The French countryside whizzed by as the Eurostar hurtled its way along the track. Acres and acres of sunflower fields filled the window as Edina Averil stared out passively. It was hurting her eyes to stare at the fast moving images but it was better then listening to her companions arguing behind her. She tried blocking out the noise by focusing all her attention on one spot on the window. She'd almost completely lost herself in thought when she felt a finger poke her sharply in her side. She swung round in her seat and glared at the man seated next to her.
"Wisdom, do that once more and I'll bite your bloody finger off."
"Then stop bleedin' ignoring us."
"I will when you've got something worthwhile to say.
"If I could just cut in here for a sec..."
Both of them turned to look at the middle aged-man, seated across from Edina, who had spoken.
"No, you can't," Eddie snapped as she reached over and grasped his arm. She held it up and waved his hands in front of his face. "See these, Marc," she rattled the handcuffs, "These mean you're the prisoner. So you get to be treated like a child, 'seen but not heard.' Alright?"
He started to reply but Edina held up her finger. "Sssh. Remember, 'seen but not heard.' And you," she turned to face Pete again, "Just give it a rest. He's my prisoner. End of chat." Eddie turned back to the window but found she couldn't re-focus. Instead she decided to glare at her prisoner for a while. It would have been an understatement to say she was pleased with his capture. Marc Redmond was only a small time operator but Eddie saw him as her ticket out of Public Relations. She'd caught him totally by accident while attending a conference in Paris but she wouldn't be writing that in her report. He sat across from her now trying to look wounded in an attempt to gain her sympathy.
"He stole artifacts of paranormal interest which makes this a Black Air op." Pete started the argument again.
"And the files he stole with your stupid artifact," she picked up the small wooden box in front of her and waved it at him, "posed a danger to British national security which makes this an MI5 op."
"But he left the country." Pete announced with an air of triumph in his voice, "therefore it's an MI6 op."
"You don't work for MI6 anymore, remember?"
Pete turned to look at the young man seated opposite him. "Julian, you're MI6, tell her you're in charge here."
Julian Garfield just stared wide-eyed at him and then he looked at Edina. She glared back, daring him to challenge her. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the train intercom system.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we will shortly be arriving in Calais where there will be a delay of 20 mins before we enter the channel tunnel. Will all passengers make sure they have their passports ready for inspection upon our arrival in Dover."
"Right," Edina said, "we're to meet Connie and Pat from MI19 in London." She smiled wickedly over at her prisoner. "They're gonna beat the crap out of you. Then, when I'm finished with him, he's all yours, Pete."
"I don't care about your silly prisoner. All I want is the box."
"And you'll get it when I'm finished. For now it's evidence." She suddenly realised the train had stopped moving. "I need some air. Move your great big feet, Wisdom." She quickly slipped around the table and headed off down the carriage. She slipped into the bathroom and pulled her lipstick out of her pocket. It wasn't that she cared about her looks, in fact she couldn't give a toss about them. But in her time in both the army and MI5 she had learned that looks could be a powerful weapon. She always wore the same colour lipstick, 'black cherry', and the same dark eye shadow. This way she looked feminine but not like a bimbo. She pulled the thin black hair band from her hair and shook her head trying to shake the dozziness from it. She repositioned the hair band and was about to leave when she heard a banging on the door.
"Hey, Eddie, you got any change on yeah?"
Eddie opened the door to find Wisdom standing outside searching through his pockets. "Change for what?" she asked, routing through her own pockets.
"A large mug of strong coffee."
Eddie pulled a large chunk of change from one pocket. "Here, get us a cup while you're at it."
Pete carefully took the pile of coins from her and was heading towards the restaurant car when he heard Eddie call after him, "Shit, Pete, tell me you didn't leave Julian alone with the prisoner."
"Feck!" Pete yelled and dropped the coins as he turned and ran after Eddie. They were too late. Both Julian and Marc were gone and all that remained was a pair of handcuffs.
"Shit." Eddie muttered and turned to Pete, "You check the train, I'll take the platform."
"No need. The arrogant little prick is standing right outside the window."
Eddie turned to look and saw her former prisoner waving to her from the station platform. "He's not very good at this whole escaping thing, is he?"
