Chapter 3
The phone rang in the office Napoleon shared with Illya. He was waiting to hear from Caitlin and Illya; Caitlin to tell him that Lexi had made it safely to his steady girlfriend's apartment in the city and from Illya, who as call to when he could get out of medical. Both of them were taking their own sweet time to call him, but it gave him a chance to get some paperwork done.
"Solo here," Napoleon said pleasantly and put his pen down.
"Sir, you have an outside call coming in. The standard sweep for listening devices was done and none noted." The operator at headquarters finished as per routine. "Are you accepting calls at this time?"
"Yes, put it through on a secured line." Napoleon heard a soft click in the earpiece and he was connected to an outside phone on what sounded like a busy street in the background, making it hard to hear who was on the line. "Hello, Solo here."
"Napoleon, are you there?" Caitlin's questioning voice sounded concerned to his trained mind. Something felt instantly wrong.
"Yes dear," he said calmly, hoping that he was just overreacting. "Have you met with your party for the afternoon?"
"That's just it. My friend is over an hour late and I haven't seen her yet." Caitlin's voice became very still. "I was hoping that you're going to tell me that she was running late from the office."
"No," he whistled softly through his teeth. "She may have gotten caught in traffic. Give her another half an hour and then head home. Maybe, she went there directly? I'll check it out from this end. Thanks for calling me and I'll let you know if she returns here."
"Yes darling," Caitlin's voice flattened out with a touch of concern hidden within it. "I haven't got a chance to visit with her much lately. I'll let you know if she shows up for our shopping trip, goodbye."
"Goodbye." Napoleon hung up the phone, leaned forward to rest his elbows on the desk and proceeded to run his fingers through his hair. "Well, Miss Lane, you certainly are a piece of work. Now I have to get Illya out of medical and find out where the hell you are this time."
Napoleon slowly sat up from his desk, picked up the phone, dialed a number, and asked Heather if Mr. Waverly was in his office.
"He's been waiting for your phone call for quite a while."
"I figured as such," he said with a frown. "Tell him I'll be up presently after I make a few phone calls and get Illya from goofing around in medical."
"Yes Napoleon, I will tell him."
MFU/MFU
Consciousness came slowly to Lexi because her head decided to pound out the latest Beatles tune. Through closed eyes, she did a quick check of her surroundings: oxygen tubing running in her nose, tape from an IV tugging at her hand, rough bed sheets, and a noise of a heart monitor in the background.
"Dr. Lane," a man's voice called out to her. "It's time for you to wake up and talk to me."
Lexi drily swallowed and forced her eyes open to actually look around the room. "Where am I and why did you call me Dr. Lane? I'm a secretary for Mr. Dixon's office in the Paxton Building…"
"You are at THRUSH Central infirmary and I'm Mr. Geerson, your host." He smiled at her for her believability and training. "And, I know that you are from UNCLE headquarters, a chemist, possibly a Section Two agent, and have just given the best death performance on record for my informants' benefits."
"Moles as in plural and not just one mole, Mr. Geerson," Lexi stated in a raspy voice. "You're very observant. No wonder you're the man running the show."
"Coming from you, I will take that as a compliment." Geerson grabbed the hand control and started to raise the head of the bed. "Now let's get you comfortable so we can talk."
The motion of the bed caused Lexi to jump from the pulling ache it was causing to her wounded side while she continued to take in the rest of the room and herself. Her thoughts were still muddled from the knock out gas that had engulfed the cab.
The bright lights in the room that they had turned on were blinding. Lexi noticed that she was, yet again, in a thin gown with nothing else on. All of her special toys were gone, she thought, and her wounded side felt even more painful than before.
"We were surprised that Waverly and Solo were so sure of themselves, that they'd let you just stroll out of Del Floria's without a second look. We couldn't resist in offering you a special invitation so we could finally meet. Your reputation is impressive, Dr. Lane, or, can I call you Monica?"
Geerson chatted casually while he watched her trained eyes look around the room, to herself, and finally up to see what was in the IV solution.
