Celia Lozada and April Dancer met for lunch in the Commissary. As they went down the cafeteria line with their trays, April noticed a table of support staff, some of whom she had confronted in the locker room a few days earlier, surreptitiously watching them. They paid for their meals and headed toward the area of the room favored by Section IIs for its view of all the doors and the seating that puts their backs against the wall.
"So, Celia, you've been in New York for six months now. How is it compared to Buenos Aires?"
Celia sipped her coffee as she thought about her reply. "It is definitely different. Napoleon is a wonderful CEA; he's fair and I believe he cares about the welfare of his agents. Vinnie and I both like him a lot. The agents I've met have been, for the most part, supportive and collegial." She shot a glance across the room. "The women in the other sections…" She shook her head and began eating her salad.
April leaned in and bumped Celia's shoulder. "What about them?"
"Well," Celia sighed, "I don't know. The male agents in Buenos Aires were so openly hostile; I really didn't notice the women's reactions. Here, the men seem fine, but the women…They seem to treat me like I'm the enemy. I've walked into the bathroom and stopped all conversation. They are polite and professional to my face, but it is clear they do not wish to be around me."
April nodded her understanding. "I overheard some of the secretaries talking about me in the locker room, saying I'm a slut because they have a general idea what is taught in Survival School. A female Section II is a fallen woman in their eyes."
Celia rolled her eyes in disgust. "It's so unfair! We are on the cutting edge of the future and those brujas (witches) act like we are trash! Why, when we are proving that women can be so much more than what we have been allowed to be?"
"I don't know, but here in the States, women have been raised traditionally to believe that we are to become wives, preferably housewives and mothers, even if our reality is nowhere near that. Divorced, never married women or single mothers are judged as failures for not living up to that ridiculous standard. Single women aren't supposed to have sex or like sex and definitely aren't supposed to have sex training as part of a job! We are seen as the 'weaker' sex that needs a man's protection. Women like us who are strong, independent, capable and intelligent are seen as threats to the status quo by both men and women. They don't know what to make of us."
Before Celia could respond, the public address system came on. "Agents Celia Lozada and Vincenzo Ferraro, please report to the CEA's office immediately."
She turned on her communicator. "Communications, please advise Mr. Solo Lozada is on her way." She looked at April. "The only way to prove to the doubters and haters that we are not in over our heads is to do our jobs to the best of our abilities. Remember, April, Jules Cutter himself said we're qualified to do what we do and he has trained every Section II that ever existed. I'm sure Napoleon is sending Vinnie and me out on an affair. We'll talk more over drinks when I get back. See you later." She got up and walked across the floor and through the exit.
As she waved goodbye, April noted the secretaries watching Celia after she passed their table. Celia's right, she thought as she returned to her meal, that's the only way to drag those girls into the 60s. They need to know there is more to life than cooking and cleaning up behind a husband.
MFUMFUMFUMFUMFUMFUMFU
Napoleon Solo called "Come in!" in response to the knock on the door. It swished open to reveal his newest agents. They've been here just over six months, not so new anymore, he thought as he smiled and indicated they should sit on the couch. Once they had gotten comfortable he announced, "I'm assigning you to work with Ted King and Boone Patterson, a couple of agents from our Los Angeles office. We think that THRUSH has a lab operating in an abandoned gold mine somewhere around Volcano, California that is utilizing the mercury, cyanide and arsenic that are natural byproducts of gold mining to develop cheap chemical weaponry to sell to the highest bidder. Your mission is to locate and destroy the lab." He handed the file to Vincenzo.
Celia asked, "I'm assuming they have already built and sold weapons. What about those?"
"Good question. The LA agents will be working that angle. It was their interrogation of an arms dealer that uncovered THRUSH involvement that they were able to backtrack to the Volcano area. You'll take over the search after you meet them in Sacramento to get any additional intel they may have uncovered after sending me this report. If you happen to locate any weapons while searching for the lab, inform King and Patterson so they can handle it. I want you two focused on destroying that lab. Any other questions?"
The partners exchanged glances. "No, sir," Vincenzo answered for both of them.
Napoleon nodded. "Good. Pick up your tickets from Travel; you're on a flight to Sacramento leaving in three hours. Godspeed."
The two agents stood to take their leave just as the door opened again to reveal the Russian, Illya Kuryakin. They stepped aside to allow him to enter, a gesture he acknowledged with the briefest of grins that was replaced with his usual expressionless countenance so quickly that one might have missed it entirely if not paying attention. "Good afternoon, Agent Kur...I mean, Illya," Celia said as they went out the door.
"Good afternoon," he said as the door shut behind them. Turning his attention to his partner as he went to his desk he asked, "Are they who you decided to send to California?"
"Yes. Since they arrived in New York, their success rate has been excellent. This is a more difficult affair then their previous ones. I hope they're ready for it."
MFUMFUMFUMFUMFUMFUMFU
Five days later…
Mark and April were at the firing range located in one of UNCLE's sub – basements doing one of their favorite things; competing against each other. They had a small cadre of Section IIIs standing behind them observing, several of whom held cash in their hands.
When one of the IIIs yelled, "Draw!" both partners pulled their weapons from their holsters and fired once at the target at the opposite end of the firing lane. They then removed their safety goggles and headphones and pushed the button that brought the targets to them. April's target had a bullet hole in the middle of the forehead directly between the eyes while Mark's target had a bullet hole in the middle of the throat.
"Agent Dancer wins!" crowed another agent, "All you losers who bet on Slate pay up!"
Mark glared at April's target, but couldn't hide the look of pride on his face as he handed her a twenty dollar bill. "Don't even gloat, Luv. My guy's just as dead as yours."
