(* Ref: Hello in there)

CHAPTER 26

An Interrogation with a Difference

April took a long swig at her mug of tea and screwed up her face.

"Yeuch! How can you drink that stuff? It's so…so…"

Words failed her. Mark raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"So…?"

"Sweet and cloying!"

Mark laughed.

"Don't blame that on the tea luv. That was you insisting on having your tea made wholly with milk and putting three spoons of sugar in it. No one in Britain drinks their tea that way…tea is made with hot water, not hot milk, some people put a little milk in their tea, but only a taste of it…and most people actually don't use sugar at all. Here, try mine and see if you like it the British way."

Reluctantly, April accepted his mug and took a very tentative sip. Then another. Then another. Before she knew it, the mug was empty. She grinned as she gave him back his empty mug.

"Thanks, it is much nicer that way."

"Evidently. Does this mean you are now converted?"

"Not a convert, no. Persuaded that you and Illya aren't completely daft after all in your fixation with tea. You must still be thirsty. Want me to get you another one?"

Mark shook his head.

"Yes I am, but no thanks, we've run out of time. We need to get back to headquarters and look in and see how those interviews are going."

"Do you still want me to sit in on the girl's interview?"

Mark nodded. The two got up and left the café. As they made their way down the block back toward Del Floria's, Mark remembered something.

"Did I tell you I ordered Nurse Emma to report to Doctor Simpson for testing, and to psychiatric for assessment?"

"No, you didn't. How did she take the order?"

"Bewildered. It was just before we had final proof of her old school friend being a part of THRUSH. I wanted to know if they had been hypnotizing her or anything whilst she was sequestered in there with Olivia Del Paglio. Our first stop will be to Medical…that is if Doctor Simpson is finished in the kitchens by now."

Doctor Simpson was indeed in medical, and waiting for them. He greeted them warmly, but seriously.

"The kitchen's sink contained minute traces of human blood, a few droplets on the floor of the commissary too, that had been cleaned away; but there are ways of making it show up. All samples we found have been sent down to the labs for comparison with samples of Moran's blood that I supplied. We found the knife too."

He handed over a clear plastic bag containing a long and dangerous looking knife with an extremely sharp serrated edge. It was covered in blood stains. April shrank back automatically. Simpson sighed.

"The bloodstains you can see are actually pig's blood."

"Pig's blood?"

The doctor nodded.

"Cookie in his wisdom decided out of the blue yesterday to buy a whole pig straight from the abattoir and butcher it himself. He spread pig's blood and entrails over half the floor in there and gave his kitchen staff the task of scrubbing it all clean again. There may be human blood beneath the pig's blood on this knife…but if so it will take our science team a while to find it. I thought you'd want to see it before I send it downstairs."

Mark nodded, and turned the bag round and round, examining the weapon carefully from every angle. A very dangerous object indeed in the hands of a killer.

"We'll take it down presently. Any results on the other matter?"

Simpson's sigh this time was, if anything, even deeper.

"Actually…yes."

"Yes?"

"I'm afraid we found traces in her blood of drugs…she has been imbibing a drug regularly for several weeks now…whether knowingly or unknowingly…"

"Any clue as to the identity of this drug?" April asked him quietly. Simpson nodded.

"I have seen it before…do you remember the Foxes and Hounds Affair that Solo and Kuryakin were involved with a while back? After they were captured and questioned by THRUSH, Kuryakin was full of remorse about having given everything away under influence of the drug, insisting that he should have been strong enough to resist; so on Solo's suggestion we tested it and found it was a newly developed THRUSH drug, a great deal more powerful than either of them had encountered before."

"So Emma has been repeatedly given a truth serum by THRUSH, without her knowledge? A TRUTH serum that even highly trained agents were not able to combat? What hope did she have?"

April felt sorry for the girl. Mark hardened his heart and pressed on.

"What about psychiatric? Have they finished their evaluations?"

