Lily of the Valley part Five

The others. Napleon slid down the roof to a convenient tree branch, then climbed into the midst of its foliage and reconnoitred.

The truck, van and yard were empty. He could hear voices inside the house. He swung to the ground and ducked around the corner of the porch to crouch in the bushes.

A man and a woman -- Minerva -- came out of the house andd off the porch. The man had his back to Napoleon, but the agent supposed him to be Dr. Xavier.

 * * * * *

"Hang on, hang on!" Doug shouted over the gabble of voices. "Let me find the light." He felt his way along the cellar wall to the foot of the steps and hit the switch. One bare bulb flickered to life, illuminating the brick walls and floor of the basement, lined with cans and sacks and boxes and bottles. In the middle the other residents of the house huddled together. All eyes turned to the light, then to Doug.

"Everyone be quiet," he called out. Silence spread as he trotted up the stairs. The door was locked. He descended.

"What's going on?" someone asked.

"I don't know," he said. "Did Minerva say anything?"

Lily and Alice quietly prowled the walls. The narrow windows were nailed shut.

Lily sat on a crate of canned soup. "I hope Napoleon and Illya got away," she said.

"You think this has something to do with them?" Alice asked.

"I think it has everything to do with them. And with my uncle. We need to get out of here."

Alice went to a window. "This one's at the back of the house. They may not notice."

The others, seeing their intent, crowded around; Lily stood between Alice and the group.

"Listen," she began. "I think I know what's going on. Minerva has locked us all in here to keep us out of the way while she turns those two UNCLE agents over to ... to a very evil man."

Voices rose in a chorus of disbelief.

"Listen! I know you all thought Minerva was your friend. Maybe she is. Maybe she's being threatened or something. But listen--" She raised her voice as the group began to babble again.

"Listen to her!" Doug shouted. He ploughed through them to stand beside her. Alice, standing on a crate holding a hammer, watched them.

"I'm going to sneak out," Lily said. "I don't think you should follow me. If ... if they find out you aren't still in here there's no telling what they might do to you. Just wait. Probably when they've taken the UNCLE agents away, Minerva will just let you out."

"What if she doesn't?" Alice asked quietly. Her faith in just about everyone and eveyrthing had been dealt a severe blow.

"Then you all can get out this way too. But they're bound to notice a dozen people running off into the woods. Wait. If you have to run away, do it, but be careful."

Doug asked, "Where are you going?"

Lily, climbing onto the box beside Alice, glanced back at him. "My uncle already tried to kill me once. I'm not staying where he can find me."

"There's no one around," Alice said, and started prying up the nails.

"Here--" Doug jumped up. "Let me."

"I'll try to get some help," Lily said as Doug unsealed the window. He opened it and gave her a boost. She slithered out onto the grass, heart racing, and ducked behind some bushes.

* * * * * 

"Thank you for your help, Minerva," Dr. Xavier said. "I didn't like to let Kuryakin go until I was sure his ... reprogramming was complete."

Minerva smiled. "You've always been very generous to me, Francis. I'm happy to repay the favor. Although it is a trifle inconvenient." She looked back into the house.

"Ah yes. Your guests," Dr. Xavier said. "Most regrettable."

Napoleon tensed. Those words had the familiar ring of cold-blooded murder.

"I have a gas," the doctor went on. "No telltale bullet holes."

"The cellar windows are sealed," Minerva said helpfully.

"Excellent."

Two columns of THRUSH men marched out of the house, past Dr. Xavier and Minerva and down the steps to the van. Napoleon, seeing Illya borne limply between two hulking THRUSH men, quickly whistled a brief birdcall, an old signal, and had the satisfaction of seeing the blond head rise fractionally. The THRUSHes opened the van and bundled him inside, getting in after him. Napoleon counted 10 of them.

A grey sedan pulled sedately up to the house. Four men were in it.

Astonished, Napoleon recognized the man in the front passenger seat as Lt. White.

The quartet of army men climbed out of the car. Dr. Xavier and Minerva came down the steps while Napoleon, agonized, pictured the THRUSH men bursting from the van, guns blazing. To warn the army men, though, risked his liberty and chance of helping Illya and the hippies.

Dr. Xavier took a step toward the van and Napoleon decided. He bellowed:

"Lieutenant! Look out! Get under cover!"

