Turkish-Armenian Border 2007

Sprinting towards the safe house where she had hidden provisions for the next few days, Nikita ran into the forest dripping from the river water that she'd been in only moments before. But, before she could move, she had to get rid of her tracker. Pulling out a knife from her boot she looked at her faint hip scar. She found the bump where the implant was and stabbed it feeling it break within her. Her cell phone read that her tracker was offline marking her as dead. She crushed the phone with her heel and ran.

Her timetable was clear, the house was 30 minutes away on foot but, because she ran, she would be there within 10. The provisions that she had hidden in her closest were stashed carefully: some clothing, various identifications with passports to match. Her escape was a plan she had devised 3 months prior- the very minute she had been told of the operation. Through the Turkish forest she ran until she came upon the log cabin. Checking her watch, she realized she had about 20 minutes if Kelly walked and even less if she had run away out of fright. For the first time while working for division, she hoped her partner was lazy.

She entered the house and ran towards her things, not matter how pressed her time was, she needed to clean up. Nikita didn't have much and her health was not something she was willing to risk. She removed her split tracker with eyebrow tweezers and bandaged her hip. After a quick rinse, she changed into a pair of black leggings and a fitting grey shirt, clothes that were yet to become her uniform.

Running towards the floorboard, she lifted one of the loose pieces of wood until the counterpart glued right next to it broke as well. After stashing some money, passports she checked her watch again. With an estimated time of 2 minutes left she was already finished. Throwing her backpack over herself and purse over her shoulder, she walked over to the kitchen where she had left a half full water bottle; she finished it off and tossed it in the bin. It was time to go and with one last look, Nikita heaved a sigh of relief and walked out of the safe house, and out of division.

She would hike for hours and stop, then again and another stop. 6 hours after leaving division behind, Nikita finally reached a Gyumri small Armenian city that had a taxi transportation system. She approached one of the drivers who sat in his car smoking what appeared to be his 6th cigarette. On the verge of collapsing she knocked on his door and he looked over. "Yerevan airport" she croaked. Breathing out the smoke he had just inhaled, the balding man nodded and made a notion for her to get in as he was to lazy to speak. The fat man got out of his taxi, grabbed her bags and threw them into the trunk while she settled in. She looked at the half green half yellow hills for a few moments until she dozed off.

Nearly two hours later she awoke to the sounds of car honks and for a moment forgot where she was. As she regained her composure, she realized they were there. The car rode on and after a few more seconds of sightseeing the city that was made entirely of stone she saw it. Tapping the driver, she pointed to the airport. He nodded once more and pulled over. She paid the driver her fare from a skimpy wallet, then cinched her backpack up on her shoulders, grabbed her purse, muttered a thank you and left.

She walked in and for the first time ever she looked around the airport and felt relief. This was a trip back home! She hadn't killed anyone and wouldn't be …hopefully. Michael was wrong, you couldn't get used to taking a life, at least she didn't. She pushed out her thoughts about him; thinking about him would bring up Daniel. Her new mission was simple to stay dead and find Alexandra.

How she would do in the grand scheme of things she wasn't quite sure but it didn't matter. She was Nikita, as Amanda would always say, Nikita could do anything she put her mind to and that was exactly what she planned to do.

After buying her ticket, a one-way flight to New York she approached the terminal. One last look and she went in, now all that was left was for her to sleep the next 16 hours so when she got back to New York, she would neither be jet lagged nor put off schedule.

"Ladies and gentleman this is your captain speaking the turbulence is over and the seatbelt sign is unlocked so feel free to walk around again. We'll be landing in about two hours so stay put and enjoy the rest of the flight."

For fourteen hours she'd been out. At least she was fully relaxed, they were supposed to land at 7 in the morning, now with more then a full night's sleep, she could start working. Hazel eyes opening wide she looked to her side and saw no one. I guess no one wanted the cheapest seat she mused to herself.

"You're awake!" Nikita heard a voice exclaim. "Goodness you were out like a light, would you like me to bring your meal now?" A leggy blonde stood to her right in a light turquoise airline suit that even Amanda would have approved of.

"Y-yes please" hunger took her. When was the last time she had eaten? She had never been one for eating a lot. Small light meals were what she always expected to fill herself up. 14 hours for the flight, 2 hours in the taxi, 30 minutes hiking with Kelly, 20 minutes scouting the area with Kelly, 40 minutes running away and packing and 2 hours between leaving for the operation and her breakfast. So that came about to 19 and a half hours, she'd handled worse.

"Sorry about the wait. Were all out of the regular meal so you're going to have to settle for the vegetarian, is that okay?" The stewardess held the meal in her hands hoping for Nikita's approval.

