HARD LANDING: EPILOGUE

Madeline walked slowly into Operations' perch, her tentative gait indicating that she was deep in thought. Processing. Operations knew this particular look well, and waited expectantly for her to speak. He knew that she had spent the morning rigorously debriefing Ackerman to determine the full extent of his betrayal. He was anxious to hear the results.

"We may have another problem with Michael…" She began, as she moved into the room.

"Michael? What kind of problem?" Operations was confused, and it showed. Not only had Michael redeemed himself by identifying Ackerman as the mole, he had been performing at optimum level since Nikita's return. Operations was loath to hear any news that might involve Michael regressing back to the lackluster levels he had performed at during Nikita's absence. He looked at Madeline anxiously, waiting for her reply.

"It seems that Mr. Ackerman is under the impression that Freedom League only had Nikita in their possession since last week. Furthermore, she escaped shortly after the video was recorded, and to his knowledge was not recaptured. Assuming he is telling the truth, our initial determination that Nikita was captured prior to the explosion was incorrect."

Madeline moved further into the room, to face the window, then turned and looked back at Operations. She continued her train of thought. "Ackerman has no reason to lie, and frankly, at this stage of his 'debriefing', I don't think he is capable of it. So if he is telling the truth, then we have some rather disturbing discrepancies to address. For instance, how did Nikita escape the explosion? Michael was the only person who had full intel. Where was she before Freedom League captured her? Is it possible that she and Michael have been in contact?…" Madeline trailed off, again deep in thought.

Operations removed his glasses and began rhythmically rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. Nikita was going to be the death of him yet. However, as much as he wanted to storm down to MedLab and cancel her on the spot, he couldn't. To do so would be to hamstring Michael, and there was no way Operations was going to relive that experience. No way at all. Not without proof. He placed his glasses back on and returned his gaze to Madeline. "Okay, what facts do we have at this time?"

"Nothing concrete, just Ackerman's word. But my intuition says there is more here than meets the eye."

"Intuition, Madeline?" Operations allowed himself a small smile.

"Yes, intuition. That and the fact that we still don't know exactly what Michael and Nikita discussed her first day in MedLab. The tapes give no clear indication and frankly it disturbs me that they are behaving so cautiously. I expected more of a 'reunion' between the two of them."

Operations countered her reasoning with a possible explanation. "Madeline, we did try to cancel her. She's not going to forget that anytime soon. She's wise to behave cautiously. Maybe, finally, she's learning a little restraint."

"Maybe. But I just can't shake the feeling that we're missing something…"

*************

Madeline moved with purpose as she exited Operations' office and strode toward her own. The staccato taps of her heels on the concrete floor mirrored the speed at which possible explanations and scenarios whirled through her mind. One thing was for certain, she thought, she had to get to the bottom of this situation quickly. And discreetly. If the proverbial wool had been pulled over her eyes, she certainly wasn't going to let it become common knowledge within the Section.

Entering her office, she sat at her console and brought up the video tape of Michael and Nikita in Medlab. Rather than trying to decipher their conversation, she muted the sound and focused entirely on their body language.

It was obvious from the beginning that they knew they were being observed. Their eyes spent as much time looking for the camera as they did looking at each other. At least in the beginning… Madeline moved in closer to the screen to get a better look and, like Nikita in the video, unconsciously began to rub her lower lip with her forefinger. She had to concede Operations' point that their behavior was justified considering that Section had tried to cancel Nikita. Still, it wasn't the surreptitious looks that got her attention. What was it?… Something was different. Something had changed. When Michael leaned down and Nikita tipped his chin up with her fingers, Madeline let out an exclamation.

Of course! She knew what had been bothering her about this scene from the moment she first witnessed it. Nikita was initiating intimate contact with Michael. Nikita never initiated such close contact with Michael unless she was obligated to do so as part of a mission. The occasional pat on the arm, yes. But nothing more. Yet here she was staring him in the eye, touching him, stroking him…And Michael was encouraging her! Madeline hadn't seen that look in his eye in a long time. Not since Simone. If she didn't know better she'd swear that they'd… but no, that wasn't possible. Was it?

Madeline froze the frame and leaned back in her chair. She considered her last conversation with Nikita over six months ago. She had been in the sound room monitoring surveillance tapes and Nikita had wandered in, lost, searching for advice, something to give her the strength to perform her job. When Madeline had offered Michael up as a possible friend and confidante Nikita had immediately rejected the notion. "A friend is someone you can trust," she had said. Hours later, she was cancelled. Or so they had thought.

