PLEASE NOTE: The character of Michael in this chapter is NOT Michael Novotny; he is Nikita's boyfriend, Michael.:)
Justin was hustled into a room, still tied up with four guards watching him closely; soon a door opened and a woman curtly instructed them, "Leave us alone, please."
Justin smiled just a little smugly at his visitor as they departed and she closed the door. "Hello, Nikita"
"Are you going to tell me why you called Michael's phone, Justin?" she asked without further preamble.
"I need to talk to you... now could you untie me, please? If I wanted to kill you we would probably be kicking each other asses right now."
Nikita came up behind him and freed his arms. She gave him a half-smile as she confessed, "I'm surprised you didn't kill me already..."
Justin rubbed his hands where they had been chaffed from the confines of the ties and his face sobered as he told her, "Considering what you did maybe I should have."
"What about YOU?" she countered, one elegant eyebrow arched upward.
Justin huffed in irritation. "Listen, I had NO idea that woman was one of yours when I killed her; Thomas and Abigail told me she was the reason why one of our agents betrayed the unit... I had no idea that you had taken over the division and she was your agent."
"Fine," she told him as she crossed her arms across her chest. "Let's say I believe you; what are you doing here?"
Justin stared at her intently for a moment before he advised her, "I'm here to end the division and the unit war, Nikita; once and for all."
Her mouth gaped open in surprise. "You're surrendering? Just like that?"
Justin smiled in amusement. "Not quite. I have a better idea. You help me kill Thomas, and I'll let you take over the unit." He personally had no desire to take control; his priorities had shifted dramatically during the past year.
Nikita stood there considering it; she'd be lying if she didn't admit the idea was extremely attractive to her.
"You could have them both," Justin suggested, trying to sweeten the pot even more. "By combining them."
She eyed him skeptically. It wasn't like Justin to be so 'accommodating.' "And what do YOU get out of this?"
Justin didn't hesitate. "Freedom," he told her softly. "And... The man I love." Justin looked in her eyes, noticing a flicker of emotion cross her face at the mention of the last word.
"And that's it? All you want is your freedom to be with this man? You are willing to leave all of this behind for that?"
"Yes," he told her simply, because it was true; to him, Brian was everything. Please... he silently pleaded. Let him still be alive...
Nikita stood there in contemplation for a moment, before all of a sudden in without warning she swung her leg up and kicked Justin in the head, knocking him to the floor.
"I guess I deserved that," Justin said wryly from his supine position on the ground as he rubbed the side of his skull and stared up at her.
"That was for Alex," she said as she stared down at him with her eyes flashing. "Now that I've made that clear, what's your plan?"
"Nothing too complicated," Justin told her ruefully as he rose to his feet to face her. "Just going in there and killing everyone until I get Brian back." And to him, there could BE no other option; he wasn't leaving until he and Brian were reunited and he knew he was safe.
"I like that plan," Nikita said with a grin; the unit's agents and the division had been at odds for years, so it would be a sort of sweet payback. So many of her friends had been killed, and the unit's agents were getting far more brutal and skilled; after all, unlike her subordinates they had been trained from birth and could practically kill in their sleep.
"They should have let me go when they had the chance," Justin told her, his jaw set with grim determination. "Now they're going to pay!" he vowed.
Nikita smiled coyly. "Oh, you mean the 'year off' thing? They didn't let you choose after all?"
Justin's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What do you know about the unit's "free-year" option?"
She placed her hands on her hips as she revealed, "Well, everything they promise is true if the agent is a medium level operative. But if you possess a higher level of expertise, it's all a big farce. They have been told to do whatever it takes to get you back into the fold, or if they fail they're commanded to make sure you never see the light of day again. So you see, my friend, your fate was sealed from the very beginning if you refused to return."
Justin was so pissed at Nikita's words that he couldn't wait to carry out his plan; it was definitely time for some retribution; and if Brian should have already been harmed... He would see that nothing or no one was left behind untouched. It wouldn't bring Brian back, but it would be a start toward justice for him.
"Then let's get on with it," he growled as she nodded.
Nikita left the room and returned soon with two guns modified with silencers, Michael following closely along behind her.
"Hold on a minute; I'm not sure about this," Michael told her hesitantly as he grabbed her arm just before she could give Justin the guns. He didn't appear surprised at all to see the other man, but eyed him warily as he looked over at Nikita.
"It's alright, Michael, I trust him," she tried to reassure him, but Michael wasn't totally convinced.
"After what he did to Alex?" Michael growled, looking into her eyes. Justin merely glared back at him unflinchingly as he met his gaze.