The army men froze into alert crouches, drawing their sidearms. At the same moment, however, the van doors opened and the THRUSH gang surged out, rifles trained on Lt. White and his men. The army men dropped their guns.

Napoleon cursed and darted around the back of the house in case someone got it into his head to find out who'd shouted. He had no doubt Dr. Xavier would kill the army men as easily as the hippies. If he left no witnesses, there would be no one to reveal what he'd done to Illya. Napoleon's partner would be a perfect Judas goat.

Around the back corner of the house Napoleon bumped into Lily, who almost screamed.

"What are you doing?" Napoleon whispered as she slapped her hand over her mouth.

"She put everyone in the basement. I sneaked out a window. Are they ... is my uncle going to kill them?"

"Yes," Napoleon said. "Go back. Get them out. Tell them to hide in the woods." His mind raced, desperate to find some way one unarmed man might turn the tables on 10 armed THRUSH agents. "Go."

She ran back to a basement window and crouched down. Napoleon slipped onto the back porch and into the house. He hurried through, wishing it were the home of a sportsman rather than a bunch of antiestablishment pacifists. He slipped behind the open front door, just able to see between the door and the jamb.

Dr. Xavier said, "Bring him to me."

Lt. White was escorted before the doctor and Minerva, one rifleman at his back. The other THRUSH agents remained in a semicircle around White's colleagues.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Dr. Xavier asked. Lt. White said nothing.

Dr. Xavier called out, "Kill one of them. I don't care which."

Napoleon tensed a second before the shot cracked the quiet.

Lt. White started forward with a shout, but the THRUSH behind him brought the butt of his rifle around and hammered him to the ground.

"If any of you move he dies," Dr. Xavier said to White's men. To the lieutenant, he said, "Get up."

White struggled to his feet, rumpled and glaring.

"Answer my questions."

Lt. White stared at him.

Talk, you fool, Napoleon thought at Lt. White. Make something up. Stall for time. But White had no experience with this kind of situation. He and all his men were going to die because of that.

Napoleon darted around the door and stepped onto the porch. "I'll tell you."

All heads snapped around.

"Solo," Lt. White exclaimed in a kind of angry satisfaction. Dr. Xavier glanced at the lieutenant, then back to Napoleon.

"Solo," he echoed. "Napoleon Solo?"

"So you've heard of me," Napoleon said.

"Indeed yes. I confess I'm surprised to see you here. How did you track us?"

Napoleon smiled. "Crystal ball."

"Solo ..." Lt. White snarled.

"You won't get away with this, you know," Napoleon said, overriding the lieutenant. "Reinforcements are on their way even as we speak. You'd be wise to surrender." He glanced toward the nine THRUSH men still holding their rifles on the two remaining army men. One body lay sprawled supine between them.

"Really, Mr. Solo," Dr. Xavier said, waving at his men. Two of them turned their weapons on Napoleon. "Do they make you memorize those sorts of ridiculous lines in spy school?"

Napoleon started to answer -- stopped, galvanized at the sight of Illya climbing unsteadily out of the van to stand like a newborn foal in the sunlight.

"Ah," Dr. Xavier heartily. "Mr. Kuryakin."

Napoleon watched as Illya took in the scene with no apparent understanding. His eyes touched Napoleon's for a moment.

"Your associate, Mr. Solo, has come a long way to rescue you," Dr. Xavier said. Illya turned his gaze to the doctor. "What a shame that an ... accident should have befallen him." He beckoned one of the THRUSH men to him, took his rifle, and -- to the startlement of everyone -- handed it to Illya. In his state it nearly knocked him over.

"Kill him," Dr. Xavier said.

Illya stared at the doctor.

"Do as I say," Dr. Xavier said. "Kill Solo."

Slowly, shakily, Illya raised the heavy THRUSH rifle, his eyes fixing on Napoleon, who didn't move. He saw the tension in every line of his partner's body and face, saw the sweat beading on his forehead, saw his jaw and hands clench as he lifted the weapon and took aim.

"Traitor--" Lt. White hissed. Suddenly rigid, Illya squeezed the trigger. The rifle coughed, bucked; Napoleon spun to the porch floor.

"You son of bitch--" Lt. White growled.

Illya dropped the rifle. His arms dangled for a heartbeat. Then he crumpled onto the grass.

