It was a somber group that awaited the arrival of the others. Curlly had been pronounced as fit again by Medical although she did have a nasty bump on her head. She was a bit upset that she couldn't have been in on the rescue. Trace and Aly just looked on with concern on their faces. Aly had been out on a mission and had missed most of what was happening. Trace had been down with the flu.

North was pacing back and forth in front of Transport just waiting for the arrival of the rescue team. Medical was standing by but it didn't look good for Sophie. She glanced daggers at Operations who was also pacing.

"Don't look at me like that North." Operations shouted. "How was I to know that he had his own agenda?"

"Because it's your job to know. I can't believe that you even had the nerve to test us yet once again. Have we not proven to you over and over again that we are loyal to Section? True... we may not be as machine like as you want us to be but at least we still have our sense of humor and our souls. In my eyes that makes us better Operatives." Nabiki interjected vehemently. "I honestly don't know you can live with yourself."

North didn't say anything. She was too upset. She was in charge of CLHQ and it was her responsibility to know everything that was going on. But in this case she hadn't had a clue. Considering her relationship with Operations she was surprised and a bit hurt that he hadn't at least hinted at what was coming up.

Trace looked to her friend, "She'll be fine North. We have some of the best Medical ops in the world. If anyone can save Sophie it's them."

"I know. But from what Michael said it may be too late." she sighed. "We can only hope."

Just then the doors slid open and everyone started to move at once. The priority was to get Sophie to Medical for treatment and the moved her out immediately. Sherry was moving under her own power but looked very pale. "Has anyone found O'Brien yet?"

"No, but we have teams out looking. Birkoff is co-ordinating that mission with Davenport and Roy." Aly answered her friend.

"Good. If anyone can find him they can. I still can't believe he turned rogue like that."

"Michael, let's get Sherry to Medlab and have her looked at. I want to check on Sophie to see how she is doing. I don't care how we get O'Brien but I want him. Dead preferably." North spit out. "The rest of you see if you can help Birkoff in any way."

*****

As North walked into the room where they were working on Sophie she knew the news would not be good. Wrappings and dressings were littered on the floor in their attempt to revive her. Wires were attached to her chest and they were performing CPR but North could see that she was flatline. The doctor called it and they backed off and turned off the machines.

One of the medical personnel came over to her with a grim expression on her face. "I'm sorry North but she's gone. Even if we had brought her back the gas would have done a lot of damage. We don't know if she would have been capable of anything."

North just nodded her head and left the room. It wouldn't be easy telling the others about this.

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

Part Thirty-Six - Sherry

Sherry had just come back from having a CAT scan to make sure she was going to be okay. Other than the fact that every time she moved she wanted to throw up, she was doing well ... physically. Oh, she would have a headache for a few days, but that would eventually pass. Her wrists had been cleaned and wrapped and her head had been stitched and bandaged. Michael was sitting on the bed next to her, holding her hand and trying to come up with some way to make Operations pay.

The door to her room slid open and North walked in. No words were exchanged, but Michael and Sherry knew immediately what had happened. Tears began to flow down Sherry's face.

"It's my fault. She came back for me."

North came over and gave her a hug. "It is not your fault and I want you to stop thinking that way. You were only following orders. You had no idea O'Brien had gone rogue."

Sherry didn't say anything; she simply stared at the wall. Michael thanked North and then turned back to Sherry. "You know North is right. None of this is your fault."

"It is my fault, Michael. I should have done something different. Gotten Sophie out sooner or gotten myself out sooner. Then Sophie wouldn't have been looking for me and wouldn't have been caught."

Michael took her chin in his hand and turned her toward him. Looking her straight in the eyes he said "Stop it. Right now. This was not your fault in any way. If anyone is to blame it is Operations. He ordered the mission and failed to realize that O'Brien was psycho. So let's put the blame where it belongs, okay?"

Sherry began crying again and hugged Michael to her like her life depended on his being near. Michael let her cry ... she needed to grieve. They all did. He stroked her hair and held her until she was cried out. Then he gently laid her back against the pillows.

"You need to rest. You've been through too much. I'm sorry I couldn't stop this from happening. I promise you, I won't ever let it happen again."

Sherry smiled at him. "Michael, it's not your fault, and I don't want to hear you blame yourself." Michael nodded and then turned to go out of the room.

"Michael? Don't leave ... please."

Michael stopped and moved back to her. He leaned over and kissed her lightly. "Don't worry, you're not getting rid of me that easily. I just want to speak to North for a minute."

Walking out of the room, Michael saw that most of the others were still waiting outside. He walked over to North.

"Michael, how is she?" North asked when she saw him headed her way.

"She will be okay, physically. The doctor said she needs lots of rest and I'm going to make it my personal mission to see that she gets it. She will be released in the morning as long as nothing else goes wrong. As for her emotional state ... she's not so good. She is still blaming herself for Sophie's death."

North shook her head. "Oh, I would love to strangle Operations. How could he do such a thing? Apparently someone needs to do a better job of screening operatives. Or maybe he knew it ... I'm gonna make it MY personal mission to find out."

Michael looked around the group. "Any word from Roy and Davenport? Have they gotten him yet?"

Rita sighed. "Not yet, but they're closing in. I would sure hate to be in O'Brien's shoes when they bring him back here."

