A Bitter Pill - Short Affair - Jan 23rd

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

Prompts - Swallow/Yellow
Word Count - 551

Illya Kuryakin was well into the alley before he realised it lead to a dead end. To make it worse, every door he tried was locked. He had been attempting to shake off his pursuers for the best part of twenty minutes, but unfortunately, racing through crowded city streets slowed him down and allowed the Thrush men to gain on him. Reaching the end of the alley, Illya found himself facing and insurmountable wall.

The information he was transporting to headquarters could threaten the lives of quarter of the planet if it was allowed to fall into the wrong hands. He’d managed to bring it all the way through Europe without incident, but noticed he’d picked up a tail as he’d arrived in New York. Illya had tried many ways to evade the two men, such as cutting through stores and switching cabs, but they’d stuck with him. He had managed to get a message to HQ, so he knew he had back-up on the way. He also knew they wouldn’t get to him on time. Illya would have to do what he’d been hoping to avoid.

The information had been placed on a micro-dot, which itself was put into a small metal capsule. It wasn’t much bigger than an aspirin and had been designed to survive a journey through the human digestive system. Illya extracted the capsule from a pill box in his pocket and swallowed it just as the Thrush men reached him. They both had their guns trained on him.

“Spit it out, Kuryakin,” the taller one ordered.

“I have swallowed it.”

“Not to worry,” the shorter Thrushie commented. “I have no qualms about cutting it from you.”

“I would hold off on that,” came the voice of U.N.C.L.E. agent, William Jacobs, from behind him.

The feel of gun barrels pressing into the backs of their heads had the two men dropping their weapons and raising their hands.

“Is everything okay?” asked Jacobs’ partner, Sophia Metcalfe, as she cuffed the two men.

“Never better,” Illya replied, with a half-smile. “I would have preferred you to have arrived thirty seconds earlier, however.”

……………………………………………………………………………..

“You have two choices,” Nurse Maisie Redfearn explained to Illya. “We can pump your stomach, or we can give you something to induce vomiting.”

She held up a glass containing a viscous yellow liquid.

“Could we not simply await nature’s course?” the Russian asked, not liking either of the options he’d been presented with. “The capsule was designed with that in mind.”

“No can do, Tovarisch,” Napoleon told him. “We need that information as soon as possible.”

“Very well,” Illya conceded. “As much as I find it distasteful, I believe I would prefer to vomit.”

Nurse Redfearn handed him the liquid and watched as he swallowed it down. She them handed him a bowl.

“It will take about two minutes to take effect,” she explained. “And, because I know you like your privacy in such things, I will leave you with your partner.”

The next five minutes were misery personified for Illya. Plus, if throwing up wasn’t bad enough, he then had to root through everything he had expelled in search of the capsule. He rinsed it off in his water glass before handing it to Napoleon.

“Next time,” he said, hoarsely. “Thrush can have it.”
.

Comments

[lilidelafield.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! Why is my imagination running overtime at this moment? Very good story, and very well told.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

What a 'visual' story. Ick. Good use of the prompts for an uncomfortable situation. "D And yes, I just got on line after being off LJ all day. A nice nap took care of the waiting time. lol!

[jkkitty.livejournal.com]

Poor guys, and to have to make the choice, not sure which way I would have gone.

[pfrye.livejournal.com]

Yuck - but I think I would have made the same choice. Very good :>(