The Institute...

Still on the trail of Doctor Jackal the EIS team are turning their attention to virologist and medical researcher Jonas Salk, who has returned to his home in San Diego. The EIS team consists of Alfie Baldrick, the one man rifle section; Mimi Dubois, maîtresse of skills; Madeline Forsyth, the living shadow; and Sven Hyse, the Norwegian shapeshifter.

San Diego, California, United States of America, November 1949

The car with a pair of FBI agents within pulls away from the kerb having completed their shift on watch outside of Jonas Salk's house. Unknown to the occupants a pair of shadows cling to the underside of the vehicle going along for the ride. After a journey of around thirty minutes the car pulls off of the road, slows down to pass through some gates and then pulls into a vacant parking space. The two agents get out and Madeline overhears one of them saying that as they have nothing special to report they are heading home and will see each other in the following day. The pair of EIS agents wait five minutes to make sure that the FBI agents have gone before sliding out from beneath the car and getting their bearings. Madeline tells Mimi that she believes that they are on the east side of San Diego, further inland but on a similar parallel to the Salk Institute.

While Madeline slips quietly through what shadow there is to get a better idea of where they are, Mimi closes her eyes and pushes outwards with her enhanced senses to make sure that they are safe. She is surprised and a little concerned when as well as Madeline she gets five other returns from the direction of the buildings. Madeline returns to let Mimi know that they are in some kind of compound and that the parking bay seems to be situated near it's centre. Mimi informs Madeline of the enhanced presence and with encouragement she pushes the nearest enhanced to see if it is similar to the guard animals that they encountered during the war and that they have at Hanslope Park. She discovers that the targeted enhanced has the power of absorption, and when she pushes further finds that they can absorb enhanced powers as well as matter.

Realising that there is a good chance that this is the American team of enhanced Madeline suggests that they make a swift exit, and gets no argument from Mimi. They slip quietly through the well manicured grass lawns and the neatly clipped shrubbery before sliding up and over the wall and across the main road and as they are passing through the buildings beyond Madeline becomes solid and Mimi slips onto her. Madeline hails a cab and gets them dropped of at the diner just after six in the morning. With no sign of Alfie or Sven, the pair decide to try out these pancakes that the boys have been going on about ever since the team arrived in America.

Still in position outside of Salk's house, in the form of a cat huddled down in the brush by the side of the coast road, Sven spies movement in the house just before seven in the morning. The bedroom curtains are opened but Sven can't make out who it is that is drawing them. At eight in the morning one of the FBI cars parked outside of the Salk residence drives away only to be replaced a minute or two later by another one. When there has been no sign of Jonas Salk leaving the house by ten o'clock Sven decides that it is time to retreat and so heads to find Alfie. The pair make it back to the diner by midday and find Madeline and Mimi nursing a couple of coffees and looking full. The male members of the team in no time at all have ordered large lunches and tuck in.

The team return to their motel room and discuss the situation and Madeline voices the opinion that the American enhanced team must be in San Diego because of the note that she had left for Salk, otherwise it is too much of a coincidence. They review what they can remember of the American enhanced team, having lost all of their notes in the aeroplane crash, and can easily recall Lady Liberty who had numerous powers including flight and plasma control, and was believed by the team to be the only level seven enhanced known. She was supported by a tornado controlling enhanced code-named Lonestar and an enhanced with the powers of absorption code-named Godhead. Alfie also recalled that there were two bestial enhanced, one with moose like qualities and a second in the mould of a sabre tooth tiger.

With that level of threat in the area the team agree that Mimi needs to be fully healed before they attempt to contact Salk again. And so Alfie drops Mimi of at the back street surgeon that Terrance had directed them to. The 'surgery' is attached to the back of a veterinary clinic and when Mimi enters the doctor carries out a quick examination and exclaims:

There is no way that you should be out of bed!

Alfie returns to the others and they agree that they will take time to rest and recuperate and immerse themselves in the cover of tourists. To that end they visit the San Diego zoo, shop for new clothes, and head to the cinema to watch the latest John Wayne movie, The Fighting Kentuckian. In fact the only thing of note during those few days was the headline spotted by Madeline on the newspaper that Alfie was reading the cartoons in, the details were vague but it stated that the USS Worcester had sunk in the Pacific Ocean. There was no discussion of any survivors.

On the fourth day of rest with the doctor watching over Mimi she is declared fit to return to duty and so she puts in a call to the motel and gets Alfie to pick her up, they drive back past the FBI building and Mimi pushes out with her senses and gets returns from three enhanced still within. Collecting the others they drive to the Institute of Biological Studies and Alfie pulls into a parking space while Mimi once again pushes out with her senses. She gets a single return coming from the top floor of the north building. It is nearing eleven o'clock in the morning and Madeline and Mimi climb out of the car and head towards the impressive courtyard between the buildings, hoping that their disguises will not be seen through.

Standing at the edge of the bridge that crosses to the courtyard the pair stare around like tourists, while Mimi pushes out with her enhanced senses and discovers the location of the enhanced on the top floor of the north building, they are within one of the projecting offices on the side of the building looking away from the courtyard. As they are standing there a security guard approaches them and asks to see their identification papers, which they gladly hand over while Madeline questions him about the sundial and the beautiful buildings. The guard is polite but firmly asks them to leave as it is private property and follows them as they walk back towards the car park. Not wanting to draw attention to the fact that it is a group of two women and two men, Madeline and Mimi ignore Alfie and Sven in the car and walk out of the car park turning left onto the road and walking away. Alfie spots them and realises what they are doing and so, leaving it a minute or two, follows them and picks them up down the road out of sight.

Sven transforms into a small bird and flies back towards the institute where he perches in a tree that has a line of sight to the office identified as Salk's. When he arrives the office appears to be empty so he settles in to wait and his patience is paid off when after a couple of hours he spots Salk walking into the office. Sven observes him for a short while before returning back to the others and they head back to the motel to get some sleep before a late night attempt at some breaking and entering.

With the agreement of both Alfie and Madeline, Mimi borrows Madeline's ability to transform into shadow form as well as her ability to see clearly in darkness and borrows Alfie's ability to duplicate before they head back to the institute after darkness has fallen. Alfie pulls into a parking space on the road north of Salk's office and Mimi pushes out with her senses to check that the coast is clear. But it isn't. Mimi gets a return from Salk's office and so they settle in to wait.

Just after midnight the enhanced in Salk's office leaves and Mimi loses him as he enters the car park and steps out of her range. The team head in with Alfie remaining in the car, Sven takes to the air and lands on the roof above Salk's office while Madeline and Mimi slide in as shadows and slip up the outside of the building to the windows of Salk's office where they discover that they a hermetically sealed. They head to the roof and find that the air ventilation systems are also filtered and tightly sealed against anything getting in or out. Madeline points out that it is no surprise given the nature of the work being done at the Biological Studies institute. And after a quick check of a couple of doors at ground level they are not surprised to find them impassable as well. And so they return to the roof and Mimi duplicates out nine other Mimi's and they throw a blanket coverage over the building watching the comings and goings of the guards.