Parlor Games Affair
By Sondra
February 1, 2001-July 7, 2001
“Will you walk
into my parlor,” said the spider to the fly;
“‘Tis the
prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy.
The way into my
parlor is up a winding stair.
And I have many
pretty things to show you when you’re there.”
“O no, no,”
said the little fly, “to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up
your winding stair can n’er come down again.”
- Mary
Howitt
“Alright everyone, we got the information for our next case,”
Chris Larabee told his men in their conference room at exactly eight o’clock in
the morning. The black clad leader
handed out the folders to the other six members of what had been dubbed by the
other teams in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Denver office, The
Magnificent Seven.
“It seems we have a new player in the gun and possible drug
trafficking business in this area,” Chris spoke above the sound of shuffling
paper.
“Are we going to work with the DEA on this one then?” Josiah
Sanchez asked while opening his folder to look at the full size picture on the
inset.
“Not sure about that yet.
For the time being we have the assignment. Doesn’t mean the DEA’s
gonna come in and give assistance,” Chris responded.
“Krull?” Ezra Standish started after he yawned and blinked. He hated getting up at the God-awful hour of
6:30 in the morning to make it to the mandatory meeting at 8.
Giving the agent an amused look, Chris responded, “Delmar Krull;
it looks like he heads up this organization.”
Now looking to Vin Tanner, Chris’s second and the one that knew the
streets, he continued, “I want to know what the streets think about him.”
“‘K,” came the muffled reply from behind one of the folders.
“They don’t think small do they,” Josiah commented at the weapons
list he pulled out of his folder.
“No, and that’s why we’ve been assigned the case.” Chris leaned over the table, “Before we
start this I want to know everything about this person and the organization he
heads up all the way down to the personal habits of the lowest grunt worker.”
“How about financial statements?” JD Dunne, their youngest but
also their computer specialist, commented.
“Good place to start, and I don’t care how you get them, just
don’t tell me what you did.” JD smiled
at the comment.
“Chris,” Nathan Jackson spoke up, “Looking at this list, chances
are good they’ll probably know something about chemical weapons. I’ll check with the CDC for any possible
stolen weapons Krull might have gotten his hands on.”
“Do it.”
Looking now to Ezra, Chris spoke again, “I want you in there.”
“How soon?” the undercover agent queried while scanning one of the
documents.
“As quickly as you can manage without bringing any undue attention
to yourself. You’re also going to be
working with Melanie Branz from Team 3.
They’ve been kind enough to lend her services to this case.” Turning to the rest of the team assembled
Chris continued, “This is going to be a hard case. Because of that the Judge has shifted the rest of our caseload to
the other teams.”
With a gleam in his eyes Buck Wilmington spoke, “You think they’ll
be able to handle the load?”
“I don’t doubt it,” Chris answered dryly. “Just don’t get too comfortable with the
light load.”
“Cardinal Enterprises,” Nathan mumbled.
“What was that?” Chris demanded.
Closing the folder and setting it down on the conference table,
Nathan spoke again, “I don’t know, but it sounds familiar.”
“Well as soon as you remember I need to know,” Chris
answered. Then passing over the rest of
the members again, “If there are no more questions then this meeting is
dismissed. I want all of you to get to
work on this ASAP.”
There was a general nodding of heads then scraping of chairs as
most of the members of Team 7 rose and left the conference room to their small
bullpen.
“Chris?” Vin spoke from his chair.
“Yeah?”
“I’m headin’ out immediately.
Lookin’ over the information that we have so far it looks like it’s
gonna be one hell of a case. I’ll see
what’s up.”
“Do that, and Vin, be careful.”
“Ain’t I always, Cowboy?”
Chris shook his head at the sharpshooter as he easily moved out
the door. The younger man moved with
the grace of a hunter.
Back in the bullpen Ezra moved over to Josiah’s cubicle. “I hope you can come up with something
good,” he commented to their profiler, who also came up with his undercover
fronts.
“Don’t I always?” the larger man rumbled easily. Josiah looked up and found Ezra leaning up
against one of the false walls.
The two, hearing a sudden burst of keying, looked over to the cube
that housed their youngest member. JD
was already digging everywhere he could think of to gather the information
Chris wanted and then some, which was no easy task. But the Kid was good at what he did which was why he was hired in
the first place.
As Ezra moved back to his work station he could already hear
Nathan on the phone, most likely to the CDC gathering his own information.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vin looked around the run down area he was currently in. With the grace and ease of a cat he moved in
and out of the decrepit warehouses.
Many companies didn’t even consider this area to set up distribution
offices, but that wasn’t why he was there.
He knew these buildings like the back of his hand because he grew up
there.
Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye he turned and spied
one of the homeless people that frequented the place. Watching closely Vin suddenly recognized the person as a frequent
squatter named Malcolm.
“Malcom?” Vin called out to the much older man.
The homeless person looked around for a minute, not knowing who
had called him. Once he caught sight of
Vin, he broke out into a large toothless smile as the younger man
approached. “Good to see ya, Vin. How’s life been treatin’ ya?”
“I’m doing. Have ya been
goin’ to the shelter lately?”
“Well, when it gets too cold I’m down there.”
Vin clasped Malcom’s shoulder when they turned and moved down the
ally. “Have you seen or heard anythin’
goin’ on? Ya know, a lot of times I
don’t have the time to get down here anymore.”
“Not really,” Malcom hesitated, “you huntin’ again?”
“Not really,” Vin shook his head.
The sharpshooter tried to remain cryptic in what information he could
readily give out, but Malcolm knew him too well. Malcolm also knew when he could ask questions and when those same
questions were off limits.
“Really,
it’s been quiet, except for that break-in of the warehouse on Stemmons.” Malcom sounded like he was trying to placate
Vin.
“Break-in? Didn’t know
about that. What happened?”
“Well they ain’t nuthin’ there so it weren’t reported. Everyone around’s wondering why people would
break-in a place like that that’s empty except for us here people.” Malcolm shook his head.
Vin shrugged his shoulders, “Don’t know either, Malcolm.” He paused then spoke again, “Come on, I’ll
walk with ya down to the shelter so you can get somethin’ good to eat.” Their voices echoed down the alley as they
moved in the direction of one of the local homeless shelters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once Josiah was finished creating Ezra’s cover he handed the
information over to the undercover agent.
Soon Ezra was getting what he needed from other agencies in the federal
building they worked in and started coordinating with Melanie for the
undercover part of the sting. Looking
at the information he had been given at the start, he began formulating his own
plan. If he could get close to one of
the lower ranked members of the organization Ezra knew he could probably talk
himself into it.
That evening, now back in his townhouse and with Melanie present,
Ezra looked over the information once again.
After making a final decision he picked up his cell phone and dialed a
number.
“Yeah, Ezra, what is it?” the voice sounded perturbed, he had
apparently been interrupted.
“I need to contact Krull.
You know him?”
“Krull? Are you
crazy! That man’s a lunatic,” the voice
exploded from the speaker.
To save his eardrum Ezra pulled the speaker away from his ear;
when the voice was finished Ezra continued, “Yes, Krull.”
“Like I said, that guy’s loony.
If you wanna talk to someone you need to talk to David Harper, he’s
under Krull but knows what he’s doing.”
“Do you have his number?”
“If you think I’m going to give it out on the phone you’re as
loony as Krull. Meet me....” Ezra
quickly wrote down the address his contact gave him over the phone. “Come alone,” he finished.
“Don’t I always?”
“Yeah, but I can never be too careful.”
“Be glad I’m not taking you down, you’re too valuable to me.”
“Yeah, and I love you too,” he said sarcastically then
disconnected the line.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the initial meeting with David Harper, Ezra slowly gained
the insider’s confidence. Each meeting
that was set up, Ezra, alone at first, then with Melanie, had been wired, that
is except the first time. So far they
had been lucky the wires had not been found but they knew it was only a matter
of time. What comforted both undercover
agents was that there was at least one member of the team somewhere close
by. Looking at a person in grungy
clothing and mussed hair Ezra fancied it was probably Vin keeping an eye on
them this time. He had joined in
watching the undercover agents once the streets did not produce anything
substantial. *He can play the part,* Ezra thought to himself. Now the group Harper was a member of was
intriguing to say the least. Harper had
not told Ezra, and Melanie when she was with him, a lot on the organization in
their off and on meetings over the past few weeks, but they both hoped that
would change with their next meeting.
The two undercover agents were now sitting on a bench in one of
the many parks that surrounded the area.
After half an hour had passed Ezra looked at his watch again. He seriously considered that Harper would
not come this time. *Maybe I pushed too hard,* the words
echoed in Ezra’s mind.
“Mr. Stamford?” Harper’s voice broke through Ezra’s musings. Harper looked to the familiar woman that sat
beside Ezra, he had an ample view of her exotic skin tone below her short black
hair. Amazingly enough in her skin
tight shirt was hidden a wire and next to her skin were several strategically
placed die packs. They were both
waiting for the wire to be found. Their
whole strategy changed when she got bad news from her family. She had to get out although she didn’t want
to. After discussing the options with
the other team members they figured the only feasible option was to ‘kill’ her
front allowing her to go and be with her family. With the sudden turn of personal events Ezra decided to push harder
to get into the organization, and because of that they knew they would both be
checked for a wire this time.
Letting a small smile show Ezra turned to the voice, “Mr. Harper,
I’m glad you could make it.” He offered
his hand. Then as an off comment
towards Melanie, “Don’t worry, so far she’s been trustworthy.”
Harper took the hand then sat down on the bench but warily looked
at the woman.
“You know she won’t say anything,” Ezra spoke trying to placate
the person.
Harper nodded. Finally he
spoke again, “Where do you think your future’s heading?”
“Ezra can we go, I’m bored,” Melanie whined as she gripped his arm
and leaned up against him. Even though
this was below her abilities she played it up to the hilt.
“Not yet, my dear,” he told her while patting her leg, then after
telling himself to tread carefully Ezra responded to the question he
desperately wanted to hear, “Well I’ve been looking over everyone for quite a
while.”
For a moment Harper hesitated, this was not expected. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” Ezra leaned back then placed an arm around Melanie’s
shoulders, which allowed her to lean in closer to hear Harper better. “What it means is if I’m not pleased with
this organization I’ll take my business elsewhere. Mind you, so far what I’ve seen has been very good, but one can
never know. Something more profitable
might come along.” Ezra let the
sentence hang between the two men.
Inside Harper was angry, *How
dare he put down The Hierarchy like that!*
“Well whatever they offer you, we’ll give you a better offer,” Harper answered with
confidence.
“How am I to know?” Ezra answered with a raised eyebrow.
“Listen Stamford, The Hierarchy is the best!” Harper ground out *and you better watch out or we’ll come after
you.*
“The Hierarchy? And who
might that be?” Ezra was now truly intrigued, Harper had never mentioned the
organization before.
For a minute Harper seemed to have an air of indecision about him,
almost as if he realized he had spoken too much. When he finally did answer he sounded like he was almost
bragging. “The Hierarchy? Why that’s the organization I’m a member
of.” He quickly reached for his
briefcase and pulled out some equipment, equipment that looked like it checked
for wires.
“What’s that?” Ezra asked innocently.
“I told Krull about your *aspirations*
and he wanted me to check you out better.
This is to see if you’re wearing a wire, nothing more, nothing
less.” He was now checking over Ezra
with the gadget.
“I wouldn’t wear one of those,” Ezra sounded disgusted.
“That may be so but you never can be too careful,” Harper
answered. After another minute of
fiddling with the mechanism Harper started scanning Melanie for the wire that
had been deliberately planted. Finding
it easily Harper turned a cold eye to Ezra, “Trustworthy you said?” He reached over and grabbed Melanie’s arm.
“Please -” she started protesting.
Taking hold of Harper’s arm, Ezra spoke again; it was not the
congenial tone he had been using but one of coldness. “Excuse me.” Harper
glanced at Ezra and was surprised to see a marked change in the man, what he
saw now could easily be considered a killer.
Ezra yanked Melanie up and drug her to the car they had been
using. Even though Harper could hear
her begging for mercy he watched as Ezra pulled out a pistol and pumped at
least five shots into the woman. She
collapsed in a boneless heap on the asphalt.
Ezra reached down and checked to see if she was dead then
unceremoniously dumped her in the trunk and slammed it shut.
“What was it you were saying?” Ezra asked, acting like nothing out
of the ordinary had just happened. When
he sat back down Harper noticed Ezra was wearing gloves. Ezra’s actions alone proved to Harper that
he was trustworthy enough. “Come.” He rose from the bench after replacing the
equipment back in his briefcase, and started moving across the park to some of
the parked cars.
Startled
to say the least, Ezra quickly rose and followed Harper. For a minute he had a silly grin on his
face, flushed with the knowledge he had done it yet again with the help of
Melanie. He could not allow himself to
think of her family and how she would handle that. Hiding it quickly Ezra caught up with the man at the car. Harper slid behind the wheel; not wanting to
be left behind, Ezra took the front passenger seat quickly. The car was already moving by the time Ezra
closed the door.
Once Ezra and his contact were out of sight, the grubby looking
homeless person on another bench pulled out a cell phone and dialed a
number. “Chris? Chris, it’s Vin. Looks like he’s in.” He
slapped the phone shut and rose from the bench. Watching Ezra do what he just did unnerved the agent. Vin quickly moved over to the car Ezra had
been using and with his own set of keys unlocked the trunk. He found her passed out because of how
confining the trunk was.
After removing Melanie from the small space Vin gently laid her
down beside the car. Leaning over her,
he gave her a firm kiss. Just like
Sleeping Beauty she came back within minutes.
