section7mfu | The Peaceful Meadows Affair, 4/? for the PicFic Challenge

Title: The Peaceful Meadows Affair, Chapter 4
Summary: Napoleon and Illya, and Ecks and Wye, spy on the targeted people to see what happens next.

By Lucky_Ladybug

Chapter Four

By mutual consent, Napoleon and Illya decided to follow Ecks and Wye upon leaving the school, feeling that those two were certainly among the keys to what was happening in addition to just plain wanting to know what they were up to. That adventure seemed to go better than the tracking fiasco, as they managed to tail the former enemy agents all the way to a residential street without being cornered.

“Alright,” Wye said to Ecks in a low tone as they arrived at a house, “to keep watch on both these places, we’ll have to split up. Let me know if anything happens here.”

Ecks nodded. “You do likewise. And we’ll both have to be careful that we’re not caught being out after curfew. Who knows what the punishment for that would be, not to mention trespassing and spying.”

“Oh, we’d disappear for certain then,” Wye said. “And I don’t think either of us is ready for that.”

“I don’t think our shadows are, either,” Ecks commented, and Napoleon and Illya froze.

“How long have you known?” Illya asked at last, grudgingly.

“Almost since the beginning, old chap,” Wye replied. “But since we were fairly sure you weren’t lookin’ to get caught, either, we decided that we’d let you tag along. Now, I suppose, you’ll want to split up as well.”

“I will stay here, with Mr. Ecks,” Illya said flatly.

“And I guess that means I’ve got you for company,” Wye said, looking to Napoleon. “Come on, then. Let’s see what happens at poor Clarice Peters’ residence.”

Napoleon was agreeable. “You will keep in touch,” he said to Illya, who nodded.

“Of course. Now go!” His eyes narrowing, Illya added, “Whatever is going to happen has to happen quickly, if they are so worried about curfew. They won’t want to stay out past it themselves.”

“Excellent point,” Napoleon praised, pleased that hopefully their semi-truce wouldn’t last for long. Although he didn’t have Illya’s fire where these two were concerned, he wasn’t particularly crazy about them, either.

As Napoleon and Wye went on ahead, vanishing around a corner, Illya followed Ecks into the hedge that was standard for every yard. “If we are going to be watching this house together, I think I have a right to know why you and your companion are so interested,” Illya growled.

“A right?” Ecks mocked. “You and Solo just followed us out here, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s business as usual. You don’t have any right to know why we do anything.” He settled calmly behind the hedge and parted the twigs just enough to have a good view of the front porch.

“We do if it involves national, or international, security,” Illya snapped, finding it a bit more difficult to get comfortable. “You and Mr. Wye were spies for an extremist organization. That gives us the right to be worried.”

“Do you think any extremist organization would find a community like this of interest at all?” Ecks said boredly.

“No,” Illya retorted, “but you could be working for someone just as concerning.”

“Or we could be passing the time of day. Be quiet; a car is coming.” Ecks went stone still as said car pulled up in the driveway, its headlights shining on the garage door.

Illya fell silent, watching as Harvey and several other people alighted and went to the porch. “Everett?” Harvey called as he knocked. “We need to have a word with you.”

After a moment, the door opened. “What do you want?” Everett frowned. “It’s late.”

“How interesting that you’re so observant of that when other things fail to grasp your attention,” Harvey answered. “We need to come inside for a private conference with you.”

Not pleased at all, Everett nevertheless opened the door wider and allowed the group to enter. He then shut the door after them.

“Now this is a time when I would find one of your button bugs helpful,” Illya said.

“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” Ecks replied. “No doubt they’ll come out dragging Everett with them. Maybe he’ll be kicking and screaming or maybe he’ll have been silenced.”

“You think the missing people are being murdered for loose paint and squeaky steps?” Illya frowned.

“Don’t tell me it hasn’t even crossed your mind,” Ecks shot back. “But he might only be tranquilized for easy travel. In any case, I’m sure they won’t want him to do anything that could alert other neighbors. Obviously they try to handle every one of these matters in secret so that the residents don’t know what’s actually happening, even after they do attend one of the meetings.”

“I suppose that is true,” Illya grudgingly admitted.

But to both their bewilderment, no one came out for the better part of an hour. And when they did, Everett Barkley was not with them. Saying nothing among themselves, they silently stole back into their car and drove off into the night.

Immediately Illya hurried out from behind the hedge and up to the window, peering inside at the kitchen. It was dark, as was the living room. Everett was nowhere to be seen in either room, from this location.

“Impossible!” Illya cried. “We have to get in there and search.”

