Wyatt's photo showed a man with a very warm smile but whose eyes were devoid of any emotion. Melanie noticed that his hair was cut far too short, making his ears appear to stick out and his head awkwardly disproportionate from the rest of his body.
"Yup, that's Wyatt all right. No one has a bigger head," Melanie giggled.
"Wyatt was always trying to live up to his brother's success and always falling short. He’s spent most of his life trying to get out from under that "Silver Boy" label I gave him in high school," Stuart explained. "It seemed that everything his brother Jack touched turned to gold, while everything Wyatt put his slimy fingers on turned to ashes."
"And he never took responsibility for his failures as I recall," Melanie said. "Wyatt always had some rational excuse for his shortcomings and they were always someone else's fault. Even while playing high school sports. If he missed a basket, he'd say the floor was too slippery. Miss a forward pass and it was the quarterback's bad throw, or the sun got in his eyes. Have a sexual indiscretion and it was the woman who came onto him, he was just an innocent bystander."
Melanie tried not to remember that very personal excuse she had experienced first hand.
"I remember he was always getting into trouble with the police for one thing or another," Katie said, "And his daddy would always show up to rescue his prodigal son. I don't think his father was doing him any favors."
"Yes, it's not a pretty story."
Melanie was starting to feel a bit of sympathy for the boy she thought was her friend. A boy whose body was still very much alive, but whose soul had died a very long time ago.
"Or, a pretty picture for that matter," Katie said, pointing to Wyatt's photo.
"That's for sure." Melanie sighed.
Don continued with the briefing.
"We were still watching the Gaynes paper mill and unfortunately we weren't paying too much attention to Wyatt."
"That was your first mistake." Melanie said.
"We know that now, but back then the only thing we knew was that Wyatt returned to Abbeyville a few years after Ted retired and opened a print shop and stationery store in the heart of town. Above ground it was a nice little retail establishment, and below ground, although we didn't know it at the time, Wyatt was rebuilding T.H.R.U.S.H."
The image on the screen changed to a man with very dark features and small, deep set eyes. Neither woman recognized him, but they both found the image to be quite threatening
"This is Sepheran. We never found out if that was his first or last name. He was the last remaining leader of the old T.H.R.U.S.H. organization and Wyatt's right hand man, until his body washed up on Cap d'Agde in France a few years ago."
"Don, you don't think Wyatt had anything to do with his death do you?" Melanie said.
"Not unless Wyatt had a passion for nude beaches," Don smiled. "No, our agents didn't find anything suspicious, at least nothing connected to Wyatt."
He hit the button again and the faces of Charles and Eric appeared underneath Wyatt's.
"As we've mentioned, these two have been working with Wyatt for a number of years. You can read the details on pages 27 and 35 when you have time."
"When, exactly will that be?" Katie said sarcastically.
Ignoring her comment, Don continued.
"In January of this year, the Euro became the chief currency in thirteen European countries. It's taken Wyatt all this time to collect the right paper, machinery and the right ink to perfect the method to counterfeit, not only U.S. currency, but all of the new Euro paper money as well."
"Stu, this is unbelievable," Melanie said. "I knew Wyatt was a deceitful creep, but I thought that he restricted that character trait to his relationships with women. This elevates him to an entirely different level of bastard."
"We should have known that when we caught him with those stolen math tests all those years ago," Katie said. "And that includes his two co-horts."
Katie's voice didn't hide her contempt. "I would have expected Chuck to have a bit more integrity. I really feel sorry for his wife and kids."
"Don't feel too sorry, Katie. Charles is the computer expert whose program you're going to hack for us," Stuart said.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Stu. If what you say is true about Wyatt, this sounds very dangerous."
"Don't worry," Don said, "You'll be working inside U.N.C.L.E. headquarters with me. It's perfectly safe."
"I'm still not so sure," Katie said. "I know Wyatt's not the most honest guy in the world, but you haven't shown me any evidence he's actually hurt anyone. I can understand why you would want to put all of them in jail, Don and I hate to sound selfish, but all of this really doesn't have anything to do with me."
"You're not being selfish Katie, and we completely understand," Don said. "But there is one more player in Wyatt's game we haven't shown you yet."
Don hit the button on the console and the faces of Charles and Eric were replaced by a 2000 re-election campaign poster of Minnesota State Senator James T. O'Brien.
