Cold Surrender 

by John

Part One

Madeline looked at the vase of flowers sitting on the hotel room 
dresser, and immediately her mind drifted back to work. She thought 
of Section without her and she wondered how her replacement was doing 
filling in. She felt happy with the kind gesture that was bestowed 
upon her in the form of those flowers and she looked again at the 
flowers and thought to herself.
"Paul my friend, my boss, my lover." She looked around startled as she 
realised her voice was also speaking the thoughts that were coming out 
of her mouth. It was not often that she was this distracted but she was, 
an it was an unsettling experience for her. As she stood pondering she 
looked at the little travel clock on her dresser, and her eyes wandered 
over to the date that was on the screen. The date did not bother her as 
much as the year that was being displayed on the screen, which was 
distracting her.

The year was 2016 and though she was Madeline, she was actually the 
second woman in Section to hold the title of Madeline. The name was 
more a constant, then a fact. The first Madeline was recruited in the 
early eighties, and had served Section One up until the year 2012 where 
she was killed in the field. The current Madeline was recruited in 2014. 
The same applies to Michael. The only original people in Section are 
Operations and Nikita. Over the years he has changed to the point where 
he is an almost human person regardin6g relationships in Section. He had 
got himself involved with this the second Madeline and as a result of his 
straying he realised that since he had formed a romantic relationship, 
who was he to say no one else could, especially when it was blatant to 
all the operatives under him. 

Mind you it has taken him nearly twenty five years to come to this 
conclusion but it's a good thing and Section is a much more relaxed 
place, and the operatives are a more efficient group then they have 
ever been. The sudden change in Operations has resulted in missions 
being run with an even higher success rate then aver before. They 
have a higher capture rate for targets and basically everything is 
working well. At this very moment Madeline was now out of her run of 
thoughts, and she into her bags fixing to set up her laptop computer. 
She wanted to get in touch with Birkhoff, maybe send him an Email and 
find out if he had more information about Madeline's sister Erica. She 
had finished connecting the phone lines, and now was turning on the 
laptop, which was in the process of booting up. She dialled into the 
Section One network, and was in the process of sending Birkhoff an Email.

The young man got the Email and he went over to Emma his assistant and 
had her punch up some data about Madeline's inquiry. He was kind of busy, 
and he had left it up to her to both deal with the request and also to 
speak with her. 
"Hello Emma." She said back to the young woman as she introduced herself 
to Madeline. 
"As Birkhoff just told you he is kind of busy running a couple of live 
sims. If it is all right may I deal with your inquiries?" she said back 
to Madeline in a cool, calm voice.
"Yes that is fine I understand." Madeline said back to her. The young 
girl then proceeded to find the information that Birkhoff had told her 
to fetch and was sending that back to Madeline in the form of another 
Email back to her.

Madeline looked at her screen. On it were some new Email messages and 
one of them was from Emma. The others, were from other people that she 
talked to but were at this point in time not that important. She got 
right to the Email that Emma had sent. She clicked on that message and 
waited for the laptop to update the bottom part of the screen where the 
messages bodies are usually displayed. It seems Birkhoff had struck gold 
and had found some very, very interesting information in regards to 
Madeline's inquiry.

The Email contained information about Madeline's sister Erica in the form 
of some medical records, personal information such as where she was last 
sighted and pictures. Madeline studied the information very, very carefully 
and was surprised. 
"So it seems  you are alive little sister." She said this to herself as 
she read the mail and looked at the attached pictures. It looked like 
things were getting interesting, and she had calmed down over the events 
of the last couple of days. Now she was looking at things clearly, and as 
they are in that now she had somewhat more proof of Erica's existence.  
She read the contents of the Email and found out that this person also 
had a location.  Indeed this has peaked her interest and she is thinking 
that 

She was thinking back to the days of other people in Section and having 
read their histories how they coped with similar issues. The previous 
Madeline also had a sister that she had "killed" which was also the 
reason that she was taken into Section. She sat there thinking about what 
to do next and it dawned on her that maybe trying to find her would be a 
good thing to do seeing as she had the time now. Her next step was to 
travel back to the airport and take another plane to another location. 
The car she ordered to be dropped there in Sweden would travel with her. 
She decided that for this second flight she would take Section's private 
jet and travel in comfort. 

She read the other Emails that had arrived on her computer then closed it 
down and closed the screen over the keyboard. She then took out her phone 
and looked up a number. That number was Nikita and she composed herself to 
speak to her.  She had expected Nikita to be abrupt and that she wouldn't 
like getting a phone call from her, but was pleasantly surprised to find 
that she was quite cheerful when she answered the phone. 
"Hello Madeline what do you want?" 
"I want your help" and this totally floored Nikita. She could not believe 
what her ears were telling her and  had to ask again playing that she could 
not hear her properly.

