Their assignment was coming to an unexpected and unsuccessful end. Though maybe in hindsight it could be perceived as a success. Now however, was not the time to discuss the merits of this mission.

It wasn't lost on either man that it was Friday the 13th, and no surprise their luck had failed, even the famous Solo luck. Their rabbit's foot, and other such charms had failed them as well.

Illya was kneeling in front of the small captain's safe aboard the 150-foot motor yacht, suspiciously christened the 'Seabird.' She was an elegant vessel, owned by a French shipping magnate who had possible ties to THRUSH. The owner had spared no expense when fitting the yacht, as it was lavishly appointed with soigné interiors, featuring Burmese-teak paneling banded with 22K gold. The furnishings were equally luxurious allowing it to accommodate a large number of passengers for a day's outing. It was designed to comfortably accommodate up to ten guests overnight in five cabins. Today she was carrying fifty guests, along with the crew of twelve.

Napoleon was keeping watch by the door with his gun in hand. He was dressed in white trousers and a dark blue jacket with a family crest embroidered on the breast pocket. A red ascot contrasted against his white silk shirt.

His cover was Winthrop King, a jet-setting American living in the Cote d'Azur.

Illya's cover, as usual, was that of a waiter. His clothing consisted of black trousers and a short white jacket. There was a splash of color as he was wearing a lavender bowtie with his white shirt.

Kuryakin listened carefully through a stethoscope as he slowly turned the tumbler; this should have been easy to discern the combination but for some reason he was having a difficult time of it.

"Will you hurry up tovarisch,"Solo said."I have a bad feeling we're going to have company."

"Will you be quiet? This safe is unusually delicate. I remind you that I have observed the captain and first officer's routines. They are very predictable in their movements...the captain will not be here for another fifteen minutes, as he takes his lunch in his cabin precisely at quarter past noon."

No sooner had Illya spoken when a member of the crew burst through the sliding cabin doors.

Napoleon immediately hit the man with the butt of his gun, knocking him out and guiding him to land on the captain's bunk.

"You were saying tovarisch?"

Something ominous stopped Illya from responding; it was the blaring sound of the boat's alarm followed by an announcement over the public address system.

It was the captain's voice,"Ladies and gentlemen please proceed to the main deck. The boat is taking on water and we must abandon ship. Do not panic as there are enough lifeboats for everyone."

Illya cocked his head, quickly calculating the passenger head count as well as the number of crewmen. The captain's last statement was a lie...there were not enough lifeboats.

"Illya, open the safe now!"Solo barked.

"It is not working...I cannot."

"Tsk. Great. Well then we better get the hell out of here before we lose a place in the lifeboats."

"Not to worry, "Kuryakin said as they headed out into the corridor. I will meet you on deck!"

Illya dashed off in the opposite direction, leaving his partner a bit confused as Solo headed up a flight of stairs, winding his way along corridors to the main deck.

Once arriving there, he saw the captain, first mate and a number of crewmen in a lifeboat as they lowered it to the water themselves. Of course it was the last one; now there was panic among the passengers who were left stranded.

A few began jumping over the side, which wasn't a bad idea as the temperature of the Mediterranean sea was between 70˚ and 85˚. Then again there were forty-seven known species of sharks in these waters, among them the most dangerous, the bull shark and Great white.

The sinking yacht and thrashing about in the water by the people who'd jumped could attract such unwanted trouble. And it looked like Solo and Kuryakin would be among those in the water, very soon.

Napoleon scanned the lifeboats, as well as the stranded passengers, not for his partner, but for someone else... There was no sign of her. No women were left on deck, and the lifeboats were far enough away that it made it difficult to see who was in them.

He was relieved at least, when his partner appeared and he was carrying something.

"Well so much for this." Napoleon held out his hot pink rabbit's foot. "You know I'm beginning to think this Friday the 13th thing is just nonsense. These lucky charms certainly didn't help us on this mission, did they?"

"I agree,"Illya pulled his identical rabbit's foot from his pocket, along with a few metallic charms on a small key ring. "We experience such ill-luck year round, so why should this day be any different from those? I think it is time to end this rubbish."

"Shall we tovarisch? One-two-three."

They tossed their charms overboard, with both men suddenly feeling a sense of relief at doing so.

Friday the 13th could no longer hold sway over them.

Illya pulled a cord on the object he was holding and it suddenly inflated into a small black rubber raft.

"Smart Russian," Napoleon smiled.

"I know. I brought it on board in my duffle bag as a precaution in case we needed to leave before the cruise was over. I suggest that one of us accompany it as it is tossed over the side, just to keep it safe from interlopers. There is only room for two, three at the most. Would you care to go first? I am just asking as a courtesy."

"No, you can have the honors tovarisch." Solo didn't have to say why as his partner knew of his phobia of being in water.

Napoleon nearly drowned as a child and subsequently avoided being in the water his entire life. He wasn't a strong swimmer.

