Set in and around the episode Off Profile.

The characters of Patrice and Antony are the invention of the authors.

**********

Michael rolled over and grabbed his cell phone. As he picked up the receiver he glanced irritably at the clock. 3:00 a.m., what has happened now? he thought.

"Yes?"

"Hi, could I talk to Sarah?", a young girl's voice asked.

"Sorry, wrong number, there is no Sarah here."

"Isn't this 741 - 7766?"

"No."

"Oh, sorry, um goodbye."

Michael rolled over and reached for his robe. As he tied it around his waist, he took out a pad of paper and pen from his night table, ripped off a single sheet and walked to his living room. There he crouched beside his glass table and began deciphering the code, being careful to rest the paper only on the glass. 7:00 a.m. THE DAY AFTER tomorrow, 28 hours notice. He frowned, wondering what was going on, and burned the piece of paper, flushing the ashes down the toilet afterwards.

The day was cold and somewhat blustery. Michael stood with the collar of his coat up, the only concession to the weather. An airport limo with darkened windows pulled up, and the young woman driver leaned over as the passenger window rolled down.

"Cab, sir?"

"Yes." The back passenger side door opened. Michael glanced around quickly and slipped into the cab.

"Hello Michael." The grey haired man in the perfectly cut steel-blue Savile Row suit said with a small smile. He held out his hand.

Michael ignored the hand and simply answered, "Antony" with a peremptory nod. Former assistant director of MI-5, now the Oversight director responsible for Section 4, and incidentally Operations' dearest enemy at Oversight.

"Well then, we'll skip the niceties. Did you recognize our driver?"

"Yes. Hello, Patrice".

The driver glanced in her rear view mirror, smiled and nodded.

"Hello, Michael, good to see you, you're looking well."

"To get back to business," Antony said, breaking the silence. "We asked you to come in, Michael, as a number of us on Oversight are increasingly concerned over the attrition rate in Section I. You are aware that George himself is coming in this week to investigate the use of unauthorized procedures."

Michael moved slightly in his seat.

"Yes, you're aware of what I'm implying. Don't worry, we won't ask anything now."

Michael looked away out of the window, his face as blank as a unpainted canvas.

Antony continued, "In conjunction with the investigation, we're setting up a test for Operations. As you know, his performance has been under review for sometime. Patrice will be coming to Section I."

Michael glanced involuntarily at the driver, his mouth opening slightly. Antony noticed the reaction with satisfaction. He added, "Undercover. She'll be taking the place of a genuine profiler being transferred from Asian Sector to Section One. Her name for the duration of the mission will be Andrea Kossoff. Her appearance of course will be altered. Naturally Patrice's real records have long ago been deleted from all Section files, with the exception of my own confidential records, so there will be no chance of identification. You'll be strangers to each other. We've set up a faked personnel record, which will make her appear vulnerable to Operations."

"What is her weakness?" Michael asked.

"For the purposes of this mission?" the driver asked with a faint smile.

"Of course," answered Michael. He knew Patrice far too well to expect a genuine vulnerability.

"Operations seems to attack those who share his faults. Therefore, Andrea is suspected of emotional instability, of putting her feelings of love or revenge ahead of the Section." George said, leaning back into the seat of the car. He reached into his breast pocket for a silver case. Michael noticed it was engraved but could not tease the words out of the ornate, unfamiliar script. Was it Hindi or Arabic? Antony pulled a cigar out of the case, fumbled in his left pocket for a cutter, neatly trimmed the end of the cigar, exchanged the cutter for a silver lighter and lit the cigar. Michael opened his window slightly.

After inhaling deeply, Antony continued, "We have inserted a small incident into her record, whereby her estranged lover was killed on a mission. Aside from that, her record will be flawless. Section One badly needs another profiler, you know how thinly you' re stretched, especially after the outbreak. We are giving Operations a valued and respected operative, skilled in an area that Section One wants, to see what he does with her."

"And if he does nothing?" Michael asked, not verbalizing his certainty that Oversight would not waste Patrice on a Profiler's position.

"Then I will require her transfer, but in the meantime, Section I will have the use of a very senior Operative. If nothing else, Patrice should be able to help you get through the next month or so."

Michael took note of how long Antony was willing to leave Patrice in place. This must be important to him, Michael thought. It would be difficult to replace Patrice for a month.

"Do you have any questions? This will be the only time that you and Patrice will be able to discuss your respective roles, and the mission in general. Once Patrice enters the Section, you will both be on mandatory refusal. No change in the mission until she is extracted."

"What is the extraction plan?"

"If Operations behaves as we expect and sets up Andrea to take revenge on someone, hopefully you, Patrice will go forward with the assignment until the last possible moment. She will do this during an actual mission, from a mobile com, if possible. Patrice will have the means to signal me directly, and cue her retrieval. Oversight will step in to investigate how such an obviously erratic operative escaped detection for so long."

