The Special Anniversary
Prologue
The night was warm for mid-November. Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, stood in front of the mirror next to the front door of his house as he tied his tuxedo bowtie making sure it was perfect. He rubbed his right shoulder as it ached a bit from a bullet he managed to live through last year. At 59 years of age, he still considered himself suave and sophisticated as any secret agent in his league. As he looked in the mirror again, he said to himself: Who are you kidding? If it weren't for your wife you would have been dead long ago. Thinking of 99, his junior by 10 years and his junior agent by only two years, Max could not help but smile. The reason he wanted to look his most suave and sophisticated was that tonight he and 99 would be celebrating their 21st wedding anniversary.
The anniversary was to be a celebration and was planned by their two eldest children, the twins, Zachary and Maxine. Originally planned last year, it did not quite come to fruition; so Zach and Maxi planned again and this year went off without a hitch. First they would all have a celebratory dinner with friends and family at their parents' favorite restaurant and then close family and friends would return to their house for a nightcap. Their parents were not aware of the last surprise: a night with no interruptions in the honeymoon suite at The Washington Plaza Hotel. Zach, Maxi, and Avery would all stay at home and be sure to tend to little Zoe Abigail their almost 4 year old sister.
"You are simply the most handsome man I ever fell in love with," 99 said standing behind Max as she gazed at him in the mirror.
Max smiled at her reflection and assumed a debonair pose.
"Why, thank you, my darling," Max responded as his wife drew near to him. He turned around and she immediately straightened his bowtie.
"Navy blue always looks good on you, Love," 99 said kissing him as she pulled him close to her. "When you do wear clothes…"
"99! Shh….the kids," Max said pointing up the stairs and secretly loving when 99 talked dirty to him after all these years.
99 had fallen in love with Maxwell Smart since the first day she set eyes on him and had heard about his many courageous exploits as a top CONTROL agent. In all their years together her love for him had never wavered, it had only deepened. Even when she realized that Max was not as adroit as he was reputed. Her love never wavered. Together they had had their share of doubts, but she knew he loved her in the way she loved him…always.
"You are so beautiful, my darling," Max said as he pulled away from his wife and drank in her tall svelte form. Max had not always been able to say to 99 what he deeply felt. However, as his confidence in her love for him had grown he had been more courageous. They could have lost each other more than once or twice during their working together let alone in the last year. So, Max had been determined to express more openly to his wife how he much adored her.
At 49, Max's wife was still a stunning woman. She still had long dark brown hair with no gray. Tonight her thick brown hair had been swept up in tendril curls on top of her head. A jeweled barrette sat in the middle of her head holding the volume in place. She matched her husband dressed in a long dark blue sheath which brought out the blue of her eyes. The gown's thin overlay was rhinestone encrusted and draped over the low cut décolletage barely concealing 99's cleavage. Maxine had chosen the gown when she and her mother went shopping the other day for their formal dinner clothes.
They stood staring into each other's eyes and fell into kissing again and enjoying the temporary peace and quiet before all four children sauntered down the stairs to accompany them to dinner. 99 stood back in her husband's embrace and began to enumerate what they had survived in the past year.
"It is so wonderful to be celebrating with our entire family. At least this year turned out better than the last one…"
"Yes, this past year, 1989, has been bad and good all at once," said Max scowling as he thought back to the tumultuous year they had spent.
"Are you feeling ok, now, darling," asked Max.
"I am feeling better and stronger all the time, Love. No need to worry. The doctor gave me a clean bill of health last time," 99 smiled back wrapping her arms around Max's neck. She was so grateful to him because Max had been there every step of the way even when she felt she could no longer face her battle. She kissed him again and Max responded instantly deepening the kiss she gave him.
"Ahem."
"Oh, Zach…children," Max and 99 answered together embarrassed that their children had caught them at such an intimate moment.
All four children reacted differently when they caught their parents at moments like this one. Once upon a time, Zach, Maxi, and Avery would giggle just as Zoe was doing right now. Now, Avery rolled his eyes. Zach and Maxine just smiled and looked away. All the happenings in the last year had affected all the Smarts not just their parents. Knowing what the family had endured in the past year, the children were grateful to still be privy to a private moment between their parents when either one could have been lost from the events of last year.
CHAPTER ONE
"What do you mean he's been lost!" 99 exclaimed to the Chief of Control slamming her hand on his desk.
"I mean we have not made contact with him or his partner since he crossed over to East Germany," Chief said as he laid a comforting hand on 99's as it sat on his desk.
"No, I know he's not lost! I would have known had something happened to him. I would feel it here," 99 said softly as she sat down and laid a hand over her heart.
It was early January 1988, East Germany was just as Communist as ever and supported KAOS in all its domestic transactions. With the 1988 Summer Olympics coming up there were rumors of sabotaging other country's athletes. Rumblings of reuniting Germany had begun. People were sick at heart of the separation and with the happenings in Poland of Lech Walesa, CONTROL had to be prepared for anything. Max had been sent to East Germany to retrieve a kidnapped USA born gymnast whom KAOS had kidnapped to participate as a member of the East German gymnastic team.
