//Step 1: Before you begin questioning or even approach your subject, review all available information.//

"Are you ready?" Illya Kuryakin asked, his voice even, betraying no emotion.

She passed the file back to him. "I have read and memorized everything."

He nodded, closing his eyes, and she entered the interrogation room. Once the door was closed, Napoleon came up to stand at his partner's shoulder, looking through the one way glass.

"Her first interrogation?"

"Yes. Hopefully she will do well."

"She's a natural. Reminds me of you, back when we were on active field duty."

"She is not on active field duty yet." Illya reminded.

//Step 2: Set clear goals for the interview- information, interpretation, or confession.//

"What's she looking for?"

"She is looking for him to confess."

Napoleon nodded, watching the girl pace back and forth before her subject.

"She is not reminiscent of me."

"Well, she's not as pretty, but she's got that quiet, deadly thing going for her. She's blonde, blue-eyed, high cheekbones, dressed in black."

"Shut up. You are supposed to be grading her on this."

//Step 3: When interrogating a suspect, first have her relate her version of the event in her own words.//

"Tell me what happened that night." The young woman's voice was low, threatening.

The man in the chair straightened, trying to hide his initial tremor of fear. "I was just pass--passing by when gunfire erupted from the w--warehouse. I ran closer to get a look and see if I could find a payph--phone."

"What are you pausing for? Keep talking."

"Then a man with a-- with a gun ran out of the warehouse. I panicked, and I picked up a t--two-by-four and hit him over the head. He had a gun. Anyway, it knocked-- I knocked him out... then there were more shots, and I ran."

Step 4: Watch the subject closely at all times for changes in language, stuttering or stammering, and for other nonverbal clues of discomfort.//

"She has him on the ropes." Napoleon smiled approvingly.

"She should know he is lying to her." Illya nodded.

Inside the interrogation room, the young man was sweating bullets, hands tight on the arms of his chair, eyes following the pacing of the blonde.

Illya tsk-ed.

"What?" Napoleon leaned into his lover, bringing his ear down.

"They both have tells. She's like a tiger in a cage! He may pick up on the fact that she is nervous. She's never done this before, and--"

"She may be pacing like a tiger, but I'd be willing to bet money on eyes just as fierce. After all, you were all over the place the first time you interrogated a subject, but you weren't scared. In fact, one look from you and I was ready to confess to a hundred things I never did." He chuckled.

//Step 5: Inject some stress into the interview by reviewing the suspect's story again, step by step.//

"You tell her to give it back out of order?"

"Of course I am. What do you think I am, incompetent?" Illya elbowed his partner.

Back inside the smaller room: "You were looking for a phone?" She challenged.

"Y--yes."

"And you said you were going to call 9-1-1?"

"Y-yes." He stammered, taking a deep breath.

She smiled triumphantly. He hadn't mentioned 9-1-1 at all, just a payphone.

"You heard gunshots as you ran away?"

"N-n--yes? No, no... Wait..."

"Describe the man you hit with the two-by-four."

"Ah... tall. Fair-haired. He was... he was wearing-- he was wearing black... a suit."

"Is this the man?" She showed him a photograph.

He nodded, incorrectly identifying Illya Kuryakin.

"You ran towards the building when you heard the shots. Why not away?"

//Step 6: Accuse the suspect of the crime in question.//

"You were not there on accident, Mr. Stratford. You deliberately bludgeoned that man fleeing from the firefight."

"I-- I--"

"I will give you an opportunity. In exchange for information about THRUSH, we can offer you protection from your former masters."

"I n-never--"

"You feel badly, don't you? You want to make things right. You know what you did collaborating with them was wrong. We can give you a chance to redeem yourself, Mr. Stratford, if you wish."

//Step 7: You have your guilty party if the suspect starts to negotiate with you.//

Illya shook his head. "He's not offering her the bigger fish."

"She'll get him."

"I've worked so many hours training her..."

"She'll get him." Napoleon repeated, squeezing his partner's shoulders. "Trust me. She had the best teacher."

"Stratford wasn't trained by a fool." Illya shrugged.

"But his training for this situation wasn't what it could have been." Napoleon reassured. "She'll crack him, lyubovnik."

//Step 8: If the suspect does not readily admit to the crime, remind her of the three principles of the criminal justice system.//

"It's not as bad as all that, not if you confess." She urged. "If we could be convinced of your remorse, if we were assured that you would not be a continuing threat to society. And if you would be willing to make restitution, Mr. Stratford, I think that we could cut you an attractive deal."

"I-- I c--can't..."

She leaned over the desk. "I have your interests at heart, but they are not my primary interests. Now talk."

//Step 9: If you cannot extract a confession and have no legal means of detaining her, you may have to let the suspect go.//

Napoleon and Illya entered the chamber before the girl made good on her unspoken threats.

"We will save the more, ah, coercive means for another day, Agent Lobochevski." Illya nodded to her.

Meanwhile, Napoleon was un-cuffing the man in the chair. "Good job, Agent Stratford. Monday morning you may just get your first lesson in withstanding veridicals. Illya?"

"She'll get a confession."

"She nearly did." The younger man grinned, slightly nervous. "Very intimidating, 'Yana."

"Not intimidating enough, apparently." She brushed him off, sweeping out of the room.

Montgomery Stratford shrugged and trailed after her.

"They'll never be partners." Illya shook his head. "Not in a million years."

"Oh, stranger things have happened, Illya mine. Stranger things have happened."

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