Michael shrugged slightly. He didn't have to believe Antony, Patrice did. There wouldn't be anything he could do to help her. In fact, with Patrice trying to kill him, or exact revenge in some other way, he would have his hands full staying alive. Patrice wasn't known for pulling punches even in drill.

Antony drew in and savoured another breath of smoke, "I doubt that Operations will be able to resist the bait. This may well provide us with more of the evidence we need, Michael."

The older man leaned towards him, "It won't be long now, keep yourself safe."

Antony placed his hand on Michael's thigh. Michael felt his stomach clench. He had known Operations for a long time, respected him for much of that time, and was beginning to be tired of playing Judas, a role he had been forced into after it became clear that when Red Cell had broken the Directory, Operations had not warned any of the other Sections, setting them up for high rates of casualities to increase the attractiveness of the eventual trap. He wondered how far he would be made to go in entrapping Operations, in order to stay alive himself. And at what point staying alive would stop mattering to him. Michael almost relished these moments of detached clarity that he was experiencing more and more frequently. He wondered if this meant that he was closer than he thought to that point of complete indifference, or if he was going insane, as Nikita had just accused him of being.

"Your stop, I believe, " Antony interrupted Michael's thoughts.

The cab pulled to the curb and Michael's door opened. Michael got out and walked away without a backward glance.

Michael thought about this turn of events as he travelled in yet another cab closer to the Section's entryway. It was interesting to see Patrice again. He hadn't seen her since well before Simone's capture. They had all been good friends in that distant time which was inadequately described as the past, but felt more like another life, before Michael's secondment from Section One had ended and Patrice had been promoted directly to Oversight. The friendship should never have worked. Patrice preferred women in her private life, and had been very attracted to Simone, but Simone had been faithful to Michael. Somehow they had able to get over that awkwardness and had become close. Maybe too close, Michael thought. He had never managed to make new friends after Simone died. Chuck had been the last of his old friends still in Section I, but he had been gone for more than a year now. He hoped to create a relationship with Nikita, but that seemed impossible with Operation's determination to use Michael to destroy Nikita's humanity.

As Michael's cab got close to the Section's entrance, he asked the driver to pull over and got out, paying as was his habit with cash. He made a mental note to shower as soon as he got into the Section to get rid of the cigar smoke. He had always disliked the smell, and he didn't want any questions. He was glad that he kept a spare suit in his office. Perhaps this was overkill, but Michael didn't think he could be too careful in concealing his meetings with Antony. It was easier to think about the practical details of staying alive than the ramifications of those acts.

**********

Operations keyed his security code into Madeline's door. He smiled slightly, enjoying being the only person in Section against whom Madeline could not lock her doort. He also rang the bell though, not being so sure that he was up to what he would find if Madeline did not know he was coming. Nothing, it appeared today, she was sitting at her desk, her beautiful face engrossed in whatever data was on her computer screen. Madeline looked up as Operations walked in, an ingenuous smile on her lips.

"Hello," she said

Operations walked into the room, hands in pockets and stood close to Madeline, looking over her shoulder at the computer screen.

"Have you had a chance to go over the file on that new Profiler yet?"

"Yes, her record in Asian sector is exceptional." Madeline closed the file she was working on and called up another. "Especially when you consider that she has no field experience."

"Nothing catch your eye?" Operations said as he bounced lightly on the balls of his feet. He loved it when he felt he was one step ahead of Madeline.

"I would want to see her acquire that experience. We can't rely on people who have only participated in sims. You know how different real missions are."

Operations couldn't believe it, he could feel himself breathing slightly faster. Had he really noticed something Madeline had missed? This was going to be so good.

"Of course there was one anomaly." Madeline continued after a slight pause.

Damn, she caught it , Operations swore silently to himself.

"She tends to avoid personal attachments. But there was that one Valentine Op who made a play for her. He went missing unexpectedly. An operation fell apart. No blame could ever be attributed to her, but still .... She has not been involved with anyone since."

Madeline could always lay her finger on the weak place. Hell she even knows where to push my buttons, thought Operations.

"Exactly. If she is going to fit in here we have to make sure that she is not emotionally unstable. We've lost too many people to be worrying about whether or not the profile is sabotaged."

"Do you think that is why Asian Sector sent her when we requested a profiler?"

"Maybe. No one does anyone any favours between Sections. Asian Sector would love to see us fail."

"Let's bring Michael in on this," Madeline suggested. "It's his area of expertise."

"As long as we don't lose him, like the other one. What about Russell? He's less valuable." Operations was nothing if not persistent.

Madeline smiled again, "True, but don't you think she will be suspicious, if Russell, with so much less experience, is all of a sudden heavily involved in her missions? No, Michael is so much more subtle. In any event, this will also enable us to test Nikita. How will she react if she sees Michael pursue another woman?"

Madeline knew this was her best argument. Operations was always looking for ways to test Nikita. Madeline was beginning to believe that Nikita could handle Michael herself. Operations merely smiled and Madeline knew that she had got her way. She leaned over to the intercom and buzzed Michael's office.

