6.06 NEVER KEEP SUN AWAY FROM RAIN
At 4:30 am Section One woke up. The low-night light was left away… big headlights were turned on and all the areas, panels and telephones were on order, the rooms were crowded.
Walter arrived in his usual happy mood, ready to meet the boys coming back from the mission set to recover Jason.
Josephine came to him with a hot coffee. He was a leader to Nikita and everyone else.
WALTER: Hi, sweetie, here so early?
JOSEPHINE: Hi Walter… yeah, I must report about… you know… about Viktor and I'm afraid it won't be easy.
WALTER: Come on… I wouldn't be too worried if I were you.
JOSEPHINE: Wouldn't you? I let him come out of the White Room, taken him to the Infirmary and…"
WALTER: "But he didn't run away. He gave us the target's identikit and allowed us to end the mission successfully!"
JOSEPHINE: That's true, I hope they'll consider it.
WALTER: You really like that guy, eh?
JOSEPHINE: I don't know… but I never believed in easy cancellations.
WALTER: Once I knew a girl like that… she always tried to save as many lives as possible.
JOSEPHINE: And where is she now?
WALTER: Her heart is still here beating!
JOSEPHINE: What about the girl?
WALTER: She has the command.
THE TOWER 5:30 AM
Dawn was coming into the unlocked windows of the tower. Section One was endowed with many areas for the operatives' rest but the tower, that is the one for Operations and now for Nikita, was the most comfortable, set on the highest point of Section and from whom window you could enjoy a wonderful sight. Nikita had already stood up and was walking in her bathrobe on the big parquet of the room. She stopped for a while to observe Michael sleeping in her bed, tired and very touched for what was happened the day before. She couldn't believe she had him so close… she had to tend just her arm to touch him; it had taken a very high price to pay but she was so happy that she almost felt blame about that.
While waiting her warrior to wake up, she took advantage of that to call Mr. Jones… she wasn't sure but her father probably knew something more about Adam. By reporting about the mission, she saw that Mr. Jones was already aware of everything as usual, so Nikita decided to go straight to the point: "What can you tell me about Adam?"
After hearing that name, Michael woke up almost automatically, got to Nikita's shoulders and asked, as she stopped talking, "What's going on?"
Nikita was absent-minded and started back, then smiled and told him of the clone working for the Collective.
Michael couldn't understand: since that day on the bridge, he had never left his child alone, who could have taken him? And why did they take him for a clone?
Nikita: "Michael, there's something you don't know yet. My father is still alive"
Michael: "Alive? How is it possible?"
Nikita: "I don't know, I didn't want to explain. But we're meeting him tonight, I'm sure he will tell us everything he can"
Michael went to the window by gazing far outside. Nikita got to his shoulders and kissed his neck. She wanted to give him all her love and Michael was ready to catch it.
COMM. 6 A.M.
In the head-room, meanwhile, Quinn and Jason were checking out the list of contacts he had found in the Melixx database.
Jason: "you see Quinn, this lab is in each list"
Quinn: "yes, but there 8 labs with the same features"
Emily had just arrived and ran to Jason: "Welcome!" she said with the best of her smiles.
"Hi Emily, I'm glad to see you again!" he answered by turning his mind to her.
Quinn was ready to scold him: "Jason, do you mind? We're busy here!"
Jason: "I'm coming, don't worry, we'll get this lab… it will take me just few hours…"
"Or minutes with our new graphic locator" said Emily, confident in herself.
"Is the new radar already operative?" Quinn asked, wondered.
"Of course!" Emily answered.
"And can you get it in less than two hours?"
Emily smiled nodding and Jason shouted proud: "Fantastic! She's my girlfriend, guys!". She looked at him and smiled while he kissed her under Quinn's eyes.
They started working on the new geographic radar that Oversight had given them after Pols1's suggestion. The first geographic analysis hinted to two main ways, they needed to choose one of them to complete the research.
Quinn: "There's no doubt, the contacts seem to belong to Ivan Chernov group, that means the direction is Russia.
Jason: I don't agree. I had a feeling they were beginners, I think the right direction is Shangai.
Nikita was in the upper office working on a briefing with Pols1 but in her mind there was Michael, while he was waking along the big room by looking at her.
Walter came and hug him saying: "Michael, amigo, I wouldn't have felt like meeting you here inside but it's good to see you!".
Michael thanked him and went to the training room. He needed to awaken his operative side to get on well with Section One again.
"What were you saying, Pols1?" Nikita asked, turning back to her job.
Pols1: "Do you want me to follow the mission to the lab?
