The road to East Berlin...

The EIS team have liberated Albert Einstein from a Russian facility within the walled city of Kurchatov and escaped in a stolen aeroplane, which they have crashlanded in farmland near the town of Rostov-on-Don, southern Russia. 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.

Airport near Rostov-on-Don, Russia, USSR, January 1950

The EIS team huddle in their stolen car a couple of miles away from the airport discussing what to do next, and knowing that the clock is ticking on the Russian authorities seeking Einstein, Madeline and Mimi agree to go in during daylight hours to scout the military building on the airport grounds in an attempt to get more information. Sven braves the rising snowstorm and lands on top of the tallest of the military commandeered buildings, once down, Mimi duplicates out another Mimi to remain with Sven while the other Mimi joins Madeline in trying to gain access to the building.

All of the buildings are newly constructed and so they struggle to gain access in through the windows, they agree to head for the garage with an armoured personnel carrier parked outside of it. As they start to move down the side of the building, Madeline loses sight of Mimi and stops to see if she can pick her out. Even knowing where Mimi is heading, and the fact the it is starting to get light and there is snow on the ground, Madeline can't pick out the shadow form of Mimi. Having taken a moment to pause Madeline assesses the other building and believes that as they are all newly constructed it is likely that they will all be equally as difficult to gain access to, and so she changes tac and heads for the rear door of the building that Sven had landed on.

Heading across the open space towards the garage area Mimi realises that Madeline is no longer with her, Mimi retraces her route and spots Madeline materializing by the rear door of the building and kneeling down to look at the doors lock. By the time that Mimi has reached her, Madeline has picked the lock and opens the door just a sliver before transforming back into shadow form and slipping in through the narrow gap. Mimi follows closely behind and by the time that a man at the end of the corridor has got has rushed along and slammed the door closed, the pair of them are already hidden on the ceiling watching him closely.

The man appears to be a janitor and the pair of EIS agents shadow him from the ceiling as he walks back along the corridor. He passes several offices crammed with what look like low ranking officers and then heads towards a busy reception area. The agents don't follow him into the reception but head up a staircase to the second floor where they discover a number of larger offices, one of them being that of the local political officer. Madeline pokes her head beneath the doorway and can see that it is occupied by two people, one who is clearly the political officer and the other his aide. Madeline can also see that there are several documents, diaries, and logs on the desks and she is sure that these will contain information useful to the team. Madeline slips back out and tells Mimi, who instantly says that she has a plan to distract the rooms occupants.

Leaving Madeline slightly bemused and watching the office door, Mimi heads back downstairs. As she leaves Madeline is convinced that Mimi is absolutely invisible now, and she makes a mental note to deal with that developing situation later. Mimi slips along the ceiling and back down to the ground floor corridor where she finds an office with only two low ranking officers within, she slips in and steals a box of matches from the desk of one and then strikes a match and sets fire to his waste paper bin. She then slides up onto the underside of his desk and watches it burn.

From the corridor upstairs Madeline can hear a commotion taking place on the ground floor but nothing seems to come of it and there is no movement from the office of the political officer. Downstairs, Mimi watches with disappointment as they put out the fire and then returns to Madeline somewhat dejected that her plan did not work. Madeline suggests that they use the carpet as cover and gain access to the office and wait and listen to what is happening. By the time that they have both slipped into the office, and positioned themselves near to the individuals within, the two EIS agents can hear that they are discussing the business of the day:

...both aeroplanes currently on site will have taken off by midday, and there are a couple more flights arriving including a military cargo transport with supplies for those stationed here. The transport should arrive before midday...

On the roof of the building, the Mimi with Sven relays this new information to him and so, realizing that it might be a long wait, he transforms into an arctic fox and snuggles down with Mimi tucked in to keep warm.

At a signal from Madeline, she and Mimi slip quietly away from the political officers office and along the corridor until they find an empty office at the far end of the corridor and once inside they communicate with the Mimi with Sven and tell them that they will open the window so that they can join them. The Mimi slides down the wall and in through the open window, closely followed by Sven who transforms into a macaque monkey and swings himself down from the roof and in through the window, much to the surprise of his fellow agents. Especially because the monkey appears to be wearing a fez.

While one of the Mimi's heads out into the corridor to keep watch on the political officers room, Madeline asks the other Mimi to become solid and then gets the macaque Sven to inspect her. They both can see that Mimi is no longer casting a shadow, and when they point that out Mimi seems thoughtful before suggesting that they use it to their advantage until they are in a position to carry out tests under controlled conditions. Madeline agrees and Sven, transforming into the image of the Russian political officer that the team met when they arrived in Russia, nods his agreement.

Sven prepares two cloths with chloroform and passes them to one of the Mimi's and it is then that the Mimi watching the door tells the Mimi inside the room that the political officers aide has left the room and headed downstairs. Sven tells the Mimi's to sneak into the room and be ready to knockout the political officer when Sven enters the room. Two minutes later, with Madeline by his side, Sven knocks on the door and hears a Russian voice from inside tell him to enter. As Sven enters the room the political officer inside stands up and says:

Who are you?

