Authors Note

Well I'm back again. So where I have I've been you may wonder, well off sailing again so where I'm I now? Right's right you guessed it... Hamburg Germany. Well this will be the last update till I sign off when I reach Singapore and fly home when I again shall continue this story. So with further ado.

Enjoy

Michael was stood at the witness box once again with everyone watching for what he was to say next. He eyes were darting back and fore and there was a slight sweat on his brow.

"Jason Hadfield was an intelligence officer in the security service as you mentioned" He said to Barnaby who was listening carefully.

"What else?"

"He was also a member of the Special Boat Service and had a fairly respectable career within the navy"

"So, here we have a man who had enlisted into the navy to serve his country, and then went on to other things to only further serve his country and protects its people. A man who has seen a fair amount of combat and did extremely dangerous missions. So if he was an accredited serviceman, it begs the question. Why did you kill him?" Barnaby put the question to Michael in a tone of self-confidence.

"He was killed because I was ordered to" Michael replied.

"Ah, the old I was acting under orders excuse. The most common excuse of a coward"

Michael's eyes squinted slightly, the only sign of the anger that was burning inside "Believe me, I'm no coward. Most people would run and hide from the stuff I've been through"

Barnaby breathed out loudly as if he was stifling a short laugh "I'm sure"

"Can we please get back to the matters in hand" Simmons informed the two men.

Barnaby looked to the Major-General for moment "Sorry, sir" He looked back at Michael in the witness box. "Ok. Let's just say for arguments sake that you're right and you were indeed ordered to kill Mr Hadfield. Then I might ask who gave the order?"

"MI5" Was Michael's reply.

Barnaby stood there for a few moments with a completely dumbstruck face and suddenly burst out laughing. The fit of laughter quickly died down "MI5? Really? Please Mr Rickers, don't be so silly. The British government does not condone executions of anyone"

Michael's face was neutral, as if he expecting such a response "That's what you think. I exist in two different worlds. The world that everyone knows about and can see, and then there is this shadow world where everything is turned on its head. Believe me you couldn't begin to believe what it's really like out there"

Barnaby face turned serious in the blink of an eye "I do not believe a single word of that. There is only one world, and that world falls under the order of the law" Barnaby looked back the panel "That's all I have to ask Mr Rickers at this point in time" Barnaby sat back in his chair.

"Very well" Simmons replied. "Rear Admiral Baines, do you have any questions for Cadet Rickers?"

Baines quickly stood up "No, sir" and sat back down.

"Well then I think this is a good opportunity to make an adjournment. We will reconvene in three hours. Agreed?"

Both Barnaby and Baines nodded in an agreement. The three panel members stood up, quickly followed by everyone else present in the tribunal room. They quickly walked out through the double doors and headed of into the hotel foyer.

Barnaby quickly gathered his papers and piled them into his briefcase and left before Baines could have another go at him.

Michael moved from the witness box over to Baines. So did everyone else.

"So who was this Russian, you and Optimus saw? Sheklev was it?" Michael asked Baines.

"Not here" Was Baines' reply. "Optimus, Elita. Please come with me and Michael. The rest of you need to stay here and whatever you do, don't go outside"

"Why? I want to see more of old London town" Miko asked trying to imitate a Cockney accent.

"Because I said so. Under no circumstances must you go outside. The situation has changed" The Admiral warned in a coded fashion. Miko knew it was wise not to go against the word of an admiral.

Baines, Michael and the holograms of Elita and Optimus followed them out into the foyer and towards the lift.

Back in Michael's hotel room, Michael has become very agitated and was pacing up and down "Ok, what the bloody hell is going on here?" He asked.

"Optimus and I had discovered that a man called Shmelev is here in the UK"

"Who?" Michael asked, cocking his head to one side. Baines didn't answer him and instead turned to Optimus.

"You noticed how that man sounded British?"

"It was something I observed. Seeing that you already knew him I surmised that you would know the reason why"

Baines was expecting a nod or a single word answer not a whole line "Yeah, anyway. Shmelev was a Russian spy from the Cold War. He was sent to the UK to gather low level intelligence in the Royal Navy. So he spent time prior to coming here practising his accent and then enlisted in the navy as a rating. The forged paperwork was like nothing we had ever seen. He pretended to be British for long he probably thought he was British. During his time in the Royal Navy he gathered intelligence. When the KGB and the GRU realized how well he blended in, they got him to gather higher level intelligence"

The admiral paused and looked to the floor in shame "I was the one who flushed him out. By the time I did, he'd already sent the blueprints for the latest submarine nuclear reactor designs that Britain had. It levelled the playing field and then they refitted all their Akula class attack submarines and we never had a chance of getting close to the Polijarny inlet in Northern Russia for another two years"

For the two Autobots, what Baines had just said meant little to them, but Michael did.

"Collin, sir. I'm so sorry. I never knew that they stole the plans. I thought it was their own doing" Michael tried to console the old admiral.

"It's ok. It happened. The diplomats in all their wisdom send Shmelev back to the USSR where he was made a hero and became high up in the KGB, now the FSB"

Elita decided to ask the question that no one else was asking "That's sad to hear, but what exactly does all of this have to do with Michael?"

