Boats Afloat Affair
Chapter 6
The women headed toward the exit while the men went farther into the warehouse. As Gloria and Jo turned the corner, they ran into a group of Thrush. Schmidt was in the lead with Reese at his side. He smiled as he saw Jo.
"My favorite Russian whore," Schmidt said grabbing her chin as his men took her gun from her hand. Dropping it, he turned to Gloria.
"And what is this, Dr. Johns I still don't know what to make of you. Are you UNCLE or are they using you?"
Knowing they still had a chance if they remained uncertain about Gloria's place in this assignment. Jo decided to keep that uncertainty alive. "Dr. Johns is under UNCLE's protection Schmidt," Jo said trying to keep him unsure about Gloria loyalties.
The Thrush beside grabbed her while Gloria stood still not knowing what she should do. Jo pulled the men holding her towards her body, bringing her foot up and connecting with one man's groin, while sending her elbow into the other man's stomach. Once free, she raised her hand to karate chop the second man's neck but stopped when she heard the sound of rifle bolts being thrown.
The man that she had kicked stood up and kidney punched her, sending her to her knees.
Gloria seemed to wake up from her indecision and took hold of his fist before he could strike Jo again causing him to turn in an attempted to hit her instead. Jo managed to deflect his fist with her face, earning herself what would be a black eye in the near future.
The guards pulled her off her knees to face an irate Schmidt. "Where are your friends?" he demanded.
Jo stared at him defiantly but said nothing. "Remove her outer shirt; those buttons are probably explosives. I promise you, you'll talk one way or another but first I've other things to attend to," he threatened her, to which her defiance changed to a grin.
"Throw her into a cell in the basement and find me Solo and Kuryakin now."
Looking toward Gloria he added, "Her too until I figure out which side she's on." Then he left them to go back to his office.
The guards obeyed, throwing Jo into the cell causing her to hit her side on the sharp edge of a metal bunk. Gloria went to help her up, but stopped when she saw the blood seeping from under Jo's tank top.
"Why did you do that?" she asked as she moved to help stop the bleeding.
"Do what?"
"Stop him from hitting me by putting yourself in the way of his fist."
"I have told you more than once, my job is to protect you and that is what I intend to do."
Tearing a strip of cloth from the bottom of her own top, Gloria wet it from a nearby water bucket then helped Jo remove the tank top. Gloria saw her scars and pulled her hand away. "My God what happened to you?"
Jo could hear her start to gag as she tried to prevent herself from vomiting.
"Please do not concern yourself about them. Just stop the bleeding or give me the cloth so I may do so. As you had mentioned before, we do collect souvenirs from our trips around the world."
Jo knew she was being unnecessarily cruel to the woman but didn't care. It was essential that Gloria understand just how much danger they were in.
"I am sorry, I never knew," Gloria said as she returned to stop the bleeding. "Your eye is already beginning to swell and turn colors."
"Not the first time, Section Eight has all types of concoctions to hide it."
As Gloria pressed the cloth again the wound, she knew that she had been unfair to the agents she was working with. They were not overgrown children but dedicated men and women who were willing to give their all to do their job.
Once the bleeding stopped Jo said, "Look outside the door and see if anyone is there."
Gloria checked. "The hall is empty."
Jo forced herself to sit up on the bunk, then lifting her foot she removed the explosives from the heel of her boot.
"Push this into the lock," she told Gloria, as she handed it to her.
Gloria looked at it unsure of its safety.
"It will not explode until I set it off."
Once it was in place, Jo motioned her back behind the bunk before pressing the stem of her watch.
The door blew open with sparks and a poof. Jo kicked the door and the two women moved quickly from the room.
Down the hall, Jo removed one of her knives hidden in her boot because Schmidt's men hadn't had her searched completely. As they rounded the corner, a surprised guard met them. One fast throw of the knife and he was down. Moving past him, she recovered her knife and took his rifle.
As they turned the next corner, an arm slammed into Jo's throat knocking her to the floor making her drop the rifle and knife. The guard stood over her, his gun aimed and cocked when suddenly a shot rang out.
Gloria stood in the hall with the fallen rifle in her shaking hands.
Jo stood and retrieved the weapon, talking to her softly. "I know you are scared, but right now we need to find the guys. Gloria, come with me I sorry you had to kill that man, but I am grateful that you did save my life."
Slowly Gloria began walking in the direction that Jo had indicated.
….
