Chapter 3

Back at Home

Max was worried. He had not heard from his wife since the day she left for California. He had expected her phone call while he was sitting at Maxi's softball practice. He looked at his watch. It was now almost 8:00 p.m. and practice was ending.

"Dad, did you see my triple?" Maxi asked her father excitedly. She hated when one of her parents were on an assignment because their attention was never fully on her and her accomplishments. She realized her parents had a dangerous job and she was proud of them. However, once in a while, she would like to look up at the bleachers and not notice that her father or mother sit fidgeting with their watch and impatiently waiting for the other to call. However, both her parents always put on a good front. It worked until she was about 8 ½ years old. Now at 15, it was getting a bit too hokey and false.

"Of course, I did, sweetheart! That was wonderful. That rightfielder had no chance to get the ball," Max said squeezing his equipment laden darling daughter.

"Dad, I didn't get a triple. I tripped trying to steal second base. Next time pay attention, dad," Maxi admonished. As the elder twin by two minutes, she considered herself the oldest of the three Smart children. There were times, though, that she was like Max. She constantly found herself not paying attention and tripping and running into things at the most embarrassing moments. Mom always placated her by asking if she was ok and never throwing it in her face that she was not graceful, nor tall, nor as beautiful as she. Maxi loved her dad, but she was never blind to his clumsiness because she had inherited that from Max.

"I'll watch better next time, sweetheart. You're a great player." Max said giving Maxi one more squeeze with a kiss to her sweaty forehead. Max was a prodigiously proud father of all his children. However, he was also a very worried and harried husband. He never liked when one of them had to be away from local assignments for any amount of time. Max knew he had served enough lonely time as a spy when he was single and after 99 became his partner at work as well as life to know that he never wanted to be alone again.

"Dad, didn't mom call?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because we've been here for two hours and you haven't taken your eyes away from your watch nor your ear away from your shoephone." Maxi stated firmly.

"Let's sit down here for a minute, sweetie," Max said taking Maxi's glove, bat, hat, and cleats out of her arms. Maxi was now standing in her flip flops she favored after spending two to three hours in boys' cleats. Max stared a minute at his daughter has they made their way to the bleachers. She was growing up so fast . She won't be able to wear that uniform much longer. She's become too well endowed and it barely buttons. 99 ought to see this. Max's paternal instinct took over upon seeing Maxi busting out of her shirt and put his suit jacket over her shoulders and buttoned it to cover.

"Dad! Stop it! I'm fine. Besides, I have hips and your jacket doesn't fit over them. I'm a girl, remember?" Maxi complained.

"All right, all right, missy. Just put it around your shoulders then. It's getting chilly anyway," Max said placing the jacket over Maxi's shoulders.

They came to the spot where Max had been previously sitting.

Max looked at his watch and then bent down for his shoe. Then on second thought there were too many people milling around so he decided he would contact CONTROL later when he was home. After putting his shoephone on again, he looked at his daughter abashedly.

"No, your mother hasn't called in answer to your question. Grandpa Chief wouldn't tell me a thing, so it makes me believe that your mother is in danger. Now I know she can handle herself or the Chief would never have sent her. However, it doesn't make me worry nonetheless."

"Why don't you call her?" Maxi asked logically.

"No, I can't. She'll think I'm checking up on her."

"Well, aren't you? Honestly, dad, sometimes you and mom drive me nuts," Maxi said shaking her head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Max said beginning to take umbrage at his teenage daughter's attitude. She and her brothers better watch themselves. Max and 99 taught their children right from wrong but when it came to discipline Max was the softer hearted. He had endured too much abuse as a child to ever inflict anything remotely resembling abuse to his own children. 99 understood better and she had always insisted that you could not be a good father unless once in a while you showed a little "tough love". Children would constantly test you, she said. Now that they had three teenagers because Avery would be thirteen in just a few months, they especially had to be aware as parents.

"Sometimes the most obvious answer is right in front of you. Call mom. If you don't get an answer or some other answer then get worried and call headquarters. Geez… do I have to think of everything?" Maxi said rolling her eyes in the same way her mother always did when she was losing patience with them.

"You're right, Maxine. I'll call, but I'll call from home. I can't give away my identity as a spy," Max said quietly in Maxine's ear as his beady brown eyes surveilled the place.

"Dad," Maxi said.

"Yes, Maxine."

"I think that's already been done."

"Why?"

"Because you already took a phone call while you sat here with some of the other parents. They kind of eyed you like you're a little…you know…nuts," Maxine whispered back to her dad.