"Yes. They found no evidence of hypnotism, but the after-effects of the truth drug over a period of time. It seems that in Emma they found a young woman who was lonely, unhappy and eager to unburden herself to someone who she thought was a friend. That made her especially suggestible."

"I wonder what she has told them?" April mused. Simpson looked at them both hard.

"What could she possibly have told anyone? She is a low grade nurse, only just qualified and still on probation. She's a good nurse, but she has no security clearance at all here at UNCLE. There are large portions of this building that her security badge will not permit her to go. She reports to me or one of my colleagues every morning, and remains in medical during her working hours."

Mark and April exchanged glances. Nurse Emma was an unfortunate innocent in all of this, but under the circumstances, she was now a security risk that they could not afford. Simpson saw their glances and his face fell.

"You're going to have her de-trained aren't you? Where will she go when she's left here?"

Mark smiled.

"Yes, she needs to be de-trained, but that doesn't mean that we just throw her out to fend for herself. There is a lovely little retirement home in Charleston, South Carolina where elderly UNCLE agents who have no family go to live out their twilight years. Known colloquially as Homeward Bound, they are in need of a live-in nurse. The duties are light but important, and…"

"…and Emma loves elderly people!" Simpson continued. "That sounds like a great idea, Mister Slate. She would be happy there I think. Elderly people like her too."

"Do they? How do you know?" April asked him, grinning slightly. Simpson twinkled at her.

"Del Floria's assistant, Sammy Warwick* was telling me about when he came down here for his first physical. He was impressed at the way she spoke to him, how she handled him and knew what he could do and what he could not do. He told me that she was a treasure. He also said that she knows how to listen to old folks."

Mark grinned.

"Sammy's a card isn't he? No, he is quite right though. Emma's a good nurse. She needs a fresh start away from New York. Would you prefer to be the one to tell her?"

"Actually, no. But I think she would prefer to hear it from me. Miss Dancer, would you mind being present?"

"Of course. Where is she right now? Does she know her friend is in custody?"

"No she doesn't. I have her working closely with the Head Nurse, Claire Somers in the treatment room today. Claire is under orders to stay with Emma all day."

"Thank you doctor. Mark and I have a few things we need to sort out, but I'll come back as soon as I am free. It will be before six this evening. I'll have Miss Rogers arrange travel plans for Emma for this weekend."

The doctor nodded and turned away, but his body language gave him away. He was not very happy. His sympathy was, understandably, very much with young nurse Emma.

Whilst Mark took the knife down to the lab to be worked on, April made her way upstairs to the interrogation suite. She selected the viewing gallery above suite two. There she found Olivia Del Paglio sitting, arms folded and her mouth pursed whilst two UNCLE interrogators, Michael Wicker and Susan Holt fired questions at her one at a time. Olivia seemed to be finding something amusing. She was saying nothing. April bit her lip. Mark wanted her to try her hand here. She wondered if the idea in her mind would work? Would it be worth a go? She smiled to herself and opened her communicator.

MFU MFU MFU

Dressed once again in her blond full-head disguise, and dressed in a smart three-piece trouser suit, looking like an executive, April twisted her long, blond hair on her head in a French pleat. Mark, whom had just joined her from reporting to the labs grinned at her.

"Go for it partner. They're waiting for you."

From the viewing gallery above, Mark watched as his partner opened the door, and ran in a couple of steps as though she had been pushed from behind. The door closed behind her. Already primed, the interrogators, Wicker and Holt leapt from their seats in apparent frustration.

"Fine, you want to be interrogated together, so be it. Makes no odds to us!" Wicker declared. "Sit yourself down Miss Sweet and make yourself comfortable. We'll get ourselves a coffee, and we'll be back in ten minutes. Don't try anything. Remember you are being watched…" Wicker pointed up to the gallery, and smirking, the two left the room. A moment later, they were beside Mark in observation. They watched, and unbeknownst to the prisoner below, listened.

April sat herself down beside Olivia who stared at her.

"So what happened to you the other night? You vanished along with security and the next thing we know is…" she broke off and glanced up at the observation window above, shook her head and looked away. April sniffed.

