Two hours before the Contrelle sisters were set to meet Kasim, Christelle called him on her mobile phone.
"Do we have his location?" Nikita asked Birkhoff.
"Yeah, he's staying in a hotel outside of Paris. I'm finding the route that he'll use to get to the Contrelle sisters' chateau," he typed on the keyboard.
"And Roan?" Michael asked him as he drove the Escalade.
"He's still on the express train," his smile was smug.
Thom turned to him, "Does this have anything to do with you asking me to break into that guy's house and switch his meds?"
"Obviously. When I broke in Percy's office I also left a bug because..he's Percy. I heard him tell Roan to sabotage Michael's mission. He needed to be delayed but I didn't want to make it obvious so I looked up the passenger manifest on his flight. The man who sat in front of him is a paranoid schizophrenic."
"So, I helped make a crazy guy…even crazier?" Thom asked feeling guilty but also a little impressed by how manipulative Birkhoff was.
With an arrogant tone and smirk he said, "Pretty much."
Alex looked at him with curious eyes, "Not bad Birkhoff. Is that all you did?"
"I also hacked into his rental car's navigation system and gave him the longest possible route to the chateau."
"Damn, I hate to say it but that's impressive," Alex admitted.
"I know and that's why I'm the..say it Michael," Birkhoff turned to Michael.
"Never," he flatly said as he continued to drive.
"Really? After what happened last night.."
"Do you want the other half of your face to match the red throbbing half?"
Birkhoff scowled at him, "I hate you."
Michael smirked.
On the lone country road Kasim and his bodyguards drove forward not noticing Thom, Birkhoff and Alex following them from behind
"Nikita, he's in our sights," Alex told them through her earbud.
"And in ours too. ." Nikita answered as Michael drove towards Kasim's vehicle.
"Birkhoff, I'm going out," Alex unbuckled her seat belt.
"I hope your aim as good as Niki claims," he told her as he drove the Escalade.
"You're about to find out," Thom said from the passenger side.
Alex opened the sunroof and aimed the EMP gun at Kasim's car. Once she pulled the trigger his car came to a sudden halt. The car and the electronics inside had been instantly drained.
"Told you," Thom happily told the hacker who rolled his eyes.
Alex came back inside and placed the EMP gun back in its case, she removed a tranquilizer gun from her waist holster.
"Lil'Niki, hold on," Birkhoff sharply turned the steering while slowly tapping the break until the car came to a halt.
Michael and Nikita did the same with their car trapping Kasim and his bodyguards.
"Remember," Birkhoff told Alex as he took out the submachine from under his seat, "you get Kasim AFTER we've taken down the guards."
"I know Birkhoff, you don't tell have to me twice. I'm not a baby," she shot back.
"I know that," his tone was serious.
"Thank you."
"You're a fetus."
"I hate you." She crouched down to the floor.
Michael and Nikita blasted away the two guards in the front seats while Birkhoff and Thom took out the two in the back.
"It's clear!" Alex heard Michael's voice in her ear; she immediately got out of the car.
Thom opened the passenger door for her.
"Thanks," she gave him a brief yet flirtatious smile.
Kasim laughed the moment he saw Alex pointing her gun at him, "What could you possibly do to me? You're only a child!"
"Well you're the one that's about to go down for a nap." She pulled the trigger watching the tranquilizer enter his neck.
Owen and Michael carried Roan into the basement and tied him to a chair.
"How long until he wakes up?" Nikita asked him.
"A half hour, maybe less," Owen answered.
Michael told her, "The same for Kasim."
Both men stared at the ghosts that drove them and then to the woman that made their revenge possible.
Nikita's eyes met theirs; she walked over to Michael and lightly kissed his lips. Although she supported his intentions with Kasim, she didn't want to witness the darkness within him. Her hand cupped his cheek at feel of his forehead resting against hers.
Owen reluctantly interrupted them by saying, "If they talk, we'll make sure to tell you everything."
She simply nodded and let go of Michael. The sound of her feet hitting the steps filled the empty basement until she closed the door behind her.
Birkhoff sat at the kitchen table working on Kasim and Roan's laptops and mobile phones.
"Hey Niki, the movie was lame so I thought I should get a head start."
She nodded, "Find anything?" Nikita asked him after she closed the basement door.
"With Kasim, there's some names and places the same with Roan. It's gonna take awhile but I'll sort it for the CIA," he spoke while typing.
