Chapter V
Matt sat looking gloomily at his cup of coffee as Illya, Napoleon and The Old Man read Darla's betrayal. He had brought copies of the transcripts of Darla's conversation with Logan Crane the night before to Mr. Waverly's office. Her phone had been tapped two days earlier as she met with Illya, Napoleon and him.
When they had finished, Matt said, "I came into HQ at four this morning and went to Medical. We still have Slater's body so I asked the Physician in Charge of the night shift to re – examine the body again and he noticed this." He produced a photograph of a man's rear end and slid it around the circular table until it was in front of Mr. Waverly. "Inside that red circle there is a needle mark. Since the original cause of death was thought to be a heart attack, Slater's blood was retested to look for poisons that would simulate cardiac arrest. His blood contained succinylcholine."
"Succin…what?"
"It is a fast acting poison, Napoleon," Illya explained, "It is used medically as a muscle relaxant but, an overdose paralyzes the respiratory system and makes it look as if one has suffered a fatal heart attack. It works within seconds so it is obvious…"
"That bitch killed Slater!" Matt finished heatedly. "Sorry, Mr. Waverly."
"You only verbalized what I was thinking, Young Man. No apology is necessary. Mr. Christie, you will arrange for someone to be in the park when Miss Jenkins makes the drop. She is to be followed and apprehended once she is safely away from there and brought to me. Mr. Solo, Mr. Kuryakin, you will set up surveillance outside the park and apprehend this Logan Crane after he removes the 'codes' from the tree and bring him to me. If he resists, dart him. I want him alive. You have your orders."
"Yes, sir," they said in unison as they rose to take their leave. When they entered the hallway, Napoleon said to Matt as he pat him on the shoulder, "She is already caught, Matt. There will be justice for Slater Gray."
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Darla handed in her badge at the end of the workday and exited the building through the support staff's entrance down the street and around the corner from Del Floria's. That façade is a restaurant/coffee shop whose entrance into UNCLE is disguised as an "Employees Only" door opened by a keycard.
She walked toward Carl Schurz thinking through her plan. After I drop this, I'll head straight to Port Authority and catch a bus to Philadelphia. Lisa approved my personal day so I won't be missed until day after tomorrow. I hate to do it but, I don't have much choice the way I see it.
She looked around as she approached the drop site and seeing nothing amiss or anyone watching, she strode quickly to the trees, spotted the one Logan mentioned and with one more glance around to make certain she wasn't observed, slipped the brown envelope deep into the hole, turned around and headed back toward the entrance. She stepped to the curb and motioned for a taxi. One stopped immediately. She got in quickly and said, "Port Authority and please hurry!"
The cabbie tipped his hat, said, "Yes, ma'am," and headed to Forty – second Street and made a right turn to head to the West Side. They stopped for a red light at Forty – second and Third and suddenly both rear doors opened. Matt Christie climbed in one side and a man she didn't recognize but, assumed was UNCLE, entered the other side.
"Don't talk, Darla. You know what you've done and you know why I'm here. Mr. Waverly wants to see you. He rapped on the glass partition. "TJ! Take us back to HQ. Use the garage entrance. Oh, I'm being rude. Darla, the man to your left is the new Number II of Section III, Agent Percy Robinson and our driver is Agent Thomas Jones."
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Illya watched from a parked van near the park entrance as a dark – haired man wearing a black suit, fedora, and a long black coat with a sky blue tie approached the tree twenty minutes after Darla left the park, pulled out the envelope and placed it in his inside jacket pocket. Instead of leaving, he went to a bench overlooking the river and sat sideways with his legs up on the seat. He appeared to be relaxing but, Illya recognized that this Logan Crane was surveilling his surroundings trying to ascertain whether or not he had been followed. This man is definitely an agent, he thought. He opened his communicator pen and said, "Open Channel S. Napoleon? Where are you? Do you see a man in black wearing a fedora on a bench by the water with his feet up?"
"I'm by the ferry terminal off 90th Street and yes, I see him. I hope he comes this way; the other end of the park has the playground and all those mothers and nannies with their children and their perambulators. We can't chance a confrontation there."
"He will probably choose that way then for just that reason. Who is stationed in that area?"
