Having recovered La Résistance agent Duplix from occupied France, MI6s Enhanced Team are now planning an audacious mission deep within Germany itself. The team consists of Mademoiselle Mimi Dubois, La Résistance fighter and mistress of skills; Miss Madeline Forsyth, SOE operative and a living shadow; Sven Hyse, Norwegian Resistance soldier and shapeshifter; and Doctor Jackal, timid physician with his less than timid friend Mister Hades.

Hanslope Park, October 1942

After a couple of days, during which the team discuss several options for Operation Knox within the area of Nordhausen, Captain Ledman and Major Hoffman once again summon us to a briefing. They have spent the last forty eight hours pulling together all of the intelligence that they have on the area surrounding Khonstein and Ledman immediately launches into what they know.

They have been able to confirm with the RAF that only one of the three entrances into Kohnstein was reported to have been destroyed, the RAF boys also confirmed that some specialist equipment was removed from the rubble and taken away, but they do not know where it was taken to. The area around Kohnstein is sparsely populated, forested, and the only things of note are the airfield and Kohnstein itself. Based on the size of the base and the constant flow of transporters it was assumed that Kohnstein must be involved in either fuel production or weapons manufacturing. However, with the intelligence provided by Duplix, it could have also been used for the production of the mysterious chemical that lead to the creation of the enhanced.

Ledman goes on to discuss the fact that Nordhausen is in the heartland of Germany and therefore there are very few troops in the vicinity, the airfield has a complement of approximately two hundred troops which is by far the greatest concentration of troops for miles in any direction. There is, however, a good road and rail network and so movement of resources and troops is easily achieved.

At this point in proceedings Major Hoffman spoke up for the first time;

The way I see it chaps, is that there are a couple of significant questions that need to be answered. One: How do you intend on getting in? Stealth or subterfuge? Two: It’s a large complex and there are no obvious signs of a workforce, so where are they being housed? Is there a significant underground complex at Kohnstein? Your number one priority, obviously, has to be the discovery of any intelligence relating to the chemical. And if possible, securing a sample of it. If Kohnstein is not the site of the chemicals manufacture, you must try and find any intelligence on where it is being produced or where any stocks have been transported to. That about cover it Ledman?

Captain Ledman nods eagerly in agreement with his commanding officer, and then looks around at us.

Over the course of the next hour we elaborate on our plans for Operation Knox. We plan to parachute in and stealth to the target. We will then use our unique talents to scout out the area and gather as much intelligence as possible. Our preferred escape route will be to steal a plane from the airfield and get back to England. Failing that we also formulate plans to exit via Denmark. We also request travel documents and papers for a German civilian doctor and a German nurse, that will give us the option of moving about in plain sight if required.

Captain Ledman and Major Hoffman seem pleased with the plans, and the levels of fallback plans should things not go to, well, plan. And they leave us to begin making preparations for our transport and false documents. The rest of the day and evening pass uneventfully, and we spend most of it making ourselves familiar with the maps of Nordhausen and the surrounding area as well as Doctor Jackal looking at all of the potential exit routes and committing them to his most amazing memory. Eventually I head off to bed leaving the others in our huts common room still working.

I had only just got off to sleep when I was shaken awake by Madeline. She told me that it was just gone twenty three hundred hours and we had been summoned by Captain Ledman to an emergency briefing in ten minutes. I quickly threw on some combat fatigues and rushed out to meet the others in the briefing room. When I arrived Henry was passing out cups of coffee, I don’t know what was in it but I was instantly awake after just a couple of sips, and both Captain Ledman and Major Hoffman were present.

A quick glance at the board showed me hastily pinned up maps of Ireland and in particular the Galway area of the west coast. Both MI6 officers looked agitated, and for once it was Major Hoffman who started the briefing;

Right chaps, we have a problem. We have intercepted communications between a German spy in Whitehall, codenamed Maulwurf, and their contact in Ireland. It would appear that this Maulwurf has got their hands on some very important intelligence and requested immediate extraction. We don’t know who Maulwurf is, or what information they have got, but if they have requested such rapid extraction it must be big.

Captain Ledman carried on the briefing. Maulwurf’s contact is codenamed Falltur and it is believed that they are a resident of the village of Clifden, County Galway on the west coast of Ireland. Clifden has a population of roughly two hundred, and it’s most noticeable feature is a ruined castle overlooking the inlet. Falltur replied in a coded message to Maulwurf and told them to go to Clifden for a U Boat extraction. That was two days ago, and there were no details of timings in the message.

Major Hoffman speaks up again;

Ireland is declared as a neutral country, and despite the fact that they have sympathy with the Allied side of this war, they would not countenance a military operation on their soil without express permission from their government. But we are not going to ask for their permission, so this is strictly off the books. If it all goes south only give you name, rank and number. Inform the authorities that you are part of the 57th Infantry based out of Buckinghamshire.

Once again Captain Ledman fills in the specifics. We are booked on a ferry out of Liverpool tomorrow evening and we will be met in Dublin by a British agent who will provide us with transport and any equipment that we require.

We are to recover the stolen intelligence before it is transferred, discover the identity of both Maulwurf and Falltur and neutralise them. Whether that be capture or a more permanent solution. If possible, capturing a photograph of a German U Boat surfaced in an Irish inlet with a very recognisable landmark in the background might nudge the Irish in the wanted direction. Captain Ledman asks us what we would like supplied by our contact in Ireland, and what documents we wish for. We ask for silenced pistols and daggers, and Madeline requests enough explosives to cripple the U Boat. Doctor Jackal requests papers for an English Doctor and his new French bride.

