Chapter 2

Meeting the Enemy

Napoleon and Illya drove a beat up early 1950 Ford that UNCLE had modified for speed when needed. The car looked like the rest of the surrounding traffic so they wouldn't stick out.

The governor's hacienda was on the outskirts of town in a wooden area. As they came up to the house, they could see and smell the coffee plants that were surrounding the grounds. Native workers carried baskets on their back to handpick the beans.

The front of the hacienda was vine covered with only touches of white coming through. They climbed ten stairs to reach the gold colored door. A white uniformed guard answered their knock immediately and searched them. Only their identification permitted them to carry their guns into the house.

As they followed the guard, they examined the hallway. It was done in an early Spanish style. Low hung chandeliers with lit candles; tall doorways of dark wood, complimented by dark wood furniture with embroidered coverings.

As they were told they would wait ing the governor's office, they were led to the office and told he would join them soon. Dark wood bookcases with old books lined three walls of the room, and the beautiful windows gave highlights to each piece of furniture.

"Good afternoon gentlemen. I am Jhonde Balboa governor of Caldas; to what do I owe the honor of this visit. UNCLE agents usually do not come to see me," a smile that didn't reach his eyes followed the question. Another man quietly came into the room as Caldas was talking. "This is Leandro Restrepo, my second in command."

The men shook hands with each other. Restrepo adding a little extra pressure to both agents hands. It was his way of letting the men know that he knew why they were there.

"We've been asked to investigate some concerns that your government has," Napoleon explained.

"But why would my government ask UNCLE to investigate. Surely, we have our own security forces. Do you have any documentation of this request? I do not want you to think that I do not believe you Mr. Solo, but you must understand."

"Of course," Illya handed the written request to Balboa. "We all have our orders," he said with a grin, "And you know how that is. We go and do what we are told to do." Illya shrugged as if he was frequently going places without actually knowing why.

"Yes we do all have orders to follow. So what is this concern you are to look into?" Balboa seemed concerned and looked to Restrepo for assistance.

"There've been reports of shaking and landslide in your area of the country that don't seem natural. As there have been unusual problems in the past, our organization had a standing request to be notified of any such situations. Your government informed us of the problems here, and we were asked to investigate."

Napoleon watched Balboa and Restrepo faces as he explained the situation. Balboa began to sweat heavily. Restrepo began to redden with anger, fist clenched, nails digging into his hands. Neither man looked the two agents directly in the eye.

"I assure you, Mr. Solo, Mr. Kuryakin that this is not an unusual occurrence in this part of the world." Balboa argued. "I do not understand why it is causing so much concern at this time."

"I am sorry Governor Balboa, but we are just following our orders," Illya once again offered. "We will make our examination as quick as possible and be gone."

"Why send us agents, why not scientists then?" Balboa tried one more time to call them off.

"I'm sorry, governor. I forgot to mention, my partner's actually, Dr. Kuryakin. He just usually prefers not to use the title," Napoleon countered the last augment.

"Governor, I think we can accommodate these two men," Restrepo spoke up for the first time during the conversation, "We can offer guides and guards to keep them safe." He smiled at the two agents. If they were going to follow this path, he was going to make sure that they didn't return.

A Trip to the Rainforest

Early the next morning Napoleon and Illya left with two guides and 10 guards. They knew that at least a few of those present were Thrush but for the most part the rest were Columbians. Not sure who they could trust, it left them with little support.

…..

It took two days to reach the area of interest. The trip to the district being threatened by earth shaking and small quakes was through the jungle and up steep hills. No transportation was available so walking was the only means of travel that they could adopt.

As they traveled by foot, they could hear the Capuchin, Orangutan, and Howler monkeys screeching as they passed. The bright red Cock of the Rock and Scarlet Macaw called to their mates high in the canopy of trees.

The brilliant, dazzling colors of all the animals, birds, insects, and flowers around them, at any other time would've made this spot a wonderful vacation retreat. However, their journey didn't allow for such thoughts.

Napoleon did laugh when he saw Illya irritation after a Blue Morpho Butterfly persisted in landing on the bridge of his sunglasses even though he kept brushing it aside. "Seems it likes your sweet personality Illya."

Swatting the butterfly off one more time, he gave Napoleon an icy look saying "Your sense of humor is not at all funny," and walked faster leaving his partner behind.

…..

During the night, they took turns keeping watch and had caught more than one man snooping around their tent. Napoleon and Illya allowed the snooping but kept an eye on who was doing it. When they finally reached the outskirts of the site at least one guard 'helped and protected' them at all times.

…..

Restrepo arrived on horseback right after they made camp for the night. After conferring with two of the guards, he informed Illya and Napoleon that he had been checking out the area and found it safe. He assured them that the guards would accompany them to the location the next morning.