Luckily the few times he'd been tossed into the drink by THRUSH or some other nefarious person, the water was shallow enough that Solo could doggy paddle to shore, or the deck of a built in pool.

His sailing on his personal yacht, the Pursang, was his way of confronting his fear of the water. In truth it was more for the feeling of freedom and solitude that drew him to sailing. There was no one to bother or threaten him; it was just Napoleon Solo, the sky and the sea. It was so liberating…

Illya tossed the raft overboard, and immediately followed it. He dove, entering the water with a minimal splash like a platform diver. After surfacing, he pulled himself into the small inflatable.

"Come on!" He shouted, noting to himself that the yacht was going down quickly from the bow.

Napoleon took a deep breath as he leapt over the railing, aiming himself as close as possible to the raft.

He landed with a large splash and immediately felt Illya's strong hands grabbing him and pulling him aboard.

Napoleon sputtered as he wiped the water from his face and stared at the sinking boat.

"I am sure she is on one of the lifeboats. She is rather good at watching out for herself," Illya said.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's okay."

"Not that I would not mind her going down with the ship," Illya snickered.

Solo flashed his partner a dirty look.

Both men immediately looked up as they heard a woman's scream.

"Napoleon!" It was Angelique." You're leaving me? She removed one of her shoes and tossed it at Solo, though she missed.

"No!" He called out, glancing d at his partner, who didn't look happy at all."You have to jump; there's room for you in the raft!"

Angelique hiked up her flowing yellow chiffon skirt while still tightly hanging onto her matching clutch purse; she climbed atop the railing as the water moved towards her on the deck.

She leapt, landing with a splash and the two men paddled furiously to reach her.

They had to get away from the sinking yacht as quickly as possible as there was the possibility the small raft could be pulled under by a vortex of suction which displaced air in the vessel, replacing it with water. If they were too close to that vortex it could conceivably bring them under along with the large sinking vessel.

They dragged a water-logged Angelique into the raft and she immediately lashed out at Solo, slapping his face.

"You bastard! You were going to leave me! How could you?"

"I looked for you and couldn't find you. I assumed you were on one of the lifeboats." Solo rubbed his stinging cheek.

"Another one of your lies!" She pulled back her arm, preparing to slap his other cheek.

Napoleon grabbed her by the wrist before she could make contact and immediately pulled her to him, giving her a long and lustful kiss.

Illya, observing this, bit his lower lip as he shook his head. Napoleon never turned it off...

"Excuse my interruption, but may I remind you that we need to put as much distance possible between us and the Songbird."

Solo unceremoniously shoved Angelique down and grabbed the other oar. The two men paddled as hard and as fast as they could. Once they deemed they far enough away, they stopped rowing.

As they caught their breath, they watched the yacht in her deathroes She moaned and creaked until there was an explosion that helped tear her apart as she disappeared beneath the sea.

Napoleon broke the silence,"Maybe we shouldn't have thrown away our rabbit's feet after all?"

Illya ignored his partner, instead looking at Angelique as he held her clutch bag tightly to her chest.

"You idiots did that?" Angelique gasped. "How could you be so foolish as to throw them away...though you are UNCLE agents so there is no accounting for common sense."

She reached into her clutch bag, drawing out a rabbit's foot that looked suspiciously like mink. "At least I had the sense to keep mine…"

She drew out something else, one-hundred dollar bills wrapped in a currency strap. That was 10,000 dollars.

Now was not the time to ask her why she carried that much money with her.

Still, Illya couldn't help but roll his eyes as he drew his communicator from his inner breast pocket. It was no luck that these devices had been rendered waterproof for a dunking, though not rated for deep water pressure.

"Overseas relay, Waverly."

Seconds later the Old Man responded." Your report Mister Kuryakin; were you successful in retrieving the documents?"

"No sir, though it is a long story as to why."

"I have time, young man."

Illya turned to his partner, only to find he and Angelique locked in a passionate embrace.

"Tsk. Well you see sir...the yacht sank before I could open the captain's safe. At least no one else will get the documents, though we'll have to be involved with the eventual salvaging of the safe."

"Yes, in due time. Please tell me you did not blow up the vessel Mister Kuryakin?"

"No sir I did not, for once. I...we do not know what caused it to sink."

Waverly sighed. "I take it you are both safe?"

"Yes sir, for the moment," Illya eyed an ominous shark fin circling the raft. " We are in a small raft, but are going to need a retrieval, perhaps a helicopter? There are lifeboats as well as people in the water also in need of assistance."

"Very well, keep your communicator open. I'll contact our Marseille office and have a helicopter dispatched. It's rather lucky that the U.S Coastguard is currently conducting sea engagements in the Mediterranean with the Armed Forces of Malta. They will be notified." Waverly out."

Napoleon and Angelique finally came up for air.

"Darling, you're not going to mention that I was here, right?" She purred.

"Not to worry. Your little vacation coinciding with our assignment will be kept under wraps," Napoleon smiled.

Illya mentally growled to himself. Nothing was ever a coincidence when it came to Angelique La Chien...