"Not sure" Baines answered "But one thing is clear to me, he's come for Michael. Why? I don't know. Revenge against me or whether it is to sweeten the deal between Britain and Russia on oil. Who knows?"

"So what are we going to do about it?" Elita asked, slowly side stepping towards Michael and laying a hand on his shoulder.

Baines stood silent for a moment. He brought his hand to his face and with his thumb and fingers rubbed his cheeks as he thought. The others remained silent.

"I know what we will do" Baines said suddenly, he brought his hand back down and reached into his pocket. He pocket and with a little difficulty pulled out his wallet. "We are going to shake this up a bit and see what falls out"

"I don't follow" Elita said.

"What I mean is, our next move will be completely unexpected" He opened up his wallet and pulled out a dozen twenty pound notes "Michael, that's two hundred and forty quid there" He passed the money to Michael who just stared at it.

"I don't understand" Michael told him.

"What's the one thing keeping you here in this hotel?" Baines asked Michael.

"The fact that they have my passport" Michael answered

"And also they froze your bank account, meaning you can't get your money" Baines finished for him. Michael was starting to understand what he was saying. "I want you to make a run for it and hide up somewhere for a few days, and then you will give yourself up and come back here"

Optimus chipped in "Admiral, I do not understand why Michael needs to escape. If he did that, surely it would only make him seem to be guilty?"

"That may be. However you and I now know that this whole thing is a set up and they are relying on the belief that Michael won't run for that very reason. So let's do the unexpected and see what happens in the fall out. Someone has orchestrated this whole thing. So let's find out who"

The four were back in the lift heading back down to the foyer. The three were looking at Michael, while he was simply staring at the metal doors.

"You ready?" Baines asked.

"Ready"

"Just be sure you run as if you are guilty"

"And how do I do that?"

Baines grinned "Like you are desperately running from something. Make it as high profile as you can then vanish after a little while. Make it clear that you aren't going to give up easily"

"Sure thing"

The lift doors slid away showing the hotel foyer. The four stepped out into the quiet space. The only occupants were the grey suits. They were moving around enough that they weren't acting completely like guards but not enough to simply be guests or staff in a hotel. The four went to their right and through the double doors into the tribunal room where the others were waiting.

"Can we go out now?" Asked an enthusiastic Miko. The others expression seems to suggest they were thinking the same thing. The admiral chose to ignore her.

"Best if you give me your cap, don't want to lose it now do we?" Michael passed over his cap. The rest of his uniform consisted of the white shirt with the epaulettes, black tie with the tie clip still clipped and black trousers.

"I'll see you later then" Michael said and turned back and left for the foyer.

He stood in the foyer and stared at the glass door into the Westminster Street. He took a deep breath. He did a quick check as to how many grey suits he would have to get through. There were three in the foyer, two at roughly a corner opposite to each other and one behind the desk to Michael's left. Then they were two more stationed outside the door on guard. As far as he knew they were equipped with Tasers, but he was pretty sure they were carrying firearms. He knew that they would never use firearms being so close to the Houses of Parliament so the only concern was the Tasers. If he could get clear of them and into the street where the general public was they couldn't use that either. So all this pointed to making a sudden escape attempt while the guard had there guard down.

He started to pace slightly as if he was agitated by something, to the guard it was about most presumably the tribunal. He carried on pacing back and fore for about half a minute. Optimus and Baines approached the door to watch how he would make his escape.

Then it happened. Michael stopped pacing and quick marched towards the doors. One of the grey suits saw him and came quickly in between Michael and the door. "Sir, you can't go outside. Please stop or I'll have to…"

He didn't get time to finish his sentence as the mass of two hundred and fifty pound of muscle came charging into him and drove him backwards and sent him flying into the glass of the door which shattered and both men came barrelling down the steps rolling over each other covered in broken glass. Michael quickly got his feet and broke out into a sprint down the street.

Alarms within the building went off and an influx of grey suits came rushing out of the door. The lead man got spoke into his lapel microphone "Security breach! I repeat security breach. Michael Rickers has escaped!" Roughly ten grey suits made chase after Michael. Members of the public on the street stopped and stared at the commotion so the other grey suits started trying to move people along.

Baines, Optimus and all the others came outside to see what happened.

"Whoa" The kids gasped in unison. They weren't expecting any action in a tribunal. Fowler and June were completely stunned, not expecting Michael to run, just exactly the reaction behind Baines' plan.

Michael found himself on Millbank and turned north toward Parliament. As he ran down the pavement he deliberately slammed into members of the public making them fall in the way of his pursuers. He ran right past the visitor entrance of Parliament. The two armed Metropolitan police officer didn't know what to make of Michael running past them. The grey suits came by and one flashed a badge at them. The one officer called the incident in.

Michael ran the length of the Parliament building and dashed across the road almost getting mowed down by a black cab with the driver hurling abuse at him. He ran for the tube station. He barged his way down the escalator causing people to fall over, the grey suits carried on the chase but making sure that they didn't hurt anybody.

Michael got to the barriers and ran at one and with a hand he pushed himself up and jumped over the barrier.

