"Thirty seconds to deactivate the alarm," Alex warned Birkhoff after she picked the lock to Danforth's apartment. Finding his place of residence and breaking in had been the easy part. Discovering his secrets before they got caught, that was going to be difficult. Birkhoff had studied up on the security system as Alex drove them over, but all that research would've been for nothing if he didn't move quickly. Alex couldn't have that mission fail before it ever got off the ground. She needed to get damning intel on Danforth. She needed her mission to succeed, "Fifteen more seconds, and we're toast."
"Danforth works at the White House, cracking his security ain't like knocking over a lemonade stand. It's probably a longer prison sentence, too," Birkhoff huffed, not appreciating the countdown. His skills and preparation meant he could absolutely disable the alarm. Yet it didn't mean he could do it on Alex's timetable. Seriously, she needed to chill. The others would do their jobs just fine. She didn't have to breathe down everyone's necks and insist on doing everything herself. The team was still capable. For example, Birkhoff disabled the alarm with five seconds to spare. "Twenty-three character alphanumeric alarm code. This guy is hard core."
"You don't get out very much," Alex wondered sarcastically. She knew the hacker was more cave bound than the rest of the team. He worked better as the man in the chair than the man in the field. Though, Sonya had commented that he was more locked away in his nerd cave than usual. It probably had to be because of the black box. No doubt, Ryan was having Birkhoff decrypt it so Division could use it for something. Alex hoped it didn't come to that. Actually, no, Alex was going to do more than hope. She was going to do everything in her power to ensure the black box was never used. And that was going to start with exposing the truth.
"That's what I keep saying," Birkhoff couldn't help but whine. He had participated on some missions in the field. But he was mostly in the van for them. He never got to do what the other agents got to. Although, at times, he appreciated that (he didn't think he could shoot another gun at a person), he did feel like he was missing out on all the fun and action. When did he get to be James Bond instead of Q. Okay, maybe that was a step too far. He didn't actually want to be the international super spy. But he did want out from behind his computer, at least every once and a while.
"Two hours until Danforth gets off work. I'm going to check upstairs," Rolling her eyes, Alex bounded up the stairs to explore what possible secrets could be in the bedroom. She left Birkhoff to mess with the computer and downstairs' office. Alex honestly didn't know what she was going to find. She didn't completely believe she'd discover anything concrete in the apartment- Danforth was probably too smart for that. However, she did believe that she'd pick up a trail to something. And from there, she could reveal the truth and save the agents in Division.
The mission in Paris went according to plan. Sean was in position as an ambulance driver, ready to swipe the CIA list from Batouala's dead body. Owen was in position as a waiter, ready to inject the poison into Batouala's drink. And Nikita was in position as the instigator, ready to stop Batouala from meeting with the buyer for the list and to make him drink the poison. The three hadn't run into any problems, only annoyances. It was shaping up to be a fairly standard operation. All they had to do was wait for the poison to kick in.
If the poison didn't take so long to work through their target's system, then the agents would've been long gone before the chaos ensued. Unfortunately, their standard operations always resulted in something disastrous occurring. One of Division's Dirty Thirties, Zoe, cashed the event posing as one of Batoaula's buyers. When he approached her, despite Nikita's protests, she shot him and stole the list. The agents in the field could hardly react in time to what happened next. They just had to hope that the chaos worked in their favor.
It somewhat did. Nikita was able to catch up to Zoe and engage her in a fight. Knowing that Sean and Owen were nearby, hurrying to provide backup, allowed her to put her all into the fight. She was going to take Zoe down, steal back the list, and leave her to the authorities. The fact that she was a Dirty Thirty could be dealt with later. The list and managing the chaos were more important. Even if that chaos became overwhelming. Nikita would've had Zoe if the cops didn't intervene. The two were eventually held at gunpoint and forced to stop fighting. Although Nikita huffed, Zoe smirked, "Just like the old days, huh, Nikita?"
"Yeah. When I was kicking your ass, that did feel familiar," Nikita quipped easily. She and Zoe had come up together as recruits; Nikita had always bested her in sparring and training. But that wasn't important at the moment. Nikita had to keep focusing on the CIA list and recovering it. Zoe had to have stolen it for a reason. There was no way she could have interest in it on her own. Someone had to have been ordering her. Nikita didn't need to think hard in order to guess who, "Who sent you, Zoe? Gotta be Amanda."
"Man, she's pissed at you," Zoe chuckled sardonically. Nikita just rolled her eyes. Of course Amanda was pissed. Ever since Nikita had turned against Division, Amanda had been pissed at her. The second she had stopped being the perfect agent the bitch had tried to mold her into, she had become her enemy. Nothing she did then would change that. In fact, Nikita's actions repeatedly made things worse. And not just for Amanda. Yet she wasn't going to dwell too much on that. She still had to complete a mission.
"So, what, you're her little minion now? I gotta warn you, it didn't really work out for the last one," Nikita taunted Zoe as she continuously thought of a way to slip past the police. She wanted to go non-lethal. Bataoula's death was enough trouble. Although Nikita had that thought process, Zoe had the opposite. She claimed she was a free agent; then she took out the police and ran. Nikita had no time to mourn the more lives that were taken. She simply chased after Zoe and told Sean and Owen that she was coming their way. Hopefully, one of them would be able to catch her. Then the list and the mission would be saved.
