I may have introduced too many characters now. It's getting hard keeping track of everyone.
Zoe looked at her bed, and pulled it over to the side of her cell next to Dan. Wrapping herself in her blanket she lay down beside Dan and listening to him gently snoring through his blocked nose tried to get to sleep. Things couldn't get any worse could they ? Knowing KORPS, things could always get worse.
Tom lay amongst the bracken holding a pair of binoculars to his eyes. "What exactly are we on again Frank ?" he asked.
"Botany field trip," said Frank's voice in his earpiece, also staring through a pair of binoculars from a different vantage point. "Rare lichens and funghi I think. Mr. Flatley's favourite," he added.
"Hm. Toadstools and Morris Dancing. You can't accuse him of going for the obvious can you ?" mused Tom. He heard someone snorting with laughter in his earpiece.
"Have you heard him play the piano accordian ?" asked Carrie's voice.
"No," said Tom slowly.
"Try to keep it that way," advised Carrie. "I used it to torture a SKUL operative. Oh hey ! I've got movement guys," she warned.
Instantly, several pairs of eyes were trained on the tunnel entrance. A black van drew up to the apparently abandoned mine. Its side door opened. After a moment a small group of people marched out of the tunnel entrance. In the middle they could clearly see the bright auburn hair of Zoe. Her hands weren't tied and she didn't seem to be being threatened in any way as she climbed into the van with the others and the van drove off.
"I didn't see Dan, did you ?" asked Tom.
"No," agreed Frank. "He must be still inside. My guess is that they're keeping him hostage to force Zoe to co-operate. So long as Zoe toes the line, he's probably safe," Frank added. He sounded as if he were trying to convince himself.
"What are they getting Zoe to do though ? I thought they only wanted to turn her into the Mastermind. She looked more like she was going on a KORPS mission of some sort," said Tom.
"I don't know. Rose, do you have a fix on the van ?" asked Frank.
"Yes, we've got it on satellite," said Rose's voice. "The guys are ready to go when we know where they're heading." Behind her, Edward, Oscar and Ilya all nodded. "They look like they're headed up a remote glen. There's nothing marked on the map. I don't know what they're hoping to find," said Rose.
"Hang on," said Edward. "That's not the sort of map we want." He pulled the keyboard from one of the computers towards him and pulled up a window before typing in some commands. He glanced over at Rose's screen to get the coordinates and typed again. "There !" he said, swinging the computer screen round so the others could see. Marked on the map was a dotted line, showing the outline of a building. "It's a secret underground missile storage facility," explained Edward. "They don't put those on the Ordnance Survey maps.
"Why do they store missiles up there ?" asked Oscar.
"They've been put out of action under a missile treaty," explained Edward. "The parts you need to fire them have been removed, but it's easier just to store the warheads in a remote location than to try to take them apart."
"Are they nuclear ?" asked Ilya.
"Oh yes. I'm afraid they are," said Edward.
"We don't want KORPS getting hold of nuclear warheads," said Oscar. "We've got to stop them !"
"I'll contact the authorities to warn them," promised Edward. "Get your kit ready. We're going in. Rose I need you here to co-ordinate OK ? Oscar and Ilya, you're with me. Frank ? Can you hear all this ?" he asked.
"Yes, we're picking up everything," said Frank.
"Why don't you try to find a way into those tunnels," suggested Edward. "Rose can help you from here. We're going to have to get Dan out if we're going to take back Zoe. Get the lie of the land will you ?"
"We'll get on it," promised Frank. "Be careful all of you," he added.
Edward, Oscar and Ilya hurried out of the base and rendevouzed at a nearby football pitch where a helicopter was waiting for them. It was a secret military helicopter which flew almost silently. People around heard a buzz and felt a draft of air hit them, but couldn't work out where the noise was coming from. The three were taken north-west to the secret missile storage facility and managed to arrive ahead of the KORPS agents. After greeting the security staff who were now on high alert, Edward agreed with them where his team would hide. He didn't want to get caught in any cross-fire. The facility's military guards were heavily armed and clearly twitchy knowing that a KORPS team was heading their way.
Edward, Oscar and Ilya headed for their agreed positions. Ilya tapped Edward on the shoulder. "I think we should wear gas masks," he suggested. "They are always using gas now. We should not take any chances."
"Good point," agreed Edward. They each put on a gas mask and took positions around the storage hanger. Ilya muttered something to Oscar in Russian. Oscar replied in Russian. Edward smiled to himself. He was no Russian expert, but he knew 'Good Luck' in most languages.
They didn't have to wait long. They heard some dull thuds in the distance, followed by the sound of machine gun fire. Then everything went silent. "They did wear gas masks didn't they ?" Oscar whispered to the others.
"Yes. Standard army issue," replied Edward. "I wonder what went wrong."
The door to the underground storage facility was thrown open and a group of people dressed in black rushed in. "Just take the nearest !" shouted a man. Peering around the container in front of him, Oscar could make out the bright auburn hair of Zoe. He remembered her from when he'd met the team in France. He glanced round to Edward who waved him and Illya on towards the KORPS team.
Silently Edward, Oscar and Ilya made their way between the banks of storage containers, keeping low and out of sight at all times. They crouched close to the enemy and looked to Edward. Silently he counted down on his fingers, 3, 2, 1, "Hands in the air, this is MI9 !" shouted Edward, sounding slightly muffled through his gas mask. The KORPS agents looked up. One of them pulled a small grenade from his pocket and threw it towards them. Ilya shot it in mid air, but instead of exploding, it released a cloud of gas. "Take them !" ordered Edward and they rushed forward at the KORPS agents. Oscar was momentarily surprised when the KORPS agents didn't attempt to run from them. This was immediately before he ran through the gas cloud and began to lose control of his body. Oscar felt his legs turn to rubber and collapse under him. He fell helplessly. As he fell he twisted slightly and watched Edward and Ilya also falling to the ground. In one last attempt to retain consciousness, he grasped his stun gun, his finger tightened on the trigger and it released a stun dart. The dart miraculously hit one of the KORPS agents and he staggered and fell to the ground. Oscar felt as though his body was somehow disconnected. He couldn't tell where any of his body parts were. It was the weirdest sensation.
Surprised that he was still conscious though, Oscar lay on the floor and watched as the KORPS team completed their removal of one of the missile warheads and placed it carefully into a case they had brought with them. After closing the lid, he heard one of the team asking about the unconscious agent. "Leave him !" ordered the leader. "The effects of the nerve agent don't last long. We need to go." Zoe glanced at Oscar and obviously recognised him. He watched her mouth the word 'sorry' before she turned and followed the rest of her team out of the building.
"Guys, is everything alright ?" asked Rose's worried voice in their earpieces. "Guys ?"
Gradually, Oscar felt his body returning to him. At least, he could tell where his hands and feet were, although he still couldn't move them. A security guard from the facility staggered through the doorway above and looked down at the helpless MI9 agents and the opened storage container. He swore and staggered back out. After a minute, Edward and the others managed to pull themselves into a seated position. "So, that went well," said Edward.