The characters in this story belong to the Nikita franchise. This story is not intended for children to read and it is a parents responsibility to monitor their children's use of the internet, not mine.
September
"I have to hand it to you. I didn't think he could do it. After all, he is the moral compass around here." Percy sat on the edge of his desk, his arms folded in front of him.
Amanda smoothed a strand of imaginary hair away from her face. "You underestimate him, his ethics have nothing to do with his ability to perform his duties. Michael believes in himself, his capacity to make a difference, to serve the greater good of society."
"But, he is a man of honor, and to use a woman like that, how could he?" Percy asked sarcastically. His eyes twinkled with amusement.
She settled back in her chair and arranged her legs in a lady like manner. "He knew he was being tested. All of his reassurances to Nikita, that sleeping with a Target was nothing more than an element of the job. He wasn't in a position to refuse."
He stood and stretched his back before walking to the wet bar where he fixed them each a drink. "She is quite a beauty. Smart, sexy and calculating… but she is not Nikita." He raised his eyebrows and handed her a cocktail.
She gave him a sly smile. "No, she's not. She is much better. Two agents with a conscious working together can be a problem. Ergo lies the problem with Michael and Nikita. Mrs. Aleinikov, on the other hand, won't be one of them."
"Her pregnancy is actually a nice touch. A complicated nice touch." Percy shook his glass and the ice cubes tinkled. "What do you think he'll do, now that he knows?"
Amanda tilted her head and pursed her lips together. "That is hard to say. It may serve to remind him that he is Division and not the Boy Scout he aspires to be." She sipped her drink. "How long do you think it'll be before Nikita finds out?"
Percy chuckled. "If not already, soon. It'll be interesting to see how she handles the news."
"When do you plan on telling him the truth?" She raised her eyebrows at him.
Percy leered at her. "Maybe… never?"
Cassandra slipped the straps of her gown off of her shoulders and slid the zipper on the side of her dress down. The garment pooled around her feet and she stepped out of it. She looked over her shoulder at him with shameless candor. She released the clip in her hair and her blonde curls cascaded down her back.
He thought they were much alike, moody, secretive and two-faced.
Walking towards him, wearing only her lacy undergarments and high heels, her hips swayed ever so slightly, she was quite a sight. He slouched back in a brown leather club chair, with a drink his hand. His tuxedo jacket had been thrown on the bed and his bow tie dangled from his unbuttoned collar.
Michael told himself to relax and act like the man he was portraying and not the man he actually was.
She made it easy.
"Yo! Mikey? Where are you man, have you heard anything I just said?" Birkhoff gave him an aggravated look.
The far away look in Michael's eyes disappeared. "The mission in Serbia doesn't have to be aborted. Tell Hugo to lay low until Jaraslava contacts him. She'll help us find the exact location of the Target. We know he's in the city and couldn't have gone far."
Birkhoff looked surprised. "You got it." He should have known that Michael was mentally able to multi task, but when he caught him day dreaming, he knew something was up with him.
He barked orders through their Com units, while Michael's eyes darted between the monitors above them as they flashed on different scenes. Within a few minutes, everyone was back on track and the active mission stabilized. The tech expert swung his chair around. "You want to talk about it?"
Michael gave him a vacant look. "Talk about what?"
Birkhoff scoffed at him. "I'm channeling my inner Amanda, there's something on your mind and maybe talking about it will help."
Michael scowled and shook his head. "No, talking about what we do in Division will not help my sour mood, but there is one thing you can do."
He knit his brow. "Anything." It wasn't often that Michael asked him for information.
"I think Division has given Cassandra Aleinikov some resources and I'd like to know what they are." Michael paused and stared at Birkhoff. "This has to be off the books."
"Okay, but why the secrecy? That was your Op, you could look into it." He looked perplexed. Michael had as high a level of clearance as he did.
"Just do it, okay? I don't want Percy or Amanda know."
It was a flurry of arms and legs, throwing punches, kicking and trying to catch the others weak spot. She pivoted on her right foot and when her opponent grabbed her arm and tried to twist it behind her back, she flipped herself onto the ground, taking him with her. She rolled off of him and kipped to her feet, before throwing herself down on him and putting him in a strangle hold. The look on his face was frantic when he struck the mat with his free hand. Nikita let up and her sparring partner gasped for air and looked at her warily.
Carlos glared at them from the sidelines with a look of disgust. "I hope your feeling better. What the hell are you trying to prove?"
She gave him a dark look. "I'm just keeping my skills sharp." The training mat was one of the few places that she could express her anger.
Carlos snorted out a laugh. "You had better not kill any of these new agents, Percy won't like that."
"Not to mention the agents." Birkhoff chimed in, he'd walked up behind her and stood there looking uncomfortable.
She grabbed a towel and mopped the sweat up off of her face. "What?" She replied to his troubled glare.
