Rescued
April removed her heels and continued to move forward toward the sounds of fists hitting flesh and groaning. Mark's homing signal on his communicator had led her to this warehouse on a deserted dock before it had been disabled. After finding her way inside, she moved stealthily behind pallets of stacked up boxes until she could see her partner tied down to a chair being worked over by a rather large man while a slightly smaller one held a handgun and watched.
She almost gasped at the horrific condition of Mark's face; one eye swollen shut and the other close to it and his skin was mottled with bruises. He was barely conscious. After one more strike across the face, Mr. Handgun motioned for him to stop. "Mr. Slate, I have reached the end of my patience. I will ask you one more time what I want to know and you will either tell me or die." Tapping his gun against Mark's temple, he purred, "Now, where is the Summit Five meeting being held?"
"I'll tell you," Mark coughed out, "I'll tell you…to get stuffed, you wanker!" The thug raised his fist to smash Mark in the mouth, but Handgun stopped him.
"Enough. He won't talk. He's useless to us so it's time to part ways." He stepped directly in front of Mark and trained his gun on a point between the agent's eyes. "Goodbye, Mr. Slate."
Phhht! Phhht!
Mark's one comparatively good eye registered the two men dropping to the floor almost before he ears registered the sound of an UNCLE Special with a silencer. He turned his head as much as he could and saw his partner coming toward him as she holstered her gun. "Have I cough cough ever told you that you cough are my favorite bird?"
She lifted her skirt to unsheathe the knife she was carrying strapped to her right thigh and began to cut through the ropes holding him. "Don't speak, Mark, save your strength." She massaged his wrists to aid circulation and then opened her communicator. "Open Channel S, Priority One."
Napoleon's voice crackled through immediately. "Did you find him, April?"
"Yes, requesting immediate extraction and a medical team. My homing signal is now activated."
"Nice work, Agent Dancer. Someone will be there in less than thirty minutes. See you soon." There was a click as the connection was broken.
She leaned down and kissed the top of Mark's head, the only spot on his body that she thought was untouched. "Next time, Darling, wait for me. That is what partners are for, you know; to have your back."
Fifteen minutes later, her communicator beeped. When she answered, Illya's voice came through. "We are right outside; do not shoot." When he and a medical team came in, the team quickly lifted Mark onto a stretcher and began checking his vitals as they wheeled him out of the building with Illya and April following behind. "You did an excellent job of finding your partner, April. I could not have done better."
"We should all be very proud of him, too. He did not divulge the Summit's location despite the torture and threat of death. Oh, I forgot something!" she cried and rushed back to where the Cleanup Crew was packing up the bodies and sterilizing the area. Grabbing something out of one of the bags, she caught up to Illya who was walking backwards watching her. "Alright, we're good now; let's go."
The Russian looked askance at her. "What did you get?"
"I picked up Mark's interrogator's gun. He would want it as a souvenir."
Illya laughed, "And here I thought Napoleon and I were the only team that did that!"