"Good," she opened the refrigerator removing a bottle of juice and looked at Roan's computer.
"He just got an email from Percy..shit."
She walked behind him staring at the laptop's screen, "What?"
"This is a file on Inspector Riley, Percy instructed Roan to take a strike team to kidnap him and his family tomorrow morning at their home."
Nikita didn't hide her concern and anger, "For what?"
"He wants to know if Inspector Riley had anything to do with the raid on Senator Holmes's estate."
"I'm calling Riley," she took out her phone, "I need you to get him and his family a flight out here, fast."
He opened a new window on his desktop, "I'm on it."
Roan awoke to find himself in a situation that he never imagined. Next to him was an unconscious Kasim. Standing in front of him were Michael and Owen. He furiously glared at them realizing that they had set him up.
Owen grabbed the top rail of Roan's chair and said to Michael, "We'll be over there." He dragged him to the other side of the basement.
It took him a couple of seconds but once Kasim's eyes adjusted to the light, he stared up at his captor, "Michael?"
With his arms folded, he glared down at the ghost that had evaded him for all these years.
"Where am I?"
He punched him across the face hearing the terrorist's blood land on the floor.
After spitting out some excess from his mouth Kasim smiled, "This must be your dream. To finally get vengeance for your dead wife and daughter."
He struck him the solar plexus then grabbed him his shirt collar, "Justice."
"Is that what you tell yourself? Michael, we both know that is a lie."
Michael wouldn't admit that he was right, "All those attacks that Al Qaeda orchestrated, innocents died. And you helped make it possible by funding them. All that blood on your hands..it was bound to drown you."
A small smirk was his bloody lips, "Then why didn't you just kill me?"
"Right now, the world's most brilliant hacker is on your laptop as we speak. I assume that whatever he doesn't find is with you."
"I see..torturing me is futile. Allah will see that I died in his name, I will not betray him."
The conviction in his voice already confirmed what he suspected, "You made your choice."
"I was chosen."
He nodded before going behind him and breaking his wrist in his hands.
A loud cry came from him as he hunched over in agony.
Michael removed the knife from his boot and pulled Kasim's head back with his free hand. Bringing the blade to his knife he began to apply pressure drawing blood. As he was about to draw the knife across his throat he paused at the images of Elizabeth and Haley's faces entering his mind. He let go of Kasim.
"I knew it..you're a weaker man that I thoug-.."
Michael's blow to his head temporarily prevented him from finishing his sentence.
He quickly went up the stairs wanting to get out of the basement.
When Michael entered the kitchen he avoided Nikita and Birkhoff's stares.
"That was quick.." Birkhoff said looking confused.
"I'll talk to him," Nikita stood up and followed Michael to the glass enclosed patio.
His back was to her while he gazed at the backyard, "After all this time trying to find him and when I finally do…I can't kill him."
Walking up next to him she answered, "You saw their faces..didn't you?"
His gaze met her stare. It always amazed Michael to see how well she knew him.
She took her hand in his before wrapping him in her embrace.
Tears were held captive in his green eyes, "They deserve justice but-I-I just saw them looking at what I was about to do and I couldn't go through with it. I let them down again."
Her gentle hands held his face, "No you didn't. Michael, you're not weak because you couldn't kill him..you're human. And I'm proud because it shows that Percy Division hasn't taken all of you."
His fingers became entangled in her long dark locks as her words resonated with him. He gave her a gracious lingering kiss then rested his forehead against hers.
After brief moment of peaceful silence he spoke.
"He needs to be dealt with."
"I know.."
The image of Kasim's past crimes came into his mind, "Beijing 2008. He was behind the bombing."
She knew where he was headed, "China's the only country that Division can't negotiate with or buy off."
"And..there's a black box located in a Beijing bank."
They discussed and formed a plan that would resolve their issues involving Kasim and the black box. When they agreed on the execution, they went back inside and called everyone into the kitchen.
Owen emerged from basement looking a bit irritated, "I was in the middle of something."
Nikita spoke to him, "I know and you'll get back to it."
"What's going on?" Alex asked her.
Thom looked at Michael and Nikita, "Is something wrong?"
"No," Michael shook his head, "We're going to China tomorrow morning."
"Why?" Owen asked them.
She looked at all their faces, "We're gonna rob a bank."
Birkhoff nearly choked on his mouthful of Red Bull.