Sorry for the late update, I started a new job. My first real life, grown up, actual paycheck, benefits, I've gone to school for six years for this… job. And, right now things are a little hectic. So I'm not sure how quickly the next update will be up but I'm hoping things will settle down in a couple weeks and I'll get back into a routine for updating. Thanks for your understanding! I hope you enjoy the chapter, I really liked writing it.
Just so you all know, this chapter takes place in October, during a period of time when Division is well aware of Nikita but before Michael turns. I make a point of it being cold during this chapter, if you think that's unrealistic in October, then clearly you don't live anywhere near me or New Jersey, which is where this mission takes place.
11:15 AM
It was unseasonably cold for October, Lena had thrown a black wool coat over her sweater dress. She thought the outfit had been a great idea before she left her Manhattan apartment but now that she was standing in line to go through security at the rally in the park, she was freezing. The wind was cutting through her black leggings as if she hadn't worn them at all. Somehow her knee high boots weren't fairing much better, they seemed to be creating a wind tunnel that blasted cold air up under her coat.
She always hoped she wouldn't have to fire a weapon during her mission but today she prayed extra hard that she wouldn't need to; she didn't want to take off her mittens. What idiot plans a rally in a park, in New Jersey, in October. She thought angrily. She pulled her hat down over her ears, she'd done her hair this morning but by now, with this wind, it was a lost cause. She tried not to look over at Nikita few lines over and only a few people away from getting through security. She knew Nikita would look cool, calm, and collected. She was like a vampire, she probably didn't even feel the cold, Lena thought bitterly. Nikita had thrown on a sheer sweater, leather jacket, and a fashionable hat and scarf combination. She makes this look too easy. Lena thought.
She moved up toward the Security guard and he motioned for her to open her bag, Lena complied and the he prodded the contents of her bag with a metal rod. Her weapon was secured tightly beneath her coat. The security guard turned to the next person in line and Lena made her way through the gates and followed the crowd.
She pulled her blutooth from her pocket and turned it on as she made her way to the back edge of the crowd that was gathering around the stage. She slipped it onto her ear where it was easily concealed under the wild tangle of windswept curls.
"See anything?" Nikita asked.
"Not yet" Lena answered through the blutooth.
The mission plan was simple, Nikita was going to talk her way into the press area so she could head off any attack. After the congressman finished his speech she would tell the congressman there was an attack in progress and she would remove him from the park. Lena's task was to watch the crowd, find the division agents, and if possible intercept the attack. She wasn't sure what she was going to see. From what she knew of Division, they liked to be invisible. She didn't know why Nikita had decided to have Lena watch the crowd, Nikita knew their tactic's better, and she could identify more of their agents. But Nikita had taken point, and Lena was alright with that. Lena didn't know what to say to sweet talk her way into the congressman's inner circle in a matter of minutes but Nikita seemed confident that gaining the congressman's trust wouldn't be a problem.
"Entering press area now."
"Good Luck" Lena said, but the other end of the communication device was silent. Lena scanned the crowd for anyone looking suspicious but it was difficult to pick anyone out of the crowd. Everyone was bundled up in hats and scarves and it was difficult to tell one bundled up marshmallow from the next. Lena held up her phone and took a few pictures of the crowd and sent them on to the CIA but she was doubtful facial recognition would work with all the winter attire. She gently pulled her own scarf up over her nose, not only to block out the cold but also to hopefully thwart any of Division's facial recognition software.
She watched as the crowd grew larger and larger until a man Lena didn't recognize took the stage to provide an introduction for the congressman. Just as the man on stage began to speak sje noticed someone out of the corner of her eye who was out of the ordinary, he, like her, was paying much more attention to the crowd than to the speaker.
Lena carefully pushed her way through the people and crossed just behind the suspicious looking man. She slipped one hand into his black carhart jacket pocket and lifted the man's phone. Before he had any idea it was missing she disappeared back into the sea of people.
She carefully concealed herself within the crowd as she paged through the recent calls on the phone. None of the numbers were saved in the phone. She typed three of the first numbers into her phone and sent them to the CIA for identification. Within a few seconds they were returned as a Chinese Restaurant and two unknown numbers. She took a deep breath and dialed the first of the unknown numbers. It went straight to voice mail. She dialed the second number and engaged the mute function, an angry voice answered. "What?"