“Damn, that hurt,” she complained as she attempted to sit up.
“Well you know he was in character,” he commented as he helped
her.
“Yeah, but it still hurts.
I didn’t want the vest -”
“So they used blanks and stuffed you in the trunk,” Vin
finished. Seeing her nod he gave his
own grin then went over to the car and removed the duster from the back
seat. Once Melanie put it on they got
into the car and headed for his apartment in Purgatorio. They knew it would only be a short time
before she was on her way to Montana so she had to get ready quickly. It would be good for both of them to take
showers and put on clean clothes again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the days and weeks continued to pass Ezra started to gain the
confidence of some of the members of the Hierarchy. The work was hard but he enjoyed it immensely. Using his cell phone Ezra started reporting
in when he was in secluded places.
There were some things that took place which were totally unrelated to
their business at hand, which was what Cardinal Enterprises did, running weapons
under their own elaborate cover.(This sentence was a bit confusing, you might
consider rewording.) Being inside the
organization he was never able to find out specifically what that cover
included. Not wanting to bring any
undue attention to himself Ezra started to discreetly investigate the unrelated
events.
After finding nothing illegal, Ezra turned his attention back to
the gun running. The weapons bought and
sold illegally were not the small stuff.
The Hierarchy did not even consider those,; they worked with high
technology. Just getting one glimpse of
the weapons that they were offering to any one that had the money made Ezra
shiver on the inside. He knew if those
weapons were, and currently are, put on the streets the police would have no
chance. Hell no one would have a
chance.
When Ezra rose to the next level he found out more about the
organization. Being on the outside, or
still at the lowest levels, he felt cut off from the rest of the group. Organizations of any kind rewarded their
higher level members with more sensitive information dealing with their
operations. The Hierarchy was no
different, although he knew you paid for that information with your life.
The further Ezra burrowed himself into the operation the more he
found out that the gun running operation was just at the lowest levels. Every once in a while he noticed ‘buyers’
come and visit Krull. It seemed
innocent enough, but something was bothering Ezra. As he was trying to puzzle it out, the worst thing that could
happen, happened. He had just left one
of the rooms when he noticed out of the corner of his eye one of his
ex-superiors from when he was in Atlanta.
He hid his alarm when he realized he could not have been recognized,
especially since it was only the back of the agent's head he had seen. But he knew it was a close call and would
have to be much more careful than he had been previously.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two men that moved down the hall seemed innocent enough, until
you realized one was an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The words passed between The Hierarchy
members were enough to turn any head, but Michael Halloway ignored
everything. Halloway had been in secret
contact with Chris Larabee. He may have
hated the ATF agent but he knew a good agent when he saw one. What made him angry was that Chris had
snatched Standish up in front of his nose.
Granted he was glad to see the rogue undercover agent leave, but once he
was gone he realized the potential he threw away as worthless. Halloway caught a glance of the undercover
agent speaking with someone he was not familiar with. For a moment he hoped the ATF agent did not see him, if he had
then only quick thinking would get both agents out of there alive.
Once past the undercover agent Halloway sighed internally, he did
not want the organization thinking he was nervous or anything. Now paying more attention to his escort he
found the man was becoming agitated.
What made the unnamed man’s condition worse was how Michael smiled
easily at him, though inside he knew things were far from ordinary.
After stopping in front of an innocent looking door Halloway’s
escort started fiddling with something on the door.
A voice seemed to echo all around them, “What is it?”
“Uh, Sir, a Mister Halloway’s here to see you.”
“Fine, let him in,” the voice echoed.
The nameless escort waved Halloway to the door but the agent had
other plans. “If you think I’m going to
touch that you have got to be crazy.
That thing probably has enough juice to fry me.”
The other man’s eyes hardened.
As a kind of rebellion he grabbed the knob that would release the door
latch.
For a moment he stood there as his eyes widened in terror. It was hard to explain what happened next
but needless to say when the door finally opened reveling another room Halloway
stepped over the still smoldering remains of the hapless employee.
“No trust?” Halloway asked with eyebrows raised.
“There is trust here AGENT Halloway, you place it carefully and
not willy-nilly.” The emphasis was not
lost on the agent. As Halloway came
closer he heard the door shut behind him, effectively sealing him in the room.
“My name is Delmar Krull, and I am head of this satrap." He didn't bother to clarify to Halloway what
he meant by satrap, which was a local THRUSH cell. Making no move to stand up and greet the agent he continued, “And
you Michael Halloway, FBI agent, are a small time player,” he sneered.
Halloway’s ire was effectively raised but he dared not show
it. His job was to help stop the spread
of illegal weapons. When he found out
about Krull he was all gung-ho to put his operation out of commission, but his
supervisors said no. After asking the
same question over and over they finally told him that U.N.C.L.E. would handle
it. “Why can’t we?” he asked
exasperated. “Because that’s who they
handle 95% of the time. They know what
they’re doing.”
Because of Halloway’s persuasive nature the FBI finally allowed
him to investigate. When he found out
about Ezra he was able to put a plan of deceit together. When he called Larabee and then met the ATF
agent in person he outlined his plan in detail. At first Larabee shook his head but then finally agreed to it.
“You’re going to have to earn my trust. I don’t like what you tried to do to Ezra in Atlanta, but at the
same time you opened the way for me to get my undercover agent.” Like before, the ‘my’ was not lost on
Halloway. Now looking at Ezra he
realized what he had thrown away. The
least he could do was make it up to the undercover agent. And the way he did it was to let Krull know
who Stamford was.
Halloway gave an evil smile, “How good are your background
checks?” he started sounding almost bored.
“Good enough,” Krull easily answered.
“Apparently not. You have
a mole.”
Krull’s eyes grew hard, “How dare you imply that,” he stood
menacingly from behind the desk.
“Everyone has been thoroughly checked out.”
“Easily,” Halloway answered.
“Ezra Stamford is actually Ezra Standish, FBI agent.”
“FBI, huh?”
“Yes.”
Getting an evil gleam in his eyes Krull continued, “I can do a lot
more with him here.” Then looking at
the FBI agent again he continued, “You have helped me much more than any
secrets could right now. You may go,”
Krull touched a spot on his desk and the door opened again revealing the
hallway that was now spotless.
Glancing from the door back to Krull again Halloway’s eyebrows
raised a notch. After getting a slight
smile from Krull the FBI agent headed out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taking as many precautions as necessary, Ezra continued to burrow
deeper into Cardinal Enterprises. After
Halloway left the challenge seemed to disappear. At first he brushed his sudden ease off as just his abilities,
but it still bothered him. It seemed
that the challenge wasn’t there anymore.
During one of his regular reports he finally asked about Melanie
and how she had faired.
“Considering what happened to her, she’s stayed in hiding since
she’s come back,” Chris answered the question.
“She is probably most uncomfortable in her forced seclusion.”
“I don’t know about that, because I do know for a fact where she’s
at.” You could hear the smile in
Chris’s voice.
“Well, that should surely make up for her imprisonment,” Ezra
answered with his own smile.
After setting a few more things straight, the line was
disconnected and Ezra prepared for his slumber. What he did not know was that two people were watching his
movements closely, and one of the two was clearly more agitated. Setting the listening device down Harper
looked at the now uncovered mole. *He seemed too good to be true,* he
thought. He then made the decision to
tell the satrap about the minor inconvenience of the government agent in their
midst.
Which is where Harper stood, outside the section of the offices
which other members gave a wide berth, the next morning. There were things that happened in there
which most of the people there didn’t want to know about. Looking at the door that was reinforced with
steel, Harper had his own reservations.
Rumors floated around that if someone was called there they never showed
up again. Some say they were killed in
the room and then taken underground where they were cremated, *hardly what happened,* Harper thought to
himself. Although he was nervous
himself, he had a good reason to be there.
When the door opened Harper flinched inwardly, he was just as
nervous as the average member in that office.
With his fate now unknown he entered the office. What surprised him is that it looked like
any other office one would encounter in one’s daily life. But looks can be deceiving.
“What were you wanting to tell me Harper?” Delmar Krull spoke
quietly from behind the desk as he lit a cigarette.
“Uh, Sir, there’s something very important I think you should
know,” Harper stuttered slightly.
Inside he berated himself for sounding like a newling to The Hierarchy.
“How considerate of you,” he answered easily while leaning back
from the desk. “What’s this important
thing that can’t be sent to me through the normal channels?” He started making annoying tapping sounds on
the desk with the pen he had been using.
“Um, well, it’s, um about one of the newest members here.”
“Mr. Stamford?” Getting a
nod Krull continued, “Don’t worry about that, I already know everything there
is to know about him, or should I say Mr. Standish.”
Getting bold Harper continued, “I think he needs to be removed
immediately.”
“And why’s that?” Krull’s voice turned deceptively calm.
“He could easily. . .”
“Answer me one question Harper, is he a member of U.N.C.L.E.?”
Krull said the last word with disgust.
Harper shook his head, but remained mute. No one ever crossed any satrap’s command.
“Good, I think he could be of great use to us here.” After pausing a minute Krull continued,
“You’re dismissed.”
Harper almost ran out of the room,; he felt lucky that he was even
still alive. *Crossing the satrap was not smart,* he berated himself again.
Krull watched as Harper left the room, “That was not very smart of
you Harper. If you continue with this
I’m going to have to take care of you,” he spoke darkly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Agent Alan Kaelin had been watching all the movements going in and
out of the satrap with binoculars from an inconspicuous place. It took a while for him to document everyone
he thought was connected to the office.
Once he got that done he started trailing each member seeing where they
went and what their routines were.
The last person he was able to identify was someone that was one
of the the lowest in seniority. The
man’s name was Ezra Stamford and he looked totally out of place, well to Alan’s
eyes. After taking some quick pictures
of the person in question, he followed the man to his apartment.
Once there Kaelin noticed things that should not have been
there. As Kaelin was listening to the
cell phone tap he had set up, he noticed that the Ezra that seemed out of place
in his eyes was making a call to another cell phone number. Even though he made great pains to cover his
tracks you could still follow him, that is if you knew what you were looking
for.
After listening for a few minutes Kaelin’s brow furrowed, *this is not good,* he thought. He whipped out his communicator and set up
the call quickly. Just from the short
conversation on the cell, Alan realized Ezra was an undercover agent. What was more troubling was that he made no
mention about THRUSH so he knew he was ignorant of the organization and in
great danger of his life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark Mitchall looked at the report given to him from the
communications section. He knew it was
not something he wanted to tell Number One of Section One. The Boss, as Mitchall called him, was hard
and demanding, but when push came to shove if what he wanted was not done or
could not be done by one of his agents he would go out in the field and do the
job himself. He also heard from rumor
that the head of the New York office was much worse. And that Mr. Solo had been the Number One of Section Two (the senior
enforcement agent) in that office before starting this one.
So when Kaelin reported in about the satrap in Colorado he was
supposed to shut down and that a local government team had gotten entangled in
the affair, he almost didn't want to tell his superior. Not that he knew the agent could handle the
assignment allotted to him, but because of the Boss's private life. It was no secret that he was happily married
and had two kids. Mark felt almost
jealous of the section head. He heard
from some of the older members of U.N.C.L.E. about Solo’s former life. Seeing him now it seemed more like a joke,
and when his wife was in the office it seemed that no one wanted to comment
about it.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, he knew Solo would be
angry at him if he was not told what was going on. So out of grudging respect he moved over to the communications
section and sent the message that was surely to wake up Mr. Solo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Something jarred Napoleon Solo awake. After looking around in the gloom of the quiet room he reached to
the other pillow to pull Kathy close to him.
Even though it was getting close to fifteen years he was still as
attracted to her as when he first met her up in New York. After finding the pillow empty, except for a
slight crease showing it had been recently used, he sat up. The light of a full moon shone through the
windows, dimly illuminating the room they shared. All was quite except for the chirping of the crickets and
cicadas.
After running a hand through his hair, he looked around the room
noticing how their clothes were strewn around the floor. It had definitely been an interesting
evening, he mused to himself.
Out of more habit than anything else Solo reached under his pillow
for the Special nestled there.
Sometimes he told himself he didn't need to sleep with it anymore, but
the old habit was hard to break. He
knew he was in a more dangerous situation than any time when he was out in the
field and that was why he kept it close; now the danger was directed more at
his family than himself. After pushing
the thought off to the side, he threw the covers off. With the Special in hand he moved easily to the closet.
After flipping the light switch, he almost demanded that it be
moved to outside the closet, he threw the door open. He knew Kathy was amused at this but one could never be cautious
enough. After finding it empty he
picked out a robe then dropped the weapon in the single pocket.
He found her in the parlor near the window. At the sight of her standing before the
window in her chiffon night shirt he felt a surge of desire course through his
veins suddenly. He loved looking at her
curves, curves he knew intimately.
Kathy did not seem to hear him, being engrossed in the graceful
movements of Ti Chi.
He let the desire course through him until he realized the
dangerous position she had put herself in.
Granted she could take care of herself but still. . .He let the thought
fade away as he moved quietly through the room. Once he was in arms length he let his hands slip around her
waist, pulling her up against him.
For a second Kathy tensed till she reached behind her to feel the
face of the one that captured her.
Napoleon had taught her how to defend herself from this position and she
wanted to make sure it was him and not someone else. She did not want to do something she would regret later.
“Sweetheart, you know it’s dangerous to be here,” he whispered
close to her ear.
“Hmm? Well I like the
light.” She turned in his arms and
settled against his chest. Feeling him
through the material she gave a small smile while she sighed.
Giving a wicked smile of his own Napoleon picked her up and
carried her back to their bedroom. He
was already in the process of getting her clothes off when one of his
communicators went off.
