Mrs. Peel hung up the phone. Steed was on to something interesting, but what? It all sounded quite puzzling. But then mysteries really were their business, right? She'd put in a request for a department courier to bring over any files mentioning the Brigadier or this mysterious Doctor and his friend Sarah Jane. Peering out the window to continue watching the police box, she saw the mystery girl returning, minus her male companion. She looked harmless enough, but Mrs. Peel had seen plenty of people whose exteriors belied a much different personality within. Just then, the door buzzer sounded, and Mrs. Peel got up to answer it. Opening the door, she founded the out of breath courier, arms laden with files.
"That certainly was quick," said Mrs. Peel.
"Only the best for you and Mr. Steed; you do marvelous work for us," said the courier.
Mrs. Peel took the files, and the courier left. Closing the door, she turned and walked to the table. She spread the files out in front of her. It seemed the department had some decent resources at hand. They'd given her the personnel file for Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, as well as a miscellany of other files. Paging through the Brigadier's file, Mrs. Peel was surprised to find that his last command was not in the British Army, but was commissioned through the United Nations. The file was a bit sparse on the details of it, but it listed the Brigadier as the founder and most recent head of United Nations Intelligence Taskforce for unusual threats to international security.
Just how unusual, Mrs. Peel wondered. There was a personnel list of those under the Brigadier's command. As she scanned it, two names caught Mrs. Peel's eye. She'd located their mysterious friends, but now, she was even more confused. There he was, U.N.I.T.'s scientific advisor, but he was only listed as "The Doctor." No first name, no last name, nothing to expand his identity.
And Sarah Jane Smith- she was a puzzle too. This file listed her as a civilian contributor to the group, but her birth date was down as 1960! How could a 7-year-old be important to a U.N. organization? Flipping through some more pages, Mrs. Peel found a photograph labeled "The Doctor and Sarah Jane" on the back. Turning it over, she found the picture showed a girl in her early 20s standing with a curly-haired man with large eyes and a larger scarf. Both wore impish grins.
Frustrated by the seeming nonsensical nature of this new information, Mrs. Peel sighed and started looking through the files again.
Steed straightened his bowler and pulled on the end his impeccable jacket to smooth out any wrinkles. Walking into the office building, he checked the front listing and found, in miniscule print, and office number for "Lethbridge-Stewart." Striding down the hall, Steed mused about what he'd say to the men once he got there. A Brigadier should be sufficiently impressed by his red card permit to explain the situation to him.
Stopping in front of the door marked "42," Steed peeked inside the window. The Brigadier was indeed there, but no one was with him. The building didn't have an exit that wasn't visible from the street, so he couldn't have walked out the door without Steed noticing. So where was he?
Knocking lightly on the frame, Steed opened the door.
"Hello Brigadier. John Steed," he said, reaching out for a handshake.
The two men shook hands, and Steed continued. "I was hoping you could help me find something."
"And what might that be?" asked the Brigadier.
"The man in the brown pinstriped suit you met earlier. Who is he?"
"I'm afraid you're mistaken, Mr. Steed. I don't know who you're talking about."
"I assure you I have top clearance for any secrets, Brigadier," said Steed, brandishing his red card.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Steed, you're in the wrong place. You've obviously confused me with someone else. Now if there's nothing else, I have work to do," said the Brigadier, motioning toward the door.
"Ah, well, thank you for your time, Brigadier," said Steed.
Stepping outside the office, Steed mulled over the exchange. The Brigadier had been nothing short of frosty to him. That suggested that either he was trying to hide something, or maybe he didn't take too kindly to other departments on his territory. It just wasn't possible that he'd been mistaken about seeing the Brig with his mystery doctor, Steed was sure of that.
Emma Peel examined the blue box in front of her. It looked normal enough, but why had that couple left it here? Running her hand along the side of it, she could feel rough wood grains, smoothed by a coat of blue paint. The strange part was that it was locked. Mrs. Peel had picked a fair few locks in her time, but this one wouldn't budge. It was silly, really, but she got the feeling that the box resented the intrusion. Dismissing that as a touch too fanciful, she stood back and looked it over again. Behind her, the Doctor was slowly walking up the block, but when he saw her examining the TARDIS, he crouched down behind a parked car to watch.
Just then, Steed rounded the opposite corner, and Mrs. Peel waved him over. "I've got some interesting information upstairs from the department, but none of it makes any sense- it's as though someone took three puzzles, mixed all the pieces in one box, then asked you to fit it all together," said Mrs. Peel. "I haven't had any luck with this either. The outside looks mundane enough, but the lock is proving to be most impenetrable."
"Don't look too down Mrs. Peel. I seem to have come up empty handed as well. When I looked for that man in the Brigadier's office, he'd vanished, and the Brigadier denied ever seeing him. Took no notice of my clearance pass at all."
Tapping his brolly against the side of the police box, Steed continued, "Tell you what. Let's have a look at those files upstairs and see if two heads really are better than one."
He held open the door to the building for her, and they both went inside.
As soon as the pair was out of sight, the Doctor crept out from behind the parked car, ran over to the TARDIS, and let himself inside. Stepping in, he was nearly bowled over by the flying hug Rose gave him.
"Hey, what's this? I wasn't even close to being gone five and a half hours this time," said the Doctor.
"Yeah, but I missed you. Even for half an hour."
"Such a sweet rose," said the Doctor, winking. "Have I got a story for you. I know I was playing earlier about us being spies, but I promise I'm not making this up. Just after we split up, I ran into the Brigadier. He's an old friend from when I used to travel with Sarah Jane. Anyway, we looked in his files and found the chap who's been following us. And would you believe it? He's a real spy, a genuine secret agent. Top of his game too."
"No way," said Rose. "You mean, all we did was go sightseein' and we got our own James Bond to follow us?"
"Isn't it fantastic?"
"But why would he be interested in us?"
"No idea. But at least we know our secret agent act is convincing," said the Doctor.
The Doctor clasped his hands together, making a mock gun form, and blew across the top of the imaginary barrel. He looked over at Rose, and their "secret agent" expressions disappeared as they dissolved in laughter.