Dublin, Ireland, October 1942

Just before six o’clock in the morning the Liverpool ferry docks in Dublin and Doctor Henry Shipman and his wife Marie disembark with their pet spaniel. They pass through very lax customs and head out into the streets outside the port where they find Rowan Sexton leaning on the bonnet of a car. Doctor Jackal steps towards him and says;

May the road rise up to meet you!

Rowan replies;

May the wind be always at your back!

Rowan hands Henry the keys to the car and tells us to place our luggage in the backseat as the boot is a little full. As he is just about to leave I shake his hand and ask him how to say goodbye in Gaelic, as he is telling me I ‘borrow’ his ability to talk the language. We climb into the car and drive out of Dublin towards the west. It is a beautiful drive through untouched rural countryside. And not a single sign of military action. Blissful.

Just before ten o’clock in the morning we are passing through Galway and heading towards Clifden, Doctor Jackal suggests that we stop at the Alcock and Brown memorial giving Sven the opportunity to scout out Clifden. The memorial is just over three miles, as the raven flies, from Clifden and Henry parks in a car park just off the beach. There is already a car there, but no sign of its occupants. Henry sits down on a rock and begins to sketch the memorial while his dog runs off into the undergrowth, a few moments later a raven takes flight from that same patch of undergrowth.

While Sven is aloft, we spot a couple walking hand in hand back up from the beach. I engage them in conversation and discover that they are holiday makers who are travelling up the west coast of Ireland. I ask them about their travels and listen intently as they tell me their highlights, thinking to myself that it will make a great cover story later on. The couple wish us farewell and drive off. Sven returns and confirms that there doesn’t appear to be anything untoward in the village.

We drive into the village and pull up outside the Clifden Arms Inn. We book ourselves a room and tell the landlady that we are on our honeymoon and that Henry is going to sketch the castle. We are surprised by her response;

Well isn’t that a coincidence. What with that nice English Professor here to do the exact same thing.

As Henry signs the guest book he gets a good look at who else is staying at the inn, there have only been two other guests signed in over the last couple of days. Professor Parker signed in two days ago and is marked as staying in room one, and a Sean O’Hennessy signed in yesterday and is staying in room two. As we are making a grand show of settling into our room, Madeline slips off of the deep black dog blanket that we have been carrying with us and slides down the corridor to search the rooms of the other guests.

In room two she discovers men’s clothing, two cases full of cutlery and a stack of price lists and order forms from a company called Cribben’s Cutlery. She then checks out room one and again finds men’s clothing, but this time also discovers digging tools and lots of archeology textbooks. Madeline also finds a passport in the name of Professor James Parker, and travel papers showing that Parker is a professor at King's College London and that he travelled from Fishguard to Rosslare. Madeline scrutinises the documents and is sure that they are not forgeries.

Madeline rejoins us and tells us what she has discovered. We decide that we will travel up to the castle and try to meet Professor Parker, while Madeline investigates the guesthouse. Doctor Jackal picks up his sketching equipment and I pick up the dog blanket, with Madeline hidden on it, and we walk through the village in the direction of the pub. Once we have reached the main road, at the back of the tenements, Madeline slips off of the blanket and slides towards the back of the guesthouse. She avoids a small group of children playing football along the back of the houses and gets to the rear of the guesthouse.

Meanwhile we stroll past Lowry’s pub and walk up to the castle ruins. As we arrive we can see a small bald man wearing a bow tie sat in the grounds sketching. Doctor Jackal and I engage him in conversation and ask him about the castle, he launches into a long diatribe about its construction and history. As he is talking I reach over and touch the back of his hand, he seems perturbed at my physical contact but is polite enough not to draw his hand away, and so I have the opportunity to ‘borrow’ his archaeology knowledge.

As Professor Parker’s knowledge of archaeology floods through my mind I realise quite how knowledgeable he is, and at the same time it dawns on me that he is more than likely not Maulwurf.

MI6s Enhanced Unit have managed to recover La Résistance operative code named Duplix from the clutches of the Germans and get him onto the submarine HMS Utmost. The team consists of Mademoiselle Mimi Dubois, La Résistance fighter and mistress of skills; Miss Madeline Forsyth, SOE operative and a living shadow; Sven Hyse, Norwegian Resistance soldier and shapeshifter; and Doctor Jackal, timid physician with his less than timid friend Mister Hades.

HMS Utmost, The English Channel, September 1942

Feeling trapped in the confines of the small officers mess, Mr Hades continues to drink heavily and grumble loudly. As he is pacing up and down like a wild animal enclosed in a cage to small for him, Madeline hides the drugged bottle of gin in one of the unsearched cupboards and then proceeds to pour herself a glass of rum from the bottle that Mr Hades had set aside as his next conquest. Whilst pouring her glass she ‘accidentally’ drops the bottle and it smashes across the floor. She looks up innocently with an exclamation of apology. Mr Hades seems less than pleased and shouts;

YOU BLOODY CLUTZ! CLEAN IT UP YOU STUPID WOMEN!

Madeline, showing far more bravery than I, looks him straight in the eye and says;

There is no need to be ill mannered.

She then starts to clean up the mess with a sly smile across her face.