“Damn,” he cursed quietly.
Reaching her face again he gave her a sensuous kiss then got off the bed
to get the communicator. Kathy gave a
small pout when his warmth left her.
When he came back there was a dramatic change in him. He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his
face with his hands. Not knowing what
this was, Kathy sat up and molded herself against his back. “What’s wrong?” she asked as she slid her
arms around his midsection.
Solo sat there for a minute, intellectually he still wanted her
but his body was not responding at the moment.
Turning he cupped her face in his strong hands, “It seems that some
locals inadvertently got involved with a recently formed satrap in the Colorado
area.”
“Is that the one you sent one of your best to close down?” she
asked.
Finally feeling the arousal coming back Napoleon let his hands
slide down to her shoulders while he moved down her neck. Pleased at how she gave a quiet moan he
moved up to her ear and whispered, “Yes, that’s the one.”
She brought her arms up around his chest pulling him even
closer. When she finally found her
voice she asked in a whisper, “Who are the locals?”
Before he answered he lowered her down then worked his way down
her body, he had her writhing in exquisite agony when he finally answered in a
whisper inches away from her face, “Either ATF or FBI. But I’ll deal with that tomorrow.” He gave her a deep kiss.
Just as in the beginning, the joining of their bodies was gently
and tenderly done. Neither of them
could get enough of the other and that was just an outgrowth of their
relationship.
Now exhausted after their loving, Kathy lay splayed across his
chest, slightly faded red hair everywhere.
Solo, sensing sleep coming to her quickly, turned onto his side and
enveloped her in a strong yet tender embrace.
His overwhelming desire for her to be safe fueled this move but he too
was sleeping in short order.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Early morning found Solo in the small U.N.C.L.E. office he headed
up. Sometimes work was so slow he would
watch the seconds hand make its rounds around the clock on the wall and think
about Kathy. Other days he would look
up and find it late in the afternoon.
He had a feeling this was going to be a long and exhausting day.
Solo reached across the report he was reading for his coffee but
ended up with a cigarette in hand. He
knew Kathy disapproved of the vice but sometimes when the stress would be too
much he would find himself with one in hand.
Be that as it may, the rest of the offices were banned of the smoke, but
to help the ones addicted to nicotine he had an area prepared for them with
it’s its own ventilation. He knew there
were some people that were allergic to the smoke, but for him it would always
be there, just at the end of his reach.
Though he was not really addicted to them, it was just that when the
stress rose they would magically appear.
In the report Kaelin sent overnight he was able to get a better
view of what was going on up in Colorado.
Letting a small smile cross his face he put out the cigarette then
rose and moved to the communications section.
After letting the section head set up the call he opened the channel.
“Kaelin here.”
“Kaelin, I want you to shake things up a bit.”
“Sir, do you have anything in mind?”
“Why don’t you surprise me,” Solo answered with a smile.
“Yes Sir! Close Channel
A.”
~~
Up in Colorado Kaelin looked at his communicator for a
minute. He knew it would be hard coming
up with something original. After
pondering the possibilities he finally purchased a map of the city and poured
over it. After looking at the
businesses on either side, he started formulating his plan. He did not want to do anything that would
harm the innocents that might be inadvertently involved.
Looking over the equipment he carried, a plan started
forming. For it to work he had to make
sure he had all the necessary equipment available.
It took a while before Kaelin was able to gather everything
necessary but now his “toy” set up.
Being as it were the next day he waited until it looked like everyone
had come in and was doing the front work.
Staying hidden behind shrubbery and a low wall he aimed his device to
the building the satrap had set up for their business.
Within minutes there was a sharp noise and one of the power
generators that was located right beside the building started smoking. Kaelin watched as the smoke turned black and
the generator started burning in earnest.
What surprised him was that the fire alarm started ringing and people
started pouring out of the front door.
All he really wanted to do was to knock out the power so everyone would
get outside. But things didn’t go his
way and he would have to work around the slight problem.
After easing around to the rear entrance Kaelin easily broke
in. He found himself in an area that
appeared to be off limits to all but the highest members of the satrap. There were folders strewn around a table in
one of the rooms as if the occupants hastily rose from what they were doing and
raced out to help fight the now quickly spreading fire. Kaelin knew he had to get out soon, he could
feel the heat already rising.
Reaching for a folder he opened it and found Stamford. Apparently they knew all along that he was
undercover. After quickly scanning the
material he realized they were toying with him. This was very disturbing.
Patting his pockets he found his small camera and started taking
pictures of all the material available.
When that was done he went to the other folders. He found at least six, and they all seemed
to be members of one of the local government teams. After quickly snapping pictures of everything he could get his
hands on, he looked up to the door. The
steel glowed an ominous red. Knowing he
had very little time now, he moved through the back door and closed it tight
making sure no one would be able to tell the place had been broken into. Making sure no one was watching, he moved
away from the scene. It was getting
easier with the fire trucks all around and people scrambling to put out the
fire.
When he was about a block away he looked back and saw that there
were flames now coming out the door he had just left through., “That was too
close,” he commented to himself as he watched the roof cave in.
When he made it back to the motel room he was renting, Kaelin
pulled out his communicator, “Open
Channel A.”
“Acknowledge.”
“The satrap in Colorado has been shaken up but I suspect the
members will stay here. There’s a local
government agent that’s undercover in the office.” Kaelin really didn't want to tell Solo what really happened to
the satrap.
“Mr. Kaelin, did you get any hard evidence about this?” Solo’s
voice echoed from the small speaker although he already knew about the
undercover agent.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good, I want you on the next flight back. I want to see that information.”
“Yes, Sir.” Kaelin
replaced the communicator and pulled his belongings together. After booking a flight back to Austin he
went out to get something to eat.
Kaelin was back in Austin by late afternoon. Entering the HQ he pulled out the small
camera and took it to the section that handled them.
“Kaelin,” Mitchall called from the door.
“Yeah?”
“The boss wants to see you in Section One.”
Kaelin nodded then turned to the people behind him but they
answered before he could speak, “We’ll deliver it when we get finished.”
“Good, that contains pictures of documents that are very
important.”
After getting a nod Kaelin moved out and went to Section One’s
office. “Sir,” he greeted Solo while
going through the door into the office, “as soon as the documents are printed
out. . .”
“Good, what else did you find?” Solo interrupted.
“Well, Sir, it looks like THRUSH knew about the undercover
agent.” Kaelin sat in the chair
available.
Napoleon’s eyebrows raised slightly, “Now that’s interesting, what
else did you find out?” The fingers of
his right hand drummed on the table.
“Well there’s conflicting reports about FBI and ATF agents but I
think the agent’s a member of a local team that’s investigating their front.”
“Anything on them that you know of?”
“Not that much, Sir, all I had time was to give a quick glance
through the documents before my time was up.”
Giving Kaelin a grin, Solo commented, “I don’t want to know right
now what you did or what happened.” He
then pondered the whole affair; the aspects had changed dramatically since this
new information had been revealed. Solo
spoke again after considering his options, “I want you to go back up there, I
want eyes and ears.”
“Do you want me to do anything?” the agent asked surprised at this
turn of events.
“No, not until I can get a better understanding of what’s really
going on up there.” Solo paused a
minute then continued, “You’re free to go.”
“Yes, Sir,” Kaelin rose and moved out the small office. Soon he had booked another flight back to
Colorado for the next day.
Five minutes after Kaelin left, the documents in question were
delivered to Solo. Taking each page
Napoleon examined the documents closely, starting with the undercover
agent. Solo unwittingly repeated what
Kaelin had mentioned just a few days earlier when he examined the information
THRUSH had on the agents, “This is not good.”
Once the documents were placed back in their respective folders he
left them on the table for the time being.
It was already getting to look like he would have to go up there himself
and sort out the whole mess. At least
he had one contact within the local government offices there. Because of that he hoped it wouldn’t be as
hard as first considered.
With another cigarette in hand, but unlit, he touched one of the
controls on the table with his free hand, “Donna, I’ll need you to book a
flight for me to Denver for tomorrow.”
“What time, Sir?”
“Late morning will do.”
“Yes, Sir, consider it already done. I’ll tell you the flight once I get it.”
“Thanks Donna.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Detective Thomas Mathis looked over the mound of debris that until
several hours ago was what looked like a legitimate business. Moving over to the one who called himself
the general managed he found him quite angry at what he considered an arson.
“Mr. Krull, at the moment it is not arson, although we won’t rule
it out,” Mathis responded.
“I don’t care, I know it’s arson.” He stopped suddenly as if he knew the party or parties that were
behind the fire.
After taking note of the comment Mathis took another route, “Mr.
Krull we do have people out looking for any witnesses. If it is arson then the witnesses can help
catch whoever it was and find the reason why it was set in the first place.”
Krull nodded. He knew if
he was not careful it would blow up in his face. Luckily none of the weapons were stored there.
One of the firefighters, now doing the preliminary investigation
came over to Mathis’s position. “Sir, I
think we’ve been able to narrow down the source of the fire.”
“Where?” Mathis asked while moving off to the side. Looking up he noticed the gathering crowd
behind the police line.
“The power generators are located right beside the building, not
on top,” the firefighter was pointing to the melted lumps of metal next to the
burned out building. “So far it looks
like the generator closest to the building shorted out. Which in turn moved to the building.”
“Didn’t they have a sprinkler system?”
“They shut it off this morning to make upgrades.”
Mathis shook his head, either the arsonist, if it was one, was
extremely lucky or just bad luck on the part of the company. “You know, Mike, someone inside could have
coordinated the outside operation, that is if it is arson.”
Mike, which was the firefighter’s name nodded. Before he could continue another firefighter
came up behind Mike, “Boss?”
“What?” he asked while turning around.
“We’re starting to examine the generator right now. From all the evidence so far it does point
to arson."
Mike nodded then turned back to Mathis, “Will let you know when
we’ve confirmed whether it’s arson or not.”
While Mathis moved off to the side another officer came up to him
with a civilian in tow. “Sir, Mr.
Johnson here said he has something he wants to tell you.”
“Mr. Johnson,” Mathis looked to the older man standing beside the uniformed
officer.
“Well, Sir, I’s just about to call 911, ya know about the fire,
when I’s saw him. He’s doin’ the
strangest thing breakin’ inta the building when the fire started spreading.”
“Can you give us a description?”
“Uh-huh,” Johnson nodded.
“Good, why don’t you go with Jameson here and he can get
everything set up.” After watching the
two leave Mathis turned back to the rapidly cooling smoldering remains of the
building.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Early afternoon of the next day found Napoleon Solo moving easily
through the different hallways leading towards the office of AD Orrin
Travis. Instinctively he could feel the
women’s eyes on him. He was so used to
it he ignored the feeling. He had a
mission to accomplish, or rather to salvage would be the better term.
When he found out from Kaelin about the ATF team and how they had
bungled their way into the affair, he almost stopped what he had been doing to
see if he could fix it from the HQ he headed up, well almost. He knew they were on the verge of destroying
themselves. He knew their intentions
were genuine but they didn’t know what they were going up against. Solo hoped to take them off the affair, but
he would have to talk to the AD first.
Solo opened the door to the secretary to the Assistant Director
ignoring the whispers coming from the other female agents and administrative
assistants.
“M-May I help you?” she was almost overwhelmed by Solo’s mere
presence. He still did that to women.
“Yes, I would like to see the AD,” he announced pleasantly.
“Do you have an appointment?” she asked lamely.
Solo hesitated a minute then answered, “No, but just tell him
Napoleon Solo wants to see him.”
“Mr. Solo, the AD is a very busy person and doesn’t have time for
people to just-” she was cut off by Solo moving towards the door.
Indignant of how he ignored her, she tried to stop him before he
reached the door, “Hey, you can’t go in there!”
“Why not, is he in a meeting?”
She sputtered for a minute, “Well, no, but. . . ” She was cut off again as he opened the door.
Once he was inside the secretary spoke apologetically to the AD,
“I’m sorry Sir, but . . .” she shrugged her shoulders helplessly.
Leaning back Travis spoke with a slight smile, “It’s alright
Melinda, you can go.”
“Yes Sir,” Melinda answered and closed the door quietly.
“So, what brings you here?” Travis asked straight out. “I know it has to be something big for them
to let you out of your little cubbyhole, so to speak.” He dropped a pen on his desk.
“My ‘cubbyhole’ may be small but it covers the entire globe,” Solo
responded in kind as he settled himself down in one of the chairs across from
Travis. “I’m here because of one of the
teams. It seems it’s bungled its way
into something they are not prepared for.
I want them removed from the,” he paused for a minute searching for the
appropriate word, “case.”
“Which team would that be?
I have several that I oversee.”
“That’s what I’m not sure of.
I think one of the members is an undercover agent.”
Travis leaned forward placing his elbows on the desk, “Well do you
have a picture of the said agent?” He
was not about to tell Solo that many of the teams have undercover operatives as
members.
Solo pulled out a folder from the briefcase he carried. “Yes I do, let me get it. I knew you would ask for it.” After a few minutes of shuffling papers
around he found what he was looking for.
“Here it is,” Solo handed the photograph across the desk.
“Hm.”
“You know which team he’s a member of?”
“Yes I do. If you’re
wanting him pulled it’s going to be an uphill battle.”
Napoleon rubbed the bridge of his nose as he sighed, “That’s what
I figured. But if he thinks he’s
undercover his front has been compromised.
They know exactly who he is and what his skills are.”
Travis’s face turned serious, “That’s a serious allegation. They know what they’re doing.”
“That may be so,” Solo answered easily, “but this time he’s in
over his head, they all are.” He handed
the folder he still had in hand across the desk. “My agent was able to get several of these before all Hell broke
loose.”