"Excellent," Dr. Xavier said. "Put Mr. Kuryakin and the lieutenant into the van. Take the other two and lock them in the cellar with the children."

He leaned into the van for a moment and came out with a small, pearshaped plastic object. "Throw this in after them and make sure the door is locked. Hurry."

 * * * * *

Lily, hand between her teeth to stifle both screams and sobs, watched the riflemen lift Illya and dump him in the back of the van. The army lieutenant was urged at gunpoint to get in after. Meanwhile the other two army men were marched past Napoleon's body and into the house. Lily wiped at her streaming eyes.

After a few minutes the THRUSH men came back out of the house. Everyone piled into the van and it pulled away.

Lily crept up onto the porch, still crying, and knelt gingerly beside Napoleon's body. He lay sprawled on his back. She touched his face and his eyes popped open.

She shrieked.

"Are they gone?" he asked, sitting up.

"Oh my God." She hugged him. "You're alive."

He smiled. "Perceptive child." He got up. "We'd better see if Lt. White's men are alive. Did you tell the others to get out?"

"Oh ... yes. They all ran into the woods."

They went inside. Lily caught at his arm.

"Illya ... didn't kill you."

"Apparently not." Napoleon went to the cellar door and unlocked it. "Stand back. There may be dangerous fumes."

"Did ... did he miss?"

"Hm? Illya? No. Illya doesn't miss." He inched the door open. Nothing. He opened it wider. Darkness. Silence.

"The light's there," Lily said, pointing. Napoleon switched it on. Two men lay on the floor at the foot of the steps. Napoleon trotted down, checked both men, came back up.

"Are they dead?" Lily whispered.

Napoleon nodded. She started to cry again. He put an arm around her and led her out of the house.

"Don't. You saved my partner and all those kids."

She shook her head. "But ... my uncle killed those men. And that lieutenant and Mr. Kuryakin ... he has them. It's just all so horrible."

Napoleon collected the abandoned army handguns and went to Lt. White's car, beckoning Lily.

"Listen to me. Take Minerva's truck into Clearlake and go to the police. Tell them to contact UNCLE in New York. Tell them everything. Tell them anything to get them out here. All right?"

She gulped, nodded. "You're going after them? By yourself?"

Napoleon opened the door of the sedan, tossed the handguns on the seat. "I'm all I've got."

"No you aren't," came a voice from behind him. Doug, Teddy, Alice, Mum and the other kids were trailing out of the trees.

Napoleon shook his head. "Thanks, but I'd rather fight a thousand pacifists than have one on my side."

They stared at him, puzzled. He sighed.

"Just get yourselves to safety and get the authorities out to Xavier's house."

"Be careful," Mum said. Lily grabbed him impulsively and kissed him.

Napoleon got into the car, said again to Doug, "Get these kids somewhere safe."

Doug nodded. "Good luck."

 * * * * *

Illya came to on the floor of the van. He blinked at the ceiling, then dragged his limp aching body into a sitting position. About 10 THRUSH men sat on the benches lining the truck's sides. He lay on the floor beside a scowling man whose uniform proclaimed him to be a lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

His greatest concern at the moment was whether he had in fact missed Napoleon as he had intended. His partner's fall told him nothing; Napoleon was smart enough to know when to play dead. But Illya had been concerned about making the shot look good -- he wasn't sure his current eyesight and hand steadiness were equal to the task. It had taken a surprising effort of will to combat Dr. Xavier's order, but Illya had done it. He had no fear, at the moment, that he was under Dr. Xavier's thrall.

But if he puts me in the machine again, all bets are off.

"Who are you, lieutenant?" he asked.

"I'm a man who just saw one of his own shot in cold blood because of you, Kuryakin," Lt. White snarled.

Illya scowled. "Because of me? You'll have to excuse me. I've been incommunicado for a few days. Would you mind--" the van thumped through a pothole, tossing everyone a few inches into the air to a chorus of shouts and curses.

Dr. Xavier, in front with Minerva driving, glanced back.

"Sorry, men, it's a rough road."

THRUSHes muttered as they readjusted themselves.

Illya, spotting what looked like a grenade rolling around under one of the benches, shifted around to get his foot atop it.

"You -- keep still," a THRUSH said.

"It's my leg," Illya said. "I can't feel anything." He straightened the injured limb laboriously, then used his hands to pull it toward him, dragging the grenade -- I hope it's a grenade -- up close.

