Chapter 2 Lessons

Alex typed in her temporary password, glancing covertly at the teacher. He lowered his coffee mug, eyes shifting around the classroom as his tongue peeked out, catching a drop of coffee from his lip. Her eyes were drawn to his mouth until she realized she was staring and shot her attention back up. His eyes imprisoned hers and she knew he'd noticed, but then he shifted his attention abruptly, letting his eyes travel from student to students as he slowly paced the rows of computer stations.

"Hacking you will soon find out requires imagination and intuition," he lectured in a bored tone, leaning over Tom's keys to tap something for him, "something you may possess if you could dig deeply beneath the mounds of useless trivia clogging your thought processes."

She stifled a laugh, earning his immediate attention. "Something amuse you, Alex?" he warned before she shot her gaze back to her screen.

"No sir," she murmured, quickly catching up to the rest of the class.

"Good, because I am not here to amuse you, I'm here to make sure you don't get yourselves killed when you're sent out to infiltrate someone else's system and you have to be quick."

"What about fail safes?" Tom asked, keeping his eyes on his work.

"We'll get to that later," Birkhoff shot back, shaking his head and moving on. He glanced at Jaden's screen and frowned, leaning over her shoulder to reset her keys. "Like this—you'll get it eventually."

She glared up at him as he moved on. "You do have to follow the rules we've gone over but once you advance to the upper levels you'll need a less objective motive so keep working and try to think outside the box for a change," he ordered, stopping to lift his mug to his lips again.

She escalated to the next level, eyeing him when she felt no one else was watching. He looked tired from their late night assignment despite all the energy drinks he must consume on a regular basis. Coffee only added to the mix, and he looked paler than usual. She noticed a small cowlick on the left side of his head which she feared the other students would soon notice and ridicule, but he didn't seem to mind. Fighting the urge to defend him, she glanced at his long black jean-covered legs and the charcoal gray hoodie he wore. He reached his desk and splayed his arms to stretch, and she watched the eggplant colored tee shirt he wore stretch against what looked like a surprisingly muscular chest. Tearing her gaze away she typed in a few logs and tried to decide why he intrigued her so much. Maybe it was all the contrasts, his pale skin and blonde hair offsetting his dark-colored clothing, or his angry barking lecturing tone vs. the soft husky voice and whisper she'd heard in her earpiece. Looking up, she caught his gaze sliding across her face and offered him a tiny smile as she wondered about his past.

Rumor had it he'd been here even longer than Michael, whom Percy had recruited eight years ago from a military hospital in Saudi Arabia. He'd lost his wife and daughter in a car bombing and later had fallen for Nikita. To her regret so had Birkhoff, if the other rumors were true, and she meant to ask Nikita about it the next time they met. As for Amanda, she'd told her herself about being head of a psych unit at a prestigious hospital in Boston before becoming involved with a patient she'd been too weak to resist. Percy, Amanda had told her, had been an executive for the CIA before going undercover into Division. But Birkhoff remained pretty much a mystery even for the gossips. All anyone knew about him was that he'd been imprisoned for hacking into the government's mainframe before Division pulled him in. It wasn't a surprise given his intellect and persistence, but she wanted to know more. He'd only been 16 when they put him in a federal penitentiary, trying him as an adult. But what had driven him to go that far knowing where it would get him? She wondered about his family and where he was from, and by now gossip couldn't satisfy her. She wanted to ask him herself, but most of all she wanted to look into his eyes when she did.

"Alex—stop daydreaming and get to work," he shouted from the front of the room before eyeing the clock again. "You've only got a few more minutes before we break."

"Sorry," she called out, sitting higher on her stool and glancing up to find his piercing gaze still on her. But as everyone started typing faster she thought she saw a hint of a smile lift one corner of his mouth.

"I'm really sorry," she added, eyes back on her screen. "I was just thinking outside the box."

"Really?" he said flatly, his expression doubtful as he walked toward her section while she typed a string of commands. "And which box might that be?"

She glanced up at him as he stopped, lifting his mug and gazing at her over the rim. "Umm—I guess I trying to think of a loophole in the base program design."

