Chapter 4
When reaching the labs, Illya deactivated the alarms on the door, allowing them to enter before heading for the safe that contained what they needed.
Once he opened it, he grinned.
"I love how they always label everything so nicely," he said, passing the contents, tapes and notes to his companions, while he focused on the samples.
Each of them went to their assigned tasks while Stephen kept watch.
Jo loaded the data tapes, beginning to copy them. Napoleon began photographing the pages of notes while Illya moved under the ventilation hood and labeled new vials in which he put some of the samples In less than fifteen minutes, they completed what they set out to do.
Placing all the items in a gym bag, Napoleon handed it to Jo.
"You and Stephen get this out of here and back to the camp. We'll place the charges and follow you when we're done."
Though unhappy about leaving the two men, Jo knew it was her responsibility to get the information out so UNCLE could use it to fight this virus. With a quick kiss on both the men cheeks, "Be careful and safe."
"You too." They answered together as Jo and Stephen left with the collected information and samples.
….
Napoleon placed his explosives throughout the lab, while Illya set his in the side passages. The met once their task was completed, and headed out to escape before the explosions began.
They encountered a delay as two guards, ducked into a shaft to have a cigarette.
"This new alert was really unnecessary in my opinion. Why the colonel thinks a few UNCLE agents could take on a whole building full of Thrush?"
"I don't understand," one of them said.
"You don't have to understand just do it, if you want to keep living," the other guard said lighting a match.
"What's that?" He asked looking the small black box sitting in the corner, a red light flashing.
The two men looked at it more closely.
"It's a bomb."
When guessing it was an explosive; they turned, running for the alarm. After hitting the button, one of them picked up a nearby phone.
"There a bomb in tunnel A-2."
….
An alarm blared to life, screaming out a warning as more Thrush began pouring out of the doorways, most heading toward the two UNCLE agents who took off running toward the exit.
As they hit the fork in the corridor, each entering a different one knowing they would end up close to each other as they exited, They each hit the ends of their respective tunnels too fast and their momentum sent them tumbling down the hill and landing on opposite sides of the ravine.
Illya found himself surrounded by small trees and bushes and was able quickly to hide in them. Napoleon landed in a grassy area with no immediate cover, except for a single large tree to which he quickly headed toward while shouting to his partner.
"You do still have the detonator?"
"It went flying along with my gun. I think it landed nearer to you."
The sun had already risen when they exited the caves. Illya moved quickly to cross to the other side of the ravine to help his partner search when shots sent him back into the bushes.
"I'll get them, you get back to camp." Napoleon yelled ducking for cover in the thin bushes he had been able to reach.
"Napoleon, you know that is not going to happen."
"I'm ordering you to go. Follow my damn orders for once, you stubborn Russian."
Napoleon heard the noise just before the cold metal touched his neck.
"Stand up slowly, Mr. Solo." The leader of the group recognized him from the pictures the Colonel had shown him.
Rising slowly, Napoleon turned to half dozen rifles aimed at him. "Where's your partner?" the guard standing before him asked
"Partner? What partner?" he said hoping to give Illya time to escape.
"We heard you calling to him as we approached," he following the comment with a violent backhand across the agent face.
Napoleon said nothing as he focused on the taste of blood inside his mouth.
"Find the other one!" he ordered. "And take this one to the dungeon."
"Always wanted to see a real one," Napoleon said as they cuffed his hands behind him tight enough that they cut into his wrists. He winced but remained silent as they pulled him along the path heading up to the tunnel he just left.
"By the time we're done with you Mr. Solo you'll be more than happy to tell us what you and your friend were up to."
….
Illya watched as they led his partner back inside. Without a gun or detonator, he had no way to help him.
'Napoleon got his way,' he thought to himself. He was being forced to leave his partner, even though he didn't want to.
Aware that he wouldn't be able to attempt a rescue until after sunset: Illya knew his partner was in for trouble. With the Thrush patrols searching for him, it would be hours before he could make it out of the area, all the time worrying about his partner and what might be happening to him.
….
Arriving at camp, Illya headed toward Stephen's wagon. As he entered it, his face told Jo there was a problem.
"He is alive but in their hands. We need to get back, but I have to make a second detonator before rescuing him."
He hugged his sister. "We will get him back," he assured her.
….
Napoleon regained consciousness with a major headache made worse as he shook his head. The last thing he remembered was a needle being jabbed into his upper arm as he entered the tower.
