Returning from another failed mission, Team 1 was tired, frustrated, and dreading the requisite debriefing with Operations. This was their third attempt at recovering the Directory.

"Michael, your hand is bleeding." Nikita observed absently.

"I’m fine" Michael responded automatically never breaking his stride, as they moved to the debriefing rooms.

After an hour, the team emerged. Operations was now even more frustrated. Everything he had tried had failed. Normally successful missions were failing or being sabotaged and operatives were disappearing. Not so many as to cause alarm, but enough to notice a pattern. One operative per month over the past 4 months had disappeared. All from different cells but primarily from Canada and the US. Whoever had the Directory was systematically searching for the location of the central cell, Section 1. Everyone had been on high alert for six months now and people were becoming testy and increasingly nervous. No one can maintain that level of intensity for that long before mistakes were made.

"Michael, you don’t look well." observed Madeline quietly as they moved down the main corridor.

"I’ll be fine." Michael picked up the pace.

" Your face is becoming quite pale"

"I said I’ll be fine!" Michael growled turning on his heels with a sharp glance at Madeline and proceeded to his office.

Madeline caught Nikita’s eyes and the look said *"keep an eye on him"*. Nikita nodded her head.

*He really does look pale. I don’t think I‘ve ever seen him ill. I may just follow him to see that he gets home all right. Come to think of it, I don’t know where he lives. About time I find out.* Nikita hung out with Walter for another half hour until she noticed Michael leaving. She said her goodbye and split.

Michael exits the Section’s hidden entrance and Nikita follows at a respectable distance while they drive back to town. As he begins his drive home, taking the usual precautions and detours, he notices his vision is becoming blurred. He shakes it off and continues.

As Michael completes his route, he redirects his car back into the general direction of the Section. The Section is located 500 ft below ground in the center of 460 acres of private land used as a nature preserve. Michael is heading toward the NW corner of that same acreage.

*His driving is getting worse. He’s not even obeying simple traffic laws. If he gets a ticket Ops will go ballistic. Where there hell is he going?* Nikita moves her car closer and notices that Michael is slumping in the drivers seat but still barely controls the car.

Finally, he brings the car to a stop at the end of what can only be described as a path or trail. You couldn’t call it a road really. Nikita had been driving with her lights off for the past 2 miles as soon as she realized they were heading back toward the Section. It’s pretty easy to see a car in the woods with the lights on.

Nikita could see Michael struggling to get out of the car. When he does, he closes the door and begins to walk forward into the woods. Following at about 50 ft, Nikita could see him slumping more and fighting to stay upright using the trees to help his balance.

Michael staggered the last 50 yards and disappeared behind a boulder into a hidden entrance. Investigating, Nikita discovers there is a small cabin built into the side of a cliff facing north. The sides are well hidden by trees and a brier patch and the roof is covered by overhanging vines and large bushes. Nikita’s head drops over the roof’s edge to look inside. There are 2 windows built so as to blend in with the cliff. The lights are on and she sees him in the kitchen area. A few minutes later, she looks over the edge again and sees Michael face down on the floor.

" That does it, I’m going in." She begins work defeating Michael’s security. There are some pretty complicated combinations, but after 6 minutes she was in.

"Damn, took me long enough. Good thing Madeline didn’t see that or I would have some explaining to do."

Once inside, she discovers Michael is semi conscious, pale, sweaty, and mumbling incoherently. The cut on his hand is swollen and red. "Michael, can you hear me?" She shakes him but he does not respond.

"Christ!, He’s burning up. Your fever must be off the scale."

Nikita wrestles Michael up onto the bed, strips him down to his briefs and throws the covers over him. Next, she searches for supplies in the kitchen and finds a First Aide Kit. She shines the laser thermometer into his ear for a reading: 105.7 degrees.

*Holy mother of God, Michael.*

Nikita moves with a purpose through the one room cabin searching again for supplies. After gathering rubbing alcohol and plastic bags, she begins filling 3 bags with ice. Michael had kicked off the covers and twisted around as if fighting something in his dream. Nikita places one bag under each arm. The third she places beside his forehead at his left temple. She then pulls the covers back to expose his arms and legs and begins wiping them with the rubbing alcohol.

After several minutes of this, she rechecks his temperature and it was down a bit to 104.9. Michael had stopped fighting and twisting now and seemed to be more quiet. His mumbling was clearer. He was struggling to save someone and he was very distressed that he could not.

Michael was dreaming but everything was so real. The scenes were speeding by so fast he was having trouble making sense of them. One vision was followed by another and he was unable to put the scenes in order. It seemed that someone or something was trying to warn him of danger and he had this overwhelming feeling that he must get to the Section. The staff and operatives were being killed from inside. Someone had discovered the Section’s location and there were bodies everywhere. The next scene showed all the bodies piled up in a round room with bullets in their heads.

