"It's a water tower."
"That's what I like about you I.K.," Napoleon chuckled. "You have excellent observational skills."
Illya resisted the urge to sigh. "The question implicit in my statement was, why are we standing beneath this water tower?"
The Russian hadn't had a chance to get all the details of the assignment as yet. All he knew was, he was to meet Napoleon near the small, rural town of Hope Meadow, where they would flush out a nest of THRUSHes.
"Intelligence got information to say that the flour mill here is in THRUSH hands," Solo told his partner. "They seemingly supply to the Purple Valley Bakery."
That was a name Illya new. After a near escape from a warehouse bearing the name 'Purple Valley Produce'*, he had initiated an investigation into occurrences of the name. It cropped up too many times for it to be coincidence. This assignment was obviously a result of that investigation.
"That still doesn't explain the tower."
"The whole town works at the mill," Napoleon explained. "From what has been observed, they all troop to and from mill in silent ranks."
"Including the children?"
"There are no children." Solo told him. "Yet at the last count, there were seventeen children under the age of sixteen."
Illya really didn't like to think what might have happened to them. The best case scenario would be that they were taken to one of the THRUSH schools. With a bit of luck, they'd be able to find them after the assignment was over and done with. The worst case scenario didn't bear thinking about.
"Since you don't appear to be coming to the point anytime soon, I'm going to assume that the water in this tower is turning the townspeople into mindless slaves."
"You can be so impatient Tovarisch," Napoleon sniped. "But yes, the water is laced with something, but I have a plan."
Solo explained that he wanted Illya to bring the tower down. Hopefully that would bring some of the guards their way. They would 'borrow' a couple of uniforms and head for the mill.
"I'm going with the supposition that the workers obey the orders of anyone in the right uniform."
"You know," Illya postulated. "It would be a lot easier if we were provided with the uniforms, instead of having to steal them every time. I never get trousers short enough."
Solo smiled at Illya's complaint before asking him if he had any explosives on him. Of course, he knew full well Kuryakin never went anywhere without his small personal arsenal. After a brief inspection of the water tower, Illya chose the optimum position for his charges. Napoleon watched on in awe as his partner clambered up and down the support struts. It truly did impress him just how agile the man was. Illya dropped back to the ground and suggested they find protective cover. Ducking down behind a large boulder, Illya grinned madly as he let his explosions go.
He'd set the charges in such a way that the tower would fall away from them. Not knowing what the substance in the water was, Illya didn't want to risk them coming into contact with it.
Napoleon pulled his special from its holster. "Showtime."
To be continued. . .
*Salad Spun.