Max did not travel alone but accompanied by a young woman who was also close to 99. Max and 99's daughter, Maxine, was now a young woman of 18. She was an accomplished dancer and a part time gymnast having studied both things privately. She had also attended spy camp since a little girl and recently became a trainee with CONTROL while attending college. Normally CONTROL would not send a father and daughter on an assignment together, but Max was not about to trust his daughter to some other agent no matter who had been assigned. Besides this was supposed to be one of/or the last mission Max was assigned before he became Chief of CONTROL at the current Chief's retirement.
99 folded her hands on the Chief's desk and put her head down praying that both her husband and her daughter would be fine and return safe. She knew Max would never let anything happen to their daughter as sure as he had never let anything happen to her when she and Max were partners. 99 knew, of course, as Maxine did that many times 99 was the one who got herself and her father out of trouble. Maxine felt confident that if it became necessary she could do the same thing. 99 knew that the Chief was relieved, too. He was grateful that the little bit that Maxine had inherited from Max did not involve thinking on her feet.
The cover, of course, was that Maxine had arranged to take the place of another gymnast on the East German team and her coach (Max) had arranged to catch up with the team in Germany to prepare. While in West Germany they would sneak their way past the wall into East Germany and make their way to the East German training facility and abscond with the American gymnast.
"The last time I had contact with Max he and Maxine were on their way to the facility. Their papers got them admittance to the other side of the wall. They were driving in a German domestic car and it was a good thing that both Maxine and Max speak fluent German because it made the admittance much easier. They were just inside East Berlin and then the phone went dead. I thought I could detect gunfire, but I could not regain contact after that."
"I know, Max, he probably was spotted. He would abandon the car and lie low until he and Maxine feel they are safe to move. They are probably moving on foot because the car would make too much noise."
"Well, I want to send another agent over there to find them but I do not want to run the risk of ruining their cover," Chief said pinching the sides of his nose with his fingers.
"Chief, I could go…" 99 piped up.
"No, 99, absolutely not! Zoe is just a toddler. I cannot allow that." Chief commanded sternly but not loudly.
"Chief, Zoe can stay with you and my mother. Zach is at tech school and Avery is very capable of getting himself up for school. My cover could be none other than the other gymnastic coach who is married to Max and oversees the training of Maxine. You know how the European Gymnastic coaches are always married to one another," 99 reasoned.
"Well, let me think it over," Chief said. He knew 99 may well have been onto something. It was really no coincidence that he had made her Max's partner all those years ago. It had been partially 99's desire and partially Chief's knowledge of Max and his sometimes less than perfect methods of solving KAOS issues.
Part II
"Agent T89 calling CONTROL, Agent T89 calling CONTROL..come in CONTROL.." Maxine Smart incessantly spoke into her concealed shoe phone. Her agent number was T for "teen" and combination 89 was Control's signal that she was the daughter of Agents 86 and 99. Similarly, her twin brother's Zach's agent number was T98. T was for "teen" and combination of 99 and 86 so to designate the son of Agents 99 and 86.
Maxine continued her litany as she sat on the ground in the middle of a field surrounded by bales of hay. She was cold and she was very worried about her father who had been shot in the shoulder. Max had told his daughter that it was the second time he had been shot in the shoulder, but that he would be ok. The first time was way back on San Jirman Island the time he chased after her mother when she was to marry another man. Maxine remembered the story many times and loved to think how romantic her father's reaction to her mother marrying another man had been. However, that time Max had said it had been just a flesh wound. She kept looking at her father's pale and sweaty face and how he was beginning to shake with fever. How could he think it wasn't serious? He was her dad, Maxwell Smart, one of the most famous agents of CONTROL and filled with such overblown self confidence that Maxine knew he was just trying to keep her from panicking.
Maxine was not alone with her father, however, they did arrive at the training facility and gained access to the locker rooms and exercise floors where each piece of apparatus had been sturdily installed. Initially their objective, gymnast Amelia Lochnario, an American gymnast of Italian descent, was rehearsing her routine on the uneven parallel bars. Amelia was slightly smaller than Maxine just under 5'2", but other than that the resemblance was remarkable. Amelia and Maxine could have been twins when looked at from a distance. Each girl had their very long curly black hair twirled into a bun with all types of colorful clips and bobby pins to keep it from interfering with their exercise routines. The only difference was that Amelia's face was pale and her eyes a bit red from crying and lack of sleep from her captivity.
When Maxi and Max had entered the training area and upon seeing her almost doppelganger, Maxine held up her hand and waved as a friendly gesture so no suspicion would be aroused. Amelia waved back and gave Maxine a wan smile.
"Amelia Lochnario?" Maxine asked.
"Yes, who are you?" Amelia asked in return shocked at the resemblance.
"I'm Agent T89, Maxine Smart, of CONTROL. I am here with my dad, Agent 86, Maxwell Smart Senior Agent 86 also of CONTROL. We're here to take you home," Maxine said surreptitiously holding out her ID badge for Amelia to examine. Maxine had to wear a gymnast badge to even be admitted in the place, but when Maxine had gotten back to the hotel she slipped her CONTROL ID badge in back of the clear laminated pouch attached to her neck. She knew she would have to show her CONTROL identification to Amelia to be believed.
"How are you going to do that? KAOS people are disguised as trainers and are carrying small weapons in case they see you," Amelia whispered panicking.
"Don't worry. My dad is also dressed as a coach and he and I are both armed and trained in other areas as well."
"Now, this is the plan. It is fortunate we look so much alike. This should be easy," said Maxine confidently.
"What do I do?" Amelia asked wonderingly if this was truly going to work.
