Illya looked around frantically. Invisibility would do them no good. They were still a hundred feet below where the field would extend if it were turned on. By the time they could be pulled into it, the helicopter would be on them.

He looked up. The helicopter would be coming directly under the front of the dirigible, he noticed suddenly. If he could remember the location of the ballast tanks correctly, and if there was any ballast left..."

"Napoleon!" he shouted into the communicator. "Get ready to drop all ballast from all tanks when I give you the word. And the instant you drop it, turn the OTSMID on and put on full power."

There was no reply, and Illya watched the helicopter. It was almost beneath the dirigible. A short burst from the sub-machinegun sent bullets hissing by over their heads.

"Now!" Illya shouted.

There was no immediate reaction. The helicopter bore down on them rapidly.

Then the dirigible disappeared.

"For want of a ballast..." Illya muttered and struggled to reach his gun. He had just pulled it free when a second burst of fire came at them from the helicopter.

They were getting his range.

Suddenly, something appeared a hundred feet above and slightly in front of the helicopter, It glittered in the light of another flare, then erupted into a cascade as it fell squarely on the helicopter, cutting short a third burst of sub-machinegun fire.

The helicopter jerked abruptly and began to wobble. Plowing suddenly into the falling mass of water ballast had been too much for the rotors. One snapped off and shot away and the helicopter shook violently from the resulting unbalance.

Through the spray, Illya could see the man with the gun shaken loose. He plummeted to earth, the helicopter spinning dizzily after him.

The last thing Illya saw as the invisibility field closed about him was the Thrush troops scattering frantically to avoid the debris.

* * *

Illya stood in the control gondola with Napoleon, Ishmael, Kerry, Dr. Morthley, and McNulty. The engines were running wide open and the dirigible was moving visibly in the direction of Cerro Bueno. Napoleon was patched in to New York through Ishmael's retuned Thrush communicator and the Cerro Bueno U.N.C.L.E. headquarters.

"Yes, Mr. Waverly," he was saying. "The immediate threat to El Presidente is past and we have Morthley, Kerry and the OTSMID."

"Well done, Mr. Solo," Waverly replied. "I knew my faith in you and Mr. Kuryakin was not misplaced. You seem to have cleared up two of our more irritating problems in one stroke."

"There is one more thing," Napoleon said. "At the time of our first report from San Sebastian, you indicated a certain dissatisfaction with El Presidente. Thrush's planned use of the OTSMID and dirigible was really quite ingenious, and there's no reason why we can't give the legitimate rebels some help, once we get the Thrushes thoroughly weeded out."

There was a short silence from New York. "Well," Waverly's voice came after several seconds. "Well, well. I'll have to consider that, Mr. Solo, when the time comes."

McNulty was staring and shaking his head when Napoleon signed off. "But you just risked your lives a half dozen times to prevent us from doing the same thing!" he burst out.

"You just don't understand, Arpad," Napoleon explained patiently. "It's all right for us to do it. We're the good guys."

McNulty turned wordlessly from Napoleon and picked up his parachute.

THE END

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posted 2.14.2010, transcribed by kanders