Mr Hades takes a last swig out of his bottle of whiskey, draining it dry, and then drops it on the floor. He gives Madeline the evil eye for dropping the bottle of rum and then starts to tear through the other cupboards looking for more alcohol. It isn’t long before he finds the bottle of gin stashed away by Madeline, he removes the lid and begins to glugg it down. About an hour into our journey Mr Hades finishes off the bottle of gin and decides that it will be a good idea to climb onto the table. He fails and ends up on his back on the floor. I guess that means that he is definitely affected by alcohol. He manages to pull himself upright using shelves and cupboard doors and then his eyes lock onto the door out of the room.

He staggers towards the door and tries to open it, this ends up leaving him on his backside once more. But he persists and finally manages to open the door and spots the two guards posted outside. Mr Hades stumbles out between them and attempts to attack them both simultaneously, momentarily surprised, they both step back and draw coshes. Despite being blind drunk, Mr Hades manages to hit one of the guards and knock him backwards, but this leaves him vulnerable to the attack of the other guard. The second guard lands a firm and heavy strike to the back of Mr Hades’ head, but Mr Hades seemed completely unaffected by the blow. And in fact all it did was draw his attention to the second guard.

Mr Hades throws himself at the second guard and lands a flurry of blows on him. This is a step to far for Sven who decides to get involved and grabs Mr Hades from behind and attempts to grapple him to the floor, the first guard lends his assistance and between them they manage to pin Mr Hades to the floor. In spite of his struggles, Mr Hades cannot free himself and his situation gets worse when a third marine arrives bearing manacles. Mr Hades is clapped in irons and dragged back into the officers mess where he is left under our supervision. Finally, after one last effort to break free, the massive sedative in the bottle of gin takes affect and Mr Hades falls asleep.

Not much later there is a knock on the door and the Captain of HMS Utmost pays us a visit. He is somewhat perturbed by the recent goings on and informs us that whilst he was informed to make certain allowances for us, this situation has gone beyond what he can stand and that he will be making a report. Madeline apologises profusely for the situation and tells the Captain that the fall into the sea has clearly had an adverse effect on our colleague. The Captain nods and leaves us.

At oh six thirty hours the First Officer informs us that we are closing in on Harwich and that we will be docking within the hour. We feel the submarine pitch upwards and break the surface and thirty minutes later we are escorted, with both Duplix and Hades being carried, up the conning tower and onto the dockside. We are met by Captain Ledman who seems somewhat surprised to see that we have been joined by Mr Hades, he asks us guardedly if everything is well and Madeline quickly explains in brief what happened.

Captain Ledman looks concerned and asks if anyone saw the change of Doctor Jackal into Mr Hades, Madeline tells him that it happened underwater and that there was a lot of confusion so it is very likely that it went unnoticed. She then tells Ledman that the Captain of the Utmost is likely to make a report on the onboard incident, Ledman says that he will have a quiet word while his driver tries to get us a truck to transport Mr Hades back to base.

Captain Ledman’s driver returns with a Bedford truck and driver, I get the driver to explain the technicalities of the truck’s gearshift, and while he is indulging me I touch his hand and ‘borrow’ his ability. We then load Mr Hades into the back of the truck where Sven stands guard, dismiss the driver and I jump into the driver's seat. Madeline gets into the car with Captain Ledman and we drive out of Harwich. We arrive back at Hanslope Park during the late morning, we remove the manacles from Mr Hades and place him in Doctor Jackal’s bed. We then get ourselves washed up and I start to prepare us a good lunch.

Just after midday, as Madeline, Sven and I are finishing our lunch Doctor Jackal walks out of his room and joins us. He looks terrible. Like he has the mother of all hangovers. I make him some strong coffee and we make sure that he eats some food. We also take turns in telling him everything that we can remember about Mr Hades, he is horrified by the actions of his ‘friend’ and agrees to work on producing a strong and fast acting sedative for future use. He also suggests that we might want to carry chloroform in future.

That afternoon we are debriefed by Captain Ledman, we allow Doctor Jackal to deliver most of the details and the rest of us fill in some of the details that he was unaware of. Ledman is very interested in the use of our powers and any detail that we had on the German enhanced. It is during this briefing session that Madeline lets on that she silenced all of the Germans in the basement of the chateau, the news shocks Ledman and Doctor Jackal, but myself and Sven are less concerned with the killing of an occupying German force.

At the end of the briefing Captain Ledman lets us know that they have been considering the information that we had managed to get out of Duplix, the initial idea is that it must be something to do with a large industrial complex to the north of Nordhausen. The complex was bombed by the RAF several months earlier and MI6 is working on pulling together some more information on the site. When they have that information Captain Ledman suggests that we may want to go in and investigate further. Travel to the centre of Germany, interesting idea.

Hanslope Park, October 1942

Over the next two weeks we rest and recuperate, I resume the training that I started on Malta to improve my strength and the others visit London. Doctor Jackal goes to see the doctors who are now caring for Duplix so that he can give them the benefit of his expertise, and Madeline takes Sven to London zoo. I don’t know if it was a date, but Sven was very pleased when he returned.

At the end of the second week we are called to a mission briefing with Captain Ledman and Major Hoffman. Displayed around the briefing room are a series of maps and aerial photographs of Nordhausen and a village to it’s north called Niedersachswerfen. There are also pictures of a huge hill called Kohnstein. We are informed that the industrial complex is hidden under the hill. It has three entrances, but the RAF believe that they may have destroyed one of two of them in their bombing raid. Major Hoffman suggests that we consider how we will travel into Germany, they then leave us to our planning.

