Napoleon ran down the corridor, barely feeling the floor beneath his feet. The call had come in, broken and garbled. THRUSH wasn't taking any chances that their latest invention, a bomb that rivaled the power of an atomic one. Illya and another agent had managed to worm their way into the stronghold and stolen the detonator.
When the thievery had been discovered, all THRUSH's fury reigned down upon the UNCLE agents. They'd managed to escape, but the copter had been shot down.
Napoleon's world imploded and his heart cried. Then Napoleon had gotten word. A survivor, barely clinging to life, had been pulled from the wreckage. He knew in his heart of hearts that it was Illya. He had to be with him, had to tell him how much he loved Illya.
He headed for the room where a crowd of people were clustered.
"Napoleon!" A nurse caught him.
"What are you doing? Let me go."
"You don't want to see him like this… it's not him."
He shoved her aside, more resolute than before. "I don't care."
He was in the room before anything else would stop him. The figure on the bed was wrapped in white gauze and a half dozen tubes disappeared into it.
"Oh, God, Illya, my Illya."
A pair of hazel, pain-glazed eyes opened and Napoleon gasped.
"I told you it wasn't him," the nurse repeated and pointed. "Illya just came in. He's in Room Four."
Napoleon opened the door to Room Four and it was empty. "Illya?" He was almost afraid, but suddenly his partner was before him. He was bruised and battered, but alive.
"I'm here."
Napoleon grabbed him, holding him close. He kissed Illya again and again, savoring the beautiful sensations exploding inside him.
"I'm assuming you locked the door." Illya smiled and touched foreheads with Napoleon.
"I love you."
"You, too."
"What happened?" Napoleon asked when he trusted his voice again.
"We escaped. The lead scientist gave us an Easter basket. He said it was valuable and to guard it with our lives. We saw the chopper and Jewert freaked out. He threw the basket aside and jumped in. I stopped to collect the contents and he took off.
"He left you?"
"Yeah, but there was something about the way Dr. Roek forced the basket on us that made me think it could be important. Jewert's dying, isn't he?"
"He is and he saved you from a similar fate. Do you have the basket?"
"I do." Illya picked it up from the shelf and dumped it out onto the bed. "It's a bit worse for wear."
It was the usual assortment of jelly beans, marshmallow chickens and chocolate eggs mixed in with the cellophane grass.
"That's odd."
"What?"
"There's only one plastic egg." Illya picked it up and popped it open. A small item fell out and he caught it.
"What is it?"
"A microdot. The schematics for the bomb. No wonder…"
"If you hadn't listened…
"Happy Easter."
"It is now."
