Chapter 2: A New Life (Part 2)
Michael groaned as his cell went off. It felt like he'd only managed to fall asleep a minute earlier. Flicking on his bedside lamp, he snatched up his cell. It was a private number.
Sometimes he absolutely despised being a Division agent.
"What?"
"Michael?"
He sat upright in his bed. He'd never heard Nikita so afraid. Before she even explained why she was calling, he knew what she'd done.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know who else to call. They're tracking us through the woods. I don't know how much further I can make it."
"I told you to follow orders," Michael said, kneading his forehead. "I can't help you now."
"You can access the file on Operation Pale Fire, can't you? There has to be something in there about Nikolai Udinov's associates who are still friendly to him."
"I doubt after the coup tonight any of them will be willing to take you in."
"Look, I don't care if I make it out of this. But don't let it all be for nothing. There has to be someone who'll help the girl."
Michael tried to shut down his personal feelings. After a moment, he sighed.
"Give me a minute."
As he switched his computer on and logged in to Division's main database, Nikita thanked him from the other end of the line. He couldn't help but picture her, dead, in a shallow grave. He'd feared for a while now that she wouldn't last much longer as an agent. It didn't matter that even Percy admitted she was one of the best operatives Division had ever seen. Her heart wasn't in it, and nothing would change that.
"Here we go," he said. "Anton Chudov. He's on Zetrov's board of directors. Marked here as an Udinov family friend who'd never turn on them."
"So he wasn't part of Sergei Semak's group of dissenters?"
"No. I'm forwarding you his contact details."
Nikita said nothing as the data went through. Pain Michael hadn't felt since he'd laid eyes on a burning car wreck years earlier hit him.
"Okay, I got it."
"Nikita."
"Yeah?" she asked, hope fainter than a dying star in the sky edging her voice.
"I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault," she said, voice softening. "You're the best man I've ever known. Take care of yourself."
Michael gripped his chair's armrests. When Percy had called him into his office, he'd expected to hear that Nikita had been killed in action. Instead, Percy had played back their entire phone conversation.
"This is exactly why I didn't include you in the operation. I knew you'd give Nikita an easy out."
"What's going to happen to her?"
"Excuse me?" Percy asked, flush with anger. "If you were anyone else, I'd let you go to your grave never knowing. But I'm going to give you a chance."
The buzzer to Percy's door went off. Glaring at Michael, he ordered the person inside. A bleary-eyed Birkhoff wandered in.
"I've hacked into that Russian hospital's security feed. No disrespect, sir, but my Labrador's chew toy could've gotten in there. I mean, I don't mind doing any more jobs like it, but if you want to save on some brainpower, I think another tech would be up to it."
Finally noticing Michael, Birkhoff's smirk withered. Michael grimaced at him.
"That'll be all for now," Percy said.
"Alright then." Birkhoff backed out of the room, flashing a thumbs-up sign with both hands. "Go team."
"We have a team on that hospital as we speak," Percy went on. "Nikita and Anton Chudov arranged to meet close-by so he could take the girl to be treated straight after. Smoke inhalation injury, apparently. Anyway, you'll reach their location by the time the meeting goes down. You'll take out Nikita."
"What about the girl?"
"Roan will handle that."
Michael's shoulders slumped. Percy's gaze hardened.
"Sometimes the innocent have to be sacrificed for the many, Michael. If Alexandra Udinov survives, control of Zetrov will be issued to her father's corrupt partners until she comes of age. If she doesn't, Sergei Semak can take control and change Zetrov for the better."
Nodding wearily, Michael said, "I won't let you down, sir."
– Pick up, Nikita.
Michael shot a nervous glance at the agents spread throughout the temporary field base. He didn't have to worry that Roan or any of the other stone-cold killers would come over and strike up some friendly conversation, but he couldn't be sure if one of them was monitoring his phone.
At last, a reply came. Like Michael's frantic messages to Nikita, it appeared to be a string of gibberish. In reality, it could be deciphered with a code Nikita had developed as a recruit. Michael remembered it because it had taken Birkhoff a whole day to crack. It took Michael a minute now, and when he did, he rolled his eyes.
– ?
He prayed he wasn't making any mistakes as he rushed out his reply.
– Chudov meeting compromised. Abort.
– Too late.
Michael nearly dropped his cell as Roan materialised beside him.
"Got all three of them," he said, handing Michael a tablet with a map of the area. "Chudov and the girl are heading to the hospital. We'll take care of them. Nikita's yours."
Roan signalled for his team to move out. Michael scrutinised the dot on the tablet screen marked as Nikita.
He barely intercepted her before she reached the hospital.
"Are you insane? Five Omega Unit agents are in there. They'll kill you on sight."
Nikita lowered her gun. As Michael stepped closer, he realised she was crying.
She never cried. Not when she'd returned from one of her earliest missions with injuries so bad even Amanda had seemed sorry for her. Not when she'd suffered the indignity of taking on the Josephine alias with two men on two missions at the same time. Never.
"I'd rather die than let them take her," she said, swiping her tears away. "Move."
"They answer to me. I can look after her. I promise you I will, but you need to run."
"No, I know Roan. He's Percy's dog and no-one else's. He won't stop until his mission's complete."
Michael took Nikita by the shoulders. She closed her eyes, shaking her head. Finally, she nodded.
"Okay," he said, taking a step back. "Percy ordered me to cancel you. So … make it look good."
It took Nikita a moment to figure out what he meant. Before he could prompt her, she drew her arm back and slugged him in the jaw.
"Come on, Nikita. You can do better than that."
