Love Is Not Lost

by John

Part One

Madeline put down the phone and then proceeded to pack her own bags, She
put the laptop into it's carry bag once all the data was received from
Section and she then proceeded to go to the bedroom. She walked over to
the dresser and looked at herself in the mirror and she looked herself up
and down. She adjusted her collar and sighed.
"Ah! if this were a different world!" she said to herself as she again mused
over the life that she has taken, and the choices that life has entailed. 

She then moved over to the wardrobe and opened it. What to take for where
she was going was a tough decision. She was going to be travelling and it
would be cold where she was going so she pulled out some big woollen jumpers,
that were hanging inside the wardrobe and pulled off the plastic that was
protecting them as they hung there. She then went to the drawers and took
out some lingerie and other items such as socks. The last items were some
pants and she took several of these. She was not going to take any skirts or
dresses since it might be too cold. She only would take one suit which was
identical to the one she had on except that it was a light blue.

Bags all packed she walked out of her apartment and to her car. She put
the bags into her car's boot and then she locked that. She got into the
car did her seat belt up and started the engine. As she drove she thought
about everything that she had found out. She had read all of the information
about Erica on the computer, and she was just thinking about all of that.
She had thought that after reading it that all of it might have been a ploy
to keep her in Section all these years. But she had known Operations for
years, and even before Section. She was torn between thinking that he had
lied to keep her in the Section, and that at the same time that he was
telling the truth. her feelings were also mixed far as he and her goes.
She was at one stage, and somewhat so now attracted to him as well.

The information basically said that Sarah had died as she was told, from
the day she had killed her, but as far as the body goes all that was ever
presented was a coroner's, and autopsy report. There was no formal
identification of the body, nor any other evidence such as photo's. The
only other thing that was kept on file was her dental records, but that
was the end of that. This now is the reason that she was torn, and when her
birthday was brought up the other day it was like a pivotal point and she
just snapped.

Perhaps the stress had been building and she had not been dealing with it,
but what ever the cause it had happened and there was nothing that she could
do now to change it. Perhaps in the future she could set up  a routine to
deal with any built up stress, after all her job is a stressful one. She was
driving to the airport and a plane flight to Sweden. She was going to fly
there as this was the first stop on her little quest.

Unlike Nikita who changed her plans in mid stream and went on a hovercraft
to England instead of flying, she would stick to her plans. Madeline was
not known for being impulsive, but since recent events maybe a bit of
impulsiveness would not hurt in small doses. The time passed as she drove,
eventually she had arrived at the airport and she parked the car. She took
out the laptop still in it's carry bag and walked into the main airport
entrance. She had some things to arrange before she boarded the next
available plane for Sweden.

At the counter she bought one single first class ticket on a charter airline
and she also rang Section and asked for her car which was still in the car
park to be picked up and transported to Sweden to meet her. She did think
that this was really an unnecessary luxury, but she reasoned that under the
circumstances it would be an acceptable one. She had never requested any
special treatment, or wanted for much in Section so this seemed a reasonable
request. Even when it had filtered down to Operations for approval while she
was on the phone and had gotten approval it seemed reasonable. With the calls
done and the plane tickets in her hand she went to the departure lounge to
wait for her flight. She was on her way.

Part two


Madeline had now got her tickets and was now walking around the airport
main terminal towards the departure gates. She was walking rather briskly,
the laptop swaying slowly like an overweight handbag on her shoulder as she
walked. The airport was quite busy with heaps of people walking to and fro,
some carrying bags, women with children, and various others that all had
things to do. She was looking for a certain numbered gate and she found that
just near where she was at the moment.

Gate number twelve was the one for her flight to Sweden and she walked fast
to the gate. The reason that she chose to use a normal domestic flight rather
then a specially chartered Section aircraft was that she wanted not to be
noticed and also that it was private business that she was on. Actually it
is just as well that she chose this kind of action as most of the people
Section work against take note of the special military charters, where people
are concerned. While it is true that she has transported her car by special
charter most of these groups would not take notice of that as it is only a
car, and it's destination is also a domestic one, the actual factory that
built the car. To most checks it could be a special service, or upgrade.

The moving floor of the departure corridor took her out of the airport's
main building and over to the waiting plane. The passage went right up to
the door of the plane. The moving floor ended just short of the exit of the
corridor and she walked off towards the door and the waiting air hostess who
took her ticket and pointed her to her seat. She moved slowly down the
passage of the plane to the seat she was given and she sat there quietly just
looking around occasionally at the people around her. As she sat a man sat
next to her and the two of them quickly looked at each other, and then looked
back in the direction that they were prior to looking at each other.

