. As she walked further down the street, the hairs suddenly rose on her neck. Something was wrong. Casually, she glanced over her shoulder. On the first try she did not see anything. The second time she saw a figure, completely in black tailing her, ducking behind a tree.

Her heart began to pound. She couldn't let it happen again. She picked up her speed slightly and tapped a couple of buttons on her phone in her pocket. Glancing behind her, she noticed the man still tailing her. Judging by the black pants, black shirt, and black jacket, there was no question in her mind that he was another one of Amanda's lackeys. Trying to pick up her speed, Sonya was disappointed to see that the guy had kept up. She panicked in fear- what if she couldn't get away from him? What if Amanda captured her again? Would she kill her this time?

As she saw one of the main drags in front of her- a street full of traffic where the guy would have no dream of catching her- she excitedly sped up. The street seemed to be miles away as she rushed towards it. The guy behind her was getting closer- close enough she could hear his footsteps on the sidewalk. She picked up speed, but could hear his steps quicken to match hers. Her heart beat in her ears as she sped into a run. Her heels clicked at the same speed as her heart, but he was getting closer. There wasn't much time left before he would be on her. Tears of panic began to drip down her cheeks. She couldn't let it happen again. He was getting closer, her heels clicked faster, her heart pounded faster, his feet pounded in time with hers. Sonya was beginning to panic.

BAM!

Thinking she had been shot Sonya turned around. She was relieved to see a dark, expensive car had hit her stalker, knocking him to the ground. Momentarily she panicked, wondering who was driving the car, but much to her relief, Birkhoff rolled down the window of the car. "Get in!" he shouted, panicked, at Sonya.

Without hesitating she ran around the car and climbed in Birkhoff peeled away. "Where are we going?" Sonya asked him.

"Division." He replied.

Nikita was the last one to arrive into Ryan's office. Everyone else had already been at Division, but she had to arrive from her and Michael's apartment. She rushed in, her dark hair blowing behind her. She noticed Sonya in the corner, looking quite shaken, Birkhoff sitting beside her, looking concerned. "What happened?" she asked as she walked into the room.

"Amanda made a play for Sonya." Birkhoff replied in his typical concerned tone.

Nikita was confused. It didn't make sense. There was no logical reason Amanda needed Sonya's chip reactivate. "Why would she do that?"

"We think she was trying to reactivate Sonya's kill chip." Ryan reported.

Thinking about that for a second, Nikita still couldn't make sense of it. "Why? That doesn't make any sense." Nikita replied. "Why would Amanda want to do that?"

"Revenge?" Birkhoff replied, "Let's face it, Amanda's a bitch."

She still wasn't buying it. "Why would Amanda waste the time?"

"What? Do you think I am lying?" Birkhoff's anger boiled over.

"Calm down Birkhoff." Michael patted his shoulder. "So how did you get away? You can't tell me you fought them off."

Birkhoff glared at Michael. "I did, thank you." He replied, "With my car."

Alex, Ryan and Michael all cracked smiles at the thought. "So what are we doing here?" Nikita remained all business.

"We've been doing some research, since Amanda would have to have someone to reactivate the chip." Birkhoff explained.

"Why?" Nikita paced across the room. "I thought she had access to all of Ari's resources."

"We did too." Ryan replied, pulling up an image on the screen. "Until we found intel that she is looking for this man, Wexland Cooper."

"Who is Wexland Cooper?"

"Birkhoff before, well, Birkhoff." Michael replied.

A young dirty blond, hair pulled back into a ponytail, dress in black sweat clothes and a white t-shirt walked into Division's Operations headquarters. He was completely lost looking. Wexland Cooper, the head tech of Division, walked over to him in greeting. "So you must be Seymour." He greeted the scared young man.

"Birkhoff." He replied. "Everyone calls me Birkhoff."

Birkhoff looked around. He had been told that recruits were not normally allowed into Operations, but here he was. There were computers everywhere with techs working on them. "So I understand you are something special." Wexland told him. "Quite the hacker. So, they've given you to me. Instead of the standard training, I am going to train you to be Division's tech expert, so you can take over for me."

"Why would I go along with this?" the young man sneered back.

"We could just put you back in prison." Wexland reminded him. "The Chinese are just waiting for a crack at you."

Birkhoff rolled his eyes. "So? I'll survive, I always do."

"What is your problem kid? We are giving you another chance. Hasn't anyone ever told you that looking a gift horse in the mouth is a bad idea?" Wexland shook his head in disbelief.

"My problem is that no one has given a damn about me! Now I'm supposed to believe you're all going to give me a shiny new title and a shiny new life and I won't have to do anything else." Birkhoff exploded.

"Exactly." Wexland replied. "This is about second chances."

"So, where is he? We need to go get him before Amanda does." Nikita insisted.

"It's not that easy." Michael replied. "When Wexland got the order of recall when Percy was killed, he took the chance to run. We haven't been able to find him since then either."

"Well, we had better find him before Amanda does." Nikita replied, stating the obvious.

"It won't be easy." Birkhoff replied, "But I've already got everyone trying to locate him."

Later that afternoon, Birkhoff sat in Operations, watching as the techs worked on trying to find Wexland Cooper. He glanced over at Sonya who was working, but obviously upset. He walked over to her station, placing his hand on her shoulder. She jumped, turning to see Birkhoff, and then relaxed. "Seymour," She commented, "You startled me."

"Sorry." Birkhoff replied. "How are you doing?"

"Okay, for now." Sonya replied. "But I know in Division I am safe."

"Don't worry." Birkhoff tried to comfort her. "We'll get everything taken care of. We'll make sure you're safe."

Sonya went back to working on her computer. Suddenly Birkhoff spotted something on her screen. "What's that?" he pointed to it on her screen.

Pulling up the file a picture of a young woman appeared. She had to be young- her early twenties. Birkhoff had an idea. "Do you have the picture of Cooper handy?" he asked her.

Punching a few buttons, Sonya pulled the picture net to the young woman's. The relationship was immediately obvious. Birkhoff and Sonya looked at each other in disbelief. "We'd better get Michael and Ryan."

Ryan had his office windows open, so Birkhoff just stood up and waived for Ryan and Michael to come over. They came over and looked at Sonya's computer. I didn't know he had a daughter." Ryan immediately replied.

"Neither did I." Michael replied. "He must have wanted to keep her hidden. What is her name?"

Sonya punched a few more buttons Jaymee. Jaymee Jasper, her mother's name." Sonya replied. "There are signs that Amanda has been researching her."

"Why would Amanda want her?" Ryan asked.

"Bait." Michael replied. "She would use her for bait. Where is she?"

Sonya did a little more searching. "It looks like she's a student at the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay."

Birkhoff snorted. "I guess he was really trying to hide her."

"Her mother is from Wisconsin." Sonya replied.

"Well, we had better get Nikita and Owen in. They're going to have to go and get her." Michael replied.