"As I was saying," he went on, hoping those THRUSHes who were paying attention might attend to his words rather than his hands, now relaxed at his sides. "Would you mind explaining, lieutenant?"

"You're a traitor. We hunted you down." The lieutenant turned his anger, for a moment, upon himself. "And failed. It's simple."

"Traitor?" Illya echoed. "To ..?"

"Don't deny it," Lt. White snapped. "I recognize Dr. Xavier. Went over to his side to win the secret of his machine for your Communist friends, didn't you?"

Illya stared at him for a moment -- was that what UNCLE thought? That he'd betrayed them for the Soviets? Was that why Napoleon had come alone, without backup?

"Bastard," Lt.White went on. "I watched you kill your own partner."

Illya looked away. What was the military doing involved in this? Was it because of Dr. Xavier's machine, or because the government somehow believed he was some sort of Soviet double agent?

"Solo believed in you," Lt. White said, low and acid. "He trusted you. We knew you were a traitor, but he didn't buy it. See what his loyalty got him." He looked Illya up and down contemptuously. "Murdered by his own goddamned partner."

"Shut up," Illya snapped without thought. He turned away, sliding the grenade up his sleeve.

"I'm glad you two are getting acquainted," Dr. Xavier said, twisting to look at them. "After all, you're going to be colleagues, of a sort."

"I don't want anything to do with this commie son of a bitch," Lt.White growled. "Just kill me if you're going to."

"Oh no, lieutenant. I have much better uses for you. In fact, once you've been ... conditioned, like Mr. Kuryakin here, I'll release the both of you." He smiled. "UNCLE and the military. Delightful."

Lt. White looked at Illya as the THRUSH men laughed.

"You've betrayed everyone," he accused. "I'd like to kill you myself."

"You and what army?" Illya muttered without interest.

"Get in line, army punk," said a THRUSH, to the accompaniment of approval from his peers. He pointed his rifle at Illya's head. "This UNCLE son of a bitch has caused us more trouble than your whole damn' branch of the military. We'd all like to get a whack at him."

"Most of you have," Illya said, shifting uncomfortably -- and, not coincidentally, moving his head a little out of the direct line of fire. The THRUSH man's finger was on the trigger, and if they hit another bump, all Dr. Xavier's grandiose plans and his own more modest hopes would be for naught.

The van pulled off the road and onto the drive to the house.

"You've been very useful, my dear," Dr. Xavier said to Minerva. "I'm sure THRUSH will wish to reward you.  I must report in immediately."

"How will you explain Kuryakin's killing his partner?" Lt. White snapped.

Illya was preoccupied with trying to gently adjust the little grenade to where he could drop it instantly into his fingers. He'd only have a moment, and his hands were unsteady.

"You can't," the lieutenant went on. "Killing his own partner proves he's a traitor. He's no use to you now."

"Nonsense, my boy," Dr. Xavier said. "There were no witnesses."

"No witnesses?" Lt. White exclaimed, then stopped.

"Exactly," Dr. Xavier said. "Your men, and those sweet little flower children, are dead, victims of a little gas grenade I helped design, and with no way to determine the cause of death. The grenade itself is made of a special polymer that dissolves once the gas is released. A tragic mystery."

Illya, jolted to think of all those harmless kids killed, stopped his manipulations for a moment as anger tightened his body.

"I'm a witness," Lt. White said. "And you can be damn sure I'll tell UNCLE what this ... Russian did. And those butchers." He nodded at the THRUSH men.

Shut up, shut up, Illya thought as the THRUSH men grumbled. Don't antagonize them. He'd need a moment of inattention from the guards if this little scheme was to work.

"You won't be telling anyone anything I don't instruct you to tell," Dr. Xavier said. "If you doubt my words, remember Mr. Kuryakin here. A loyal UNCLE agent of many years' standing who, just now, on my order, killed his partner."

Illya flinched inwardly. He wished people would stop saying that so confidently.

"He was always a traitor," Lt. White sneered.

Illya said, "Have we met, lieutenant? I get the impression you believe you know all about me."

But the lieutenant met his icy gaze steadily. "I know what I saw."

Cheerfully, Dr. Xavier said, "Not for long. Ah. Here we are."