"Oh, don't worry, we realize that you were still hurt from that nasty explosion meant for your pig of a boyfriend and still needed some medical attention. There's nothing but saline in that bag and oxygen in the tubing. The doctors say your side is healing well despite your little journey outside this afternoon and our tranquilizing gas. UNCLE should really be more careful with their injured agents…"
"What makes you think that I'm not just a clever decoy?" she asked softly, her eyes began to focus better and the headache was clearing up. "Maybe you were meant to find me so the real one could get away?"
"No, my dear, I think not this time," he shook his head. "There's too much evidence out there to point to you, I'm afraid. Even if you were a 'clever decoy' as you say, I know that you have a close relationship with our much hated Section Two, Number Two agent. We at Central, have a special spot in our hearts for him. In fact, we tried to love him to pieces."
"He's my superior, not my boyfriend." Lexi gave Geerson a cold hard stare, much like her Russian counterpart and then shut down all expressions. "Can I have a drink of water?"
"But of course, my dear." Geerson smiled after the stone wall fell across her face and signaled to a medic to get a glass of water. "I think that I'm going to let you digest all of this and allow you to get some rest. I still have to check on a few things before we continue our little chat. Oh, I will warn you that if you refuse to help us, your health and accommodations will become less hospitable."
Geerson laughed out at her refusal to comment or react to his last statement. He took her straight forward stare and stiff body as signs that she was truly a trained Section Two agent and then turned to the medic.
"Keep our guest here somewhat comfortable. Get her to drink and eat so that she has the energy to continue our discussion, but not strong enough to get away. No pain medications. I have to go to the lab and then to my office for a little while. I know that UNCLE will be aware that she has been taken by now. We need to know how they'll respond."
"Yes sir."
MFU/MFU
Napoleon entered Illya's hospital room to see his blond partner sound asleep. "Illya, wake up. This is not time to sleep. You should have been out of here at least an hour and half ago."
Not being able to arouse Illya by his voice alone, Napoleon did something he normally wouldn't do and shook his partner's shoulder, but got no response. Odd, he thought, picking up his current medical chart and noticed an additional medication given along with the antibiotics since the last time he had been in the room.
"Constance," Napoleon said in a hiss of frustration, pushing the call button. "Of all the times to knock you completely out…Constance!"
"What is all this yelling in here, Napoleon?" Constance asked when she walked into the room and switched off the call light. "He's been sleeping soundly for about an hour or so now. I don't want to wake him up. He's been through a lot and may still have that drug running through his body. Dr. Samuel didn't want him to leave medical right now, not after this morning."
"Mr. Waverly wants him up in his office right now to help with an issue," he said, battling with her. "Now, give Mr. Kuryakin something to counteract the sedative so we can get going."
"But, the doctor…" Constance started to argue her actions with him.
"I'm the CEA and I'm sure that Mr. Waverly will tell you the same." Napoleon threatened as he stood face to face with the head-strong nurse.
"I will call Dr. Allen and get an order." Constance gave in and turned from the room. She was smart enough to know when to pick her battles with Napoleon and this wasn't one of them. She just hoped that Illya would understand that she was under doctor's orders when she sedated him.
MFU/MFU
"Well, Monica, you are looking better." Geerson gleefully smiled when he entered the medical detention cell with papers in his hands. "See what even an hour of additional rest and proper care will do for a person."
Lexi was no longer in the bed, nor did she have an IV in her arm or oxygen tubing around her nose and ears. Playing up her weakness, she sat quietly at the small table with her blank expression and she idly played with the dressing on the top of her hand.
Geerson sat down, opposite her, and placed his papers before her. Her eyes traveled to them briefly and then back straight ahead. Her blue eyes were crystal clear and magnetizing to behold. They took his breath away while he held her unwavering stare.
Her expression stayed the same, but he could tell that she heard everything he had said and wasn't going to give out any information easily. He welcomed the challenge.
"I am here to connect the dots and register you in THRUSH's data base. I think that you've been connected lately with several plots to destroy our operations here in New York. Your special relationship with Mr. Kuryakin gives us an advantage into bringing not only him down, but UNCLE as well. But, that isn't the only advantage we have in having you here with us."
