Sacrifices for the Greater Good
Recovery VII
"I'm confused." Napoleon said. "If you didn't turn them in," he said turning to Waverly, "why do they still work for you?" He paused as a horrifying realisation hit him. "You're not blackmailing them are you?" He demanded. Illya and Gaby both scoffed at the suggestion, immediately making Napoleon feel stupid for asking.
"Good God, Solo, what kind of man do you think I am?" Waverly asked, sounding offended.
"My apologies." Napoleon said, regaining his composure. "I'm just struggling to understand why Gaby and Illya are working for you when everything parted so amicably."
"Perhaps you will allow me to explain." Waverly suggested. "My part does not take too long, and I'm sure Lord Barrow can continue on when I am finished." He nodded at Illya.
"Go ahead." Napoleon said, pouring himself another drink and settling in for another hour or so of explanations.
"After I left Scotland, I had no intention of returning." Waverly began "But when I arrived in London, a rather unexpected opportunity fell into my lap. I was contacted by an old family friend, the original Lord Barrow."
"I'm dying." The Lord Barrow said eventually, after a long pause of silence.
"Oh?" Waverly said, unsurprised but sympathetic.
"Cancer. They think I might have year to live." He digested this new information with a short nod. The report he had been given had detailed that his Lordship had been making preparations for his death, but did not list the cause or timeline.
"My condolences."
"I don't need condolences, I need purpose." Waverly's eyebrows quirked up, perhaps the two men wanted the same thing. He had of course arrived with his own agenda, but he hadn't realised that the other man might have one as well.
"Is that something I might be able to help with?"
"Isn't that why you're here?"
Waverly smiled and re-evaluated his opinion of Lord Barrow, he was no fool that was for certain. He inclined his head in acknowledgement, causing the other man to huff a laugh that turned into a hacking coughing fit. Waverly went to pour the man a brandy as he patiently waited for him to finish, and as he returned from the decanters he spotted the tell-tale scarlet stain on a handkerchief which was hastily tucked away. The man took the offered drink and drank a decent amount, wiping his mouth afterwards.
"It has come to my attention that I am going to die without leaving a shred of good behind me. I have no family left, and no legacy to leave behind." Barrow said. "I have wasted my life." Waverly smiled as he realised their interests lined up perfectly.
"I think there is something we can do to help each other."
"Enlighten me." Barrow said with a careless gesture, giving Waverly the permission he needed to deliver his slightly rehearsed speech.
"As you have pointed out, you have no children and no one to pass your estate on to when you pass away."
"Do you intend to supply me with a son or daughter?" Barrow interrupted in a mocking tone, Waverly ignored him and ploughed onwards.
"You are well respected among the upper circles of society, if you wanted you could have an ear in every plot and plan being made. As you may expect, this is of some interest to British intelligence services."
"Get to the point."
"With your permission, we would install one of our agents as your estranged child, the product of some liaison a long time ago that only now you have decided to acknowledge. The agent would perform surveillance work to help keep this country and others safe from the machinations of those who have enough money to pursue unsavoury courses of action." Waverly said, watching as Barrow's face betrayed nothing. "If you are unhappy at having contributed nothing positive to this world, this would be one way to do something about it."
"Do you have an agent in mind?" Barrow asked, surprising Waverly. He had expected more questions before reaching this point.
Unbidden, an image of the happy family he had left in Scotland appeared to him. They were living normal lives now, but they could not be satisfied with just that. Perhaps if either of them had previously had normally lives, they might be content with a simple and uncomplicated existence but each of them had their demons. Unhappy childhoods, years spent in secrecy. It all added up to restlessness, a need for adrenaline and risk. Barrow coughed impatiently, startling Waverly out of his thoughts, he had been silent for a very long time.
"I do." He said. "I think they might fit in well, I'm just not certain they would accept." Barrow rolled his eyes at Waverly's vagueness.
"So which is it? Son or daughter?"
"Both. And a grandchild, if you accept of course." Barrow raised an eyebrow but looked quite intrigued at Waverly's unexpected answer.
"Does the agent already come so burdened, or have you assembled a group together to try to bribe me with more family members?"
"Not quite." Waverly said drily. "The couple both used to be my agents, they have since retired and started a family together. I think they may enjoy the opportunity to do some light surveillance work. My concern is whether they will want to come out of retirement." Barrow did not respond for a few minutes, and Waverly did not pester him as he suspected he wanted a couple of minutes to think over some questions. After a while, Barrow spoke up again.
"I accept, on the condition you bring them here as soon as possible."
"Do you not want more time to think about it?" Waverly managed to say, after overcoming his initial shock.
"I'm dying, Alexander, time is not a commodity I have much left of. If you're giving me a fake family I would like to at least get to know them." That effectively ended the conversation, and without further ado Waverly said his goodbyes and returned to his home, with the intention of planning his return to Scotland in the coming days.