Ecks frowned, but lithely stepped out and walked up to the porch. “Do you really think we’ll find anything? They wouldn’t leave the body around for anyone to see.”

“No, but there has to be some clue,” Illya insisted. Trying the sash, he found it unlocked and pushed up the window.

Ecks tried the door. It was locked, so he resigned himself to entering through another window, which was also unlocked.

“I wonder if Napoleon is having any better luck,” Illya muttered as he slipped inside and closed the window after him.

“You could always call him and find out,” Ecks answered. “You were supposed to keep him informed anyway, as I recall.”

“What about you and Mr. Wye?” Illya demanded.

A shrug. “If you and Solo are keeping in touch, that alerts us to what’s going on too. Why use up battery power unnecessarily?”

Illya scowled. “I suppose that makes sense. Just as long as Mr. Wye is still with Napoleon.”

“He should be.” Ecks’ voice suddenly darkened. “If anything happens to him on Solo’s watch, I will probably blame Solo for it.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Illya retorted. Leaving the empty kitchen, he followed Ecks through the living room and down the hallway.

“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t feel exactly the same way if Solo was harmed instead,” Ecks prompted.

“I probably would,” Illya said in resignation. “Even if it wouldn’t be entirely logical. It’s not as though I could expect enemy agents to be trustworthy in looking after U.N.C.L.E. agents.”

“Like I can expect U.N.C.L.E. agents to be?” Ecks smoothly quipped.

“U.N.C.L.E. agents are, after all, more honorable,” Illya said haughtily.

“Because you’re out to save the world and not for power or personal gain?” Ecks sneered. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those idiot idealists who thinks that everyone in your organization is above reproach.”

“No, I am not,” Illya snapped. “But I would still trust the worst U.N.C.L.E. agent before I would ever trust you. You betrayed your own organization, and not to join a better cause, but only for your own personal gain through Mr. Zed’s plan.”

“I owed them nothing.” Ecks’ voice had turned cold.

“You gave them your allegiance. You owed them that,” Illya retorted.

“I never gave them anything willingly,” Ecks snapped. “Don’t talk about matters you really know nothing of, Kuryakin.”

Illya frowned, but did not pursue the conversation further. Instead he just focused on taking in the décor. From what he could tell, everything was furnished exactly the same as in his and Napoleon’s house, not only in the necessary items, but also in the pictures on the walls. He recognized one that hung in his bedroom, of a mysterious stranger encountering a woman on a winter’s night and beaconing her to follow him.

Ecks recognized it too. “Not very creative, are they,” he grunted.

“By this point, I really wouldn’t expect them to be,” Illya sniffed. “Except on the matter of how they are removing the people they have problems with.” He took out his communicator pen. “I am going to try contacting Napoleon.”
****
Napoleon, in the meantime, had been having a very similar experience with Mr. Wye. Together they had watched a group of Council members arrive at Clarice’s house and be let inside, and they had found that Clarice did not emerge from the house when the Council members did. They drove off, leaving the house standing in eerie silence.

More disturbed than he wanted to let on, Napoleon went with Wye to the building and quietly entered through the unlocked side door. Inside, the house was every bit as cold and uninviting as outside.

“Well,” Napoleon mused, “isn’t this a dark and dreary place.”

“No place like home, indeed,” Wye grumped.

They poked through the rooms, not finding much in the way of individuality beyond some knick-knacks here and there. Napoleon had to admit, he was almost surprised that those were allowed.

“It’s like she vanished into thin air or somethin’,” Wye frowned.

“I hate to think it, but I wonder if THRUSH or whoever might be behind this could have invented something that could basically bring about the same effect,” Napoleon said slowly.

“Vaporization? Now you are bein’ gruesome,” Wye said. “But I suspect we shouldn’t ignore the possibility.”

Napoleon noticed he was gripping his gun a little tighter. “. . . You seem easier to get along with than your partner,” he noted. “After what happened in London, I wouldn’t have expected that.”

Wye shrugged. “It wasn’t your fault, what your partner did. Anyway, it’s all part of the spy trade, spies offing each other. That said, your Mr. Kuryakin ain’t one of my favorite people. I don’t take kindly to what he did, even if it is just par for the course. You already had Ecks caught; Kuryakin didn’t have to try to kill him.”

“Begging your pardon, but if the situation had been reversed, wouldn’t Mr. Ecks have done the same thing?” Napoleon replied. Even though he also felt Illya had been unnecessarily brutal during that incident, he was certainly going to examine the issue from all angles and not side against his partner along with the enemy.

“Well, now, you’ll have to ask him that,” Wye returned.

