To Russia with love...

Having finally made contact with Jonas Salk in San Diego the EIS team are questioning him about Doctor Henry Jackal. 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

After a moments hesitation Sven asks Salk how he knows that Doctor Henry Jackal was going on a journey. Salk replies that he was so impressed with Doctor Jackal's grasp of virology, and his insightful leaps towards a vaccine for polio, that he offered him a post at his institute but that Henry had turned him down because he said that he had places to go. When Madeline pushed Salk harder on what they had discussed Salk admitted that it had been Doctor Jackal that had made some of the intellectual leaps that had lead Salk towards the vaccine for polio. Salk went on to say that Jackal had also paid close attention to how he was going to make the vaccine available and the virologist was very excited that he was going to be able to make it available free of patent thanks to a large donation from the Mellon family.

Madeline went on to ask Salk if the authorities were aware of his connection to Doctor Henry Jackal, Salk merely replied:

They are now!

Mimi then asked if they were aware that he was enhanced, and this time he replied:

They are now! You see they are listening to this call and in fact, I have an agent standing here with me.

At that moment Sven, who had taken up a position by the window looking out onto the street, heard the sound of fast approaching cars and turned to Madeline and Mimi and said:

Time to go!

Madeline thanks Jonas Salk and wishes him well and then puts the phone down before wiping down all of the touch points within the apartment. The two ladies both transform into shadows and slip out of the back window and up onto the roof closely followed by Sven who transforms himself into a sea eagle. The twin shadows slide onto him and he launches himself into the night sky across the sea, taking a wide arc and eventually heading back towards RP1 and the waiting Alfie and the second Mimi. As soon as they are rejoined Alfie turns the car east out of San Diego and they drive through the night until eight in the morning where they pull into a truck stop for a hearty breakfast.

Madeline uses the public telephone to call Mr Shannon and informs him that the trail of Doctor Jackal has once again been lost. She then suggests that we meet in person for a private discussion and Mr Shannon agrees, he then surprises her by informing her that he is in San Francisco. But Madeline quickly regains her composure and suggests that we meet beneath the clock in the main train station at noon in three days time.

Three days later Madeline disguises Alfie, Mimi, and herself before they head to the train station. They arrive just after ten and separate into three groups before settling down to breakfast and keeping watch on the comings and goings of the station. Nothing suspicious catches their eyes and so when they see Mr Shannon walk in just before noon Mimi leaves her seat and walks to intercept him. After a moment of hesitation, Mr Shannon recognizes Mimi through her disguise and greets her. He looks about for the other team members and when he does not see them he looks quizzically at the French EIS agent. Mimi smiles and says:

They are here. Watching.

Mr Shannon nods and replies:

I have a car nearby, follow me.

Mr Shannon leads and Mimi follows on. As do the other team members, at a distance, watching the crowd for signs of ambush as they go. Satisfied that they are not being followed Alfie, Madeline, and Sven step out of the crowd and slip into the back of Mr Shannon's car before he drives away. As he steers into the busy morning traffic Mr Shannon compliments the group on both their disguises and their ability to blend with the crowd. Madeline then relays almost everything that happened in San Diego including the involvement of the FBI and the American team of enhanced individuals. When she informs him that Jonas Salk is enhanced and that the Americans are now aware Mr Shannon asks if Salk would be useful to the British but Madeline manages to convince him that Salk would work for no one but the Americans and that he is far better off being left alone to do the good work that he has started.

Madeline asks if Mr Shannon has a safe house in San Francisco that the team can use and Mr Shannon responds:

I do. And you are going to need to recover before heading to Russia.

The EIS team are stunned, and look to Mr Shannon who continues:

One of our sleeper agents in the town of Semipalatinsk near the border of East Kazakhstan has sighted Einstein in the area. You are instructed to head there and free him, and then get him to safety in a British held area. We have made arrangements to fly you to Japan, from there you will travel to Vladivostok by sea under Russian identities and catch the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia to your quarry.

In the silence that follows smiles begin to spread across the faces of Madeline and Mimi when they realise that once more they will be doing what they do best, sowing havoc behind enemy lines. Mr Shannon changes the subject and asks:

Were you aware of the USS Worcester and the fact that it went down in unexplained circumstances? What you may not have known is that an experimental Russian submarine has also gone missing somewhere between the Marshal Islands and Japan.

And with that ominous news the car grows quiet.

After several weeks of preparation, during which the EIS team brushed up on their Russian with Madeline instructing. It becomes very obvious, very quickly that Baldrick does not have the attention span or gift with languages to be able to learn Russian and so the team agree that he will have to portray himself as a mute while they travel through Russia. And so by late December the EIS team fly into Sasebo Naval Base in south east tip of Japan. There the team are met by a MI6 agent called Cameron Bradley who escorts them to a safe house and provides them with a change of wardrobe. While they settle in Mimi borrows the Japanese language from one of the staff and so is able to ingratiate the team with the locals and fit in well.

On the morning of Monday January 2nd 1950 the team are awoken in haste and told that there had been an attack on Nagasaki during the night and that their journey has been pushed forwards to that morning. The team are given the use of a car and instructed to get themselves to Kokura as quickly as possible. On route they stop for food at a street vendor and Mimi hears on the radio that is playing about a giant monster attacking Nagasaki, it caused vast swathes of damage before disappearing back into deep waters before sunrise.

By the morning of Tuesday January 3rd 1950 the team arrive in Kokora and head for the address given to them by Bradley. Madeline knocks on the door and it is opened by a man in his late fifties who introduces himself as Keith Yardly from MI6 and greets the team with:

Welcome to Kokura!