By Curlly

Curlly waited patiently with some other surfers for a good wave. Curlly didn't bother with a wet suit. She liked the feel of the water flowing over her skin. It was like the ocean was alive, and she wouldn't mess with that feeling for anything! Deciding not to sit around for a mediocre wave, Curlly laid down on her board and prepared to swim about 20 yards farther out.

"Curlly, I think I'm gonna head in," said Birkoff.

Curlly looked over her shoulder at Birky. He'd lost the "ghost" look sense they'd come to Hawaii. She'd taught him to surf and scuba dive. She shuddered to think what Walter was teaching him!

"Okay," Curlly acknowledged, "I'll be in in an hour or two. Are my cheeks getting pink?"

"No, not really."

"Well you're looking a little red around the edges Seymour!"

"Yadha, yadha, yadha," grumbled Birkoff as he paddled off to shore. He and Walter knew how much Curlly needed this downtime. So he'd arranged for all three to get some at the same time. Then Walter went to Curlly to tell her that they needed to add some spice to old Seymour's life. So, Curlly and Walter came up with a trip to Hawaii. Birkoff just hoped that this little trip would get Curlly back to where she was before Christmas.

~~~~~~~~

Curlly paddled till she could barely see the end of the pier and sat up on her board. She stared down through the waves at the world swimming by below. How she missed the ocean. "Why couldn't they have built a section in the tropics?" she asked a floating piece of kelp.

Just as she got ready to give up and swim inland, she spied a very promising wave. Really excited, for this was the best wave she'd seen all day, Curlly began to paddle. She could hear the roar of the crest of the wave breaking. Finally the wave picked her up. She carefully brought her feet up and stood. In and out of the water tunnel she went until she came too close to shore. Laughing out loud at the rush of freedom a good ride always invoked, Curlly caught her board and started to head back out. Curlly was half way through the breakwater when she paused as a funny feeling came over her. She was being watched. Curlly turned back to the beach. The sunset was an hour off, so the beach was mostly deserted. Seeing nothing to, which would cause what she was feeling, Curlly shrugged. Just as she was about to continue out, a wave hit her knocking her under. Not prepared to go under water, Curlly found her footing and stood choking and gasping. And there, not ten yards away stood Sinjn.

"Hello Curlly. I never did get to thank you for my Christmas present," he said as he started to walk towards her.

In the shock of seeing Sinjn, Curlly forgot to find her board. Well, she thought of it just as it hit her in the back of the knees. Once again Curlly went under. She wondered if she perhaps stayed under long enough that Sinjn would be gone when she came up. But alas, her hypothesis was not to be tested. A hand reached through the water latching onto Curlly's arm and pulling her out of the water.

Using her free arm, Curlly wiped the hair and water from her eyes. Just as she was about to pull out of Sinjn's grasp she felt a sting in her neck. She felt her knees weaken and just before she lost consciousness she felt herself falling and Sinjn say in disgust, "Here, take her!"

************

Curlly awoke to the sound of rain hitting the roof. She was in a white room with slightly off white lace curtains. She moved the down comforter aside so she could sit up. And promptly fell back among the pillows as pain ricocheted through her head. Once the pain subsided, Curlly arose carefully and went over to the windows. The room was on the second floor on the edge of a cliff. From the vegetation Curlly believed she was still on the isles. But she must've been asleep for at least 24 hours, for her hair was dry and there was no trace of moisture on the pillow. She figured the door was locked, but Curlly figured she might be able to open it. As she started across the floor the lock clicked and the door started to open. A man entered with a gun pointed at Curlly's

chest.

"Good, you're awake," said the man tossing a bundle of clothes at Curlly. "You have 30 minutes. The bathroom is through that door." Then he turned and left. Well, if Curlly was gonna die, at least she could start out clean! So she showered quickly and changed into the jeans, T-shirt, and sweater provided. Blushing, Curlly realized that they fit perfectly. Then shaking her head at the thought that Sinjn had picked out these for her, Curlly put her damp hair into a lose braid. She heard the door open. Straitening her shoulders she left the bathroom. The same man was waiting. He tied

Curlly's hands behind her then lead her out of the room.

Curlly watched with interest how the lay of the house went. Among the decor, Curlly found the cameras, security panels, exits, and which way was north. From the clock on the wall it was evening, and she had been out for more than 24 hours.

"Arrrrghhhhh!" groaned Walter at the sound of pounding on his door, "unless your an incredibly beautiful set of women, go AWAY!"

"Walter, open the door!" said Birkoff through the door. Grumbling, Walter got out of bed and opened the door.

"Watcha want Seymour? Why don't you go bug Curlly about whatever it is?"

Brushing past Walter and coming into the room Birky said, "That's just it! Curlly never came back from the beach last night!"

"What!?!"

"We were supposed to go hiking up some falls this morning, but she was late meeting me in the lobby. So I went up to her room and the bed has not been slept in."

"Maybe she made the bed."

"Walter, her surf board wasn't there."

"We better call CLHQ and see if she has a tracker."

*****

In the end her escort lead Curlly into a library and forced her to sit in a chair, retying her hands behind the chair's back. Then he left. Curlly was seated next to the windows facing the door. She read some book titles found no camera monitoring the room, and the windows opened onto the grounds not on the edge of the cliffs. "Sinjn really should have hired better help," smirked Curlly inwardly. They hadn't used handcuffs, but rope.

"Well you look remarkably carefree, for a murderer who is about to get what she deserves," said Sinjn as he walked into the room. He had forgotten how her hair lit into gold fire when she walked in front of a window. Just like it was now.

"Thank you. You know how much I like to keep up with the status quo." She'd forgotten the way his accent sent warmth all through her.

"Ah, speaking of the status quo, your researchers at section aren't quite up to it."

"Section? What are you talking about?"

"Funny you should ask," said Sinjn as he walked up to Curlly. Putting a hand on each side of her chair and continued, "After you so kindly closed out the company Christmas party, I wanted to find out who hired you. I found out all kinds of things along the way. I'm sure you'd not be at all surprised at what you can get out of people when their money is involved."

"Curlly turned her head away to look out the windows and just sniffed, turning her nose up. "I'm enthralled. Do continue."

His face hardening, Sinjn straightened and started to pace in front of Curlly's chair. "My sister was innocent! And I have found proof."

************

"She's been gone that long?" asked Trace. After listening to Birkoff a few minutes she shrieked, "And you found her board abandoned on the beach! We better inform Section. Don't worry, I'll have her location any moment."

While Birkoff and Walter waited at their hotel room, Birkoff said to Walter, " I knew I should have brought my lap top."

"Man, if you brought it, you'd never have gone out and had any fun," responded Walter.

"Yah, I'm having loads of fun!"

"Birkoff, are you there?" came Trace's voice through the phone.

"Go ahead."

"She's still in Hawaii. We can't tell which island yet. Will send out a team and let you know the minute we do."