A crack team of special agents have just helped La Résistance derail a train carrying German field artillery, they are now awaiting the emergence of the German troops. The team consists of Mademoiselle Mimi Dubois, La Résistance fighter and mistress of skills; Miss Madeline Forsyth, SOE operative and a living shadow; Sven Hyse, Norwegian Resistance soldier and shapeshifter; and Doctor Jackal, timid physician with his less than timid friend Mister Hades.

West of Serqueux, France, September 1942

I very much remember the day that I actually came face to face with Mr Hades for the first time. He is not a pleasant man, in fact I would go as far as saying he is a complete neanderthal.

When the dust settles after the train crash there is a locomotive with six flatbed trucks and a troop caboose laying on their sides. The loads on the flatbed, six artillery field guns, are strewn across the ground in various states of repair. From my position in the tree line to the north of the train wreck I reach out with my senses and make sure that we are not likely to encounter any enhanced enemy troopers. Some would call it paranoia, and they would be correct. Fortunately, there are none.

A moment later there is a massive explosion as Madeline triggers the eastern explosives. The shrapnel from the explosion shreds the troop caboose and blows it into the air. A couple of minutes pass and nothing moves. While Madeline heads towards the locomotive to check for survivors, Sven and Doctor Jackal head towards the troop caboose to do the same. As soon as I see them, I venture forth from my hiding place and start to inspect the field artillery. After a short while Sven joins me and we ascertain that out of the six guns only two of them are still serviceable.

Madeline finds a German private as well as one of the engine drivers dead, she also discovers that the engine stoker is still alive. She spends a bit of time first aiding him to make sure that he does not die. Doctor Jackal finds a lot of dead German troopers including an officer. However, towards the back of the caboose he does discover two troops that are still alive. He rolls up his sleeves and starts the difficult task of saving their lives.

While Sven transforms into a raven and takes to the skies to keep watch, I start the process of re-rigging the other set of explosives in order to cripple the two serviceable field guns. After fifteen minutes I run the detonator cable back to the machine gun nest and meet up with both Madeline and Doctor Jackal. Between them they have saved the lives of two German troopers and a French engine stoker, and dragged them all clear of the wreckage. One at the nest I trigger the explosives and destroy the final two guns. We then all run fo the car.

We are met at the car by Sven, who drops out of the sky and transforms back into himself. He stands up and says;

German convoy on route from Serqueux. Motorbike and sidecar on point and closing fast.

Sven then transforms back into an Alsatian and jumps up into the passenger seat of the Citroen. Taking Sven’s lead, the rest of us quickly get into the car. Doctor Jackal drives while Madeline and I assume shadow form and slide into the backseat. As Henry pulls out onto the road we can just make out the German motorbike sat at the T-junction east of our position. Henry takes us west.

Doctor Jackal takes a circuitous route avoiding checkpoints aiming to get us back to Le Tréport with a little incident as possible. We pass to the west of Neufchâtel-en-Bray about midnight and continue on small country roads north towards our destination. As we are driving along a single track road somewhere to the west of Londinieres Doctor Jackal spots a single headlight travelling towards us, he slows down and pulls up onto the verge to allow the approaching vehicle to pass. The German motorbike slows as well and the then stops level with the passenger window. The rider taps on the window and Doctor Jackal winds it down.

Papers!

Henry passes over his papers and when questioned explains that he is travelling to Abbeville. The German trooper gives the papers a cursory glance and then says;

You have a lovely dog! Safe journey!

The motorbike then drives off.

The rest of our journey is uneventful and we arrive back at the barn just after oh one fifteen hours. Doctor Jackal checks on Duplix and confirms that he is fine and we set watches and hit the hay, literally. We are awoken early the following morning by the wonderful smell of Marie Dacourt’s cooking. We partake of a hearty breakfast and are told by Jean that the boats will be ready for us at oh eight hundred hours. Just before the allotted time we are lead down to the beach by Jean Dacourt and can see a dozen fishing boats waiting to head out for a days work.

Jean leads us down the beach and we are all placed on separate boats, with the exception of Duplix and Doctor Jackal who are put on the same boat so that Henry can look after his patient. So just after eight o’clock in the morning the fishing boat La Mouette and her seven sisters head out to sea just like any other morning, but this time they are hiding a very special cargo. The day passes uneventfully as the fishermen of the village go about their daily routine, during the day as the boats pass each other members of the team are transferred onto La Mouette while crew members are transferred off to make room.

By eighteen hundred hours we are regrouped and waiting for the sun to set. By twenty hundred hours the rest of the fishing boats begin to head back towards shore and we are left alone. At twenty one hundred hours our captain tells us that we are now beyond curfew and it is just a waiting game, hoping that we are not discovered by a German patrol boat. It was a tense wait out there in the dark, but luck was on our side and by twenty three thirty hours the captain heads the boat west towards 50º14’59.6”N 0º50’26.2”E and our transport home.

Just before midnight the captain informs us that we are at the correct coordinates, Doctor Jackal double checks and informs the captain that we are actually a few hundred metres south of the exact coordinates. The captain begrudgingly complies and moves the boat. Minutes pass and Doctor Jackal keeps making minute course adjustments to offset the drift that we are experiencing. He is just rechecking for the umpteenth time when he spots a submarine breaching the surface a couple of hundred metres in front of us.

A row boat is launch from the submarine and heads towards us, when it is within hailing range I shout the passphrase and receive the correct response in reply. The rowboat comes alongside and a sailor climbs on board the fishing boat. He snaps off a perfect salute and introduces himself as Petty Officer Samson of HMS Utmost. He asks us to appraise him of the situation and Madeline quickly gets him up to speed. He suggests that we all board the rowboat and get underway.

