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Our favorite duo is going to return to Britain -if they do- in chains, methinks...
 
Nonsense, they will cut their way back to Canada using only a lighter, one pistol and a fast car. This is Ian Fleming.
 
Nothing to do with the update - though that was good - but where is "Mad Jack" Churchill in TTL? And more importantly, will he still get to shoot Nazis with a longbow?
 
Kurt_Steiner They will get out, because as you know the multi-verse would collapse without a certain ficitional British Secret Agent making actual intelligence Officers groan since the 1950s. :D

Lord Strange Wouldn't that rather be Fleming's literary creation? Mind you, there will be some shooting and some fighting before this is over.

ViperhawkZ Thankee.

Winston's most famous non-relative is actually in the Far East, putting the fear of god into the Japanese.
 
ViperhawkZ Thankee.

Winston's most famous non-relative is actually in the Far East, putting the fear of god into the Japanese.

When the Japs hear the sound of the bagpipes, they will learn to fear :D
 
When the Japs hear the sound of the bagpipes, they will learn to fear :D

They do that already. The British Army in the far east has the three best types of soldiers in them: Highlanders, Gurkhas and men defending their homes and families from a brutal invader.
 
They do that already. The British Army in the far east has the three best types of soldiers in them: Highlanders, Gurkhas and men defending their homes and families from a brutal invader.

Just imagine, once the internal migration gets going: Gurkha Highlanders :D
 
As opposed to the lowland Gurkhas we normally encounter? ;)
 
Hehe - you know what I meant.

Yeah. Mind you, there is already a Regiment of Gurkha Paras in the British Army (commanded by one Colonel Howard) and another one in the British Indian Army.

They were the very first to jump into occupied Europe.
 
I agree. Let them just get a whooping then thrown across the border
 
Chapter 289


Within seconds Felix had assessed the situation and saw that it was looking extremely bad. Four men in the room, one armed with a Shotgun who covered him and Henderson. The other three carried M1911 Colts (or whatever the reds called them) and kept all them under close guard.

“So, what do we have here? Two Imperialist Officers talking to a traitor to his country and his class.”

Felix suddenly found out that he could drop back into his American accent if needed.

“Listen up buddy, can we dispense with all the Bullsh*t and get down to the matter at hand?”

That took the Americans off guard for a second and that was enough for Felix to glance at Ian and see that his friend

He glanced at Ian and in these few moments they decided that something needed to be done. They kept their hands up but Ian who was standing with his back to the man nearest to him slowly inched towards the muzzle of the pistol while the leader identified himself as Senior Lieutenant Jack Compton, State Security. Compton stepped over to Henderson and handcuffed him with a swift motion that showed this was far from the first time he did that.

Compton turned on his heels and stepped so close to Felix that Felix was tempted to head-butt him then and there.

“So, does it please you to betray your class? Or are you one of the old money and merely lived of the blood of the workers with your lazy family?”

Felix tried not to snap and merely replied:

“Damn sure I am proud. My Father served with the Military Police in France in the last war and he spend the years hence as a small-time backer and frankly I'd rather serve Queen and Country and be killed doing it than even considering joining your lot.”

Compton grunted and made to handcuff the two British Officers.

“You do realize that we two have diplomatic status, do you?” Ian asked although he began to feel that this one would not work very well when two supposed Diplomats were caught meeting with an obvious spy.

“Normally yes, but Comrade Henderson here has been convicted in absentia by a special military court and any persons aiding him will be arrested and tried.”

“That doesn't change our status.” Ian replied and was about to demand that they be either released or handed over to the Canadian authorities when Compton said:

“You perhaps. Your colleague here however is still an American Citizen by our laws and if we want to we can arrest him for treason.”

Wether this was true or not was not the point, for the moment Compton had the power to drag Felix off to some hole, never to be seen again and present any British protests if there were some with indisputable facts.

“There is nothing that prevents me from just shooting him and the spy.”

This raised the stakes considerably. That Compton was likely to be bluffing did not really matter as it forced the two British to act.

