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Hawk Eye

Written by Litchfield the A2

Proofread and Corrected by the "Sodor: True Stories" Team

Isle of Sodor: 1963

The Island of Sodor is part of the United Kingdom. Despite being a small state, the people of Sodor and the UK government consider the island to be important. This is because the island is next to a port called Barrow in Furness where a big shipyard is located.

The engines of Sodor thus feed the shipbuilding town with food and supplies so it keeps running. The UK in return reduces the amount the Island has to commit in terms of military strength. The Sudrians enjoy this arrangement and thus work hard to feed Barrow. However, despite being a state of the United Kingdom, it occasionally has its own dealings with the outside world.

One Spring Morning, Henry the Green Engine came into Tidmouth Harbor with a long line of vans filled with grain and oats. He looked distastefully at the freighter the oats and grain were destined for.

The Kaluga was from the United Soviet Socialist Republic, an enemy of the United Kingdom. For now, though the ship was there to pick up the food for the peoples of the USSR due to a poor harvest.

Henry snorted as he came up to the unloading bay, the crew of the ship quickly but silently rushed to unload the grain. The ship was also quiet.

The green engine didn't mind, the USSR was not well liked in England and them talking could've caused trouble. As he was uncoupled Henry idly looked ahead. To his surprise he saw a man rushing away from the gangway.

"Get back here!" the Big Engine whistled. The runaway rushed out of sight while the crewmembers looked confused and dock workers rushed forward.

"What happened?" cried the Foreman. Henry explained about the Russian man who escaped.

An English-speaking communist officer approached them and said in a strong Russian accent, "With your permission may I send guards out to hunt the man down?"

The foreman shook his head. "No need. We'll search for this ruffian ourselves. Give us a description of the crewman."

The officer nodded. "We want him when he is captured. He will be returned to the Motherland for imprisonment. Please excuse me while I inform the captain."

He rushed up the stairs and met with a man who was not the captain in an office near the bridge.

"Officer Merzk was spotted. We'll be giving an inaccurate description of the man now." He reported.

The KGB officer frowned, "Are you sure it will stand? Who saw him?"

"The locomotive who brought the grain. If we don't let him hear or see the descriptions, then they'll be fooled long enough."

The officer nodded and said "Good. How long do you think we will be kept here?"

"A day or three." The man replied with a smile.

The KGB officer grinned, "More than enough time."

The younger man asked, "If he's caught after the meeting?"

"He is dead to us. You will send a request to SMERSH if that comes to pass. No loose ends." Came the response.

Two minutes later, he came out with a photo of the man, an inaccurate written description and a name. The foreman and crew rushed to secure the port. Meanwhile Henry waited, the officer came up and said, "Thank you comrade engine." and turned away.

"Bothersome Russians." Henry snorted and puffed away.

Sometime later Henry pulled up to Tidmouth station and saw several officers checking people. "Still searching?" he asked

"Yup. Haven't seen him yet." an officer said.

Henry sighed, "Ah well. Do you have a name for the man? I can alert the men and engines?"

"Igor Kalinn," the officer replied and showed Henry the picture.

The green engine glared. "Hang on, that's all wrong," he said. "That beard was shorter and trimmed, his hair was fair, the nails were nice looking. What is this?"

The officers looked at each other in shock, Henry looked at the track. "They duped us!" He growled. The officers looked at each other in confusion, then walked away with the revised description in mind.

In Vicarstown, Fyodor Merzk met with his contact. The engineer he met with looked spooked.

"Are you sure it's safe?" The engineer asked.

"Yes, they're searching for a runaway from a steamer." The KGB officer said annoyed in good English. Despite being spotted by an engine whose eyes weren't easily fooled, he was confident his compatriots had the situation in hand.

The engineer sighed and then said, "The photos?"

The agent took out a series of photos showing indecent activities between a man and the engineer. "All yours." The agent said disgustedly, the engineer handed over a briefcase, opening it the agent grinned as he saw the plans he had come for.

The engineer walked away suddenly to destroy the photos and the agent, relieved at finally finishing his job, went to the station kiosk. He needed a drink before going to the airport to get those images out of his head.

Forty minutes after the exchange, Henry came into the platform and saw James waiting with a train for the ferry.

"Hello James." He called. The red engine whistled back.

Satisfied with his job Henry looked at the platform just as the agent came down the stairs to catch the Airport. Henry's eyes locked onto the man whose pupils shrank as he recognized the green engine. He started to run hoping the doors would be closed before the engine could do anything.

Henry was faster and blew out an emergency whistle. Police and passengers looked at him. "There's a Russian there!" cried Henry. "He's a spy! He has the green pea coat on!" The agent ran cursing his luck to the door which closed in his face. Turning he saw the burly figure of James' driver rush up to him and land a solid punch on his solar plexus. The man collapsed in an instant. Police rushed to grab the briefcase and man.

Henrys driver looked over. "Was that him?"

"Yes," Henry confirmed. "I hope he's a spy or that will not look good."

Luckily for Henry the man was revealed to be an agent as the briefcase was opened and revealed classified documents about a jet. The police left reading the man his rights while the big engine grinned in triumph.

That night a representative from a company called Hawker Sidley arrived to thank Henry. "You saved us a lot of bother and identified a leak."

"Just good luck," said the Big Engine. "May I ask what I stopped the Russians from getting?"

The engineer shook his head, "Suffice to say, you saved one of the great revolutions in warfare of this century." The engine sighed as the man left.

"I'll take my paint brush to you tomorrow," smiled Henry's Driver. "You've earned it. What do you think Ivan will do?"

"I don't know but it won't be pretty." Henry admitted.

Afterwards Henry would find out in 1967, what exactly he saved from reaching Russian paws when the Hawker Harrier arrived on the scene. True to the driver's words though the Russians response wasn't pretty. The Yak-38 would be fondly remembered by NATO for its crashes.

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