Then the dream would shift and he could see men up in the trees on Section land. *What are they doing up there? What is that up there? ……. got to get…. help. What?…. Who is there?* Michael could see a form taking shape and she was walking toward him. No, not walking, gliding. She seemed familiar somehow.

Michael watched the woman move closer. He realized he had seen her before on a mission 8 years ago. He had been injured and was delirious when she appeared in a dream to warn him his team was in danger. Her warning had been clear and detailed. When he woke up, he issued orders to change the approach vector and recalled some of his team. After the mission was successfully completed, he carefully retraced the steps initially planned and found a series of trip wires. Each wire was connected to a sequence of explosives that would have taken out his entire team. Later, he discovered he had a double agent on his team and after interrogating him, canceled his ass.

As the scenes slowed and changed, he could hear her speaking to him. She was giving him the details of the coming danger. No matter what the scene was, Michael had the overwhelming sensation of desperation and great danger for the Section’s operatives. With each scene, his body would fight and twist more to get there and help. He was in a dream, running to help and never quite getting there. It was exhausting.

Nikita rechecks his temperature again after another 30 minutes and it was down to 103.9. Well clear of the danger zone. She stopped the rubbing alcohol and left the ice in place alternating the one bag on his temple from right to left. Now she just sat, stared, and listened to Michael’s words. This gave her time to admire Michael’s cabin. A rugged design with lots of wood, black leather furniture, and serious art on the walls. The effect was quite restful.

It was now well after 3 AM and Nikita had dozed off. When she woke she checked the time. *6 hours and he’s resting quietly however he still has not opened his eyes.*

" I‘m hungry, wonder what he has to eat around here?" As Nikita moved through the kitchen making noise, she heard a thud. When she turned, Michael was on the floor again.

"Michael, will you stop this and stay still already. You’ve had a really high fever." Her voice was sharp and scolding, like a mother to a stubborn child.

Michael looked up at her with confusion in his eyes. He then looked around the room to see where he was. He was sure he had made it to the cabin last night.

"How did you find me? How did you get in?" He spoke as if she had found his secret hideaway. He tried to clear his mind as he moved up on one elbow. Michael insisted "We must get to the Section, everyone is in danger, help me up".

"No way Michael. Your in no shape to go anywhere. That’s an order from ME this time, so lay back down. Everyone is fine. We left them just 6 hours ago."

"You don’t understand, I’ve been warned, it’s real, we’ve got to get there. It’s happening now!" With each word, Michael’s voice became more and more insistent. The sense of urgency and rising panic was clearly evident in his tone. As Nikita listened, she began to believe him. Or, at least, believe that Michael believed it.

"OK, OK, slow down, I believe you. But you really can’t go anywhere in this condition. It would compromise the mission. Brief me and I will go check things out."

Nikita looked him straight in the eye and he knew she was right. This time he would have to depend on her. Everyone would.

Michael sat up, leaned against the bed and took a deep breath. "OK, here it is. We’ll discuss how I know later. The location of the Section has been discovered. I don’t know by whom but there is a group of men coming tonight, now, and they intend to kill everyone in the building. They have the directory and are trying to gain access to the mainframe. They want all the information they can get and everyone is expendable. You must be careful. I will call Operations while you are in route. GO!" With that, Nikita was out the door. Michael crawled toward his jacket for his cell phone but passed out long before he reached it.

Nikita didn’t bother with her car, Michael had given her directions using a short cut through the woods. After 4 minutes, she was near the entrance of the garage. *Oh my God, they are already here. What the hell?* Nikita observed the movements of 3 men in the trees. She noticed the trees were not trees at all but huge air vents made to look like trees.

*The air conditioning system must be up there.* Nikita continued to watch and heard a pop and ssssssss. Canisters were spewing gas into the vents. The vents pulled the gas down into the Section. As the men climbed down from the trees, she could see they had gas masks on. "Uh Oh, this doesn’t look good." she said quietly.

She counted 13 men in 2 vans as they rolled past her. Nikita followed the vans into the garage and listened as one man gave orders. All were holding their gas masks.

"Billy, take your team and sweep east to west. Dave, you and your team move from here. Everyone watch the time and in 6 minutes we go in with masks on. Bring all the bodies you can find into Interrogation room C and we will dispatch them later. Less mess to clean up when we take over. When you find Operations and Madeline, put them in the tower. I want them to witness the transfer of power."

The men moved into position and at the specified time defeated the security system, put on the gas masks and entered. Nikita raced after the last man and managed to get her hand into the door before it closed.