The van slowed and stopped in front of the house.

"Unload our guests," Dr. Xavier said.

One of the men opened the back doors and waved his rifle. "Come on, you two. Out."

Trying to look as beaten and hangdog and harmless as possible, Illya got out, nudging Lt. White to do the same. The stubborn army man almost refused to cooperate, but the 10 rifles pointed at him persuaded him to follow.

Illya counted on natural caution to keep the THRUSH men from getting out in front of them, and so it proved. He kept close to Lt. White, even jostling against him, as they jumped awkwardly to the ground. As he landed, Illya let the grenade drop into his fingers. He pulled the pin, tossed the grenade into the van with a backward flip of the wrist, and shoved Lt. White to the side. Yellow smoke burst from the grenade.

"Hey!" Shouts came from both Lt. White and the THRUSH men as Illya spun and slammed the doors, holding them shut with all his strength.  He felt the impact of a body or two against the doors. Then silence.

Lt. White picked himself up off the gravel driveway and peered cautiously at the van.

"What did you do?"

Illya risked releasing the doors, jumping back to a safer distance. One door swung slowly open, releasing a thin stream of vapor.

"Stay back," he snapped as the lieutenant inched toward the van. "That stuff is powerful." He circled the van at a distance of about 10 feet, watching the gas seep out every crack.

Dr. Xavier and Minerva were slumped over in the front. No movement or sound came from the vehicle.

"Are they dead?" Lt. White asked.

"I don't know. It's not my grenade. But from what he said--" Illya indicated Dr. Xavier -- "They're no better off than those kids and your associates."

"And your partner," Lt. White said, but this time there was a shade less certainty in his contempt.

"I hope not," Illya said tiredly. "I'm relying on him to get us out of here."

"What the hell is going on?" Lt. White demanded. "You just--"

Both men turned at the sound of a car racing up the driveway.

"That's my car!" White exclaimed as the grey sedan neared, slowing.

"That's my partner, " Illya said with relief.

 * * * * *

Napoleon eased the sedan to a stop and got out. "Someone here call for a taxi?"

His partner, or what was left of him, smiled tiredly.

"My men?" Lt. White asked.

Napoleon shook his head. "I'm sorry, lieutenant. They were killed with some sort of gas grenade." He looked at the van.

"Don't get too close," Illya warned. "Fumes are still escaping."

Napoleon raised questioning brows at his partner.

"Some sort of gas grenade," Illya said. "Someone left it lying around in the back of the van."

"Careless." Napoleon indicated the house. "Is everyone accounted for?"

"I think so." Illya rubbed his face. "If we had some explosives we could end this right now."

"What?" Lt. White said.

Napoleon fished in his pocket, pulled out a familiar small grey cube. Then he said, "You know, both Mr. Waverly and the army hoped to get Dr. Xavier's machine back whole."

Illya shook his head. Napoleon regarded him a moment.

"That's what I thought you'd say." He tossed one of the little bombs to his partner, who barely caught it. Not revealing the concern that tweaked in him, Napoleon said, "Lead the way."

"Wait a minute," Lt. White started forward. "If the machine is in there ... we have to take it back."

"You and what army?" Illya said. "It's the size of a car."

"Well, then ... we need to get some people up here who can transport it ... dismantle it and--"

"We're going to dismantle it," Illya said.

"That device is a powerful weapon," Lt. White said. "It needs to be in the hands of the government."

Napoleon chuckled. Illya said, "I know what it can do. I wouldn't trust it in the hands of my mother."

"You don't have--"

Napoleon and Illya went into the house. Lt.White followed, still arguing.

Ten minutes later the three of them left the house, spilled down the front steps and got in the car. Lt. White got behind the wheel. Napoleon loaded his partner into the back, got in beside him, and said, "Home, James."

The tires spun in the gravel, spitting rocks as Lt. White turned the car around and headed for the highway. Napoleon hauled Illya into a more upright position. Illya turned in his seat to watch the house recede as they drove away. They heard the explosion; Napoleon felt the tension drain from his partner's battered frame as Illya exhaled a long, silent sigh.

"Your boss is going to have your ass for this, Solo," White said. "Mine's going to do the same to me."

"Tell the general you were outnumbered. He and Uncle Sam can at least take comfort that the thing is destroyed." He glanced at his partner, slumped against him, out cold.

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