She stared at the front of the plane at the hostess that was running through
a safety drill, and though she is well trained in looking after herself, and
others in an emergency the drill looked somewhat fascinating to her. She
watched the woman as she demonstrated the oxygen masks, the life jackets,
and other things. The man next to her watched all of this too, and took note
of all the things that the woman was doing. A few minutes passed and the sign
came on to fasten seat belts so Madeline did exactly that and she clicked
shut her belt as did the person sitting next to her. Another hostess was
walking down the passageway with a trolley laden with magazines and drinks.
She soon came up to Madeline and offered her a book and a glass of something.

Madeline very politely declined the offer of the magazine but she accepted
a drink and asked for a glass of wine, which was one of the things that was
on offer. She held the glass in her hand and turned towards the window
looking out over the ground as the plane had not yet taken off. She watched
all the people down on the ground as they bustled to and fro loading cargo,
pumping fuel, and other sorts of things. A small alarm sounded and the
Captain's voice came over the PA system telling everyone that the plane was
about to take off and that they should observe the still flashing seat belt
sign.

That suited Madeline just fine as she was used to following orders, and
also that she had no desire to get up and do anything. She looked out the
window as the plane slowly moved away from the airport's main building in a
slow arc and the ground, as it turned away towards the runway. Madeline kept
watching out the window, and despite the fact that she has flown in many,
many planes before she was still hooked by watching out the window as a
plane takes off. Outside the ground was now rushing by and she watched as
it slowly dipped away. She felt as if she could crane her head over and
look at the ground more, but the plane windows were small and didn't help
in this. One of the Section planes which is called Maddy's Fury has
customised windows near the floor as this is a passion of hers.

The clouds came fast as the plane rose, nose pointed up to gain altitude.
The plane was moving fast now and soon they broke through the clouds into
dark blue clear sky. Out of the window one could see occasional breaks in
the cloud and the city below as the plane turned passing over the city
towards the ocean and a long flight to Sweden. The seat belt sign went out
and another voice over said that it was now all right to undo seat belts.
So she undid hers and eyed the staircase that led up to the lounge. She got
out of her seat, being careful of the man's legs as she passed. She walked
down the passageway to the stairs and up them to the upstairs lounge.

The in flight lounge was a wonderful place, more like a small restaurant
then a lounge onboard an aeroplane. There were about eight tables and
curtains, plus other little touches that gave it a friendly atmosphere.
She reasoned that since she was going to be on this aircraft for about 10
hours she would at least make the most of the flight, and get her money's
worth for the tickets that she had purchased for this flight. A hostess in
a different uniform came to her table and asked her if she wanted to order
anything, and she said that she would have a quick look at the menu first.
The upstairs crew had a different uniform to the normal cabin crew
downstairs.

Downstairs the hostesses wore navy blue knee length skirts, though only a
few of them were actually that length, the majority of them being shorter.
Above that were white blouses and navy blue jackets, which again only a few
of them were wearing. Upstairs the women wore just the white blouses and
black skirts which were also supposed to be knee length but which were not
in the majority as various women passed. The men wore black slacks upstairs
and white shirts and navy blue slacks were worn by the downstairs people with
matching jackets.

Madeline had made her choice from the menu and another woman came up to her
table, and asked if she was ready to order. She asked for a small glass of
champagne, and curried chicken. The woman took the menu from her and left
a small bundle of utensils on her table. She found wrapped in a napkin a
knife fork and two spoons, one a soup spoon, and the other an eating spoon.
A while passed and as she sat waiting for her food the man that was sitting
next to her came into the lounge and looked around. He spotted a woman in a
dark red dress and made a beeline for her table. Inside she was a little bit
relieved as she had thought that he had his eye on her, and the attentions of
a man were the last thing on her mind.

She watched the little dance as he approached her table and said hello to
her The two of them exchanged some small talk and he then sat opposite her.
As she looked and wondered obviously whatever he said had worked because
she had let him sit with her and the two of them appeared to be getting on
well. Madeline was not one to observe the latest in "chatting up" techniques
so she just assumed that he had said something that appealed to the woman.
Looking at them though, they did look like they could suit each other. She
was slim, not skinny, just in between what one would call fat and totally
skinny, more or less quite attractive. He was quite slim though.

Her food had arrived and she took a sip from her glass of champagne before
she  started eating her chicken. The meal was actually quite good, consisting
of curried chicken, rice, some potatoes and spices. She hoed into the chicken
first then the  rice and the potatoes. In between bites she would sip her
champagne, and look  at the other people engaged in their lives. Various
other people were there, some  doing business over food, some just sitting
and talking, others still trying to impress  members of the opposite sex, as
her fellow passenger was. She thought about the  way in which her life had
gone and wondered what it would be like to have one  of these so called
"normal" lives, and how different it would be.