Napoleon and Illya had seen the women taken captive but were on the other side of the building and were unable to get to them immediately. Circling around they managed to take out a number of other Thrush agents with sleep darts but it took a while to get to the door the women had been taken through.
Once they were able to get to the other side of the warehouse, they were unable to find a way into the locked passageway that led to the area where the women were taken.
"This isn't looking good," Napoleon told his partner who was still looking for the way into the corridor. "You still have the remote detonator don't you."
Illya rolled his eyes letting Napoleon know the question was not only unnecessary but insulting.
"Okay so it was a stupid question, after all you are the master of explosives. Any ideas on how to get to the girls?"
With a shake of the head to indicate that he didn't know, Illya began to look over another wall when a door suddenly appeared in what looked like a solid area and Jo and Gloria spilled out of it.
"They're right behind us and Jo's been hurt," Gloria yelled, the first real words she had spoken since she had killed the guard.
"I'm fine let's just get out of here," as she drew Napoleon and her brother's attention toward the corridor behind her where Thrush guards were beginning to appear.
Now that they were all together, she gave a quick accounting of the basement area to ensure that the explosives the men had set would work.
Pulling her brother aside, she spoke softly, "Watch Gloria, she could go into shock." Illya looked at her questioningly
"She killed one of the guards as he was about to put a hole in my head."
Illya understood how emotional killing someone could be, and gentle took Gloria's arm pulling her along with him. He was surprised that she actually had shot the man but knew people would do unexpected things they normally wouldn't do when forced to.
Jo, Napoleon and Illya with Gloria headed down the rows of boxes hearing Schmidt and Reese yelling to get them or kill them.
Napoleon was moving the closest to the wall when he made a wrong turn and ran right into two guards whose rifles were pointed toward his head. "Stop there Mr. Solo," Reese said as he came up behind his men.
Napoleon raised his hands and stood still. Behind him was a row of boxes that were held up on the wall in a rope net.
"Kuryakins I hope you can hear me. I have Mr. Solo here and will shoot him on the count of ten if you don't surrender now."
"Illya. YA Riz v pole zoru i mozhe pryynyaty yoho. Chy mozhete vy otrymaty inshi okhoronets. (Illya. I have Reese in sight and can take him out. Can you get the rest of the guards)." Jo shouted in Ukrainian figuring that some of the guards might understand Russian.
"YA mozhu, zrobitʹ tse zaraz. (I can. Do it now.)" He responded in Ukrainian, aiming toward the closest guard.
Jo threw her knife but slipped on the wet ground as she stepped forward, sending it into the rope behind Napoleon.
The severed rope holding the net gave way allowing the cases it was holding up to fall. Napoleon heard them and moved out of the way before they landed on him. Her second knife hit Reese and she watched him drop; the blade still embedded in his chest.
Illya took out the other two guards then drew Gloria with him towards the exit. Once outside, the four of them met up while running toward a nearby car. Napoleon quickly hot-wired it then moved over so Illya, who was the best driver of the group, could take over the driving. Jo and Gloria piled into the back seat while Napoleon pulled out his communicator asking for backing up.
Illya drove up the hill towards the gate, ramming it with the car. Before they were too far away from the compound, he stopped. He went to hand the remote to Gloria. "Would you like the honor of destroying the warehouse and its contents that could destroy the world? You have earned the right."
"What about the men down there?" she asked not taking it.
"I am sorry," Illya told her.
"We have no choice. Everything must be destroyed." He aimed the remote pressing the button. The massive explosion echoed though the valley lighting up the night sky as they began to drive away
"I'm sorry that you had to see that," Napoleon said. "There are times we have to do things that most people would consider cruel. Those men knew what they were doing. Besides if it makes you feel any better, they'll be chasing us for a while," pointing to the car coming their way.
Thenhe turned to his partner after looking toward the destroyed warehouse. "Move it tovarisch, three cars full of Thrushes are heading this way."
Napoleon and Jo turned in their seats, taking up positions to allow them to fire at the cars coming up behind them. "Chert vozʹmi, I am bleeding again," Jo said as she turned.
Gloria tore more strips of cloth from her already tattered top and began retying the dressing around Jo's waist.
"This will hold you for a while," she said.
Before the cars could catch up, the reinforcements that were called for arrived and they were able to get away safely.
….
The group returned to the villa by plane after the rescue. Gloria slept most of the time while the agents filled out forms and paperwork. She didn't speak of the things that they had been through using sleep as an escape.
