The Witnesses Duche55

Napoleon knocked softly first on the door and then let himself in. He knew Illya was inside the room and had learned the hard way when he was still a junior agent not to surprise a fellow agents.

The lights were off and he could see Illya's profile, backlit by the moon, against the curtains. It would be asking for trouble except the place was crawling with Section Two and Three agents.

"You okay, partner?"

Illya didn't turn from the window, but jerked his head in that affirmative. "It isn't every day you get to shoot a Section One head."

"I'd had suspicions about Harry Beldon for years. He was too greedy." Napoleon took off his jacket and folded it neatly over a chair. "I feel like I should be dancing a jig or something. We are better off without him."

"I worked with him in London and hated it. He was everything Mr. Waverly isn't. Whenever you left his office, you had the feeling he didn't care if you came back in one piece or not. At least Mr. Waverly cares."

"While complaining that it's too expensive to train a new recruit." Napoleon clicked on a bedside lamp and sat down. "I ordered for room service for us. Hope you don't mind."

"What do you think they will do, Napoleon?"

"What do you mean?"

"They need a Section One replacement."

"I suppose they will." The tie followed the jacket. Then he wiggled out of his shoulder holster. "I don't know how women do it." He rubbed a shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure it will come up in the conversation." Silence greeted him and he turned back to his partner. "Illya, what's wrong? You've been brooding since I came in."

The words came out in a rush. "What if it's you, Napoleon? What if they want to move you into Section One?"

He consider them and then shrugged his shoulder. "I suppose that's a slim possibility, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it."

"But the opportunities… You'd be a fool to pass that up." Illya returned to the night.

"And the stress and headaches. Besides. I'm slated for Mr. Waverly's spot and he won't want to give that up. I'm content to wait. Besides, I'm fairly sure Beldon was grooming someone to succeed him."

Illya finally abandoned the window and came to sit on his narrow bed. "Who will now be suspect given Beldon's actions. They'll want someone they can trust. They'll want you, Napoleon."

"Not too long ago, those same people thought I was a turncoat." He stretched out on his own bed. Closing his eyes, he recited,

But do not imagine we do not know,
Nor that what you hide with such care won't show
At a glance:
Nothing is done, nothing is said,
But don't make the mistake of believing us dead;
I shouldn't dance.

We're afraid in that case you'll have a fall;
We've been watching you over the garden wall
For hours:
The sky is darkening like a stain;
Something is going to fall like rain,
And it won't be flowers.

"W. H. Auden wrote that," Illya said. "I remember hearing that in class."

"Gary loved that poet and in particular The Witnesses," Napoleon answered. "He made us study it and critique it. At first I took it for surface value, thinking it was tell me that no matter how skilled I might become as an agent, I couldn't hide everything from everyone."

"And now?"

"I think it's about really knowing the people around us, not just as co-workers, but as people. We get so used to hiding that we can get to a point of being incapable of seeing and letting ourselves be seen. I think that was Beldon's mistake. He thought he was invincible and smarter than all of us. He wasn't as invisible as he wanted to be. That poem reminds us that we aren't as clever as we think. That someone is always watching."

"A little creepy when you put it like that."

"But a nice feeling when you think you have to do it all yourself. The truth of it is that I'm not ready to leave the field. Or, for that matter, you. As much as I'd like to think I'm a hotshot agent, I know that at least part of that is because I know you are right behind me, watching, making sure I don't fall." He turned his head to smile at his partner. "It's amazing how high you can soar when you know there's someone to catch you."

At the knock, he gestured to the door. "Your dinner has arrive, my liege."

Illya chuckled and nodded. "Thanks for looking out for me, too."

"Hey a fed partner is a happy one."