Birkoff bent toward his computer once more. Section had been unusually slow the last week and instead of using his technical genius to stay one step ahead of terrorists, he'd been engaged in a quest to create a game that was at least a challenge for him to win. And after all, he figured those spare parts from Brutus ought to go to some good use.
He turned around and smiled as Walter came up behind him. The older man looked over his shoulder at the screen and shook his head.
"You have too much time on your hands. I think you need a girlfriend," Walter commented, watching the rapidly shifting colors and dimensions on the computer.
Birkoff snorted. "I tried that, Walter. I think I'm gonna stick to things I can program. No surprises. No disappointments." He waited for the predictable argument against his cynicism, but it didn't come. Instead Walter fell silent for a moment, and Birkoff saw a deep-seated sadness in his eyes.
"Maybe you're right," the older man finally said, and walked away. Birkoff silently cursed himself for once again, speaking without thinking. He wished there was something he could do to help his friend, but what was left?
He hadn't wanted Belinda to die, but what choice did he have? Birkoff had altered her abeyance rating once before, and been caught doing it. If he had tried to protect her again, he'd be dead right along with her. He knew that, and he knew that Walter knew it, but he also knew that a part of Walter still blamed him.
Birkoff closed out of the game and got back to work, running a standard systems check and looking for any anomalies. Once every six months or so, he needed to run through every single file in the system and make sure that nothing was corrupted. One bad file could cause problems in an entire sector, the kind of trouble he didn't have time to fix. He scanned down a list of files and file information, checking both access dates and sector stability.
That was odd. Something had caught his eye...a set of password protected files where there had been nothing six months ago. It wasn't something he'd set up, which could only mean it had been uploaded by Operations or Madeline.
They rarely kept things from him; his knowledge of the entire network was critical to his efficiency. What was this? Birkoff cast a furtive glance around. Section was still quiet. He thought Operations was up in his loft, but the view was darkened, so odds were he was taking what he thought was a surreptitious nap. Madeline wasn't in Section.
Birkoff really wanted to know what was in those files. If Operations had created them, they'd be easy enough to hack into - he didn't have much creativity when it came to passwords. He used the same name all the time. Maybe it was his real name or something. Birkoff looked down at the opened file and it was all that he could do to stay silent. Unbelievable.
He was rarely surprised by the things the Section would do. After all, he had pretty much grown up here and he was well aware of the lengths they would go to in order to keep the organization running at maximum efficiency. His knowledge of their methods was one reason he'd been able not only to stay alive, but to create a niche for himself in Section that made him practically irreplaceable.
Still... Birkoff read the file carefully, making sure he memorized the intel because he wouldn't risk accessing this again. Then he closed out and re-programmed the access date so that there was no evidence he had visited.
He got up and took a step toward Walter's area...but reconsidered. This was something he should check out first for himself. To say anything unless he knew for sure would be downright cruel. He weighed his options. Going into parts of the Section considered off-limits was not his idea of fun.
"Hey, Birkoff!" Nikita sang out, cheerily. She stood on the other side of his terminal, her blonde hair windblown and her face reddened by the cold wind outdoors. "What'cha doing?"
He looked up at her, startled. "Why are you here?"
"For once, nothing life-threatening, it's just that they're trying again to bore me to death. Wardrobe inventory." Nikita waited for the smart remark, but none came. Instead, she noticed the young man engrossed in his computer screen. She slid around the terminal and looked over his shoulder to see...a blank screen.
"Birkoff? I hate to tell you this but..." she smiled and pointed, "nothing's there."
"Now," he whispered. "Nikita, I think I need your help."
She looked at him in concern. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh...yeah. It's not bad...at least I think it's not bad...and I don't know if I should tell him or if I should check it out for myself."
"Tell who? what? Birkoff, what's going on?"
He looked up at her. "I think Belinda's alive."
==========================
"What?" Nikita hissed, completely shocked.