"Matt has ten agents spread throughout the park. You can talk to all of them at once on Channel L."
Napoleon pretended to watch a pretty woman job past. "I don't want to arouse his suspicions so you pass along his description. If he comes this way, he is mine."
Crane sat, seemingly without a care in the world, for another fifteen minutes before he got up and, as Illya thought he would, started walking in the direction of the playground.
"Illya…"
"I see him, Napoleon. Matt's agents have his description; I'll let them know he's heading his way. I'll call you when the deed is done."
Napoleon stayed where he was just in case their prey doubled back. Twenty – five minutes passed before Illya signaled that Matt's men had Crane in custody. He walked up to the corner of 90th Street and East End Avenue and got into the van when his partner pulled alongside him.
"Well," he said as he slid into the seat, "let's go see what judgment Mr. Waverly will pass."
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When they arrived back at headquarters, they got their badges and walked through the hallway on the way to the elevators. It was all over the building that Darla Jenkins had been proven to be the mole and had murdered Slater Gray and caused the death of two of Section Two New York's newest, youngest agents. Agents thumped them on the back and thanked them for a job well done. Many of the support staff wanted to say something but, no one knew what to say so no one said anything. Many were afraid that Darla's deception caused them all to be painted with the same brush of mistrust.
When they entered Mr. Waverly's office, they saw both prisoners were handcuffed and seated off to one side. Darla looked ill and Logan showed no emotion at all. They took their usual seats; Matt Christie was seated to Napoleon's right.
Mr. Waverly lit his pipe; after a few seconds, when he was satisfied it was properly lit, he addressed the group before him. "I will dispense with the pleasantries. Miss Jenkins, we know that you supplied THRUSH, in the form of this Logan Crane person, information about ten affairs which greatly hindered the agents involved and jeopardized their safety and in three instances, caused those missions to fail. The last failed affair ended with the murders of Agents Milagros Sanchez and Iris Perez."
"We have also become aware of the fact that you murdered Number One, Section III Slater Gray we assume because he had discovered your betrayal." At that statement, Darla whimpered and Logan looked at her and shook his head. "What I want to know, Miss Jenkins, is why did you do it?"
Darla sat up straight and said quietly, "Mr. Waverly, I made bad choices. I began gambling in illegal poker parlors in Little Italy and Chinatown and went into debt and was threatened by the loan shark I had borrowed from. I met him and thought he was just being a friend when he lent me the money to pay the loan shark. I didn't know he was THRUSH; he blackmailed me. I should have told Lisa Rogers as soon as I got in trouble but, I compounded my mistake by letting fear and shame keep me from coming forward. I had a hypodermic needle with that poison in it because I was going to use it on myself if I was caught but, I panicked when Slater overheard me speaking to Logan and I…stuck him with it. I'm sorry for that."
Matt's eyes closed in pain to hear her speak about killing his boss. "Darla, did Crane, did he…force you to sleep with him?"
As Darla shook her head, Logan sniffed, "I am an agent, not a rapist. I did coerce her into leaking information to me but, for what it's worth, I had no idea she killed an agent." He looked at her. "You have sealed your fate. You had a chance until that." He looked at the other men in the room. "As for me, I have no apologies to offer; like you, I have a job to do and I know the risks of the life I lead. I accept your punishment."
Mr. Waverly sat quietly for several minutes. No one dared speak. Finally, he sighed and said, "Logan Crane, you contributed to the deaths of three UNCLE agents. I blame you for Slater Gray's death as well as my two other agents. For that reason, you will be sent to Tartarus." Crane's face went ashen but, he accepted his fate silently. "Miss Jenkins, I have no choice but to send you with him. If you had come to us instead of betraying us, we could have helped you. But now, you are a murderer thrice over and for that, there is no redemption. Yours were the actions of a rogue agent so you will receive the punishment of a rogue agent."
Napoleon and Matt, in their roles as Number One, escorted the prisoners to the door and handed them off to the agents in Miss Rogers' office. They watched as Darla and Logan were taken away.
Napoleon asked, "With your permission, Sir?" When Mr. Waverly nodded, Illya rose and joined the two men and they stepped out.
It was finished and there was nothing to say.