More startling than the rude greeting was what Lena heard behind her. The man she had called on the cell phone was standing close enough that she heard him both through the phone and against the raging autumn wind. "What's wrong?" the man barked on the other end.
Lena hung up the phone and cautiously turned around behind her, a man in his mid twenties, dressed in a black leather jacket grumbled to himself as he put his phone back in his pocket. She took a picture with her cell phone and moved back to her original position in the mass of people.
She then turned her attention to the man's recent received calls list, the previous day he'd received only one call on the phone. Like the other numbers it wasn't saved. She followed the same procedure and sent the number to the CIA for identification, and like the others it came back as unknown. Lena pressed send on the man's phone and engaged the mute function.
"There'd better be a dam good reason you're breaking communication silence!" A smoky voice that Lena knew so well growled back at her. Lena slammed the simple flip phone shut and snapped open the back and removed the memory card. She dropped shell of the phone on the ground as she walked quickly away.
Nikita, there's a team here." Lena hissed into her blutooth.
11:00 AM
Michael and a female agent weaved between the satellite trucks before stopping at a local news van. He stood behind one of the men from the tv station and waited for him to finish dragging his equipment from vehicle before drawing attention to himself.
"Mr. Sawyer." Michael said loudly.
"Oh!" The cameraman gasped as he turned quickly to see Michael waiting for him. "You're late… I… I thought you might not be coming."
"You have my press pass." Michael said.
"Yes, I do." The man answered nervously. As he reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a lanyard with an ID attached. Michael took the lanyard and handed it to the agent waiting behind him. He nodded slightly at the agent and the woman slipped the lanyard around her neck and walked away.
"Ok, so all is forgiven with that little tax missunderstanding?" the camera man sputtered.
Michael didn't answer the man's question. He glanced over at the driver's seat of the van then back to the camera man. "I'll watch the rally from here." He said as he climbed into the driver's seat.
"Uh, ok… um the audio can be broadcast through the 106.1 FM on the radio." The camera man stuttered as he reached over Michael for the controls on the radio. Michael rolled his eyes, before pushing the man off him.
"I'll figure it out." He growled and the man backed away from the van.
"Ok, well let me know if you need anything." The camera man said as he backed away nervously and went back to setting up his equipment. The vans were parked on a small hill overlooking the rally, it was from this vantage point that the local news affiliates would gather their footage. From the inside of the van, Michael could see nearly the entire park. He needed a good vantage point because they lacked the a video surveillance system. Birkhoff would be able to piece together the local TV station footage, campaign cameras, and the one or two security cameras that had been set up but there would be holes.
Michael sat in the comfort of the heated van watching the video surveillance that Birkhoff was uploading to his phone. He waited there for almost an hour before anything out of the ordinary occurred. He noticed one of his agents was using his cell phone to contact another agent, during missions he monitored all his agent's cell phone usage. He thought about relaying the anomaly to Birkhoff but then dismissed the thought. Then his own phone showed an incoming call, from the same agent who had just been using his phone. "There'd better be a dam good reason you're breaking communication silence!" He growled but there was no response. The line went dead. Michael called the phone back, no answer. He didn't want to break radio silence. Finally he relaxed, perhaps the agent had only pocket dialed him, it was a naïve and weak excuse but it was possible. Anyway nothing appeared out of the ordinary, better not to raise the alarm over nothing.
It wasn't long before his ear bud did raise the alarm. "Visual on Nikita, Stage left in the press area."
"Birkhoff, confirm!" Michael shouted into his communication unit. He jumped out of the van to get a better look at the stage. He pulled a small set of binoculars out of his coat pocket and looked down into the press area but he couldn't see what his agent saw. That didn't mean she wasn't there, she knew how to stay hidden. After a few moments he heard Birkhoff in his ear.
"I don't have her on video feed, Michael."
Michael stood on the hillside staring at the press area for a minute before he walked back up the hill a few paces and planted himself behind one of the TV station's monitors. The camera was panning the crowd for some good reaction shots during the speech. It moved in close to a group of attractive young women, and among this small group of woman was one girl with a pale pink hat and black coat. It was the woman from the museum a few months earlier.