"Do you see that dark haired man standing beside the balance beam watching the other East German gymnasts?"
"Yes." Amelia said as she spotted him across the room.
"That's my father. He is expecting you. Once you talk with him he will lead you through the doors like you were going to the locker room. Once I see you go I will finish your routine and then walk out the doors and join you," Maxine explained as she powdered her hands preparing for her routine - Amelia's routine in reality.
"I'm scared, Maxine."
"Don't be. This has been well planned and well thought. Executing should be fine. Now go before too many people see us speaking together." Maxine said as she stepped in front of the lower uneven parallel bar.
"Thank you," Amelia said as she turned from Maxine and walked towards Max.
Max was taking in the sights of all the women and men twirling and whirling in the air, on the mats, and all around. It was almost like a circus. He briefly focused on Maxine has she performed Amelia's routine step by step. A proud fatherly smile crossed his face as he watched her. He was so engrossed by his offspring that he almost did not see her lookalike step forward.
"Agent Smart?" Amelia said tapping him on the elbow. As Max turned around he was astonished at the resemblance between his daughter and this young woman. They could have been twins.
"You must be Ms. Lochnario," Max said softly and started rubbing her shoulders as if she just came from an exercise.
"Yes, I am. Maxine said you and she were going to get me home".
"Absolutely. So just stay by my side and we will quietly go through to the locker room…" Max continued quietly and then in typical Max style went to step through the double doors which swung back swiftly and smacked him in the nose. He briefly looked around to see if anyone noticed and then proudly holding up his head began talking to Amelia as they strode nonchalantly as if he were her coach guiding his prize gymnast to a rubdown.
Part III
Maxine finished Amelia's routine once and then decided she should do it again in case anyone thought Amelia was not practicing. Luckily no one else wanted to practice their routines on the uneven parallel bars. As Maxine came around for a last pass on the lower bar, she happened to glance at Amelia's East German coach. Maxine quickly thought as she grabbed the lower bar as her feet swept the mat underneath her what now? Maxine, at once, fell off the bar and twirled around as if she were going to do the routine again. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that the East German coach had been satisfied that Amelia had not stopped practicing. As soon as Maxine dared, she briefly swept a look behind and saw the East German coach was nowhere in sight. Time to make my move she thought.
"Vhere are you goink? Mz Lochnario?" Unfortunately, the East German coach or KAOS coach had briefly watched Maxine without her knowledge and sneaked up behind her as she started for the double doors to the hallway.
Well, Maxine looked enough like Amelia from a distance, however, close up there were some differences which the large KAOS East German coach immediately saw upon one look at Maxine's face.
At once, Maxine surreptitiously pulled out her gun and put it in stomach, and quietly said, "I am going for some water, if you don't mind. I think I must have my bar routine a half dozen times. I think I'm finished with that apparatus. Say goodbye because I won't be back."
The KAOS man smiled and put up his hands and allowed Maxine to walk out of the double doors without a word or motion. Maxine knew she did not have much time and hoped that her father and Amelia were already out the back door. Maxine was disappointed to see that her father and Amelia were in the locker room and not through the back door.
"Come on, guys, we're going to have company. Your "coach" noticed I wasn't you and wanted to escort me to the next piece of apparatus." As she went to join them before the back door of the locker room which led to the parking lot, Max said, "Oh, how nice."
"Dad, I was being sarcastic! We need to leave now!"
"Right, Maxi. Amelia, Maxi…let's blow this joint."
With that Max, Amelia, and Maxine stepped carefully out the exterior locker door facing the parking lot and who knows what other surveillance had been trumped up.
PART IV
That brought them to where they were now. There had been a lot of company, and it quickly surrounded them. Apparently the surveillance cameras that had been installed as a precaution were too good and had picked up everything from the time Max and Amelia had left the double door gym. As soon as all three stepped into the parking lot guns started firing. Amelia kept hidden behind cars and trucks outside as Maxine and Max picked off KAOS agents with their .38's.
All of a sudden Max went down and Maxi summarily shot and killed the person who shot her father. There was one more out there, Maxi could feel it.
"Amelia! Help me! Dad's been shot!" Maxi screamed as she tried to drag her dad away from the continuing gunfire.
"I'm ok. It just brushed me," Max tried to say as he managed to take cover with his daughter and the gymnast.
"Let me see, dad," Maxi said as she tried to take her father's bloodied fingers away from the top of his arm.
"It's nothing."
"It is NOT nothing. Let me see," Maxi commanded.
"This is not a brush wound, Dad. I bet the bullet is still in there!"
"No time for discussion . Let's get out of here!" Amelia stated as she found an empty vehicle and hotwired it to start.
Max was fascinated. He could not even have hotwired a car that fast!
"How did you do that?"
"I wasn't always a gymnast, you know. I worked in my dad's auto shop for years when I was little," Amelia said proudly.
"Well, that's fantastic."
"Stop the chitchatting and let's go," admonished Maxine. She knew how sometimes her father became distracted at the little things.
"Right, Maxi," Max said and with difficulty got into the car.
CHAPTER TWO
For at least four hours they had traveled from the road to this abandoned barn. Maxine and Amelia half carried her father as his loss of blood was making him exceedingly weak. The barn looked like it had been used recently. Fresh animal dung clung to the hay packed into the stalls. Maxine found the cleanest stall and helped Max into a reclining position and changed the homemade dressing she had placed on his shoulder as Amelia had taken the wheel and driven like a women possessed through open roads. Maxi reversed the current makeshift bandage to the clean side.