He took in his surroundings. He tried while trying to move his arms and feet but found them locked in place in a medieval stock while he sat on a stool dressed only in his undershorts. Wires were attached to his chest leading to a monitor that beeped in time to his heart beat, and a blood pressure cuff was on his arm.
His surroundings obviously told him he was in a dungeon encircled by instruments of pain. Near one wall was an Iron Maiden, near another wall a rack was set up. In one of the corners was a large hole filled with water and a dunking stool sitting above it. There was a rack of whips and rods hanging next to a lit fireplace. All of them made him a bit nervous but the branding irons sitting in a roaring fire worried him the most.
"You have decided to join us, I see Mr. Solo. It's been a long time since we met, but I have been waiting patiently for this reunion since the Brazilian affair a few years ago. You caused me a lot of trouble. It's taken me years to climb back to where I was in the organization before your interference. You have information that I want, and I plan to get from you one way or the other." Colonel Hukovic said.
Napoleon turned his head toward the two men moving in front of him. The Colonel was wearing a tan uniform, shining black boots, and held a riding crop in his hands that he whipped, strike his boots
"I thought you were killed in the Brazilian explosion. If I knew you hadn't been, I would have taken care of you myself," Napoleon said needling him.
Hukovic's face reddened in anger, backhanding Napoleon but was stopped before he could hit him again by Dr. Polelsek who was entering the room.
Glancing at the data on the clipboard in his hands, the doctor said, "His vital signs are back to normal, you can begin."
Napoleon swallowed before revealing a cocky smile on his face, looking again at his surroundings.
"I see where Thrush gets its decorating ideas from, not my style but functional."
The Colonel walked around him, touching Solo's back with the riding crop making him shiver. "I see you have had a touch of the lash before." He said, noting some scars on Napoleon's back.
When he didn't get a response he spoke again. "We won't start with that. No, I've heard you escape very quickly when you can. I plan to make that impossible unless you wish to tell me where to find the rest of your group. I want to know what you took, and how many of these explosives you planted. The Colonel held up one of the black boxes Napoleon and his partner had planted.
Napoleon raised an eyebrow at the last comment, knowing that the one he held was one that Illya had set in place.
"Explosives? Sorry, I can't help you." He hid his surprise at the Colonel having found any of the devices.
Pogelsek handed the Colonel a thin bamboo rod, taking the Colonels riding crop and laying on a table beside a tamarind switch.
"Mr. Solo, I am happy that you have decided not to cooperate. The doctor would like to measure how much torture must be applied before an agent of your caliber breaks. I have discovered it's worse when you can't see when the punishment is coming. So…"
Napoleon was blindfolded and he felt the rod gently touching the soles of his feet, then his palms, and finally his back as the Colonel walked around him. When he was finally struck for the first time, he was able to remain silent. He was hit repeatedly across his back as well as his legs and feet.
The pain changed when the rod was changed to the tamarind switch. As the beating continued, parts of his body began to bleed. He could no longer hold in the groans that became louder with each hit.
The beating stopped unexpectedly.
"Well would you like to answer my questions now? Or shall we step it up?"
The Colonel's voice held hope that he could continue as he enjoyed causing pain and suffering especially for someone who had made once made a fool of him.
Napoleon didn't know how much more he could take but he did know he would do whatever he could to give the others to get to safety, taking the stolen materials with them.
"Sorry, it's against the rules." Napoleon finally answered the Colonel's question.
"I'm glad you're so stubborn, Mr. Solo as I'll completely enjoy this,"
Napoleon heard him take a few steps away, then returned quickly with a red hot poker in his hand, pointing it at the agents feet. Feeling the heat near his feet, he tried pulling them away, but they were held tightly in place.
"Are you sure?" The Colonel laughed, moving the poker closer to the skin.
Napoleon said nothing, not able to see when it would come. He just gritted his teeth waiting for what was about to happen. As the poker seared into his feet, he felt a scream building within him, but the pain overtook him before he allowed it to escape and the darkness took him away.
A bucket of cold water brought him back around.
"No, No Mr. Solo we must have you awake for the doctor's observations to be accurate."
Napoleon shook his head. The blindfold had been removed, but he remained on the stool, now with two Thrush agents standing in front of him.
"The doctor would like to see what type of response you'll have if you see the punishment coming. Hands."
He commanded the guards, who forced Napoleon's fingers open, flattened them out preventing him making them into fist.
The Colonel was handed another hot poker, this time in Napoleon's line of sight before placing it on Napoleon's open hands. The pain was so intense that the scream froze in his throat before he passed out again.