But no Madeline was being genuine and there you go it just shows you that 
you can't ever judge anyone based on how they act and who they are. 
Everyone tends to be full of surprises. Well this was certainly a really 
big surprise for her. The two women talked for a while and Madeline 
explained where she was and what she was up to. Nikita said that she'd 
come and help, well she's have little choice really as Madeline could 
just as easily  have her hurt or canceled. Actually Madeline was being 
quiet gracious in that she promised to give Nikita back her holiday when 
the two of them were finished. 

After Nikita had hung up the phone she sat in her room thinking and  then 
she decided that maybe Madeline was on the level. She had to remember that
this is the second Madeline and not the one she knew from years back. That 
Madeline had taken her own life when it was revealed to her that Nikita was 
actually an employee of Oversight which is the group that oversees the 
running of all the Sections around Earth. The image of the old Madeline 
was somewhat indelible and not too many people at Section have forgotten 
her.

Not too many have forgotten the old Madeline. The Current one is like 
her in many ways though, aloof and mysterious at times, and she can be 
ruthless when she has to be. But she's more human in that she does laugh 
and joke around a lot and this unsettles people sometimes. Anyway Nikita 
had finished her brooding and she picked up her little phone. She rang 
Madeline back and told her she'd be right over. She'd take a sub shuttle.

A few hours later Nikita was at the airport near the ticket queue for the 
sub shuttle. She had never traveled this way, nor had she known anyone that 
has. But to get to Madeline in Sweden this was the only way to get there 
in the shortest time. It would be a whole new experience for her too. She 
walked up to the counter and purchased a ticket and then went to the 
departure lounge. The departure lounge had navy blue carpet and was a vast 
area. Overhead signs told you where to go and to what parts of the airport 
things were. She walked to the far end of the lounge where a sign was marked
Sub Shuttle' and she showed her ticket to the person there at the door to 
the entry corridor. 

The corridor was a long passage built onto the side of the airport building 
which ended in an articulated extension that ran off it that could swing 
from left to right. It was this moving airbridge that ran to the door of 
the shuttle. She walked the length of this to the end where another person 
took her ticket and ushered her into the last tiny portion of the airbridge
This last portion of the airbridge was a small room about as big as the 
toilet on an airline. A door closed behind her when she entered this area. 
In front of her another door opened. This door led to the shuttle which 
was vacum sealed onto the end of the airbridge. 

The reason for this is that the airbridge slots into a gap in a steel and 
concrete tunnel that goes forwards and down into the ground. The shuttle 
needs the vacum seal because the door is the only area of it that comes 
near to seeing the outside world except when it's serviced or when it 
lands. The sub shuttle was a longish metal ship that was cigar shaped and 
ran inside an airless tunnel only held there by magnetic repulsion. As 
Nikita entered a stewardess ushered her to her seat and put her bags above 
her in the locker. The trip would be quick and short and as soon as she 
and all the other passengers were seated they were told to put on their 
seat belts. The seats on this shuttle were different in that they did up 
like the ones on a fighter plane with the belts coming from above holding 
the person snugly to the seat.

Nikita asked for help with her seatbelt as this was something totally 
new to her. Actually a few other passengers did too and the stewardesses 
were only too happy to help. As soon as all were fastened the shuttle 
began to move. Nikita had a window seat and as she looked she saw the 
walls of the tunnel as the shuttle moved forwards almost instantly gaining 
speed. For the first minute or two it moved horizontally then it dove 
forwards and down and then gradually it seemed to level off again and then 
go up. This is what made this form of transport so unique. As it climbed 
it was traveling very fast. It had to do this in order to gain speed and 
momentum. 

The shuttle worked in tandem with the systems built into the tunnel 
walls and everything was timed. As it neared the end of the upward 
tunnel a door to an airlock opened and it entered and then closed 
behind it. It was still traveling inside the repulsion tunnel but 
this portion of it had air in it. As it traveled rocket motors at 
the rear boosted the speed. The end of this tunnel was another door 
which was open a fraction of a second before the vehicle was near. The 
shuttle emerged from the tunnel and at the moment it did this wings 
unfurled from its sides. Now Nikita knew why they had windows on this 
vehicle. You could see outside as it traveled, and oh what a view. She 
saw the ground below now a tiny speck. 

They were moving at three times the speed of sound and soon they would be 
in the upper, upper atmosphere near the edge of space. That's why this 
form of transport was called a sub shuttle. It traveled at sub orbital 
heights.  She looked out the window in awe. Below her the country looked 
beautiful. She couldn't believe that in little over an hour she'd be in 
Sweden. Normally traveling this way you could travel from New York to 
Paris in ninety minutes. Or from Paris to Australia in just under two 
hours. Sub shuttles came into use in the year 2010 so they were still 
kind of new but by far they were the fastest way to travel the globe. 
When they arrive near Sweden it lands like a space shuttle gliding down 
to earth. 

