Chapter 6: A Thrush Sings
Rebecca kept herself calm and concentrated on making a smooth landing. Safely on the ground she moved the sleek aircraft down the runway and eased it slowly along the taxiway until she brought it to a full stop, not that far from the hangar and letting the jet engines power down.
With Marks help, she went through the checklist shutting the rest of the onboard systems.
"Well I didn't think we'd be back here so soon." The British agent sighed.
She took off her harness and went through to the cabin; finding Illya and Napoleon there, still unconscious. Becca tenderly brushed some of her Russian's hair back from his eyes with her hand, feeling fear in the pit of her stomach, wondering if he would recover.
"Lizzie, Penny," April called to them, "Will you be okay here with Napoleon and Illya if me, Rebecca and Mark go to find that tech and see if we can get some help as well as some answers?"
"Sure we can keep an eye on them. Hopefully they'll come around and we can let them know what happened," Penny replied."
"Thanks."
The three agents stepped down from the jet, heading directly to the hangar. Mark made a subtle move, reaching beneath his jacket and withdrawing his Special, as his partner and Rebecca eyed him quizzically.
"Were you expecting trouble?"
Mark grinned. "Sorry, force of habit."
April and Rebecca looked at each other, and following Marks lead; they drew their weapons as well. Better to err on the side of caution.
With guns at the ready, they entered the hangar through a small service door within the main door, spotting two UNCLE aircraft within, one a helicopter and the other a smaller, older jet. The tech, Cormac Quinn was nowhere to be seen.
"I say we split up and check things out, but stay in sight of each other," Mark whispered. He headed to the helicopter, while April went to the jet.
Rebecca was moving toward the office in the far corner of the hangar, when a shot rang out, sending the three agents flying for cover.
A second shot was fired and by that point they knew it had come from the office.
"If any of you move any nearer I won't miss, the first two were warning shots. I didn't think I'd see any of you alive again. I'd like to know what went wrong, but unfortunately, I have to be going."
The door to the office opened and two figures stepped out. A tall dark haired man with a distinctive scar across his left cheek held a very frightened looking Cormac as a shield in front of him.
He opened the door next to the office and just before stepping through, he pushed Cormac away and quickly disappeared; only to be stopped dead in his tracks and he fell back through to the hangar floor, unconscious.
Napoleon appeared at the door, seemingly none the worse for wear and stepped lightly over the unconscious man. Followed closely by his Russian partner; Napoleon held a pipe in his hand that he used to stop 'Scarface' from making his hasty exit.
"I told you not to hit him that hard, you only needed to stun him and not knock him out," Illya complained.
Napoleon rolled his eyes. "At least I picked the right door. I told you he'd use the back one."
April, Mark and Rebecca dusted themselves off after getting up from the floor, with relief showing on their faces, happy at being rescued as well as the fact that Napoleon and Illya seemed to be none the worse for their drugged sleep. The three of them walked over to take a better look at the unconscious man.
"Does anyone recognise him?" April asked.
"I am not sure, but he looks a bit like Richard Gamble, though he did not have a scar the last time I saw him." Illya looked to Napoleon. "What do you think?"
Napoleon squatted down for a closer inspection.
"I think you could be right there, partner mine. But what would he be doing all the way out here?"
"Hmm, yes, I thought THRUSH would have 'disposed' of him after the last time he encountered us."
They came across Richard Gamble a few years ago in California and there he was a fairly minor THRUSH operative with grand ideas. He developed a new powerful laser weapon in the hopes that he would gain recognition from THRUSH Central.
The new weapon had indeed caught the attention of the powerful members of the organisation and he was promised a promotion if the laser would perform as promised in its ability to destroy cities. It was UNCLEs job to see that it didn't.
Napoleon and Illya located the weapon, after chasing him across most of the West Coast, and destroyed it, but during the process he escaped. The last they heard, THRUSH Central was on the lookout for Gamble in order to demonstrate to him their displeasure for being made fools of.
"Enough talk. I think we need to secure him before he comes round," April said.
She checked him over, removing all his weapons before going over to the visibly shaken Cormac as he stood with Rebecca.
"Is your office secure?"
"Oh my, err, yes, yes it is. It's up to UNCLE standards for use as a holding cell, if that's what ya mean. I never expected to be involved in anything like this; I knew the risks when I took the job, but it's been such a dead-end place, and I didn't think we would be bothered here."
Rebecca and Illya moved Gamble to the office, ensuring he was tied to a chair bolted down to the floor in the corner of the office.