Nikita: "Yes, please. Set a simulating mission according to the available intels, so the system will give us the window- points and then go on according to the results".
Pols1: "Of course, we sent a team to Shangai in cold mission. Is that all?"
Nikita: "Yes, I'm going out in some hours and I'd like you to have the command.
Pols1: " It will be a great honour to me!"
"Nikita, the second team is in position" Quinn announced from the interphone. Pols1 got out and Nikita joined Quinn on Comm.
EAST COST - 31° latitude
At the same moment, an informatics lab on the west of Huangpu River, in the suburbs of Shangai, were testing some modifies required by a client. Suddenly, a crack and their smiling faces meant that they had made a good work.
1ST ENGINEER: "You were right, Mr. Zheng, your lab is really updated".
MR. ZHENG: "Hi-tech, especially as far as biomedicine is concerned, will be one of the major sectors as well, it will lead the Municipality in the next years. In 1995,as a whole, it represented 7% of the industrial product of the city but in 2000 it reached 23% that is 150 billion RMB equals to 18 billion American dollars."
Out of the lab, a van was to be charged… some boys went out of the building holding some boxes with timers and locators. Behind them, two men in white coat were carrying an object similar to a big ball with a flacon inside it. It looked like such a dangerous operation but actually it was very fast. The van left with three boys on board… placed at the end of the long avenue, the second team of Section One was ready to engage. The way of the van as well as the destination of its content seemed to be done. The driver stopped suddenly when he saw two cars on fire in the middle of the street. It was just a second but that was enough for team 2 to engage. Jasmine's head was bloody on the wheel but, as she got the signal, she put her gun against one of the men, Trent did the same with the other one. The third person inside the van pushed out the dead man and tried to escape but the
Magnum Desert Eaglee of the operatives didn't leave him any chance. The mission was fast and easy.
Trent calledPols1: "we have the charge" he said.
Michael and Nikita were going to Mr. Jones temporary residence. They often smiled each other in the car but they were both silent. The big gate was open and swallowed their nice back limousine. Michael looked around with much curiosity, Nikita went on more used to that. They came into the rich house waiting in the big room. Mr. Jones arrived some time later and invited them to his table.
MR. JONES: "Michael, welcome!"
Michael: "Thank you, I find you healthy as a dead man!"
MR. JONES: "well, yes, I can imagine you're wondering what happened but I'd like to eat now, we will talk later".
Michael: "I'm sure it will be a delicious dinner but I prefer to listen now."
MR. JONES: "Right, it's just… thought of my execution makes me suddenly lose my hunger.…"
Michael: "You're too clever to pretend not to understand".
Nikita decided to interrupt them: "Dad, we need you to tell us what you know about Adam".
Mr. Jones invited them to sit down. "I know everything about Adam but I wonder how much you want to know".
Nikita: "What do you mean? Where's Adam?"
MR. JONES: "Now the question is what happened, Nikita, because the two things are firmly connected."
Michael and Nikita sat down ready to understand what had really happened that day on the bridge.
MR. JONES: "What you need to know is that I agreed with that exchange just for one reason, those men were not from the Collective, we had a pact."
Nikita: "A pact?"
MR. JONES: "Yes, they were my operatives."
Nikita: "I don't understand. If they were not from the Collective, why did they have Adam?"
MR. JONES: "Well, I guess it's clear now, that wasn't Adam."
Nikita stood up and started thinking aloud, Michael didn't say a word.
Nikita: "Did you have Adam's clone? Why"?
"Where's Adam?" asked Michael, fed up.
MR. JONES: "Adam is dead, I'm sorry Michael. He was in the car with Elena the day they had the deadly accident and no, the answer to your next question is Section One didn't kill him, nor I "
Michael didn't say anything but his eyes expressed a deep pain.
"I guess you didn't do that just to force me to stay in Section One, did you" Nikita asked, very angry.
MR. JONES: "As a matter of fact, many things have changed in the high levels of the Agency as well, Oversight has been cancelled and many problems have forced me to get away for a while to keep on working on my projects. I knew I would never convince you to stay…
Nikita: "So you got my promise before dying?"
MR. JONES: "I'm sorry, I can't tell you anything else."
"Let's go" Michael said. Then getting close to Mr. Jones' face, "you have tricked your daughter by using my pain… I will never forgive you!"
As they got in the car, Nikita took Michael's hands in hers and touched his cheeks. Michael was moved "I survive by killing all the ones I love, are you sure you want to stay by my side?"
Nikita: "I've never been so sure, Michael."
Then, by putting her head on his shoulder, she said: "There's nobody I need like I need you"
THE END
Hildita for Cynbythesea