NOTE: Back with more! This chapter is a lot longer than the rest. Thanks to everyone who is reading and leaving me comments. If you can, please comment! I like getting feedback on my work and if you have any suggestions let me know. Enjoy!
Working with Nothing
The next morning Michael walked out into the common area and saw Birkhoff and Sonya passed out at the computer desk. They must've been up all night working on Shadow Net. He touched each of them on the shoulder and they jumped out of their sleep. Birkhoff squinted up at him.
"What time is it?"
"7 am," Michael told him. Birkhoff looked over at Sonya.
"We must have passed out from working on Shadow Net all night."
"How's it going?"
"We did a lot last night," Sonya finally chimed in. "We have a pretty functional system at this point. With a little more work we should be able to find Nikita."
"Well, before I do anything I need a shower, breakfast, and an energy drink because I am exhausted."
"I'll go grab breakfast for everyone," Michael told them.
They all turned when they heard foot steps coming down the stairs. Alex came downstairs fully clothed in a pencil skirt and a suit jacket with stud earrings and her hair down and curled at the ends. She was Alexandra Udinov today.
"What's with the getup? You know we aren't at Division anymore right?" Birkhoff said sarcastically.
"I have a meeting with Maryam Hasan. We are going to discuss my role in helping stop human trafficking. I have some ideas that I want to share with her already."
"Good. The faster you can get in there and start taking down the human trafficking sites, the faster we can get to the Shop."
"Take down the traffickers, weaken the Shop. Sounds good to me. With the resources you'll have access to you may be able to look at the locations on our map of the Shop facilities." Birkhoff said.
"Just don't mention the Shop. We want to keep this under wraps until we know more about them." Michael said.
"Got it," Alex nodded. They heard Ryan come down the stairs and he was fully dressed in a suit as well.
"And where are you going?" Birkhoff asked.
"I'm meeting with President Allen," Ryan told them while fixing his suit jacket.
"Allen? Why?" Michael asked.
"I wanted to go and give my condolences for President Spencer and then offer my services if he needs them. I'm going to tell him that I worked closely with President Spencer and Danforth."
"That sounds great Ryan, but how is that going to help?" Michael asked.
"Yeah you can't exactly walk up to President Allen and tell him that you are the former overseer of a secret agency known as Division," Alex said.
"Yeah we lost our pardons when we lost Spencer. No one that knows about Division is left. Spencer and Danforth are both dead." Sonya added.
"I'm not looking to get us back our pardons. Not just yet. Or telling the President about Division. I want to offer help in the search for Nikita."
"What?" Michael scoffed.
"They know me as a researcher mostly interested in 'conspiracies' i.e. Division. If I can convince him that I can help in the search it will give me access to government documents and I can find out what they know or think they know about Nikita. Of course I'm not going to go in there giving them actual information."
"Alright I guess that could be useful," Michael said.
"Good thing is Nikita didn't turn herself in yesterday as we had thought," Ryan said. "So if she is in hiding we'll just have to find her once Shadow Net is up and running. Until then we can start trying to figure out what Amanda's next move may be. We know she is working with the Shop, but we do not know why they wanted President Spencer dead. We can start thinking about that." Ryan said still acting as if he was leading the group at Division.
"Alright I'll stay here and work on that. You two go take care of business. Michael said. Ryan nodded and headed out. Alex followed behind. Michael touched the back of her arm as she passed him.
"Be careful," he said to her. He was always protective over Alex. He had been like that with her when she was a recruit even before he found out about her connection to Nikita. He never really knew why, but it may have been because she reminded him so much of Nikita when she was a recruit. She had potential to be someone great and she had a big heart like Nikita. Especially with Nikita being gone, he felt the need to watch over Alex. She would want him to. Alex hadn't showed any more remorse over Sean after she came out of Amanda's mind control, but he knew that she was still suffering inside. She just wouldn't show it. He almost wanted to talk to her about it, but he knew it would just open up another can of worms.