As she sat she looked around her at the other passengers, and then seeing 
that she'd have to spend the flight in this seat like the others she asked 
for a magazine. At least looking through that, she reasoned she could pass 
the time. The ride was more comfortable then she had expected despite the 
way the seats seemed to restrain one. The shuttle seemed to still be 
climbing a tiny bit but soon they'd be leveling off and this is the bit of 
the ride that seemed to be getting everyone excited. She could feel that 
they were leveling out slowly and then the captain's voice came over the 
speakers. 
"Ladies and gentlemen if you care to look out of your windows and at the 
screen in front of the cabin you will see that we're now at the edge of 
the atmosphere and are now in level flight."
Sure enough as she looked she saw that he was right. She could see the 
stars and only a hint of blue sky below them. It was truly a sight to 
behold. 

She watched the screen in front and it showed more detail as it was fed 
by a camera in the nose of the shuttle.
"Oh indeed this is truly beautiful." Nikita softly spoke to herself. 
She could not believe the ride she was having, and who would blame her. 
Twenty years ago this would have been pure science fiction, and yet here 
she was sitting inside this wonderful creation of man. The thought made 
her wonder why she was ever part of a place like Section. Sure she was 
not an ordinary operative in the true sense of the word, as she was only 
in their under orders from Oversight.  But ever since she made a decision 
to leave there and return to Section One and be under the authority of 
Operations she knew that she would almost certainly stay there. To her 
loyalty and honour are more valuable then anything, not even money or power

When her investigation of Section  One had concluded she had reviewed 
everyone and moved everyone on apart from Operations. He lacked what they 
wanted as far as promotion was concerned. But sitting here in this ship 
way above the Earth it all seemed so petty and irrelevant to her. Below 
her was her Earth and her home and it all seemed so tiny and insignificant. 
A lot of thoughts were buzzing around inside her head at the moment.

As she sat she thought about her life. George had offered her a promotion 
and a life, a real life. She was offered a job at the CIA which meant that 
she'd be back in the real world and able to be like an ordinary person 
again, but she chose to go back to Section One. Perhaps it was because 
for the last three and a half years that  was the only thing she knew, or 
perhaps it was because it was the only thing she was comfortable doing, 
but right now sitting here all those thoughts surfaced. She had decided 
here and now that after she helps Madeline out she'd contact George and 
take that job. 

She would also promote Operations in the process. She just realised that 
this Madeline was a new woman, and though similar she wasn't the cold 
hearted bitch that was the Madeline she knew at Section. That woman was 
dead a long time now and this one though bearing the same name was a 
totally different person. Plus that man that was Operations had also 
changed. This new Madeline had brought out a more human side to him that 
even he had acknowledged, and to do that she had to have been a remarkable 
woman indeed. She could not fathom why all this hadn't occurred to her 
before, but perhaps it was being here and seeing the Earth below her as 
a whole planet and not just a city, but now her mind was made up.



 Part Two


The flight was finally near its destination and the sign came up to tell 
everyone that they should put their trays up and get ready to land. She 
could feel the tilt as they headed down and the airport was there she 
could just make it out below the clouds. It actually didn't feel like it
had taken long but before she knew it the clouds passed by her window and 
she could see the Earth more below. The runway loomed below her and as it 
drew closer her thoughts drifted to Madeline and whatever it was that she 
wanted from her. She felt a slight thump as the craft landed and taxied 
to the terminal building. Soon it would link up with an airbridge but this 
time it would be a normal one similar to that used by ordinary aircraft.

As they pulled up they parked besides a huge 747X which seemed to tower 
over the little craft she was riding in. That was a normal aircraft but 
it was twice the size of the biggest 747 and twice the height too. She 
quickly undid her seatbelt as that came quicker to her then doing it up 
and she grabbed her bags from the overhead compartment. She filed in 
behind the other passengers and exited the craft going into the main 
terminal. She passed through customs and then went into the main arrivals 
lounge sitting on one of the large comfy chairs there. She was waiting 
for Madeline. As she waited she pulled out a novel from her bag and 
started to read it.  

While this was going on Madeline was in her car driving to the airport to 
pick Nikita up. She's grateful that Nikita offered to break her four weeks
to help her. She would have to make it up to her and she knew that. At 
least this Madeline is more reasonable a person then the old one and she 
would definitely see to it that Nikita was compensated. She'd reinstate 
the three weeks that Nikita would lose. Of course getting this by 
Operations would be a bit of a chore but she will succeed. 

