Napoleon regained consciousness as the FBI agents' car drove down the roadway. He could barely make out the blurry outline of the vehicle as the heat waves rose from the asphalt making it appear to be made of mere vapor and hover above the surface of the road. He raised his hand to wipe away the sweat as it poured over his eyebrows and into his eyes. The handcuff key that Marty had left tucked into Napoleon's fingers scraped against his face. He stared at it dumbly, confused as to how it came into his possession.

Illya! "Illya!" He called out as he stumbled to his feet and made his way to the boulder. "Illya!"

As he rounded the rock, Napoleon found his partner on his left side laying in the middle of several clumps of prickly pear and hedgehog cacti. Napoleon couldn't tell if his partner was conscious or not. "Illya?"

"I am okay, however I'm quite immobilized. I cannot use my hands to help push against the ground." His voice was strained as he fought the pain and due to the fact that he had some cactus needles digging into his lower jaw.

"Hold still, I'll help you but I'm afraid it's going to hurt like hell." He gingerly stepped between the cacti and grasped the Russian by his upper arms. "We can do this slowly or quickly. Which do you prefer?"

"The faster the better!" He closed his eyes in anticipation of the pain.

Napoleon hesitated. "Get on with it, it's not going to hurt any less by taking your time!"

"Okay, on three. One, two, three!" Illya felt his arms being pulled up from behind wrenching his shoulders, but it paled compared to the feeling of cacti needles sticking into him from every angle as they tore out of the cacti and held tightly to his skin and clothes. Napoleon stood him up. His partner was covered in hundreds of needles along his left torso, upper arms, and left side of his lower jaw. Thankfully, they appeared to have missed his eyes. Mixed in with the needles was the desert dust. When Illya opened his eyes they were white and blue orbs contrasting dramatically with his dirty face and hair.

"Hold still, tovarisch, while I get these cuffs off. Then we'll see if the first aid kit will have any tweezers to pull the needles."

"I think the pliers in the tool kit will be more efficient."

Actually, it took both. The heavy long needles were easily removed by pliers, but the fine, hair thin needles required the tweezers. It took over an hour to pluck them out. Even then Illya was very aware of the ones that were missed as they pulled from the friction of his clothes.

Napoleon drove as Illya struggled to find the most comfortable way to sit. The fine cactus needles left were like small thin sharp hairs. Short of stripping down completely, there was nothing he could do until they reached the Atomic Research Lab. Fortunately, it was only a ten minute painful drive.

Napoleon hit a pothole causing his partner to hiss in pain. "I didn't realize something so small and nearly invisible could cause so much discomfort," he said, glancing over to his partner. I'm sorry Illya."

"Those hairlike needles, called glochids, are the hardest because they imbed themselves in your skin after pushing through the clothes," Illya hissed as the car ran over another pothole. "I'm beginning to think your are getting some sort of perverse please hitting each pothole! Napoleon, there is no-one else on the road! Would you mind driving around them…please?"

"Sorry partner." They drove another mile, "Look, I can see the main entrance gate. We'll get you taken care of shortly."

"Not soon enough," the Russian grumbled.

Napoleon pulled the International Scout up to the small white building. A corporal wearing an army uniform complete with white helmet and white ammo belt including a Sam Brown cross shoulder strap and carrying an M14 carbine came out and approached the driver side.

"Credentials and pass, please."

Napoleon passed both of their credentials and paperwork over.

"State your business."

"We're here to see Dr. Gerald Ridenour about some classified business."

The corporal looked in the car and noticed Illya's strange position. "What's wrong with you, sir?"

"I had an unpleasant fall into some cactus. We got most of the spines out but not all."

"Ouch. Well, as soon as I can clear you to enter you should go the infirmary. They'll take care of you there. Meanwhile, please wait here. I'll be back in just a minute." The guard went back into the shack and made a call on the field phone. After a minute, he reappeared and handed the agents two dated passes. "You're okay to pass through. If you want to go to the infirmary first it's on the way. The fourth building on the right. You can't miss it."

"Thank you, corporal."

Napoleon, wrestled the International Scout into first gear and drove down the road. The guard was right. The infirmary was easy to find especially with a large wooden sign on posts with the word "infirmary" engraved into the wood.

Napoleon exited the vehicle and moved around to the passenger side and helped his partner ease out trying to keep the cactus hairs from causing more discomfort. As they entered the building, a nurse took one look at the blond man, "Oh my goodness, what happened to you?" Before either agent could answer she whisked them into an examining room.