This chapter touches on: Any Means Necessary

Chapter 1 Betrayal – Part 14

Nikita is lying to me.

I've been staring at the shadow disc for a long time now. I keep twirling it over and over again, unable to decide what to do. In it will be the answer to who Nikita was betraying Section to.

I didn't want to think about who could have gotten to Nikita. If Nikita was betraying Section to a terrorist organization, I would have to hand her in. No matter how much I love her and needed her to stay alive I cannot let her continue feeding enemy information that could lead to the death of civilians.

No, I dismissed that thought quickly. Nikita would never knowingly cause the death of innocents. That went too far against her core beliefs. Then who is she reporting to, Oversight? If that's who she's reporting to then why hasn't she informed George about Adrian?

Perhaps she's reporting to another anti-terrorist agency. Who can it be and when did all of this start?

I thought back over the years. I had suspected Nikita of keeping secrets for years. Back before the Adrian's attempted take-over, all the way back to when she came back nearly 2 years ago from her recovery at the Freedom League camp.

She had said she came back for me. I didn't believe it then and now I realized that I should have trusted my instincts and investigated further. I had been too happy to find her alive, too overwhelmed by my need; I brought her back without scrutinizing how she spent the 6 months she was away from Section. Against my will I thought of the first words she said to me on the barge.

"I thought I lost you."

"You never had me."

Was she speaking the truth then?

The past few weeks have put a strain on both of us. After ceding to the power game Operations and Madeline were playing on Nikita and I's personal lives, things in Section returned to normal. Missions were planned and carried out, operatives were lost, acceptable collaterals were sacrificed, and terror plots were thwarted. Life outside of Section was infinitely lonelier without the prospect of seeing Nikita, of holding her, of loving her.

Normalcy inside Section took a strange turn when Operations decided to send Birkoff, who has never been trained for the field, to infiltrate Jean-Marc Rousseau and his cult Soldat de la Liberte. The profile was made stranger when it became clear that Operations decided on the mission staffing. Judging from Madeline's expression, the assignment hadn't been her idea. That Operations went against her expertise as the executive strategist and psychological profile was puzzling.

I was pondering this fissure in leadership when Birkoff barged into my office. "Michael, tell me the truth, am I being sent into an abeyance mission?"

One day I'm going to have a talk with Birkoff about his tendency to barge in unannounced, I responded: "Why do you think that?"

"Is Operations sending me in to screw up so they can take me down and replace me with Hillinger?"

"If he really wanted to replace you with Hillinger, he'd just do it."

That statement seemed to calm Birkoff for a moment, but I could tell he was still worried. "Michael, can you try to get me out as soon as possible?"

"I'll do what I can."

When Operations changed Birkoff's mission so that he would stay inside Soldat de la Liberte, I thought back to Birkoff's suspicion. While everyone in Section is expendable, something drilled into my head since the first day I entered Section, I still didn't believe Operations would sacrifice him unnecessarily. There had to be a secondary mission in play. I began looking more deeply into Rousseau and his terrorist organization. I looked up when Nikita barged in.

Nikita: "Birkoff's mission's been changed. Operations intends to keep him in there."

Nikita is another person I'm going to need to have a chat about barging in unannounced. Somehow my office has become therapy hour for Nikita, Birkoff, and occasionally Walter. I responded to Nikita: "I know."

"You know? Well, what's the plan then? How long does Operations intend to leave him in there?"

"If he has to…years."

"Well, that could destroy Birkoff."

"Red Cell can destroy us. If there's a chance-"

"You know there's not."

"People survive these things."

"He's not you."

"He's not. Maybe you underestimate him."

"Maybe Operations has something else in mind. He has his pet, Hillinger, in place. Has it occurred to you that Operations might have ulterior motives for all this?"

Operations has ulterior motives for almost everything he does. The problem is finding that motive, which might be difficult since Madeline seemed to be out of the loop as well. Until I find that motive I have to calm Nikita down. "I'll look into it."

It appeared Birkoff was panicking at the prospect of a long-term cover as well when he set Nikita up for an ambush. At first I was infuriated that Birkoff risked Nikita's life, but where he chose to set her up gave me pause. It was a location Nikita had personally been inside not too long ago, which had a built-in escape path. It seemed like a ploy to get Section to think he turned instead of a real set up. If Birkoff had truly turned, he would have given away the location of Section One or would have ambushed someone he cared less about. Birkoff's ploy seemed to have convinced Operations when he ordered us to take down the terrorist organization and bring Rousseau in for interrogation.

Operations: "The Soldat de la Liberte needs to be taken out of play."

Nikita: "What about Birkoff?"

Operations: "Birkoff's become a liability. Bring Jean-Marc in for debriefing; we'll proceed tonight."

Nikita: "You can't do this – Birkoff couldn't -"

Operations: "He's gone over Nikita. Now do you see any other way that we can deal with this?"

Nikita: "I see that you set him up for this. You knew he was in over his head, you knew he couldn't handle it – and when he fails, you send Michael after him."

When have I become the grim reaper of Section? Isn't there an entire division called Housekeeping that takes care of this type of situation?

Operations: "We have an operative who's turned. I see no further need to discuss it."

We left the perch toward my office so I can begin profiling the mission. Nikita was still fuming about Operations' order.

Nikita: "Michael, are you really going to do this?"

Michael: "I have no choice."

Nikita: "It's Birkoff."

Her words reminded me of Walter's cry when Nikita was sent on the suicide mission during the Shay's mission.