Madeline is assisted off of the fishing boat and into the rowboat, the sailors seem very keen to help her down. Next, Duplix is passed down wrapped in a blanket so that he does not flail about. Doctor Jackal, who is keen to remain with his patient, doesn’t wait for the sailors to help him down. And that was the point that things got complicated.

As Doctor Jackal clambers over the side of the fishing boat a large swell hits the side of the boat and pitches him head first straight into the sea between the fishing boat and the rowboat. He hits the surface and then disappears under the waves thrashing wildly. On the rowboat Madeline shouts for the sailors to use their oars to help him climb out and on the fishing boat Sven quickly gathers up a rope and throws it towards where he can see Doctor Jackal’s arms flailing around. I jump up onto the fishing boats gunwale and dive into the sea.

Madeline shimmies along the oars to try and help Doctor Jackal grab hold of them and pull himself out. I swim in behind Doctor Jackal to attempt to rescue him, as I place my arm around his neck he pushes me away very strongly and turns to stare at me with unbridled anger in his eyes. And those eyes. They are not the eyes of Doctor Jackal at all.

I stare straight into the eyes of Mr Hades!

Panic seizes me and I swim as fast as possible away from him. Perched precariously on the rowboats oars being held by two strong sailors, Madeline manages to grab hold of Mr Hades’ hand and place it on the oar. Finally Mr Hades’ head breaks the surface and he takes a deep lung full of air and tries to wrench himself out of the water. All he manages to do is pull the oars out of the hands of the sailors and he and Madeline both fall back into the water.

I swim around to the other side of the rowboat and clamber out of the sea. Madeline finds herself clinging to an oar directly opposite Mr Hades, she says;

Don’t worry. We’re all friends and we are trying to help you.

Mr Hades shouts;

WHO ARE YOU? ALL I REMEMBER IS NEEDLES AND PAIN!

Madeline stays remarkably calm given the situation and tries to calm Mr Hades, she reminds him that we need to be careful about what others hear. Mr Hades appears to take note and pulls himself out of the sea onto the rowboat. Now he is clear of the water I get my first good look at him. The best description I can give you is that of a short, well muscled, neanderthal man.

One of the sailors throws a blanket around Mr Hades’ shoulders to try and keep him warm. Mr Hades throws the blanket off, turns around and punches the sailor in the chest. Hard. The sailor stumbles backwards and almost topples out of the boat. Hades shouts;

DON’T TOUCH ME!

I close my eyes and reach out with my senses to try and ascertain what Hades is capable of, the initial impression that I get is that he is a very good fighter, very coordinated. But as he is looking more and more agitated I stop what I am doing and don’t press any further. Madeline continues to talk calmly to him in an attempt to calm him down.

Taking her lead I try my charms on him and flutter my eyelashes, he looks at me dismissively and asks;

How much do you charge whore?

Madeline manages to keep Mr Hades still enough for the rest of the team to board the rowboat and for the sailors to get us across to the submarine. The sailors form a human chain to get us on board and then we are shown up the conning tower and down into a small room at the bottom of the inside of the conning tower where we are met by a Lieutenant Keighley.

There is an open door off of the small room that seems to lead through the submarines bridge and another closed bulkhead door. Mr Hades looks at the closed door and then thumps his fist off of it. The Lieutenant gestures for us to go through the open door but Mr Hades has other ideas and tries to open the bulkhead door. The Lieutenant reaches out to stop him and so, in what seems to be becoming a pattern, Mr Hades punches him to the floor.

The Lieutenant shouts;

Security!

I get Mr Hades attention and tell him that the nice young man would like us to go this way and Mr Hades shrugs and follows me. I walk straight through the bridge and into the corridor on the other side. Running towards us along the corridor is a Marine with a sidearm holstered.

Madeline dusts off the Lieutenant and apologies for Mr Hades’ behaviour and quickly explains that he is off kilter due to falling in the sea. The Lieutenant shouts;

Stand down Phillips and show them into the officers mess.

We all enter and close the door behind us. Mr Hades immediately starts to open all of the cupboards and throw the contents onto the floor, Madeline and I start to clean up after him. I decide to start singing a lullaby in an attempt to calm him down as he is pacing like a caged beast. He says that he knows what I am doing and he increases his activity to try and block me out.

Eventually, Hades’ search leads him to the drinks locker. He unstoppers a bottle of whiskey and starts to drink heavily. Not long afterwards there is a knock at the door, it is Lieutenant Keighley and a naval rating with our bags. Mr Hades looks up and says;

How long until we get off of this stinking tin can?

Lieutenant Keighley manages to bite back his temper and informs him that the journey time is seven hours. Madeline quietly picks up Doctor Jackal’s doctors bag and slips out of the room. She swaps the two really nice bottle of wine that she took from the chateau for a small bottle of gin and then doses it with a triple dose of the sleeping draught prepared by Doctor Jackal for Duplix.

We can feel the throb of the engines through the deck plates and then the submarine pitches down at a fourth five degree angle as it dives under the water. Madeline returns and smile at Mr Hades, he responds with a vulgar suggestion but Madeline just smiles and shows him the bottle of gin.

MI6s Enhanced Unit, having journeyed across occupied France with La Résistance agent Duplix, are now laying low and awaiting further instructions. The team consists of Mademoiselle Mimi Dubois, La Résistance fighter and mistress of skills; Miss Madeline Forsyth, SOE operative and a living shadow; Sven Hyse, Norwegian Resistance soldier and shapeshifter; and Doctor Jackal, timid physician with his less than timid friend Mister Hades.