"I found a file. It looks like they're holding her on level 7B. She's not dead, it was all part of Walter's three-year evaluation. They wanted to know how stable he was, if they could make him snap." Birkoff's level voice poorly concealed the undercurrent of anger.
"So what are they going to do, keep her there forever?" Nikita's angry voice made it clear she was as horrified at what had been done to Walter as Birkoff was.
"No. From the looks of it, she's due to be returned to active status within the week. They're going to claim she'd been held hostage and retrieved on a mission."
Nikita looked puzzled. "Why would she go along with that?"
"Because if she doesn't, she's dead again?" Birkoff theorized. "And get this, she was never supposed to be in abeyance. Her service record was excellent. This whole thing was done just to test Walter."
"Poor Walter," Nikita closed her eyes in sympathy. Then she snapped them open and looked at Birkoff. "We're his friends. I'm not going to make him wait that week. I don't trust them." Nikita snarled the last word and Birkoff saw that she was looking up at the dark loft.
Birkoff's fear showed in his eyes. "Nikita, you don't have clearance for level 7B. Don't get yourself killed, it's not worth it." He was surprised to see her smile, a tight smile that reminded him eerily for a moment of Madeline.
"I can get anywhere I like, Birkoff. Adrian taught me a thing or two about this place."
With that, Nikita headed off down the hall with Birkoff nervously watching her go. He hoped she knew what she was doing.
***The next morning, Section One. ***
Operations and Madeline were having breakfast in their private dining room when Nikita came through the door.
"Nikita, there is...-" Operations began, but stopped short when he realized that Belinda was one step behind his least favorite operative.
"The mission," Nikita growled, "took place a little earlier than planned. The test is over."
Madeline raised her eyebrows slightly but refused to look surprised. "Very well, Nikita. I assume you've familiarized yourself with the details?"
Operations looked at her angrily, but she gave him a look that told him he had better play along. He stayed silent.
"You people are sick. How could you do this to Walter?" Nikita was furious. She stared angrily at Madeline but the other woman continued to look infuriatingly calm.
"Nikita, we have to test our operatives in many ways to be certain of their loyalty, and stability. You know that. Belinda knows it, and she will be going along with our story that she was captured and recently rescued. As will you."
Nikita spun around to look at Belinda, disbelieving what she had jus theard.
"Yes, Nikita, that's what I'm going to tell Walter. You will save both my life and his if you go along with it." Belinda's eyes pleaded silently with the younger woman.
"How can you lie to someone you love about something that serious?" Nikita asked, incredulous.
"It was a test for him, and for me as well. I understand the Section, Nikita." Belinda gave a short laugh. "I've been here a long time."
"Indeed you have, Belinda. It will be good to have you back on active status." Madeline told her. "Nikita, is this going to be a problem for you?" Madeline's voice was soft but Nikita knew her too well to miss the edge, the subtext that told her it had better not be a problem.
Nikita just stared. She would go along; she had to. She couldn't risk depriving Walter of what happiness he had found by her desire to speak the truth. Looking at Madeline, she nodded. Madeline gave her a small smile and turned back to her breakfast, effectively dismissing them both.
Belinda and Nikita left the room, and as soon as the door had slid shut, Operations exploded.
"What the hell was that? Nikita breaks every rule in the book, as usual, and you smile and tell her to run along?"
Madeline looked up at him with her usual patient expression. "And who put the pseudo cancellation files in a directory where anyone could find them? Let me guess... the password was Stephen?" From the look on his face, she saw that she'd hit the target. She removed the mocking tone from her voice and continued.
"Look at the positives. She and Birkoff were so busy rescuing Walter's lost love that they didn't read through the rest of those files."
Operations sighed. "That at least is a relief. There was information much more damaging than Belinda."
"If Nikita knew who else was still alive, considering her feelings for Michael... we might have had a serious problem on our hands," Madeline commented. Then she smiled.
"But she doesn't, and we'll be more careful in the future."