Aly and Trace nodded. Nabiki voiced what they all were feeling. "Just give two minutes alone with him."

Michael turned to Rita. "I want to be informed immediately of his arrival. And North, you and I will discuss Operations later. For the foreseeable future, I'm staying with Sherry. You know where to find me if you need me."

Michael turned and walked back into medlab and pulled a chair up next to Sherry's bed. She had fallen asleep while he was outside. He reached over and turned down the light so that she could rest. Then he picked up her hand and clasped it in his own. And that's the way he stayed all night.

*******

Sherry was released from Medlab the next morning. Michael took her back to her room and got her settled. She was still very quiet ... too quiet in his estimation. He her Sherry well. She was never overly boisterous or a chatterbox, but she was never this quiet either. And when she got angry she tended to keep things inside and get very quiet. He accepted the fact that she was upset about Sophie, but it was more than that. She still blamed herself. She was also harboring a lot of rage toward Operations and O'Brien.

Sherry watched Michael as he moved around her apartment. "Michael, you don't have to stay. I know you've got important things to do."

Michael stopped and came back to her. "There is nothing more important to me right now. So let's not argue about it."

After they had been back for a while, there was a knock at the door. Michael went to answer it.

"Hello Rita. Any word yet?"

Rita walked into Sherry's room. "No, not yet. I told Birkoff to get in touch with you the second he heard anything."

Michael nodded and then preceded Rita into the room.

"Hey Sherry. I wanted to come by and see how you're doing." Rita sat down on a chair next to the sofa and reach down to pet Lakota.

Sherry smiled at Rita ... well, as much of a smile as she could muster at that point. "I'll live. Which is more than I can say for some others. You might want to keep your distance from me in the future. I don't want anyone else ending up like Sophie."

Michael sat down next to her. He cast a worried glance Rita's direction. He had to do something to get Sherry out of this frame of mind soon.

Sherry turned to Rita. "Have you heard anything about a service for Sophie? I don't know if I can get there, but I was wondering."

Rita shook her head. "No. I'm going to have to check with North and see what she says."

After visiting for a few minutes, Rita's cell phone rang. It was Birkoff. He needed to see her immediately. Rita got up to leave.

"You take care, Sherry, and I'll see you soon. I'll let you know if I find out anything about a service." Then she walked to the door, followed by Michael.

In a whispered voice, Rita warned, "Michael you've got to do something. We don't want to end up having Sherry go over the edge and flat out kill Operations."

Michael nodded. "I know. I think the sooner we find O'Brien the better. And North has to do something about Operations or I will. And I think if you guys continue to visit with Sherry, it will help her a great deal."

Rita nodded. "Okay. I'll tell the others. I'll talk to you later."

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

Part Thirty-Seven - North

North was still devastated with the way things had transpired in the last few days. She was still in shock over Sophie's death. That she had been there when they called it was hard for her. But not as hard as it must have been for Sherry. She was in her office sorting through the paperwork. The service for Sophie was at the top of her list as well as making sure that Sherry was looked after. This had hit her the hardest and everyone was worried about her state of mind. Michael for the most part was keeping his vigil at her bedside. North was interrupted by her intercom.

"North?" Birkoff asked.

"Yeah."

"We've got a location."

"On my way." She quickly left her office and made her way to Comm. She bumped into Rita in the hallway but not Michael. "Where's Michael? He should be here."

"I thought we should wait until we had confirmation." Rita explained. "He's with Sherry right now trying to get her to rest. She blames herself for Sophie's death. By the way she wanted to know when the service was for Sophie."

"We'll have the service once we get O'Brien." North answered tersely. "I don't want to have to have any interruptions should something break. As soon as we have him in custody I'll let everyone know when and where."

"I'm sorry North. I know this has hit you hard too but we are all upset. Sophie was a good friend to all of us."

"I know and I'm sorry. It's just that I still have to deal with Operations and I am not looking forward to it. I thought we had a special relationship but I guess I was wrong."

"I wouldn't say that North. We all know how he feels about you. He has made it perfectly obvious to us all. I can understand that in this case his hands were tied. Why don't you wait and see what he has to say first before you jump down his throat."

North looked at her friend with an open mouth. "I can't believe you just said that. I would have thought you would have been the first to tear him up."

They were just at the threshold of Comm when they heard the voices so their conversation was interupted. Operations and Birkoff were having words again and their voices were raised. Rushing over to Birkoff the two girls demanded to know what was going on. Nabiki was on the side and she just shook her head.

"Dammit Birkoff those were not the orders I gave!" Ops yelled again.

"Sir, with due respect, I had orders from Oversight as to the parameters of this mission." Birkoff explained once again. "I do believe that they supercede your orders."

Operations turned on his heel and left muttering under his breath. Birkoff looked relieved as he watched his retreating back. In the back of his mind he knew that Operations was upset as to the outcome of everything.

"So have they got him yet?" North and Rita asked at the same time.

"Yes. Their ETA is 20 minutes."

North and the others looked relieved. "Any problems Birkoff?" Rita asked with bated breath.

"He resisted of course but was soon overcome by the team. No casualties though."

North nodded her head. "Good. Nabiki and Rita, I'll let you go tell Michael but try and keep things calm for Sherry's sake. I'll inform the rest of the girls. Grace just got back and needs to be filled in on everything. What a homecoming for her. We'll meet at transport in 15 minutes."