Chapter 9: The Ties That Bind
From observing everyone in Division, Birkhoff and Ryan in particular, it wasn't hard to tell that something was completely wrong. Birkhoff was commandeering every tech to work their asses of even though they were already doing the best they could. Ryan didn't really know what to do, except for keeping Birkhoff in check. Ryleigh went up to him.
"Ryan, what is going on?" She asked with genuine concern.
He turned around when he heard her voice, he hadn't seen her come in yet. He quickly looked around at the screens of the techs and the main screen if there was anything that could give away what the mission originally was.
"No, no, Ryleigh, you can't be here, alright?" He said nervously, but it also sounded as a command.
"I know you don't like me knowing about your business, but clearly..-" She stopped mid- sentence and looked at Ryan shocked. "Did.. did something happen to..?
Ryan opened his mouth and then closed it again while he was trying to figure out what to say. He finally understood all of Alex' objections, it was so hard and just somehow painful to be lying to this girl.
"Ryleigh, Nikita has been compromised during the mission.." He said.
"Compromised, what, what are you talking about?" She said confused, but she began to feel anxious.
"She's been missing, taken."
"By who?" She said as she got a glimpse at the screen of an unmanned computer. She saw a picture of Amanda under the heading of 'Operation Nightfall.
"..Ryan, what is that, what's operation Nightfall..?" She asked slowly.
Ryan knew Nikita would rip his head off for this, but he didn't have a choice. He sighed.
"Ryleigh, look at me. This mission they went on was not just an everyday mission. Amanda had infiltrated our system, killed one of our own and god knows how many others, she had to be stopped. Operation Nightfall was a kill mission. We did not succeed and now Nikita has been captured most possibly by Amanda."
Ryleigh just stood there. She didn't know what to think or what to do anymore. Her first instinct was again to run away, but that was clearly not an option here, she was just locked up in some underground facility full of people she didn't really know. People who had betrayed her so deeply.
From the corner of her eye she saw a group of people entering Ops.
Blinded by anger she ran towards them, towards Alex.
"You lied to me! I trusted you and you lied to me!" She yelled as she pushed Alex. Ryleigh just wanted to hurt her in any way, she tried to hit Alex, but she was faster than her and she grabbed both her wrists.
"Whoa hey! Ryleigh, calm down!" Alex said as she tried to control her, but she knew Ryleigh had every right to be mad. It pained her so much to see her like this, the feeling of betrayal and desperation in her eyes.
Michael grabbed Ryleigh away from Alex and guided her towards the hallway. Ryleigh was still struggling, but she quickly realized it wasn't doing any good and she let him take her.
"You promised." Ryleigh said pained while she looked back at Alex.
o0o
"Wake up, Nikita."
She had gone unconscious, apparently. Nikita slowly came to her senses again. She didn't know how many rounds of electric shock she lasted until she passed out, and honestly she didn't care. Amanda could go on forever, Nikita wasn't planning to give in.
Were the lights more dimmed than before? As she opened her eyes completely she noticed an intimidatingly large man standing in front of her, who was blocking the light for the most part.
"I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Thaddeus, or Thad for the inner circle." Amanda said as she smiled.
"Nice to meet you, Thad." Nikita spoke, trying to look up to him.
Thad looked at Amanda, who nodded, after which he threw Nikita a punch in her stomach.
Nikita's body bent over from the heavy impact while all the air in her lungs left her body. She coughed heavily as she tried to pull herself together again.
"Thad's Greek, not English. A little simple minded of you to be assuming so." Amanda said.
"Greek, of course, my mistake.." Nikita said still coughing.
"So, shall we get back to the deal we're gonna make?" Amanda said as if they were just two business partners in a fancy office.
While she was unconscious Amanda had installed a whole technical area around the table she was sitting in front of.
"I'm gonna make a call to Division and I bet Michael wants nothing but to get you out of here. He maybe won't admit it, but he'll bring the girl personally to me if that meant he could get you free."
Nikita began to have a tormented expression on her face. Michael knew she would despise him for making such a trade. On the other hand, he didn't know Ryleigh yet like she did. But he wouldn't just give her up like that. Would he?
o0o
Michael was just about to talk to Ryleigh, try to calm her down and explain the situation as far as that was possible, but an incoming message from Amanda obstructed him from that. She had let herself appear on the large screen, for everyone to see. And what he saw made his heart pace at an outrageous pace for two reasons. One, he looked upon an alive Nikita. But she was in fact in the hands of Amanda and from the looks of it she had already suffered under her care. Her head was resting on her chest as she sat strapped to a chair.
"Here's your strong Nikita, as a sign of good faith. You know what I want. I am giving you thirty minutes to decide what to do. Be sensible as I know at least some of you are and make the right decision. And please don't try anything stupid, because I'll be ten steps ahead of you." Amanda spoke and she disappeared as sudden as she came.
Everyone was silent for a few seconds, until Birkhoff took the lead and continued commandeering the techs.
"Come on, people, keep working, analyze that video and get me a location!"
Michael and Alex were still looking at the screen, but were called in by Ryan, and a few seconds later they were all in heated discussion.
In all the commotion Ryleigh had been sneaking off towards the elevator. She had seen the video call just as everyone else. She had seen Nikita. And she had seen the surroundings.
As angry and upset she was, she felt in her heart that she didn't actually want any of them to be harmed, especially not Nikita. She wasn't gonna let anything happen to them due to her mistakes no more. It was best to leave them by just trading places.
She arrived at the level of the garage. In her days spent in Division one of her favorite activities was just walking through the massive complex. She learned quick and after a while she knew where all the basics were and how to get there by using different routes each time. Luckily no one was here. She was almost certain they would decide to make the trade too eventually. Nikita's life was way more important to them than hers, but she wasn't taking any chances.
She couldn't help but smile when she thought about the car hijackings she had done once or twice, and that this was gonna be the situation she'd be using those skills for.
While she was driving the black SUV, to which she needed to adjust a little, it was quite different from the smaller cars she had driven, she started doubting. Did she really recognize the right place? The large hall was one you would remember, it looked like a floor of an office building under construction, concrete floor and pillars, but with walls and no windows. Still, she could also be driving to a completely different location. Then again, there was no going back now, this was the only chance she had.
o0o
"No! There is just no way we're gonna hand over Ryleigh to that woman. We just need to come up with a plan.." Alex said, frustration seeping through every word she spoke.
"You heard her, Alex, if we try anything, anything, she's going to take measures I don't even wanna think about." Ryan replied with almost the same tone.
"I know you don't have trouble sacrificing little girls, Ryan, but you're gonna have to go through me first now!" Alex scolded at Ryan, but as she spoke those words she felt immediate regret.
Ryan was taken aback by her intense remark and he didn't really know how to react.
"Guys, stop! We are wasting time while Nikki is out there suffering! We are gonna come up with a plan to save both of them, alright?" Birkhoff interfered fiercely. He looked at both Ryan and Alex, who nodded, but with bowed heads, as if ashamed of their heated argument.
Alex suddenly lifted her head and looked around the place. She ignored all the staring faces as she was looking for one face in particular.
"Where's Ryleigh..?"