She responded by pinning him to the ground with an arm bar and smashing his face into the dirt. He wobbled back onto his feet.
"Good enough."
To his surprise, she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around him.
"Don't let them win, Michael," she said into his ear. "Goodbye."
Michael ran. His burning lungs only made him sprint faster to the team's waypoint. Entering a rundown building, he spotted Roan's salt-and-pepper hair and black-framed glasses.
"What happened?"
"She got the drop on me," Michael said, clutching his chest. "Probably watching us the whole time."
He caught the flash of steel just in time. Not one second after Roan pressed the tip of the KA-BAR into his side, he had his Beretta lined up with the cleaner's gut.
"If she'd known we were here, she wouldn't have let the girl go. Are you sure someone didn't help her escape?"
Michael's grip on his gun grew slippery with sweat as Roan's knife drew blood. Before he could act, he noticed something over Roan's shoulder. Roan turned. Omega Unit was filing through the door, one of the agents leading Alexandra Udinov by the arm.
"Go ahead," Michael said. "Kill me right in front of them. Nobody's laying a finger on that girl, do you understand?"
"Percy –"
"I'll accept whatever punishment he has to give when we get back."
Eyes cold with disapproval, Roan sheathed the KA-BAR. Michael looked from the tarpaulin and container of hydrofluoric acid at their feet to the girl. He startled as he caught her bright doe eyes on him. She gave him the tiniest of smiles.
He melted.
"She's so adorable. Like a pet. A pet that holds the fate of a multi-billion dollar corporation that controls half of Russia in her tiny little hands. What should I do with her? I know! Why not bring her back to the headquarters of the top-secret U.S. government agency that took out her family? What were you thinking?"
Michael flinched as Percy shouted the last part. Amanda observed them from a corner of the room, one eyebrow arched in that insufferable way of hers.
"Look at her, sir."
"Oh, I'm looking at her," Percy said, throwing a hand toward the girl seated in the opposing room. "That's the problem."
"Tell me you could stand by right now and watch someone dispose of her."
"This doesn't come down to a chess game with my conscience. I answer to people, too."
"They never have to know. Nobody has to know. Nikolai Udinov took great pains to keep her out of the media. She's less than a ghost. To the world, she's a ghost without a face."
"And what do you propose we do with her? Take her out on missions as the Division mascot?"
"Use one of the foster agencies Division uses to find recruits. Put her in a good home."
"I'm not about to send her into the wild and leave it to chance that questions about her past won't come up somewhere down the line."
Michael could feel the straws he was grasping at slipping further away.
"Well, sir, I could always –"
"Adopt her?" Amanda asked. "You're overseas half the time, the rest you're here. Hardly a suitable guardian."
"Exactly," Percy said. His brow furrowed, before he added, "Wait, are you agreeing that we should let her live?"
"Yes. And I'd like to volunteer to be her caretaker."
Michael and Percy raised their eyebrows at each other. Michael would've believed her more if she'd announced she was eloping with Birkhoff.
"Keeping Alexandra close provides a long-term strategic advantage," Amanda said. "Percy, you've heard the rumours about Sergei Semak consorting with Gogol. If he decides one day to turn his back on us, we can bring him into line by threatening to return Zetrov to its rightful owner."
"What do you get out of this?" Percy asked.
"Nothing. Except a pay rise so I can upgrade my housekeeper to a nanny."
A sinister smile played on Amanda's lips. Michael's skin crawled at the thought of any child growing up in her home. But he wasn't about to take Percy's side on things.
At last, Percy said, "This could work."
After a further half hour of heated discussion, Michael entered the interrogation room where the girl was waiting. She didn't look up from the paper she was scribbling on. Sitting on the edge of the table, he saw she was drawing a woman's face. A pair of demonic eyes glared out from behind a gas mask. His heart sank.
"Hey, you finished the Sudoku puzzle already. I never manage those things."
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Michael."
"Alexandra Nikolaevna."
"I know. That's why I'm here. Alexandra Nikolaevna Udinov has to die."
She fixed her devastating gaze on him.
"I don't understand."
"Do you know who we are? Why we brought you to the States?"
"You saved me from the people Papa was afraid would betray him. From that woman."
"That woman –" he took a deep breath, forcing himself to continue "– the people who attacked your home worked for your father's right-hand man."
"Mr. Sergei Romanovich?"
"He's going to be instated as the new head of Zetrov at the end of the week. If he gets word you're still alive, he'll use Zetrov's resources to find you. He won't stop until you're dead."
"I see," she said in a small voice.
"A woman named Amanda's going to come in here soon with a package. That package will contain the life of Alex Grayson, an orphan from Philadelphia who Amanda's going to take in."
"Why?"
"We're not going to cast you out to fend for yourself. We're going to protect you, but you have to be careful. You have to memorise every detail about Alex Grayson, and get rid of Alexandra Udinov. Lose your accent. Forget your old life. This."
Alex snatched her hand away as Michael touched a silver watch dangling from her wrist.
"Okay, we don't have to go that far."
Her expression was raw pain. He knew she still had a way to go before she reached the height of her suffering. He remembered how his own had almost ended with him overdosing on morphine.
"Listen," he said, kneeling down and squeezing her hand. "If you want to let it out, it's okay."
Panic settled over her.
"Papa said I had to be strong without him. Papa said I mustn't look weak. Papa …"
Shifting forward, Michael enveloped her in a tight hug. She let out an anguished noise and buried her head in his neck.
"It's okay," he said as her frail body heaved with sobs. "Nobody's ever going to hurt you again, Alex. I promise."
A/N: Thank you for the kind reviews. Will Alex turn out good or bad? Wait and see!