Le Tréport, France, September 1942

We spend the afternoon resting up in the Dacourt’s barn, while Sven scouts out the local area in the guise of a seagull. He identifies a number of escape routes just in case we have to make a swift exit, but when he returns just before dusk he informs us that all looks very quiet.

That evening, Jean and Marie Dacourt invite us to join them and their daughter, also called Marie, to join them for dinner. We happily accept and are very well fed. Over dinner, and probably due to his very full stomach, Henry asks if there is anything that we could do to help out to pay them back for their great hospitality. They both say that there is nothing that we can do and so we return back to the barn and get settled in.

Just after twenty two hundred hours Jean Dacourt comes into the barn and informs us that he has made contact with the British forces and has relayed the situation, he then tells us that he is expecting an answer tomorrow evening and so we will have to sit tight. Jean stands there for a moment as if weighing up saying something, eventually he does. Jean explains that he didn’t want to say anything in front of his wife and daughter, but the local resistance has information on the German’s transporting a large amount of armour and field guns via the rail network.

The local resistance have planned an operation to sabotage a number of rail lines but there is one train that they do not have a team to cover. He asks if we would be able to assist if we are going to be around? Madeline says that getting Duplix back is our first priority, but if time allows then we will definitely assist. Jean thanks us and says that the operation is planned for two nights time.

Madeline and I spend most of the next day cleaning up Duplix and getting him into the new clothes provided by the Dacourt family. And late that evening Jean visits us again in the barn to inform us that he has heard back from the Allied Forces and that we are to be picked up in two days time. He tells us that we will be transferred thirty five miles off of the coast of Le Tréport at 50º14’59.6”N 0º50’26.2”E. The local fishermen will hide us in several of their boats and head out to sea, during the course of the day we we all be transferred into a single boat and we will stay out at sea when the rest of the fishing fleet return.

The greatest risk will be being discovered by a German patrol boat, but there is not a lot that we can do to avoid that potential problem. Jean gives us his best Gallic shrug and says;

As you will be here tomorrow evening will you help us?

We all nod our agreement. Jean looks pleased and says that he will contact the head of the local resistance and get him to visit us tomorrow morning.

The following morning we meet Pierre D’Accan, the head of the local resistance. He isn’t what we expect, but this war has made soldiers out of the strangest people. Pierre explains that they have gathered intelligence that the Germans are moving a mass of armour and field guns south using the rail lines and that they intend of sabotaging the lines tonight. The plan is that we are to hit one of the trains just west of a small village called Serqueux, approximately forty miles south of Le Tréport.

The target train is due to pass through some woodland just after twenty three hundred hours, and within the wood is branch line overlooked by a signal box. The branch line is disused, and in fact ends at a set of buffers not far from the signal box. La Resistance had intended on taking out the German guards at the signal box and blowing the line at that point to derail the train. They then planned to cause as much damage as possible before slipping away into the woods. Pierre says that he can provide us with a vehicle and enough explosives to blow the track.

Pierre says that he will get a car left for us at twenty hundred hours in a stand of trees about a twenty minute hike from the Dacourt’s, that will put in beyond the German checkpoint at the entrance to the village. Pierre then shows Doctor Jackal what he believes to be the best route to the target avoiding major checkpoints. Henry studies the maps for a few minutes and commits it all to his remarkable memory. Just before Pierre leaves us Sven asks if he has any safe houses in the area of the target, just in case things go south, Pierre says that he doesn’t as it is outside of his region but he does give Sven a double pass code that la resistance use to determine friend from foe. Pierre then takes his leave of us and rushes off to make the arrangements.

Under the pretence of getting prepared we return to the barn, once we are out of sight Sven transforms into a raven and takes to the skies to scout out our target. As soon as Sven has left us I discuss with Doctor Jackal the possibility of ‘borrowing’ Duplix’s knowledge of the northern French railway. Henry is unsure if Duplix’s mind is too damaged to be of any use, but he agrees that it would be a very interesting experiment to observe. So I start to ask Duplix questions about the train lines, I initially get just his code word answer, but eventually he switches to saying;

Dijon. Toul. Metz. Saarbrücken. Frankfurt. Erfurt. Nordhausen…

At this point I attempt to ‘borrow’ his knowledge. It is a success, to an extent. I have gained a lot of knowledge about the French railways, but it is riddled with holes like Swiss cheese. I talk this through with Doctor Jackal and he believes that it is indicative of Duplix’s damaged mind.

Two hours later a slightly puffed Sven steps into the barn, he sits down and tells us what he has discovered while I grab him a cup of coffee. Just as Pierre had said, there was a signal box in the centre of the wooded area just where the line branches. Inside the signal box was what appeared to be a French civilian signalman and two German troopers. The Germans had a portable radio set with them, and a motorbike and sidecar armed with a machine gun parked outside. There was no road lead to the signal box so we assume that the bike must have followed the train line to get to there.

By the time that Sven has finished his debrief it is nineteen thirty hours and so Henry gives Duplix a sleeping draught so that he does not stir while we are away and we set off to hike to the car that has been hidden for us. As promised, we locate a small Citroen beyond the checkpoint. Doctor Jackal climbs into the driver's seat, Madeline and I both transform into shadows and slide into the backseat, while Sven turns into an Alsatian and curls up in the passenger seat and is soon fast asleep.

