"You even THINK about touching him again and I'll blow away your grandchildren!" Stephanie pressed the muzzle of the gun harder against the zipper of his pants.

She glanced quickly from his face, to the knife in his hand, to the hostage tied in the chair, and back again. "Drop it, NOW!"

"O.K., O.K.!" He bent slowly to drop the knife. Stephanie eased back on the pressure of the gun. That's when he caught her with the other elbow under her chin.

Her head went back and she staggered a step. They struggled over the gun and he won.

Grinning, he said to her, "You'll pay for that. Now you're going to watch your boyfriend die, Bitch!"

He aimed the gun at the middle of the other man's forehead. The hostage's green-eyed gaze did not waver; he showed no sign of fear. He only watched them both intently throughout.

The thug's finger tightened on the trigger and Stephanie leapt.

"NO!" she screamed, as she threw herself in the way of the bullet. It impacted against her right shoulder and she collapsed against the man in the chair.

"O.K., light! Training session is over for the day," said the team leader from the chair.

Stephanie pulled herself off of Michael and sat, panting, on the floor. Despite the protection of her vest, the rubber bullet's impact was painful and would probably leave her a glorious bruise.

Michael looked at her. "Remember, the point is to get out alive. Next time, just shoot him."

"Yessir."

She got up, tears coming unbidden to her eyes. Her humiliation was complete.

The operative who played the thug, Jerry, looked up from freeing Michael. "I guess future generations of bad guys will be safe with you around." He leered at her. He was joined in laughter by some of the operatives standing around in Section.

Madeleine's voice cut them short. "That's enough. Stephanie, in my office, now."

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

"Would you like some hot tea?" Madeleine asked from the couch.

"Yes, thank you." Stephanie wished it was something stronger. Like an overdose of sleeping pills. That would do it, she thought.

Madeleine began. "Explain yourself."

"The point is to stay alive and complete the mission. The team leader's survival makes that outcome more likely." "But the scenario this time was an expendable hostage and an expendable hostage-taker."

Madeleine stood up and leaned over her. "You've done this three times now. Taken a bullet for the training team leader." She paused. "All three times when that leader was Michael."

Stephanie sat rubbing her sore shoulder and looking down. She was silent.

Madeleine continued. "I'm beginning to think that it's something personal. We can't allow personal considerations to interfere with the job we do here." Her voice remained soft and controlled, but Stephanie knew she was becoming angrier. "What is it you feel for Michael? Are you attracted to him?"

Stephanie almost laughed. With Michael's beautiful, curly hair, his intense eyes, sensuous mouth, muscular physique.... and that voice! Who wouldn't be?

"Do I find him attractive?" She grinned at Madeleine. "I'm breathing, aren't I?" She was relieved to see Madeleine smiling back at her.

"Michael is an exceptionally attractive man, but mostly I find him extremely... intimidating."

Stephanie continued. "There's nothing personal between us." Stephanie looked at her pleadingly. "Please, Madeleine, don't make Michael suffer for my shortcomings. My screw-ups are my own and have nothing to do with Michael."

"There you go, defending him again." Madeleine stared at her for a long moment, then sat back down on the couch. "You can go now."

Gratefully, Stephanie stood up to leave. As she got to the stairs, she encountered Michael coming down them. He had obviously been listening from the catwalk above.

Why don't they just cancel me? Stephanie thought. Before I just die of embarrassment.

She nodded at him and moved to go by. Michael stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Report to Medlab before going anywhere else," he said. "Have them take a look at your shoulder."

Yessir." She hurried out.

Operations looked away from his surveillance of the people below and responded to Madeleine. "What's so unusual about it? It happens all the time with our young female recruits." He blew out smoke from his cigarette and smiled at Madeleine. "Sometimes with the young male ones."

"No, it's more than the typical infatuation," Madeleine replied. "I'll get to the bottom of it. It's worrying me."

"I think you're wrong, but if it makes you happy..." Operations said, grinning, "work it up."

Madeleine smiled back and left the office.

Operations took another contented puff and continued smiling. He so enjoyed the head-game scenarios Madeleine came up with. This should be good.

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

"I love you, Michael!" Stephanie gazed at him dreamily from the bed. She moaned and turned her head. "I love you!!!" she said more loudly.

At last. Now we're getting somewhere, thought Madeleine.

She had given Medlab orders to administer the truth serum to Stephanie the next time she came in. The drug produced a "happy drunk" effect. Most often they babbled like brooks, but not in this case. The only response so far to Michael's questions had been goofy smiles and giggles.

Stephanie closed her eyes. Everything was spinning a little, but that was O.K. Wasn't the world wonderful? She loved everybody. She loved Section One. "I do! I love you!" she yelled again.

Madeleine leaned over her and took her face in both hands. "Stephanie, look at me."