Napoleon gave a respectful nod. “Perhaps I shall.”

“And don’t think either of us will fully cooperate with you. We’ve got different reasons for trying to find out what’s happening here, and there’s no reason why we should tell you what ours are.”

“I suppose not,” Napoleon said. “But in all fairness, I should tell you that it was Illya who hesitated to even mention to Mr. Waverly that you and Mr. Ecks both survived London. He wanted to give you both a fair chance first, to see what you were up to and if you were still a threat to world security. He hoped that since you had to drop out of sight to stay alive, and likely couldn’t get another spy organization to hire you, that perhaps you’d choose a different, less destructive path.”

“Interesting that he’d be willing to wait and see like that,” Wye said, opening the linen closet and glancing over the contents before closing the door again and moving on.

“Under the circumstances, he felt that you deserved that much,” Napoleon said. “And we’re still not at all sure what you’re up to.”

“Well, you’re welcome to try to guess,” Wye said. “I’ll tell you this much—you’re right that we’re not working for a spy organization any more.”

Napoleon nodded. “That’s good to know.” He peered into the bathroom and then moved to the bedroom.

Wye scowled as he took in the layout. “That same picture of the winter scene is hangin’ in Ecks’ room,” he announced.

“And in Illya’s,” Napoleon added. He stepped closer for a better look at it. “I wonder why the Council wanted to furnish every home with a copy of this print. It’s quite a striking scene, even fanciful and imaginative—the opposite of what Peaceful Meadows seems to be.”

Wye went to the closet. “Do they need a reason? Seems to me that they just do anything illogical they can think of.” He poked through Clarice’s clothes, pushing them aside with the barrel of his gun.

“I suppose that’s a good description.” Napoleon reached for his communicator pen. “I’m going to contact Illya about this.”

Just as he was taking it out, it suddenly went off. Quickly he uncapped it.

Wye vaguely listened as Napoleon conversed with Illya about the bizarre and similar experiences they had been having.

“We’ve gone through every room in this house without finding anything,” Illya said in annoyance. “And I’ve had just about enough of working with Mr. Ecks.”

“I’m sure he feels likewise,” Napoleon intoned. “Well, we’ve just about wrapped up as well. We should be meeting you soon.”

“Good,” Illya declared.

Napoleon closed the pen and replaced it in his coat pocket. “So tell me about your Mr. Ecks,” he said, assuming that Wye had heard the conversation and didn’t need to be informed of its details.

“You’re a little leery of leaving him with Kuryakin, eh?” Wye smirked as he turned back.

“I think that’s understandable, considering London,” Napoleon said. “And considering that Mr. Ecks stalked Illya for weeks in New York.”

“Ecks won’t do nothin’ to him,” Wye said. “Except be as belligerent as he’s probably already being. He’s a professional, just like Kuryakin is. He won’t go hurtin’ a bloke for no reason, even if he doesn’t like him.”

“You care about him a great deal,” Napoleon observed.

“You care about Kuryakin, even though you two can’t seem to abide livin’ under the same roof,” Wye returned. “You work with someone for a long time, naturally you get to feelin’ pretty close to them.”

Napoleon nodded. “On that, we agree.”

“Ecks is . . . like a kid brother,” Wye mused. “Mischievous, smart aleck . . .”

“He had a good teacher,” Napoleon pointed out.

Wye smirked. “He did at that. And then he can turn around and be cold and deadly and serious.”

“Yes,” Napoleon said, thinking of Illya. “People are an interesting series of contrasts.”

He took a final glance at the picture as they left. Why was it in every house? Was it just a further example of the Council’s desire for everything to be the same, or was there some deeper meaning behind it? Perhaps when he and Illya got home, they should look over their own copy more closely.

“Fanciful and imaginative indeed,” Wye grunted, sounding sarcastic. If he agreed, he wasn’t about to admit it.

“You are a cynical sort, aren’t you,” Napoleon commented.

“Sometimes,” Wye said. “Other times, I just laugh at the stupidity of humankind.”

“Humankind has certainly done a lot to warrant that opinion, granted. But they’ve done a number of impressive and moving things as well.”

“But this place ain’t one of them,” Wye said. “Both the people running it and the people populating it are being pretty stupid.”

Napoleon headed for the side door from where they had entered. “We’re currently among those populating it,” he pointed out.

“Which could definitely be seen as stupid by those lookin’ in on the outside,” Wye said. “Of course, we know that we’re not here because we want a little peace and order in our lives. We’re here to find out what the price of peace and order is in here.”

That was definitely an appropriate statement. And, Napoleon decided as they left the very empty house, a chilling one.