"Honey, let me try…uh..," Max said as he attempted to take her shoephone from Maxine's hands. He heard before this trip that soon a real phone would be portable, but Max would always be attached to his shoephone.
"Dad you are not in a good condition. The bullet may not have exited. Any movement and it could move further into your body. You have lost a lot of blood. Let me do this," Maxine insisted as she knelt over her father. He was sweating profusely and the hay around him was quickly turning a dark crimson. He was shivering, so Maxine had removed her heavy coat and found a horse blanket as well to wrap around him and keep him warm.
"That's good. Thanks, honey. You're a good agent Maxi," Max managed as he put a shaking hand to her tearstained cheek. "Don't cry, honey. I'm been through worse than this. You can ask your mom. It will take more than a gunshot to see me off. Daddy's not going anywhere."
"You better not. Mom will kill me if you die. Hang in there daddy. We'll get some help," Maxi said attempting to not show her father her tears. She wanted to be like him. Tough when the tough got going. She went immediately back to her litany and finally a voice answered back.
Amelia sat silently by watching Max and placing a hand on his forehead every so often. She managed to find an old water pump and a relatively clean bucket and was able to get a little water so Max would not dehydrate nor she and Maxine.
"Chief? It's Maxine Smart," Maxine stated clearly.
"Maxi! It's Zach. Mom and the Chief are traveling to Germany as we speak to find you"
"How long have we been out of contact?" Maxi asked.
"Three days. Mom was going to go herself, but the Chief wouldn't let her because of Zoe and us."
"Three days?!" It certainly did not seem like it to Maxi whose only thoughts were of her father's survival and to get Amelia back to the United States. Had the sun set and rose three times? She could not be sure, but if her brother said three days, she supposed he was right. Maxi had been so preoccupied that she could not remember the last time they had checked in with headquarters.
"Listen, Zach. Dad's been shot in the shoulder. He's pretending he's ok, but I know he is not. He has lost a lot of blood. I can't move him because the bullet may move. I do not know where exactly I am, but maybe you can pick up my signal if I go outside. There has to be some way you can pick us up!"
"Maxi, calm down. Stay on the line. I can track your shoe. The tracking device on your shoe and Dad's shoe works by satellite, so we can usually track you anywhere in the world.
"Where are mom and the Chief going? Hopefully to CONTROL's German headquarters. We had a firefight with the KAOS agents staked out at the gym and that is why Dad's been hurt. They had better not attempt to go to the East Berlin practice center. They may be walking into a trap," Maxine stated worriedly.
"I think they were going to land in Paris and drive to West Germany and then see if they could get in from there. They were not going directly."
"Good."
"Is that Zach?" Max asked weakly reaching for Maxi's shoe.
"Yes, dad. He's covering for the Chief and…Mom," Maxi said carefully. She knew he would be furious when he found out that mom was on her way. One of Max's greatest fears since they became parents was that both he and 99 would be killed during a mission and their children would grow up without parents. Max started ease back a bit on that rule when three of their children were half grown, but since Zoe's birth Max's fear rose again. That was why they never took the same assignment unless they absolutely had no choice.
"Your mother…let me talk to him!" Max demanded finding enough strength to snatch Maxi's shoe phone.
"Zach, it's your father. Why is your mother coming? She knows how I do not want her to be away from you at the same time I am..oh," Max winced and laid back down on the cold ground and started to shiver again. Maxi took the phone and dared not show her fear that her dad might soon die.
"Mr. Smart, please calm down. You don't want that bullet to move" Amelia said.
"Hang tight, Maxi. I got your signal and I am going to try to transmit it to mom's compact phone" Zach said comfortingly.
"Thanks, Zach." Maxine waited while Zach began the transmission.
Part II
While Zach was working on transmitting Maxi's signal to 99's compact, Maxi and Max had a welcome visitor in the barn.
Speaking in complete German at first, the owner of the farm swooped in and it happened that Max had saved this man's life twenty years before when he was a misplaced CIA agent trapped on the wrong side of the wall.
"Max? Maxwell Smart?"
Max took a moment to open his eyes as the only way he was coping with the pain was by closing his eyes and concentrating on the thought of seeing his wife again as he listened to his daughter ramble. Maxi had a tendency to ramble about nothing when she was scared.
"Karvelas? Charlie Karvelas"?
"Yes… it's me. What are you doing here?"
"He's having a pony ride, man, what do you think he's doing?" Maxi asked sarcastically as she continued to panic watching her father's color come and go. She held her gun on him just in case he was not as friendly as he seemed.
" Whoa, I am a friend. You can put the gun down, missy. Are you a CONTROL agent as well?" Karvelas asked.
"Charlie…"Max panted. "Meet Agent T89 Maxine Smart, my daughter. Maxi, be nice, meet Charlie Karvelas a one-time trapped CIA Agent."
"Your dad save my life, right here, in this country a million years ago," Charlie said as he eyed Maxine. He noted that her East German Gymnastics jacket was covering Max. Charlie also noted the orange and brown warm-up suit. As carefully uncovered Max to check his wound he noticed that Max was dressed in a similar attitude.