The younger woman opened her eyes and smiled at her. "Madeleine! Ohhh, you're so pretty! I love you, Madeleine...."

Madeleine rested the girl's head gently back on the pillow. "O.K., that's enough. We'll try the alternate plan tomorrow."

She looked at Michael. "Don't be late for the briefing."The double doors hissed open for her.

Michael looked down on the sleeping Stephanie. He touched her hand briefly. Liar, he thought. You don't love us. You hate Section One and you're afraid of me. He removed his hand from hers. Why did she care? Michael was as puzzled as anyone. He gave her one last look and then turned and followed Madeleine out of the room.

She was soooo hung-over. And she hadn't even been to a party. Stephanie held her head in her hands. She hoped she could make it through the briefing that was just starting. The pain pills they had given her hadn't done anything for the pain. Her shoulder still hurt like crazy. They just knocked her out and made her head spin.. The drugs had given her really weird dreams, too.

"Are we quite ready to start?" Operations said in her ear.

She jumped. The only person who spooked her more than Michael was Operations.

"Yessir." She sat up and realized that the whole team was assembled for the briefing.

"Our target is this man," said Operations, activating the holographic screen. "Maximillian Walsh. He's an arms dealer. He enjoys partying at a certain dance club across town." He looked at each face around the table and then continued. "All of you will be in place as either patrons or service personnnel. We take him alive." He clicked off the viewscreen. "Get your assignments from Birkoff."

Great. I get to be a dishwasher for my first assignment, thought Stephanie.

Operations called her back before she could leave. "Stephanie, see Madeleine for a dress." He smiled at her. "You'll be dancing tonight with Michael."

Her throat closed up in shock. "Yessir," she managed to squeak out. She almost asked him, "why me?". And then thought better of it. It just was not her week.

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

"Can I get you another drnk, love?" Michael said to her across the table.

Too bad this wasn't for real, she thought. Michael looked almost approachable in his khaki chinos and white polo shirt. The gold wire-rimmed glasses completed the preppie effect.

"No, thanks,uhh, Darling." She leaned toward him and whispered, "I had a Baptist grandmother."

Stephanie looked around at the dancing couples and the people at the bar, smoking and sipping drinks. "Boy, good thing she'll never know I was in this place. She'd flip out."

Michael stood up and took her hand. "Let's 'flip her out' some more." He smiled. "Dance with me."

She stood up and smoothed the front of her short, sleeveless black-print dress. Her dark hair was curled and hung loose down her back. She stepped into his arms on the dance floor, resting her hands on his shoulders. She gathered her courage. She wanted to prove to Michael that she wasn't afraid of him. Also, Section One seemed to think it important that she confess to having a crush on Michael.

Stephanie decided to tackle both problems her own way. She rubbed her cheek on Michael's jaw and said in his ear, "You know why Baptists don't approve of premarital sex, don't you?"

He pulled back and looked at her, amused. "No, why?"

"Because it might lead to dancing." She smiled at him and lowered her hands to wrap around around his waist. She let one hand travel ever so slowly downward to caress the firm curves there.

Michael reached back to grab her wrist. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it.

"Behave yourself, love. We'll have plenty of time for that later."

Stephanie stepped back into his arms and they resumed dancing. "The table in the corner. Green shirt. He's the one with the girl in his lap," she said.

"O.K., Birkoff, start sequencing," Michael ordered. "B Team, move in."

Michael was impressed with Stephanie so far tonight. She would make a good operative. Madeleine wasn't usually wrong, but she could be this time. Stephanie could have just been going out of her way to make an impression on him in training, but he wasn't sure. He'd find out in a few minutes.

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

When the shooting started between Section and Walsh's men, Stephanie had her own agenda. Someone else could get Walsh. She was going to get Michael out of there. The way to the front door was impassable, but she had studied the schematic of the building. The storeroom had once been a bomb shelter; its concrete walls were a foot thick and it had an iron door. She spoke to him from their position together under the table. "That way, Michael," she said, indicating the steps.

He nodded. "Cover me," he said. Michael paused to take something out of his pocket and press it to the underside of the table. They made a run for it.

They managed to make it to the stairs through the deafening gunfire. "All teams, evacuate now. Charge has been set and will detonate in ..30 seconds," Michael ordered.

He rapidly descended the stairs, followed closely by Stephanie. He pulled open the door to the storeroom and shoved Stephanie through ahead of him. Michael had just closed the door behind them when the blast went off.

They lay side by side in the total blackness. It was quiet now. Stephanie took a breath and sat up.

"Michael?"

She reached out, searching. Her hand encountered polo shirt. She was relieved to feel his chest rising and falling. He was breathing, at least.

"Michael, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he answered. He sat up slowly. "You?"

"I'm good. What's happening upstairs?"

"Birkoff, report." Nothing. "They're not receiving," he told her.

