Preventable Loss - 'Short Affair' Challenge - 3rd November

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

Prompts – Picnic/Crimson
Word Count (approx.) – 655


From a distance, it looked to be an idyllic scene. It was the height of summer, so the grass was green and luscious, and the sky was the bluest it could be. On the grass, a blue and white checked picnic blanket had been laid, and upon that sat a wicker basket; its contents spread out on the blanket. Lying side by side, next to the untouched food, was a young couple. They appeared to be asleep, until you got closer. As they approached, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin could clearly see that the couple would never be waking up again.

They each had a single gunshot wound to the head, causing the blanket around them to be stained crimson with their blood.

“I promised her we would keep her safe,” Napoleon commented sadly, as they reached the scene.

“You also told her not to leave her house,” Kuryakin replied, as he scanned the area for the perpetrators. “I am concerned as to how she managed to get by the guards we had on her.”

“Never underestimate the sneakiness of a teenager in love. Though believe me Partner Mine, those two men are in for a difficult time from me, and Mr Waverly.”

Jessica Hunter had only been nineteen years of age, and was the daughter of a leading THRUSH scientist. Dr Hunter had decided to defect to U.N.C.L.E., only for his employers to discover his plan. They’d eliminated him, and his wife, in their usual ruthless manner. Knowing that the hierarchy would come after Miss Hunter, Napoleon had tried to get her to a safe house. Jessica had outright refused, saying her boyfriend wouldn’t know where she was. Illya explained to her that her life was in very serious peril if she stayed where she was, but she simply brushed his concerns away.

As soon as it was discovered she was no longer in the house, Illya practically had to be held back from throttling one of the agents on guard. After Kuryakin had yelled at them for a few minutes, Napoleon stepped in and asked if she’d given any clues about where she might have gone. She had apparently received a phone call, from her boyfriend, inviting her to a picnic in the park, to which the guards had refused her permission to go. Solo couldn’t understand why she hadn’t been more upset about her parent’s murders. Illya had put it down to the THRUSH mentality, stating that family loyalty meant nothing.

Solo and Kuryakin had been about to begin a search of the parks when a call from HQ told them a young couple had been found shot dead.

“We should have forced her to go to the safe house.”

“You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped, my friend,” The Russian reasoned. “Had we gotten her to the safe house, then what? We couldn’t exactly hold her against her will. She hadn’t done anything.”

Napoleon pondered his partner’s words, knowing he was correct in his assessment. Miss Hunter had committed no crime and posed no threat. She’d merely had the misfortune to have a father who was involved with THRUSH. They could have kept her safe by giving her a new identity, but she would have contacted her boyfriend and instantly revealed her location. It was just a shame her selfish need to see that boyfriend had led to both their deaths.

“Let’s go Tovarisch, there’s nothing else we can do for her.”

Napoleon handed the scene over to a more junior team and walked away. As he went, Illya looked from him to the dead teens and back again. Neither man accepted the death of innocents easily, but the Russian concealed his feelings on it better than the American. Napoleon Solo, the out-going, gregarious and flirtatious man of action always showed his true inner self when life was wasted; especially when he could have saved that life.

The end.

Comments

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

So sad. She should have listened especially after her parents were killed. Well done Janto!

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

She should have listened, but teenagers in love rarely do.