The Twelve Days of UNCLE- Round Robin - chapter 12

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

The gas canister bounced across the floor as its contents spewed everywhere. It did more than fill the room with thick white smoke; something went wrong and there was a sudden spark from it, igniting flammables that were nearby.

The smoke became so thick that it was impossible to see, giving the UNCLE agents the miracle they needed.

“Where are you, you bloody bastards!” Denise shrieked.”You won’t get away from me!”

Solo and Kuryakin dropped to the floor and crawled, keeping low as they made their escape. It was sheer willpower and good guessing that sent them in the right direction.

Napoleon reached out, feeling the door.

“It’s here,” he gasped, knowing his partner was right behind him, or at least that’s what he hoped.

“Illya?”

“Am here,” Kuryakin coughed. The smoke was affecting their breathing.

They got to their feet and exited into the library, hacking from the smoke they inhaled. The door was slightly ajar permitting the smoke to drift into the house.

There stood April Dancer, her arms crossed in front of herself with her gun in hand. She was a bit bruised from her encounter with Depardieu’s thug back in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, but seemed none the worse for wear.

“I guess you’re our Christmas miracle,” Napoleon cleared his throat.

“Darling I’ve been called a lot of things before, but never that. Depardieu?”

“In custody.”

“And the wife and daughter?”

“Regina is the one who contacted Waverly...apparently they all have a past together during the War,”Napoleon said. “It’s a long story and I’ll explain later.”

The white smoke  erupted into an acrid black cloud as it began to billow through the secret entrance and a blood curdling scream was heard from below. 

“I think your girlfriend just bit the dust Illya,” Solo nodded.

“Must I repeat myself? She is...was not my girlfriend. My flirtatiousness with her was merely a ploy, as you well know. It was all for naught as she was not forthcoming with any helpful information. She was definitely her father’s daughter in many ways and finally she became as delusional as he. Both of them became victims of their own hubris."

Illya began to shove the secret door closed but as he did so flames shot out from behind it, immediately setting fire to books on an adjacent library shelf. He retreated, covering his face with his arms to protect himself; he just missed being singed.

“Let’s get out of here!” April shouted.

Not hesitating, the three of them dashed outside where they found the darted bodies of several other Depardieu thugs lying scattered about the front of the mansion.

“I see you’ve been busy,”Napoleon smiled.

“Lucky for you,” April answered. She looked up at the house that was now becoming engulfed in flames. “Good Lord, all those valuable Marie Antoinette antiques, gone. What a terrible loss to history.”

“Not quite,” Illya said. “Justin Depardieu kept them all in a very secure fireproof vault; they should be safe. Though not all the pieces were real, at least the one’s UNCLE was using as bait. They were high end forgeries and replicas. It was our contacts who helped convince Depardieu they were the real thing.”

“Even after he discovered our ruse, it apparently never occurred to him that we might not be delivering genuine Marie Antoinette artifacts. His obsession and greed blinded him to that possibility,” Napoleon said.

“The kidnapping of his daughter was an attempt to suck him dry of the last of his fortune, but that was worthless as he was already on to us.”

“I think he was on to us when I was caught and robbed of the money he paid for the lacquer box. Given I was out of my disguise as a nun, I think he knew something was definitely up.”

“That was you outside the church in Saint-Paul-de-Vence?” Napoleon asked.

“Yep, and Mark was the flamboyant Italian dealer.”

“I had a feeling it was he,” Illya said. “Still it was an impressive disguise.”

There was a another blood curdling scream from behind them and a smoking figure appeared out of nowhere. Standing there with her burned arms raised above her head was Denise, or what was left of her.

Her swollen lips were drawn back in a feral grin; her clothing was nearly gone, the stench of her burned flesh and hair filled the air.

She had a vicious looking dagger in her blackened right hand, and she dove with it at Illya.

“You foul Russian git!” She wailed,”You’ll pay!”

Kuryakin turned, but not fast enough to fully draw his Special.

There were two rapid fire shots, “pffft-pffft,” one after the other, each from Solo and Dancer’s guns, but they were too late to stop her.

Denise landed on top of Illya, driving the blade into the left side of his chest, just below the collarbone.

The sleep darts didn’t take immediate effect, and as Kuryakin was knocked backwards, the woman finally became a dead weight on top of him once she was unconscious.

Napoleon checked her for a pulse, but there was none and he quickly shoved her smoldering body aside to see to his partner.

“Getting a little slow in your old age tovarisch,” Napoleon carefully drew the dagger free and put pressure on the wound with his handkerchief to help staunch the bleeding.

“Hardly,” Illya grimaced as he was helped to a seated position.

Dancer removed her white jacket and rolling it up, she wrapped and tied it in place around Kuryakin’s shoulder and collarbone. It would have to do until they could get him to a local hospital.

All three climbed into the Citroën, since April had arrived riding a Vespa, and they headed off to the nearest medical facility.

With Napoleon behind the wheel, he hit the gas, sending a stream of gravel from the driveway airborne as they sped off.

There was a small clinic nearby where Illya’s wound was cleaned and stitched. He was lucky to say the least, though he’d lost a fair amount of blood so a transfusion was in order. It was another miracle they had enough of the universal blood type of O negative on hand, given the Russian’s blood type was one of the rarest, B negative. Red blood cells from O negative donors could be transfused to anyone, regardless of the person's blood type.

Illya was well out of danger with this injury. To him it was nothing more than a scratch.

Kuryakin protested, as usual, about being kept in a hospital bed, but an offering of a steaming bowl of ratatouille niçoise soothed the savage Russian into silence.

He closed his eyes, inhaling the delicious scent as the vegetable dish was set down on a tray in front of him.

His left arm was immobilized in a sling, but he only needed his right hand to feed himself. Finally he tucked into the food, not saying another word.

Solo and April pulled up a couple of chairs in his room, preparing to enjoy coffee that had been brought to them. They made sure to add a lot of sugar as French coffee had a tendency to be on the bitter side.

“I could go for a cigarette right now,” Napoleon said as he reached into his breast pocket.

“You can’t smoke here,” April whispered.

“I know,” Solo was just drawing his communicator from his pocket to report to the Old Man when a familiar face walked into the room.

“I see you ponces are taking it easy,” Mark grinned. “So all’s well that ends well, I’m assuming. Depardieu is in custody by the way.”

“Yes darling, it’s over. The daughter is dead, “April stood, giving her partner a peck on the cheek.

Another figure appeared in the doorway behind Slate; freed of his disguise, Alexander Waverly was now wearing his familiar tweed.

He removed his fedora and gazed at his four agents...

Comments

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Great action here! I like that you took us back to the well concealed undercover work by Slate and Dancer.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I thought a little angst and action was appropriate, given their lives were in danger. This was a great Round Robin, despite a few missteps.

[ssclassof56.livejournal.com]

An exciting climax. Denise’s final attack was a gruesome, effective surprise.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I thought a bit of angst could't hurt in the climax. Glad you liked the unexpected surprise with Denise! Thanks for your inspiration! It was an enjoyable Round Robin full of intrigue and twists!