They had two choices. One of doing nothing and letting everything roll over it as it came and risk being either tried in a show trial or merely taken behind a corner and shot, and in that case their deaths might be concealed as some sort of accident, easy enough to accomplish on a military base. Looking at Compton's face both Ian and Felix had a strong suspicion that this was what would happen. That they were wearing civillian clothes instead of their Uniforms didn't help, as they were due to find out.

“And if worst comes to worst, there is no way you can prove to me that you really are British Officers. For all I know you merely pretend to be.”

That decided things for Felix and as Compton stepped close and ordered him to turn around he instead kneed him in the groin, grabbed Compton's head and slammed it down onto his raised knee. With a broken nose Compton crumpled to the floor and Felix turned around. He saw that Henderson had taken cover[1] behind the nearest toilet stall whereas Ian had disarmed the nearest Security man and knocked him on the head with his own gun.

Before the remaining two could react Felix had grabbed the barrel of the shotgun. He pulled with all his strength and the surprised American let go. Felix used the gun as a club and slammed his counterpart over the head with it and the man grumbled.


The bang of the pistol of the fifth and last man made everyone startle. The bullet wizzed past Felix' head within an inch and shattered tiles on the wall near the door. Before the man could pull the trigger again Ian had leapt the step or two and slammed his own arm down on the mans gunarm and slammed the other fist into his stomach. For the moment they were safe.


Felix turned the shotgun around and covered the door while Ian bound the Americans hands behind their backs with their own belts and quickly searched them all. What they found was little, but at least the one who had owned the Shotgun carried a few handfulls of 12-gauge shells.

Ian picked Compton's key up from the floor and opened the cuffs that had prevented Henderson from helping them.

“What now?” the Marine asked.

That was a good question too. Ian and Felix had merely been expected to initiate contact and inquire as to what Henderson actually wanted, but this was clearly no longer an option.

“Captain,” Felix said, using the old Marine Rank, “what is it you wanted to tell us?”

He listened without letting his guard down, the gun still aimed at the door.

Henderson was trying to regain his wits and it took him a few moments until he was able to really speak.

“I....I...”

He coughed, cleared his throat.

“I was going to ask you to help me establish contact with your Government, but....”

Ian nodded.

“Anyway, I do have some information with me.”

Ian looked at Felix and they saw that Henderson was a experienced aviator but not much of a spy.

“Well, could you hand this over to me?”


Ian was handed a bag that was full to the brim with papers and then turned to the others.

“We have to get out of the Hotel.”



~**---**~​


They had decided that getting out of the hotel was the biggest priority. It would not help at all to be caught by someone who was missing Compton and his men, and if worst came to worst, Bishop could claim he had no knowledge.


What aided them in this was Compton's own car, and that it was full with Petrol. The big engine caught immediately and so the three men inside drove off towards a very uncertain immediate future.


It took the American Security forces no more than five minutes to figure out that something was wrong. That their prey had left the hotel through the bathroom window only delayed them for a few more minutes after a heavily bleeding and dazed Compton was untied.


By the time Felix heard the first sirens they had left the new and cheap housing estates at the fringe of the city behind and were racing down Highway Eleven into the Californian countryside.


Even as the lights of their pursuers appeared around a bend they had just passed Felix surveyed their Arsenal and was worried. There were four M1911 Colts with a spare magazine each, all that they had been able to grab in their haste, the two FNs he and Ian had managed to smuggle in, with three spare mags apiece and the M1897 shotgun that Felix had taken and for which he had maybe eighteen spare rounds.

“Take the next left.” Henderson said, “there is a small abandoned State Police station. No guns left, but it's defensible.”


As Ian, who drove, hesitated for a second Henderson misunderstood Ian's reluctance and need to make his own decisions as disbelief.

“I spent the last four weeks flying over this area at low level...”

“Of course.” Ian replied and seconds later the car understeered around the corner, barely missing a rock that marked the crossing over to the old road that had previously connected San Francisco with the San Fernando Valley.

The car stopped and the three leapt out and ran towards the door of the old station without bothering to turn off the engine.

Felix slammed the door closed, barred it, turned and said:

“This whole s*ht is not what I joined the bloody Navy for.”