When the paperwork was finished, Waverly told them that they could have a few days to relax in the villa before they needed to return to New York.
Late the next morning, Gloria woke up in the master bedroom where she had spent the night by herself. When they returned the night before Illya had moved all his things to another bedroom, leaving her alone.
She could hear laughing and splashing from the pool out back and the smell of food cooking called to her. Moving to the window, she saw the three of them playing in the pool and trying to dunk each other.
It was so hard to believe that these were the same people who just a few days ago were responsible for the death of at least twenty-five people and the destruction of a number of buildings.
Anyone seeing them now would think they were the jet setters they were pretending to be. She could see not only Jo's scars but those of the two men as well.
Those scars were the price they paid for what she had mistakenly called their adventure-loving continent hopping. Perhaps they were like children at times but she now knew it was only a moment in their dangerous lifestyle.
Jo noticed her watching them. "Come on down, the water is wonderful. Besides, I need some help controlling these two."
When Gloria reached the pool deck, the food was being served.
"Good morning. I was surprised to see you swimming Jo. I thought the doctor told you no vigorous exercises for a while." Gloria said as she joined them at breakfast.
Napoleon looked at Jo who was giving Gloria a dirty look. "You told me that he'd approved you for swimming."
"I am fine, and this is good for me. Gloria another thing you need to understand about Section Two agents, we do not like doctors or their orders. We also always lie about what we were told that we can and cannot do after a visit to medical."
She then turned toward Napoleon, her eye now fully black from the punch she'd received.
"If you feel this is too strenuous then think twice about that other activity you want to do later. It is even more strenuous perhaps and it better be limited also."
"Well I suppose if you're careful there'll be no harm," Napoleon said.
"I thought you would see it my way," Jo smiled as she stood up and dove back into the water
After Jo and Napoleon had gone up to change, Gloria slipped into the water beside Illya, who was still in the water.
"I'm sorry that I was so uncooperative at the beginning of the assignment. I didn't understand what you agents went through. I can't believe that Jo was willing to protect me even after all the mean things I said to her."
"Our job," he answered simply. "I know this has been a bad experience for you. I am sorry it came down to you killing someone. We never meant for that to happen."
Gloria was quiet for a minute, "I'm not happy with the outcome, but I do understand why some things must be. Thank you for caring."
"Illya," Gloria began carefully, "I, well I wish we could have been more like Jo and Napoleon."
"I do not understand what you mean?" He looked uncomfortable.
She placed her hands behind his head and leaned in giving him a kiss. "I would like to get to know you better."
He only took a moment before he pulled her closer. "I would enjoy that."
It wasn't until much later that evening that the four of them left for dinner and a night of dancing.
….
The night flight back to New York was long and everyone seemed to be sleeping. Napoleon and Illya sat in one section while Jo and Gloria sat in another.
Jo woke up when she felt Gloria moving around in her seat, "You okay?"
"I'm sorry if I woke you up. Just can't sleep." Gloria explained.
"Agents wake up easily, it is not a problem. What is wrong if I can ask?"
"You know that I was unhappy working with you in the beginning, then I saw what you do and what can be the results of your job," she waited until Jo nodded her understanding.
"Please don't take this wrong, but how do you live with it? Does it ever get easier? Do you ever get used to it?"
"I can only speak for myself. No, it never gets easier or nor do I get used to it. I still remember the first person I killed, I was only ten and it was either him or me in the camp I had been sent to. I have nightmares where many of the people who I have had to kill haunt me. I live with it because I must or I would go crazy."
"I'm having nightmares about the man I had to kill. What can I do about it?"
"Gloria, I am sorry that I have no magic formula to make them go away. They will fade in time but you will never forget. All I can offer is for you to remember why you killed that man. I will always owe you for that."
"I notice that you don't offer thanks when you save one another."
"That is part of our agreement. If we started to keep count, it would get too depressing. You are an innocent who became mixed up in this because our employer asked you to. We were there to protect you, not the other way around. I appreciate what you did for me."
Gloria thought about what Jo said for a while, "Can I ask you something else?"
"Sure."
''Is your brother always this serious, doesn't he ever go out and relax?" Gloria asked.
"If he has the right incentive, he does." Jo answered with the hope that perhaps Gloria might offer that incentive to her brother in the future.
.
.
Author note: Special thanks for MLaw for support and encouragement.