"Birkhoff, I need facial recognition on a woman. North end of the crowd, center, pink hat, scarf, and black coat." He watched on the monitor as the girl moved out of the frame.
He waited for Birkhoff to confirm what he already knew, that was the girl from the Vienna months ago, the museum before that, and Chicago. Now she was working with Nikita, and Nikita was in the park. He reached up slowly with his right hand and activated his ear bud to broadcast to the entire team. "Alright team, change of plans."
12:15 PM
"Visual on Nikita, Stage left in the press area." Birkhoff heard over his headphones jarring him back from his daydream.
"Birkhoff, Confirm!" Michael barked and Birkhoff jumped up from his chair to give orders.
"Bring up any feed the covers the press area! Now!" Birkhoff shouted at his operational support agents. He gulped down two swallows of red bull to get him going again.
He searched the five views he had on the monitors in the front of the room, he didn't see her. "Anyone have eyes on her?" He asked sharply as he rechecked the images. All his agents remained quiet. The half covered faces were making any facial identification software less than useful. "You, back that feed up five minutes and make sure we didn't miss her." Birkhoff yelled at one of the junior agents.
He reached up to his headphones and pressed a button on the right hand side. "I don't have her on camera, Michael."
Birkhoff paced anxiously next to his station as he stared at the phone on his desk. He hated to involve Percy if it wasn't needed. But, he had orders to call him if any report of Nikita was mentioned over the coms. He sat back down at his station and pressed the first speed dial.
"Percy." he answered the phone with an eerie calmness.
"An agent may have spotted Nikita at the rally." Birkhoff reported, Percy hung up the phone without saying another word and Birkhoff knew he would be in the operations center any second. "Keep Checking!" He shouted over the half dozen heads crouched over their computer stations. He pulled up the realtime feed of the rally and began to look anywhere near the press area for Nikita. She couldn't have gotten too far by now.
"Birkhoff, I need facial recognition on a woman. Back edge of the crowd, center, pink hat and black coat." Michael snapped suddenly
"Find her!" Birkhoff bellowed at the agents in operations. He reached up to his right headphone and pressed the button to speak to Michael. "Give me 30 seconds, Michael." He said then shut down his com. "Now, now, now," He snapped his fingers impatiently with each word.
"I've got her!" One of the agents on the far side of the room confirmed.
"Run it!" Birkhoff ordered the agent. A few seconds later a window appeared on his screen, and only his screen, it was a till photo of the woman in question..Claire. He instinctively shut his eyes. His world was crashing in on top of him. He'd knew this day was coming, but that didn't prepare him for it. His mind felt numb, all he could think was her name… he couldn't speak, he couldn't breathe, and he didn't hear the sound of the keys on his computer as his fingers continued to peck at them. When Birkhoff opened his eyes a few seconds later a small unassuming black window was open in the lower right corner of the screen. This tiny rectangle contained the first communication they'd had in months. 'It's a trap. Run. –b'
He gulped as he looked at the words he'd sent and the enormity of what he'd just done hit him. He'd done it again, he'd chosen her over his orders. He started to think clearly, he realized he wasn't breathing and he was light headed. Then he took a breath and found that he could breathe again even if it was in quick shallow breaths. He cleared his throat slightly as he felt the muscles relax in his neck. His shaking hand reached out for his Redbull on the desk and he heard the first clear thought that had come into his mind since he'd seen Claire's picture flash up on the screen. It was time he looked after someone besides himself.
So this is what betraying Division feels like. He thought vaguely. Before, the mere thought of disobeying division had caused a near panic attack and heart palpations. He was surprised that actually committing the act that he was so fearful of had left him with an unexpected feeling. He'd done what he felt was right, and he was at peace with his action. He didn't know what to call this new emotion.
He quickly brushed this train of thought from his mind, she wasn't safe, he'd only warned her, he needed to do more.
Evacuation Route he thought suddenly and he opened the mission file. But the same moment he opened the file two things happened. First a large window flashed across the screen, the 911 center had received a bomb threat for the rally. And secondly Percy burst through the doors of Operations.
"Where is she?" Percy barked
"We don't have her on video yet. We're combing every feed." Birkhoff answered.