"Nope, what's that he's waving?"
"That silly box you wanted."
Suddenly the train lurched forward. "Crap! We're moving," Eddie yelped as she caught herself on the side of the seat. "Come on, we gotta get off."
They raced along the corridor to the door of the carriage but it was shut tight.
"Bloody electronic locks. Stand back, Eddie." Pete stepped back from the door and activated his mutant power to generate hot knives. The door was blown clean off its hinges. Without a moment's hesitation Eddie jumped. She landed in the ditch just a bare few feet from the end of the concrete station platform. Pete landed a bit farther but she didn't stop to make sure he was all right. She rolled on to her feet and vaulted up on to the platform. There she stopped and gazed quickly round the now-deserted station.
"Typical," she said as Pete came up beside her, "I'm in public relations for 4 months and I turn into a vegetable. Can't even escort a prisoner home even when there's two other bloody operatives there."
There was a muffled cry from the opposite side of the track. "Julian," Pete said. "Quit whining, Eddie, and cover me."
Pete's voice seemed to snap Eddie back to reality and she nodded towards him to indicate she was behind him. They moved quickly to the footbridge that spanned the track and crossed to the other side. They hastily searched the buildings and found their target in the main waiting room. They could see him clearly through the glass door but he was yet to notice them. Julian was lying unconscious in the far corner while Redmond sat at the table struggling with the box lid.
"Is he completely brain dead?" Eddie whispered as she stared in disbelief.
"Maybe we can leave him here and go get a bite to eat. It doesn't look like he plans on leaving any time soon," Pete suggested.
"We could, but we really should see if Julian is alright. You wanna do the honours?"
"Your prisoner, you go get him."
Eddie casually pushed open the door and leaned up against the doorframe. "Hey, Marc, you busy?"
Marc, taken by surprise, leaped from his chair and waved the box at her. "Stay back or I'll open it. I'm not kidding. I'll do it."
Eddie frowned and turned to Pete. "What's in that thing?"
"I don't know. They just told me to collect one small, wooden box. I didn't give a shit what was in it."
Eddie started to cross the room. "Come on, put the box down and stand still. I just want to knock you out. It won't hurt... much."
Marc backed up against the wall still holding the box in front of him. "I'm not playing around here. I'll open it."
"Right, that's it. You're giving me a bloody headache. Shut up before I take you down the hard way." She raised her right arm slightly. The fingertips began to glow a faint green colour as she activated her mutant power to generate poisonous energy darts.
This shocked Marc and he dropped one hand to his waist and slowly drew out a hunting knife. From her viewpoint, Eddie couldn't see that but Pete could. Without thinking he gave a yell at Eddie and shot a hot knife at Redmond's head. Redmond let out a yelp and ducked, dropping the box. The hot knife hit the box as it fell and the lid flipped open. There was a blinding white flash that engulfed the whole room.

Eddie slowly opened her eyes and then quickly shut them again as harsh sunlight pierced them. She was vaguely aware of a voice but it sounded very distant. She brought her hand up and rubbed her eyes. The voice became clearer and she strained to place it. She attempted to open her eyes again. There was a blurred image in front of her that slowly took shape. "Julian," she muttered.
"Ms. Averil, thank heavens you're alright."
"What happened?" she said, sitting up and looking around her. They were no longer in the station waiting room but in what appeared to be a farm shed. There were rotten vegetables littering the floor and an ancient plough sat gathering dust in one corner. Pete was leaning up against the wall, a cigarette in his mouth.
"Hey, welcome back to the world of the living, though I don't think you're gonna like it."
"Eh? Why?" Eddie asked him, while Julian helped pull her to her feet.
"Go take a look out the window." He indicated towards the window with his head.
Eddie frowned at him but went to the window anyway. She gazed out the window, or rather the hole in the wall created when one of the bricks had fallen. She gasped and turned back to the others.
"Tell me we're not where I think we are."
"Wish I could," Pete said, coming up beside her, "but it looks like we're stuck smack in the middle of Nazi-occupied France."
"Great. We're British spies that are flung through time and where do we end up, the middle of bloody World War 2. Gentlemen, we are royally screwed."

To be continued