Chapter eighteen

WAVERLY vs JACKSON

When agent Sam Hoskins left the interrogation room, he found Alexander Waverly standing resolutely in the hallway.

"Sir!"

"Mr. Hoskins. You have Miss Dancer's prisoner in there. Has he started to cooperate with us yet?"

The man shook his head, but Waverly could see the ghost of a smile behind his eyes.

"He won't answer any questions sir, but he keeps shaking his head and muttering to himself over and over again `How could I have been fooled like that?' I think he actually had the hots for April sir, sorry, I mean agent Dancer, and he is annoyed that he never guessed that she was a member of UNCLE."

Waverly repressed a smile and beckoned to the man.

"Come with me."

He opened the door and entered the room, Hoskins following close behind. He nodded at the security man.

"Thank you Mr. Jones. You can wait outside the door."

Jackson watched the elderly man entering the room and inwardly groaned. Not another one. This one had an undeniable air of authority about him. He sat back and folded his arms as Waverly took a seat and smiled amiably.

"I am Alexander Waverly."

Waverly could see his name was familiar to this THRUSH fellow. He wondered if April was right about him?

"Leader of U.N.C.L.E I understand? I've heard of you. You are one that THRUSH Has always wanted to get hold of even more eagerly than your Napoleon Solo."

"Yes, well it seems that we get what we want if we are patient enough. Your organization managed to kill my two best agents Mr. Solo, and Mr. Kuryakin a few days ago. Congratulations!"

The tone was caustic, but Jackson frowned.

"So I heard. I'm sorry."

"The deaths of two talented men bothers you? The deaths of two men who were undeniably your enemies, that bothers you?"

"The death of anyone bothers me Mr. Waverly."

"So why work for an organization that specializes in creating ever more imaginative ways of killing people?"

Jackson said nothing.

"Miss April Sweet. You took to her I understand."

Reluctantly, Jackson nodded.

"I saw pretty quickly there was something wholesome about Miss Sweet. Not like…well, anyway, now I know why. She was on assignment for YOU!"

Waverly shook his head.

"Actually, she was there doing almost exactly what she claimed to be doing, and when your people gave her no option but to join your little household, and whilst there, she quite honestly did her best to fit in."

"Until she could find a way to escape and take all THRUSH's secrets with her."

"Escape, yes. What secrets? Anything there is to know about your little Long Island satrap can be discovered a lot more safely than my sending in a young woman as a spy. If I had wanted to send her in among you as a spy, I might have suggested she apply for a position as a cook or something."

"Or even as a masseuse."

"She told the truth about that. She is a qualified masseuse, and has often used her skills professionally in that capacity. She also has qualifications in the care of hair and beauty…I guess you recognized that much about her. You need not be upset at being fooled by her."

"Thanks to her I am sitting here."

"Actually…Miss Sweet is not the first of my people you have had in your house."

"She's not?" Jackson was suddenly on the alert. "Who else has been fooling me?"

Waverly shook his head.

"No one. She was a visitor. A young woman who went to school with one of your comrades?"

Jackson frowned.

"You mean The Mouse?"

Waverly blinked in surprise. Jackson's mouth twitched.

"The Mouse. That is her nickname around the base. A scared, mousy little thing called Em. At least, that's what Livvy calls her. This mousy girl Em turns up once or twice a week, and she and Livvy lock themselves in the library for a couple of hours drinking wine, then Livvy calls for a cab to take the Mouse home again."

"Talking about schooldays probably."

"Probably. What difference does it make anyway?"

"Because it was about the time that these `visits' started taking place that things started to happen which led eventually to the deaths of my two agents."

"So? You have a spy inside UNCLE. Why should I cry about it?"

"Because `Em' is not a spy. She has been thoroughly investigated, and she has passed every lie detector test with flying colours. So something else is happening inside that room. It makes this person Livvy guilty at the very minimum of double murder by association, and if you do not start being more cooperative, you will be charged and found guilty of conspiracy to commit double murder."

Waverly's faced remained stony and impassive, throwing everything into his bluff in the hope that this large fellow could be persuaded to open his mouth. The effect on Jackson was instantaneous. He leapt back in his chair, almost knocking it over and backed against the wall.

"Now look here, I'm just a security guard there, that's all."

"You work for THRUSH!"

"I was an agency security man when I first went there, I swear! But things weren't going well for my family, and I needed more cash to help them out. They said if I worked for them directly instead of through my agency, I would be paid double. So I took it. I needed the money. I learned to…not look too closely at…" his voice petered out and he sat back down in his chair and put his head in his hands.

"They wanted me to kill that bloke Si, Miss Sweet's boyfriend, but I couldn't do that. I'm not a killer Mr. Waverly. There's been too many deaths…"

Waverly looked into Jackson's eyes and saw the truth and the misery in them. This fellow was just a minion, someone to do the dirty work.

"Are you a good security guard?"

Jackson looked taken aback.

"Of course I am. THRUSH would have thrown me into the East River a long time ago if I wasn't."

Waverly nodded.

"I can offer you a deal. An equitable arrangement."

"What sort of deal? How equitable? I don't want to be sent down for murder!"

"Tell me everything you know. Answer all our questions the best you can, and…"

"…and have THRUSH determine to kill me?"

"Like they try to kill all my agents. Help us to catch these particular THRUSHes and they will be out of our hair. If you prove yourself trustworthy, I can always use a man with your talents in section three."

"Y. mean, I help you and you'll give me a job? Like for real?"

"We may not pay quite as well as THRUSH, but you will find us very generous in other ways…and UNCLE has a brighter future than THRUSH."

Jackson stared at the shrewd old Englishman and grinned slowly.

"If everyone at UNCLE is as wily as you are, Mr. Waverly, then I can well believe you." He sat back chewing his lip.

"My family…if I work for UNCLE, they might become targets."

"They will receive automatic protection. Even relocation if necessary, all expenses paid. We look after our people…even after retirement which is more than you can say of THRUSH."

Gradually a slow smile spread across Jackson's face which finished in a grin.

"I could even work officially with Miss Sweet?"

At that, Hoskins started to chuckle and Waverly smiled indulgently.

"Actually, her name is April Dancer, and yes, I am sure you would sometimes be called upon to work alongside her. So, what do you say?"

"What do you want to know?"

Author's Endnote: Forgive me for this chapter being so short…After the flu, things have really got very behind and I have not had very much time to escape from the real world. This chapter may be brief, but who knows how important it may later turn out to be?

Next time: How convincing is Illya when he is right in the lion's den?