At that moment a pair of Mimi's materialize behind the political officer and grapple him, covering his mouth with the chloroform soaked cloths. The political officer starts to struggle and Sven steps forwards to assist in restraining him while Madeline steps in and closes the door. After a few seconds the political officer goes limp in their grip and they lay his unconscious form on the floor. Sven searches him and discovers identification papers naming him as Commander Polyakov, as well as a bunch of keys. Sven throws the keys to Madeline and she locks the door. Sven looks at the Mimi's and tells them to search the room, within a handful of seconds there are ten Mimi's searching through the documents and paperwork looking for anything useful. Madeline hears the sound of an aeroplane taking off and when she looks at her watch it is eleven in the morning.

The Mimi's discover paperwork detailing that the military cargo aeroplane is due to land at eleven thirty that morning and it is resupplying the military base at the airport, but there is no information about when it is due to leave. Mimi also discovers a stack of blank requisition documents, which she hands to Madeline. The British agent gets to work forging the required papers to requisition the cargo aeroplane while Sven posts one of the Mimi's out in the corridor to keep watch for the aide.

Thirty minutes after he had left the room, the aide returns carrying a tray laden with a coffee pot and a covered bowl of something steaming hot. The Mimi outside warns those within the room and Madeline quickly turns the key in the door and unlocks it before Sven transforms himself into the image of Commander Polyakov and sits behind the desk. The aide enters the room and places the tray on the Commanders desk and is attacked by a pair of Mimi's wielding chloroform soaked cloths once more. The aide puts up more of a struggle than his commander and so Sven steps in and punches him hard in the stomach causing him to double over, Madeline also steps in and makes sure to save the tray of food and drink from being tipped over. Eventually, the aide collapses unconscious to the floor. Sven searches him and finds identification papers in the name of Vasily Lopatin.

With a plan formed, Sven injects both unconscious men with a strong sedative and Mimi ties and gags them. The Mimi's deduplicate until there is only two left and Sven transforms back into his sea eagle form. Madeline and one of the Mimi's slide onto Sven and the avian Norwegian flies out of the room and heads for the car. The remaining Mimi shuts the window, locks the door, and then heads for the aeroplane hangers at the opposite end of the airport. She discovers the hanger where the military cargo aeroplane is being unloaded and refuelled and communicates the location to the other Mimi and the rest of the team.

Back at the car Madeline gets Alfie to don one of the Russian soldier uniforms that they have carried with them since before Kurchatov City. She then takes a seat in the front of the car next to Alfie while Sven transforms himself into the image of Commander Polyakov and then binds Einstein's wrists and places a bag over his head. They then get Alfie to drive to the airport. Alfie pulls up to the hanger identified by Mimi and sounds the horn of the car, a Russian soldier comes out of the hanger, walks around to the drivers door and asks Alfie:

What is your business here?

Unfortunately, Alfie doesn't speak Russian and so he just looks blankly back at the soldier. Madeline quickly steps in and responds:

Political prisoner for transport.

She then hands the soldier the recently forged documents and the soldier begins to scrutinize them. Mimi, hidden as a shadow on Sven, mimics Commander Polyakov's voice perfectly and shouts:

What is taking you so long soldier?

The Russian soldier looks into the back of the car and seeing the glowering image of Commander Polyakov he immediately snaps to attention, hands the papers back and waves them into the hanger. By two in the afternoon they have finished unloading the cargo aeroplane and Madeline approaches them and asks if it is clear for them to load the car, they tell her that it is and she waves Alfie on. Baldrick drives the car into the cargo hold and then, remembering how Mimi had instructed him to strap down the car previously, he secures the vehicle in place while the others get themselves strapped into the bench seats.

Within the hour the aeroplanes three man crew return and inquire as to why the team are on the aeroplane, Madeline shows them the requisition papers and Sven flashes his stolen identification papers. The pilot seems reticent until Sven steps in and informs him that they are transporting a vital political prisoner and it is imperative that they are transported to Moscow immediately. Knowing better than to argue with an angry political officer the pilot salutes and busy's himself with the pre-flight checks.

The aeroplane is in the air within thirty minutes and heading in the direction of Moscow. Mimi checks with the others if they are ready to deal with the flight crew and they all nod. Then, very much to the surprise of her team mates she pulls a number of flammable items into the middle of the empty cargo hold and sets light to them. Then, once again mimicking the Commanders voice shouts:

FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

Presently the aeroplane navigator comes out of the cockpit and seeing the pile of burning debris and the team sitting down shouts in surprise:

Why aren't you dealing with it? Put it out?