"Obviously you were on a mission…posing as East German gymnasts, I'd say," Karvelas asked looking at all three of them. "Unless you were trading sides?" Charlie examined all three people in his barn. Max he would have known anywhere. He had not changed in twenty years. He looked at Maxine. She looked like Max enough to know that he and she were related. However, her brown eyes were large and deep. Maxi's dark brown hair was endless ringlets Charlie could tell because Maxi's hair had come down from the tight bun and clips she had put in for her disguise. She had Max's nose that was for sure, but with the combination of her other physical traits she was a very pretty young woman.
The other young woman who looked almost like Maxi was a mystery to him.
"Ok, I think I know who you are," Charlie said as he pointed a finger at Amelia.
"Amelia Lochnario. I am an American Champion gymnast who was kidnapped by KAOS. Apparently, Agents Smart are here to kidnap me back home. I am really happy to be here, Mr. Karvelas," Amelia shook his hand politely.
"Look Agent Karvelas…" Maxi began.
"Oh, I am no longer an agent. Just call me "Charlie".
"Maxi. Thank you for helping my dad. Can you get him to a hospital?" Maxi asked hopefully holding Max's hand.
"Sure. I can try, but he may be safer in the house. My wife is there. She is German and knows about my past. You'll be safe here. No one knows about me or this place. By the way, Olga doesn't speak English. You all do speak German, don't you?"
"German, French, Spanish, Swahili, Farsi, and, of course, English," Max strained to boast about his daughter. "That's my girl."
Amelia shook her head and said that she did not know one word of German. Charlie said that was ok he would translate for her.
"Daddy!" Maxi exclaimed gently slapping Max's cheek with the palm of her hand as Max stopped talking suddenly and closed his eyes.
"He's passed out, Maxi. Probably from the loss of blood. I drove my truck here. It's not far. Let's get him there."
Charlie Karvelas was a tall man with broad built shoulders. Maxi watched as his long legs bent down and his large arms picked up her father like a rag doll. Max hung limply in his arms. Maxi sniffed back tears and rose to follow Charlie out of the barn door. Amelia followed.
Chapter THREE
While Maxi and Max had been waiting for help in the barn, Zach had transmitted their location to their mother's compact. 99 was riding in a car with the Chief driving on the way to West German Control headquarters. 99 had hidden her tears all the way from the USA. The last thing she wanted was to show the Chief her emotional wife and mother side. She was a CONTROL agent first and foremost and although she had never developed an extremely hard shell and learned to turn it on and off as Max had there was still blood on 99's hands for those that she had killed in the name of niceness and goodness. Suddenly she heard the beeping of her compact. With shaking hands she found the compact and opened it up. In actuality, the compact was a mini computer decades ahead of its time.
"Zach! What's going on?" 99 asked as he saw her son's face fill the compact's mirror space.
"Mom. I found them. They are in East Germany in a barn. However their signal is moving due west. I think they may have found help," Zach said pausing before he told his mother the rest of the story.
" Dad's been shot in the shoulder and, if Maxi's correct, he's not doing too well. Don't panic, Mom."
Swallowing her tears, she said "Zach, I am Control agent, first. I do not panic. Now tell me about your dad and sister's location."
"Well, they are at 45 degrees latitude and 72 degrees longtitude somewhere in the middle of the country"
"Did you hear that Chief?" 99 asked. Just then the Chief and 99 were thrown forward as a car smacked into their car's rear.
Before The Chief and 99 could realize their car had been hit from the rear, there was a German officer at their window.
"Oh, vell if it isn't de Chief of Control and 99," said Siegfried, one of KAOS' top agents even after 20 years. Siegfried and Max had a relationship prickly at best. They were to have shot each other on sight, but after the fight grew cold each became a little more friendly knowing that if they killed each other the fun of hunting would be over.
"Siegfried!" 99 exclaimed as she rubbed her head. She looked at her hand to check for blood but luckily nothing was found on her hand.
"Siegfried!" The Chief exclaimed simultaneously. He also examined himself for bleeding, but he also found none.
"Yes, it's me. I am vondering is Schmart in trouble?"
99 did not know what to say at first, but then she realized a long time ago that Siegfried was a lot softer than he pretended. However, Siegfried answered his own question by saying:
"No neet to say further. I know he is in trouble. I may actually be able to help you."
"Help us?" 99 questioned.
"Yes. Help you. Although we are sworn enemies, I have a soft spot for your husband."
"No trap?" Chief questioned eyeing Siegfried and his manner trying to decipher if they were, in fact, being deceived.
"No. You can believe me." Siegfried said clicking his heels together and saluting.
99 looked at the Chief. The Chief looked at 99. They had no choice because both wanted badly to save Max, Maxi, and the mission. It was not lost on them that Amelia's parents were both distraught waiting back in the USA for any word of her condition or whereabouts.
"All right," 99 and the Chief said simultaneously.
"Goot. Please follow where I go," said Siegfried. "However, before you do that, let me tell you what I know."
With that Siegfried opened the back door of the car and got into the backseat.
"There was an alarm that went out from KAOS headquarters about the East German gym. They claimed that the kidnapped American gymnast was kidnapped by one dark haired man dressed as a coach and another similar looking young woman who resembled Amelia Lochnario incredibly. I assume that this was Schmart and your daughter Maxi. Am I correct?"