For one thing she would be free of the Section, free of deadlines, free of
being watched by Operations, and of taking orders for other people. She'd
also be free of his attentions, which of late she had not noticed until she
boarded this plane and  was watching this man. He was neatly dressed too,
about mid thirties and as he sat  talking she saw him fumble in his pockets,
and caught  a glimpse of gold. She knew immediately what this was. It was a
wedding ring and she knew what his game was  now. He was married, and this
woman was either his mistress, or lover, or she was someone who he was
planning to take that part in his life.

Still it was not her business and she just watched, as she finished her
meal. As she sat another person came to her table, this time a man and he
asked her if she wanted anything more. She asked for another glass of
champagne, and asked him where the toilet was. He told her that, that was
downstairs just next to the stairs and she told him that she would just be
a minute, and not to hurry with the next drink. She got up and rushed
downstairs to the ladies room to do her thing and came up again and resumed
her seat at the table that she had been sitting at. In a few minutes the next
drink had come and she was sipping that quietly.

Part three

The second drink that Madeline had ordered was now finished and they  were
now passing out desert and she was asked if she wanted some. She was feeling
relaxed and so she ordered just a bowl of ice cream with  some chocolate
topping on top of it which surprised the waitress that  had come around to
ask her what it was that she wanted. One thing had  survived all of her
experiences in Section and that thing was Madeline's  sweet tooth. She e
agerly awaited the bowl of ice cream and while that was  going on she noticed
that the man at the other table had gotten further  with his quest of the
lady in the red dress.

As she watched that couple over the time that she was at the table she had
heard part of the things they had talked about, and that is why she had
suspected that he was married. The flash of gold as he fumbled earlier with
his jacket pocket more or less clinched it for her and had made that
assumption more or less a definite thing. Right now he had hold of her hand,
and the two of them appeared to be talking rather closely now, more
romantically by the looks of things. She was amazed that he had managed
this in such a short amount of time, and had reasoned that perhaps the two
of them actually knew each other from before.

Madeline had finished her beloved ice cream and just as she was about to
get up  and go back to her seat, a beeping alarm sound was heard over the
plane's PA system and the Captain could be heard clearing his throat. The
Captain asked  if everyone inside the lounge could make their way down to
their seats as the plane was heading into some turbulence. Madeline got up
and walked calmly down the stairway to her seat. She fastened her seat belt
and sat their. The smooth talking man who was in the lounge earlier joined
her taking his seat next to her and she looked at him.
"Your not going to follow your little woman friend." She said to him in a
slightly off, slightly sarcastic voice.
"Well I think she has someone sitting with her." He returned to her as he
looked back towards the rear of the plane and where the woman in the dark
red suit was sitting.

The turbulence was a few minutes away and there was an announcement about
it over the PA system. Everyone was prepared for it and sure enough it came
and the plane shook from side to side and up and down all at the same time.
As she sat in her seat the first thing that came to her mind was that maybe
they were all about to die. It was unusually quiet for most of the time the
aircraft was shaking then all of a sudden a woman screamed and  everyone up
front turned around as far as their heads would allow to see  who it was. It
was the smooth talking man's woman friend, and she was  screaming.

He immediately undid his seat belt and made a dash for her seat pushing
over the air hostess that tried to stop his travel. He went over to her
and noticed, to his surprise that she actually had a seat free next to
her. There was in fact no one sitting next to the woman, nor had there
been all during the flight. So he decided there and then that this was a
much better seat to sit in then the one he was with next to that quiet
woman. This made Madeline quiet happy as he made her feel uneasy, and as
she looked around the poor woman he had knocked down asked her if she could
take the now vacant seat. She didn't object and the woman sat next to
Madeline.

As the plane continued to be buffeted about by the air turbulence Madeline
sat and she looked at the woman next to her.
"You're bleeding." She said to the woman sitting next to her. 
"Yes I know I can feel the blood on my face." The woman said back to her
in a calm voice.
"I must have hit my head on a seat when I fell as the man pushed me. You
would think that in a situation like this one would think of more then just
seeing how much pussy you can get." She said back to Madeline. With  this
comment all she could do was nod her head in agreement, and she  actually
smiled at the woman. Madeline never smiled much, but when she  did it was
indeed a lovely sight to see. She was actually quite an  attractive woman.
As she and Madeline sat in their seats a hostess came up to the woman with
a bandage, and some strips of bandage to tie round her head. She was getting
very good care.

The jostling they were experiencing was slowing and the plane appeared  to
be coming out of whatever disturbance it had gone into. As she turned  to
the window she could see that the dark clouds they were just in were
clearing, and she could see more blue sky. The PA system came on again
and the Captain announced that they were now out of the stormy weather
turbulence and they would be entering calm skies again. It was five  minutes
of panic, wondering if it would get worse, even wondering if one would die.