“You know about that also?” Travis asked over the folder. After seeing Solo’s nod he proceeded to read
what had been given. When he was
finished he placed it back down on his desk, “I see what you mean Napoleon, he
is in danger of his life.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ezra sat in the driver’s seat of the car he had acquired after he
left the previous one in the park.
Thinking back on the events that had transpired, he found himself
fascinated at this particular operation.
The company, Cardinal Enterprises, he was comfortable with, but the
driving force behind everything, which they called The Hierarchy, was no where
near what he was used to. The people
seemed to take orders from the ones directly above them and it continued that
way for who knows how far.
Ezra was waiting for David Harper, who was supposed to deliver the
new automobile The Hierarchy gave to him as a reward for saving a decent amount
of sensitive information from being destroyed.
Looking around the cement city he was now in gave him a slight
wariness. For a minute he had a bad feeling
that his time was up, he never had that sensation before.
Seeing another car pull into the back parking lot Ezra tensed for
a minute, *Show time,* he thought to
himself when he recognized Harper in the driver’s seat.
After getting out of the car Ezra headed confidently towards the
other vehicle, “David.”
“Ezra, you look no worse the wear for the fire.” David paused a minute then continued, “The
boss wanted me to deliver it personally.”
Harper looked to the nice car.
When The Hierarchy wanted to get a good car they pulled out all stops.
For a moment Ezra wondered which boss he was commenting about,
especially since the office was, for the most part, put out of commission. Ezra could tell David thought it was nothing
and that they were already in the processing of setting up new facilities. Pushing the thought to the side he looked
over the Mercedes, “How nice of him to get me this, but I think you deserve it
more than me. I’m just a lowly grunt
worker.”
“A grunt worker that knows how to handle himself in all
situations.”
Ezra flashed a smile at what David was assuming, “You are too
kind, David, you should know by now I give my all in everything I do.”
*Yes you do, I have to
admit,* David thought to himself.
He watched the government agent, ATF or FBI they were all the same to
him, closely wondering what the person was really up to. That was one thing The Hierarchy did not
like. *I wish I didn’t have to do this,* David thought sadly to
himself. He knew if Ezra could be
turned he would become the best Hierarchy agent in the world and would have the
world at his feet. But he knew this
mole would not turn so he took it upon himself to take care of him personally.
“Go on take the car,” David urged Ezra.
“I will tomorrow once I make other arrangements,” Ezra answered
while his mind flashed and sorted through the prospects of taking the car. He knew he would have to talk to Chris about
the gift and the ramifications of taking the car.
Harper watched as Ezra got back into the non-descript car and
began to pull away from his position.
Harper wanted to eliminate the agent but members of The Hierarchy flat
denied his request. But because of
Harper’s outspoken arguments against the mole he had no idea he was being
watched carefully. Ignorant of his own
fate Harper had kept grumbling about the mole, but apparently The Hierarchy had
different plans for both of them.
Ezra looked out the rear view mirror to the car and Harper. He watched as Harper got behind the wheel
then watched as the Mercedes exploded, but not before he saw Harper pull out
what looked like one of the deadly weapons Cardinal was offering to the ones
that could pay for it.
Before he could do anything he felt himself loose control of the
car he was driving and slam into the cement wall less than ten feet away.
The next thing he remembered was in bits and pieces of being taken
in an ambulance. Recognition set in as
his vision cleared. Before Ezra could
ask what was going on a gas mask was placed over his nose and mouth. A low voice then echoed in his ear, “We’re
going to loose you, and you need to play along.” It took a moment before he recognized the voice. Nodding in agreement Ezra prepared to watch
the EMTs hovering over him and pretending that he was fatally injured as the
ambulance slowed down. As soon as the
door was open he was rushed into one of the emergency rooms of the
hospital. Soon the men and women around
him started yelling orders to others nearby.
Now watching detached he heard and saw the personnel “administering”
CPR.
While in the emergency room he watched as one raised up and
'breathlessly' said, “We’re loosing him!”
After 'working' on him a few minutes longer they stopped. *Very
good show, I have to admit*, Ezra thought to himself as the sheet was
eventually pulled over his head and something attached to one of his big toes,
by now most of his clothing had been removed.
He knew he had to control his breathing now because he was fully aware
of everything happening around him.
Still, having that sheet pulled over him felt disconcerting.
Ezra felt himself being moved again, voices muffled by the sheet
were all around him. After finally
stopping somewhere he waited. For once
he hoped they remembered he was alive and not attempt to perform an autopsy on
him.
What seemed like hours later, Ezra could hear footsteps
approaching his position. Because of
how the shadow laid across the sheet Ezra could almost sense where the person
was standing. Feeling his muscle tense
he watched as the hand reached over to grasp the sheet covering him. After the sheet was flung off him Ezra
recognized Chris standing over him.
“Come on, Ezra, time to go.”
Sitting up Ezra answered, “But I’m still undercover.” He was about to continue till he saw the
look his superior gave him.
“Not any more, we’ve been removed from the case.”
“Why?” Ezra complained as he first removed the toe tag then rose
from the table.
“Don’t know and that’s what I don’t like about it. When the order came we had to figure out a
way to get you out safely. When we saw
the explosion we took advantage of it.”
*Harper,* Ezra thought
glumly, he did not deserve to die the way he had. Suddenly he remembered the car Harper took was originally
intended for him, or so he thought.
“Chris, the car Harper was in, that was the car I was originally going
to take.”
Chris turned to face his undercover agent, “You were extremely
lucky this time. How many more times in
this case is that going to happen?”
Ezra finally let it sink in, “We’re off?”
“Yeah and I don’t like it.”
Chris stormed out of the room.
Ezra finally looked around and found himself in the morgue; stifling a
shiver he followed the senior agent out the room holding the hospital gown
closed behind him.
By the time Ezra entered Team 7’s haven fully clothed, he was
angry, well angry would be a nice way to describe his mood. Just when it seemed like everything was
going like a dream, except that little thing of the explosion and even earlier
the fire, he had been most unceremoniously yanked from the field. “If I ever got my hands on the one who did
this,” he muttered dangerously under his breath.
“Ezra, like I said earlier it wasn’t my idea,” Chris commented
again from behind the agent. “The order
came from the Judge himself.”
Ezra’s grumbling continued a few minutes longer. He knew it would be futile to rail against
the Judge, the one who granted him this second chance to make something of
himself. He finally commented to
Chris’s retreating form, “Well, I’d at least like the privilege of knowing
why.”
Before Chris could answer, more of the team members started filing
into their small bullpen. They all had
the expression of anger in having something taken away from them. It was rare for Team 7 to be pulled off a
case. Turning to the other members,Ezra
found them just as angry as he was. At
least he had the solace of knowing everyone was angry at the sudden turn of
events.
“Heads up everyone,” Chris called from the door to his
office. “The Judge wants to see all of
us.”
Josiah looked up a minute then rose from his chair. He moved over to Nathan and gave a quiet
comment, “How bad do you think it is?”
“Don’t know. I guess we’re
just going to have to find out.”
Looking around to the other members you could tell the mood was
subdued.
“Come on everyone! We had
no hint this would happen. If you
remember the Judge usually gives us fair warning!” JD spoke, exasperated.
“That may be so Kid, but you never know.” Buck’s voice was subdued.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Orrin Travis was leaning back from his desk when the team
arrived. He almost lost his composure
at how Team 7 came into his office.
They acted more like chastised children than professional ATF agents.
“Gentlemen,” Travis motioned the agents to the chairs
available. They seemed not to notice
the one standing by the window.
“You do know why I summoned you here?” Travis secretly enjoyed
using these particular words. It was
not that he wanted to make it sound bad, it is just those words could put a
negative spin on things.
“You removed us from the case.”
The statement came from Chris.
His tone was flat and Travis could tell he was rallying himself for the
worst.
“Yes, and I want you to know why.” The Judge turned towards the figure standing at the window but
with his back facing the group. “The
ball is in your court.”
“You have no idea what you have gotten yourselves into,” an oddly
familiar sounding voice spoke from the window.
“What do you mean?” Chris asked eyes narrowing, he was angry that
this stranger was assuming as much.
“Exactly what it means,; you have no idea,” the disembodied voice
was finally given a face when the stranger turned around. He was dressed just as nicely as Ezra, but
that was not what the team was gawking at.
It was almost funny the way the team did a double take as one to
the AD and the stranger. The unknown
person was a younger, dapper you might say, version of the Judge. Travis cleared his throat getting the team’s
attention.
Once they drug their eyes back to their superior Travis spoke, “I
want you to meet my nephew, Napoleon Solo of the U-N-C-L-E.”
There were murmurs in the room for a few minutes until it was
broken by Ezra. “So you were the one
who had me pulled?” Anger could clearly
be heard in his voice.
Solo scratched his neck with a finger as he formulated his answer,
“Technically yes, you were in danger of your life. They knew who you were and because of that they dangled a carrot
in front of you waiting to see if you would take the bait. I will say you didn’t disappoint them.”
Ezra’s mouth opened for a minute then closed. He finally sputtered, “How?”
Napoleon moved to the desk and sorted through the folders
accumulated. After finding what he was
looking for he handed it to the undercover agent.
After a quick read Ezra looked up, eyes angry while his accent
clearly thickened, “If this is some sick joke...”
Solo leaned over the undercover agent and pointed a finger at his
chest for emphasis, “Do not underestimate THRUSH!”
Ezra’s eyebrows furrowed for a minute, “Who is THRUSH?”
Solo gave a small grin then answered the government agent, “It’s
an acronym, just like U.N.C.L.E.. They
are officially Technological Hierarchy for the Removale of Undesirables and the
Subjugation of Humanity.”
“The Hierarchy,” Ezra whispered which elicited a nod from the
U.N.C.L.E. agent.
Chris jumped to the defense of his undercover agent, “You have
no...” Before he could finish Solo handed Chris another folder from off the
desk.
After a quick scan Chris tossed the folder back on the Judge’s
desk, “Alright, what do you want us to do?”
But Ezra was not finished, “What about you?” he asked
sarcastically.
“Me?” Solo answered. “Come
to think about it, I am one of their most feared enemies. I have been going up against THRUSH for over
thirty years now and they know everything about me, all the way down to how
many gray hairs I have on my head. Like
I said earlier you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourselves into.”
Chris threw out suddenly, “How do we know we can trust you?”
“You don’t, you’re just going to have to trust me on this.”
Before anything else could be said Travis spoke again, “Gentlemen,
if you want to be put back on the case you will be working with Napoleon and
whomever he deems needed.”
After the door closed behind the last agent Travis turned back to
Solo, “That went better than I expected.”
“Yeah, right,” Napoleon mumbled as he sat down.
“You better be careful, you’re starting to sound like Kathy.”
Solo looked up to find a grin on the Judge’s face. “I’m trying not to pick up the accent, which
I think I’ve been successful so far, the problem is with their political
viewpoints. They’re vain, arrogant, and
so full of themselves,” he chuckled but then continued a moment later, “but
they are also the first ones to respond in any emergency.”
“Well, what other state can actually say they fought a successful
revolution by themselves?”
“True,” Solo’s mood turned somber after the levity.
“Miss her already?” Travis asked with a knowing look.
Solo nodded not trusting his voice to give him away.
“You know as soon as we get this case solved, you can go back
home.” After another pause Travis
continued, “You better let them in. If
you don’t I will guarantee they will go behind your back.”
Giving a wry smile Solo answered, “I’ve worked with someone like
that before. I think I will, mainly to
keep an eye on them.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaelin stepped off the plane at Denver International Airport. The journey was uneventful enough to give
him the desire to start the affair up again.
Solo had been vague in what he wanted, but he did want to see what was
going on with the temporarily homeless satrap.
Now carrying his suitcase, he left the baggage claim area and
headed for the rental car agencies.
With keys now in hand Alan moved to the doors. Before he left the airport Alan looked
around one last time. Seeing movement
on a screen he focused on the images being broadcast. It was about the fire he had inadvertently set the previous
day. Seeing the building and arson
investigators picking through the mounds of debris did not disturb him until he
saw a sketch artist’s rendering of his face.
At that moment he knew he had to leave but not bring any undue attention
to himself.
Turning back to glance at the mass of humanity gathered there he spotted
two THRUSH agents that were previously out of the now burned out Colorado
Satrap. They were speaking to two of
Denver’s finest. Not wanting to see if
he had been noticed, Kaelin turned and exited the terminal and moved to the
rental cars.
After retrieving the car Kaelin drove out of the airport and
wandered around the city for a little bit.
Every five minutes or so he checked his mirrors for any police
cruisers. He suspected the THRUSH
agents had told the police about him and pointed him out. That would not be good. He had a job to do and did not want to waste
his time dodging the police.
After a few more hours and some digging Kaelin finally decided to
get a room for the remainder of his time in Denver. Police aside, his major goal was to find out where THRUSH would
set up their new satrap. As long as
Krull was in town the satrap would continue to reappear and cause grief to
U.N.C.L.E..
He was still puzzling all this out in his motel room when there
was a knock at his door. Looking through
the peep-hole he did not recognize the visitor. “Yes?” he asked after he opened the door. The hand that was out of sight tightened
imperceptibly around his Special.
“I’m Detective Thomas Mathis.
I’m here because of the burning of Cardinal Enterprises offices.”
Relaxing imperceptibly Kaelin closed the door enough to disengage
the chain then opened the door fully.
“Come in Detective.”
Holding a police sketch rendering that looked a lot like Kaelin
the detective began, “There were several witnesses that reported you snooping
around the area prior to the fire.”