He took a swallow and resumed pacing. "Ah yes, the veritable loophole strategy," he sighed, stopping at Jaden's side. "Good but not imaginative enough—try advancing that to mid level."

"Ok," she sighed, starting to reprogram as he leaned over Jaden's screen, his face screwed up.

"What on earth is that?" he said in a disgusted tone.

"What do you think it is?" she retorted as he straightened. The noise level in the room fell as every eye focused in the coming confrontation.

Birkhoff shook his head as she glared up at him. "It wasn't a rhetorical question—what are you doing?"

She shrugged innocently, looking up at him with a smile. "I thought I'd add a porn link, that's all," she stated. "Surely that will distract the target long enough so I can hack him."

"Yeah well it's inappropriate and counterproductive to the assignment,"he stated, reaching over to delete the string. "Try another approach— you have potential if you can manage to drop the attitude."

"Yeah, well I'm just copying you," she muttered, resuming her typing.

"I'm the instructor, which allows me to speak however I please," he lectured in a warning tone. "If anyone else feels they can lead the class be my guest."

Alex glanced up, noting how everyone lowered their heads and typed furiously.

"No? I didn't think so," he yelled, leaning close to Jaden. "If you don't like my class we can always get you reassigned to kitchen duty," he said pleasantly.

"Fine with me," she said in a bored tone. "I'd much rather peel potatoes than be in your class."

He straightened, bent his arm behind his back and bowed. "Your wish is my command," he shouted. "Anyone else like to join her, cause I actually prefer students who care even the tiniest bit about getting ahead."

Jaden got up slowly and held his gaze as she slowly pulled on her sweatshirt, forcing her breasts out at him. "Oh and about that porn link? I 'm just following your example, teacher," she purred.

"Yeah, well have fun learning how to peel potatoes in one continuous squirly-gig—"

"You're just prejudiced because of my skin color," she hissed, heading for the door. Three other African American students looked up, eyes glaring at her.

"Think what you want, I really don't care," he shot back, waving dismissively at her as she opened the door. Leaning over Tom's hand, he punched something on the keyboard. "Ciao, sweetheart!"

She lifted her hand and gave him the finger, sauntering into the hall as he shook his head. Glancing at the clock he straightened.

"Let's take a 15 minute break and be back on time?" he announced, reaching for his mug again. Walking toward his desk, he leaned back against it as the room cleared.

Alex kept working, glancing over at Tom, who was finishing up something. She eyed Birkhoff as he reached up to rub the back of his neck with one hand. Meeting her gaze, he pursed his lips as she continued typing. Tom got up with a sigh and breathed he'd be back.

"You're entitled to a break, you know," Birkhoff sighed tiredly, watching her.

"I know," she said, feeling her heart quicken at the look in his eyes. For a moment neither of them spoke as her fingers raced across the keys. She was aware of him pulling away from the desk to come toward her. He stopped at her side, crossing his arms.

"You know I can tell you're better at this than you let on," he said quietly, his voice so deep it vibrated across her skin.

She looked up, holding his gaze. "I like it, that's all." Actually I like you, she hoped her expression said.

His gaze narrowed before lowering to her lips. "Yeah well we don't always get what we want."

"I'll do better," she promised, thrilled at the glint of response she'd seen in his eyes before shifting her attention back to her screen.

"Some extra tutoring will help," he suggested, shocking her. She glanced up into his eyes, which looked dark enough as navy blue.

Well aware of the risk she was taking, she smiled up at him. "That would be great—I know you're the best and I really want to follow in your footsteps, Professor."

His eyes lit with amusement before he turned away. "Whatever…come back at 8 and we'll go over some other problems."

"Yes Sir," she said gently, watching him go out the side door. Keeping her head down, she quickly accessed the shell program and typed Nikita a message.

"Birkhoff thinks I'm an idiot."

As she scrolled through the class problems she saw the answering note: "Don't underestimate him…"

Birkhoff leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. "Damn," he whispered, trying to get the vision of her eyes from his mind. His heart was pounding from the tension between them and he knew he was in serious trouble. "Look, don't touch….hell, I can't even look!" he muttered as the bell rang and summoned his students back to class.