All this excitement had made Madeline a tired woman, and she had decided
to take a nap. The woman next to her had gotten up and had gone up to the
front of the plane where the other airline crew were. She raided the first
aid cupboard and took some band aids for her face. She then went back to
her seat and sat back with Madeline. She turned and could see that Madeline
was asleep and she thought that that might be a good idea too so she leaned
back into the seat the other way and closed her eyes. In a few minutes she
too was fast asleep.

some time had passed and the plane was now just a few hours from the final
stop and Madeline's destination which was Sweden. Nearly all the passengers
including her had slept through a good portion of the flight after dinner
and that included a stop over for refuelling. Right now it was early morning
and as she rubbed her eyes she noticed a soft red glow through the window
and realised that that was the sun coming up over the horizon. She looked at
her watch and also realised that they were in a different time zone now so
she adjusted her watch to Swedish time. The other woman, the air hostess
was now also waking up and she looked back at Madeline who was staring out
of the window.

"Excuse me please." She said to Madeline, trying not to be intrusive. 
"Yes, what is it." Madeline said back to her. 
"Well I never introduced myself to you before, when I first sat here.
My name is Marrissa." She said to Madeline, and thanked her for letting
her sit in the now empty seat once the man had gone the previous night.
Madeline thought nothing of it and said that it was all right and that it
was no trouble as she was not a bother.

Another round of trolleys came down the aisle and light breakfasts were
served as the plane flew into morning in Sweden. Madeline just ordered
some orange juice and toast and had that as her breakfast. The remaining
few hours of the trip went rather quickly, the seat belt sign came on
again and as she looked out of the window she once again watched as the
plane dipped into the clouds and also watched the ground below and all the
tiny buildings as they came into the airport to land. She was now  in Sweden
and her journey was now to begin.

Part Four


The plane touched down in Stockholm and the usual runaround followed as
the people got off the plane collected their baggage and so forth. All
that the lovely Madeline was  carrying on her were her laptop, which was
in a shoulder bag, and two  suitcases with clothes inside them. She was
going to pick  her car up at the factory as that was the prearranged
destination that it was going to be at, but that was a few hours away. She
was still a bit weary from her flight and wanted a few hours to have a sleep.

She showed her passport and other documents at the appropriate counter and
then collected her baggage from the baggage carousel. She found taxi cabs
outside the airport, and she took one of them to the nearest hotel. She had
booked a room in a decent hotel and that was the place she was headed. Her
choice of accommodation was also dependant largely on her needs, and those
were that there were adequate food, water, and power. Plus she wanted to
recharge her phone and laptop, so those things also came into her thinking
as she looked for a place to call "home" while she was here in Sweden. The
ride to the hotel was uneventful. It took about half an hour for her to
travel to there from the airport.

Once at the hotel she paid the driver, took her bags from the trunk of the
car and walked into the hotel lobby. She went to the front reception desk
and asked the clerk there for her room key. As she waited for that he came
back to her with what looked like a huge bunch of flowers, and she was much
surprised to see this. She wondered who it could be but as her hands were a
bit full she could not carry those too, so she asked the clerk if someone
could bring them up to her room. He gave her the key, which she put in her
pocket, and she picked up her bags going to the lift at the far end of the
hotel lobby. She dropped one case to the floor and hit the elevator call
button. The lift came in a few short moments and she walked into the open
doors as it stopped on the ground floor where she was.

The room she had booked was on the tenth floor of the hotel, and she got
out of the lift as it stopped on her floor and walked to the room which was
at the far end  of the tenth floor. All of the floors of this hotel  were
built with a large open space in the middle of the floor with seats,  plants
and various things for guests. The  outer walls of the hotel housed  all of
the individual suites, running about two in from the outer wall,  with a
small corridor leading to the outer suites. Her suite was on the  outer
ring of suites and she unlocked the door and piled in plopping her bags
onto the floor of her suite's main room. She took one quick look all around
the suite to make sure it was exactly as she had ordered, and while she was
in the bedroom the doorbell rang.

It was the bellhop, and she was surprised to find that he had her bunch
of flowers, and that they were prepared and in a vase with water, and a
bowl under the vase to collect excess water. He wheeled in the flowers as
the vase was on a trolley and put it on the dresser  in the room. She took
the note that he gave her, as this was the one attached to the flowers when
she was in the lobby. She opened it and read it. "Have a wonderful trip, and
a relaxing break! Love Paul" Immediately she knew that this was from
Operations, his real name being Paul Wolfe  and she smiled to herself. The
flowers had an unusually cheering affect  on her. It would seem this break
was already starting on a positive note.



End Of Part Four
Sunday, 9 April 2000

(c)2000 John D Leister