Lexi's eyes widened slightly, but she remained passive to his words. He watched her face with interest and then smirked. "You are so much like him. Did you two grow up together? Do you have some of the same training and skills as he? Similar state schools and commanding officers until you went to the KGB and he to GRU? Did he leave you behind to join UNCLE? But, then you were reported dead and now work for UNCLE as well didn't you?"
Still, there was no response or acknowledgement from her except only to break her eye contact with him and look down at the papers.
"I could simply give you over to the agents in enforcement who would love to wave you in front of Solo and Kuryakin and when they killed the dynamic duo, they'd simply end your life as well.
"Once again, like Kuryakin, you've undeniable talents in the sciences. Chemistry for you and your boyfriend favored quantum physics and explosives. Quite the pair of highly trained spies?"
"How did I find all this out?" The man asked rhetorically. "I remembered a vague request come across my desk to contact our people in the Soviet Union for information on Alexana Kuryakin by a now dead operative, Mr. Davis. Then, another similar request for Alexana Kuryakin's history was asked by Mr. Graff. I wouldn't have made the connection if I hadn't handled both the requests personally."
Giving no reaction to all of this, Geerson pulled a medical file out of the bottom of the pile. Lexi had gone back to staring straight ahead, but with the smallest smirk on her lips and her eyes sparkled brightly. "Alexana Kuryakin is dead."
"This is our new file on you, Miss Monica Alexis Lane," he said and opened up the thin folder. "I've your real name in here as well, the physical exam we conducted on you while we waited for you to wake up, some labwork on your blood, and your formulas. Oh, and this notebook, I assume that's yours. I've had the lab boys check the formulas that were in your desk that we've just recently appropriated and they are all missing a key ingredient or process."
That brought a brighter smile to her face, but no comment.
"I compared it with this recovered notebook and realized that the handwriting was the same, but the true formulas are in an unknown language. I found someone in cryptology that had worked with Mr. Davis and remembered trying to break the code, but to no avail. I have her working on it again. We'll find out what's in those notes of yours with or without your help."
The room was silent for a few moments as the battle of wills continued.
"I also have a sample of Mr. Kuryakin's blood and it's got the same unknown chemical that Mr. Graff's had. I assume that's why Graff wouldn't bring you in himself. I believe you were on the plane with him."
"Couldn't harm me, he loved me too much." She said smoothly. "He would die first."
"And so he did. Is it the same for your loverboy?" Geerson asked and then he thought about it. "Or just the opposite, you don't want him to care about you. So, that we wouldn't have extra leverage to use against him when UNCLE tries to gets you back, smart girl."
"I know of an agent to a great man in the French Government." Lexi started to tell a story out of the blue in a French purr. "This great leader and this agent had a forbidden love affair that supposedly only the two men knew anything about. An unnatural love that if found out, would ruin all involved."
Geerson's face paled, suddenly drained of blood. He intently listened to her story and sat stiffly upright in the chair.
"Bad people found out about them and sent a young "boy" to offer a proposition to this great man that they would ignore this secret relationship if this man would do what was asked of him from time to time. The man refused to be a pawn in the spy game that would've let him exist the way he had before.
"The great man's life was taken by this young 'boy', but not until after the love affair was exposed, the younger man's reputation was destroyed in Paris, and most in other governmental circles around Europe, just as the scandal made headlines."
Shock and anger filled his face when Lexi finished the story with a wolfish look on her face and an evil grin on her lips. His reaction was instant when he backhanded her across the face; sending her to the floor. She chose to stay there after Geerson stood up over her, clinching his fists, and trying to control his urge to kick her.
"Take her to an interrogation cell. She's no longer deserves special treatment from us." He growled and he paced the room to release his anger. Two medics picked her up from the floor and started to walk her out of the room. "Be careful with her, she maybe pregnant with Kuryakin's baby. I haven't got that lab result back yet to tell me otherwise. Have Dr. Nimmons meet me there in twenty minutes."
Lexi let the men hold her by her arms and didn't resist, but merely continued to smile at Geerson while they lead her from the room.