Meanwhile all this was going on Nikita was sitting reading her book and 
she was getting quite into it when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. 
To her surprise it was Madeline who was both standing there and had a 
smile on her face. 
"Well hello there" she said to Nikita and Nikita stood up to talk to her 
popping her novel back into her bag after folding the corner of the page 
she was on to keep her place. 
"Well I see you look well Madeline" to which the compliment was returned, 
and Madeline went on further to explain things. 
"Nikita there's no need to be awkward around me. I am not the same 
Madeline that you knew in previous years. I am to some extent more 
flexible and can be more human then she was. I really do not know why 
you look like that whenever I approach you!" Madeline tried to put her 
case to Nikita.
"Nikita I do have to be firm and to some extent disconnected, but  I 
really don't think there is a need for you to ever feel uncomfortable 
around me. It's true I am here to help run Section One but I am also 
willing to help you if ever you need it."  To this Nikita was startled 
but also a little bit more at ease. 

Nikita was taken aback and her mind remembered the flight to Sweden. She 
realised that this woman was not that Madeline. That woman was in the past 
and had taken her life when Nikita had confronted and revealed her real 
purpose for being in Section. She also had to realise and keep reminding 
herself that this was the year 2016 and that even Operations had changed 
somewhat and things were not as they seemed back then. 

Well now that the two women were together it seems expedient that they 
get on with the mission that Madeline wants to perform. So Madeline and 
Nikita walked out of the airport and to Madeline's car. When there they 
got in and Madeline drove to her hotel. There were things to plan, people 
to organise, and generally a lot to do. The drive was good and fairly 
relaxing for the two women and they did the one thing that women do best. 
They indulged in a little 'girl talk' and this too surprised Nikita. With 
all the things Madeline was doing to her Nikita's eyes were as big as 
saucers with amazement.

They had arrived at the hotel. The valet took the car to park and the 
two women walked in. They went up in the elevator and then they went 
into Madeline's room. Once there the first thing they did was drop their 
handbags on the floor.  Madeline fixed herself a drink and offered one 
to Nikita as well. Then it was onto business. She opened up her laptop 
and plugged in the phone cord. First order of the moment was to get in 
touch with Section. She dialed in and the main page for Section came up. 
She entered her ID flipped up the little camera on the side of the screen,
let it do a retina scan and then she was logged in.

She got in touch with Birkhoff and he sent her some updates on lines of 
information she was seeking. She organised a transport plane to meet them 
at a military base and for some specialised equipment for them to use. 
She also sent Operations a memo that Nikita would be with her and that 
when her private mission was over that Nikita's promised four week break 
would be granted to her in full.  She waited to get confirmation her 
messages were sent and also for a reply from Operations  She was surprised 
that he had agreed to her message.  So all her organising was done now and 
there was no more to do. She replaced the phone cord with the hotel phone 
and closed her laptop.  The two women would have to wait till morning to 
move and so they decided that they would sleep on it. 

They deiced that it would be efficient if they shared the bed so that is 
what they did. Sleep would also help Nikita overcome her jet lag. It was 
only 8pm and Madeline had decided that the early night to bed would do 
both of them good. Morning came with an alarm clock ringing and it was 
dark 5.20am is not a time for the weak and is a time for the prepared and 
the fit. Plus back home Madeline was used to waking up early as she used 
to wake up at 5.30am and go for a jog around her block to keep fit. Anyway 
they both got up, had showers, dressed, and then got ready to go on their 
mission. Nikita put on a pair of tight black pants with belt loops, threaded
a belt on and then she attached little pouches of various items to her belt. 
She also had a black top tucked into the pants and a black jacket.  Madeline 
put on the same clothes. The two women were now ready for action.

The two women walked out of the room after organising all their bags 
which would be collected by room service. The women then left the room 
after the bellhop  entered and then they went down to the ground floor to 
the reception desk. Madeline paid for her room with her credit card and 
they waited outside for the car. The valet pulled up with the car and at 
that same time the bellhop came up with all the bags. Madeline opened the 
boot and they put all the bags, but the one with the laptop into the boot 
of the car. The car would be flown back to Section via transport and all 
of Madeline's bags would be removed and returned to her apartment back home.

The two women had arrived at the military base and they waited at the 
end of a runway for their transport plane to land. They were about five 
minutes ahead of the plane and there was a lot of activity around them, as
you would expect on a military base. The time passed and Madeline perked 
up to Nikita. 
"It's here I can hear it over there!" She pointed in the direction of the s
ound. They could see the plane in the distance looking small, but gradually 
as it approached it was getting bigger and bigger. The sound was also 
quite deafening  as it zoomed over their heads. They watched it as it 
passed by them and then turned to face the runway. It landed and as it 
rolled towards where they were the noise of its four engines drowned out 
their voices. It took a while but the plane slowed and once it had stopped 
the engines slowed to a halt.  

