The Man From U.N.C.L.E: The Thief From Moscow

Chapter 16: Delaying The Mission

The car journey back felt slow and elongated. Gaby and Solo were ignoring Illya, as he was ignoring them. Halfway through the journey Gaby sighed and turned to Illya. "We have to talk as a group." Both Illya and Solo simultaneously looked at her.

Illya swatted away the conversation. "We have nothing to talk about."

"What happened this morning was a misunderstanding," Gaby exclaimed, her cheek still red and sore from the punch. "We just need to get over it. All of us." She turned to Solo. "Solo, I mean all of us."

Solo sighed. "I don't take a liking to people waking me up with a punch."

"You deserved it." Illya muttered under his breath, but Solo and Gaby could clearly hear him.

"You don't know what happened that night." Solo retorted. "You made assumptions that you are wrong about. You could've seriously injured both of us."

Illya didn't respond, and instead, he turned his focus back to the window. "Are we going to talk about the actual mission?"

Gaby nodded. "I think we need to visit a few places before we rule out any of the motives. Kosygin's work place is a good place to start."

"You can go without me." Illya stated.

Gaby was hurt that he wanted to stay away from them that much. Illya was angry, but he usually always completed work for the purpose of the mission. "That's not possible. We have to go."

Illya turned to face them. "I have a meeting with someone in Moscow."

Gaby realized he was talking about his family. "OK. But you have to come back straight after."

Illya didn't reply, but Gaby knew he would. "Solo and I will go back to the hotel. I'm going to analyse all the notes I took in the house..."

Before Gaby could properly continue, Illya had stopped the car and was already walking down the street. Solo and Gaby sighed as he disappeared around the bend and into the crowd.

"He'll be up to no good." Solo shook his head.

"We just have to trust him." Gaby bit her lip. "I always trust him."