Pulling away from the wall, he glanced around the edge of the bricks into the corridor and watched them file back in. "God help me," he groaned as he passed the cooler and counted to ten. "Only half an hour longer."

She was getting to him, and he had to admit he enjoyed it thoroughly. Maybe it was because of the risk they both faced, his being the greater. Amanda was watching him closely, and Michael already knew his past history of lingering in the video conference room for his weekly five minute luxury of a phone call to Amsterdam. A phone call! He wasn't guilty of any visual involvement, just audio and that had already been two months ago. Once Michael was onto him he couldn't risk anymore such indulgences, and once Alex had been dragged in he had no more interest. She'd captured his interest from the very first time he'd laid eyes on her. He knew it was suicide but he frankly didn't care. She was worth it.

"All right little children!" he called as he strode back into class, avoiding looking in her direction. He clapped his hands and they all actually took their seats, their yapping quieting to an awesome silence that went straight to his ego. "Listen up—we're going on a trial run and whoever passes gets to sleep in for a week!"

They groaned in unison at first, then got to work as soon as he mentioned passage out of their morning class for a week. "Yes I can do that without prior warning—"

"Seriously?" Tom interrupted, looking a bit scared for doing so. "We can sleep in and miss this class for an entire week?"

"That's what I said—now I want you to reboot and when the system's coming up get into the operating system," he ordered, watching Alex's eager expression stay glued to her screen. She was into this, and she was hiding her capabilities from him. He suspected her of being a lot more than met the eye, though she put on a good act. He only hoped her interest in him wasn't an act as well.

"Come on now, this is Programming 101, let's get a move on!" he shouted, making some of the less adept students cringe. "Hit the function key, you should remember which one and how often. We're gonna do some serious hacking of the registry files pending your timely arrivals…"

Roaming the aisles, he eyed each screen, pausing opposite Alex to stare at her profile. She was a small very neat package, he couldn't help noticing, probably the only attractive girl here who was shorter than he was, and by a good six or seven inches which, in his book, made her marriage material. He still held onto the hope of someday having a wife and 2.5 kids, not to mention a house in the country. But not in suburbia...never there.

"Alright Alex and Tom are in—what's up with the rest of you?" he called, resuming his roaming. "Come on, we only have half an hour left and this is the fun part!"

They all groaned as he nodded to Michael's wave of interruption. Walking over to the door he met him there, barking out the next few commands to take them into the trial run. "You can help each other on get in while I speak to the brass," he added, stepping out into the hall though he kept an eye on them.

"We're in trouble," Michael said quietly, crossing his arms as he looked up at him. "Percy's onto us."

Birkhoff tensed but smiled indulgently before shifting his attention back to class. "I've no idea what you're talking about."

"Nikita, what else?" he whispered, moving away from the door and gesturing to him to follow.

With a sigh Birkhoff stepped from the threshold, keeping his attention on his students. "What?"

"She's got a mole in here, he thinks," Michael worried, his gaze flitting from one end of the hall to the other. "We're his prime suspects."

"Come on!" he shot back in a whisper. "He knows we're stupid for befriending her, but not crazy!"

"Maybe, but regardless be on your best," Michael warned, leaving his side. "Later, man."

"Yeah, well thanks for that," he called after him, shaking his head as he strolled back into the classroom. "Come on—penetrate the system! What've you all been doing while I was gone?"

He watched Alex's shoulders lift as she hid a giggle, secretly relishing her appreciation for his dry sense of humor. Like Nikita she seemed to understand him and accept the difference in mood he often had, which was a rarity. He paced up and down the aisles monitoring each screen for any serious problems, remembering the days when he'd had Nikita in this very classroom. She'd been at least five years older than he was at the time, yet somehow they'd managed to become friends. By the time Michael arrived Nikita was half in love with the newbie, though he still considered her hot and teased them both about it. Michael he'd dubbed Sir Lancelot, realizing now how young he'd been predating both of them. Just a kid, in fact, yet charged with teaching both of them the rudimentary basics of hacking and programming. It was his lot in life after the hit he'd taken in the field that second year, and after Percy had decided to trust him with Operations despite his hacking background. It had taken him months to recover the use of his arm, during which time he'd been reassigned and had stayed ever since. But he still missed the action of field work.