Rebecca looked over to Illya.
"How are you feeling moya lyubov?"
"Like my head has been pummelled. I really hate THRUSH drugs."
"I'm glad you came round when you did." She leaned over, giving him a quick kiss.
"I heard you did a good job of flying the plane back here and you made the right choice in returning to Shannon as well. I am very proud of you."
Just then the THRUSH agent moaned and started to come to; straining against his bonds.
Mark and April were outside and looked in through the large window at the front of the office. Napoleon joined Rebecca and Illya inside.
The THRUSH agent was awake now and looking for a way to escape.
"Who are you working for? And where's your base?" Napoleon asked.
Gamble glared at him with contempt.
"Like I'm going to tell you anything," he snarled.
"Oh, I think you will, and quite willingly I might add," Illya replied.
"You can do your worst, but I won't reveal anything to the likes of you. Your truth serums won't work either. You might like to know we cracked your latest versions and it won't have any effect on me."
"Well lucky for you, we're not like you thugs, we don't need to beat it out of you." Napoleon looked to Illya. "Partner mine, it looks like it's back to the drawing board for you again too."
Illya sighed, rolling his eyes. "That will be the third version this year. They are getting too good at figuring out my formulas. It is a good job you are here Rebecca." He called to her
The THRUSH agent spat at them. "Ha. What's she going to do? Charm it out of me?"
"Actually, in a way, yes." Napoleon grinned.
"Seduction won't work either; you are wasting your time."
Illya smiled with a dark look in his eyes, staring straight at Gamble.
"Oh, it will not be seduction, I can assure you of that, but I doubt very much that your organisation has yet developed any resistance therapy against my colleagues' particular methods."
"So you're getting your girlfriends to do your dirty work for you, huh?"
"Miss Andrews is very good at what she does and has one of the highest success rates in the whole of the UNCLE organisation. You, my THRUSH friend, should be very honoured; usually she only works with your top ranking members, not the low-lifes such as yourself."
Richard was now starting to become uncomfortable, he looked up at her. She didn't seem threatening; he couldn't see how she would get anything from him. He admired her beauty and thought about what he would like to do to her as a leer spread across his face as he imagined it.
Rebecca walked over to him. Illya and Napoleon backed away, quietly perching themselves on the desk in front of the window, and leaving her do her work but ready to help if she needed it.
Richard saw the female agent take something from around her neck, and he strained to see what it was. She had a locket on a chain and was looking at it.
"Why is she choosing a time like this to look at her necklace?" He wondered to himself.
Curious, he tried to peek at it. Rebecca saw that and held it up for him to see it better.
"Pretty isn't it? It's very special to me".
It was the first time he heard her speak and he found her voice soothing, it was lyrical, song-like and very relaxing.
"Would you like to see it a bit closer? Here have a look."
The locket was swinging slightly back and forth and the light reflecting on its surface made it mesmerising to watch; he couldn't take his eyes from it.
"It has an engraving on the front called a Celtic Knot, it has no beginning and no end; it's everlasting, like the love of the person who gave this to me."
The locket was still swinging slightly and it held his attention solidly.
She kept talking to him in her sing-song voice.
"It was a gift from my Mother when I was seven, I felt so grown up to be given such a special piece of jewellery and I have treasured it ever since. My best memories as a child are when I was seven or eight, do you remember being that age?"
Richard tried to think that far back, he felt compelled to; the voice was speaking about things he used to do when he was around that age.
"It's the age when you always told the truth to your mother. You never told lies to your mum when you were seven did you? The pain of hurting her if you fibbed would be too much to bear for such a good little boy."
Rebecca could see that he was nearly ready to cooperate, though he didn't know it.
"Now I know that you are going to be a good boy and tell Mother the truth now, aren't you?"
In Richard Gambles mind, he was sitting down, looking at his mother standing right there in front of him. He was amazed to find he was in the kitchen of his childhood home. She smiled at him and ruffled his hair like she used to do, he felt safe, protected, and he smiled back at her. He loved her so dearly.
"Richard, what have you been doing today?"
What Richard thought he was saying, was not what was leaving his lips. Rebecca had him in a hypnotic trance where he believed that his mother, normally the one person in his life that he would tell his innermost secrets to, was asking him what he had been doing.
The answers he thought he was giving were a child's simple ones, what was actually being spoken was more pertinent and revealing.
"Richard, what have you been doing today?"
He thought he said, 'I was playing a game with some friends.' What he actually said was, "following the orders of THRUSH."