Kaelin smiled then pulled something out of his wallet.
Mathis’ eyes widened slightly when he examined the card handed to
him. “What’s U.N.C.L.E. doing
here. Aren’t you supposed to be in New
York or something?” he asked as he handed the card back to Kaelin.
“Well, I’m investigating the doings of Cardinal Enterprises. It seems they’ve been doing some shady
business dealings lately.”
Mathis nodded, “Well, I still would like to ask some questions. Are you armed?”
Kaelin nodded, “I’ll put it on the table.”
Mathis nodded then watched closely as Kaelin, in exaggerated and
slow motions, disarmed himself and placed the weapon on the small table. Keeping an eye on Kaelin, Mathis moved over
to the table and sat in the chair available while the U.N.C.L.E. agent sat on
the edge of the bed.
Pulling out a small notebook and pencil Mathis started, “You
already told me why you were here, investigating Cardinal Enterprises. But where were you yesterday afternoon?”
Kaelin spoke with a deadpan, “Why don’t I just save y’all the
problems of investigating. I set the
fire.”
For a minute Mathis sat there, surprised at the sudden
revelation. He ventured a minute later,
“I’m not going to arrest you unless the physical evidence proves you did.”
“Do you have the information on how the fire spread?”
Mathis gave Alan a speculative look at the question asked. For a minute he had no idea where the
questions were heading and who was asking the questions and whom were answering
them. Not only that but the information
on where the fire started was still under wraps.
“Let me answer you then, it started in the generator off to the
side. I shorted out one of the
generators and watched as it spread to the building itself.” Alan was not about to mention about the
documents he copied.
Mathis then decided to drop his bomb, “We have a witness stating
they saw you breaking into the building at the beginning of the fire. Can you explain that to me?”
For a moment Kaelin sat there stunned. He knew he could easily be arrested for breaking into the
building. At least he remembered to
break down his ‘toy.’
*Gotcha!* Mathis thought
at the agent’s reaction. Although the
whole back of the building was completely destroyed, just by the agent’s
reactions alone he knew he was guilty of at least breaking and entering. That could easily get him a few years. *That’ll
knock him down a couple of rungs and teach him some humility.*
Giving an exaggerated sigh Kaelin offered his wrists to the
detective. He knew if he ran then all
of Denver’s finest would be after him.
Yes Mr. Solo told him to shake up the place, but burn it down? But that part was an accident he kept
telling himself. He knew there could
have been loss of life, if that happened even the legal department would have a
hard time defending his actions.
Mathis looked at the agent for a moment wary of what he might do;
although offering to be arrested was the last thing Mathis expected. “Do you know what you’re doing?” he asked
the agent finally.
“Well from where I sit there’s little alternative for me. If I run,” Kaelin cringed slightly at the
word, “then you’ll view me guilty as charged.
If I give up peaceably then I have a much better chance.”
“You are wise in your assessment, agent.” Mathis stood up and pocketed the pad and
pencil. “Because you’re a law agent of
some kind, though I never have quite understood what U.N.C.L.E. does, I’ll
bring you in without the handcuffs. But
I still have to read you your rights.”
Kaelin nodded and listened to the different rights the law in the
States provided. Once that was
completed they headed out of the rented room and to the unmarked car Mathis
came in. As they were driving away
someone off to the side working to weed a yard watched with a satisfied grin on
his face.
Once Mathis and Kaelin arrived at the substation Kaelin looked at
the phone for a minute. Yes he did have
his own communicator but he thought it best to use the one there. Seeing Kaelin’s attention diverted, Mathis
realized what he was looking at.
“You’re allowed to make a call.”
Kaelin nodded then picked up the receiver. Before he dialed the number he tried to
swallow his nervousness,; Solo would not be pleased.
After the short heated conversation Kaelin was directed to another
room with a table, chairs and a mirror on one of the walls. Thank goodness it was not a holding
cell. Waiting would always be hard for
him. Looking at the mirror, his fingers
drummed rhythmically on the table.
An hour later, outside in the viewing room Mathis watched the
agent closely. One of their big shot
lawyers had posted bail for the agent so it was only a matter of time until he
would walk out of there.
“So that’s what an U.N.C.L.E. agent looks like.”
Mathis re-focused his eyes on the window to look at the
reflection. A man with a visitor’s
badge pinned on his lapel was coming towards his position. Turning to face the visitor Mathis waited
till the newcomer told him who he was.
“Halloway, FBI out of Atlanta.”
Mathis looked at the offered hand for a minute before taking
it. “Detective Mathis. I’m heading up what’s turning out to be an
arson investigation.”
“He your prime suspect?” Halloway moved his head in the direction
of the interrogation room.
“Yeah, we also have a witness stating that he saw this guy
breaking and entering at the same time the building caught on fire. Now that’s either one brave or stupid guy,
whichever you decide on.”
“Why’s he here instead of a holding cell?”
“After his arraignment one of their big-shot lawyers had his bail
posted. At the moment everyone’s
waiting for it to go through.” Mathis
shook his head at the prospect of loosing his suspect for the time being,
although. . .
Seeing the thoughtful look on the detective’s face Halloway asked
another question, “You going to have someone ride shotgun?”
While staring through the glass Mathis answered, “Only if he
agrees on it. These agents have their
own code. They can do a lot of thing we
never could imagine.”
Halloway nodded. It intrigued
him, looking at an actual U.N.C.L.E. agent in Colorado. In the bureau they were mentioned every once
in a while but only with international incidents mentioned in the same
sentence. Of course Halloway was not
about to tell the detective that he knew who U.N.C.L.E.’s objective was.
Hearing the door open again Mathis used the glass to see the new
arrival. While Mathis’s attention was
diverted the U.N.C.L.E. agent’s cell phone beeped.
Halloway ignored the newcomer and kept his eyes on the agent. Before he could do anything Mathis
reappeared beside him with the newcomer.
“Bail’s gone through. Only
a matter of time before he’s out.”
Halloway nodded while Mathis moved over to the door leading to the
interview room. The new arrival stayed
behind in the shadows for the time being.
Halloway watched as Mathis addressed the international agent.
*Your bail’s
gone through. Even though you’re a
fellow LEO. . .*
*You’re going
to have someone following me, is that it?*
*Not exactly.*
*You want the
guy, or whoever it’s going to be, hand-cuffed to my side?!* Kaelin started rising.
Halloway could almost feel the tension thickening in the room. Taking a deep breath Kaelin sat back down.
*Not hand-cuffed, but I want
him riding shot-gun with you until your day in court.*
Halloway watched as Kaelin reluctantly agreed.
Mathis turned to the window and nodded. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, Halloway watched as
the person in the shadows moved from his position to inside the interview room.
Once inside Mathis made the introduction, “This is Officer Joshua
Curtis. He is very by the book.”
“Someone to baby-sit me,” Kaelin mumbled.
“If you want to put it that way, yes.”
Curtis spoke for the first time, “You better be good because I can
remember.”
Kaelin worked hard not to roll his eyes and shake his head. *Great,
I’m chained to a Frank Burns for who knows how long.* What he did allow himself to do was lower
his head in almost resigned acceptance to his fate. When he looked back up Mathis had already left the room. Looking back to Curtis he noticed he already
had a grin on his face.
Now addressing the mirror Kaelin called out, “Can I, I mean, can
we go now?”
A voice echoed in the room, “Yes, everything’s gone through.”
Looking to Curtis, Kaelin spoke as he moved to the door, “Come on,
Frank. If you dawdle I will leave you
behind.” Kaelin felt a bit of
satisfaction seeing the officers reaction.
As Curtis moved quickly to catch up he complained, “My name’s not
Frank.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sitting at the head of the conference table Solo looked over the
still angry ATF agents. “Have you ever
dealt with an organization that could easily re-group and show up somewhere
else? The Colorado operation may be
currently under water, but just like a beech ball it will pop back up somewhere
else. Do you have the resources to
handle and track something like that?” he demanded.
“If not we will,” Chris commented while giving the U.N.C.L.E.
agent his trademark steely gaze.
Ignoring it Solo turned to JD, “Mr. Dunne, your background shows
you to be highly skilled with computers.
I’m bringing someone in that I want you to work with.”
JD’s elation at the compliment melted away when he realized he
would be working with someone, “Hopefully not a crack-pot,” he muttered.
“This ‘crack-pot’ is one of the major contributors to what is now
called the web.”
JD’s eyes grew big, “So he’s that good?”
“Yes and I’ve put my life in his hands more times than I can count
when we were out in the field.”
There was a knock then the conference room door opened to reveal
Nettie Wells, Team 7’s operator and secretary, and a visitor standing just
behind. “Mr. Solo, your visitor’s
here.” She turned to leave but not
before glancing around the conference room.
Seemingly satisfied she gave the visitor a pat on the shoulder then left
the room.
All eyes were on the visitor who had a shock of blond hair and ice
blue eyes. Everyone could tell he was a
smaller built than Solo but moved with the grace of a cat.
Solo stood then moved around the table, “It’s been a long time
Illya, but it’s good to see you again, my friend.”
“Same to you, Napoleon,” he answered as he grasped the proffered
hand. The two men held out on any other
show of affection, they would catch up later.
After Illya sat down and before Solo could introduce the new
person he felt his cell phone vibrate.
*What now.* Letting out a sigh he pulled out the phone,
which was also their specialized communicator, and looked to see how the call
was coming in. For a moment Solo
remembered with fondness the pen communicators, but those could only take and
send messages to and from the headquarters.
This not only could receive those but also take regular cellular calls.
It surprised him for a minute that it was a normal call coming
through, not only that but he did not recognize the number calling. “Hello?” he asked slightly wary. Moving off to the side Solo plugged his free
ear with a finger so he could clearly hear what was being said on the other
end.
“You’re where?” Solo snapped at the unheard voice.
The ATF agents gathered around the table, except the new
U.N.C.L.E. agent, warily looked at Solo.
“No. . .I don’t care what you did, I’ll find out soon enough! I want you to stay there till I can figure
something out.” He slapped the phone
shut effectively disconnecting the call and shoved it back in a pocket.
The room was silent when Solo sat down, he had been muttering on
his way back. The only person to
actually stand up to him spoke, “Napoleon, you’re lucky they don’t understand
you.”
A strangled cough came from Ezra’s direction.
Solo looked to his old friend with angry eyes. It took a moment before he realized he was
not speaking in English. Taking a deep
breath he physically tried to calm his anger.
Without realizing it his right hand flexed several times almost as if it
needed a cigarette to hold.
Illya continued in Italian, “Now you know what Waverly went
through.” There was a gleam in his ice
blue eyes.
Solo glared at Illya then spoke, “Be quiet.”
Illya’s eyes grew wide when he realized Solo had spoken in
Russian.
Now seemingly calmer Solo turned to Ezra, “Mr. Standish, what
happened?”
To Ezra’s credit he didn't spew the latte he was currently
sipping. “Well, uh, Mr. Solo,” he
hesitated. Then it all came out in a
rush, “the building was destroyed by arson.”
Solo closed his eyes and lowered his head. What he really wanted to do was to bang it
on the table surface a couple of times.
“Mr. Standish,” Solo’s voice sounded tired, “what did you find?”
“Cardinal Enterprises is their front.” Ezra hesitated when he saw a look pass between Solo and Illya
then continued, “They’re selling high tech weapons to anyone who can afford
them.”
“Did you find anything out of the ordinary?” It was Illya that asked this question.
“THRUSH,” Solo answered for the undercover agent.
Illya nodded. “Where are
you going?” Illya asked when Solo rose suddenly.
Solo’s glare easily matched Chris’s own. Then left the room.
Once in the anti-room Solo used the communicator portion of the
phone to contact the legal department of the U-N-C-L-E. Once he set in motion the process of getting
Kaelin out of jail for the time being Solo leaned up against the wall. He had to admit Illya was right, he gave
Waverly his own share of gray hair, not only that but he had encouraged the
agent. *I would have gotten away with it,* he thought to himself
smugly. Looking to the door another
part of his mind asked the question that he never thought of before, *Are you sure?*
It took a few minutes but he finally realized he was not going
anywhere with this ‘discussion.’ Taking
another calming breath Solo opened the door and moved back to his seat. The ATF agents sitting around the table
watched him silently.
JD was the one to speak up, “You mentioned THRUSH’s involved?”
“Very much so, one of the fronts they use is Cardinal.” Solo leaned back and placed a hand on the
table.
“What about the weapons?” Chris spoke up for the first time.
“It’s going to be taken care of when the time comes.”
“To hell with that, I want to get those weapons off the streets
now!” Chris glared at Solo again.
“You can’t fix the problem if you only treat the symptoms! If you want to get the weapons off the
streets then you have to go to the heart of the problem.”
“Chris, he’s right you know,” Nathan spoke for the first
time. He continued, “The CDC doesn’t
have any record of any stolen chemicals.”
“Of course not, they’ve got the laboratories to create whatever
they please.” All eyes turned on Illya
by the time he finished speaking.
Solo’s voice cut through the silence that reigned supreme
again. “Mr. Dunne, you haven’t found
anything, have you?”
JD’s eyes grew wide, he had not even spoken to Chris about
that. Looking guiltily to Chris, JD
shook his head.
“That’s nothing to be ashamed about. Unless you know what you’re looking for and looking in the right
place you’ll never find any information.”
JD nodded then glanced at Chris to see his reaction. He made an almost imperceptible nod which JD
reacted to by sitting back a little in his chair.
“But,” Solo continued, “first things first. We’re going to have to find out where
Krull’s going to set up operations again.