While the fire threw shadows on the darkened tree, "I'm surprise that he being so helpful." Napoleon told Illya during dinner. They had been able to sit by themselves within sight of the fire but not where the others could hear them

"We need to lose the guard to truly examine this area. Do you think we can create some sort of divergent tonight? That way we can get away and search without their interference."

"We could always wait till everyone is sleeping and leave." Napoleon said with a silly grin.

"Really, Napoleon. That is not very original." Illya responded with frustration.

"But it works. After they go to sleep, we'll leave. Because of the darkness, we should be able to far away from here before they notice us missing."

Searching for the Machine

They left their tent after the camp was quiet. The night was dark with small areas of moon showing though the heavy trees. The daytime noises gave way to the predators of the night. The cries of orange and black spotted Jaguar echoed through the night while searching for its supper.

As they made their way through the darkened night, they frequently saw Red Eyed Tree and blue Poison Dart Frogs jumping across their path. They moved quietly to avoid waking the noisier animals of the forest.

A few hours after leaving the camp, they came on a clearing. Old ruins lay in the middle of the pathway. They kept to the thick walls of darkened trees that gave the impression of sculpted tunnels. As they climbed the grassy stairs that led to the crumbling walls, they became aware of something growing out of the time worn ruins.

One look inside the ruins showed the newly built compound which had been constructed. Few guards were visible. "Probably setting up a welcoming committee for us tomorrow," Napoleon whispered to Illya.

"Let's see if we can get in, blow up whatever the machine is and get out of here without waking up that committee then," Illya suggested.

"I thought I was the optimistic one," Napoleon teased, "But I do like your thinking partner. Let's go do it and get it over with. Meet you back here in 15 minutes."

After double-checking their watches, they left to explore the area separately. When they returned to compare notes, they discovered four building inside the ruins.

Two was being used for the men, one as barracks and the other as a mess and rec hall. One of the other buildings was the lab. The final building had a large machine inside with four guards around it.

"Let's get inside, place the explosives and leave," Illya suggested. He was grinning at Napoleon as he suggested the plan.

"You know Tovarisch; sometimes I get concerned about your enjoyment of blowing things up. I'm not sure it always healthy," Napoleon ribbed his friend.

"Napoleon, we each have our ways of relaxing. You have your women; I have my explosions."

Napoleon chuckled. "Okay dynamo, let's go and get this done."

…..

The men avoided all the external guards and entered the building with the machine. Each darted two of the guards and then moved toward the center of the room. A 12-foot machine stood before then.

The sides of it were covered in switches, lights, and buttons. The gun shaped device reminded Napoleon of the top of the tanks he had seen in Korea. The large gun was able to turn a full 360 degrees and could also be raised and lowered.

"Where do you want these?" Napoleon asked Illya who was examining the system with what looked like longing. He also noticed that Illya took a small fragment off it, "Illya come on. Someone will be coming soon."

The two placed the explosives around the system and set them to go in 10 minutes, but as they reached the door, the explosives went off early with almost no damage. There was just enough powder to knock Napoleon and Illya down and kill the man standing next to it.

"Someone exchanged the explosives," was all Illya could spit out before alarms sounded and men began to pour into the building.

Escape

Napoleon was in the lead when they ran from the building. The only way open was the one leading away from the camp, and that the one they took. Both ran through the forest, being struck by low branches, tripping over vines and roots, and avoiding holes in the pathway. To leave the path would be dangerous, but they were left with no choice.

When the sounds of running feet passed them by, they were able finally to rest for a few minutes. It was then that Napoleon noticed that the pain in his upper leg was actually a bullet burn. It was painful but bleeding was minimal.

His hand came away red when he placed it on Illya's shoulder, "You're hit," he accused him, "When did you intent to let me know?"

"At the same time you let me know about your leg," Illya shot back.

"Okay, so neither of us was honest with the other. Mine just a burn, yours?"

"Clean through, just touched the shoulder," Illya shrugged then grinned. "Well, that did not go well did it?"

"I just can't figure out when the made the switch. I mean we watched them all the time. It had to be before we left. Any suggestions now?"

Illya thought about it, and then pulled out his communicator. "Open channel D," he said with a 'Waverly is going to be pissed look'. Instead of getting a connection, he only received static. "Well at least we can put that off for a while. We need something to blow that machine."

"Let's try to get back to the last clearing we were at, I was able to notify our headquarters here from there. Ask for more explosives and maybe some help. I'd assume it not going to be that easy to get into the place now."

…..

The two men headed in a direction that they believed was correct. Every so often, they heard the men chasing them in the distance. Suddenly, they trespassed into the territory of a large group of red howler monkeys who sent out a loud howling sound which alerted the guards to their location.

Tired, hungry and injured, the two agents ran on now utterly lost.