Max looked around and smiled a helpless smile then taking Maxi's hand in his proceeded to walk nonchalantly to their car.

Part Two

Finally coming home was another chore that Max disliked when he knew his wife was not there to kiss him hello. Don't get Max wrong. He loved seeing his children and was glad to see them all safe and sound in the house. However, his nest was never quite right without his female bird warming it.

Maxi went immediately upstairs to take a shower. After saying hello to his two sons and finding out what was for dinner. Max went upstairs to his study and sat at his desk to make his phone call. Instead of reaching for his shoephone he used the phone on his mahogany desk. He dialed 99's room number and was somewhat distressed to hear the phone constantly ring. After trying two more times, he called the boutique where she was working undercover. No answer. It was now 5:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, and she said she would be closing early today because of her meeting with the KAOS agent today at 7:00 p.m. Pacific coast time. Max hated time changes. It boggled his mind that in one place it was 8:30 p.m. and at another it was not even dinner time yet.

The last attempt to contact her was on the fingernail phone. That, to Max, was the worse invention CONTROL had ever invented. It looked far more stupid than his shoephone and the reception was usually horrible. Besides it was too conspicuous for female agents. He much preferred the compact phone or the even the atomizer communicator for contact with his female agent wife.

Surprisingly, Max received an answer.

"Max?" 99 asked weakly. She knew he would be eventually calling because she forgot to call before she was pistol whipped.

"99? Is that you? Are you all right?" Max asked panicked.

"I'm fine, love," 99 responded weakly hoping she could fool Max into thinking everything was ok. She wanted to say to him:

"I'm a prisoner of KAOS. I'm not shackled, but I'm in a cell and they took my gun and my knife."

"Why do you sound so weak? Are you all right?"

She could tell Max was hitting panic mode just by the harried tone of his voice. She had to keep him in the dark because it was her duty. The Chief would send backup as soon as the drop did not happen at 10:00 pm California time.

"I was taking a nap. I think I may be I'm catching a cold. I'm not feeling well," 99 said. "I'll be fine. I cancelled my meeting with Tara because the drop isn't happening tonight."

There she lied to Max for the first time in her life. However, it was for all their sakes and it could not be helped. She only hoped she lived long enough to rectify the situation when she got home.

"Well, I miss you. The kids miss you, too. I better let you get your rest. I love you," Max said with a kiss over the phone.

"I love you, too. I miss you all so very much. I'll be home soon," 99 hung up her nails. She hoped to be home soon anyway.

99 had just enough time to place her hands behind her back before one of her captors opened the cell door. 99's head had been down as she was rubbing the back of her neck where the pistol butt had hit her. As she looked up she was surprised to see a familiar face.

"Roskovski? What are you doing here? I thought you had retired from this life long ago when you married Tara." 99 asked shocked at who the KAOS agent was. Andrei Roskovsi, a Polish-Russian KAOS agent had once been a ruthless killer and one of the best for KAOS, though, he could give the impression of someone honest, downtrodden, and in need of sympathy. As 99 found out personally, Andrei could disguise his true self very well. Just like his captive one-time intimate acquaintance.

"Yes, Mrs. Smart…99," Andrei said not disguising the fact that he was examining her either has a lamb to the slaughter or as a conquest. Andrei Roskovski , a large man with chiseled features, large brown eyes and a sensuous mouth, lurched forward and stood directly in front of 99 invading her personal space. He was so close to her that she could smell his cologne and feel tremendous heat from his body. She looked up into his eyes, trying to find a trace of the man she to whom she had been attracted. He still possessed those large brown sympathetic eyes in which she had found herself more than once drowning. He still possessed the body of a Greek god, and she found herself wanting to be held against that strong chest in those strong arms where she had once been made to feel safe and loved. However, it did not take long for 99 to remember what heartless and ruthless person he truly was and how he had seduced Tara while still claiming to be her boyfriend.

"So, I see that dolt, Maxwell Smart, is your husband. No doubt you are happy and have produced some half doltish offspring along with it. You are still a beautiful woman, 99. I could easily forgive you for your mistake. KAOS could use a smart female agent like yourself. When I heard of your marriage, I laughed and thought how willingly you compromised yourself. He is a clod. You should have stayed with me. You and I would have made a terrific team. KAOS would have awarded us medals, a private summer Villa in Italy and cash. Lots and lots of cash," Andrei said in a sinister voice with little of his original Russian accent left. A dozen years in the United States and marriage to Tara had almost completely driven it from him.