He rushes forwards and as he passes Madeline she slips her blade in under his ribs and straight through his heart. He collapses dead to the floor and Madeline heads in the direction of the now closed cockpit door. As she does so, Mimi slips into the cockpit and watches from the ceiling. Madeline bangs on the door of the cockpit and calls for help. The co-pilot opens the door and as he moves Mimi slides down off of the ceiling and silently becomes solid between the co-pilot and the seated pilot. Seeing the fire and the body of the navigator laying on the floor the co-pilot slams the cockpit door closed on Madeline, but as he does so Mimi copies Madeline and plunges her dagger deep into the co-pilots back and the man drops to the floor.

Having had the cockpit door slammed in her face, Madeline quick draws her pistol and opens the door. She sees the co-pilot bleeding on the floor and Mimi stood there with a bloody dagger drawn. She points her pistol at the pilot and says:

We are now in control of this aeroplane!

The pilot disagrees and the aeroplane lurches to the left and downwards. Mimi reacts quickest and drives her dagger into the pilots neck, and while he is bleeding to death she jumps into the co-pilots seat and tries to regain control of the aeroplane. Madeline gets Sven's help to drag away the now dead body of the pilot and the second Mimi jumps into the pilot seat and between them the Mimi's get the aeroplane under control and change course, now making for Lviv in Ukraine.

The outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine, USSR, January 1950

Alfie drives the car from the back of the military cargo aeroplane and out onto the road before turning it west and heading for the Polish boarder. The team cross over into Poland and with Madeline navigating they head towards Rzeszow. They stop for fuel just before ten in the evening on the fringes of Rzeszow and continue to push onward. Around midnight they pull into the suburbs of Krakow and locate a boarding house, which they pay of the odds for. Once inside they agree that someone needs to keep a watch over Einstein and Mimi offers to do so. Before Einstein settles down to sleep, Mimi speaks to the professor and asks him if she can borrow his ability to regenerate. Einstein agrees and Mimi borrows the enhanced ability to heal, she then absorbs her duplicate and settles down to keep watch. By the morning she has fully recovered from her previous injuries.

The following morning they refuel again and set out for East Berlin. They pass through Katowiceo and Wroclaw before crossing into East Germany and stopping in Cottbus to buy a crate of vodka to use as a bribe if required. They eventually arrive in a small village outside of East Berlin around seven in the evening and secure three rooms in a cheap guest house. Madeline pays for four nights stay and makes sure that everyone has a good meal and buys a newspaper for Einstein. Once they have eaten dinner Sven transforms into a sea eagle and Madeline, having transformed into a shadow, slides onto him and they leap into the night sky.

Swooping low over the Berlin skyline Sven lands in an alley not far from the British Embassy, he and Madeline then transform back into their normal forms and walk straight in through the front doors. The man behind the desk looks up and asks if he can be of assistance, Madeline responds:

My name is Madeline Forsyth, I work for EIS and MI6. This is Sven Hyse the Norwegian ambassador. We have the package, and require safe passage from the east.

The small man behind the counter, to the surprise of both Madeline and Sven, replies:

Yes Ms Forsyth, we have been expecting you.

The man then shows Madeline and Sven into a small side office and asks them to wait. Thirty minutes later he returns with a tea tray and tells them that a Mr Edward Elton, their appointed handler, will be with them soon. Not long afterwards a tall man in his early fifties with grey hair enters the room and introduces himself as Edward Elton. Madeline explains the situation, and when Elton asks how Madeline and Sven crossed the boarder Madeline just responds:

Let's not concern ourselves with the detail.

Elton informs them that he can get them all documents to get across the boarder, as long as he has head-shots of each member of the team. Madeline asks for a camera and as soon as it is delivered Sven transforms into each member of the team one by one and Madeline gets a photograph. Finally Sven transforms into the disguised Einstein and Madeline gets the final shot before calling Mr Elton back into the room and giving him the film. Mr Elton looks surprised, but is professional enough to not ask any questions, and says that his aide has arranged hotel rooms for the pair of them in a nearby hotel. Madeline and Sven make the most of the chance to see Berlin, but Madeline makes sure to purchase several cartons of French cigarettes.

The following morning in the guesthouse room Einstein points out an article in his newspaper to Mimi, it is a brief piece about Joseph Stalin the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the fact that he has turned into living steel. Mimi frowns and realises that it can only be Doctor Jackal involvement, given that he was last known to be heading for Moscow. It is then that she spots another short piece discussing the giant monster attack on the island of Japan, but more importantly it details a scientific report stating that the background levels of radiation in the areas visited by the monster have reduced.

That evening Mr Edward Elton hands Madeline an envelope containing five sets of fake documents detailing everyone as Russian nationals, he also advises that they cross at Checkpoint Charlie and into the American held section of Berlin. Madeline thanks him and before they leave his office Sven steals the bottle of brandy on the side. The pair then leave West Berlin the same way that they arrived. They get back to the small guesthouse just before nine that evening and find Baldrick asleep on watch, Madeline nudges him awake and throws him a carton of French cigarettes. Then Sven hands him a half full bottle of brandy and Alfie is as happy as he has been since he discovered pancakes.