Chapter II

"Illya! How are you? It is such a pleasure to hear from you," Wolf Schmidt said enthusiastically. "I haven't heard from you in…what, seven months? Eunice and I were just talking about 'Eddie' and 'Navarre' day before yesterday."

Adalwolf Schmidt, the former THRUSH Central Committee member Ludwig Bowler, was the brother of the doomed woman Illya had fallen in love with and married unbeknownst to his partner and even Mr. Waverly.* He had moved from upstate New York to Ouray, Colorado a few years earlier.

Illya cleared his throat. "Yes," he responded, "it has been awhile since we have spoken and I am sorry to be calling because I need something but…I need money, Wolf, lots of it."

A soft chuckle came through the phone. "Isn't that interesting? You need money and you have money! Imagine that! Tell me to go to hell because it is none of my business but, may I ask what made you change your mind about accessing some of your Swiss bank accounts?"

"It is a long story, Wolf."

"Eunice is back East for two weeks visiting family. There's no one here to disturb us. I have time. Tell me."

The Russian took another swig of his drink and began his tale. "Four months ago, Napoleon was sent to Algiers to intercept a scientist, Dr. Arnold Leopold, who we had reason to believe was about to sell his research to THRUSH. Intelligence could not ascertain exactly what he had developed but, they were certain that Dr. Leopold was working on some type of mind control. Whatever his method, it was apparently viable enough that it had piqued the interest of the Central Committee."

"Napoleon was able to locate and neutralize the THRUSH operative who was to meet with Dr, Leopold. He then assumed the identity of the operative and kept the rendezvous. He was able to convince the man that he was dealing with THRUSH and successfully obtained the prototype for the mind control pill and the research behind it by paying him with a phony account number to a bank account in the Cayman Islands."

"That was originally supposed to be the conclusion of the mission but instead of taking his leave, he and the doctor had dinner and drinks. After a bit too much to drink, Leopold confided to Napoleon that he had even more diabolical weapons under development in his lab. Napoleon decided that it would be better to bring Dr. Leopold into UNCLE for debriefing. During his last official check in to Mr. Waverly, he reported that he and Dr. Leopold were leaving Algiers heading to the extraction point in Bizerte, Tunisia."

Illya could hear Wolf opening a bottle of beer in the background "You said his 'last official check in' which means, unofficially, he checked in with you?"

The Russian smiled in spite of himself; Wolf knew how close the two men are. He had even questioned Napoleon about the nature of their relationship when he had followed Illya to Plattsburgh. "Yes, about two hours after he had spoken to Mr. Waverly. That is how I know what he did to acquire Dr. Leopold. The problem is…they never made it to the extraction point. Napoleon is missing, Wolf, as is Leopold."

"How long has it been, Illya?"

"More than four months. No contact, no sightings, nothing. It is like they fell off the face of the earth. The organization must continue so Mr. Waverly recently changed his status from MIA to 'Presumed Dead' and the search for him was discontinued. Once that was done, I was elevated to Chief Enforcement Agent and his will was executed; I am his sole heir. The memorial service was this afternoon."

"Gott in himmel. I am so sorry, Illya. Why did you not contact me sooner? And, UNCLE is certain that THRUSH didn't capture him?"

Illya sighed, "THRUSH, as you are well aware, has a large number of egomaniacs on the Central Committee. If they had captured the great Napoleon Solo, someone would have bragged to someone and there has been no 'chatter' whatsoever. I did not call you for help before because so many agents and agencies were searching for him and I did not invite you to the memorial because, because…well because I do not believe he is dead, Wolf! I would know it if he were; I believe I would sense it. I am the only one who knows he is alive and out there, somewhere."

"No, you're not, Illya. I believe you. Tell me: What do you plan to do with the money? I assume you want to pay people to continue looking for your partner."

"Yes." The Russian swallowed the last of the vodka and turned the glass in his hand before putting it on the coffee table. I should have brought the bottle in here.

"Illya," Wolf was saying, "Do you still trust me?"

Pulling his thoughts away from the bottle, he responded, "You know I do, yes."

Wolf exhaled loudly. "Good," he replied, "Then, allow me to do this for you. As CEA, you cannot devote all your time to searching for Napoleon. I have kept in touch with, shall we say, former associates of Ludwig Bowler who, for a fee, will do just about anything asked of them. Napoleon Solo is alive and somewhere in the world and somebody knows something. He will be found. Do not worry."

Illya felt humbled to know that Wolf was willing to do this for him. "But, Wolf," he asked, "Are you not concerned that your…associates might betray you to THRUSH? You cannot take that chance."

Deep rolling laughter came through the phone. "Illya," Wolf said, "all my interactions with these people will be by mail, telegram, cables, and telephone. We will never meet in person. They will be paid enough money not to discuss Wolf Schmidt with anyone. I will get reports at a PO Box in another town and I will arrange for Eddie Case to receive the same reports at a PO Box in Manhattan."

"I do not know what to say, Wolf. Thank you sounds so…inadequate. I owe you for this."

"Thank you is quite sufficient and you owe me nothing. We are family; this is what we do for each other. I'll be in touch. Goodbye." The phone clicked in Illya's ear.

He put the receiver back on the cradle, picked up his glass and walked into the kitchen. As he poured himself another drink, he thought, That is what we are; family.

*ref. "Miracles, Love and Promises"