Now what does that say about me? he thought as he monitored the next row of students. But he was bored and weary from teaching, getting pasty and losing muscle tone from being confined indoors all the time. He worked out whenever he could, but still lost some muscle tone and strength from what was basically a sedentary job. If he was grumpy enough and shouted loud enough Percy would hear about it and then maybe he'd get a field assignment just for a break. The last one was over four months ago, and he was ready. His aim was even better than it had been and he knew he had that going for him. As he strolled by Alex's station he smiled at the thought of going out in the field with her and maybe letting her see just how good an agent he was. Or had been.

"Good job," he congratulated her, nodding to Tom. "You too," he added.

"Thanks," the older recruit stated, eyeing the clock. "Can we leave early?"

Alex looked up at him, her eyes wide. "Yeah, sure—you too sweetheart."

She glanced nervously at Tom but got up and nodded. "Yeah, thanks Professor."

He resumed his pacing, glancing toward their departure after they'd signed off and cleared out their stuff. Not liking the way Tom walked so close to her, he watched Alex stiffen in posture as they went down the hall and disappeared beyond the windows of his classroom. The room seemed to darken without her and he sighed, eyeing the progress of the other students.

"You do as well as they did and you can leave early too," he lectured, heading back to his desk and thinking of the new threat from Percy. A cold shiver ran down his spine at the thought but he concentrated on finishing up and heading back to his quarters for a much needed power nap.

Percy narrowed his gaze on their subject, glancing at Amanda's profile. "What do you think?"

She sighed and tossed her hair back over one shoulder. "He's too abrasive… he needs to be back on active duty, and he's certainly recovered—"

"The man is a genius with an intellect higher than either of ours," he stated, watching Birkhoff sling his messenger bag across his chest. "I can't risk him getting shot again."

"But he's alienating the new recruits and his negativity is detrimental to their progress," she countered. "At least give him one mission, just for a break in his routine."

They watched him leave his classroom and weave his way against the stream of recruits heading for the cafeteria. A few of them bumped shoulders with him, and as proof of her assessment he suddenly grabbed one of them and shoved him against the wall, holding him there though the young man was much larger and taller than he was. The recruit looked terrified and apologized profusely, but Birkhoff pointed a finger in his face and shouted for him to watch where he was going. Then he released him so abruptly the young man stumbled while the crowd stood staring in shock at their nerdy professor.

"I think I see what you mean," Percy surmised with a grimace. "Alright I'll take your advice this time, but he'll need our best backup."

"Fine but give him free rein and make it an important assignment," she advised. "He'll suspect anything less, and no doubt respond by taking even more risks."

"How about giving him the Russian job?"

She turned to stare up at him, considering it. "That's a high-risk assignment but he does know the language."

"I'll send Michael along—"

"Make it Roan instead."

He pulled his gaze from the monitors. "Birkhoff hates Roan—it's a bad mix for that level of duty."

"But they won't be chit-chatting, and don't forget your suspicions about Michael."

Satisfied when Birkhoff shoved his way into his quarters and locked the door, they faced each other.

"He's ordered in again but he needs some rest," Percy stated. "And you're right, we do need to keep them apart for now."

She inclined her head. "I wouldn't worry about Birkhoff and Nikita…but Michael and Nikita is another story."

"We'll keep an eye on them both," he said coolly, "though I trust your judgment completely."

She watched him lift the receiver and punch a speed dial number. "Roan, I want you to get ready for Moscow—Birkhoff will be in charge of the operation…yes you heard correctly. Understand that no harm must come to him in anyway…alright, he'll need a few days' rest before you go so plan on Monday. I'll be briefing him tonight. Just be his rearguard...it'll be just the two of you."

He hung up as she raised her brows. "He'll need a haircut and fitting for a tux."

"Do your best, my dear," he smiled. "He may not object as much once he knows where he's going."

Amanda pursed her lips. "I hope you're right."

c. 2011 by Christine Levitt