Gaby and Illya were surprised to see him again at their door, only a month after he had spotted them at the fair. They were understandably wary, and Waverly had found himself facing a loaded gun for a second time, he realised that it might have been a good idea to forewarn them of his arrival. Gaby and Illya had thought his return meant he had lied when he told them he wouldn't hand them in, and it took a solid ten minutes of Waverly speaking until they believed otherwise. He waved a small toy car as a gesture of his good intent.
"I have an offer for you both." Waverly told them, once they had relaxed enough to invite him in again. Eric was once again in his playpen, and Waverly was amused to see how much the boy had changed in just a month.
"No. We're not doing anything dangerous." Gaby told him immediately. "So if you want us to fly somewhere where we will be shot at, we're not interested." Waverly couldn't help but notice that Gaby's focus on danger meant they might not outright refuse other work.
"No, I do understand that for obvious reasons you would want to avoid that. But I do have a surveillance job opening I thought would be good for you both." Gaby and Illya looked at each other, seeming to communicate something Waverly could not follow. Not for the first time he wondered how he had managed to ignore their relationship while they had worked for UNCLE.
"Waverly," Gaby began uncomfortably, "we appreciate that you want us to work for you again-" Waverly raised a hand before she could continue.
"Perhaps you might allow me some more time to explain. You've made a lives for yourselves here, and I respect that. The position I want to offer you is not an ordinary surveillance job, it is an extremely comfortable change of scenery with minimal risk attached. I am offering to you both, not just because you were brilliant agents, but also as thank you gesture for your loyal and effective work for UNCLE." He could tell that he had given them both pause.
"We're listening." Illya said.
"A British aristocrat is dying. As you are no doubt aware from your experiences with UNCLE it is often the rich that fund various plots and schemes. The man has no family members but is willing to 'adopt' an agent, and I'm sure you can see why we would have an interest in this business. Should you decide to accept the position, your main job would be to attend and host functions and listen for anything that would be of interest to domestic and foreign intelligence services." He detailed the role to their still impassive expressions, and change the subject to the benefits for them.
"In exchange for this, you get to live in a much larger home with plenty of room should you decide to further expand your little family. In addition, you would have access to some of the best facilities for your child, including but not limited to the best schools. I will also my influence to shield you from any foreign interests. Your identities are good, but with my connections I can improve on them- birth certificates, detailed life and employment histories on paper. I can see you both have taken steps to further improve on disguises."
He looked them over again, Illya had acquired a beard since Waverly's last visit and it appeared that Gaby was now working on changing the style of her hair rather than just the colour. Her fringe was growing out and she now styled her hair in curls rather than just letting it fall flat around her face. Carrying a child had already altered her body, and with a few extra changes she would likely be near unrecognisable.
"And of course," he added, "this arrangement would only need to last for the remainder of my employment. All information you acquire would be passed to me and I would then take action on it, once I retire I can also end your involvement, and you can continue to enjoy the benefits." There were other advantages to his offer- wealth, prestige. But he knew that ranting on about that would not endear them to his offer.
"Can we have some time to think about it?" Gaby asked after whispering quietly to Illya.
"Of course." Waverly fished out a business card from a pocket. "If you decide to accept, please call me and I can make all the arrangements." Gaby took the card, and Waverly took that as his cue to leave and let the couple think over his proposition.
With Waverly gone again, Illya did not know quite what to think. His first instinct was to reject the offer to continue living the reasonably pleasant lives they had carved out for themselves, but he found himself hesitating. He felt a little useless now, which was a novel feeling for him who had spent the majority of his adult life serving his country or the world in some way. Serving a small community felt like a pittance in comparison so the thought of some spy work, even something as minor as intelligence gathering, felt like a very attractive prospect.
"What do you think about it all?" Gaby asked, and he could see in her eyes that she looked as conflicted as he felt.
"I don't know." He said truthfully. "It is a lot to take in."
"I feel the same. I can't stop thinking about whether or not it might be best, not just for us but for Eric." She said. "We've both had so much taken away from us, and if Waverly is right we could open up dozens of opportunities for him. Opportunities we could never had dreamt of." There was wistfulness in her voice, and Illya could guess she was thinking about her own childhood passion for dance, a path that had been cut off from her at a young age. His parents had groomed him for a future in politics, but that too had to be abandoned once his father had been arrested. If they did as Waverly suggested, then it was possible that they could allow their child to pursue any future he wanted.
"He said there was no risk…" She murmured thoughtfully.
"There is always risk." Illya pointed out. "But I do believe him when he said he would shield us from the brunt of it."
"Let's sleep on it." Gaby said, reaching for him and letting him pull her into a tight embrace. "It's a big decision, things may seem clearer in the morning."
Author's Note: The prologue rears its head again, now with some more context. By the way, you may have noticed a bit of a screw up with the previous two chapters. Recovery VI looked like a copy of the end of Recovery V, and that was because when I was editing Recovery V grew so long that I moved half of it into a new chapter- Recovery VI. Unfortunately I forgot to delete that half from Recovery V that was moved. It has been corrected now, but sorry about that mistake.