"Yes," 99 agreed. Here was someone who knew how much a husband and child meant to her. Siegfried had a wife, somewhere, and she knew he had a daughter in the US because Zach had apparently fallen in love with her - the fair and beautiful Gretchen Siegfried.
"Now, I am getting into my car. Shtarker will drive to the location of your 86 and your daughter. After we get you parked, we must return directly to KAOS headquarters. Not a word to them that I have helped you. Is dis clear?"
"Very clear, Siegfried," the Chief said. "Thank you."
"Very vell. Here ve go."
Siegfried was as good as his word. They found themselves miles out of town through the East German border where there false credentials were cleared immediately upon seeing who accompanied them. They finally parked in the front of a white austere building which looked like it had been constructed in the late 1800's. A woman in white walked out of the building and held the door open for them to enter. They walked to a desk where another woman in white sat behind examining a clipboard. She was around the Chief's age and looked like she had been working for a long time.
Speaking fluent German, 99 had asked if this building was a hospital. The woman responded yes and asked her if she could help her.
"I'm looking for my husband. Maxwell Smart," 99 said.
The woman looked at her clipboard and said distinctly, "Ve haf no Maxvell Schmart, here?"
99 looked at the Chief who said to 99 in English, "Could he be using an alias?" At that moment, she and the Chief turned when they heard a crying sound behind them.
"Mom! Chief!"
"Maxine!" 99 exclaimed as she ran to her daughter. They clung to each other until the Chief came and embraced her as well.
"Mom, dad is here, but he is going by the name Charlie Karvelas." Maxi said as she stood back to look at her mother and her surrogate grandfather.
"Charlie? The CIA agent he saved about 20 years ago in this very country?"
"Yes. It is a long story and I can tell you by the time we get to dad's room I will be done. I am so glad to see you Mom and Chief. I know dad will be, too." Maxi gave her mom's arm another squeeze and The Chief a kiss on his cheek.
When they got into the elevator, Maxi preempted her mother who had wanted to ask the obvious question of how her father was.
"Mom, dad is in intensive care. He has lost a lot of blood and the bullet moved when they tried to take it out of his shoulder. The surgeons are waiting until he is a little stronger before they go back in. He's on a ventilator to prevent his body from being overtaxed. He is in a medically induced coma so he can build up his strength."
Maxi saw the color in her mother's face come and go. Then 99 went totally white and was helped to a chair before she could collapse. In all the years the Chief had known she and Max this was first time that 99 had shown how vulnerable and how close she and Max really were. It was a testament to their partnership and their marriage that this closeness had endured over 20 years.
"Can I see him?" 99 asked hopefully. "I think he'll know I'm here even though he can't talk to me. Maxi what happened out there?"
"Why don't you go see dad first," Maxi said giving a sniffle. 99 stroked her daughter's cheek and for the first time noticed how her eyes were red rimmed and brimmed with tears. Before she went to see Max, Maxi's lookalike, Amelia Lochnario approached her and the Chief and spoke to them.
"Mrs. Smart. I am Amelia Lochnario. Your husband is a brave man. He took the bullet for me. I just wanted to express my gratitude at what you have done for me." 99 had risen and given Amelia a hug knowing that her parents would be glad that she was safe and on her way home.
The Chief interrupted this tender moment so 99 could have a moment alone with her daughter.
"Ms. Lochnario, I am The Chief of Control. I will be able to arrange for your trip back home in time to compete in the Olympics for your country."
"Absolutely. Thank you for what you have done."
The Chief gave 99 and Maxi a hug and then he and Amelia found the elevator down and walked away so that the Smarts could have a little time alone.
PART II
99 looked at her husband lying with the tube coming out of his mouth. Her tears could wait no longer. She wiped her eyes and took the chair that Maxi had formally occupied. Maxi had left 99 alone so she could get some coffee for the both of them and may be something to eat. She approached the bed where Max lie. His eyes were closed and his face looked like it was at peace except for the tube and the sound of the ventilator as he breathed in and out.
"Oh, Max, you were so brave to take that bullet for Amelia. I am so proud of you. I love you so much," 99 cried as she took Max's hand in hers and held it to her cheek.
Suddenly Max stirred at the sound of his wife's voice and touch of her hand. He turned his head as best he could and saw 99 and immediately tears welled up in his deepset brown eyes. He smiled as best he could with the tube shoved down his throat. He tried to move, but 99 held him as best she could with her arm around him tight.
"Don't move, Max, love. The bullet is still in your shoulder somewhere. The surgeons are waiting until you are strong enough to go back in and find it."
A tear fell from Max's eye and he winced from the pain. 99 rubbed his chest carefully and then carefully laid her head on it. Max eyes curled into a smile as he laid his hand on 99's chestnut hair. His eyes then closed and he seemed to be even more peaceful than when 99 had first seen him. It was almost like he said without words how happy he was that she had made it to Germany to see him.
99 closed her eyes and breathed with Max. She dare not move. She was afraid that if she moved he would stop breathing. 99 lay there for a couple of hours until the Chief came and patted her on the shoulder.
"99," the Chief said. 99 raised her head from Max's chest, looked to make sure he was still breathing and then turned to the Chief.
"Yes," 99 said wiping her eyes.
