Madeline looked at the report once again and tried to focus on the words she was reading. Pushing back from her desk in disgust she finally let herself succumb to the haunting memory that had resurfaced and kept her in its tortured grasp. She stood and slowly crossed her office to the tea kettle on the side table and poured herself a cup. Taking it, she walked over to her bonsai trees and let her mind drift back.......

She had been 19 when she first came to Section. Nervous yet stubborn she had learned quickly and caught the eye of another young operative. The two of them had hit it off quite well and had managed to keep their relationship secret from the watchful eyes of Oversight. At least... that's what they thought.

Always watching from the shadows was another operative named Paul. He had taken a liking to Madeline as well and was enraged by her continued aloofness to his charms. She was only interested in Roarke and made that fact very clear and obvious to Paul at each and every given opportunity. He watched them and followed them after missions..... plotting... waiting....

Madeline put her tea cup down and picked up her trimmers and started to prune one of her precious trees.....

One night after a particularly dangerous mission, Madeline and Roarke were still riding high on their rush of adreneline and went out afterwards. They got a bite to eat and checked out a couple of local clubs for some high-energy dancing. As the evening wore on they fanned the flames of their desire.....and headed back to Roarke's place.

Paul had been shadowing the couple all night.... as his rage grew into a fevered pitch. When he realized that the couple were going back to Roarke's apartment he could hardly contain himself. He racked his brain for a plan to keep the lovers apart.....

When Madeline and Roarke stumbled into his apartment they were laughing and looking forward to a stolen night together. Madeline made her way to the stereo as Roarke went into the kitchen to fix them a drink. She selected a CD of mood music and went about lighting various candles that were placed around his apartment. Her love for him shone along with the reflection of the candle flames in her eyes.

She joined him in the kitchen then and with a swift kiss on his lips she told him she was off to take a shower. With one last lingering glance back at him over her shoulder she caught the kiss he playfully blew after her.

Smiling to herself she went into his bathroom and closed the door. She set the water temperature and stepped under the soothing flow of water. When she emerged the room had been darkened and she heard his voice call her from the bed "Come to me....my lovely one...." With a seductive smile playing at the corners of her lips she slowly walked over to the bed and slipped into the covers with him.

As they shared a night of passion she thought she had never been so happy and fulfilled. She rolled to her side and closed her eyes for a rest. She felt his arm slip around her waist and she reached down and laced her fingers through his and brought his hand to her lips for a kiss.

It was then that she saw it......blood....under his fingernails.

With a stifled scream Madeline surged from beneath the covers and grabbed a robe to throw around herself. Reaching for the bedside lamp she illuminated the room and as she did her eyes widened with shock and horror.... there... in the bed..... was Paul.

Paul leered at her from the bedclothes. "Quite a performance my dear. You should be commended."

"What.....where....where is Roarke? What have you done to him?"

As Paul slowly rose from the bed and reached for a towel to drape around his hips, he flung the words at her from over his shoulder.

"He is no longer of any use to you."

Madeline began to shake as the realization of what Paul had done finally dawned on her. She turned and ran from the room in search of Roarke and found him..... face down in the kitchen..... in a pool of his own blood. Nearby was a stun gun and a switchblade. Madeline took the scene in and felt her heart turn to stone. She turned to find Paul standing in the doorway to Roarke's bedroom lighting a slim cigar. He blew the match out and smiled as he walked over to the phone. Picking the phone up he dialed and placed the unit to his ear.

"Yes....send housekeeping. Roarke has been compromised. The matter has been contained, however."

He placed the phone back on its cradle and took another drag from his cigar and blew the smoke at Madeline. Madeline, with ice in her veins, walked over to him and snatched the offending cigar from his lips and threw it to the floor. At long last, she spoke.

"So. You were determined to have a *relationship* with me. And so you have.... but you have made one *mistake*."

"Really? And what, pray tell, would that be?"

Madeline walked over to Roarke and picked up the stun gun and switchblade. "You undermined me. I see that you were no match for Roarke and had to stun him before you could strike. And then you deceived me by darkening the room, knowing full well what would happen."

Paul just watched and listened as she continued to speak and circled him slowly....

"Well. You have now had your tumble with me. I hope you enjoyed it, for it will be your last!!" With that she took the stun gun and stuck it to his neck and he fell to the floor twitching. Before his eyes rolled back into oblivion, she let him see her click the knife open and lower it down his body.

After she had finished exacting her revenge, she pocketed the knife and left the apartment.

When Paul awoke...he remembered his last conscious thought. As he tried to shake off the lightheaded dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him, he sat up to inspect his body. Looking down he saw a pool of blood forming coming from the wound Madeline had inflicted to his thigh. With surgical precision she had made an incision that would have left him to bleed to death slowly. Wrapping the towel around his thigh, he staunched the flow and laid back and waited for housekeeping.

The end??????