Pt. 7
Michael Samuel slowly dragged his attention back to the screen in front of him. His conversation with Miriam had concerned him. If it were any other agent, he would have suspected her of trying to make a run from the Section, and using this madman's bloody trail to cover her tracks. But this was Miriam, Jurgen's favorite student and his oldest acquaintance in the Section. She had never made any pretense of not being totally at home in the Section, especially when her trainer was alive. There had been a time, once long ago, when he had dared to think they were even friends. Before he had been taught differently by time and experience.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Nikita asked, standing just in the doorway of his office. Her eyes swept over his impassive face with barely concealed frustration. Since Jurgen's death, there had been a distance between them, greater than any that had been there before. It seemed especially great tonight.
"It's nothing." Michael replied, turning off his computer. He followed her out of the door and into the main staging area. "We're on hold for the assignment in Tunis for a few days. Stay close to your apartment…"
"Michael." Operations cold voice cut through the space between them like a knife. "I need to see you for a moment."
Michael turned and moved back towards his Sections' leader, carefully keeping his face expressionless. "Is there a problem?"
"I'm pulling you off the Tunis assignment. Seems Oversight has lost track of one of their investigators. An old friend of ours. You remember Miriam Nightbird?"
"Yes." he replied, calmly.
"Well, it seems she has disappeared off everyone's radar. Not the first time she's done it, but this time she seems to have set off more than a few alarms. It seems she told Oversight she would be working one case and told me she would handle one of ours. Neither story is legitimate. So Oversight has requested that I send you to bring her in, one way or another." Operations watched the man in front of him carefully, noting again how well the Level 5 agent was able to conceal even the smallest fraction of his thoughts from an observer.
"Is she being sanctioned?" Michael asked, his voice betraying nothing.
"No. Oversight, for some unknown reason, wants her back in one piece. He seems to think you may have the best shot at accomplishing this. Any reason why he should think this?"
"Miriam and I have known each other for some time. Jurgen trained both of us at one point in our careers. Perhaps he believes I would know what to expect from her." Michael could see Nikita moving towards the door behind Operations, a worried look on her face. He wondered absently if someone had already told her he was being pulled off their assignment. Not that it mattered at the moment. "Where does he suggest I look for her?"
"He thought you might have some ideas about that." Operations replied smoothly. "He said something about following an old trail to a new place. Any ideas what that meant?"
"No." Michael lied impassively, his mind already formulating a plan to bring his friend back without having to kill her. "But I'll work on it." He turned and walked back to his office, leaving his Section chief watching him with a grim smile.
Operations turned away, the smile never leaving his face. Oversight had been most insistent that he send Michael on this retrieval mission. It would be very interesting to find out why.