"Michael could I see you in my office please?"

"Of course" came the dismembered voice, the accent so clearly Michael's.

Madeline looked at Operations.

"Do you want to brief him, or should I?"

Operations merely gestured, after you. Madeline smiled, it was good when they were on the same track.

***********

[The episode runs as we see it until the moment when Andrea takes off her headset and walks away from her station.]

As Patrice stood up from her station, she punched F12 to engage the backup program which would reopen the lab door at 15 seconds from detonation, which she had calculated as the absolute minimum for getting clear of the blast. She had already sent her signal to Antony, piggybacked on the command to re-engage the failsafe. All she needed to do now was to waste convincingly the few minutes before Operations realized what she had done to Michael. For a moment she wondered if she'd given Michael enough time, but she soon turned her attention to more pressing matters. How long would she have to wait in detention or interrogation before Oversight arrived to remove her? She had reasonable confidence in her ability to withstand Madeline's best efforts for several hours, but had no desire to test this belief.

News of Andrea's failed attempt at sabotage did not reach Operations until Michael and Nikita reported in from the relative safety of the van. Michael kept it terse.

"The door re-locked unexpectedly. I lost contact with Andrea and have not been able to re-establish. Nikita was able to open the door and we completed our mission without casualties."

He had bought Patrice all the time he could.

Operations was, if he were honest with himself, very pleased to see his predictions justified about Andrea. Nothing feels as good as being right. He put out an order for her detention, and felt for a cigarillo to celebrate the moment properly. But a buzz from Communications shattered his mood.

"What?"

Not Birkhoff's voice; the boy was still running the Bahrain operation. It was Gail, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Oversight for you on your direct line."

Operations softened his tone somewhat. "What is it, George?" He wondered with a sudden pang whether they had left some crack, and George had found out about Afghanistan.

"Why didn't you tell me when I was there that you had Andrea Kossoff? The team I sent to Asian Sector to investigate her just reported her transfer. She's suspected of using Section missions to settle personal scores."

"She just tried it here, and I've got her in detention."

"Excellent work. I'll send my people immediately."

Operations ended the call, and relaxed, lighting his cigarillo. Not only did Andrea prove him right, his test had even made him some badly-needed points with George. Perhaps he should call Christopher and have him prepare duck a l'orange. Madeline's favourite, and she so rarely treated herself to it.

Oversight had come and gone before Michael and Nikita returned from their mission. At his debriefing, Operations informed Michael that Andrea had been apprehended and would be dealt with directly by George. Michael knew he had made one slip, pretending not to know Andrea's name and then complaining that she lacked field experience before he could have read her file. He noted that Operations seemed to be in a very good mood, but decided to keep out of Madeline's way for the next few days, just in case she had picked it up.

Several days passed for Michael with no news from Antony. The report from Oversight said that Andrea Kossoff had been cancelled, as Operation had anticipated when he told Nikita of her demise. Michael wondered if he would hear from Patrice again before the end game scenario Antony was planning. Doubtful. He didn't know Antony's exact timetable, and he doubted he would learn anything before the last possible moment.

Michael's one carefully concealed personal indulgence was shiatsu massage. He lay on his stomach, facing the door to his private room, concentrating on relaxing one muscle group at a time. A small woman with dark, blunt-cut hair and glasses, wrapped in a blue and white kimono, entered and bowed. She began to massage him, and he noticed with appreciation that her hands were very strong.

"Did I cut the time too close?"

Michael didn't roll away, but Patrice felt the muscles in his back clench. She kept working on them as she talked.

"Her file says that she will take on any odds to rescue you."

Michael was not about to give Patrice the satisfaction of acknowledging her disguise had deceived him even briefly. He carried on the conversation. "You think she's a fool."

"To let you get away with what she believes you've done? Of course I do - Simone would have broken your legs for that, within mission parameters, and she defended you to me. She must think I was suicidal - sabotaging the mission and abandoning my station for all the world to see. I couldn't have hoped to get away with it."

"She's seen someone walk into a bullet for me."

"Fool for love. I was worried I had overplayed my part, but apparently not. You can't buy that kind of loyalty, Michael. Not even the Section can. I know it was hard for you to be with me. --"

Patrice knew she reminded Michael of Simone much more that Nikita did, in personality and physical type and shared memories. They hadn't referred to his feelings for Simone; that would have been too far into Michael's private self.

She continued, "And I appreciate it. It was nice to see you again."

"It was good to work with you."

Patrice knew how much that meant from Michael. She bent to her work in silence until Michael lay loose and half-asleep on the table. She whispered in his ear,

"You're still the best. Take care of yourself," and then left the room.

Michael lay still, his mind full of the memories he normally locked away. After a time, he got up. As he dressed, piece by piece, he re-established his mental control and prepared himself to re-enter the Section.

- The end

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