She looked at him with her big green eyes, nodded, then left.
Michael went out and got breakfast and then went searching through the house for anything that might be helpful to them. He wanted to start thinking about everything that had happened and how he could link it all together to find out what Amanda was planning. He didn't find anything useful in the rooms so he went back down stairs where all the computer equipment was laying around. He stopped when he came across a white board near the front door. It had names of computer equipment scribbled on it and the amounts they needed. Michael picked it up and brought it into Birkhoff and Sonya's miniature Ops. They watched him set it up against the side of the wall and try and wipe the old marker off of it.
"What are you doing dude?"
"Getting ready to map out Amanda's plan. You have a napkin or something?" Sonya handed him one of the napkins that was in the bag with their food. Michael was able to get the rest of the marker off.
"There..." He realized it would be hard to write with the board on the floor so he looked elsewhere. He noticed a small bookshelf filled with video games and he place it on top of there.
"Now we can start."
"Michael...do you want to take the day off?" Birkhoff asked.
"Why would I do that?"
"You've been through a lot these past couple of days. You look exhausted and did you drink last night?"
Michael realized that a good shower may do the trick.
"I'll go take a shower, but I'm not taking the day off. Nikita is still out there alone. I need to find her."
"Okay but don't over do it." Birkhoff said. Michael left the room to take a shower. Birkhoff turned to Sonya who by the look on her face was thinking the same thing.
"He is going to burn himself out," Sonya said.
"I know. He does it every time and I try to tell him to relax every time. He's not going to stop until he finds her."
"I think we can track Nikita now. I was just working on it..." Birkhoff stopped her and looked to see of Michael was there.
"Let's just wait a while. Niki is smart. She knows what she is doing. I'm sure that she doesn't want us coming after her right now," he said quietly then took a swig of his energy drink. Sonya nodded and continued typing away on the computer.
WASHINGTON, D.C. United Nations
Ryan dropped Alex off at the UN to meet with Maryam Hassan.
"I'm really missing our access to vehicles in Division. I think I may have to buy us another car." Alex said to Ryan.
"Yeah we may need another one. I'll come to pick you up just send me a message."
"Alright. Good luck."
"You too." Alex opened the door to get out but Ryan called her again. "Hey, Alex. You think Nikita is alright?"
"I think she's safe. I don't think she wants us to worry. I think she just wants us to watch out for one another." Ryan smiled and nodded.
Alex got out of the car and went to meet Myram Hasan. She fixed her clothing and her hair. She didn't want to admit it to herself but she was nervous. She knew that she was going to finally have some power of her own. She was going to start making a difference. Although she did all of those missions for Division, she never felt like she was doing something important for someone else. This time she really knew that she would make a difference for girls like her. She took a deep breath and walked into the room she was told to meet Maryam in. The door was open and she saw Maryam on the phone. She knocked on the door quietly. Maryam looked up and her face lit up with a smile.
"One second" she said inaudibly. Alex nodded and stood in the doorway with her hands folded. Maryam hurried to get off of the phone. She stood up and slowly pulled away from her desk as she told the person on the other end that it was great talking to them. She hung up and then walked up to Alex with her hands out. She took Alex's hands into hers with a big smile.
"Alexandra Udinov. I'm so happy that you are here. I thought you weren't interested in the position and that I should have tried harder to get your interest in the organization," she laughed. "I told the team that you were coming today. They are all so excited to work with you. You are going to be a great asset to our team." Alex felt a little overwhelmed. She let out a nervous laugh and put her hair behind her ear.
"Thank you Ms. Hasan I'm so grateful that you offered me this position. I never saw myself doing something like this, and I really admire you for it. You helped me realize that this is something I would like to do." Myram smiled at her and lead her out of the office.
"I'm happy I could do that for you. Well, lets get you started." She led her to a meeting room full of people sitting at a large table. Alex and Maryam stood in front of the people and Maryam introduced Alex to everyone.