~~~~~~~~

Curlly's hand whipped around, "What do you mean she was innocent?!"

Sinjn noticed how pale she'd suddenly become. "Turns out my sister had no idea some of the money was being routed to terrorists. Turns out one of the other accountant’s secretary was your target."

"No! You’re lying." Curlly could feel her control slipping. She couldn't have murdered an innocent. All of Nikita's stories came flooding in. So did Birkoff's warning that something was off. At the time Curlly thought they were just hiding the fact that Sinjn's sister was the target from her till the last moment. Now it seemed so much more sinister. "They'd have nothing to gain by killing your sister."

"Well now, they'd control the terrorists. It would be a shame if all the other sections started have more problems. Meantime, Paul's would look very efficient. Now wouldn't it?"

Curlly bowed her head, knowing what Sinjn was saying was a real possibility. "We don't need them to make us look 'efficient'. Mistakes aren't an option at Section. So we don't make them."

Truly frustrated Sinjn stalked over to Curlly and used his fist to bring Curlly's head up so she could meet his eyes. "Stop lying for them!" Then after taking a couple of deep breaths, "Tell me the location of Section One."

"What? Couldn't get enough money to scare it out of someone else?"

Grinning slightly, Sinjn backhanded Curlly across the cheek. "I'd much rather get it out of you!"

Pulling her head back to face him Curlly said, "Then you should have hired better help." With that Curlly jumped out of the seat with one of the dowels form the chair in her hand.