"I have made some hotel reservations down the street. Maxi is there right now getting settled. Amelia is right now on her way back to the USA. You should be proud of both your husband and daughter. They did very well. It was a great way for Max to retire from active spying. I am very proud that he will be the new Chief of Control"
"Thank you, Chief. Max is very proud to be the next Chief. He admired you so much. He loves you like a father. I love you like a father, too." 99 wept and went into the Chief's waiting embrace.
"I love you, two kids, too," Chief said letting his professional guard down and gently kissed 99's forehead. "Why don't you go on back to the hotel with me.
"No, I want to stay with Max as long as they allow me. Is Maxi ok?"
"Is Maxi Ok?" The Chief not knowing how to express how great an agent Maxi was at barely 20 years old started to boast, "She's terrific. Not only was she able to play Amelia Lochnario. She even fended off a bully of a KAOS agent. She shot three KAOS agents from a long distance including the one that put Max in that bed. That girl's got the best of both you and Max it seems. Plus she debriefed me about how Max got shot and how they got help. You probably won't like what I'm about to tell you, 99"
"Just tell me, Chief. I need to know." 99 pleaded taking the seat next to Max's bed once again and briefly glancing to be sure that Max was resting comfortably.
The Chief took the chair next to 99 and looked into her brimming blue eyes.
"Maxi said that as they were coming out of the East German Sports Complex that there was a gunfight. Amelia tried to help by staying low, but as she rose to follow one of the KAOS agents took a potshot at Amelia and instead hit Max as he tried to cover her. Max kept pretending it was a graze, but Maxi instinctively knew by all the blood and the pain Max was in that the bullet never left his body. They managed to find their way to a barn until someone discovered them. That someone was-Charlie Karvelas." The Chief paused before saying Max's savior's name because he knew that 99 held nothing but contempt for Charlie Karvelas.
"What the hell was he doing here? I thought he retired from the CIA after Max saved his life. Oh, that is what arrogant son of bitch I never wanted to see again especially after he threw Max under the bus."
"99, if it wasn't for him and his wife Max may not be alive right now!"
"Well, maybe Max was shot in the first place because of him. I never knew Charlie Karvelas to be sweet and beguiling without ulterior motives." 99 was distraught. The ploy that Max used to save Charlie Karvelas 20 years before was the same one Charlie used to entrap Max behind enemy lines only five years ago when they were fighting the new Mr. Big in KAOS. Luckily 99 was partnered with Max then because despite he sometimes seeing through the obvious Max definitely was not firing on all cylinders that time. It was 99 who saved them - as it was most of the times when she worked with her husband.
"Charlie wants to see you," The Chief said. "Maxi seemed real taken with him. You know she doesn't trust easily."
"True. All right but only after Max's next surgery and I know he'll recover."
"You drive a hard bargain, 99. However, I am sure Charlie and Olga will understand."
The Chief left then and headed back to the hotel leaving 99 alone with Max as he slept with the ventilator breathing for him.
Part III
Three days later Max was in surgery. The medically induced half coma had done the trick and built up his body enough that whatever blood he lost during surgery could easily be replaced. Maxi had volunteered to donate her blood as she and Max had the same type, but the surgeons deemed that unnecessary. They had plenty of A+ blood in the blood bank.
Maxi and 99 waited just outside the operating room in the specified waiting room. Maxi had been staying at the hotel with The Chief and the staff had found an open room for a 99 with an empty bed adjacent to the ICU where Max was. During the time that 99 had stayed with Max, she spent every waking moment sitting next to him and only went away from holding his hand or brushing his hair away from his forehead when vitals were checked or to go the hospital snack bar and grab a sandwich and talk to Maxi and The Chief. 99 constantly spoke to Max telling him how proud she was of him, how much everyone loved him especially her and even a couple of times reminisced about some of their more difficult missions. Sometimes she could swear that Max responded. One time he squeezed her hand and the other he moaned making brief eye contact with her.
On the last night before the surgery Max's alarms had sounded in Max's room signaling that he had stopped breathing and his blood pressure had dropped very low. The duty nurse came and woke 99 feeling that if Maxwell Smart was breathing his last that his wife ought to be there. As it turned out they were able to get his tube reinserted and his blood pressure back up to normal. To 99, it sounded like Max had come out of the coma and tried to disconnect himself in search of his wife.
"Mom?"
"Yes, Maxi, what is it?" 99 responded constantly wiping away tears and tearing at her handkerchief. The surgery could take 3-4 hours depending upon if the bullet moved or the surgeon could not manipulate it.
"I know you and dad love each other very much and you worked a long time together before you got married." Maxi said squinting her eyes up and looking a lot like Max when he was trying to think hard on a subject.
"Yes, we did. We worked together for five years before he told me he loved me and we got married. Why do you ask?" 99 who had been pacing back and forth came and sat down in front of her daughter and took her hand.
"Before you go on, sweetie, I just want to apologize. I have been so preoccupied with your father that I haven't spent much time talking to you about your first official assignment with your father."
"That's ok. I understand. I'm worried, too. Dad lost so much blood while we were on the run."
"Maxi, you met Charlie Karvelas, didn't you? Chief said you were really taken with him. Did your dad or he tell you what happened about 20 years ago?" 99 wanted to know if she knew the real story behind the relationship between Charlie and Max.
"I heard a little bit about it. All I know is that dad said that he saved Charlie's life when he was a CIA agent and stranded in East Germany."
"That's only part of it. Your father is not aware that Charlie almost blew your father's cover and got him killed in the process."