"What did you have to do?"
Thinking, 'I had to find my friends, they were hiding.' He said, "I was told to remove the two UNCLE agents Solo and Kuryakin."
"How were you to do this?" Rebecca asked.
Thinking, 'Scamp helped me, he followed their scent' he actually said "I was given one of our new miniature dart guns and told to aim for the neck, it would take about half an hour for the drug to work."
"Why were you told to do this?"
'It was my turn to seek, I was the first one to be found in the last game.' "THRUSH found out about the plane trip, it was a good opportunity to eliminate them."
"Who gave the orders?"
"Paul Vicary."
Rebecca glanced over to Illya and Napoleon, fighting to keep her racing heart calm. She couldn't let her voice change or he would come out of the trance he was in. Surely the name must be just a coincidence; it couldn't be April's last boyfriend, could it?
"What link is he to THRUSH?"
"He is the head of my Satrap"
"Where is this Satrap?"
"We are starting a new one here in Ireland, near Killeagy."
She again looked over to her colleagues; they heard this too and were listening intently.
"How long have you been constructing it?"
"We started six months ago. We are utilising some old abandoned mine workings."
"When do you think it will be completed?"
"It is scheduled to be finished within the next eight months."
"Is Cormac a member of THRUSH?"
"No, we just used him, he's loyal to UNCLE."
"OK, Richard, you've been a good boy."
Rebecca brought the locket to a stop and fastened it back around her neck, she went over to the two agents and leaned against Illya, he put his arms around her.
"He will come out of it after about 5 minutes"
"I never tire of watching you interrogate vozlyublennyy."
"It would have been easier if we had the tape, I could have gotten more from him."
Rebecca and Illya had developed a cassette tape of her hypnotic voice that would be played to THRUSH agents in the holding cell, priming them, so they would be ready for her suggestive hypnotism.
April came into the office with Mark and Cormac, having watched Becca at work through the window.
"I've never seen an interrogation like that before. No wonder you're sought after, you certainly do get the answers." April looked away. "Even ones you don't want to hear"
Rebecca went over to April and put her arm around her.
"Do you really think it is your Paul?"
April looked at the others.
"Yes, I do. The more I think about it, things that didn't make sense at the time are now becoming clear."
"It was a bit strange that he should leave you so suddenly, the night before this trip. He must have left as soon as he found out," Illya interjected.
Napoleon's face showed his concern. "We must be getting a bit lax in our personnel security checks to have missed him being a member of THRUSH."
Richard was coming around from his interrogation and in minutes was fully awake. He saw the UNCLE agents in the room with him speaking with each other and assumed that they didn't get anything from him.
"I told you that you wouldn't get anything from me, your interrogation techniques have no affect on me."
Gamble gave Rebecca his full, lecherous attention.
"I'll have to show you how THRUSH interrogates women, you might learn something."
Rebecca cooly walked over to him.
"Oh, but you gave me more information than you'll ever know and you know what will happen to you when THRUSH finds out."
Richard spat, and sneered at her with contempt.
"I would not do that again if I were you. I may not be as 'pleasant' as my friend here is." Illya turned to his partner "What do we do with him?"
"Oh, I think he's fairly secure for the moment. We'll arrange for an escort to take him to headquarters in London. They can deal with him." Napoleon turned to Cormac. "Have you been taught to handle a gun?"
Cormac looked at the man tied to the chair, swallowed and looked back to Napoleon.
"That was one of the things I was quite good at, apart from fixing planes and choppers. But I never thought I would need to use one." He walked over to the desk, opened a drawer and took out his UNCLE special.
"I think it would be a good idea to keep your gun with you at all times, you never know when you might need it," Illya advised the Irishman. "I take it you do have a shoulder holster?"
Napoleon grinned at his partner as he watched Cormac lift the holster from the drawer as well, put it on with ease and then checked his gun.
"If Gamble so much as sneezes, dart him, Cormac," Napoleon said. "I'll contact London HQ and have him picked up. They should be here in about an hour and a half."
Cormac sat on the desk opposite the prisoner and settled down for the wait.
"Where are you going, what are you going to do now?" Cormac asked.
"Well, my friends and I have a new satrapy to find. Keep a close eye on this one and don't believe anything he tells you," replied Becca.
They all walked out from the office and across the hangar to the waiting Learjet, where Lizzie and Penny were patiently waiting, The agents knew now their short vacation was unfortunately cut short, as they needed to decide on a plan of action.