Doctor Jackal sets off initially following the route suggested by Pierre, but soon he diverts from that route using his phenomenal memory to plot what he believes to be a better route. As we pass through the village of Grandcourt we encounter a German patrol who are checking the papers of locals, Henry ignores them and drives straight through the village like he belongs there and in turn is ignored by the patrol.

And that was as exciting as that journey got. We made it to the woods south of the train line and Henry found us a spot to conceal the car. Once we had stopped I jumped out and began to camouflage the car, Sven handed his silenced pistol to Madeline and flapped up into the air in the guise of a raven once more.

It is twenty one fifteen hours and myself and Madeline turn into shadows and follow Sven in the direction of the signal box. Doctor Jackal gives us a minutes head start and then follows.

When Madeline and I make it to the edge of the woods looking out into the clearing around the signal box it is obvious that Sven has engaged. There is a German trooper face down in a pool of blood at the edge of the tree line. It looks like he has had his throat ripped out by a wild animal. I scan the area and can see a raven sat on the roof of the signal box, I signal for the raven to join us and he flaps in our direction. Sven lands and tells us that he was lucky as one of the Germans had stepped out to relieve himself. Madeline hands Sven his pistol and he turns around and starts walking towards the signal box.

Madeline and I follow on as shadows, as Sven turns and starts to head up the steps to the signal box door he is no longer Sven, he is the image of the dead German. From outside the signal box we hear a German voice say;

About time Hans!

There is a pfft! And the German falls forward dead with a bullet to his head. The French engineer shrieks and throws his hands up. Sven gestures for him to sit down with his pistol and then backs out of the signal box. Myself and Madeline become solid and then step in out of the night. We start to question the engineer in French, who gives his name as Claude, about the train transporting the German armour.

It slowly dawns on the engineer that we are La Resistance and he looks relieved, he asks about the fact that the German trooper shot his colleague. We just say that a big bribe will change a man's mind. We inform Claude that we wish to make the train take the branch line without them knowing it. He looks concerned and says that if we do that the train will crash, by this time we have been joined by Doctor Jackal and Sven, as himself, and we all say;

We know!

He then goes on to tell us how we can change the points and rewire the signal so that it does not alert the train. As he is running through how we can rewire the signals I lean across and touch his forearm to ‘borrow’ his skill. We then tie and gag him and leave him a few hundred yards down the track.

Sven and Madeline remove the machine gun from the motorcycle and sidecar and set up a machine gun nest in the edge of the woods to the southeast of the branch line, while I rig explosives either side of the points. I run one of the detonator wires to Sven and Madeline’s machine gun nest and the other I take and I hide in the woods to the north of the signal box. We settle in and wait.

Just after twenty three hundred hours I spot the train racing towards the points. It lurches left onto the branch line travelling way to fast. It bursts through the buffers and derails.

Having just extracted La Résistance agent Duplix from the clutches of the Nazis, MI6s Enhanced Unit are starting to make the dangerous journey across occupied France. The team consists of Mademoiselle Mimi Dubois, La Résistance fighter and mistress of skills; Miss Madeline Forsyth, SOE operative and a living shadow; Sven Hyse, Norwegian Resistance soldier and shapeshifter; and Doctor Jackal, timid physician with his less than timid friend Mister Hades.

France, September 1942

There is little detail that I remember about that mad dash across northern France in September 1942. We had just freed Duplix from the Le Château De Bourgoine and had made it as far as our hidden vehicle without being discovered, our problem was that it was oh one hundred hours and we were four hundred kilometres from our next contact in Le Tréport.

Madeline and I help Duplix into the backseat of the car and Doctor Jackal climbs in beside him. Madeline then leaps into the driver’s seat and I settle in next to her in the passenger’s. Sven takes to the air as a raven to keep an eye on the road ahead of us and provide an early warning to us so that we can try and avoid checkpoints and other vehicles.

On Doctor Jackal’s advice we head across country, Henry had studied several maps of the local area and with his memory he easily chose the least populated route. We pass through the village of Contrisson and head north to rejoin the main road, at one point Sven swoops down to warn us of an approaching vehicle and we hide off of the road as three German trucks trundle by.

As we approach the town of Châlons-en-Champagne we realise that there is no option but to risk passing through the town and bluff our way past the checkpoints. We are stopped on our way into the town and our papers are requested, we inform the guard that we are escorting a patient to Reims so that we can catch the train from there to Lille. The checkpoint guards seem far more interested in Madeline and myself, something that we both encourage with doe eyes and girlish laughter. After refusing two offers of staying for the night we are waved through the checkpoint, the guards had barely even looked into the back of the car.

We are stopped once again on the way out of the town, and this time the German Corporal in charge is more efficient. He checks our papers and questions us all in turn, we all stick to the story that we are travelling to Lille via Reims. When he tries to question Duplix all he gets is the mumbled code phrase that is all we have heard Duplix utter since we rescued him, Doctor Jackal leapt in quickly and pronounced that his patient was suffering from an extremely rare chromosome disorder that he was travelling to Lille to study. The Corporal looks a little worried and asks if it is contagious. Doctor Jackal says no, but the Corporal is quick to wave us through.

We hide in a field just outside of Reims until dawn and drive in. But this time the car is being driven by the German orderly Igor Swartz and there is no sign of the German nurse Heidi Klum. Madeline had gathered up any incriminating equipment, pistols and spare fake papers, and turned into shadow form under Duplix’s blanket. We pass through a significant checkpoint, but the guard sees that there are two German citizens in the car and waves us through with barely a check.

