Chapter 5 is here. It's time to have a look at Illya's side of the story :)

Unknown location, Gaby's p.o.v.

Gaby felt tears run down her face. She couldn't believe what she was seeing on the screen. Illya had stabbed Napoleon. She didn't want to believe it. Illya would never kill Napoleon, he wouldn't.

Except perhaps to save my life…

She choked back a sob. The scientist was sitting in front of the screen, leaning close, as if he was enjoying a particularly captivating show.

"Kuryakin really did a number on Solo, didn't he, Miss Teller?", he said, without turning around.

Gaby could see the back of his head and the tufts of hair on his burnt scalp. She wished she could set them on fire just by glaring at them. Suddenly she felt something against her back. She tensed and strained her neck to look over her shoulder. The scientist's henchman was standing behind her, insistently poking her back with his finger. What was the creep doing? Gaby shuddered as she remembered how he had tried to kiss her neck earlier. She tried to lean forward, away from his touch, but her movements were limited. The scientist hadn't noticed anything. He was too busy taunting Illya. The tapping on her back stopped and the man's hand settled on her shoulder. He squeezed it in what resembled a reassuring gesture. Gaby frowned. Then the poking resumed. He let his touch linger, then a rapid poke, then a slow, lingering one and a rapid one again.

What…?

And it dawned on her. It was Morse code. Becoming familiar with coded systems of communication had been part of her training when she had become an agent.

I'm tied to a chair, at the mercy of a madman, I just watched one of my partners kill the other and one of my captors is tapping Morse code on my back…

She concentrated on the alternation of long and short nudges. The man was tapping the same message over and over. Mobilizing her rudimentary knowledge, she managed to decode it.

C-I-A? And that's the code for "undercover"…? Is this a joke?

The man was CIA undercover? That was something she hadn't been expecting. Although, absurd as it might have seemed in her current situation, it made sense in a way. The scientist had said he was part of a large international criminal organization, the kind that was more than likely to attract the attention of intelligence agencies. Her pulse started to race as she tried to wrap her head around the message and its implications. She nodded once, to signify that she had understood and the message changed. SOS/MI6. He had contacted the MI6, probably through his superiors.

But Napoleon is dead...

She knew the CIA agent had probably received the order not to compromise his cover.

But Napoleon is dead.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, deafening noise. The scientist had turned around and had a gun in his hand. She registered the sound of someone falling behind her but her eyes remained fixed on the gun. The scientist walked up to her chair, stepped around it and she heard another gunshot. He stepped back into her field of vision and shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry about that, Miss Teller. I can't stand perverts. He won't bother you anymore."

He sat back down in front of the screen.

"Now where were we?"

Gaby stared at the tufts of hair, completely stunned.

Unknown location, Illya's p.o.v

As he felt Solo twitch and lose consciousness, Illya counted the seconds mentally and imperceptibly loosened his chokehold to relieve the pressure on the unconscious agent's carotid arteries. He prayed silently that the fast-acting drug had been fast-acting enough.

Please, Cowboy, just stay dead…

Solo didn't come around. Reassured that the drug was working, Illya remained in the same position for a couple of minutes, without applying pressure, to make it look like he had choked his partner to death. Then he let go and carefully laid the American's limp body down on the floor. He almost sighed in relief. That part was done. Now he was hoping that the mysterious someone who had provided the pill would send some help soon.