Inside, Birkoff and Walter were in their work areas with people moving about doing their respective jobs. There were more operatives here at this hour than usual. There was another attempt to retrieve the Directory planned in 2 days and everyone had prep work to complete.

Birkoff noticed Madeline and Operations up in the tower disagreeing, again, about something. He rolled his eyes and concentrated on his work. He began to notice he was extremely sleepy and it was very difficult to hold his eyes open, to stay awake. He looked up at the tower and saw Madeline on the floor and Ops on his knees trying to reach the alarm button. That was the last thing Birkoff saw.

Operations was trying to reach the alarm and could see the operatives crumpling to the floor all over the place. Walter was already on the floor with Nick, his assistant, near him. As he leaned against the glass looking down at the main room, Ops struggled to stay alert. He noticed several men enter the area and began dragging the operatives off toward interrogation room C. Then his eyes went wide and fear flashed across his face as one man removed his mask. It was Daman Hill the most violent criminal the Section had ever encountered. He was supposed to be dead. "Oh my God" As Operations lost consciousness, his last sight was of Daman saluting him with 2 fingers and a smirk on his face.

Nikita waited and listened. She could not go in without a mask on. After the longest 2 minutes she had ever experienced, she heard voices giving instructions to activate the exhaust system. She could hear the fans start up and she inferred the gas was being cleared from the underground building. She waited another 2 minutes and entered the Section. She moved quietly down the corridor listening as the men seemed to be moving heavy things into interrogation room C. It was the largest and the closest room to the central briefing area.

When she reached the end of the hall, she crouched down and peeked around the corner. The interrogation room door was open obstructing part of her view. The men were now without their masks and had been moving the bodies one at a time into the large round room. There was a pattern, two men entered each to drop off a body. For several seconds it was quiet then another pair of men repeated the scene. After the third group exited the room, Nikita moved and entered the room. She quickly laid down near the door and positioned herself partially under a body. She assessed the situation and discovered they were not dead, just unconscious, for now.

The first man had entered and dropped off his second "body" and exited. Now the next man was entering. Turning, he found himself face to face with a tall blond woman with an attitude who proceeded to remove his larynx with one focused strike of her hand. He fell to the floor holding his throat. He writhed on the floor unable to breath as blood filled his lungs. She had about 20 seconds before the next group arrived. Nikita relieved him of his weapons, an Uzi and a knife. "Ummm, a Cobra, my favorite." She silently finished him off inserting the knife into the base of his skull. He immediately went limp and was hidden underneath Nick and Walter’s bodies. The next two men entered and she dispatched them with a fervor she had not known she had. She was not thinking of the overwhelming odds against her. Her protective nature had taken over and the odds became irrelevant. She focused on each man as he entered the room and after 5 or 6 minutes she took stock of her work. There were 10 bad guys underneath the still sleeping good guys. *OK, done.*

There were no more men entering the room so she moved out into the hall and proceeded in a circle through each anteroom. She encountered a bad guy at the main power grid and took him out without a sound. That Cobra knife was awesome. It made killing slick and easy. Accurately inserting the blade into the base of the skull separated the brain from the spine. Presto, instant vegetable, soon to be deceased bad guy.

Two men remaining. One she could see through the window working at Birkoff’s station. *That must be the leader.* He was eating Birkoff’s Oreos not paying attention to the room. His attention was focused on the information displayed on the computer screen. Locations of the 9 additional Section cells.

She continued moving around and dispatched the next victim, also working at a computer. He never knew what hit him. He was left slumped over the keyboard with a neat little slit at the base of his skull.

She squatted down and waited trying to determine the best way to move on this last man. She was just north of Birkoff’s station and directly across from the tower. Nikita looked up to see Madeline on the floor still unconscious. This sight recharged her protective nature and she felt a new surge of adrenaline. Operations was leaning against the glass with his eyes closed. *Well, Ops, you got lucky today. I guess you will also benefit from my efforts. Personally, I couldn’t care less what happens to you.*

The leader was still focused on the computer screen. She decided to move back around to interrogation room C and reenter the main room on his left.

Up in the tower, Ops began moving his head. He was waking up. It took him a few seconds to clear his head and remember his situation. He stopped moving, closed his eyes half way and began to scan the main floor.

*All the operatives are gone and Daman seems to be the only one left. What is he looking for?* As Ops continued to look around, he picked up movement far to his right. It was Nikita. *What the HELL is she doing? Daman will cut her to pieces. If I yell, she will lose the element of surprise.* Not able to warn her, he just sat there and watched.