Apparently Cardinal’s operation is too lucrative to leave this
market.” Pulling a pen out of an inner
pocket Solo jotted down a few things on a piece of paper in front of him. Glancing in Illya’s direction he noticed the
imperceptible shake of his head. Giving
Illya a wry grin he continued to make comments.
“If we don’t know where to look how will we know where to look?”
Solo looked up to find it was Wilmington who spoke this time. “U.N.C.L.E. has its ways of finding out
things. We’re not as tied down to
things like the Meranda as you are.”
After jotting down a few more things then passing the paper to Illya,
Solo asked another question, “Are you the only ones on this part of the, uh,
case?”
A two toned beep interrupted the now more productive discussion.
“Excuse me,” Solo commented as he pulled out his cell phone. Setting it up quickly he answered, “This is
Solo, what is it?”
“Number One, Section Two passed.”
A man’s voice without distortion could be heard clearly.
“Acknowledged.” After
switching it over to the cellular mode Solo dialed Kaelin’s number. He hoped Kaelin would have it in hand to
answer it, and true enough Kaelin answered.
“Any information?” Solo queried.
“Yes, Sir. Where are you?”
“Federal building on 9th. Ask for Larabee.”
“I’ll be there in a couple of hours at most, Sir.”
After Solo closed up the phone he commented under his breath, “I
hope that information’s worth it.” Now
looking up he could tell Tanner and Standish were looking at each other. “Whoever it is I want them here. They’re more in danger out there than in
here. But then again while THRUSH is
still around no one is safe.”
Vin looked from Solo to Chris not knowing for sure who was in
charge. After getting a nod from Chris,
it was Vin who spoke up, “The other agent’s Melanie Branz.”
“Get her in here now. She
won’t know how to go up against THRUSH.”
Vin nodded and rose from his chair. As he started to leave the conference room he pulled out his cell
to call her letting her know the new direction the case had taken. By the time he was in the bullpen the call
had ended in a fast busy signal. Not
knowing what was going on, Vin called Carlita then several other families he
knew personally at the apartment building.
Every call ended in a fast busy signal.
Vin was getting worried. Just to
let the others know before he headed out Vin went back into the conference
room. The voices died down once the
door opened and Vin reappeared.
“I can’t get a-hold of anyone.
Fast busy signal.”
Chris’s eyes narrowed slightly, “You tried everyone in the
building?”
“Yeah.”
“Damn,” Solo said quietly.
“THRUSH has already struck. I
wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Agent Branz has been taken hostage.”
As Solo started rising from his chair another cell went off. Everyone that had cell phones with them
checked to see if it was theirs. It
turned out to be Vin’s that went off.
“Yeah. . . .Whoa there, Hector, slow down and tell me what
happened.” After a few minutes Vin gave
an exaggerated sigh. “Alright, we’ll be
there. Don’t worry, just make sure
everyone else is safe in their apartments.”
Solo was surprised to see the whole team jump up and rush into the
bullpen as they started. “Where the
hell is everyone going?” The quite but
firm voice caught everyone’s attention.
Napoleon continued, “You don’t need to send the whole cavalry! One or two will do fine.”
Solo looked to Vin, “You know the area?”
“Yeah, it’s my apartment.”
“Okay, you can go, but with one other agent.”
Chris looked angrily at Solo.
The international agent effectively undermined his power and he did not
like it.
“THRUSH likes making an uproar.
If you investigate it low key it will force them out in the open and do
something unplanned.”
Chris had to admit Solo’s tactics would technically work but he
preferred to give the commands.
“Come on, Ez. . . ” Vin started.
“No. If they saw him. . . ” Napoleon didn't have to finish for
them to get the picture.
“Aw hell,” Vin muttered.
“Alright, c’mon JD.”
The kid nodded and the two youngest headed out.
Once the door closed Chris pointed to Solo, “I want you in my
office.”
Everyone else in the office, except Illya who was now at JD’s
workstation, started busying themselves with things that seemed awfully
important all of a sudden.
Solo gave a wry grin and headed into the smaller office. Once the door was closed Chris started, “I
don’t care how you run things, I do not want my authority undermined!”
Solo immediately realized what Chris was really getting at. “You don’t want to be left out.” He did not need a verbal answer, the ATF
agent’s face spoke volumes.
“I’ll let you in on the operations and get your input, but I’ll
make the final decisions. You realize I
don’t need to use any of you. The only
reason why you’re here is to make sure you won’t go behind my back and get
yourselves killed in the process.”
Once the two agents disappeared into the smaller office Buck
turned to Ezra, “Hey, Ez, what did he say?”
Giving not exactly an embarrassed look the undercover agent spoke,
“Well, it’s not the same dialect I speak but. . . You really don’t want to
know. But I will say his accent is
exquisite.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The police cruiser dropped two men off at a budget motel. They both wore civilian clothing although
one looked uncomfortable.
Taking a key out, the tall African-American unlocked one of the
rooms and moved inside. After a quick
glance to see if everything was still in place the man in question took the
Special that was still on the table and holstered it.
“Why do you have a weapon!?” the other person demanded behind him.
“Because, Curtis, I am an international agent.” For a moment he thought of shooting Curtis
with the specialized knock out drug the weapon was armed with but decided
against it. He figured it would not be
productive to say the least.
“So where are you going now Kaelin?” The question was genuine for once, which surprised the
dark-skinned man.
“Federal Building on 9th. My boss is there and wants my report.” Which wasn't much at the moment.
He had seen THRUSH trying to involve Denver’s finest in the airport,
then earlier in the course of driving around the city he managed to ask his
questions in such a way to find out where Cardinal was heading. Wherever Cardinal went THRUSH most likely
would soon follow.
Now in the rented car it was Kaelin who spoke again, “Do you know
anything on Cardinal Enterprises?”
“The one you torched?” Curtis said sarcastically.
Kaelin glared at the officer for a moment then concentrated on
driving.
“From their records it shows they are an environmental group. Apparently they’re really pushing the
stuff.”
*How ironic,* Kaelin
mulled over the information Curtis provided.
*This may not be so bad afterall,*
he thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Chris finally agreed to the terms Solo laid down the former
international agent asked if there was an office close by that was empty.
“I need to make some very important calls,” Solo answered the look
Chris gave him. The ATF agent did not
like it but now understood that were truly out of their league for once. It was an odd and unnerving situation to be
placed in. And one he wanted to remedy
as soon as possible.
“The door to the left of the conference room. My men use it when they need some quiet
phone time.”
Giving a nod Solo turned and left the office. They could hear the lull in conversation the
moment the door opened.
Moving past wary looks Solo went over to Illya. “Any progress?”
“It’s coming slowly, Tovarich.”
“I’m not surprised. They
always seem to be one step ahead of us.
What’s this?” Solo pointed to
some blank looking CDs.
“I don’t know and I don’t want to try. Their specialist has an interesting setup.”
“You always understate everyone, Illya. He might have the key.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“Lost your touch?” Solo asked innocently.
“Never, Tovarich. Let me
get back to work.”
Solo smiled as he left. It
had worked perfectly trying to get Illya to rise to the task. As Solo moved to the extra office he saw
Wilmington’s look, he almost looked proud at something but Napoleon didn't know
what it was.
Once inside the office, it had the same computer setup as the
cubes in the bullpen, he sat down and pulled out his cell phone. The number was so well known he could dial
it in his sleep.
“Hello?”
“I miss you sweetheart,” his voice was a caress.
Hearing a smile in her voice Kathy asked, “Are you gonna make it
in time?”
“You know I’ll try my hardest.
That’s all I can guarantee.”
There was a single knock and the office door opened but Solo was
not paying any attention. “If I don’t
make it I will definitely make it up to you.
That I can promise you.”
“You better. Love you, and
I’ll see you soon.”
“Love you too, Honey.”
Solo disconnected the line and looked up. What surprised him was that it was Agent
Jackson and he looked quite uncomfortable.
“Sir, it was mentioned about how this organization has their own
chemical labs.”
“Yes, I believe it was Illya who mentioned it. If you need to know more you’ll have to talk
to him about it.”
Nathan nodded but had a strange look on his face.
“I’m not trying to put you off, Agent. It’s just that Illya knows a hell of a lot more about that type
of information.”
Seeing understanding cross the dark agent’s face Solo watched as
he left. Now picking up the phone that
was on the desk he made another call.
“I’d like to speak to the AD. . . Napoleon Solo. . .I’ll wait. . .Orrin? Napoleon.
What do you have. . .”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Vin drove up to the apartment building in Purgatorio he was
apprehensive. After getting out he
started examining the telephone wires that led from the closest pole to the
building.
“What are you looking for?” JD asked from the jeep.
“I’ll know when I find it,” Vin mumbled.
JD looked around after getting out of the jeep and looked around
the spot they were in. Even though Vin
had the money to live in a nice area of the city he chose to live here. Only when he saw the relationship he had
developed with the children of the building did JD finally understand why.
“Aw hell!”
“Whad’ya find?” JD asked as he quickly moved to Vin’s side.
Vin answered by pointing to a particular spot on the side of the
building. The spot clearly showed
wires, most likely telephone, had been cut.
“Ew,” JD commented as Vin gingerly handled the rubber coated
wires.
“Couldn’t anyone still call?”
“JD, no one here is rich enough to own a cell phone.”
“Then how. . .”
Vin pointed to a convenience store two blocks away. “Hector was out of breath and the store
knows it’s an emergency when he comes running.”
“So they let Hector use the phone.”
Vin nodded as he pulled out his cell. After reporting to the phone company the nature of the problem he
slapped it shut and shoved it in a pocket.
“C’mon,” Vin ordered and moved towards the front door. Seeing JD ready they cautiously entered the
building. Their first stop on the
ground floor was Carlita’s. Giving the
door a special knock they heard the door unbolted then opened to reveal the
aged woman’s face.
“Seńor Vin, what is happening?
I cannot call.”
“I know and the phone company knows,” Vin reassured the elderly
woman.
“When Hector said you were coming I knew everything would be
fine,” she beamed with pride.
Vin looked slightly sheepish and mumbled an answer. After the door closed the two agents started
moving through the building. So far
everyone had their telephone service severed abruptly.
When they reached Vin’s floor they continued on as before. Everything seemed the same as on the lower
floors. When they reached the apartment
in question they both had their weapons ready.
Raising a hand for silence and to signify he was ready, then Vin
touched the knob.
“Unlocked,” Vin whispered.
“Should it be?” JD spoke in a hoarse whisper.
Vin shook his head then braced himself to barge in. They both wanted the element of surprise.
The entry was pure textbook quality. Both Vin and JD fanned out to search the apartment hoping to find
Mel and at the same time not wanting to find her.
“Damn,” Vin cursed when he came out of his bedroom.
“Nothing?”
Vin shook his head then pulled out his cell. “Chris?
Vin. Nothing. Uh-huh.
Okay.” After Vin put the phone
up he filled in JD.
“Standard police procedure.”
“In other words don’t touch anything if you don’t have to,” JD
answered.
Vin nodded.
“Are they sending forensics?”
“I don’t know about that.
Don’t know what Solo’s gonna do about this.” Vin sighed, he did not like it when he didn’t know where he
stood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris set the receiver down and thought a moment about what he
should do. He wanted to send a
forensics team, but he couldn’t do anything with Solo in control. Finally he jabbed a button on his phone. “Solo,” he said gruffly.
“What?” the voice was cautious.
“Get in here.” Chris
disconnected the line before Solo could say anything although he had a fairly
good idea what the international agent would’ve said.
Minutes later there was a single knock and the door opened
revealing the older man. This time he
had his suit jacket off showing some of the instruments the agent used in the
line of duty.
“Yes?” Solo asked as he sat down.
“Vin called. He found the
apartment empty.”
Solo nodded then commented, “Don’t bother to send forensics. They won’t find anything.”
“How would you know anything about this?” Chris asked, his voice
rising slightly.
Solo sighed, “Take it easy, agent. THRUSH does a procedure on their grunt workers that removes
fingerprints. But if you don’t believe
me then you’d be playing into their hands.”
“I know, I know, they love to make a big scene. Tell me one thing.” Chris leaned forward and placed his elbows
on the desk, “Are you going to send someone?”
“Yes,” before Solo could continue there was a knock and Josiah’s
face appeared. “There’s someone here to
see Mr. Solo.”
“That, my good man, is the one I’ll be sending.”
“Who?” Chris demanded.
“His name’s Alan Kaelin.”
As if on cue a tall dark-skinned individual with close cropped
hair appeared in Chris’s office. After
giving Solo a slightly sheepish look he sat down in one of the chairs.
It was not Kaelin, Chris was looking at but the one trailing him.
“Sorry, Sir, but it was either this or staying where I was at.” Kaelin could not bring himself to physically
say where he had been.
Solo saved Kaelin embarrassment by giving him a new order. “I want you over to look at an
apartment. We have a very good chance
that THRUSH was there earlier today.”
Kaelin nodded, “That sounds like them, striking out when
stung.” He hesitated then continued, “I
might know where Cardinal’s heading.”
Kaelin turned to his shadow, “Why don’t you tell them, you know more.”
The man stood there with his mouth slightly open from shock. “Now wait a minute!” he started. Seeing the looks he was receiving from the
other occupants of the room made him realize he was just a local. After calming himself down he started,
“Since you didn’t introduce me I guess I’ll have to do it myself.” He gave an exaggerated sigh. “Officer Joshua Curtis.”
“I already know all the sundry details so just get to the
information,” Solo interrupted.
Giving Solo a glare Curtis continued, “Cardinal is an
environmental group. Their only
incident on record is with the fire.”
“Are we talking about the same group here?” Chris asked confused.
“Why not bring Standish in here,” Solo commented.