"God, its so dark. The door is this way, I think."

Stephanie jumped when Michael shone the small flashlight on her. He followed her to the door. He tried the handle and shoved. Again, nothing.

"Why won't it open?" she asked. "Is it jammed?" She tried to keep the panic out of her voice. She really didn't like the idea of being trapped.

Especially trapped alone with Michael.

Michael tried again to open the door with the same results. "I think there's debris from the explosion blocking the door," he said. "I'll know in a minute."

Pulling out his gun, he told her to stand back. He blew off the lock and tried to shove the door open again. It didn't budge. "It's blocked," he said.

They looked at each other. They both knew there were no other doors and no windows. There was no way out.

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

"Give me your comm-unit," said Michael.

Stephanie obediently handed him the small metallic dot from the back of her ear.

After a few minutes of trying, Michael abandoned the attempt. "It's dead, too." He removed the glasses that held his own now non-functioning communicator.

"What now?" she asked.

"We wait." Michael looked around, shining the flashlight into the corners. There was no furniture, only shelves with boxes and more boxes on the floor. It was not a large space. They had been lying in the only clear space in front of the door.

Stephanie said, "God, I wish I'd had that second drink you tried to offer me," trying to sound flippant. Her voice came out shakier than she had wanted it to.

"Here's something we can use." Michael was opening a box marked 'tablecloths'. He tossed one to her.

"See if you can make us some bedding space out of these," he said. He tossed her another.

Stephanie caught it and squeaked, "Bedding space?"

The light from the flashlight showed his slight smile. "For sleeping. Digging us out will take a while; we might as well be comfortable." He paused. "I mean, at least, as comfortable as possible."

Opening the next box, Michael gave a small cry of triumph. "Look what I found!" He held up two bottles of wine. The next box contained some crackers.

Stephanie had been arranging the tablecloths on the floor, folding some for padding to lie on and some she folded into pillows. A phrase from a Country song came unbidden into her head--- "You can eat crackers in my bed anytime..." Her knees trembled slightly. Damn, she thought. If only they had just cancelled me yesterday...

Michael put away the crackers and stretched out on the make-shift mattress. "I'm going to try to sleep now." He looked over at her where she was sitting on a crate. He shifted slightly to one side. "You can lie down too, there's room."

"Don't you want me to keep watch?" she said.

"There's no need. It's too soon for them to get to us. He paused. "Lie down."

She trembled and pulled the tablecloth she had been wearing as a cape more tightly around her. She backed up a little further into the corner.

"Noo...no thanks. I'm fine where I am." She paused. "Unless that was an order."

In the dim light from the flashlight she couldn't be sure, but it seemed the look he gave her was one of sympathy.

"No, it wasn't an order." Michael turned to lie on his side, propping up his head with one elbow. "You don't need to be afraid of me, you know." Michael was beginning to suspect that Madeleine was on the right track. Lust was not Stephanie's motivating factor.

She almost laughed. "Right. I don't need to be afraid of you." She shook her head. "You can have me cancelled anytime; you control everything I do..."

"No one's considered cancellation in your case," Michael told her. She looked up in surprise.

He went on. "You're skilled; you learn quickly. And you've proven to us over and over that you don't lack courage or the ability to make sacrifices."

He sat up and rubbed his hand over his face. "You make sacrifices TOO willingly, that's your only problem." He turned his head to look at her.

"Why do you feel the need to protect me? Why try to keep me safe? You don't know me..."

"But I do, Michael," she said, returning his gaze. "I do know you."

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

"I do know you."

It was Michael's turn to be surprised. "What? What do you mean?"

Stephanie made a decision. She would tell him the truth. It had been impossible to tell him before in Section, but here, she could. Here, just the two of them, in this unexpected privacy, in this cocoon, isolated and untouched by Section One.

"Damn, where's that wine?" Stephanie settled herself on the bedding next to Michael. "This is just between us, O.K.?"

"Agreed," Michael said. "Go on."

She took a gulp of wine, coughed, and set the bottle down. "Could I...?" She reached for the flashlight and turned it off. Somehow, it was easier to talk in the dark.

"You know how I got into Section," she began. "I was working as the manager of a photo lab. That day it was just Betsy and me, just the two of us. She was seven months pregnant."

Stephanie paused, trying to control her tears. "When that guy came in to hold us up, when he pulled out the gun, I.." She looked up into the blackness.

"I've never been a violent person. But this was some kind of instinct. Maternal instinct, maybe. Nothing was going to stop me from protecting her. NOTHING."

She sighed and continued. "I grabbed the gun from under the counter and I emptied it into him. I went to jail and from there to Section One," she finished.

Michael understood. It was natural, like a tigress with her cubs. An image of Nikita came to his mind. He remembered her killing Alec Chandler after finding out the man was a child slaver. He recalled her fierceness, her rage, and her grief for children she didn't even know.