Nikita stood and entered the room bringing her body up to its full height. Calmly and clearly she spoke. "What are you doing?"

With that, Daman’s head snapped up and disbelief shot across his face. "Who the hell are you?!?" he half yelled as he moved out from behind the counter taking a defensive stance. His gun, on the other side of the computer, was well out of reach.

Nikita did not answer. She moved into an attack stance and showed her weapon.

"Ahhh, I do enjoy a good knife fight." With that Daman withdrew a 6 inch switch blade. The knife had such a distinguished history. He took personal pride in how sharp he kept it. A sharp knife made carving so much easier.

As they moved in a circle studying each other, Nikita could see this man knew his way around with a blade. *OK, focus on your training. Watch for his weaknesses and strike with speed and accuracy. He’s stronger so I must be faster.*

By now Operations was fully awake and sat staring at what was unfolding before him. Nikita was taking on Daman Hill in a knife fight. She had no idea who he was. He could not believe his eyes and for the first time in a long time, said a short prayer.

Daman made the first move lunging for Nikita’s exposed left shoulder. Nikita countered and watched his movements as he regained his balance. *He leads with his Left and pauses when he is countered.* Nikita taunted him with a smile and a wink.

Daman attacked again, this time he rolled on the floor under her knife and came up with a slice across her midsection. Nikita made a counter move but still felt the knife slice her stomach. She did not take her eyes off him. As he made yet another move toward her, she saw an opening and rolled past his left side. With one move, she sliced across his thigh just above the knee. This severed his left quadriceps muscle causing him to drop hard onto the floor.

"What kind of an attack was that little girl!?" Daman spat. "There are no vital organs near my knee you stupid bitch!"

A look of panic rolled across his face as he realized he was unable to use his left leg to stand up. While he was staring at his knee, Nikita moved to his right side sweeping his right leg out from under him. This was followed with another slice across his right quadriceps muscle. He went down hard hitting his head on the floor.

Operations was seeing but not believing. "Someone’s been practicing." A look of amazement appeared on his face as he could see her strategy from his vantage point.

Daman tried to stand but was only able to get up onto his knees. He continued to be on guard and was turning as Nikita moved in a circle around him.

"You little bitch..." But he did not get the chance to complete his sentence. Nikita moved again severing his right biceps muscle. His hand fell limply to his side. He tried lifting his hand but it just hung there. As anger matured into realization, Nikita sliced his knife arm also at the biceps. His knife fell to the floor with a clank and Nikita pushed it away with her foot.

*Now for the final move* Nikita walked at her leisure to a position behind him and expertly sliced both right and left hamstrings. Daman collapsed into a heap, unable to move, unwilling to speak.

Nikita spoke for the first time. Her voice was thick with sarcasm. "If you are wondering what will happen now, I am sure I don’t know. However, I AM sure Operations and Madeline will want to chat with you for a bit."

At the end of her speech she looked up into the tower and saw Operations watching her. They exchanged looks. Her’s was a look of contempt that said ‘I just saved your ass mister’. His look was one of new found Respect.

Nikita left the section and returned to Michael’s cabin. He was still passed out on the floor. She hauled him up into the bed again and covered him. It was now 5:30 am and the morning crew would be arriving at the Section about now. *Let them clean up the mess, I’ve done my part.* She needed to sleep. Nikita turned off the lights as she left the cabin for home.

The first operatives began to arrive about 3 minutes after Nikita returned to Michael’s. They saw the vans and entered with caution. The building was searched and there were no other intruders found. The operatives in interrogation room C were waking up and this was not a very pleasant experience for them. They discovered they were all lying on top of dead men. Some with their throats ripped out, others nearly decapitated. Blood was everywhere. Operations and Madeline made their way down to the main floor. The first operatives to enter the room were shocked to see Daman Hill on the floor trying desperately to get away.

Operations issued orders to Madeline. "Get him to the infirmary and prep for interrogation.

Reports began coming in. They had found 2 dead men in the mainframe rooms and 10 others in interrogation room C. Everyone was asking the same questions.

Nikita returned home to shower and get some sleep. At 10:15am the phone rang.

"Josephine?"

"Yes."

"One hour for debriefing." Click

"What now." groaned Nikita.

As she entered the Section, it was obvious she was in a foul mood. The room became quiet. Everyone was staring at her. She was met with looks of disbelief, awe, and belated respect. She stopped in her tracts and stared back. "WHAT?!?" she bellowed as her hands went up in the air.

Operations motioned for Nikita to sit at the briefing table as Walter, Madeline, Birkoff, and Operations took their respective places. Michael was there, looking pale, and she could see that his hand was bandaged.

Operations spoke slowly and directly "Don’t leave anything out".