"Thank you for letting me be apart of your team. I'm excited to work with all of you and I hope to really make an impact in the effort to help save these young girls women stuck in human trafficking. You might know that I was once caught in nightmare of sex trafficking and it took me a years to get out. It was a tough journey but I made it. I want to help other girls do the same."
"Great. We look forward to it. Please." Myram started clapping and everyone began clapping as well. Alex felt great but it almost made her uncomfortable getting so much praise. They saw her as Alexandra Udinov previous heiress to the Zetrov throne forced into sex trafficking but a survivor now wealthy with her rightfully deserved inheritance. Maybe that was true on the surface but that was only the very thin top layer. They didn't know the real Alex. The one who got addicted to drugs and became suicidal who nearly died until she met a woman who saved her life. The girl who did not know until later that the woman who saved her life killed her father and the mother who she thought was dead was actually having an affair with the man who ordered for her father to be killed. They had no clue. But in a way she saw it as beneficial. They saw her as someone important and influential. She wanted to be someone like that but in a way that she wanted, not a way people expected her to be. And this was her chance. She was going to take advantage of that.
After the meeting, they broke off into groups. Alex was put into a group with Maryam and her closest advisors. Alex thought it was a good time to explain her ideas.
"I was thinking, you usually try an find each individual girl. For instance, if you are told that a girl is missing in India you work to find that girl." They nodded. "Well what if we go after the people controlling that girl. They usually have houses full of girls. If you rescue that one girl they can find another. I think we could really make a change by attacking the system."
"Well that would be ideal Ms. Udinov but we don't have the resources for that."
"I may be able to get us the resources for it."
"We wouldn't even know where to start looking."
"I have an idea."
OVAL OFFICE
Ryan greeted President Allen with a handshake.
"Sir, it is a pleasure to meet with you."
"You as well Fletcher. I have seen you working with President Spencer before. You seemed to have a big influence."
"Thank you-"
"Sometimes at her displeasure."
Ryan paused unsure what to say.
"But influential none the less"
"Sir. I worked closely with President Spencer and I wanted to come by and show my condolences. It is truly a tragedy. She was a great leader of this country, but the American people are in good hands now as well."
"Thank you Mr. Fletcher and thank you for coming by."
"Of course and Mr. President...I actually wanted to talk to you about the assassination." President Allen sat there waiting for him to speak. "You may know I worked as an analyst in the CIA. I would really like to offer my services in the effort to find the person who committed this terrible act."
"You mean you want to work the case? In the CIA?" Allen said almost in disbelief.
"I-yes sir I do. I really want to help. I was close to President Spencer." Ryan said to him. Allen stood in deep thought and nodded.
"I guess we can use as much help as we need." Allen said. Ryan was hopeful that the President would say yes.
"I have been keeping in contact with the CIA. I'll talk to them and see what they need. I'll get back to you Mr. Fletcher."
"Great, thank you sir."
"Thank you Mr. Fletcher," Allen shook Fletcher's hand.
"It was a pleasure, sir." Ryan left the White House. He wasn't sure what to think of his meeting with the President. It hadn't gone the way he expected. He got to his car and checked his messages. Alex was finished her meeting as well. He went to pick her up.
President Allen watched Ryan leave the room. He waited a few seconds before picking up his personal cell phone to make a call. He sat back in his chair and waited for an answer.
"Victor. Everything running as planned?" Amanda said.
"Ryan Fletcher stopped by today. He wanted to give his condolences for Spencer...and then he asked to help in the search to find the president's assassin," his voice lowered although no one else was in the room with him. Amanda laughed.
"And what did you tell him?"
"I just made him think that I would consider it but...why would he come here and offer to find her? Weren't they in Division together?"
"He is trying to get access to government information about the assassination. He is trying to figure it out. Just keep leading him on. He's smart. He'll figure out that he isn't needed. Just keep to the plan Victor. Everything will work out in our favor. But don't forget that we need to find Nikita."
"Of course."