"Don't let her get away!" He snapped.
"Sir, The rally just received a bomb threat they're going to clear the park any second." Birkhoff reported to Percy and he heard Michael beginning to send instructions to his agents.
Birkhoff turned on his microphone and relayed his information to Michael "Uh… Michael." He interjected "Affirmative on the ID, bring her in, I've sent a picture to your phones. But Police just received a bomb threat for the rally. They're going to clear the park any second." He sent a photo of Claire to each of the team's cell phones, but he choose a photo of very poor quality and only showed half her face.
Percy began to pace angrily at the front of the room. "That's her exit strategy." He grumbled.
"Yep." Birkhoff said in confirmation, he was pleased that Percy had gone to the front of the room leaving his computer free from prying eyes. He returned to the mission file and found the evacuation routes. He scanned down the page until he got to the route with the highest rate of success. This was the one he would recommend to an operative if something went awry.
Next, he found a transit schedule for Trenton New Jersey and looked up the next available train. He erased his browser history and returned to the small black rectangle in the right corner of his screen. He quickly typed the instructions of the best route out of the park and the next train departure. He closed the window and pushed back slightly from his station.
All around him his agents were combing through the security footage of the hundreds of political supporters pouring out from the rally. Percy was hunched over another station two rows in front of Birkhoff micromanaging Birkhoff's team. For once, he didn't care.
He reached up with his left hand to brush the hair out of his face, then he readjusted his wire framed glasses. As he held his glasses he noticed the tremor that was apparent in his hand. He laid his fingers back down on the keyboard to hide the fact they were shaking. He pulled up security footage around the rally and began to pretend to look for Nikita and Claire.
He heard Amanda casually push the door to operations open behind him. He could tell it was her, there was a controlled way that her heels clicked along the concrete floors of Division that announced her presence long before she entered a room.
"Problem with your mission?" She asked Percy as she walked right past Birkhoff's station.
"She's using a bomb threat as an exit strategy." Percy scoffed to Amanda.
"Effective." Amanda said in her usual slightly apathetic tone.
"She hasn't won the battle yet." Percy growled at Amanda.
"No, but she seems to have evaded you're trap." She said slowly. "Imagine all these resources, diverted to this facade of an elimination mission."
"Is there anything else?" He asked. Birkhoff saw that Percy's eyes were blazing dangerously. He was glad he wasn't where Amanda was standing.
"No." Amanda answered evasively, but Percy seems satisfied and turned away from her and back to the screen that was occupying him.
Amanda turned on her heels and walked away from Percy. Birkhoff immersed himself in his monitor, trying to appear that he hadn't overheard anything. He waited for her heels to announce that she had left the room but she paused, just behind his chair.
"Is Nikita working alone?" she asked Birkhoff.
Every muscle in his body tensed, his mouth went dry, and his breath caught in his chest. "No." he croaked out. Then he bravely looked up at Amanda, he was slightly relieved to find that Amanda wasn't watching him, she was watching the monitors around the room.
"And…" she said as she waited for Birkhoff to offer more information.
Birkhoff pressed two keys and the photo of Claire he'd given to the team appeared on the screen. "We don't have a name." he said.
Amanda glanced at the photograph, then he heard every step as she left the operations center. He felt his body relax slightly as he heard the door click shut behind her. Amanda was malicious, manipulative, and as much as he hated to admit it, brilliant. He couldn't out smart her, of that much he was sure. His strategy had always been to stay out of her way and under her radar.
A message flashed up on the screen from one of his agents. 'It's been 10 minutes. No sign of Nikita on any of the feeds.' The agent wrote.
Birkhoff rolled his eyes, he wasn't going to give up the search for Nikita, not after 10 minutes and not while Percy was in the room. 'KEEP LOOKING' he wrote angrily and slammed his finger onto the enter key.
He relaxed slightly with every second that passed while he was looking through the security footage. Amanda's presence had unnerved him and the calm that he felt initially after helping Claire had all but disappeared. But every second that passed got Claire closer to the train station, and he had his entire team searching security footage at the park. He knew Claire was long gone from the park.
"We've lost any trail of Nikita." Michael's voice rang out clearly in the operations center. Percy threw the technician's coffee cup that had been sitting on the desk. In a few quick keystrokes Birkhoff ordered a facilities cleanup.