"He did?" Maxi rose now from her seat and began to pace back and forth in front of 99's seat.
"Then how did dad get out of it without knowing that Charlie was the real option of the mission?" Maxi paused in her pacing and then stopped in front of 99 and pointed at her.
"You figured it out, didn't you, Mom? You were always the brains behind the operation, I know. Dad never wastes a minute to brag about what a great agent you are."
"Yes, I figured out that Charlie was the set up that your dad fell for. Charlie was a double agent but he was also a good actor. Charlie is actually a defector in the opposite direction. How many men do you know who defect to East Germany? Yes, Charlie was a good actor. He had everybody duped except me. I noted inconsistencies in his stories to your father, but he only wanted to believe the good in Charlie. Well, to keep my mouth shut and not blow his cover, Charlie tried to come on to me when your father's back was turned. He wanted me to kill my own husband! He was not the first man to want me to do that and Charlie should have known how devoted I was to my husband and my country to betray them both. Luckily I outsmarted Charlie and he couldn't kill your dad or me without exposing that he was a double agent."
Maxi thought about that and sat down next to her mother and took her hand.
"Charlie is a good actor. He seemed so genuine. I wonder if his wife knows who he really is. Olga seemed like such a regular person."
"Oh, Olga was an agent also. She was the reason he defected."
99 squeezed Maxi's hand at Maxi's haunted look.
"How could you have known anything?"
Suddenly 99's tears spilled onto her cheeks and Maxi squeezed her hand harder.
"Don't worry. Daddy is strong and resilient. He told me it would take more than a little bullet to see him off."
99 smiled and kissed her daughter's forehead.
"You liked working with your father, didn't you?"
"Yes, very much. However, I know now why you and he clicked. I refuse to believe people or other agents when they say that dad was stupid or clumsy. He was no more clumsy than I am and I know that sometimes I get accused of being just like him"
"Well, your dad isn't stupid. He isn't always agile on his feet, but he is not stupid. I would never tell him so because it would destroy his confidence. He knows what kind of man he is. He's a good man who tries his best. He loved being an agent and I know he will make a great Chief. " 99 said her big blue eyes filling with tears. If he lives long enough to take the post 99 thought to herself.
"I waited almost all my life for something like this to happen. It scared me even when I was just his partner. However, I know that if I tried to protect him in a blatant way it would kill him….I love him so much. I just hope he comes through the surgery, so he can continue to do what he loves," 99 cried into her already shredded tissue.
Suddenly one of the surgeons came busting out of the double doors which separated the waiting room from the operating room.
"Mrs. Smart, Ms. Smart," the doctor said as he came to where 99 and Maxine stood. Upon seeing and hearing the doctor burst in they both immediately rose to their feet.
"What is it?" 99 asked trying not to panic. "Is Max all right?"
"Well, he may be, but he lost even more blood than the first time. The good news is that the bullet is out of his shoulder but he is going to have to rest before I allow him to go home."
"Is he out of surgery yet?" Maxi asked clasping her hands tightly together to prevent them from shaking.
"Yes, they are closing him up, but he is running a temperature. It seems the bullet may have caused Mr. Smart to catch an infection. Besides giving him transfusions we are giving him antibiotics."
"An infection!" 99 had to do everything not to crush Maxi's hand as she took it in fear of the doctor's words as she thought of Max lying alone in the hospital bed with a raging fever and no one to take care of him.
"Are we allowed to see him?" Maxi asked in a small voice hardly believing what she was hearing.
"Yes, but only for a few minutes. He'll know you're there and I don't want him to get overly tired. He needs all his strength for fighting the infection."
With those few words, 99 and then Maxi went into see Max.
Part IV
Three weeks later Max with the Chief, Maxine, and 99 all boarded a plane to the USA.
"It is so good to see you up and around, Max," Chief said. He gave his surrogate son a huge bear hug.
"Thank you, Chief. I can't tell you how glad I am to be going home."
"Well, you were very successful in your mission and you brought a most important new agent into the fold. Maxi is a credit to you and 99. She is going to be a spectacular agent."
99 sat next to Max on one side and Maxi on the other. Every once in a while Max leaned over and kissed his wife long and deeply. At other times he stroked Maxi's dark head and kissed her hand and mouthed "Thank you". He knew that without her quick knowledge of First Aid and her perseverance not to fall apart in a crisis he may not have ever made it.
The day before Max was released from the hospital, 99 paid a visit to Charlie and Olga Karvelas. She told him how glad she was that Charlie and his wife had helped her daughter and husband. When Charlie had gotten 99 alone he decided to test the waters with her libido one more time. With no danger from exposing himself as a double agent, Charlie thought maybe 99 had become sick of her clumsy husband and sought something more masculine. 99 slapped his face and in no uncertain terms stormed out of the Karvelas' home leaving Olga Karvelas wondering what had happened while she had been out of the room. Before she left Charlie, she promised that if anything of the recent event came to Max's ears or even if he implicated her in the affair of twenty years before, she would personally see to it that Olga's ties to the Communist party in the United States came to the forefront so badly that he would never be able to set foot in the United States again.
"Be sure, Charlie, there will come a time when you will be able to come home. So don't test me again. By the way, thank you for saving my husband and from me killing you where you stand," 99 then turned, closed their house door with finality. She breathed deeply and looked forward to going home with her husband and daughter.
