The team have to earn their places on the team by passing all the MI9 training tests. Will this be the end of the team or can they help get each other through ?

Panting for breath, Dan looked up at the two girls sitting in their seats. "You OK ?" he asked.

"We're fine," said Aneisha. "But like Zoe said, we've failed the mission. We don't know how they're getting the poison into the food chain," she said glumly.

"Ah, well that's where you're wrong," said Dan smiling happily.

Zoe, Tom and Aneisha spent the rest of the journey trying to get Dan to tell them what he had found out, but without success. Dan was obviously enjoying himself. They didn't have the heart to spoil his enjoyment.

Once back at the training centre they were told to report to the same conference room where they were given their assignment. The blonde woman was joined by Agent Marshall for their debrief. After looking at each other, Tom began explaining their strategy for infiltrating the KORPS base.

"You were captured by enemy agents," commented the blonde woman.

"Zoe and I were captured," said Aneisha.

"And you let them be captured," said the blonde woman to Dan.

"I couldn't help them," said Dan. "There were too many enemy agents. I would just have been captured too. I decided to stay hidden so that I could release them later."

The blonde woman looked slightly annoyed and glanced at Agent Marshall. "How did you manage to hide ?" she asked Dan.

Dan explained how he found the cleaning cupboard and put on the overalls and baseball hat to disguise himself. Once again the two senior agents looked at one another. There was a hint of a smile on Agent Marshall's face. He soon wiped it off when he turned back to Dan. "And what did you do then ?" he asked.

Dan told them how he adopted his disguise as a cleaner and picked up an apple from the receptionist's desk.

"You took an apple from right under her nose ?" asked the blonde woman, sounding incredulous.

"Yes. I thought I might need one. There weren't any potatoes," said Dan. The woman looked at him as if he were slightly deranged.

"Potatoes ?" she said, softly.

"Go on," said Agent Marshall. He was smiling openly now, as if enjoying the story.

"Yep, well I called in one of the labs to pick up the evidence," explained Dan. Then I guessed that Zoe and Aneisha might be in the loading bay so I headed there to try and release them.

"Why didn't you ask Tom where they were ?" asked the blonde woman.

"That would have given away that I was there," explained Dan. "They had Zoe and Aneisha's headsets. They would only have to listen in on them to realise I was in hiding. Then it would all have been over for us," he said. The woman reluctantly nodded her agreement. "Anyway I heard two agents saying that the girls were in the van and being taken to the Crime Minister for interrogation. I stuck my apple on the end of the exhaust pipe to block it."

"You what ?" asked the blonde woman, obviously baffled.

Agent Marshall was laughing. "Perfect. Old style espionage Agent Morgan !"

"I don't get it," said the blonde woman.

"You don't watch enough old spy movies," said Dan. "You know. In the war the commandos used to stick a potato up the exhaust pipe to make the car break down !" he said with a grin.

Agent Marshall looked at the woman agent. "It's old school spy craft Agent Wenner. We don't really cover it in technical," he said wistfully.

"Well, it's hardly technical !" said the woman crossly.

"Disabling vehicles sounds pretty technical to me !" said Tom crossly. "I didn't know you could do that," he added, sounding surprised at himself.

"Oh yeah. Sugar in the petrol tank is the other one," said Dan enthusiastically. "I've never actually tried that though," he added doubtfully.

"Mmm. Yeah, that would do it," said Tom thoughtfully, obviously making another mental note.

"And what did you do next ?" asked the woman, trying to get the debrief back on track.

"Oh, I picked the lock on the van with my penknife and freed Aneisha and Zoe. Then we were spotted and we had to run for it. I called Tom to give us a route since we were already found out," said Dan. "He told us to run for that pile of boxes and got the driver to bring the van round for us," he explained. "That's it."

The woman looked at him triumphantly. "Except for one thing !" she said. "Your mission ? Had you forgotten about that ?" she asked him pointedly.

"No, of course not," said Dan. He pulled a deoderant aerosol canister from his overalls pocket and put it on the table in front of them.

"Oh, I get it !" said Tom, grinning at Dan.

"It wasn't going into the food chain was it ? It's a nerve toxin. The target sprays it on their skin, thinking it's a deoderant. That would get adults, but not children," pointed out Dan, sitting back and folding his arms over his chest.

Zoe, Tom, Aneisha and Dan sat looking triumphantly at the two senior agents. Agent Marshall looked at the blonde woman and shrugged his shoulders. "I think they've succeeded, don't you Agent Wenner ?" he said with a smile.

Finally the blonde woman smiled openly. "Well done Team Topaz. You have passed your infiltration exercise. Excellent team work and good individual contributions by all of you. You are dismissed," she said, stepping forward and shaking their hands.

The team triumphantly walked back to their rooms to get changed. They had left all of their gadgets and equipment in the conference room and Dan had taken off his overalls and cap. Zoe put her arm around Dan's shoulder. "Well done Dan. You worked it out !" she said, giving him a big kiss on the cheek. Dan blushed with pleasure.

"I'm good with fruit !" he said grinning at his friends. They all laughed.

"It's a pity you couldn't find any potatoes !" said Tom, laughing.

"Yes. I don't know though," said Dan, rubbing his chin. "I'd have looked pretty silly walking around snacking on a potato."

Zoe had a fit of laughter imagining Dan casually eating a potato while walking the corridors of the KORPS base. It felt good to be messing around and enjoying each other's company again.

They separated and went to their respective rooms to change. Zoe and Aneisha were happily discussing the day's events when there was a knock on their door. Aneisha opened the door to reveal Agent Marshall. "I have your interim markings," said Agent Marshall, handing them each an envelope. He walked away and they could hear him knocking on the boys' door. Aneisha shut the door and the two girls tore open their envelopes.

"What have you got ?" asked Zoe.

"Expected final average 80. Current average 82," said Aneisha. "What about you ?" she asked.

"Expected final average 80. Current average 85," said Zoe.

"Whew, that's close !" said Aneisha. "Even for you," she added. "Oh my goodness !"

"The boys !" yelped Zoe and they leapt to their feet and ran for the door.

Zoe and Aneisha barely stopped to knock before bursting into the boys' room. "What have you got ?" demanded Aneisha, before registering the shocked looks on the boys' faces.

"Expected final average 80. Current average 83," said Tom.

"Expected final average 80. Current average 74," said Dan hoarsely.