14. The Life We've Chosen

Amanda holds Alex in South Ossetia, while telling her that sooner or later, there will be a rift between Alex and Nikita. Amanda offers to release Alex in exchange for Ari. Ari believes she wants him to decrypt the black box; Amanda will no longer find use for him after he does. Ryan authorizes the exchange but implants Ari with a kill chip when the exchange goes through, without Nikita's knowledge. She soon finds out anyway, and she convinces Owen, who is holding the trigger, to abandon the idea of his execution.

Alex befriends another prisoner, Larissa, and during an escape attempt, Larissa is shot and they are both recaptured. The exchange later takes place, after which Nikita intends to rescue Ari. However, Alex decides to find and rescue Larissa. Alex and Sean storms the hospital, but in the process a soldier fires a grenade launcher, and the room carrying Larissa explodes. In the meantime, Nikita and Owen cause a distraction as Ari is forced to use his code for the black box. Ari attempts to escape, but is shot by Amanda. Before he dies, Ari hands Nikita the black box he recovered.