Chris shook his head then stood up, “I know something
better.” When he reached the bullpen he
called for everyone to meet in the conference room. Looking at the group that came out of his office Chris commented,
“I like to hear what my men are thinking.”
Once they were all gathered in the conference room again Ezra
started fiddling with the phones. He
was attempting to get the two errant agents included in the meeting. Hopefully their phones were fully charged
up, no telling how long the meeting would be.
When he had everything hooked up he spoke in a normal tone, “Can you
hear me?”
“Yeah, Ez,” Vin’s voice echoed from the speaker.
“Uh-huh,” JD’s answered soon afterwards.
The meeting seemed to whisk by before anyone realized it. Up on the wall the silent analogue clock
swept away the minutes.
Once Kaelin got the address of the apartment both he and Curtis
left the meeting and headed out. Kaelin
would know what to look for and maybe the others might learn from the
experience.
After a thorough once-over of the entire apartment Kaelin could
not find anything useful, not even fingerprints, which Kaelin did not expect to
be found. Soon afterwards the four men,
for Vin and JD were now with them, went back to the federal building to give
their reports.
When someone finally glanced up in the conference room where
everyone re-gathered, it showed that it was already after 6 p.m.. Solo ignored the looks the other’s gave him,
at least they knew that the enemy, which is what he called THRUSH, took no
consideration for time constraints.
Several tiring hours later everyone seemed to give up. It was just too confusing trying to figure
out if THRUSH’s Cardinal and the environmental group Cardinal were one and the
same. The only thing that was similar
was the name, but that didn’t mean anything.
When both Chris and Solo finally let the team go for the evening
Solo had a dull headache. After
muttering something under his breath he picked up the receiver for the closest
phone and dialed a number. After a
couple of moments he asked, “You still there?”
After a hesitation he finished with, “Alright I’ll be right down.”
Turning to Chris who was now coming out of his office with his
jacket over an arm Solo asked, “What time does the team usually show up?”
Giving a slight smile Chris answered, “No telling, anywhere from 8
to 10.” Giving a wave he moved out of
the office and down the hall to the elevators.
Napoleon glanced over to where he could hear keys being hit
rhythmically. “Illya, you need to get
some rest.”
The slight Russian shook his head. “I’ll be fine, Tovarich.
I noticed a couch in Larabee’s office.
I’ll use that tonight.”
“It’s locked,” Napoleon pointed out.
“When has something as small as a door lock stopped me?” there was
a spark of amusement in his ice blue eyes.
“Touché,” Napoleon conceded.
He continued, “If you need me I’ll be at this number.” Solo wrote down a local number on a blank
sheet of paper nearby. “And of course I
have my cell with me.”
After getting a nod from the younger man Solo turned around and
headed out of the bullpen and down to the office of the AD.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the first members of the team arrived the next morning they
found Solo already in the office he had appropriated, still working on the
case, and JD found Illya still at his computer. “Didn’t you go home last night?”
Illya looked at the young man, “Who said I didn’t go home? Of course I went home, all the way to Kiev
and back this morning!”
JD backed up with his hands raised in supplication, “Alright,
don’t get into a snit, all I did was ask a question.”
“Dunne, don’t bother him when he’s working,” Solo’s voice spoke
from behind the young agent.
JD answered with a whisper, “But it’s my computer!”
Hearing a snicker coming from behind him JD turned around to find
Illya looking at him, his blue eyes dancing with amusement. Turning to look at Solo, JD found he was the
butt of a private joke between the two.
He rolled his eyes then shook his head at the two men, “You two are just
as bad as Vin,” he muttered as he moved past them and towards the small
break-room, hoping against hope that Vin had not made the morning coffee. The problem was Vin had already arrived and
had most likely already made it to his liking.
Soon afterwards it seemed that the team started living in their
conference room for the day. That was
the easiest place for them to discuss the particulars of the case. ‘Case from Hell’ was what Chris had
informally called it, and Vin agreed completely.
Now in the leaders office Chris could see the nervousness the
younger agent exuded. Chris tried to
keep him calm, “Don’t worry, we’ll get her out.” Chris’s main worry was that Vin might go out on his own and hunt
them down. He knew if Vin put his mind
to it, it would be accomplished, but he was not in control. Chris hated the feeling but knew it was
either this way or none at all.
“You don’t like it either,” Vin seemed to voice his friends
thoughts.
“Yeah, it was either this way or not at all.”
“I thought they knew where THRUSH is always at,” The lanky
sharpshooter mused.
“Not all the time,” Solo’s voice came from the open door. “You ought to know the forces of evil’s, or
whatever term you use, technology is always ahead of the law, even ours.”
The two federal agents turned to see Solo leaning up against the
door frame. The newcomer continued
almost musing at the same time, “Hide behind an organization that does actual
good so when U.N.C.L.E. shuts them down it’ll make us look bad and the
criminals look good.”
Both federal agents nodded in understanding. “They just happen to sell the biggest guns
to the ones that can afford them,” Chris commented.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Halloway looked around the peaceful setting, somehow it didn’t
seem like he was only an hour outside Denver.
It was a good place to gather your thoughts while contemplating the
grandeur of the mountains.
“You bird watching?” a voice spoke from behind.
Halloway turned around not the least bit startled, “Yes, and it’s
a good place for it,” he answered the, what looked like, forest ranger.
After contemplating both the answer and Halloway for a bit the
newcomer finally answered, “Come, they’re waiting for you.” He turned around and headed into the brush
and wooded area. Not wanting to be left
behind Halloway followed, not even being able to see if they were following a
trail or not.
After twenty or so minutes the two entered a clearing that housed
a single low building. “We had to find
some place secluded after the fire,” Halloway’s guide spoke as they moved
towards the building.
“How do you know I’m not going to give you away?” Halloway threw
out suddenly, he did have to report to his superiors on the outside.
“Then you will never leave here,” the guide’s voice hardened
considerable.
Once they reached the door they were scanned for any wires or tracking
devices. After they were past the
security they wound their way through the maze of steel hallways to a viewing
room of sorts. Looking past the window
and into a stark white room was a single cot with a woman laying on it.
“Is she?” Halloway asked.
“Oh, she’s very much alive,” Krull’s voice spoke from behind. “And I want to keep her alive until she is
of no more use for us.”
Halloway turned to find the guide had disappeared and Krull had
shown up now. “Who is she?”
“Melanie Branz, ATF agent and undercover operative for Team
3. But it’s not Team 3 I’m after, it’s
Team 7.”
“Then why go this way?”
“Because she was working with Team 7 to get their own undercover
operative inside. I will admit he was
quite good.” Krull turned to Halloway,
“Which reminds me, thank you for warning us about the mole.” With a sardonic smile he finished, “But we
don’t have to worry about him anymore, because he’s dead.”
Halloway carefully hid his emotions, he did not know if he should
tell Krull the truth or not. The whole
thing started out so simply, but Krull now wanted to destroy a whole ATF
team. He almost told Krull about
Kaelin, almost.
“I want them to find her and then I’ll kill every last one of
them,” Krull finished with a deadly cold voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Somehow it seemed everything had ground to a halt by
afternoon. The agents dared not leak
anything to the press about this or they would have a field day trying to cover
all aspects of it. All everyone could
do was to continue going over every inch of evidence that came across their
desks. You could not pull Illya and JD
from the computer they were using, neither could you understand the jargon they
were using now.
Which was when Chris received the call, “Larabee.”
“I don’t have time to talk so listen close,” the quiet voice spoke
from the other end.
“Halloway?” Chris guessed.
“Shush I say! Now listen
close. She’s about an hour outside the
city. Don’t ask me why I know this,
just trust me on it.” Scuffling and
yelling could be heard in the background.
“Just remember their cover and you’ll know -” There was a loud noise then the line when dead.
“Halloway? Halloway!”
Chris tried to reach the FBI agent again but no such luck. Somehow he knew something went wrong.
After grabbing his cell phone Chris stormed out of his office and
into the bullpen. “Listen everyone, I
think we just got our break.” He
glanced to Ezra before continuing, “Halloway from the FBI just called and tried
to tell me where Mel is.” With the last
statement Chris got everyone’s attention.
“Where?” it was Solo that asked the question.
“He said an hour outside the city, and something about their cover
and we’d know.”
“What’s their cover?” Vin asked, already ready to head out.
“Environmental,” Illya commented while checking his own weapon.
Nathan procured a map of Denver and the surrounding environs and
the group started pouring over every inch.
“Here,” Josiah commented as he pointed to an area west of the city. “This looks like the only plausible place
for an environmental group to choose if they wanted to be out of the way and
not have anyone know about their actions.”
“Cowboy, we’re gonna need your skills,” Chris looked to Vin.
“Then let’s get going,” the sharpshooter commented then turned
around again to leave.
“This time the cavalry can be sent,” Solo commented dryly as he
joined the group. When they reached the
garage Solo told the local agents, “Be ready for anything.”
Getting the nod Solo wanted they piled into the larger vehicles
with Vin’s jeep in the lead. Using
their cherry’s they easily passed through the city and out into the mountainous
region that came up to the western edge of Denver.
Ezra kept his mouth shut when he heard Chris mention
Halloway. He had never truly forgiven
the FBI agent. Then he saw him at
Cardinal, and to top it all of he knew where Mel was. “I hope he’s not been lured into THRUSH.”
“What makes you say that Ez?” Nathan looked at the undercover
agent through the rear view mirror.
“Too many coincidences my friend, too many coincidences.” Ezra shook his head while looking out the
window.
The Cherokee lurched over some rough terrain making all the
passengers scramble to lay a hand onto anything stable.
“Easy brother,” Josiah rumbled.
“We’ll make it,” Nathan answered grimly.
Forty minutes later the vehicles slowed then eventually
stopped. Once they were all gathered it was Vin who spoke, “We go on
foot from here.”
In an unspoken agreement everyone fell into line behind Vin as he
made his way through the underbrush and trees.
Everyone’s senses were on edge listening for the slightest noise. So when Vin stopped suddenly everyone
reached for their weapons.
“Shush,” the lanky tracker said quietly, although no one needed
the command. Everyone was straining to
hear and see what he could. Chris
watched as Vin inched forward and then parted the brush. After letting the leaves move back together
Vin quietly moved back to the waiting group.
“There’s a single one-story building set in the middle of a
meadow. Hard to get to but not
impossible.”
“Are you sure it’s what we’re looking for,” Solo asked quietly.
“Should be.”
“I want to see for myself,” the older agent spoke then quietly
moved through the group to the line of brush that guarded their position. Pulling out micro-binoculars Solo scanned
the area. “You know if they’re smart
they would have radar on all the outlying areas.”
“Well pray they ain’t smart,” Vin ground out.
For a moment Solo looked at Vin then backed up to join the others,
right behind him the lanky sharpshooter had followed. “The building is too far set out in the open to hit it now. Either we wait or call for reinforcements, I
prefer the first one,” Solo told the men gathered by way of agreeing it was the
correct building. He did see THRUSH
guards outside one of the entrances.
After a moment of silence Chris spoke, “We go at dusk. That way we’ll have a much better chance of
success.” Looking to Solo he saw
agreement in the older man’s eyes.
Seeing him indicate another area Chris knew Solo was up to
something. Turning to Buck, Chris
commented, “Keep an eye on things, okay?”
The larger man nodded, then let Chris head over to the side for
the two to discuss what they were most likely going to do in less than an hour.
“Okay Solo, what is it?”
“We split up into teams when we get there. Since we have nine we’ll have three teams of
three.” For a moment Solo thought Chris
would object, but he didn’t.
“Is there any preference --” Solo started.
“Hell no! My men trust
everyone else in the team with their lives, but I don’t know about the new guy
you brought,” Chris whispered.
After the groups were arranged they waited an hour, even though it
felt like an eternity for the team assembled in the woods. When dusk did finally come they began their
slow arduous journey across the field.
Right as the lights started coming on they realized they had to run for
it. Luckily they were almost to the
building and hopefully the guards wouldn’t notice their running s wouldn’t
notice their running forms in the shadows.
Sliding up to the building and into the shadows Solo breathed
harder than normal. He didn’t remember
it being this hard. Pushing the thought
from his mind he turned to find both Larabee and Jackson behind him and not out
of breath like he was. As he mentally
cursed them for not being out of breath he pulled his Special out of its hiding
place and cocked it ready.
Solo looked back at the head government agent again and detected a
hint of amusement anmed at. “Not one
word, alright?” he whispered harshly.
Nathan shook his head not knowing what Solo was commenting about
but Chris just smiled. “I didn’t say
anything.”
Quickly finding the door, after Chris's somewhat amusing comment,
the ATF agent was going to go in whether Solo liked it or not. He was tired of waiting and sneaking
around. He was just about to kick down
the door when that annoying hand held him back. “What the hell is it,” his whisper was as intense as the look in
his eyes.
The look Solo gave him back easily matched Chris’s glare, “This
way,” he said gruffly then despite him being still out of breath he slipped
silently around the building, past the door, and blending in completely with
the shadows. Before the figure
disappeared entirely Chris followed muttering the whole while.
The other agents that witnessed the exchange glanced nervously at
one another, not knowing if the two were going to kill each other before they
reached their destination. The only one
that enjoyed the whole exchange was Buck, he looked like he could not wait for
more.
“Buck,” JD whispered trying to get the larger man’s
attention. After a second then third
try the larger agent turned and whispered, “What is it Kid?!”
“I wouldn’t follow them if I was you.”
Buck snorted then answered, “Naw, the only one’s that need to
worry are those little birdies Solo keeps telling us about.” Before Buck could say anything more Illya
slipped just as silently past the younger and much larger agent. Looking down the ATF agent found a small
round orb had been slipped into his hand.