"That boyfriend I told you about? Turns out he has more connections than I had given him credit for. He has a connection inside UNCLE it turned out. UNCLE! Would you believe it, a slime-ball like him? Anyway, he convinced his mate that we were up to no good and they would find something amazing if they raided the place. That night while you were out at that party or whatever it was? They came then, and knocked out that security man Jackson…the one you had guarding me? Kicked him in the chin and knocked him out. I would never have put him down as a man with a glass jaw. Whether or not they searched anywhere else I don't know. I think at that point, Si was just worried about getting me back."

Olivia stared at her.

"So it wasn't you who ratted us out then?"

"Me? How could you think that? Si sent me there in the first place because he said he had heard rumours that some hot shot organization was working out of that place, and if so he would get paid big bucks for some proof. He told me to go down there and look around the grounds. I expected to find a house full of guns and glue-sniffers, but apart from scaring me half to death when I first met those goons of yours, you were all really nice. Much nicer to me than Si ever was. These UNCLE people interrogated your man Jackson for hours and hours. I don't know if he finally cracked, but the next thing I know was I was being hauled out of a meeting with my bank manager this morning and told that someone wanted speak to me urgently. Now I am here. For some reason UNCLE think I am some kind of bad guy. Livvy, you were the one I spoke to most back at that house. Why am I here? If I am being accused of treason, surely I have a right to know why!"

Livvy stared at her. She remembered this girl well. A wholesome type of girl, the sort of person she would have liked to be. The sort she might well have been if it had not been for her father. If she could have been adopted by Miss Sweet's parents perhaps? Would she have ended up a wholesome person like her? She was very much an innocent. Livvy felt very sorry for her. April Sweet had seemed to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The wrong boyfriend for a start, who had knocked her about and forced her into this situation in the first place. For the first time, a slight smile touched her lips.

"Didn't you tell them that you were our prisoner?"

"I've not said anything…I did say that I did not see anything wrong in that house that merited a raid by anyone."

Livvy nodded.

"I see. April look, you need to tell them the truth. You were there against your will. I'll tell them the same. It is a fact as far as it goes anyway. I can't see that they can hold you for something you haven't done."

"But you haven't done anything either, Livvy. What right do they have to keep you here?"

Livvy was silent. April frowned.

"What is it? You're not suggesting that Si was right about some big criminal organization operating from that house are you?"

Livvy sighed and looked up. April was surprised to see genuine sadness in her eyes.

"Livvy, what is it?"

"Have you ever wished you were someone else?"

"Once or twice as a kid, but not since then. Why?"

"I have found myself wishing that I was you. Or like you, anyway."

"You said you wanted hair like mine…"

"I know, but that's not it. You are normal, April. I was adopted as a child…"

April eyes opened wide.

"Really? So was I!"

"You were?" Livvy was floored. "That makes it worse in a way. If I had been adopted by your parents instead of you, would I have been you instead of me? I mean would I have been innocent and talented like you are? I am a member of THRUSH, that criminal organization your boyfriend told you about. Not because I want to be but because I was adopted by a THRUSH officer and not given any option."

Up in the gallery, the three watchers held their breaths. How would April handle that confession?

"THRUSH? You're a member because of your father? Can't you just leave?"

Livvy shook her head bitterly.

"THRUSH don't let anyone just leave. Once you are a member, it's for life. And by life I mean for as long as they can find you useful. Once they can no longer use you, they retire you…I mean permanently."

To illustrate, she drew a finger across her throat and April shuddered.

"So you are willing to die for them? An organization that treats you like that? Why don't you…I don't know, turn kings evidence or something…isn't that what they call it?"

"You mean rat on my father and my friends?"

April shrugged unhappily.

