The agents gathered in the shelter of a large tree as Holden explained the plan. "Solo and Kuryakin have some sort of shielding device set up. Don't know exactly how it works, but there's an outside technician working on it, name of Ariadne or something. She's going to overload whatever machine they're using to create the barrier around the cottage. Soon as it blows, we go in. Destroy anything that moves in the place and then burn it to the ground. Everybody clear?" His men nodded. "Okay, then get into position and wait for my signal."

----------------------

Illya jerked awake, a stifled scream on his lips. He sat upright in the bed, breathing heavily.

Next to him, Napoleon stirred lazily, half asleep. A hand reached out instinctively, groping blindly at the mattress where Illya had been lying only moments before. Finding only the rapidly cooling cotton of the sheet instead of the warm flesh of his lover, his eyes opened in surprise. "Illya?" he said, glancing at his watch, which had been left beside the bed. "It's 3 in the morning, what's wrong?" The only sound was of Illya struggling to bring his breathing under control. Napoleon sat up quickly and wrapped his arms around the Russian.

Illya's heart was pounding and Napoleon could feel him trembling even as he pulled him closer. "Illya, Illyusha, what's wrong?" Napoleon kissed Illya softly on the back of the neck. "Did you have a bad dream? What happened?"

Illya suddenly twisted out of Napoleon's grip. "We...we have to get out of here, it's not safe..." He scrambled off the bed and started searching frantically for the clothes which had been so recklessly discarded a few hours earlier.

"Illya, what's going on? That protective spell thingammy that we set up is still working, right? We're safe here...at least as safe as we can be." A pair of trousers hit him in the face. "Um Illya, these are yours...and I've already gotten into your pants once tonight...several times to be exact." He smiled, but Illya didn't return it. "Come on, it wasn't that bad a joke."

"This is no time to be joking," said Illya, a bundle of clothes in his arms. "I...I cannot explain how I know this, but we are no longer safe in this place." He thrust the bundle at Napoleon and backed away, his naked body bathed in the moonlight. "Danger is coming...it's..." He stopped and his whole body tensed. "It is here..." he said, his voice changing.

"What danger?" Napoleon started to say, but he stopped when he looked at Illya's face...and the two completely white eyes... "Oh no," he gasped. "Not again..." He started to reach out but an unknown force wouldn't let him move from the bed. At the back of his mind he heard breaking glass, and the trained agent portion of his brain told him that standing in the center of the room, in full view of the windows was not the safest place to be. "Illya, get down, NOW!"

But it was too late. Napoleon heard gunfire coming from all directions mingled with the sound of more breaking glass, and then the bullets started hitting Illya and all Napoleon could do was watch as the bloodstains appeared on his body and he fell silently to the floor.

"NOOOO!" screamed Napoleon as he jerked upright in the bed, "ILLYA!!!"

"Napoleon?" said Illya, his eyes cloudy with sleep, as he lay curled up on the mattress. "What's wrong?"

Napoleon stared wide-eyed at his lover for a few seconds before pulling him into his arms and hugging him tightly. "I thought you were dead...I watched you die..."

"Napoleon," came Illya's muffled voice from where his face was pushed into Napoleon's chest. "You're squashing me..."

Napoleon loosened his grip sufficiently for Illya to look up at him. "I saw you die..." He stroked the side of Illya's face...the face which had been covered in blood only a few seconds ago.

"It was just a dream Napoleon," said Illya, reassuringly as he gently stroked Napoleon's back. "Just a very bad dream."

"I'm afraid not," came the voice of Lovecraft. "That was more than just a nightmare...it was a taste of the future."

"You mean it's going to happen?" said Napoleon. "Illya, Lovecraft says it's a taste of the future..."

"I know," said Illya, his eyes wide with wonder, and a little fear. "I...I heard him too..."

"Ah," said Lovecraft. "It would appear that your bonding has been most successful."

Napoleon bit his lip, "In my dream...it was just past 3 in the morning..."

Illya reached for his watch. "Then that gives us less than 20 minutes to make our escape."

"But to where?" asked Napoleon.

Illya kissed him gently on the lips, "Does it matter, so long as we're together?"

"Not at all," replied Lovecraft. "As your bond becomes stronger, the one between you and Ariadne weakens. Soon she will no longer be able to even sense you."

Illya glared, "I wasn't talking to *you* Lovecraft."

In spite of the danger, Napoleon managed a smile, "I think that for the moment, it's going to be a case of 'three's company', Illya."

"Just so long as it's not a permanent thing. I do *not* like to share!"

-------------------

---

This page is an unofficial site that exists only for the fun of it. All characters and situations from the television show "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." are property of Norman Felton and Warner Bros. Nothing ill is intended by this use of any television characters in these amateur efforts. Any fiction linked to these pages is the intellectual property of the amateur author who created it and is not presented here for profit.