Napoleon Solo didn't relish playing the sex game for work, but sometimes he was called on to seduce an enemy agent. If anyone in the Command could be relied upon for the task it was almost unilaterally accepted that Solo was the man for the job.
Unless the woman hated Americans, detested smooth talking Romeos and had already killed a man who looked disarmingly (and disturbingly), very much like Napoleon. Alexander Waverly was hesitant to proceed on the path being laid before him and his agents, but he had no choice in the matter as of today.
"Ahem, Mr… um.. Kuryakin…' The bushy eyebrows rose up nearly to his hairline as the Old Man addressed his Soviet agent.
"You are going to be the man who must bring us Natasha Petrov. She is former KGB, recruited by THRUSH into their Eastern European operations. Miss Petrov has already assassinated two high ranking officials from Western nations, casting the suspicion on the USSR by those unaware of THRUSH and their heinous pursuit of world dominion. To be sure their greatest threat is the Soviet Union, and the use of agents like Petrov are a bold move from the Hierarchy."
Illya listened intently to his boss' narrative. He dreaded encountering this woman, she reeked of the worst aspects of his homeland. He himself had been recruited by GRU, a less ominous, perhaps less murderous branch of the Soviet infrastructure. Working for UNCLE had helped him forget the constant intimidation that all agents faced when the penalty for failure was a gulag in Siberia, or worse.
"Sir,' He finally spoke up when it seemed opportune, "Do we have a current location on Miss Petrov?"
Waverly fussed with some papers before handing a report to Kuryakin.
"Here, look it over and discuss a plan with your, with ummm… Mr. Solo. I expect something by morning, your flight leaves for Vienna at seven tomorrow evening.' He paused to level a stern gaze at his men.
"Please be aware that this woman is deadly and without remorse for her actions. She is someone to fear, gentlemen, for her complete lack of morality. Be careful. That is all."
With that last word they were dismissed. Illya was holding onto the folder with a grip that would have defied anyone from demanding it. Napoleon felt both relieved and worried; he was accustomed to playing this part and, even though Illya was capable he wondered if his former life might possibly make him more vulnerable.
As the two strode through the corridors of UNCLE Headquarters, each man was considering the coming days. Illya would be staying in the same hotel as Natasha, hopefully making their meeting as natural as possible. Napoleon and a team of Section III agents would be monitoring the affair from another location, all in an effort to create a successful outcome to this harrowing mission.
Forty-two hundred miles later, courtesy of a non-stop flight from Kennedy to Vienna International Airport, found the UNCLE team preparing to disembark from the ten hour flight. Illya had continued to study the file on Petrov, finalizing his own identity as a professor of neurolinguistics at the University of Innsbruuck. His cover story had been thoroughly vetted and with the closest of scrutiny should still stand as true.
Illya would be heading for the Hotel Capr which was where Natasha was staying. It was a new establishment that had a manageable number of rooms on each floor, not more than twelve and on hers, only nine. She was traveling alone, something that drew less attention in 1965 than it would have in previous years. Her cover on this trip was as a book editor for a German publishing house. Like Illya, Natasha spoke several languages well, making her an unlikely target to be misled unless it was at the hands of someone like the Russian agent.
She was also, as Napoleon quickly pointed out, very beautiful.