Stephanie had that same spark; that same inner fire to protect the innocents.

Out of the darkness, Michael spoke intently. "How do you know me?"

"I know you because before all that happened, I met your wife. I saw your baby. I knew him and Simone..."

Michael groped for her shoulder in the darkness and gripped it tightly. "How? Where? TELL ME!""

"Ow, not so hard!" Stephanie took his hand from her shoulder, still bruised from the day before. She held his hand in both of hers.

"Simone came to the lab one day. To the back door. She had your son with her. He was so precious..." Stephanie controlled her sob.

"She was so scared, so nervous. She asked about passport photos and I.D.'s." Stephanie went on. "I thought she was illegal, you see. I didn't realize she was trying to get you all out of Section One."

Michael's voice shook when he asked her,"What did you do? Did you help her?"

"Yes. It was a slow day; I was alone in the shop. Making pictures of her and the baby wasn't illegal, anyway, so I did. I took their photos." Stephanie squeezed his hand more tightly. "Michael, she didn't forget you. She wasn't going to take the baby and leave you. Simone had a picture of you. She wanted me to use it to make an I.D. for you." Stephanie was near tears. "Doing the pictures took some time. She let me hold the baby while we waited.."

Michael had been prepared for anything but this. The image of his wife and baby cut through his defenses completely. The pain of their loss, so long suppressed, welled up and overcame him. He wept.

They were both crying now. Slowly, she turned to take him in her embrace. He clung to her, his tears wetting her breast. She could feel his shoulders shaking.

"Michael, I'm so sorry about your family. When I see you, I guess I remember Simone and the baby, and your pictures together. .."

Michael held her more tightly. Stephanie rested her cheek on his hair and rocked him. "I guess when anyone threatens you, I see that baby I held-- I see them both, a mother and a baby that I have to protect.."

An explosion in the far wall knocked them apart. Section operatives appeared in the opening where the light now suddenly shone through.

Stephanie and Michael stood up, blinking against the brightness.

"Sorry to disturb your love-nest, you two." It was Jerry, the operative who had played the part of the hostage-taker during training. He grinned as he took in the scene of wine bottles, rumpled sheets, and Stephanie's guilty expression. He would enjoy giving Madeleine a detailed report. Lust requited. He smirked.

Michael was composing a similar report in his head. Madeleine would hear about them sharing the wine and hot moments on the floor. Only he and Stephanie would know they had shared so much more.

Michael put his arm around her shoulders, and turning her face up to his, kissed her. He looked at her meaningfully for a moment. "Thanks for everything, love. It was good for me."

She blushed and ran her hand possesively down his chest, playing her part. "Me, too," she whispered.

"Let's go."

She followed him out, back into the glare. Back to Section One.

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

Up in Operations' glassed in office, Michael was finishing his report to him and Madeleine.

".....Stephanie was jumping in front of bullets so she'd get an opportunity for body contact with me..." He actually smiled at them. "I think her training sessions will go more smoothly now."

Madeleine couldn't remember the last time she had seen Michael so relaxed. The sex must have been really good, she thought.

What she did not know was that the tension that had been relieved was emotional, not sexual. It was his grief that had been released, his pain that had been eased.

"Thank you, Michael," said Operations, smiling. "You can go now."

The two in the glass office were watching a few minutes later when Michael walked up to Stephanie in the hallway below them.

They smiled at each other.

"How did it go?" she asked. "Is it O.K.?"

"They bought the story. You gave a very convincing performance."

"Speaking of ---er---performance, Michael, what do you want me to tell the girls in the locker-room?"

"What were you going to tell them?" he said, running his fingernails lightly down her arm.

"Well," she said, twining her fingers in his hair, "the word I came up with was 'spectacular'. How's that?" She laughed.

Last night HAD been good for her, too. Now she had confidence in her ability to survive in Section One. Her doubts and fears were eased, and her discomfort around Michael was completely gone. She was sure that she now had in him an ally and friend. He was soon to prove that was true.

" 'Spectacular' will do fine." He smiled back. "You can always promote me to 'mind-blowing' if you need to."

"Consider yourself promoted!" She told him, laughing. "Michael, what are you going to tell the guys? What are you going to tell Jerry?"

"Oh, I have plans for Jerry," he said with a glint of devilment in his eye.

"In today's training Jerry gets to play the expendable hostage..." He went on. "I want you to be the one to torture and kill him..."

Oh, goody! thought Stephanie.

From the tower office, Operations and Madeleine saw Stephanie mouth the words, "I love you, Michael," and throw her arms around his neck.

Operations turned to grin at Madeleine. "Admit it, my dear," he gloated. "You were wrong." He looked back to the young couple embracing each other. "I told you so."

"Hhhhmmmm," was all she said.

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