PATRICK HYDE

Patrick Hyde is an agent with MI6.

More specifically, he is one of the key agents employed to operate under the direction of the gifted spymaster, Sir Kenneth Aubrey. He has been working for the man for some time when we first meet him which unfortunately means that we are not given any information as to how he came to work for the SIS in general and Aubrey in specifics.

An oddity for his employment with the British Intelligence organization comes from the fact that Hyde is very much and quite proudly Australian by birth, growing up in Brisbane which Hyde considered a particularly tough neighborhood. "Bloody Russians wouldn't last five minutes in Brisbane", he was noted saying in an early conversation.

Though this tallish, slender man now lived and worked in London, he was happy to remind others of his roots. "He dropped immediately into a strengthened accent, one he had never himself possessed but which he used always to remind others of his Australian origins - because he knew it irritated them, and it served in some way to dissociate him from their incompetence. The only person secure from its mockery was Kenneth Aubrey."

At our initial meeting and for a while thereafter, Hyde is forced by circumstances to operate in and around London acting more as a bodyguard at times for Aubrey. Though he greatly respects the elder man, probably more than anyone else on the planet, it chafed him to be hobbled when he felt he would be better used out in the field where he had been for quite some time. When he is finally allowed (or forced, depending on how you view things) to back out there, he is a lot happier.

Even towards the end of his time serving Aubrey, after the older fellow finally retired due to age, and Hyde had also quit the SIS, he was not adverse, despite his mumblings, to being brought back in for one more go-around. Hyde knew he was good at his job because he enjoyed it, or vice versa.

Good Lines:
- A secret meeting taking place in a zoo had Patrick Hyde standing near an enclosure where "A llama watched Hyde with the superior stare of a civil servant."

The author was quite aware of the fact that since his main character in his "universe" was Sir Kenneth Aubrey and Aubrey was getting up there in age, he could not have the senior man chasing after people and leaping and climbing and such. Therefore, it was important to have somewhat younger people handle the physical duties.

Patrick Hyde was one of those "support" people that, IMHO, rose above that distinction to warrant his own attention, hence this individual entry in the compendium and not just a sentence or two in the Aubrey page.

I believe Thomas really wanted the extra spotlight on Hyde, too. Why else would he go to the trouble of making Hyde so unique, as in having him be an Australian working for London.