The room was bustling with reporters, protesters, government officials and guards. It was a large, banquet room in the Regal Hotel down the street from the United Nation�s Building. The UN itself had been closed, its officials secreted away, and the police had set up barricades around the building to keep out the frantic, the curious and the fiendish. The room grew crowded and hot, but the crowd did not diminish. Everyone was anxious to hear the official announcement and explanation of the sudden disappearance of twenty of the worlds finest and richest men and women.
    Standing completely at ease in the crowded room, Solo watched every face. Finally he found the one he wanted. He chuckled in anticipation. Finally, Thrush had sent someone he could deal with. Bruno Van Buren was tall and thin, His dark hair and eyes shown with intelligence. His face was unscarred and clean cut. He carried himself with poise and confidence as the crowd parted to let him pass. He wore a fine, dark gray suit, and he smiled and nodded to Solo in instant recognition.
    Solo scanned the room for his partner. Illya stood, looking and feeling awkward, in the far corner. Solo�s small smile at Kuryakin�s expense, faded quickly when their eyes met and Illya signaled his acknowledgment of Van Buren�s presence. Ignoring Illya completely, Van Buren, strode purposefully up to Solo. He took an extra step, bringing his face too close to Solo�s.
    Solo smiled, ignored the effort to unnerve him and greeted the Thrush official warmly. "Bruno! It�s so good to see you again. I thought you were vacationing in France?"
    Bruno was not out done. "Ah, Napoleon," He grasped Solo�s outstretched hand, shook it firmly and smiled, "I�ve been back for a while now, and a lucky thing for us, too, or we may have missed each other."
    Illya watched the friendly exchange with distaste and slowly began to make his way around the crowd to join them.
    Solo went straight to the point. "So, Bruno, you're here trying to get a lead on the vanishing machine."
    Bruno�s eyes narrowed, he stared at Solo, measuring his comment. "Machine?" He finally asked "You admit then, U.N.C.L.E. is behind this?"
    Solo smiled and commented with condescension, "Now, Bruno, haven�t you learned yet that nothing can happen on this planet that U.N.C.L.E. doesn�t know about?"
    Bruno ignored the bait. In the corner of his eye he saw a splash of blond hair getting closer. "What�s your game, Solo? I tire of your company!" He was impatient to be away. Bantering with Solo was risky. Wasting time while Kuryakin drew closer was stupid.
    "It's never a game, Bruno." Solo�s voice almost betrayed his anger. He continued more calmly, with a well crafted nonchalance. "But perhaps you would be interested in an exchange of information?"
    Van Buren let his confusion show. "Exchange of...ha! You�ve got to be kidding!" He turned his head for the first time to check Kuryakin�s progress. Solo saw Illya struggling to make his way past the group of angry reporters hounding Senator Mateson in the center of the room. Solo grabbed Van Buren as he turned to leave, then released him immediately, not wanting to elevate the exchange to threats and blows. Van Buren stopped and squinted at Solo, uncertain how to respond.
    "Let�s just take a walk," Solo suggested. "Somewhere safe...for both of us." He watched Bruno�s eyes as he mulled over this strange turn of events. They knew each other well, had been enemies for years. Solo knew that Bruno would want to know what he was up to. He knew he would risk quite a lot to solve a mystery and he knew that, for Bruno, discovering the source of the vanishings could mean the rise or fall of his future. Solo saw on his face when the decision was made and he smiled knowingly.
    "Outside," said Bruno and he quickly walked away into the foyer and towards the front door. Solo followed close behind. Illya continued to work his way through the crowd.
    There was a moment of hesitation before they walked out of the building. Neither man wanting to let the other have an advantage. Finally, Solo, in a gesture of trust, lowered his head and pushed through the heavy glass door. Van Buren followed closely, but made no move for his gun and gave no signal to the Thrush agents waiting in the building across the street. Stepping purposefully down the long flight of stairs, Solo glanced down the street to assure himself that the U.N.C.L.E. car was still parked within view. He hit the bottom of the stairs and stopped, without looking back, to wait for Van Buren to catch up.
    "This is far enough, Solo," said Van Buren anxiously. "Right out here in the open, I feel exceedingly safe." He also glanced down the street at the U.N.C.L.E. car and then back at the window where his own men watched.
    Solo turned to him, "All right, Bruno, what do you know?"
    "Uh uh," he answered shaking his head, "you first."
    Solo frowned. From deep inside his head he heard a steadily growing whine. He sighed and decided to tell the truth. "We know nothing."
    Van Buren�s fingers began to tingle with numbness. "Hah," he exploded, "I knew you would tell nothing. Do you think I�m a fool?"
    Solo frowned and clenched his fists in an effort to chase away the strange numbness he felt. �Did they have a chance to drug me?� he thought. Out loud he responded to Bruno. "Whether or not I think you are a fool is not important. As a matter of fact I do, but that does not change the fact that U.N.C.L.E. knows nothing about these vanishings, except that Thrush is not behind them! As I suggested earlier, temporarily combining our efforts and our information may prove useful to us both."
    "Hah! Combining?! If you know nothing as you say, why should we �combine� anything? What good will it do Thrush!?" Van Buren was growing angry and concerned. His head was aching and his eyesight was growing blurry. He had obviously walked into a trap. Pulling out his cigarettes he tried to light one in signal to his men.
    Solo saw the cigarettes, and knew them for what they were but he could not make his arms move fast enough to signal his own help. Behind him and up the stairs he heard the doors and turned to see his partner rush into the sunlight.
    Struggling with mysteriously numb fingers Van Buren managed to light his match as Illya burst through the doorway. From the upstairs room where the Thrush gunmen were watching, they saw Van Buren struggle with the matches. Both fired at once. U.N.C.L.E. agents appeared from the doorway of nearly every building in sight, as well as from the car Solo had been watching.
    As four shots rang out from the building across the street, Solo saw Kuryakin go down immediately. Solo moved with agonizingly slow reflexes, yelling out in concern and frustration. He expected to feel the burning pain of a bullet entering his flesh, but instead he felt nothing but numb and heard the sound of bullets bouncing off concrete nearby. He tried to grab Van Buren, but stumbled awkwardly. Their eyes met and Solo recognized the fear in Bruno�s eyes as the same as that in his own.
    Illya stepped into the sunlight and had to blink at it�s brightness. As soon as he felt its heat he heard the shots. The searing pain in his shoulder was instantaneous. He went down hard on the steps and instinctively started to roll. Ending up behind the sparse protection of the concrete railing, he leaned back and tried to push the pain from his thoughts. He felt the trickle of blood running down his side and his lungs began to race. Shots were being fired, but not at him, so he gritted his teeth and pushed himself up to look down to the street.
    What he saw was more terrifying than the sensation of fire in his shoulder. Watching in horror, Illya saw his partner and Van Buren, twinkle slightly, become blurry, and slowly fade out of existence.

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