section7mfu | Short Affair Challenge - October 5th 2015 - Disappearing Spies and Non-Existent Uncles

Prompt Word #1: Obstacle
Prompt Color: Red
Word Count: 1,000

I was toying with this and realized it would fit the prompts for today, so I extended it and worked the prompts in. It's the beginning of a random story I got the idea for recently. I'll probably expand it more if I make a full-fledged first chapter out of it. (And the Round Robin is tempting me to do just that, let me tell you....)

It sort of follows the timeline I set up starting with The Return from the Dead Affair. Ecks and Wye are basically private detectives in New York City because no other spy organization will hire them after they betrayed their organization in The Odd Man Affair. LOL. Of course, this causes them to cross paths with Napoleon and Illya more times than any of them would like.

It started the evening Mr. Wye returned home from the store and found the entire living room an obstacle course. Furniture was scattered in all directions, and although nothing looked broken, it would surely take a long time to pick everything up.

The sight of Mr. Ecks laying on his side on the floor sent him shoving the bag onto an end table that was miraculously still standing and kneeling down next to the younger man. “Ecks!” He reached out, placing his hand on the wrist of the outstretched arm Ecks was laying on. There was definitely a pulse. A quick examination showed that nothing seemed to be broken, so Wye lifted the boy’s body into his arms. “Ecks, come on, say something!”

After a moment Ecks groaned and stirred, turning slightly to look up at him. “Wye?”

“That’s right. What the ruddy devil happened in here?!”

Ecks gave a weak shrug. “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “These men came in when you were gone. They demanded to see you, and when I told them you were out, they became violent. I managed to wound one of them, but as you can see, they got the better of me in the end.” Disgust slipped into his voice. He hated to be unable to win in a battle.

“Well, nevermind that,” Wye retorted, gently easing him into a sitting position. “I’ll fix you up and you can tell me about them. What did they want with me?”

“I don’t know,” Ecks said helplessly. “When I said you weren’t in, they didn’t offer any explanation of why they wanted you.”

Wye swore under his breath. “We’ll figure it out later,” he decided. “You should rest.”

Ecks opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it when the headache throbbed strong. “Alright.”
****
In general they tried to stay together when they went out after that, neither wanting the other to be alone in case the men came back. But one day when they had two clients demanding attention, there was nothing to do except split up.

Ecks had a bad feeling about it, and he really wasn’t surprised when he returned home to find the living room a disaster zone once again. Alarmed, he drew his umbrella dagger and looked about for any sign of Wye or their new enemies. He wasn’t sure what he expected to find, but it wasn’t the answering machine flashing at him.

Hurrying over, he pressed the button. “You have one new message,” the voice intoned.

“Ecks?” Ecks’ eyes widened when it was Wye’s voice he heard. The man sounded far gruffer than usual. “Don’t be lookin’ for me or anythin’ like that. I had to go. It was by my own choice and all. Just leave me alone. I might have to ring your uncle if you don’t.”

Ecks rocked back, stunned. The message made no sense. Wye couldn’t mean what he said. Not to mention, Ecks didn’t have an uncle and Wye was very aware of that.

Unless . . . could Wye mean for Ecks to contact U.N.C.L.E.?

That seemed outlandish too. Why would he want Ecks to deliberately seek help from that organization? Did he think Ecks wouldn’t be able to do it on his own?

Worse, what if he really couldn’t? He had no idea who was behind this. Maybe if he talked to U.N.C.L.E., they would have some information on that.

He turned, hurrying out the door.
****
Illya all but slammed a stack of files on Napoleon’s desk. “I would have appreciated it if you had helped with the reorganization of the filing cabinet,” he said. “You were the one who mixed these up in the first place.”

“Ahem. Not all of them,” Napoleon replied, lifting one red-tabbed folder down from the stack. “This one, for instance, is for one of your cases. You took it out and re-filed it under the Albert Sully file.”

Illya scowled. “I was on a case and did not have time to stop and make sure it was in the proper place. That, I might add, is a legitimate excuse. Hurrying to walk one of the receptionists to her car is not in the same category.”

“That’s all a matter of one’s point-of-view,” Napoleon answered. But when an alarm rang out overhead, both agents snapped to attention and drew their guns, the petty argument forgotten. They ran to the reception room, where they stopped stock still in shock at the sight of two receptionists pointing their weapons at none other than Mr. Ecks.

“He walked right through the secret door,” one of them announced.

“He knew we were here,” said the second. “It was like he planned to get caught.”

“I see,” Napoleon mused. “Thank you, ladies. We’ll take it from here.” He strolled over, looking Ecks up and down.

Illya, much less congenial over Ecks’ bizarre entrance, scowled at him. “What are you doing here?”

“They’re right, you know.” Ecks sounded dead serious; there was no teasing or mocking lilt to his voice. “I can get in here without setting off alarms. I did as much when I was stalking you, Kuryakin. I came in this way this time to show that this is up front, no tricks.” He held out his hands.

“No umbrella dagger?” Napoleon calmly asked.

“It’s in my car,” Ecks replied.

“Then you must have brought some other type of weapon in here,” Illya shot back. “What is it you want?”

Ecks drew a deep breath and removed his sunglasses. “I need help, Kuryakin.”

Illya rocked back, staring at him as though he had spoken a foreign language. “What?”

“Wye has disappeared. He left me a message that I can only interpret as telling me to contact you.”

Napoleon looked to Illya. “Well, that’s different. What do you think?”

Illya debated long enough to make Ecks squirm in nervous impatience. “I say we should hear more. Anything that brings you to us for help is worth examining further.”