A couple of hours later, Eddie woke to find Pete sound asleep in the bunk next to her. She shifted uncomfortably in the cot and slowly eased herself into a sitting position. She waited for the stab of pain in her side but it never came. Instead there was just a numb sensation. She let out a sigh of relief and stretched her stiff muscles. As she did her eyes panned the room, but stopped abruptly when she saw Julian sitting at the table staring silently at her.

His face immediately reddened and Eddie realised he was embarrassed at being caught staring at her. She couldn't stop herself from grinning at him.

"You got the time, Julian?" she asked, trying to break the ice.

"'Fraid not. My watch has stopped."

"Yeah, mine too. It must be a result of the jump here. I wonder if my guarantee will cover time travel?"

Julian tried to smile at the weak attempt at humour, but it came out more like a frown.

"You ok?" Eddie asked.

"Yes, no. It's just that this is all so overwhelming. I mean, time travel, wow, it blows the mind. It's hard to truly grasp our situation here."

"Welcome to the secret service. You'll get use to it, eventually."

"That's just it, I'm not sure I want to. I don't know if I'm up to this job."

"Don't say that!" Eddie said, with such force behind her voice it shocked Julian. Eddie stood up from the bunk and walked over to the table. She took the seat next to Julian and turned his head around to face hers.

"Never, ever doubt yourself like that. If you have no faith in your own abilities, then how can we have any faith in you? If others doubt your abilities, screw them. But if you lose it, you're just screwing yourself. I lost my belief in myself once and it cost me dearly."

"When you were thrown out of the Air Force?" Julian regretted mentioning it when he saw the sadness in Eddie's eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up."

"No, no, it's alright."

There was a brief pause before Julian ventured, "Would you mind telling me what happened?"

"Not much to tell. I was in the RAF. I loved it. I loved flying. I always wanted to be a pilot and even lied about my age on the application form to get in. And everything was fine until..." her voice became a little uneven, "until I met Scratch."

"Scratch? From Black Air?"

"The one and the same. We were in the same unit and, I won't say we were friends, but I trusted him. We were both offered a transfer to Black Air. Back then Black Air was still just a small-time military operation and they were recruiting people from the service. Scratch immediately jumped at the offer but I refused. And that's when things turned ugly. Scratch made sure everyone on the base knew I was a mutant and should be hated for it. People refused to fly with me, eat with me or even share the same barracks. In the end I lost it and started to believe the shit they said about me. Eventually I was forced to take a dishonourable discharge. Almost immediately afterwards I was offered my place in MI-5."

Julian remained silent. He wasn't sure what he could possibly say. Impulsively he reached out and squeezed her hand, and Eddie smiled at him.

"Thanks."

There was a comfortable silence, as they sat at the table, broken by the sound of a door swinging open. Dorian and Sebastion walked in, both carrying a bundle of clothes.

"'Allo, 'Allo," they sang, "You must rise now. Time to go."

Pete and the two airmen stirred in their beds. Pete quietly rose and came over to the table.

"You guys ready to go?"

"All set, Pete."

Dorian came over, and placed 3 large overcoats on the table. "Here you go. You will need these for later."

Soon they were moving out of the wine cellar and along a short hallway. They came to another wine cellar but this one did not have a door at each end. Instead someone had knocked a hole in the wall. There was a storm lamp waiting there beside it. Dorian picked up the lamp and cautiously stepped through the opening.

Sebastion waited by it and herded the others through. "Be careful," he said, "the walls are not very stable."

"O marvellous," Pete muttered.

The tunnel on the other was not as wide or as tall as the previous ones they'd been in and they all had to crouch down as they moved. It was very uncomfortable and it slowed their pace considerably.

Eventually they came to a ladder, which led them into the pantry of what appeared to be a large farmhouse. They moved into the kitchen, where they were met by three more members of the resistance.

They were offered tea and cold meats. As she ate, Eddie noticed the sky outside was rapidly growing dark. She could hear the wind raging outside and knew there was a storm on the way.

The kitchen door was flung open and a figure hurried inside and forced it shut again.

"Ah, Marie, she is here," Dorian announced happily.

The new arrival turned to face the kitchen. Eddie couldn't make out any features as they were hidden under layers of clothes, scarves, and a large woollen hat.

"Hello," came the muffled voice from within the cocoon of the clothing. It wasn't a French accent. She slowly began to peel the garments from her person and a face began to emerge. Her face, while not cold, was quite hard, and her smile didn't go beyond her lips. She had thick brown hair that was being held back by two large butterfly clips. She looked to be in her late 30's or early 40's.

Looking at her Eddie couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu. She couldn't possibly know this woman, yet she looked vaguely familiar.

It could be another side effect of the time travel. She turned to see if Julian or Pete felt it. Eddie frowned when she saw the look of pure shock on Pete's face. She looked from Pete to the woman. How could he possibly recognise her? Was she a relative or something?"

She moved closer to Pete and whispered, "What is it?"

"Don't you see it?" he hissed back, never taking his gaze off her.

"See what?"

He finally turned to face her. "That's Trysta Rhymer."