Several hours earlier he had woken up in this room next to an unconscious Solo. He had immediately felt an unusual weight in his pocket and had found his watch there. A tiny piece of paper had been taped to the back of it, along with an even tinier white pill with a series of numbers on it. He had recognized the pill instantly. Although at the time he had not understood what use it could be to him. It was a drug that was sometimes issued to agents for particular assignments. Its main purpose was to make the subject appear dead by drastically slowing their heart rate. It had been discontinued as it was considered too unreliable. The words "Help is on the way." had been scribbled on the paper at the back of the watch. Though he had been perplexed at first, the opening speech of their deranged captor had soon made it clear that both the pill and help of any sort would come in handy. He had briefly wondered who their mysterious ally could be. But he had quickly realized that speculating was pointless. Besides, what mattered was that they had a mysterious ally. He felt some measure of guilt for keeping Cowboy in the dark, but it had been necessary. He knew Solo would have argued about who was going to take the pill. Besides, the success of the plan depended on Solo's "death" looking convincing. Cowboy's reactions would be more authentic if he thought Illya was actually going to kill him. This plan had the double advantage of ensuring Gaby's safety and giving Solo a small chance. If help was on the way, as the note suggested, he hoped it would show up in time. If not, he would face whatever their captor's deranged mind had concocted for them. It was a risky plan, which depended on many things that he had no control over, but their situation was desperate and it was all he had.

His original idea had been to beat up his partner, somehow make him swallow the pill, and "finish him off" with the blood choke. But as the man had insisted that he make Solo bleed, he had realized that it wouldn't be enough. Their captor wanted a real show. That's when he had decided to use the knife. Giving the pill to Solo had been easy enough. Stabbing him, not so much. Of course Illya had done it before, to incapacitate or inflict pain on an enemy while keeping them alive. The trick was to find the right spot and leave the knife in. With some practice he had become skilled at it…but doing it to his partner was a different story. This time he had been painfully aware that he had no margin for error. While the primary purpose of the knife fight had been to keep their captor entertained, his relentless attacks had also been designed to tire Solo out. After a while, he had let the American kick his Bowie knife out of his hand. He had had no further use for it. He had planned to use Solo's own, much smaller knife to stab him. But first he had had to beat him to a pulp to make sure that he would be in no condition to fight back or move around too much. Thankfully, in his weakened state, keeping Solo still had been easy and he had been able to stab him in the right spot – at least he hoped it had been the right spot. The blade had slid into his partner's body with sickening ease. Poor Cowboy had looked so surprised. Even after Illya had slashed him repeatedly with his knife and kicked the crap out of him, Solo had still trusted him. Although Illya had known that he hadn't really been betraying his partner he had felt overwhelmed with guilt when he had seen the shock and incredulity in Solo's eyes. He had considered slightly moving the knife in the wound to make Solo yelp and make the performance even more convincing and satisfying for their sadistic captor, but he just hadn't had the heart to do it. Cowboy had suffered enough.

Several minutes passed in silence as he replayed the events in his mind, down on his knees, next to Solo's inanimate body. After a while, the now familiar crackling sound snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Well done, Kuryakin, and with time to spare. By the way, sorry about my delayed reaction, a small matter needed to be taken care of. One of my guards was being a little too friendly with Miss Teller and I had to chastise him. But my, oh, my, what a satisfying sequence that was. I must admit finishing with a choke was a bit too gentle for my liking but very efficient."

Illya felt his blood boil at the mention of Gaby but he didn't acknowledge the man and kept his gaze on Solo.

"Admiring your handy work? I particularly enjoyed the stabbing part. How did it feel when the knife went in? I'm sure it can't have been easy to inflict all that pain on your own partner."

Illya gritted his teeth. The man had a knack for rubbing salt into the wound. He wanted nothing more than to get his hands on their captor and make him regret the day he'd been born. But now was not the time for threats. Now came the dicey part of the plan. He had no way of influencing what would happen next. He hung his head down. At least, he felt so bad for hurting and stabbing Solo that he didn't even need to rely on his acting skills this time.

"He's dead. You got what you wanted. Now you let my other partner go."

"Yes of course, don't worry. I'm a man of my word, Kuryakin. There's just one last formality to take care of before I let Miss Teller go. Nothing really, call it a simple precaution."

There was a brief pause – during which Illya became acutely aware of his hammering pulse – then the voice went on.

"Cut out his heart."

Illya looked up at the speaker, hoping he had misheard.

What?..

End of chapter 5 (oops I did it again… (cliffhanger))