They would have to  top up the fuel before they took off. As the women 
ran to the plane Madeline turned to see her car being driven by a soldier
to the rear of another transport. She knew the other plane was Section 
because it was totally unmarked. Save for a tiny US flag on the tail the 
plane had no markings. She turned her head back from glancing and climbed 
into the plane. It would be a half hour wait for the fuel and checks to be 
made.  Once in they examined the containers that were onboard. There were 
some weapons and ammunition and some small items in backpacks. 

Time passed and the time was ready for the plane to take off. The aircraft
commander told them to buckle into their harnesses as they would be taking 
off. Up until now Nikita didn't know where they were going so now as the 
plane taxied down the runway Madeline gave her a headset and motioned for 
her to put it on. She put her headset on and the two women could now talk 
shielded to some extent from the noise of the plane. Madeline explained 
the mission to her. 
"We're flying to Africa to mountain country"  to which Nikita seemed a bit
startled. 
"Africa, but I thought you wanted me here in Sweden" and then Madeline 
explained the rest of the mission to her.

The reason they were going to Africa was that Madeline's sister was 
rumoured to be there, as well as some other loose ends that Section has 
not heard about, or from since the mid sixties.  It seems Erica has been 
living here and that she has fallen in with a group of people that were 
associated with Section in it's early days, that they had all but forgotten 
about. This particular group of people had been under surveillance since 
the late sixties, and all through the seventies and eighties. But over the 
years they had become very quiet and had been written off as threatless.  
This was the designation given to individuals or groups that have become 
so quiet to the point of becoming legitimate citizens in the area they 
were living, no longer doing or being involved in any activities that 
would be considered a threat to Section or the world. 

Nikita asked Madeline what these particular people had actually done and 
she explained to her what their role was in the past.  Around early 1963 
there was an American president named JFK whom was assassinated on Novembe
the 23rd of that year. Nikita remembered this as this was an important 
event in world history. But what was not told to the world at large is 
that the assassin was in fact a Section One agent. Madeline explained 
that Oswald was the scapegoat for this event as were a few other important
people of the time. The reason for this was that JFK was a powerful and 
charismatic leader, but with a fatal flaw. He was too naïve to understand 
world politics and local politics. He had accrued various enemies along 
the way and was on the whole not a very liked man because of the fact that 
he was so honest in his intentions. 

Of all the things that he wanted to do he had wanted to be open about he 
involvement of Americans in certain things. He had known of America's 
involvement in the events of the town of Roswell in 1947 and he wanted to 
come clean to the public about the events of that year in that town. Back 
then Section did not exist but when it was formed in the mid sixties after 
the JFK killing the bodies were moved to Section Zero somewhere in the 
United States. Section Zero is the master headquarters of Section One and 
all the other associated Sections. 

This news kind of shocked Nikita and she did not know quite what to think 
of it or whether Madeline was pulling her leg or not. 
"Aliens, Kennedy, Section" She was open mouthed at the sound of all this. 
But then again it kind of made sense. Section Madeline explained, had made 
a deal with the aliens that if they stay there at Section Zero in exchange 
for information and technology they would be kept alive for as long as was 
needed, and assisted with getting home. 

It would explain how in under 30 years things had advanced quite a lot 
around the world and how we have the kind of technology that was only 
fantasy such a short time ago. Take Madeline's laptop. It is capable of 
running for four days on a full charge and has a full colour screen, photo
quality images on that screen, is capable of viewing a whole room for face 
to face communications and can also talk to other computers or the internet 
with or without a direct connection to the computer. Plus this machine 
weighs only one and a half kilograms which is quite amazing. 

Well now that Madeline had explained her mission she was thinking that 
they should take advantage of the rest of the flight and rest. In around 
six hours they would be in Africa and they would be on the way to her 
sister. She had to think how to approach this situation. Would it happen 
with a fight or would it happen without a fight? For all she knows this 
mission could go without a hitch or a shot being fired, and then again it 
might not. They sat there then and Madeline finished talking to Nikita. 
She then said that it might be good if they both rested for the remainder 
of the flight as they would be on the go when they land at their destination.

The plain ride was surprisingly smooth for the type of plane it was. They 
were traveling inside a C130 Hercules aircraft. This was an old fashioned 
propeller plane but it was also a very reliable plane and here even in 2016
they still use them to ferry both people and cargo on many air routes. 
Nikita took her backpack and in a fashion she made it into a pillow to lie 
on and rest. Madeline took her backpack and did the same thing, putting it
up behind her head and resting on the wall of the aircraft. 

