I see several possible solutions for Neil:
1) He was actually forced to go on an op himself because of manpower
shortages and disappeared. SIS assumes that he was killed or grabbed. If
he's still alive, he's in a Russian labor camp somewhere.
2) He stayed on as D.Ops but developed emphysema from the smoking, and
now lives on his pension, rather pathetically carrying an oxygen
canister
wherever he goes. He tries to stay in touch, but the new people in the
department are condescending and don't really want his involvement.
3) He double-crossed his own side one too many times. They didn't dare
fire him outright, so they put him in charge of something dull -- head
of
the filing department, or a teacher at field training school -- and
there
he spends his days, a bitter man.
4) The end of the Cold War made him redundant, and he was laid off. It
also completely destroyed his own personal raison d'etre. After a short
stint as a corporate security consultant for a high-tech firm, he was
summarily fired for insubordination and disobedience. He's now
unemployed,
living off his meager pension and the dole. Wellingham has told him
he'll
find him a job at the FCO if he'll make up with Brenda, who has never
remarried and still idolizes him. In desperation, Neil is starting to
consider it.
5) Neil has finally gotten his act together and has started to play the
political game. He no longer double-crosses anyone and is a model of
decorum and compromise in meetings. He DID get promoted to Deputy Chief
and there is talk of his being the new "C".
The reason for all this is that, disgusted by what he sees as John
Major's weak and vacillating nature, he became a spy for the Americans
towards the end of the Reagan Administration. He doesn't take any money,
he did it on principle. Neil still believes passionately in the Special
Relationship.
6) The death of Laura eventually changed Burnside completely. He left
the
SIS, changed his name, grew a mustache, and became a rather quiet,
introspective detective in the Metropolitan Police.
Several solutions for Willy:
1) He's dead.
2) He survived the shooting, but decided he could no longer handle the
dangers of the job. Trading on his looks and charm, he married a
stunningly beautiful and wealthy French countess that he met at an
embassy
cocktail party during an operation. He now lives with her in great
luxury
at their villa on the French Riviera. They have two children,
Marie-Helene, 12, and Neil, 8.
3) He survived the shooting, but decided he could no longer handle
working for Burnside. He's now part of the little-known Red Cross
Security Service, which provides security for Red Cross missions to
dodgy
countries. Recently two doctors under his care were murdered in Rwanda;
he feels very guilty about that and is considering getting out of the
business.
4) He survived the shooting, but decided he could no longer handle the
pathetic pay of a Sandbagger. Trading on his looks and charm, he is now
a
foreign correspondent for the ITN World News, and gets sent to report
from
all the world's worst war and disaster zones. He's the male equivalent
of
Christiane Amanpour. His coverage of the Gulf War from the perspective
of
an Iraqi foot-soldier would have been completely brilliant if it had
aired. Unfortunately, his satellite transmissions were jammed by the
Americans, who didn't want the truth about the body count and the actual
effect of fuel-air explosives on the human body to be revealed. He is
currently posted to Chechnya, where his Sandbagger-taught Russian is
serving him in good stead.
5) He's D. Ops. The Department is run somewhat differently than it was
under Burnside.
When Wellingham retires in another year, he will undoubtedly be granted
an earldom. Lord Wellingham intends to retire to a large house in the
country, which is coincidentally near the field training school.
He and his wife will also maintain apartments in Washington and Paris.
Mike is an assassin for the SIS. He doesn't get much work in the
post-Cold-War world, though.
Karen Milner left the CIA and filed a sexual harassment suit against
Jeff
Ross. The Company settled with her for an undisclosed amount. She has
returned to Washington and is now running a foundation to assist retired
female intelligence officers. Two years ago someone attempted to assault
her near the Lincoln Memorial; his body, badly beaten, was found
drifting
in the Potomac. The crime remains unsolved.
Jeff Ross' career has been somewhat stymied since the sexual harassment
suit. He was demoted from chief of station to an ordinary case officer.
His wife divorced him following the lawsuit, announcing that she was
going to find a man who didn't abuse his staff and who didn't make
disparaging remarks about her coq au vin. Ross has been drinking more
heavily of late.
Laura Dickens' grave is lonely and quiet in an East Berlin military
cemetery. In a moment of uncharacteristic sentimentality, the head of
the
Stasi, looking at her body in an East Berlin morgue, ordered that she be
buried rather than cremated and a tombstone erected. It is inscribed in
German and Latin:
"Here lies a valiant British soldier, murdered by her comrades while
doing her duty. Her name is not known.
"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."
Technical Producer, Electronic Arts
1450 Fashion Island Blvd.
San Mateo, CA 94404