"What a mess!" Madeline muttered as she flipped off the monitor, stood up and began to pace the room.

*************

After a half hour of deliberation, Madeline wasn't much closer to an answer than when she started. Clearly, a newfound level of trust had developed between Michael and Nikita over the past six months. But at what point, and in what context, she was unsure. Ackerman's revelations about Nikita's brief tenure as a hostage certainly provided opportunity for contact, but Madeline had a hard time reconciling that possibility with the fact that Michael's grief over the past six months had been so tangibly real. He was good, but he wasn't that good. No one was.

How then, were they going to resolve the situation? Madeline was secretly glad to have Nikita back and freely admitted to herself that ordering her cancellation had been a mistake. However, if Section security had been compromised during Nikita's absence, they had to know. Yet if Nikita and Michael were confronted directly and it was proved that they did in fact deceive Section, they would face a mandatory cancellation order. What a mess, indeed. Perhaps Purcell could shed some light on the situation…

Her musings were interrupted by Operations, who breezed in looking like the cat who ate the canary. He pulled a cigar out of his inside breast pocket, lit it and contemplated the burning end as he began to speak.

"After you left earlier I took the liberty of contacting our Cell in South Africa. It seems that Michael did contact them to arrange protection for Purcell. However, Mr. Purcell has since disappeared for parts unknown and is currently unavailable for questioning."

"How convenient," Madeline murmured.

"My thoughts exactly." Operations smiled, and took a long drag on the cigar.

Madeline looked at him quizzically. "We can't verify Michael's story and you think this is a positive development?"

"Oh, yes. It occurs to me, as I imagine it does to you, that if we overtly challenge Michael and Nikita's story and prove that the pair of them knowingly deceived Section, then we would have no choice but to cancel them both. But if we use more covert methods, we can gain our information and then determine the appropriate steps to take. Personally, I don't want them cancelled. I want them separated. Agreed?"

Madeline lifted an eyebrow and smiled at Operations. Years of partnership had given her an uncanny ability to read his mind. "Agreed."

They stood in companionable silence for a moment, contemplating their next move. Operations took another drag on his cigar, and Madeline turned to face her desk.

"I think I may have a way to use this situation to our advantage," she said as she reached over and flipped on the monitor. The frozen image of Michael and Nikita staring into each other's eyes reappeared on screen.

"I've come to the conclusion that at some point in the past six months Nikita and Michael have gained a new level of trust in their relationship. This new faith in each other, as evidenced by the look you see here, is going to prevent either one of them from ever coming clean to us. But, if we work to erode this trust, we may be able to find out what happened, and separate them at the same time."

Operations was intrigued by Madeline's idea, but decided to play devil's advocate. "How do you propose we 'erode' this newfound confidence in each other? Manipulate them again through their assigned missions? They're going to be expecting something like this from us, and such a plan could backfire and ultimately move them even closer together."

"True," Madeline replied. "In the past, we have manipulated mission parameters to control Michael and Nikita's relationship. Obviously, it didn't work as well as we had hoped. No, I'm suggesting doing something a little different here, like providing Nikita with a replacement for Michael. She finds independence attractive. Place her with someone who can give her that, and her loyalties may waver."

Operations took yet another drag on the cigar and grinned wickedly at Madeline, who in turn grinned back. His eyes gleamed as he considered the added benefit to their plan. "If Nikita does transfer her emotions to someone else, Michael won't be pleased. Conceivably, he could reject her entirely in which case she would no longer have the ability to adversely affect his ability to perform."

"Conceivably," Madeline agreed.

"Who would you like to use for this? It could take some time."

"Call Jurgen."

"Jurgen? This could prove interesting… Would you like to discuss it over dinner?" Operations asked, reaching for the coat Madeline had draped across the back of her chair.

"I'd love to." Madeline replied, as Operations placed her coat around her shoulders and escorted her out the door.

Michael stood at his window and watched the pair leave Madeline's office and walk toward the main exit. His face, as always, was inscrutable. He had just received word from Purcell that Section agents in Pretoria were attempting to locate him for questioning, ostensibly to verify that he had in fact given Michael the Freedom League's main location.

As Michael had expected, and feared, his use of Purcell had come under scrutiny. This could only mean that Ackerman had provided Madeline with additional intelligence regarding Nikita's capture and escape before he was terminated.

Forewarned was forearmed, he thought grimly. Let the games begin. He was ready.

THE END

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