Birkhoff muttered under his breath "Not here." He handed her a slip of paper with a set of numbers and a word scrawled on it. "Here's that number you asked for. Don't bother thanking me." He said loud enough for others to hear.
She gave him a puzzled look as she watched him walk off in a hurry. Nikita put the slip of paper into her pocket and walked toward the locker room. Once there, she tucked the info into her purse before stripping off her work-out clothes and heading toward the shower.
Once she was clean and her hair in a tight bun, she dressed in the prescribed clothing that Amanda had insisted was appropriate. A demure looking gray suit, a cream colored silk blouse and black pumps. Nikita signed out of Division using the fingerprint scanner and went back to her apartment in the City.
He was never far from her mind. How could he be? When she broke it down to into smaller pieces, she saw that he was a mentor, a protector and a friend. Nikita was, if nothing else, loyal and caring. Knowing that Cassandra Aleinikov was pregnant with his child brought her within an inch of her boundaries, but in spite of how much she resented this turn of events, she also knew that the victim here was Michael… and the child.
When she walked into her apartment, she threw her keys on the counter and slipped off her shoes. She went straight to the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of white wine and went to her computer.
Nikita knew the slip of paper that Birkhoff had handed to her was an I.P. address, and that the cryptic word panacea was most likely a password. She logged into a secure connection, one that she had installed herself and used her best hacking skills to gain access to the mysterious server. When she finally navigated her way there, only one file existed and attached to it was a note from Birkhoff.
I'll deny sending you this so don't even bother pointing a finger at me.
She opened the document and it was from Percy's secure and classified files. This was not the spit and polished version, but contained the gritty facts of Michael's mission to Belarus. The objective was to eliminate a global security threat within Eastern Europe by accessing the private directory of Ivan Aleinikov, President of Belarus, and after the information was recovered, assassinating him.
Michael's cover was as an Interpol agent, looking into the theft of jewels and artwork from a wealthy German businessman. A necklace with a matching pair of earrings had showed up in a photograph of the First Lady, Cassandra Aleinikov, and he had been sent to investigate. An initial interview and inspection proved his information was invalid, but a spark of interest had been ignited and an invitation to a party the President and his First Lady was hosting, was extended.
Nikita knew how charming he could be and she chided herself on being jealous. The more she read, the more it felt like she was witnessing a car wreck, but she couldn't tear herself away from it. It was intrusive and considering she had no claim but friendship on Michael, it was none of her business, yet she kept reading.
It was an old story. A handsome man finds and rescues a beautiful woman from the clutches of a loveless marriage. Add money, greed and power to the equation and it seemed that Michael had created quite a monster. Lies, promises and sex had sealed the deal. Cassandra would betray her husband and the information obtained would be used as leverage to blackmail President Aleinikov out of thirty million rubles and to grant a divorce.
Everything had gone as planned. Over the course of a month, Michael gained Cassandra's confidence and they became lovers. She had recovered the pass codes needed to access his records and that triggered a chain reaction. The photos that Kelly had been sent were included in the file and Nikita hated herself for studying them. She knew it was a lie, she knew that Michael wasn't in love with Cassandra, yet it still pained her to see him with the blonde woman in his arms.
What Michael didn't know is what Percy's real objective was, adding the rubles that equaled almost a million US Dollars to his personal coffers. Finding the directory and assassinating the President was for the benefit of the CIA, which Percy gladly agreed to, in return for the money. Michael's affair with the First Lady was for the benefit of… the First Lady. Cassandra Aleinikov had entered into the conspiracy as a willing partner.
It was a sordid tale, and as awful as it was, the ugliness of it wasn't over.
When she was done, Nikita was horrified, worried and livid. Somehow, she knew she had to do the right thing, but sometimes "right" isn't always evident. She picked up her phone and called Michael.
She met him at Matt's Grill for a drink and hoped she had the courage to tell him what she had found. Michael sat in a booth across the table from her. Others may have missed it, but Nikita saw the fatigue in his eyes.
"You said it was important." He looked at her, not at all aware of why he was there.
Nothing in her Division training prepared her for this moment. It was extremely personal and she thought, heartbreaking. She handed him a file. "I came across this, please don't ask me how, I won't tell you."
She slid the manila file over to him.
Michael picked it up and leafed through it. He stopped at a page that Nikita had flagged, and his face began to burn with anger and humiliation. "Percy." He continued reading another page and finally looked at her with murderous rage in his face. "They could have told me."
"I'm so sorry, but you deserved to know the truth, even if it makes you miserable." Knowing the pain she was causing him made her heart ache.
He took a deep breath, finished his drink and shrugged. "I know he must have had his reasons."
Nikita looked at him with disbelief. Of all the reactions she thought he might have, this wasn't one of them. "How can you say that?"
The last few pages spoke of Cassandra Aleinikov's purported pregnancy and how the biological father was clearly not Michael. Six years before, after the car bombing that killed his wife and daughter, Michael had been sterilized, without his knowledge, before leaving the Navy Hospital in Yemen, to join Division.