The two women went to sleep rather well, not even snoring when they had 
gone under, which was good as they had other people onboard the plane 
working with cargo and equipment.  They were just on the plane in order 
to get to Africa and the military base which was near where they intended 
to go.  The women did have some equipment on the plane too, and some of 
that was being checked by the people that were working around them. 

Madeline had ordered the usual items for them such as two machine guns 
with ammunition clips, and handguns. But there were one or two other 
special items. There was two boxes each containing a shoulder mounted 
missile launcher with four missiles. The Missiles were about 45cm long 
and a few inches in diameter. They had a high explosive warhead and 
sophisticated guidance system. They could also be programmed with the 
image of a target and could be launched at a distance and hunt their 
prey. The launchers disassembled were big enough to be packed into the 
two backpacks each woman had and the missiles could also fit in the bags 
along with all the other items they had. There was no risk of harm by
handling the missiles as  they were dead out of the box and only risky
when mounted on the launcher.


Part Three


The time has passed and the plane is just over an hour out of Africa and
they are near their destination, and the start of their mission. The two
women have woken up thanks to their alarms on their watches. They woke up
and went to the small pile of boxes that were left in front of them.
Madeline took the biggest items first which are the missile launchers and
missiles. Nikita did the same and showed Madeline how to disassemble the
launchers to put into the backpack. Madeline watched and copied her and she
was a very quick study. The launcher went into the largest compartment on
the backpack.

The four missiles went into a horizontal zippered pouch in the front of the
backpack.  There were two side pouches that the handguns and ammunition
could be stored in while the machine guns would be slung over the shoulder
and the clips put into the remaining pouch. With all the checks done they
were both satisfied that all was well. The time packing had used about 45
minutes and the plane was actually ahead of schedule now. To the surprise
of both women they were about to now land.

This more then pleased Madeline who just wanted to get out and do what she
had set out to do. They strapped the full packs to the plane wall and then
went back to sitting, and buckled themselves in ready for landing. Madeline
was thinking that before they leave she would relay an email to section via
her laptop. This she would do when they were on the ground.

In a few minutes that wish was fulfilled in the sound of a thump and
screech of brakes as the plane landed on the runway. They slowed to a
halt near the end of the runway where the plane would be turned around
and refueled ready to do some more work. At the end of the runway was
jeep and two military people.  The two women walked down the ramp at the
back of the plane which was now facing the end of the runway as the plane
had fully turned and stopped. Madeline walked to the man on the right who
looked like he was in command.
"Hello General I see you have some transport for us" and she and Nikita
showed him their ID and such. The jeep the general told  her was fully
fueled and there were two full cans of fuel in the back. While Madeline
exchanged some smalltalk with the general Nikita packed their backpacks
into the rear of the jeep.

She joined Nikita and they then drove off, Nikita driving while Madeline
navigated via an electronic map she was holding. The drive would be a long
one along dirt roads and the hot desert air soon was noticed by both of
these women. Thankfully the people at the airforce base had thought ahead
and had not only packed fuel in the back but some food and water. Madeline
reached over to the back and pulled a flask and she took that and too a sip,
offering it to Nikita when she was done. Nikita took a sip too and then that
done gave the flask back to Madeline.


About an hour had passed driving and she pulled over to the side of the
road.
"I have to go" she said to Madeline and the other woman could not really
argue with her, she herself feeling much the same. Nikita found a bush and
went into that  and had her toilet break. Madeline did the same. When done
they both went back to the jeep and had a rummage around the back. There
were some containers of food and there was another flask of water, and a
cooler with more. There were also cold foods in the cooler as well as
another container of iced water.

They found some biscuits and took those snapping the container shut again.
With  that taken care of now they  resumed driving working their way to
their destination. They would dump the jeep about  half way up the mountain
where the dirt tracks end. Right now they had traveled quite a distance and
were moving a fair pace. The dirt roads were surprisingly smooth things and
the ride had very little in the way of bumps and knocks. The journey was
also fairly uneventful. The only things they saw as they drove at around
80km/h were trees, sand, occasional bushes, animals, and the occasional
person.

Another few hours had passed and they were now climbing a tiny bit into the
foothills of the mountain ranges. The road here was a little less smooth
then what they had been going on so Nikita slowed down to accommodate this.
The end of the road was about half an hour away and they kept their eyes out
looking for anything that might hinder them.

The end had arrived. Nikita slowed the vehicle to a stop. They had used up
about a quarter of their water and half their food. The fuel had almost all
gone. There was just the tiniest left in one of the cans and they had to
dump the jeep. Madeline told Nikita to salvage whatever food and water they
could carry and she then poured this fuel onto the jeep all over it. The two
women then pushed it down the road till it started to roll of its own accord.