Zoe, however, did not go where expected. Sean and Owen couldn't find her outside the building. She had slipped completely past them, and they hadn't even noticed. Nikita wasn't all too surprised by the turn of events. Zoe and Amanda had known they were going to be there. They had known Division's protocols and what the agents would do. Amanda's fountain of information apparently had no end. Even after all the defeats she had faced, she continued to hold onto her resources. There had to be a way the team could permanently rip them from her. But no one had a single clue how, especially Owen, "What do we do now?"
"We find Zoe. And that damn list," Nikita bit, then stormed towards the agents' transportation. Sean and Owen quickly followed. They updated Ryan and Michael on what had happened and shared ideas of how they should proceed as they flew back from Paris. Sean also updated Alex, yet he hardly got a response. He didn't allow himself to think too much about it. She was possibly busy; she preferred to speak in person anyway. There were other things that should preoccupy his mind, like the demand Nikita nearly shouted as they stormed back into Ryan's office, "Tell me you have a lead on that bitch."
"Which one? There's no sign of Zoe or Amanda," Michael admitted frustratedly. He had been searching for Zoe and Amanda for hours. Yet, Division hadn't been able to locate Amanda since she had disappeared in South Ossetia. She had slipped back under their radar, and she was going to remain there until she deemed her presence worth it to fuck with Division. Zoe should've been the easier one to find, but she had managed to hide from Division for months. She could do so again with the CIA undercover list.
"They must have been after the list," Ryan felt as though he was stating the obvious. Why else would Amanda send Zoe to kill Batouala and ruin Division's mission. Obviously they wanted the list, and obviously they were going to use it for something. Yet Ryan could not figure out what it could be. Everytime he believed he had a handle on what Amanda was planning, things changed. It was almost as though she had hundreds of different schemes, and she was just going down the line of what was working best for her. Division would never be able to catch up. They'd just be chasing her until one or all of them died.
"Zoe did say she was gonna make a lot of money if she sold the list. Nerd, find out who Batouala was talking to. The Russians can't be the only ones who contacted him. And also, figure out who the original buyer was he was meeting with," Recalling Zoe comments about how she was a free agent, essentially just following the money, Nikita ordered. She didn't hear anything in reply, however. There was no joke or sarcastic comment. It was just silent. Confused, Nikita turned to where Birkhoff should've been. And just like everything else that had gone wrong that day, his computer chair was completely missing, "Where is Birkhoff?"
There wasn't anything too damning to find at Danforth's apartment. There were some questionable documents and statements, but nothing that'd take Ryan and Nikita off their current course. Alex and Birkhoff needed to find more, a lot more, before they could go to the others with what they found. So while the team was still dealing with the Paris mission, Birkhoff and Alex tapped Danforth's phone and followed the single. The hacker thought they would be tracking his work phone, yet Alex found a personal cell at the apartment. That was the device that would lead them to what they wanted.
After all, if Danforth was doing something he didn't want others to know about, he'd bring a private cell phone with him, not his work one. As soon as Alex and Birkhoff got a ping on it, they hurried to track Danforth's movements. He drove to a place outside Washington and deep into the woods. Once there, however, all movement stopped. Birkhoff and Alex were left waiting and watching for what could've possibly been Danforth's reason for driving out into the middle of nowhere. Yet nothing happened. Alex quickly lost her patience, "We're sure we're tracking the right cell phone?
"Still no movement," Birkhoff confirmed. They must've missed where Danforth had gone while they had kept their distance. The two would have to wait for him to rear his head before they could learn anything else. Although Birkhoff was certain that he could wait for that to occur, Alex was growing jittery beside him. She needed action immediately. She needed answers immediately. She needed to continue whatever mission she had in mind immediately. The only other time Birkhoff had seen Alex that impatient had been when Sean had been recruited. But even then, she could be called down. Now, he wasn't so sure.
"What is he doing out here all this time?" Alex muttered, searching in vain for any sign of Danforth. He had to be in the middle of the woods for a reason. And if he arrived there after speaking with the President and abandoning his work phone for his personal one, then he was up to something. Unfortunately, Alex had absolutely no clue what that could be. There was no evidence of illegal activity- yet. There was also no evidence that'd snap Ryan and Nikita out of their fog. It was just a whole lot of weirdness. Alex couldn't accept that that was all she could find. She wasn't going to rest until she had what she needed. No more people could be lost.
"I don't know. Camping?" Birkhoff quipped. Who knew why Danforth did anything. Based on what Ryan had shared about the President's close advisor, it seemed like he'd rather be working by himself than following orders; he also seemed to hate Division more than the country's enemies. There was no ally quite like him- well, supposed ally. At any given moment, Danforth would turn on Division. He didn't necessarily want to help them. They were just an annoyance he was forced to deal with.
Birkhoff wanted to make those quips to Alex. Except, when he glanced at her, he realized that his first quip hadn't even caused a reaction. Alex was too focused on studying their surroundings to pay attention to his jokes. Although she had always been hellbent on missions, that seemed odd- she had at least managed to smile and joke with Birkhoff in the past. But lately, she seemed more focused on being a lone wolf than following the team. Her distrust and dislike for Division also seemed to have resurfaced- possibly even eclipsing what she felt for Amanda, even after what happened. Birkhoff studied Alex. What was going on with her.