OK, I have reused one of my own characters from a previous story, at the suggestion of DrWhoFanForeva (still can't spell that) which was "Spy School". He is Ilya, a former Russian spy and now MI9 agent, friend of Oscar's. This story also obviously follows on from "School Trip". I didn't mention this earlier because I only just decided to do it. Just to make it even more complicated, there will be a mention back to "Mystery Islands".
"Frank, what are we going to do ?" asked Tom.
"Hm ? Oh, we're going to need some help," said Frank. "I'm going to make some calls. I'd like you two to go through any local CCTV and see if you can trace the KORPS team out of here," he ordered.
Tom and Aneisha worked on pulling up all the local CCTV channels. They had done this so many times before that they knew all of the local cameras which could be useful. Before long they had traced the route by which the KORPS team had left the area. "Frank ? They're heading north," reported Tom. "Dan and Zoe don't have their communicators on them, so we can't trace those. I don't know what else to try," he said.
Frank went to his desk and pulled out his DNA tracer. There couldn't be many of Zoe's clones heading into northern Scotland at this point. Surely he would be able to track her down ! The three of them gathered round the screen of the DNA tracer. Sure enough there was a trace of Zoe DNA heading north towards the northwest coast of Scotland. "Thats got to be them," said Aneisha. Frank agreed.
"Tom, can you get some satellite access and see if you can track down the vehicle ?" asked Frank. "It should get easier as the evening goes on and the levels of traffic fall." Tom agreed. He was glad to be doing something useful. He had successfully gained a trace on the vehicle when he found Aneisha sitting beside him. He glanced round and they smiled slightly at each other.
"We seem to spend a lot of our time looking for those two don't we ?" joked Aneisha.
"Yeah," agreed Tom softly. "Zoe's just, well, Zoe and Dan seems to get sucked in every time trouble arrives. They're like two planets that just can't help orbiting each other," he said.
Aneisha frowned. "Hm, I think I understand what you just said. You may have gone a metaphor too far for me !" she joked. Her humour faded in an instant. "I wish they were here with us though," she said quietly.
Frank overheard her as he came up to see what progress Tom had made. "We'll get them back Aneisha," he assured her, squeezing her and Tom's shoulders. They all jumped as the lift signalled its arrival. The doors opened to reveal a small group of people.
"Frank ! Great to see you ! Erm, although, maybe not in the current circumstances," the speaker backtracked hastily. First out of the lift walked a tall, blonde-haired young man.
"Oscar !" called out Aneisha and Tom, jumping up from their seats smiling. He grinned back at them.
"So, have you lost Dan again ?" he asked, with mock severity. "That boy has a nose for trouble !" he added. He saw them looking behind him. "Oh, I'd better introduce everyone. This is Agent Dixon Halliday our team leader," he said, indicating an older man with short dark hair and eyes just like Oscar's. "This is Carrie," he said waving towards a dark-skinned young woman with a big open smile. They instantly liked her. "This is Rose," he said gesturing towards another young woman with honey-brown skin, "And this is Ilya," he said finally, pointing towards another blond young man with a cheeky grin.
"You'd better tell us what's happened Frank," suggested Agent Dixon Halliday in a businesslike way. "We need to get moving. Oh, and you can call me Edward. It's quicker," he added with a smile to Tom and Aneisha.
"Yes, well, a few days ago, our team were involved in an operation which resulted in Aneisha here, being knocked out by KORPS with a new type of anaesthetic gas. Luckily she made a full recovery. Today KORPS infiltrated the school and managed to render the entire school immobile with another gas release. Tom will you run the CCTV please ?" asked Frank. Tom streamed the images to the large glass screen in the middle of the room so everyone could see. Once again they watched as the whole school were put under the control of the Crime Minister, then Dan ran into the hall, was knocked out and then he and Zoe were taken away.
"Zoe's the girl who was cloned from the Mastermind isn't she ?" asked Edward. They nodded. "I can understand why they want Zoe, but why Dan ?" asked Edward.
"Well, they're kind of close, you see," said Aneisha, rubbing the back of her neck. It was embarrassing to explain. "I think KORPS have realised that they can make Zoe do what they want if they have Dan," she explained. She could feel her face getting hot, and looked down at the ground.
"Hm, sounds like that mission we had in Norway, except it was SKUL developing gas chemical weapons," said Rose. Oscar, Carrie and Ilya all nodded in agreement.
Carrie shivered. "I don't fancy being experimented on again," she said.
"You and me both !" agreed Ilya.
"What kind of gas was it ?" asked Edward.
"It made people go wild and start attacking one another. It sort of made them paranoid and see attackers everwhere," explained Rose. "This development sounds a lot more focussed and advanced," she added glumly. "Typical KORPS in fact. They make SKUL look like a bunch of amateurs."
"Tom, do you have the trace from the satellite still ?" Frank asked.
Tom spun round to his computer. "Yes, they're still travelling. They appear to be heading out to the west coast now, look," he said, putting the image up on the large screen. "Oh, hang on, they've stopped." He started typing away on his computer. "They are on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, at a place called Strontian. Isn't that where they ..." before he could finish, Rose jumped in
"Where they first discovered Strontium," said Rose triumphantly. Tom looked at her in surprise. Aneisha rolled her eyes. Oh, boy, geek convention ! Her eye was caught by Carrie's knowing look.
"Could there really be two ?" asked Carrie. This made Aneisha, Ilya and Oscar snort with laughter. Even Edward and Frank smiled.
"Is there anything special about this place ?" asked Ilya, looking closely at the satellite image.
"Well, there are the old lead mines I suppose. That's where they mined the original Strontium," explained Tom.
"Radioactive element ?" asked Ilya.
"Yup. That's the one," agreed Tom.
"There is a lot of water here," commented Ilya.
"Yes, it's on a long, deep sea loch," said Tom. "It's quite a remote area. Not many people around," he added.
"Tunnels Oscar ! Your favourite !" said Carrie, patting Oscar on the arm. "No obvious need for translating though," she added glumly.
"That doesn't matter," said Edward briskly. "I want you all on this. This introduction of new chemical weapons could be serious. Also, we are going to need a substantial team to recover the two missing agents. Do you agree Frank ?" he asked.
Frank looked at Edward gratefully. "Yes, we're going to need all the help we can get. Thanks for this Edward," he said. "I appreciate it."
"It's what we're for isn't it ?" asked Edward.