************

As Curlly swung the dowel for Sinjn's kidney, Sinjn lunged for the stick. They struggled for several minutes. Finally Curlly's training won over Sinjn's strength. She managed to get Sinjn stomach down on the floor. She used the rope to tie his hands together.

Straddling Sinjn’s back, Curlly leaned down to whisper in his ear, "When I met you that night on the bridge, I had no idea you even had a sister. I didn't even know of her existence until right before the Christmas party when they told me I'd have to kill her. I am so sorry." Then talking so Sinjn could barely hear her, she continued, "I will find out what's going on. Please let it go! If section finds out about this, they will kill you!"

Then Curlly used a maneuver Nikita taught her. It was designed to kill someone by damaging the diaphragm. But with a slight variation, it would only knock the air out of the lungs. This way if section did find out about Curlly's abduction, they'll think she'd killed him. Like a good little operative.

Curlly carefully opened the window and left. By the time Curlly's feet hit the ground and rounded a corner, the door opened. The door to the library opened and Michael walked in. He untied Sinjn's hands and helped him sit up. "You did very well Sinjn. Now if Curlly escapes the grounds, the test will be over." Sinjn just nodded.

Michael continued, "Now all you have to decide is if you want to return to the agency or stay at Section One." As Michael left the library, he just hoped Nikita wouldn't kill him when she found out about all this.

~~~~~~~~

Curlly hit the ground running and found a convenient shrub to watch the patrol pattern of the guards. Curlly figured she'd never make it down the front of the house. It was too heavily patrolled. Knowing she was running out of time before Sinjn regained his breath, Curlly waited for the next break in the guard's rounds and prayed they were as good at aiming as they were at tying knots.

Taking several deep breaths Curlly ran towards the cliffs. She heard the bullets fly over her head and the sting of dirt on her face and hands from bullets hitting at her feet. Curlly skidded to a halt a yard from the edge of the cliff. The guards ceased firing, figuring they had their prey cornered.

Backing away a few more feet from the edge, Curlly took a few deep breaths and ran, leaping as far from the cliff's lip as she could. On the way down all Curlly could think of was not hitting any rocks.

***

The impact of hitting the water nearly drove the air from Curlly's lungs. Pain tingled all over her body. With every flick of her leg Curlly could feel pain shooting through her right foot. So she let the tide carry her towards the cliff face. Allowing herself

time to take off the clothes she was wearing. She then tied the ends of the jeans into knots and inflated the pants. Placing them under her abdomen, Curlly took her swimsuit out of the right hand pocket and swam out to sea.

Once the shore was barely in sight, Curlly followed the current around the island. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she swam her most efficient stroke, the freestyle. Into the night she swam, looking for a safe place to stop. All she saw was tropical jungle. Shortly after the moon rose, Curlly discarded the deflated jeans and continued on.

Just after the moon set Curlly saw the lights of industrial piers. She tried to climb up the latter of one of them, but her right leg had gone numb. So she swam under the docks till she came to a public beach. Curlly crawled up the beach finally managing to stand up.

After hobbling around for a few minutes, Curlly came across a pay phone. Using a rock she managed to break open the front of the phone and do a little rewiring. She then dialed Nikita's number.

"Hallo?"

Through chattering teeth, "Nikita the number of the pay phone I'm at is 637*0096. I've been compromised. Please send in a retrieval team."

"Are you in danger of exposure right now?"

"No. I think I'm safe for now."

"Walter and Birkoff should be there with a team in 15 minutes."

*****

Curlly finished dressing, and then grabbed her crutches. After thanking the med team for their care she left medical. Thankfully she'd only sprained her ankle and broken one toe.

She ambled down to comm.

"Hey Birkoff, what's going on?"

"Good to see you up and about Curlly. I'll come by CLHQ later tonight and fill you in. Right now Madeline and Operations would like to see you in Madeline's office."

"Thank you Birky, I'll see ya later."

*****

"...So after you undid the bonds you killed Sinjn?" asked Ops.

"Yes."

"Well, I think that's all. You're to be commended Curlly. You may go."

After Curlly left Madeline turned to Ops and said, "She performed quite well. Although I didn't anticipate she'd go over the cliff. It will be interesting to see her reaction when she eventually finds out about Sinjn as we profiled. We could have used her on the Sryclore mission."

The End

This story ©copyright Curlly, 2000

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