"Sorry, I didn't quite see it like that, but you have to decide whether what you get out of it is worth the price you're paying. You're really, inside, a good person Livvy. I mean, whatever you may have done, you want to be a good person. If you really wanted to be someone else…I mean someone more ordinary like…er...like me…the person you might have become if you had been adopted by someone different…well, you know, I don't see why you couldn't strike up some kind of a deal with UNCLE. They might be willing to…oh I don't know what I am saying. What do I know? I'm stuck here just as much as you are."

There was a long silence in the room. The watchers above could see that Livvy was thinking deeply, and that April was being very patient, and waiting her time. Finally, April glanced round.

"Those two…er…people will be back any second now I should think."

Mark glanced at his two companions and nodded to them. This was their cue. Three minutes after the code-phrase from April, they were to re-enter the room. They just hoped that April had not judged things wrong.

So did April!

She watched as Livvy finally got to her feet and paced back and forth across the room.

"April, I even burned that house down so that UNCLE would not have any evidence against me. I just kept thinking of all the things my father made me do…you know he even ordered me to trust your hairdressing talents, without knowing that you were not actually the demon barber in disguise!"

April laughed.

"Are we going to remain solidly silent and end our days in prison?"

"Do you really think UNCLE will listen to me if I try to make a deal?"

"Do you really want to Livvy? Honestly? Even though it would mean sending your father and friends down?"

She paused, and nodded, sadly but decidedly.

"Yes. It was they who brought me to this place. But will they listen to us?"

April smiled.

"Actually Livvy, I guarantee it."

"You do? How? Don't tell me you have a connection here too do you?"

At that moment the door opened and Wicker and Holt came into the room. Livvy stared at them and then at April almost imploringly. April looked down at her feet for a moment.

"One of the things I have always had to do is be a good judge of character, Livvy. I was a beauty therapist for a long time, but that was before I started my present job."

She grasped hold of her mask and pulled it off in one swift movement, then removed her own beautiful hair from its confinement and shook it free. Livvy stared in shock.

"Olivia, I am April Dancer. I am a field agent for UNCLE, and if you really want to make a deal with UNCLE, I will guarantee you a good return for your trust…but you have to trust me."

"Even though you've been lying to me all along?"

"Actually, the only lie I ever told you was about my boyfriend Si. When I was with you in that house, I was there, genuinely, exactly as you thought I was. But I got to know you a little. And you know me too. What do you say Livvy?"

"What deal would you give me? What do you want, and what will I get in return?"

April glanced up at Mark in the gallery and caught his slight nod. She turned back to Livvy.

"We need evidence to link your UNCLE mole Alan Jakeman with your contact at the Embassy, and we need you to name your Embassy contact, and anything you know about the person."

Livvy stared at her.

"Is that it?"

"We already have evidence of your father and your…what is he, your uncle? You don't have to betray them."

"And what will you do for me to protect me from the Embassy man? He has powerful contacts you know."

"We suspect he does, but we need you to tell us directly. What would you like us to do for you?" April smiled. "Do you really want to become someone else?"

Livvy nodded.

"I really do."

"A few weeks in our cosmetic alterations department in San Francisco, a completely new hairstyle and a new identity. We set you up in any state or town you prefer, in an apartment with a job ready to begin. That is, provided you are able to give us chapter and verse."

"For sure?"

April nodded.

"For sure."

MFU MFU MFU MFU

Later that afternoon, Mark and April sat together in their office, staring at each other. They had left Interrogation to conduct friendly talks with Olivia Del Paglio, whom had given them far more than they could ever have dreamed of. She had named Sebastian Koskov without a second's hesitation, and without being asked had gone straight on to describe the way he had been siphoning off Governmental funds on the pretext of making large investments in growing US companies for large expected returns; and had been instead redirecting the money to his own private endeavours.

She also had no trouble providing proof of his connection with the KGB, because Koskov had been the one to act as the messenger between the KGB and her uncle for the purchase of arms. The proof was easily found, as it was waiting in her uncle's warehouse, sat in a trading estate near his home on Long Island. Mark had sent some section two and three men to investigate the warehouse, and had been astounded at the rewards they had reaped.