"Max is not a clod, and I resent what you said about our children. Maxwell Smart is an honest and loving man and much more than anyone else in or out of KAOS would ever know. At least we love each other which more than I can say for you and Tara. She didn't deserve what you did to her. I didn't deserve what you did to me. As for KAOS awards, we don't need them. I especially never needed them. Was it us that you were thinking of when you seduced and eventually married Tara? I know you're divorced now. Tara was my best friend at CONTROL... but I suppose you were too good a lover for her to be strong and not fall into your trap. Max and I have always been a great team for CONTROL. If we weren't why are you so hell bent on tearing us apart?" 99 asked wanting nothing more than to be at home with her husband and children.

"Let's forget all this family stuff, shall we?" Andrei said reaching out and pulling 99 into his arms and forcefully kissed her.

99 slapped Andre fiercely across the face. He twisted 99's arm around her back and with even greater force kissed her again. She tried to break free initially, and then as his lips and mouth moved on hers she was at once taken back to the time when Max was just a distant desire and her intimacy with Andrei was her salve. Well, 99 did not need a salve now. She had Max and her children all waiting at home for her as soon as she completed the mission. She had never cheated on Max, and she was not about to start now.

"Get away from me!" 99 shouted breaking off from Andrei's kiss and slapping him in the face on the other side. She went to knee him in the groin but Andrei accustomed to women's reactions backed away pushing 99's knee away which caused her to lose her balance sending her to the floor in a heap.

Coming over to help her up, Roskovski had the audacity to capturing her wrists and held her hands away from him and forced another kiss upon her mouth. Not breaking his fierce grip on her wrists, he pushed her with his body onto the cot where 99 had awakened before she contacted Max. Andrei continued to kiss her forcing her mouth open to receive his tongue. As he kissed her Andrei kept her pinned to the cot. He thought 99 had started to fall into his spell again like she had all those times when they were together. He started to undo her blouse and started to inch up her skirt with his insistent movements. Andrei looked deeply into her eyes and thought that she had finally succumbed to his male prowess and forget her idiot husband and whining children. He knew they were still hot for one another and all her protestations about how much she loved Maxwell Smart were just a cover for her true feelings.

Meanwhile, 99 had temporarily forgotten who she was for a minute and found herself wanting his kisses to go deeper and wanting Andrei to take her forcefully as he had done once before so many years ago. She responded by pulling him closer. She suddenly opened her eyes from his intense maneuvers and a facet of her diamond engagement ring glimmered before her eye as it reflected the dim light of the cell. Thoughts of her husband's handsome face brought her back to who she was now and why she had come on the mission in the first place. She suddenly gathered enough strength to shove him off her and send him flying before his aggressiveness had seduced 99 into becoming a woman that she never wanted to be.

"You bastard!"

"You wanted it! Didn't you?" Andrei said as he got himself up from the floor wiping the side of his mouth where 99's kiss had lingered.

"You're wrong! I could never want another man especially after what you did to me before!" 99 was furious. She tried to push her way past him to get to the door, but this time he intensely grabbed her upper arm as she swept past catching her before she could escape through the open cell door.

"Look, 99, I apologize. Let me help you. I know why you were brought here. I can help you escape. Let me help you return to your family," Andrei said quietly this time and loosening his grip on her upper arms lowered it to her wrist and held it gently.

"Is this a trick Andrei? Because I would much rather fight my way out of here instead of looking like a former lovesick fool," 99 said facing him. Andrei had released her wrist and they stood face to face. Andrei was a little taller than 99, so she had to raise her chin slightly to look into his eyes.

"Are you telling me the truth this time? Will you let me go and do what I came here to do?"

Andrei took her hand in his and led her to the cot and urged her to sit.

"Listen, there is not much time. I fought my way here because the CIA sent me after The Chief of Control did not get your instructions about the drop."

"CIA?" 99 asked very puzzled. "You're with the CIA?"

"Yes. Remember when we were together I married Tara and became a defector to KAOS' Soviet division. Tara is still with KAOS. I became an American citizen and work for the CIA now."

"Really? Then why were you badmouthing Max and our children? That was intolerable," 99 asked not quite believing Andrei's story. He had always been a good storyteller. The last story had almost convinced change her loyalties and perhaps lose the man and the job she loved.

"There are bugs in this cell; probably, so I had to make it sound good."

99 gasped audibly to where Andrei quickly put his hand over her mouth. She nodded and he released her mouth.

"Listen to me. When we get out of here, I'll explain everything. Right now, though, I need your help."