"Absolutely! Thank you."

"Anything to drink?

"No, no thank you" Nikita smiled again. She always drank coffee on the plane but no, not anymore. Division Nikita drank coffee, this one wouldn't. Unraveling her meal to find a warm bowl of risotto she decided she would go vegetarian. Well, technically she already was but this time for herself. When she'd been living in the recruit rooms and was served the bland food, it was the little things to rebel that counted. Starting with her first meal of pulled pork that Amanda had placed in front of her that Nikita had thrown away shrugged then said, "I'm a vegetarian". Besides she said to herself as she opened up her apple pie, meat was pricey, hard to cook considering her new place didn't have much of a kitchen and also, she argued to herself, she'd killed enough.

Once she cleared out most her plate, the stewardess took it away leaving Nikita and hour and a half to do whatever she would need. She took the liberty of planning the next few months. Pulling a notebook out of her backpack, she began to think.

Optimally, she would immediately go after Alexandra but it was too risky. No matter how much she hated it, it was important to stay out of Division's radar. Time was ticking when it came to finding the little Russian girl and everyday she could be loosing another lead. However, she would remind herself, with Division off her tail, no one would be hurt. With a twitch of her head and a roll of her eyes, she grabbed a sheet and a pen and began to write out herself a chart. For her, charts were nice, innocent and organized plus, division didn't like charts or plans, as it only had orders and reports.

General List

Secure money from Whitfield's bank

Move into loft

Design loft

Workout

Buy groceries

Go shopping

Set up computer system

Keep tabs on Division

Dig info on the Russian Mafia

Find Nikolai Udinov's driver

She went over her list. It was 6:20 in the morning and the bank opened around 8. She'd get there, empty the vault and leave. She knew exactly where she would store the money too. With the guns already at her apartment, she had her most important furniture there. One of the large cases was empty; it seemed fit for her to put her money the same place where it came from.

Next came moving into the home. There was furniture in the loft already although she had made Whitfield clear most of it out. He had tacky taste. She also had her weapons there; all that was left was a shopping spree and new bedding. The beds were there too. About a month before, she had stayed late during a meeting and Percy had asked her to buy new beds. Two recruits had had it in for one another and destroyed each other's rooms along with the beds. This left them cancelled and the empty rooms in need of new furniture. So, as Nikita placed the orders for the beds to come she ordered two extra ones and sent them to her apartment instead. They were light in weight and easy to set up. And, because she was Nikita, no one ever asked any questions.

Working out was simple as well. Having everything she needed already it was possible to continue doing the same regime she did when she lived in her old apartment.

Morning 1h Run

Yoga

Core Conditioning

Weight lifting

Boxing

Buying groceries on the other hand would be different, shopping as well. Although she wasn't an Amanda, Nikita certainly liked nice things. She also liked food.

If she kept her head down and paid in super dollars, shopping wouldn't be a problem. Food was the same but with only a mini fridge, the trips would be frequent unless she cooked them and ate them throughout the week. But she couldn't cook in that apartment and to buy an oven would be risky and pricey. All she had was a mixer, a running water tap, a fridge and cutlery. She knew that every Saturday there was a fresh produce market a few blocks down, that's where she could go- the things would be organic and cheep. Then it hit her, she couldn't cook but she could certainly live off of veggie shakes, salads and other fresh foods they sold. She checked shopping and food off her list and moved on.

"Oh no…" she muttered. Technical babble. She was good, but Birkhoff was better. It was the beginning of the 'pining for Birkhoff saga'. She could definitely get her equipment from Henry and have him keep quiet. The man only did business with Division for money. The guy was a genius: from stalking people to getting the highest technology possible. He was, the best of the best. She'd go to his later in the afternoon and buy what she needed. Setting up computer system? Check.

Keeping tabs on division would be fine. She knew the pattern. It would be hard, but with 6 months in the palm of her hand, she would manage.

Digging dirt on the Russian Mafia would be okay. She had contacts here and there but Michael had more. Contacting him wouldn't be an option and she just hoped the next time she saw him wouldn't include him buried 6 feet under. She pushed her thoughts aside and got back on track. Dimitry and Oleg were her favorite contacts; she could get whatever information she wanted without infiltration. Russian mafia? Double check.

The Nikolai's driver was okay too. She had been keeping tabs on his family via satellite images. She had him tracked. The girl never showed upon the feed but she'd find her. She just needed six months to hide.

"Ladies and gentlemen welcome to New York! This is your captain speaking and we have arrived at out destination, I hope you enjoyed flying with us today and wish you all the very best".

She was about to raise hell out there and her disappearance was only the beginning.