Sven drives us through Reims to the train station. We park up and are instantly accosted by a small luggage boy who expertly loads up his trolley with our bags. As we slowly approach the front of the station we realise that there are two Gestapo outside checking papers. The atmosphere gets tense but we walk straight up and Doctor Jackal hands over our papers when requested. I remember the Gestapo officer being a complete boudin, but Henry explained Duplix’s illness and the we were travelling to Abbeville at some length and we were once again waved through into the station.

Henry takes Duplix, with Madeline still hidden in shadow form under his blanket, to the station cafe to get some breakfast while myself and Sven head to the ticket office. We purchase a dozen first class tickets to Abbeville, enough to secure us an entire carriage, and are informed that our train will leave Platform three in twenty four minutes. Just enough time to purchase several packets of good French cigarettes and a coffee. We inform our luggage boy of the platform that we are leaving from and ask him to try and get us an empty carriage, he dashes off with our luggage towards the platform.

Fifteen minutes later we walk along platform three and join our luggage boy, as we are moving down the platform I acost the guard and inform him that we have purchased enough tickets to secure an entire carriage. He looks surprised, but I make a reference to him Germans think that they are important and he smiles and says that he will see what he can do for me. And he is good to his word and we secure the last carriage of the train all to ourselves. We tip the luggage boy handsomely and pull the blinds on our carriage for privacy, by oh eight thirty hours we are settled in smoking French cigarettes as the train pulls out of Reims station.

We set a watch and take turns in catching up on some much needed sleep. It had been a tense journey so far and now that we were moving the adrenaline drained out of our bodies and most of us fell into a deep sleep. While we sleep we pass through Laon and Tergnier and are woken up by Sven as the train pulls into Haute Picarde, there is a polite knock on the door and the train’s conductor informs us that we need to change here for Abbeville. I wave over another luggage boy and we disembark heading for platform two.

Yet again we take the luggage boys lead and stand where he suggests on platform two, I head off further into the station to purchase some provisions for the next leg of the journey and just enjoy the fact that I am back in my beloved France. For a moment I even forget about the war, that doesn’t last long.

Stood on the platform, Doctor Jackal looks down the length of it towards the main station entrance and sees a German patrol beginning to work it’s way along the platform checking papers. As he watches he can tell that they mean business and are being very thorough, and a little over zealous. They are less than fifty metres away, harassing a French family. Doctor Jackal tries to remain calm and whispers a warning to both Sven and Madeline. Sven looks down the platform at the patrol and wishes that his pistol wasn’t in shadowform with Madeline.

The patrol moves onwards leaving the family shaking in fear, and begin to check the papers of the next group. They are less than twenty metres away. A bead of sweat breaks out on Doctor Jackal’s brow. I arrive back at the group and very quickly realise what is happening. I start to look at my watch and pray that the train arrives very soon.

As the German patrol moves ever closer, and we get ever tenser, our luggage boy points down the track and says;

La voilà!

I have never climbed aboard a train so quickly and with so much relief. The German patrol were less than five metres from us, but as soon as the train was at the platform they moved off into the station. We did not have time to try and sort out a carriage to ourselves and so we shared the next part of our journey with a very elegant elderly French gentleman. We pass through Longeueau, Amiens, and pull into Abbeville at twelve fifteen hours.

Once more we encounter a Gestapo checkpoint exiting the train station. Doctor Jackal hands over our papers and informs the Gestapo officer that we have travelled from Meuse TGV. The officer meticulously checks through our papers and asks each of us in turn to confirm our details, we all answer to his satisfaction until he gets to Sven. The Gestapo officer asks Sven, or actually Igor;

You are Doctor Gebhardt’s orderly?

Sven answers that he is, but there is a little to much Norwegian in his German accent. The officer stares intently at Sven and then asks him very slowly and deliberately;

Are you not well?

As Sven manages to answer that he is tired in perfect German I notice that the vein in Doctor Jackal’s temple is pulsating rapidly. I hold my breath.

The Gestapo officer stares at Sven for a few seconds and then hands our papers back to Doctor Jackal and waves us through the checkpoint. When we get outside of the station Henry tells us that he was worried for a minute there, his blood pressure was getting dangerously high. We all breathe a sigh of relief.

I hail us a taxi from outside of the train station and we decide to get him to take us straight to Le Tréport. He looks a bit dubious until I show him five francs, he drives us out of town and we clear a very lax checkpoint. We are stopped once more on the outskirts of Le Tréport and again pass through without a hitch, the taxi drops us off in the centre of town and we head to the local cafe to decide our next move.

After fifteen minutes we are approached by fourteen year old girl who introduces herself as Marie. She asks us if we are looking for rooms, and then gives us the most unsubtle wink that I have ever seen. I reply that we are looking for accommodation and we follow her out of the village to an isolated, small, pale blue, farm house. Doctor Jackal gives the passphrase and we are hustled into the kitchen where Marie’s mother starts to cook for us.

Marie’s father tells us that he will be contacting the Allied Forces this evening, and that we can have the use of his barn to hide in. We settle in and Doctor Jackal once more tries to question Duplix. After a few minutes Duplix stops giving his coded response and starts saying;

Dijon. Toul. Metz. Saarbrücken. Frankfurt. Erfurt. Nordhausen. Dijon. Toul. Metz. Saarbrücken. Frankfurt. Erfurt. Nordhausen. Dijon. Toul. Metz. Saarbrücken. Frankfurt. Erfurt. Nordhausen...