The obituary that appeared in the Abbeyville Newspress reported that the brother of Jack Gaynes, Wyatt William Gaynes, was killed in an accidental fire at his downtown stationery store.Even after his supposed death, Jack received top billing, and Wyatt's name was mentioned second. Jack led the memorial service which was short and sparsely attended. Brenda chose to stay home.James O'Brien turned over all of his financial statements to the FEC, and after paying several thousands in fines, was completely exonerated. He re-introduced the bill to ban the toxic dye, which pasted unanimously, and his continued work on environmental issues further helped his political career.James was offered the choice of running for Governor or U.S. Senate, but Katie made it quite clear that she neither wanted to move to Washington, nor have a part-time long distance husband. Eighteen months later, she and her family moved into the Governor's mansion in St. Paul.Charles Hau
Back at U.N.C.L.E. headquarters, Don was able to find Melanie a blouse from the undercover agent's wardrobe. She changed her top and waited, alone, as Don took Wyatt into the interrogation room. Whenever the front door opened, she half expected to see Stuart walk in, then she sadly remembered that he wasn't going to be walking into any room ever again. She hoped that someone from the agency would contact his sister and brothers and that they would tell them that he died saving her life and omit the part about him being the one who had put that life, and others, in jeopardy in the first place.Melanie was exhausted. Even though it was just past nine, she felt her eyes close. Just as she began to doze off, Don entered the room. In spite of what they had shared on the boat, Melanie couldn't read anything in his expression. She had no doubt that he was well trained in concealing his emotions, even from himself."What's going to happen to Wyatt?" Melanie asked
When Melanie saw Don's face, it was all she could do not to jump straight into his arms. Instead, she calmly took hold of his outstretched hand, climbed out of the sub and onto the deck of the speedboat."How did you find us?"She said, once she was safely on his boat."I followed the signal from your communicator pen. Once I saw the sub surface, I hit the gas, so to speak.""Just like my knight in shining armor on the white horse I dreamed about, only your white horse is a white speed boat.""Horses don't do that well on a lake, don't cha know," Don laughed. "I'd love to hear the rest of that dream, Mel, but right now I have a big fish to pull out of that little submarine."Don reached into the hatch for Wyatt's hand, but Wyatt didn't move."I'm not going anywhere with you, Mr. U.N.C.L.E. agent," Wyatt said."That's fine with me. I'm more than happy to leave you here to wait for your friends to catch up with you."Don p
Five nautical miles from where Melanie and Wyatt were submerged, emergency sensors at U.N.C.L.E. headquarters were tracking their route. The moment he had received the signal from Stuart's communicator pen, Don immediately called his team to inform them that "Sunday in the park" with their families was cancelled.Alarms were going off in every corner of U.N.C.L.E. headquarters. Every agent within a twenty mile radius had responded to the emergency call. Not a single one complained about having to cut short their one day off. The U.N.C.L.E. network was stronger than any other ties. Nothing, not family, not friends, not even the birth of a child, was more important than the life of a fellow agent. They all knew that if any one of them were in a similar situation, every other agent would do the same for them.No matter his suspicions, if Stuart was in trouble, Don was going to do whatever was necessary to come to his assistance. As soon as he received the signal from Stua
Wyatt, took hold of Melanie's hand and the two started moving toward the rear exit. With their backs turned they didn't see one of the wounded T.H.R.U.S.H. agents lift his arm off the floor, pick up a gun and aim it directly at Melanie's back.With no time to warn her, Stuart jumped in-between the bullet and its intended target. Wyatt pulled out his weapon and got off one more shot, ending the threat of the wounded assailant right after the bullet entered Stuart's solar plexus."Stuart, NO!"Melanie screamed and ran to where Stuart had fallen. His shirt was already covered with a deep red stain that was growing larger by the second. Knowing he didn't have more than a few moments of life, Stuart reached into his shirt pocket and handed Melanie his communicator pen."It's working now," he coughed slightly. "Call Don. And tell him I'm sorry."Melanie took the pen from Stuart. Her tears streamed down her face, landing on Stuart's lifeless body. W
Melanie entered her birthday code into the touch pad on the side of the door leading to the Wyatt's base of operations. She cautiously removed her heels, so her footsteps wouldn't make any sound just in case he wasn't alone. She found him in the control room, his back toward her. He was talking on the phone and didn't hear her enter. Once she noticed that he was alone, she began to run toward him. Startled, Wyatt grabbed his gun, but when he saw who it was, put it back in his holster and put his finger to his lips in a motion to signal her to be quiet, then motioned that he'd be off the phone in a second."Mel? What on earth are you doing here?" he asked when the call ended. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again after what you said at the brunch. I guess I was right about us.""Wyatt, listen to me!" Melanie yelled, "This has nothing to do with us, or not us. DAMMIT, Wyatt there is no us!"Ignoring her, Wyatt moved to pick up the phone."Mel, as much as I