"Damit." Percy cried as he pressed his fingers into his hips as he paced back and forth in the aisle.
Birkhoff waited for Percy to make the call he so desperately wanted. Bring your team in. He thought Say it! Michael, bring your team in. But another call on the radio rang out over the speakers.
"I've got eyes on the second target." Percy stopped next to Birkhoff's monitor and refocused on the accomplice. Birkhoff forced himself into operation mode, he located the GPS tracker of the agent that reported the citing and located all security cameras around the area.
"She's running." Percy said as he pointed to the three green dots marking the Division agents on the street map. "Where's she going?" he wondered quietly. Then he stood up and Birkhoff put the map on one of the monitors at the front of the room. "Where's she going? Find out!" Percy yelled at the operations agents.
Birkhoff heard a blaze of fingers on the keyboards, his own fingers were included, though his search wouldn't provide anything useful. It wasn't more than a few seconds before one of the agents shouted over the sound of the keys.
"There's a train station! Three blocks up!" an agent shouted above the clicking of the keyboards.
FUCK, FUCK, FUCK! Birkhoff screamed inside his head. Birkhoff felt his throat close up again, he struggled to suck in air.
"When's the next train leave?" Percy asked.
"Four minutes." One of the agents yelled.
Percy turned to Birkhoff. "It's too close, she won't make it." Birkhoff lied, his chest was so tight he could hardly get the words out.
"Shut it down." He said coldly.
Birkhoff stared up at Percy. "I… I don't think I can." He stuttered as he forced his fingers to begin typing. "There isn't enough time."
Percy leaned in close to Birkhoff's ear and whispered just so he could hear, "Shut. It. down. That's an order."
12:18 PM
"I don't have her on video feed, Michael." Lena heard Birkhoff's voice respond to the call to find Nikita in the press area.
He's alive. She thought to herself, she was relieved when she heard his voice. She was glad Division hadn't put them together, obviously if they had, he'd be dead. She clicked a button on her blutooth and returned to the channel she shared with Nikita. "Nikita, an agents spotted you. Birkhoff couldn't confirm with video but they're on you."
"Copy that."
"I'm pulling the plug." Lena said as she pulled her phone from her coat pocket.
"NO!" Nikita hissed, "Not yet."
Lena rolled her eyes but kept her phone in her hands. She resisted the urge to argue with Nikita. "Fine, but if I hear anything else…" but just as she said the words she heard her blutooth switch to the other channel and Michael's voice rang out clearly.
"Birkhoff, I need facial recognition on a woman. Back edge of the crowd, center, pink hat and black coat."
Lena grabbed her pale pink hat and pulled it down over her forehead and started to slowly push her way through the crowd toward the exit. She tugged the scarf back in place, it had fallen down and she hadn't noticed.
"Give me 30 seconds Michael." Birkhoff responded. She hadn't gotten more than thirty feet from her original position when she felt the phone in her hands buzz.
She looked down to see an incoming message using the secure chat room that had been silent for months. 'it's a trap. run.- B'
She didn't question his message, she only reacted. "Nikita it's a trap! I'm calling it. Head for the extraction point."
"No, were going to stay with the mission!" Nikita shot back
"No, WE aren't." Lena said as she sent an email from her phone. "My guy on the inside just contacted me. It's a trap."
Lena followed her email with a text message that read 'There's a bomb in the park! Get out now!'
"30 seconds or less…" Lena turned and walked straight at the exit, but it was still far away.
"Are you sure?" Nikita questioned. In reality it was too late, Lena had already put the exit plan into motion.
"I'm sure!" Lena said just before she heard her blutooth click back to the Division channel. Michael's voice rang in her ear.
"Alright, team, listen up. Change of plans." Michael announced. "I want the North team to take the exits, South and East teams take the press area and find Nikita, West team you're with me! Targets are Nikita and a second operative, Birkhoff will forward her picture to your phones. You know your orders for Nikita, and I want the girl alive."
"Uh… Michael." Birkhoff interjected. "Affirmative on the ID, bring her in, I've sent a picture to your phones. But Police just received a bomb threat for the rally. They're going to clear the park any second."