"You know what the unit is like, Michael" she reminded him sternly. "He was just a pawn in the game. Do not fear - I will get appropriate revenge for Alex. When I get done, the unit's highest authority will be destroyed. But I can't do it without Justin's help, you know that."
Michael scowled over at Justin as he asked, "What makes you think he's trustable? After all, he's willing to betray his own unit. Why would you believe anything he says, then?"
"Because of love," was all Nikita said as Michael released her arm, at last understanding the reason all too well. It was not too long ago that he had made a similar decision. Nodding in resignation, Nikita gave him a slight kiss and turned around to focus on Justin.
"Here," she said giving him the two guns.
Justin nodded, peering over at Michael warily. He, too, didn't quite trust the other man, but at the moment there were more important matters to consider. "Let's go, then," he urged, knowing time was critical if he was to save the man he loved.
After three hours of driving they arrived at the secret unit offices where the operation's management was hidden away; nobody knew where it was, except for a few agents on a need-to-know basis. Fortunately, that information had been revealed to Justin earlier; a fact that his superiors obviously weren't concerned about anymore. After all, they assumed he was as good as dead now.
From the relative security of their vehicle, now hidden behind some heavy vegetation, Nikita peered over at the entrance and asked, "How are we going to make it through the gate? You know it's heavily fortified."
"I guess killing the five guards and just walking in isn't an option for you?" Justin asked, his lips pursed tightly together. He was still furious over the unit's secret intention of never giving him the freedom to decide what to do with his life, although he shouldn't have been surprised by their duplicity.
Nikita looked at him, feeling she'd better take the lead on this because she knew Justin was pissed, and also desperate to save his man; a dangerous combination that she was hoping to put to good use later. "I have a better idea."
A few minutes later, the guards standing watch at the building's entrance observed an attractive, slender woman running out from behind some heavy bushes, desperation on her face as she screamed out, "Help; please, I need help!"
Two of the five agents ran over toward her, leaving the remaining contingent still standing watch at the gate just as she hoped they would.
"I found him here; I think he's dead," she reported to the guards as they approached, pointing at Justin who was lying still and motionless on the ground.
"Who the hell ARE you and how did you get here?" one of the men asked her suspiciously as the other one bent over to check on Justin's condition.
Before the last sentence had even been completed, however, both Nikita and Justin had pulled their guns on the unsuspecting men.
"The name's Nikita," she told them with a smirk just before she hit one of them over the head with her gun and knocked him to the ground in a formless heap; turning to the other man who backed away slightly, she informed him, "Now you are going to take us in there as prisoners; if you make any unusual moves, I swear I'll kill you before you can let out your next breath," she vowed.
The guard was well aware of the name 'Nikita' and what a formidable opponent she was; not wanting to test that reputation, he nodded in resignation as she waved her gun toward the compound. She grabbed his arm as he began to walk toward the front gate.
"I don't think so," she warned him, suspecting he would alert the others. "Take us around to the back - quietly." He nodded sullenly as the three of them crept through the underbrush around the perimeter of the property, eventually arriving at another gate leading into the rear entrance of the building.
"Don't just stand there," she growled as the guard approached the back door. "Open it up - and no funny stuff," she warned him as he fished out a plastic key card and swiped it through the slot. A small click could be heard as he reached to open the back door.
"Thanks for the hospitality," Justin quipped as he cold cocked the security guard and promptly knocked him out. He smirked over at his companion as she grinned back at him.
"My most dangerous weapon," he told her smugly.
She rolled her eyes in amusement. "Ready when you are, Tiger," Nikita told him as she held her gun at the ready in anticipation.
The two of them entered into a rather dimly-lit hallway, narrow and nondescript in nature leading into what appeared to be the basement; there were doors leading off on both sides that were closed, not providing any information they might be able to use. Justin, however, spied something that might be of benefit to them at the end of the hallway as he pointed in that direction with his gun.
"There's the electrical box," he told her as they quickly made their way over to the rectangular-shaped object. Opening up the slightly rusty contraption, Justin quickly cut all power to the building as he hissed, "Let's go!"
Together, they took off at a sprint up the steps that they had spied just before all the power was extinguished, using their well-honed skills to quickly ascend toward the main floor; they met a couple of guards coming down the steps, illuminated through two glass-block windows, and shot them dead in their tracks before they even knew they were there.
"Come on!" Justin urged Nikita as they hurried up the rest of the steps.
"Where are you going?" she asked as he turned around just briefly to say curtly, "Seventh floor; Thomas' office."