Walter: "Nikita's in there!"

I managed to save Nikita then by warning her ahead of time, I'll have to find a way to save Birkoff this time. "I know."

The terrorist organization wasn't equipped to hold out against trained Section operatives. We easily overcame their security and detained Rousseau. Finding Birkoff was easy, what was harder was finding a way to circumvent the profile and bring Birkoff back alive instead of cancellation on the spot.

Birkoff: "Michael, please don't do this, just listen to me, I can explain everything, please don't do this, it's not how it looks!"

Michael: "Request permission to bring Birkoff in for questioning."

Madeline: "Request granted."

Birkoff: "Michael. Listen to me. I know you all think I went over, but that is what I wanted you to think."

I looked up when Nikita entered before returning my attention to Birkoff. I had suspected Birkoff purposely made Section think he turned in order to return. I was not pleased with how he went about doing that so I decided to let him suffer a little longer.

Michael: "Madeline's waiting. You have two minutes to explain."

Birkoff: "It was the only way out. I knew that if Operations thought I'd gone over the other side, that he'd send you in there – that I'd be too much of a risk. I knew that you'd have to come get me. Michael, I'm telling you the truth. Nikita…it was all a ruse. You have to believe me. It was the only way I could get out. If I hadn't done this, he'd have left me inside."

Nikita's words reflected her hurt: "You were just being clever."

Birkoff: "I was doing what I had to do."

Nikita: "Including setting me up."

Birkoff: "Why do you think I picked that bar? You told me yourself that you knew it well. Don't you remember telling me about that trap door behind the bar when you guys came back from the mission? I knew you had a way to get out. I knew you could look after yourself. I had to get you to convince Operations that I'd crossed over and hopefully not get you hurt. Take me to my post; I will prove it to you."

The anger I was feeling calmed with Birkoff's admission that he had chosen the set up location based on knowledge that Nikita had a way of getting out. While I was still mad that he had taken such a risk with Nikita's life, he was doing what he's witnessed and trained to do, survive anyway he could.

I let him out of the White Room and took him back to his desk where he explained to Operations and Madeline the information he managed to get from Red Cell. I watched the pair closely as Birkoff attempted to get a stay of execution, literally in his case. Madeline appeared appeased and satisfied that her assumptions had been confirmed that Birkoff never aligned his sympathies with Rosseau. Operations appeared grim and displeased that Birkoff proved his loyalty. I remembered Birkoff's paranoia at the beginning of the mission.

Birkoff: "Is Operations sending me in to screw up so they can take me down and replace me with Hillinger?"

Michael: "If he really wanted to replace you with Hillinger, he'd just do it."

I still believed if Operations intends for Hillinger to replace Birkoff, he'd just order it. However, it appears Birkoff is in Operations' cross-hair for unknown reasons.

After escorting Rosseau into containment I called Birkoff into my office and secured the room. Birkoff stood nervously in front of me. "Look Michael, I'm sorry. I did what I had to do."

"I know that, Birkoff. I want to warn you I think you are right. I think Operations is trying to take you down, but I don't think it has anything to do with Hillinger."

Birkoff looked frightened: "What do you mean?"

"Just be careful."

I knew Nikita would be hurt by Birkoff risking her life in order to come back to Section. Some of what he said in the White Room about having to do what he had to must have brought up painful memories. I disregarded the Type I directive and went to her apartment.

Before I got there I noticed her leaving the apartment and I followed to catch up with her. My pace slowed when I saw her entering a cathedral. Since Nikita wasn't religious, it was strange she would seek comfort there. I followed her in, just in time to see her exit through a side door. The door led to the church's cemetery. I found her standing by an above ground tomb. Before I could call out to her, I noticed her hiding something in a flower pot in front of the tomb. The strangeness of her action made me duck behind crypt so she wouldn't see me as she walked back into the cathedral.

I approached the flower pot warily. Somehow I knew whatever she had hidden in there will forever change my perception of her. I retrieved the pouch from the pot, and found a shadow disc inside.

I've been staring at the shadow disc for a long time now, turning the disc over and over in my hand thinking back on Nikita's behavior for the last two years. I ran through a list of possible explanations for her to leave an encrypted disc behind, from innocent of damning.

There's only one way to find out the truth.

I inserted the shadow disc gently into the slot and withdrew it immediately. I had managed to capture 7 slides from the disc. Fortifying myself with a deep breath I begin reading.

October 1999

Section operative casualty since last report: 14 operatives, 27 injuries, 4 cancellations, 8 abeyance cancellations

Collateral damage: 36

Mission frequency: 18

Mission success rate: 95%

Operations and Madeline sent Birkoff, level 5 operative, head of COMM, to infiltrate Soldat de la Liberte to gain the confidence of Jean-marc Rousseau. Profile was changed mid-mission to leave Birkoff inside the organization indefinitely, potentially causing a waste of valuable Section resource. Birkoff fooled Section into bringing him back in and provided valuable information on Red Cell.

Status with Michael unchanged. Internal Type I directive is holding.

I drew my breath sharply at this last part of the report. Nikita is reporting activities about me. The fact that she was reporting on a directive regarding our personal relationship in such clinical terms was damning.

I looked at the innocuous disc in my hand and have a sudden need to throw it against a wall and yell out in fury. I made myself place the disc back into the pouch without damaging it and set it down gently on the table.

I know now, without a shadow of doubt, Nikita is lying to me. The question is what do I do now?