The jeep then veered out of control off the road and down the side of the
mountain, tumbling, rolling, and then exploding in a ball of fire. In a few
hours they would be over the top of the mountain and heading down the other
side. They were on the way to the compound where the people who Madeline's
sister was living with were. That was a further two days walk. While they
walked they talked and Madeline told her how she had yet to work out what
to do about dealing with those people when they get there.

A few more hours had passed and they were at the top of the mountain. In
front of them was a plain of green grassland. And in the distance near what
they could see as the horizon was their destination. The walk down the
mountain was somewhat quicker then the walk up, but because of this they
had to take more care walking. The sun was also dipping low and it was now
evening so they had to plan where to camp for the night. As opposed to the
day evening and night were quiet cold so they would have to  snuggle close
to each other for warmth, due to the extreme cold of night in the open.
Nikita found a spot near a tree and Madeline joined her, gathering some
wood, sticks, and other dry items so that they could make a small fire.
They would light that when it gets  dark for about half an hour then they
would bed down for the night.

Meanwhile about four miles away in a big compound there was some activity,
of people moving about. The  compound was a large square about a mile
across with a high stone wall. Inside it was a big mansion like building,
quite luxurious to look at and also quite beautiful. There were other small
buildings there two though. The mansion like house was the main building
though. It was filled with people living, working, playing, and generally
living. In one room though at the moment there was a hive of activity and
voices talking.
"There can you see that about four miles south of us" said a youngish woman
to a man standing over her.
"Yes I do I see it, it looks like a heat source" and then just as he had
said that it vanished from the screen in front of him.
"I want a group assembled right now, right here in front of me. We have
a possible target" he said into a small microphone mounted on a headset
he was wearing. He turned his attention to young woman again.

"Good work Lt.  Swanson, keep it up" he said in an encouraging voice to
the young woman. He then looked back up into the main part of the room
and could see a group of people approaching, about twelve in all, six
male, six female.
"Attention!" he said to the group as they stood in front of him and halted.
"We have a heat source we would like you to check out. It is located at the
following coordinates which you will find on your datapads. We want it
located and if a threat captured or neutralised. Is that clear?" He said
in a calm, yet authoritative voice.

The group took small silver devices out of the top pockets of their
uniforms and looked at them. At that moment each device beeped in unison
to indicate the receipt of new data. They were ready to go. The only thing
for them to do was head down to the armoury and get some weapons but that
was a mere formality and one quickly done. The group walked out of the room
and the rest of the people including the man in charge, that had given the
orders returned to their normal duties.

Back in the distance where Nikita and Madeline were they were presently
lying down holding each other in an effort to fend off the cold. It was
not late but sleep was a needed thing for them and though they were not
tired they had to rest. There was no talking they were just lying there
in the quiet, in the night. Some time had passed and there was a sound,
a faint sound but constant like it was some distance away Madeline could
hear it as her head was on its side, with her ear on the ground.
"Nikita listen!" she whispered into the other woman's ear. 
"I can hear that it sounds like a vehicle" she whispered back to Madeline.

Sure enough in a few minutes the sound grew. By the way it was carrying it
would have been a fair way off but it was growing. There was very little to
do now except to prepare for a confrontation. The two women jumped to
alertness getting their machine guns ready, and getting themselves into a
combat pose.  The two women stood motionless for what seemed like an
eternity just standing and waiting weapons at the ready. They did not have
to wait for long, for there was the source of the noise heading their way.
They could see the lights of two jeeps and they knew that there were people
about. In a while the vehicles stopped and two groups approached them guns
pointed at them.

The leader of the group of twelve people came forward. Nikita was surprised
to find that it was a young woman, about 25 years old and tall. She could
not make out any features due to the dark but she could make out that this
woman seemed very authoritative and in charge. She ordered the others to
surround the two women.
"Drop your weapons or we shall fire" she barked at the two women. Madeline
nodded to Nikita and they complied. One of the group walked forward and
took the guns, while the others collected their backpacks.
"Ooh what have we got here?" the commander of the group said to them.
"Eight firefly missiles, two launchers, two machine guns with ammunition
clips!"

"Well I think we have a cold surrender here! Madeline!" the woman said to
her.  At this Nikita held by two people swung her body around throwing one
into the other. She dived for his weapon and then grabbing it in hand swung
it to face her attacker shooting them fatally. At this sudden break in
action Madeline also swung around and did the same and between them three
people were wounded and one killed leaving eight people.

But their struggle for freedom was fairly short lived and the remaining
people surrounded them and removed their weapons, knocking them out with
a quick hit across the face by their gun barrels. While they were out they
were tied up and set down on the ground. They all waited for them to come
around, and they then spoke a little bit of swearing and cussing coming
forth from Madeline due to her hands being tied. The leader of this group
approached them with a stern look on her face.

