Hut 17B in Hanslope Park is currently the scene of intense planning. MI6s Enhanced Unit are preparing to carry out a locate and rescue mission in 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.

Hanslope Park, England, September 1942

After ten days of intense training and planning, during which we decide upon Port Le Trepor as our final extraction point and prepared our cover identities, we are visited by Captain Ledman. He informs us that La Résistance have discovered where the Germans are holding Duplix. There was little information, but it appears that he is being held at Le Chateau De Bourgoine just west of the village of Lavincourt.

Captain Ledman also provided us with the cover papers that we had requested. A German Doctor for Henry, Doctor Karl Gebhardt; Sven as a German orderly, Igor Swartz; Madeline as a German nurse, Heidi Klum; and myself as a french nurse, Nicole Boudet. We also get an extra set of papers made up for a rich, French industrialist so that we smuggle Duplix across France disguised as a patient.

It had been ten days full of training, as well as undergoing parachute and glider training, some of the unit take the time to learn several military hand signals from Sergeant McKay so that we are able to operate silently and efficiently when infiltrating enemy targets. I had also taken it upon myself to make sure that everyone in the team was aware that we could not implicitly trust everyone in La Résistance, it was imperative that they knew the risks of double agents.

Finally, Ledman provided us with the necessary pass phrase for a resistance contact in Port Le Trepor and gave us a full description of Duplix as well as his old handling code word so that we could confirm his identity with some confidence. Captain Ledman told us that we were due to depart early tomorrow evening and so we should make final preparations and get some rest.

Sixteen hundred hours the following day and we all climb into the back of a canvas covered truck heading for Biggin Hill. We then transfer to the General Aircraft GAL.48 Hotspur glider and are towed up into the night sky by an RAF Dakota. With Doctor Jackal in the copilots seat navigating we head out over the English Channel, three hours later and the Dakota crew let us know that we are fifteen minutes from release.

Bois de Maurupt, France, September 1942

Henry guides us in and I bring the glider in gently to land approximately two miles from the forest edge, as soon as we are stationary we exit the glider and run for the forest’s edge. We regroup at the forest’s edge, I remember being somewhat surprised at how fit Doctor Jackal had become over the recent weeks, we quickly split Sven’s gear between the remaining unit members as Sven transforms himself into a raven and takes to the night sky heading towards Trois-Fontaines.

Once again we regroup at the edge of the forest and are joined a few minutes later by Sven. He has scouted out the village of Trois-Fontaines and has discovered a car parked next to one of the farmhouses. The car is also conveniently parked at the brow of a hill and so we will be able to roll it down the hill before starting it up. Leaving Madeline and Henry at the edge of the forest Sven and I sneak into the village, we both make it to the vehicle at which point Sven spots the rather large dog asleep on the farmhouses doorstep.

I slip into the unlocked car and realise that the keys are in the ignition. I slowly release the brake and Sven starts to push the car towards the crest of the hill, at that moment he slips on some loose gravel and ends up on his backside staring eye to eye with the big dog who has woken up. To this day I don’t know if it was Sven’s affinity with animals or just that the dog wasn’t a very good guard dog, but it just stood there staring at Sven and didn’t bark. It just watched us push the car away.

We all climb into the car and when we are far enough away I start it up and we head north and then east towards Robert Espagne, we then pass quickly through Tremont-s-Sauix and turn northwards once more. We ditch the stolen car just outside of the small village of Mussey and head for a bridge that crosses the river at the village of Varney on foot. Sven heads out in front once more as a raven to scout the bridge, all is quiet with the exception of a loan motorbike and sidecar travelling northwest from Bar-Le-Duc. Once it has passed has waves us across one by one.

Just as we are about to cross the main road Madeline urgently waves us into cover. We dive into the roadside ditch and Madeline throws up a cover of darkness over us just in time before two trucks packed full of German infantry pass us. Once they are out of sight we quickly cross the road and head into the Foret De Massonge. Once we are approximately two miles away from the farmhouse we dig in and Sven goes ahead to scout out the area and make sure that it isn’t a trap.

Sven finds a traditional two story farmhouse nestled into a small clearing in the forest with pig pens running off behind it into the woods. Seeing nothing untoward, Sven heads back to us. Next Madeline heads in for an internal sweep, inside the building she finds a late middle aged couple asleep upstairs as well as what appears to be their two sons asleep in the other two bedrooms. Finding nothing to cause concern she heads back to us and gives us the signal for all clear.

By oh three hundred hours Madeline and I are knocking on the door of the farmhouse, me with my dagger held unsheathed behind my back, after a couple of minutes we hear a man’s voice ask;

Qu'est-ce?

I quickly answer;

Le Blaireau est un adversaire redoutable!

A moments silence and then;

Il est aussi fort qu'un bœuf!

The door is opened and we are met by the middle aged man and two young men, who we assume are his sons. Madeline turns and waves in Henry and Sven, we are quickly ushered into the farmhouse and shown into the kitchen where the older man introduces himself as Jean Fortefan. He then introduces his family in turn, his wife Marie and his two sons Jean-Luc and Claude. We have made contact with La Résistance.