The only thing they could not do was enter the Russian Embassy and search Koskov's office. However, April had paid a visit in person to speak to the Ambassador to put to him their concerns, and the man had immediately, full of indignation at such accusations, ordered a search to be conducted there and then. He had gone along as a witness, leaving April waiting for ninety minutes in an ante-room. He had returned to her full of gratitude and contrition. When she asked the Ambassador whether he could tell her what his decision might be concerning his Chief of Staff, the Ambassador had looked grim.

"At best the gulag. At worst, the death penalty. Thank you for your assistance in this matter. Forgive me for my former hostility."

And so, somehow, as Mark and April stared at each other, they realized their task was almost completed. All that was left to do was send Emma Linnet and Olivia Del Paglio away to their separate final destinations. Olivia had chosen to go to Cambridge, in England and study law. She would soon be on her way to San Francisco to begin the first stage of her transformation. Emma had undergone her de-training, and was now being escorted to her new appointment by doctor Simpson.

It had taken them some time, but they had finally pieced together the story from the various different sources to put in their final report. April smiled at her partner.

"So are you going to do the final good deed for the day?"

Mark smiled and nodded. He picked up his phone.

"Miss Rogers, can you get me Mister Waverly's home please."

It was with a great deal of satisfaction that Mark was able to relate that the whole sorry affair was solved. Waverly lost no time returning to his office, and greeted Mark and April with a warm smile and hearty handshakes.

"So, who was the traitor?"

Mark and April between them explained the entire affair. Sebastian Koskov had been the lynchpin around which so many different things had been turning. He had close friends and contacts within both the KGB and within THRUSH.

"All right, from the beginning then, someone was betraying Mister Solo and Mister Kuryakin. Who was that and why?"

April sighed.

"Well, that is not really the beginning, sir. You see, we learned through Sidney Halloway, the guy who owned the house on Long Island, that Sebastian Koskov had an infomer within the Russian branch of THRUSH…"

"The Russian branch?"

Mark nodded.

"The thing is, the Russian THRUSH informer was actually Mikhail Kuryakin. Mikhail had big plans for advancement within THRUSH, but if Illya ever found out, Mikhail would become more of a liability than an asset, and he knew it, because Illya had always been able to second guess his brother, even when they were kids. So he wrote out an order for Illya Kuryakin to be assassinated directly, with the promise of huge rewards once Mikhail reached his ultimate goal. Then Mikhail himself contacted Sebastian Koskov and asked him if he knew of anyone within UNCLE who might be ripe for bribery?"

"And he did?" Waverly asked.

April shook her head.

"He told Mikhail that he knew a man, an independent, not a member of any organization who already had a contact within UNCLE in his power and employ."

"Who?" Waverly's eyes grew hard. April looked her boss in the eye.

"Koskov's American contact was Sidney Halloway…He used that house as a THRUSH recruiting ground for strong-arm men, and for scientists as well. We found a bunch of them holed up in the basement. He was not THRUSH himself, but he called himself an ally. Halloway's contact here at UNCLE was twofold."

"Twofold?"

"The traitor, sir, was Alan Jakeman…Cookie. Cookie eventually told us that he had become disillusioned with UNCLE when he was washed out of the agent training program and made to peel potatoes instead. When Halloway offered him a deal, he decided it was too good to miss, and so he has been spying on our spies all this time. Most of the time it was harmless stuff. Halloway did not want to make it too obvious to THRUSH about his UNCLE connection in case they tried to take advantage. But then Koskov called him and he said an old friend wanted a job to be done…and it was through Cookie that Halloway arranged for all those accidents to happen to Napoleon and Illya."

"So what about that letter? That letter to Illya telling him that his brother wanted him dead? Mikhail was already dead by then, and the attacks on Mister Solo and Mister Kuryakin began later."

April nodded.