"So this is the famous Nikita, and Madeline" she said to them. It seems
that that this group living here have still been keeping an eye on Section
and other agencies despite not being or posing a threat to anyone.
"We've been vigilant and we watch outside agencies" she said to them. The
woman introduced herself as Sylvia and she said that they would be heading
back to their compound shortly. The woman radioed into their compound and
informed them that they had captured two people. She left out their
identities saving all that till they get there.

The pair were lifted up and bundled into the back of one of the jeeps and
they then took off everyone piling on. Each jeep could carry 8 people due
to them being modified to carry seats in the back, with the back section
made a bit larger. The trip back to their compound would now take just over
an hour and a half compared to the two days by foot that they would have
taken had they not been detected.  The leader Sylvia was in the jeep that
the captured women were in and she was talking to them bragging how she has
captured two mighty Section operatives.


 Part Four


The time passed and the two jeeps of people finally pulled up at the huge
stone wall of the compound. They were at a gate and there were two guards
and a security camera that looked directly at them. The guard waved them in
opening the electric gate. They drove in and now though it was still night
with the lights around they could see what this place was like. They all got
out of the jeeps and the two women were helped out after first being untied.
They marched them out into the main courtyard and then into the main house
which was not that far away. Though this was a big place a mile across the
main house was not the only building there even though it occupied a full
third of the grounds.

The people were in the main hall of the house now and were waiting for the
leader of their group to join them. Sylvia introduced him as Brent
McMasterson millionaire recluse and the person that build this house and
everything around them in this big compound. They were all standing for
about five minutes when suddenly he entered the room. The group of eight
all stood at attention at the sight of him. Nikita and Madeline just stood
there not paying attention to any of the things that were occurring around
them. He waved the group off and dismissed them letting them go back to
whatever it was that they were doing before they went out and brought these
two in. The injured members were taken to the medical wing of the mansion
where skilled people attended to their needs.

Well the man looked at Nikita, looked her up and down, then looked at
Madeline doing the same thing. He ushered them to some large chairs and
encouraged them to sit, which they did.
"So this is Nikita, and you I assume are Madeline, or it seems the second
Madeline" he said to the two women.
"We've been watching Section, and world events we know about you, and we
have been watching you, especially you, young Nikita" he said looking at
her.  He explained how he knew that the original Madeline had committed
suicide at her review by Nikita. He knew about Nikita being a mole for
Oversight and how she had returned to Section to work. This amazed the
two of them sitting there. And prompted Madeline to speak up. She expressed
her amazement that they had done all this despite not doing or acting in any
way a threat for so many years.

He talked a bit more and then he let them digest all he said.
"We are not going to hurt you two, that's not our way. I have no idea of
why you are here so consider yourself our guests" he said to both Madeline
and Nikita. He was being genuine with the two of them in that he meant what
he said, and they could read that he meant what he was saying. He gave them
the run of the compound and that they take care to observe any signs or
warning notices that were posted around the area. At this Madeline brought
up her question, her reason for being there.
"Do you have a woman here called Erica?" she said to him. He was taken aback
a bit by this and he had to compose himself. He was not expecting she would
be after a person, and even not by name anyway. He responded to her query
though.
"Yes we do have a woman here called Erica, in fact we have two both the
same age one is in fact married to me." This was too much information, and
in fact way too much information for Madeline to take in.

She was taken aback by this a bit. She had to wonder if the married one was
he sister Erica, and to find out she would have to reveal her surname. The
only person that would know that besides her were Operations and Nikita. But
to everyone else, and the outside world in general she was and is only known
by her first name of Madeline. She thought about this action and considered
it a while. She then got up and paced. Brent and Nikita were looking at her
as she wandered around the room and looked at the photos on the top of the
ornate fireplace that was there.

She walked back and forth pacing. Obviously a lot of thoughts in her head. 
"I am about to tell you something that is highly classified!" she aid to
Brent who nodded back at her in a look of understanding.
"Madeline!" Nikita said back to her unsure of what she would next do.
"Mr. McMasterson those two women would one of them have the surname of
Smythe-Andrews by any chance?" to which a look of amazement clouded the
man's face.
"Yes one of them does in fact, the other Erica, and not the one I married,
in case you were thinking that at all" he said to her.

This was totally unexpected and even Brent McMasterson was a bit bemused by
all of this. He had the woman summoned to them and then he cleared the room
as he had down when they were just talking. In a short while a tallish woman
with a long sleeved black shirt with tiny flowers and a long tight skirt
entered the room. He introduced the woman to the others and then told
everyone to clear the room, as he had done when Madeline was about to reveal
her surname to him. Madeline got up from her chair and approached the woman.
"Erica I don't know if you remember me but I am your sister. I am here to
collect you" and at the sound of this her sister fainted.


End Of Part Four
Tuesday, 27 February 2001


(c)2000 John D Leister