“What is this?” he asked no one in particular.
Illya’s voice came as a whisper right behind Buck, “Hold it
carefully, and don’t throw it until I say so!”
Buck looked at the orb in his hand then looked to the Russian,
“Whatever.” Turning and finding JD with
him still he spoke again, “Get going Kid.”
Giving a nod JD turned and moved in the direction Josiah and Ezra
went.
Somehow each team managed to enter the building softly. Little did they know the occupants were
waiting for them. Solo had an idea they
were but didn't tell Chris about it. He
didn't want the younger agent to blow-up in his face, then he would have to
deal with not only THRUSH but with the maverick team leader at the same time.
"Where's your agent Solo," Chris whispered right behind
the older man.
"I don't know and I don't particularly care at the
moment. What I will tell you is that
he's here somewhere."
Chris listened with healthy respect. He felt the same way about his men. Just as they were about to pick another door open it opened by
itself and there stood both Kaelin and Curtis.
Curtis sported a rather large bruise to his face, apparently getting
into some sort of scuffle earlier.
"Took you long enough, I think I've found
Halloway." Kaelin turned to let
the three agents into the hallway.
"Where is he?" Chris asked, slightly concerned.
"You don't want to know."
"Is he alive?" Solo asked.
"Maybe," Curtis spoke from where he moved to after the
door opened. "We haven't been able
to find out for sure."
"No
more talking," Solo broke in.
"I don't want THRUSH to hear everything." The statement seemed to make everyone else
realize the position they were in.
With the now serious mood they seemed to inch slowly down the
hallways. At every turn Solo had a
gadget that made the cameras go off-line for a short time. "They'll know what's going on pretty
soon, but at least it'll give us some time," Solo commented to the
speculative looks on all the locals's faces, not just the ATF agents, as he put
it in an inner jacket pocket.
For a few minutes it seemed eerily quiet. It was always quiet before all Hell breaks
loose, it's like a force of nature. As
they made a turn they were confronted with several uniformed people with ugly
looking guns. Taking positions by doors
and using the corner for cover they returned the gunfire that they had just
been given.
"There goes our surprise," Solo said through gritted
teeth as he took down one guard after another.
The fight wasn't totally one-sided.
There was the sound of a bullet ricocheting off the metal wall then
Nathan growled, "Shit! That
hurt. Now I'm mad."
Chris turned around to see Nathan cradling his apparently injured
hand, the gun was smoking slightly on the floor. Now creeping beside Chris, Nathan pulled out with his good hand
one of his knives. "Excuse
me," he said quietly, which was almost impossible with all the gunfire in
the hallway. Nathan moved around
Solo. Before he could be pulled back he
hurdled the knife with deadly aim, silencing one more gun.
Solo did a quick double take.
"Nice aim. Could have used
that earlier if I'd known about it."
"Use what you have to," the unofficial healer of the
team answered while attempting to tie a makeshift bandage around his hand.
Ducking around the corner one last time it was Chris that winged
the last of the resistance. "Come
on!" he jumped to his feet and started running down the hallway.
"This was a whole Hell of a lot easier fifteen years
ago," Solo muttered under his breath as he attempted to follow the younger
men down the hallway.
The rest of their search went quickly, need hastened the speed at
which they checked the rooms. They
found what was left of Halloway literally stuffed into one of the smallest
rooms in the building.
"Halloway?" Chris asked Nathan as he and Solo guarded
the dark-skinned individual.
"Yeah."
Chris turned around shaking his head, "I may not have like
him but he didn't deserve to die like that."
"Maybe he did, gentlemen," Krull's voice echoed from the
speakers. After a moment's hesitation
the voice continued, "It is quite an honor to have you here Solo. I always dreamed about if and when we should
meet."
"Well it'll be short lived," Solo answered gruffly. He knew at that moment Halloway had
attempted to squeal, but it had cost him his life. Before Solo could say any more a door could be heard opening came
across the speakers.
"Wha-" Krull's voice sounded almost stupefied. "You're supposed to be dead!"
"News of my demise has been premature, mind you," Ezra's
southern drawl answered.
The three at the other end of the speaker chuckled quietly at
Ezra's comment. They went quiet when
there was some indiscriminate noises then Josiah's deep bass voice could be
heard. "We got him. Gonna take him out and read him his
rights."
"Do that," Chris answered automatically. After a pause he continued, "We found
Holloway, don't know if you can see us though."
"We can gentlemen," Ezra spoke again.
"See ya on the outside," JD decided to make his presence
known.
"Alright, now get going," Chris answered.
When the short conversation was over with and the sound of a door
closing could be heard, Chris turned to Solo.
He half expected to be reprimanded by the older agent, but surprisingly
enough he wasn't.
"Didn't expect for me to go along?" the older agent
commented. "I know they trust you
more than they would me, Hell I know you still don't trust me either."
Chris was surprised again by the agent's candor, "Yeah."
"Well come on, we're wasting time." Solo had changed back to the hard agent he
had projected for most of the time he was there. With the same amount of care and wariness the small group made
their way out of the building, leaving Halloway where they found him. Their journey out was much faster than going
in, it was always like that. Then again
they had eliminated a good portion of the resistance that was in the building
in their gunbattle earlier.
Once outside they found everyone had made it safely out and with
their objectives, well almost. Seeing
Mel being carried by Vin, Nathan made him put her down, but not before they had
made it into the wooded area they left less than two hours ago. Doing a quick examination he confirmed what
everyone already knew, she was in bad shape, but still alive.
"We gotta get her to the hospital," Nathan said more of
a statement of fact than anything else.
"We found her in an isolation chamber, the oxygen almost
gone," a subdued Buck finally ventured.
"That's the least of her problems," Illya spoke up after
he did his own quick examination, he didn't have time when then were still in
the satrap. After Illya was finished
Vin quickly picked Mel back up and moved swiftly and easily through the forest. The rest of the team followed with
flashlights while Ezra and Josiah brought up the rear with Krull between them.
Once back at the vehicles Nathan directed Vin to put Mel in the
back seat of his Cherokee while he drove.
Using the cherry once again he raced to the hospital leaving the rest
behind to take care of the details.
Everyone had agreed on Nathan taking Vin and Mel because he would need
medical attention also on his hand.
When Nathan's Cherokee was out of sight they turned to Solo. He in turn pulled out his cell phone again
and started giving orders for the clean-up of the satrap. Slapping the phone shut and shoving it in a
pocket he turned on the gathered men, "We don't need to stay here this
whole area will be taken care of."
Nodding Kaelin pulled out a tape, "And I think the authorities
will love to get their hands on this."
After a hesitation he continued sullenly, "It's of Mel."
In an unspoken agreement the rest of the group headed back to the
waiting vehicles. They didn't have any
problems fitting the two new people in the cars because they still had the
room. They would have to take care of
Krull before they could even think of the hospital.
By the time they reached the substation they found two men in dark
suits in the criminal check-in area.
Seeing Krull they went over and prepared to take him out.
"Wait a minute! Where
are you taking me?" he asked as he was ushered out of the building.
"He's right, where are you taking him?" Chris growled at
Solo.
"It's none of your business, and all of this never
happened. When you submit your report
to Orrin he will give me the originals and have any copies destroyed,"
Solo answered the angry agent. Chris
whirled around only to see one of the detectives pull Curtis aside. After some words were passed between the two
they disappeared into the offices of the substation. Turning again to Solo he found both the older agent and the two
that came with him already outside and getting into the car Kaelin came in.
"What about them?" Ezra asked, surprised at the sudden
turn of events.
Gathering the rest of the team together Chris informed them of
what just happened, "As soon as we send our reports to the Judge, we're to
destroy our copies. He's going to then
send the original to Solo. Also he *informed* me that this whole case *never* happened."
After everything was all said and done they knew the next place
they would head was the hospital.
Thirty minutes later they were entering through the emergency
doors. Meagan recognized them
immediately. Not even giving them a
verbal once over she simply pointed in the direction Vin and Nathan had taken
Mel earlier. They found the two agents
in the waiting area, Nathan's hand already bandaged up.
"Any word," Chris asked as he sat down in one of the
chairs.
Vin shook his head.
"All we can do is wait," Josiah spoke softly. If anyone that worked with them was injured
they would wait just as if one of their own were in the ER.
What seemed like an eternity later someone came out from the
double doors. The doctor recognized
them immediately came towards them.
"She's weak, but alive."
After a hesitation he continued, "I'll have her moved to ICU when
we're finished here." He stayed
just long enough for the group to digest what he just told them, then turned
and headed back through the large double doors that lead to one of the
emergency rooms.
Thirty minutes later they gathered in the ICU ward where Mel was
placed. Chris turned to Nathan,
"Did Martin ever say what it was?"
Nathan shook his head while watching her chest rise and fall
rhythmically.
After staying as long as they could the team wandered out of the
hospital, but not after telling Team 3 where their undercover agent was
at. Vin had taken it upon himself to
wait till at least one of them arrived before heading back to the Federal
Building.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time Travis received all the reports of the previous case
it had been several days. He did notice
that Solo seemed snappy the previous day and now he was down right moody. Now back in Travis' office the former
U.N.C.L.E. agent took the reports one by one and studied them thoroughly. He really wanted to make sure the locals'
got everything right in the reports.
Solo had been quite surprised that they handled themselves as well as
they did.
"Are you planning on keeping them?" Solo asked voicing
his thoughts for the first time.
"Team 7?"
Solo nodded.
"Yes. No matter how
hard you try we're not giving them up."
"Thought so," Solo gave a wry smile. "I can only try."
Getting a beep from the phone on the desk Travis commented as Solo
put the folders in his briefcase, "Excuse me. What is it Melinda?
Okay." After a pause,
"Hello Evie. Yeah finished a
case. I believe so. Oh really?
Sounds good. Okay, see you
then. Bye."
Turning back to Solo, Travis continued, "When Team 7 finishes
a case and none of them end up in the hospital they normally gather at a local
bar and grill called The Saloon. Now I
know about yesterday. If you come then
you might be able to get your mind off Kathy."
Solo mulled over the offer for a little bit, really wondering if
he should accept. If he went he knew it
would make him feel bad about going out and having a good time with her most
likely angry. Even though he told Kathy
earlier how he might miss their day, as he called it, he still felt very bad.
Finally, Napoleon decided to follow along. If anything he could drown his sorrows
there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buck was laughing when he came through the entrance of the
Saloon. When Chris appeared right
behind him he was shaking his head.
Buck’s jokes were bad to say the least and he had just finished telling
his latest.
Chris had to swerve to keep from running into Buck since he had
stopped just inside the doorway. “Buck,
will you get out of the way?!”
Buck turned around and eyed his boss with a look of
anticipation. Letting a smile play
across his face he spoke, “I’ll see you later.”
For a moment Chris was puzzled at Buck’s actions, that is until he
saw a very attractive woman with striking red hair at the bar talking to
Inez. After shaking his head as he
watched Buck saunter up next to her, Chris moved over to the team’s regular
table; he knew the rest of the group would arrive shortly.
Ignoring the conversation between Inez and the unknown woman Buck
broke in during a lull. “What’s a
pretty lady like you doing in a place like this?” He gave her his best smile to impress the petite woman.
Letting out a sigh she spoke, “I’m waiting for someone.”
“Well your waiting is over darling.”
The woman rolled her eyes at the antics of the large, apparently
jovial, man.
“Seńor Buck, we’re are having a nice talk. Por favor go and sit down!” Inez told the
large man in exasperated tones.
Giving a mock hurt look Buck answered her, “Come on Inez, you know
I didn’t mean anything about interrupting.
I just wanted to join in.”
“Inez, don’t worry. I can
handle this easily.” She gave the
Hispanic woman a small grin.
Catching the underlying meaning Inez smiled back. The two had almost a conspiratorially look
to them. Suddenly Inez’s attention was
pulled to the door. Looking out of the
corner of her eye the other woman glanced to the door also to see the new
arrivals. The person she was waiting
for was coming through the door.
“Looks like my wait is truly over.” She hesitated for a minute then continued, “I’d like for you to
meet my husband, Napoleon.”
The look on Buck’s face was priceless when he realized who it was
he was trying to talk into a date. All
he wanted to do was to disappear off the face of the earth.
Solo had moved easily beside his wife and placed an arm around her
waist; he was ecstatic that she was there.
After glancing to Buck for a minute he still needed to ask, “Kathy, what
are you doing here?”
Before Kathy could answer Solo turned back to Buck giving him a
very guarded look. Seeing that Buck had
stepped back after getting over his his embarrassment. "Didn't think you'd been able to get
yourself a catch like that."
"Buck, get out of here," Solo almost growled at the now
jovial ladies man. Then ignoring the
local agent, Napoleon took Kathy’s hand and lead her over to a side booth. After they sat down Kathy finally answered
his question, “You do remember what yesterday was, don’t you?”
Giving a small smile Solo nodded.
“You know I felt terrible not being able to be home for our
anniversary.” With an arm now around
her waist he cupped her chin with his free hand and kissed her gently.
A little breathlessly Kathy spoke after they broke contact, “I
sent the kids to Uncle Jack. He spoils
them too much.”
“Well he is technically their grandfather.”
She nodded and settled herself down in the crook of his neck. “Napoleon?” her voice was muffled, “Who was
that? You were acting like you knew
him.”
“His name is Buck Wilmington.
He’s one of the local agents that was entangled in the affair.”
“Is it over?”
“I hope so. Krull’s been
taken care of. But it’ll never be truly
over until THRUSH is destroyed.”
-----------------------------
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