"Of course," the smiling factory manager told the UNCLE agents. "We'd be happy to give you a tour of our facility."

Chatting busily, the man quickly showed his visitors every aspect of the plant, from the area where the raw materials were received and logged in, to the many processing areas where workers assembled them, the administrative offices, and even the employees' lunch room. At the same time, he gave them a detailed description of every product they manufactured, where the components came from, and the specific features of each finished piece of merchandise.

"Everything certainly seems to be on the up and up," Napoleon remarked as the trio left the factory.

"So it would seem," Illya agreed. "And yet..."

"What is it, partner mine?"

"One of the women working in the lab," Illya replied. "I cannot shake the feeling that I have seen her somewhere, sometime, before."

As it was still quite early in the day, the three men decided to pay a visit to the beach.

Alison Palmer was returning from the restroom when she saw him. Although it had been two years since she'd last seen him, she recognized him right away. He was still just as tall, just as handsome. He was walking with two other men she'd never seen before.

"Alexei!" she cried, running toward him. "Alexei Kolchin!"

He heard her calling and turned to glance her way. There she was, blonde hair flying in the wind, cheeks rosy from the sun.

"Alison!" he cried, delighted.

"Oh, Alexei!" She caught up to him at last, and they embraced. "You came back!"

He laughed. "I told you I would!"

After greeting Alison warmly, Alexei turned to his companions. "This is my cousin, Illya Kuryakin, and his partner, Napoleon Solo."

"How do you do." She shook Illya's hand, then Napoleon's. "So how did you get to come back?" she asked Alexei.

"I have just been recruited by a secret international espionage and law enforcement agency, and Illya and Napoleon are training me."

"Oh, wow, so you're a spy now! Does that mean you're here for good, then?"

"I have been assigned to headquarters in New York City, which is not that great a distance from Gloucester."

"Great!" Alison exclaimed. "So perhaps you could come back and visit from time to time."

"I will come back to visit as often as I can," Alexei told her. "Would you like to go swimming with me?"

"I'd love to!"

They both dived in and began to swim toward the end of the pier. Alison quickly reached it and kept going, enjoying the sensation of her arms slicing through the water in a rhythmic motion while her legs kicked.

All of a sudden her hand touched something, and she realized that it was another hand. Then she realized that the body it was attached to was lying face down in the water, not moving. She stifled a scream as she turned to paddle back toward the shore as quickly as she could.

Alexei was on the shore waiting for her, his eyes full of concern. "There's a body out there!" she gasped between sobs.

Alexei put protective arms around her. "Alison, please calm down and tell me what happened."

"I was swimming, and all of a sudden my hand touched something, and it was a dead body, floating face down!" Alison began to sob hard, and Alexei held her and comforted her.

Illya, Napoleon, Alexei, and Link watched as the bloated body of Walt Whittaker was brought ashore. The swollen, purplish mass that was his face was unrecognizable, and the exposed parts of his body had been partially devoured by fish, which had also eaten away the rope that had bound his foot to the cement block on the ocean's floor.

"God, how am I ever gonna tell Elspeth?" Link wailed.

"I'll tell her for you," Napoleon offered.

"No, it would be better coming from someone she knows well," Link replied.

"We'll go together," Napoleon decided.

As soon as the coroner had driven away with the body, the four men headed for the Whittaker home.

"He's dead, isn't he?" Elspeth asked as soon as she'd opened the door.