She tucked the proffered bill into her blouse pocket. "The bet was who could fast draw and shoot the bad guy between the eyes, Darling, not in the throat." She smirked and snarked, "Keep working at it, Darling. You'll do it one day." The agents drifting away laughed out loud at the jibe.
Mark leaned in so that the remaining agents wouldn't hear his reply, but before he could open his mouth, April's communicator chirped. She walked quickly to where her jacket hung, pulled it out of a pocket and responded, "Dancer."
"It's Napoleon, April. I need to speak with you and Mark in my office."
"Mark is with me; we're on our way." She disassembled the device and the two of them headed towards the elevator bank. "I think Napoleon is picking up some of the Old Man's ways; I swear he knows we're together."
"We're in HQ; where else would we be except with each other? I'll tell you this, Luv: Something is wrong, I could hear it in his voice."
When they entered Napoleon and Illya's office, April could see that Mark was right. Napoleon was sitting at his desk with one hand on his phone as if he had just ended a call. Illya was leaning over with his hand on Napoleon's shoulder, a gesture April interpreted as one of sympathy. He looked up as they came in and sat. "There is no easy way to say this: Agent Celia Lozada is dead."
Mark immediately put his arm around April's shoulders as she paled noticeably. "What happened?" she asked.
"According to Patterson and King, Lozada contacted them to say that they had found the lab, but before they could destroy it, they witnessed three men carrying out what they assumed to be chemical bombs. Lozada said she would follow them while Ferraro planted the explosives at the mine's entrance. Agent Patterson, in his role as senior agent, ordered her to turn on her communicator's homing signal and not to engage them until he and King met up with her. They either made her or she confronted them because when they reached her signal, she was dead in her car. Shot execution style. They caught up to the men using the license plate Lozada had given them when she started following the car. There was a shootout; Patterson and King survived, the bad guys didn't. When King checked their car, they found the suitcase Celia had described; it contained four chemical devices powerful enough to take out several hundred people."
Illya spoke up. "Agent Ferraro is devastated. He feels like Celia's death is his fault because he didn't go with her or insist she stay with him."
April cleared her throat and responded, "Is Vinnie on his way back to New York?" When the CEA nodded, she said, "I want to sit in on his debriefing, Napoleon. Please. I think what I have to say is something both of you need to hear."
Napoleon thought a second and replied, "Fine, I'll call you when we're ready."
MFUMFUMFUMFUMFUMFUMFUMFU
April and Mark were the height of professionalism as they walked from Napoleon and Illya's office to their own. Once they stepped inside and the door closed, however, April allowed Mark to hug her close as she shed tears for her lost friend and fellow agent. When she finally stopped crying, she stood wrapped in her partner's arms and drew strength from him. "Mark, sit. Please, I want to tell you something." They moved to their desks and sat. "Don't you ever base a decision about a mission and how to pursue it on me being a woman. Do we have an understanding, Darling?"
"But…"
April's frown stopped him from saying more. "Mark, I would be a poor partner if I left you to your own devices during an affair because you're a man. Stereotypes will destroy us if we allowed them to rule us."
"And, you're telling me this now because…"
"I don't ever want you to blame yourself if you survive a mission and I don't. Rule One of espionage is trust no one, a rule we break all the time, but Rules Two and Three are what are applicable here."
"And, those rules would be?"
April got up and came to stand next to Mark. Cupping his face with her hand, she said softly, "Rule Two is 'Agents die' and Rule Three is 'You cannot change Rule Two."
MFUMFUMFUMFUMFUMFUMFUMFU
Five hours later, Agent Ferraro was sitting in his CEA's office. Illya had vacated it to allow his partner to handle this most difficult duty of speaking with an agent who had lost his partner. April Dancer was also there and had listened impassively as Ferraro recounted what had transpired during the affair up to his arriving at the shootout scene and seeing his partner shot to death in her car.
When he fell silent, Napoleon looked at April and said, "Agent Dancer asked to be here so she could speak to us. April?"
April sat a little straighter in her chair. "Agent Ferraro, Vinnie; first, I am so sorry for your loss. Celia Lozada was a fine agent and her death is a blow to UNCLE. I, as well as Napoleon, have a partner who is very important to us so we have an idea what it is you are feeling. I want to say to you both: Please do not pile onto the grief you are already feeling the weight of Celia's gender. She was not a female agent; like me, she was an agent who happened to be female. Like me, she chose this life. Like me, she trained for this life and the same person who qualified both of you said she was qualified to be what she was. She and I bonded because we are the first women to be Section II agents. She loved being an Enforcement Agent. You both know that if she had been a man, the idea of splitting up so that one could blow up the lab while the other one followed the bombs would not have been second guessed by anyone. Vinnie, Napoleon, please do not blame yourselves."
"My partner knows that I had a moment of self – doubt brought about by small – minded people judging me. It was Celia who made me realize that the best way to shut those people up is to do my job to the best of my abilities. That's what she did. That is what I will continue to do. The women who come after Celia and me will do that, too."
Vinnie stood and extended his hand to April. "Thank you; I had not thought of things that way."
April stood and hugged him for a moment. "You're welcome, Vinnie. Before I go home, I want to stop into the Chapel to say a prayer for Celia's soul. Would you care to join me?"
Vinnie smiled and held out his arm. April put her arm through his and as they prepared to leave Napoleon asked, "Would you mind if I join you?"
Vinnie said, "I would be honored."
As they headed toward UNCLE's chapel, Napoleon thought, I used to think that having female agents would be a liability and losing one a disaster, but April has, once again, proven her worth by putting things in perspective. And, she's right. Agents die. All I can hope for is that it doesn't happen again anytime soon.