"HEY STOP!" Shouted a staff member.

The grey suits were close behind "SECURITY SERVICES! OPEN THE BARRIER!" They flashed a badge to the staff member who used his key to open up the wider barrier for the disabled for them. They bolted through and headed after Michael down the escalator for the Circle and District lines. The lines are one of the oldest so it wasn't very deep so quickly the grey suits found themselves in the corridor between the two platforms. They split in half, one group on the westbound and one on the eastbound. The platforms were packed due to the large crowds mostly made up of tourists. The grey suits filtered their way through the crowds. On the eastbound platform a circle line train was approaching and the crowds were shuffling towards the edge of the platform, the recently installed Perspex plastic panels prevented anyone from falling off the platform and onto the tracks. The grey suits were searching frantically now knowing that time was short. Then one saw him, his white shirt and the epaulettes stood out. He had moved himself close to the doors. The train stopped and the doors slid open on both the train and the panel doors which lined up perfectly. The passengers on the train getting off filled into the space made by those getting on but Michael just stood there. When most of the passengers were clear, the two men stare at each other. The doors started to close and Michael dived for it, the others reaction wasn't quick enough and slammed into the closed door. The grey suit bashed his fist at the Perspex as the train started to move off. They could only watch as Michael waved at them as the train took off down the tunnel. The rumble of the train quickly went quiet as it moved away from the station.

The lead grey suit again spoke into his label microphone "He's escaped, I repeat Michael Rickers has escaped. Last seen on a circle line train heading east towards Embankment"

Throughout the whole of London an order was sent out by New Scotland Yard "MP, MP to all units. Please be on the lookout for a suspect of one Michael Rickers. IC 1 male, six foot eight, muscular build, brown hair. Last seen wearing a white shirt and black trousers. Last seen the vicinity of Westminster underground station on board a circle line train heading eastbound. May be armed and possibly armed with a fire arm. Approach with caution. Do not attempt to apprehend him and call for CO nineteen and Trojan units to your position. This is MP out"

By the time the order had come through, Michael's train had already past Embankment and was making its way towards Temple. The train stopped and Michael was on the platform as soon as the doors slid apart. We did a quick check and couldn't make out anyone that would be a potential threat. He followed the crowd to the escalator and towards the ticket hall and towards the barrier. Now came the tricky part. He wanted to get out undetected. He approached the barrier for disable person where a staff member was stationed.

"Excuse me sir" He said as he approached "I lost my ticket on the train"

"Which station did you get on?" The staff member asked cautiously, already been briefed about the incident in Westminster Station.

"I got on at Paddington, just got a train from Ealing" Michael lied.

The staff thought about it while trying to match up the description of the suspect to the man in front of him. He wasn't sure. "Look hang on a sec, mate. I'll just get my supervisor" The man started to turn around. Michael didn't have time for this and with both hands on the barrier he leapt over it and ran for the exit.

"OIY!" The staff member shouted. Michael was already clean away in the street before the staff member could do anything about it.

Back at the hotel Baines and all the others were waiting for a minibus to take them back to their ground bridge location when Barnaby came storming up to them. Baines took the front ready to face down the Home Office legal advisor.

"Do you want me to rearrange your nose? I can see to it that it is done very quickly" Baines quipped.

"Why did you tell him to make a run for it?" Barnaby demanded.

"I told him no such thing. Now I don't whether you know this or not but Michael and I haven't got along well with each other for years. The guy hates my guts. I'm his legal aid, nothing more. I can't tell him to do jack shit, he makes his own decisions. So don't go demanding answers from me. Ask him"

Baines headed behind the minibus towards his Jaguar while the others decided to get in the minibus without a word. The doors of both vehicles shut and their engines started up and both eased away from the side of the road and both headed off and rounded the corner at the junction and out of sight.

Barnaby stared down the street with dread on his face. He could see a CCTV camera pointed at the hotel from across the street. He was sure they saw it all and now they could see him. He wasn't scared, he was frightened about was he was about to face. Now he needed to escape from the monsters watching him. He walked down the street in the opposite direction to where Baines and the others went. He pulled out his mobile and called his office.

"Hi, can you call me a taxi?... From the junction of Marsham Street and Horseferry Road… home… thanks" He hung up and quickly walked down the street. He rounded a corner and he could see Marsham Street. He was on a quiet street and very nobody else on the street. He hurriedly made his way down the street as he felt vulnerable on his own. Then he heard what he didn't want to hear, the low rumble of a car slowly making its way down the street towards him. He turned his head behind him and over the roofs of parked cars there it was, the red sports car with the decals all over it.

"No, please no" He breathed out. He made a dash for the junction where there were people but it was no use the red sports car sped up and in a parking space it mounted the pavement blocking Barnaby's path. The door opened and the seat belt straps reached out and wrapped around the man and dragged him into the car. The man was utterly helpless to do anything about it. The car backed up and proceeded down towards Marsham Street.

"No, please don't do this" Barnaby begged the car "It wasn't my fault, he just ran"

"Tell it to Lord Megatron" Knock Out told the man who was tightly strapped to the passenger seat.

The red sports car headed in the direction of Lambeth and to a location that was quiet.