The next thing Lena heard was the sound of hundreds of cell phones receiving the same text message. As people pulled out their cell phones and read her message, panic ensued and the entire crowd began to run for the exit.
Lena ripped off her hat and threw it onto the ground, if they were looking for a pink hat it would throw them off for a second. Her phone buzzed again, 'North gate exit, go to the train station, 12:36 Blue line, get off at the first exit.-B' She pushed her way through the crowd at the exit and kept moving.
Almost ten minutes later she was two blocks from the park trying to hide herself in a crowd of people. Her blutooth had been earily silent for a few minutes, she could only assume she was out of range to pick up Division's communications. She decided to call Nikita to make sure she got out of the park clean.
"Did you get the senator?"She asked Nikita
"You mean congressman? Yes." Nikita announced in her ear. "Where are you?" Nikita asked.
"Trying to get lost in the crowd. Nikita, they I.D.'d me there are agents after both of us."
"I've left the park." Nikita said. "I've shaken the four on my tail."
"I think they're still on me." Lena said nervously. Even though she thought she was out of range she felt like she was being followed and she was much too exposed for comfort.
"You were right." Nikita said quietly. "It was an ambush. And I walked us right into it."
"At least the congressman's safe, he didn't become collateral damage." Lena said as she hung up the phone.
She tried to stay with the crowd but she found herself walking faster than anyone around her. She was careful to stay in the middle of the sidewalks and stay out of the view of street cameras, just like Birkhoff had taught her. Even though she tried to stay as hidden as possible, her Blutooth rang out in her ear again.
"I've got eyes on the second target." She heard. She looked across the street to her right to find a man with his hand held to his right ear staring straight at her. She didn't wait for him to get orders, she ran. She pushed her way through the crowded side walk and ran toward the train station.
She darted across traffic and through the crowds as fast as she could. She covered the three blocks between her and the station faster than she expected. As she climbed the last flight up the stairs of the station she took a second to look behind her. She could see two men following her, but they were far enough behind. She might just make the train before they got up to the platform.
The clock in the train station read 12:34. She would make it. She thought.
She thought wrong. The doors were shutting just as she reached the platform. She ran forward and caught one of the doors with one hand. She pulled with all the strength she could find but it wouldn't budge, it wouldn't reopen for her. "No! No please!" She squeaked as she tried to force her boot into the opening no larger than two inches between the two doors. But even her boot couldn't keep the doors open. She felt her eyes begin to prickle, as she realized she was in real trouble. She released the doors and they slammed together, locking out her escape route.
She turned around and searched the train station desperately for an exit. Although her feet remained planted firmly next to the train her eyes darted all over the platform. She didn't notice that all around her people on the platform were staring at her, some were even pointing. But Lena didn't notice because those people didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was finding an exit and avoiding the men in the black trench coats. She found a second stairway, she ran as fast as she could toward the stairs, but when she reached the stairs she skidded to a hault. There was another man in a black coat running up them. When he raised his face she saw, it was Michael. She turned and ran again crashing into a large group of commuters gathered on the platform. The exits were covered, the train was still sitting in the station unmoving, this blocked her from crossing the tracks and exiting on the other side. There was no way out. He'd led her into a trap.
"Nikita! I'm trapped!" she shrieked into her blutooth but she knew it wouldn't help Nikita was far away and in no position to help her. She took off the blutooth and shouted right into the microphone, making sure Nikita heard her over the background noise of the station. "Nikita there's a box! Hidden under your dresser! Give it to Michael!" she spat, then she flung the earpiece into the crevice between the train and the platform.
"Federal Agent! Don't Move!" From 50 feet away Michael shouted with his gun drawn and aimed at her. All around her the people on the platform shrieked, ducked, and scattered.
Lena turned slowly to face him. She left her hands visible at her sides. She didn't make a move for her gun, if she did, he'd shoot her. His steps were slow and even as he approached her, stopping just ten feet from her. She made a point to lock eyes with him. It was her last attempt at control, she wouldn't show him fear. She knew what he was going to do, he was going to do his job.
Two men appeared behind him with guns drawn. Michael lowered his gun a few inches and gave an almost imperceptible nod to one of the men.
The man to Michael's left stepped forward and thrust a taser rod between her ribs.
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