"No one from THRUSH knew that Mikhail was dead. Only Koskov knew the truth because his KGB friends told him they had found his body and passed it to the U.N.C.L.E in Moscow. Mikhail had been abroad on some whimsical trip, collecting herbs or something, and the only THRUSH people who knew he was back were the people who died beside him in the mine. The KGB officers who went took all their written records."

Waverly nodded.

"So the letter that was found, that memo from Mikhail came from the KGB?"

Mark nodded.

"They gave it to Koskov. He decided that if Illya were to start investigating his brother's death, he might learn too much and open the whole can of worms, as it were; so he gave the letter to the Ambassador with the recommendation that he pass it on to Illya. He believed that if Illya was too grieved and upset learning the truth about his brother, he would not be suspicious enough to start investigating anything."

"So while Illya was grieving the death of his brother, Halloway and Jakeman were arranging for Solo and Kuryakin to die in an apparent accident, thinking of the huge reward Mikhail would eventually give them, not knowing that they would never get it, because the ultimate traitor himself was already dead by then."

Waverly was clearly appalled at the whole sordid story.

"The one man who could have stopped all of this from going too far was Koskov. How could I have been so wrong about him? He has clearly been playing both sides against the middle, simply to gain a better pay day…and to avoid being exposed as a traitor."

The three were silent for a long time, each of them replaying in their minds all that had happened. And for what? For one man, Power. For the others, money. Eventually, Waverly got up and poured drinks for the three of them.

"You have done a sterling job. So, you said there was a second UNCLE traitor. Who, pray?"

April explained about the accidental involvement of nurse Emma Linnet, and the arrangements that had been made for her. Waverly nodded his approval.

"Good. What about that security guard fellow? Sounds like he made a good account of himself in the end."

"He is interested in applying to join UNCLE, section three, sir."

Waverly nodded, smiling.

"I thought he would go for that idea. So, what else have you been spending our sparse finances on?"

Finally, they told him about Olivia Del Paglio agreeing to change her coat in return for a new face and a new identity.

"If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have had enough to take to the Ambassador…Koskov is a dangerous man, and we had no way to get to him. At least this way his own people will punish him in their own way."

Waverly nodded.

"You did well, both of you. Especially with having to tread carefully in the matter of a criminal with diplomatic immunity. I am also grateful for the swift way in which you were able to clear my name."

"So what now, sir? Do we call Mister Tarasov, or wait for Mister Tarasov to call us or what?"

Waverly sat silently for a few minutes, and then a thought struck him.

"That prisoner you brought back from Russia, Moran? What of him?"

Mark and April looked at each other.

"He's dead, sir."

"Dead? In our custody?"

"Yes, sir. Jakeman murdered him using a knife from the kitchens. He then went and covered the dead man's blood on the knife by purchasing a whole pig and butchering it himself in the kitchen. His staff complained that he made them clean up the bloody mess on the floor."

"But why kill Moran? He seemed to me like a harmless old man, even for a THRUSH officer."

"We don't know yet, sir. We've sent Halloway and Del Paglio…I mean the girl's father to the UNCLE prison, but Jakeman is being uncooperative. I think Moran must have had something else on Jakeman that he didn't want to be revealed. He's not talking."

Waverly nodded in satisfaction.

"Very well then, I will enjoy having a go at him myself! You two get yourselves home and take tomorrow off. You deserve it. Our friends in Russia will contact me when they are ready. It is better to leave things as they are until Wilhelm Tarasov contacts me himself. That was our arrangement."

"But what about…what if…" April began and faltered. Waverly smiled at her.

"If I receive any kind of word from Tarasov, I'll call you Miss Dancer. I promise. Go on now. You look like you could use some downtime."

April linked her arm in Mark's as they left the building together. They stood together outside looking up at the darkening sky. Suddenly they both felt very weary. Very, very weary.

Author's endnote: This chapter has been extraordinarily difficult to write, especially as it was necessary to draw together all the loose strings of this complex affair, and I am still not sure if I was wholly successful in managing to do so. The exposition of a tale is apt to become dull if not handled aright. If that is the case here, please forgive an amateur writer who is still learning her craft.