Ian merely snorted in agreement and pulled out his pistol.

“Here they come!” Henderson yelled as the three cars came to a halt.

There were no calls to surrender or anything in the way of what the British Security Services would have done, instead they took cover behind their cars and opened fire.


They had Thompson Machine Carbines.


Felix covered against the brick wall under a window and cursed heavily and with words many of which were enough to make the most hardened sailors blush and when there was a small pause in the constant clatter of bullets against the building he rose to his knees, aimed the shotgun at the diffuse figure in the light of their car that was closest and fired a round. He pumed the action and fired again.

The shots fired in reply missed him by a hair's breath.

He glanced over and saw that Ian's face had a small cut, probably by a shard of glass, and Henderson huddled behind another window, aiming a colt outside. The fierce, one-sided gun-battle continued and fired several more shots, but it was only a matter of time.

Then the firing died down. Felix loaded some of his few remaining loose shells into the gun and waited. It was a standoff, the Americans could not assault the building in the face of Felix' shotgun and the pistols of the others, they themselves could not go anywhere in the face of American Automatic weapons. At some point during the three-quarter hour that had elapsed a fourth car had arrived and now Felix found out that someone of authority was out there.


A yell came from the cars.

“You in there! Surrender now and your lives will be spared!”

Before Ian could reply Felix yelled:

“Says who?”


“There is nothing you can do!” came the reply. “You can't go anywhere and you will eventually run out of ammunition! Your lives will be spared if you surrender now!”

This time Ian replied. “Yes well, recent experience tells us that your lot can't be trusted."

A pause followed and Felix guess that whoever called the shots was probably trying to decide what to say next. Felix glanced over and saw that Henderson was loading his last clip into his Colt and wiped the sweat off his face. It had to be close to midnight now but the lights of the cars outside that still worked lighted the inside up well enough.

“You have five minutes to decide before we storm the building, one way or another.”


Felix looked at the others and he realized that they had little choice. They were bone-tired, running low on ammunition and the nearest patch of British soil was the Embassy in Mexico City. Before anyone else could say something Henderson sighed and said:

“If I give myself up they might let you live. You aren't American, you are British and if anyone but Compton has the word out there they will let you live.”

With that he rose and stepped out of the door before anyone could say anything more. A single shot from a heavy pistol rang out two minutes later.


~**---**~​


The aftermath of the gunfight and what had taken place in the Hotel was kept carefully secret by both sides. The tour was stopped immediately 'due to the pressures of war' and the members save two flown back to Canada with a polite but firm way that made it clear to those that experienced it that the Americans were not willing to risk a war over what was in the end a relatively minor incident.


For Ian and Felix things were not as easy. As had been promised they were not killed outright, but the treatment they received at the hands of the American Security services was rougher than what would usually do for men with diplomatic immunity. Even while they were held at a prison in San Francisco the British Ambassador in Washington was handed a secret diplomatic note. The gist of it was that the American People would not stand for any further violations of their sovereignty by the British Security services.

Two Officers were involved and they would be handed over to Canadian or British Authorities at the earliest possible moment and be declared Persona non Grata at the same moment.

To Ian's astonishment Felix was holding his head high, in spite of what had happened. Over the last four days Felix had often blamed himself for Henderson's death and Ian knew him well enough to know that this particular guilt would likely never really leave the both of them, even though they knew that it was not really their fault.

His head whipped around when he suddenly heard that Felix was whistling a tune that Ian knew from somewhere but could not place.

Had he known that Felix was happily whistling the Battle Hymn of the Republic that in the UAPR was about as legal as the Communist Party was in the Empire. The Officer who had arrested them at the patrol station and who had shot Henderson (admittedly a rather lenient and quick death considering various rumours) was someone who had been educated in the old US and who this recognized the tune.

The man looked at Felix and was about to tell him to stop when Felix glanced back at him, whistling louder and with a look on his face that dared him to intervene. It told anyone who knew the tune that Felix was proud on what he was doing and would be doing in the future. The two of them were officially banned from setting their foot on American soil ever again, but this Loyalist easily told him that the British were far from the decadent, weak and slightly bumbling enemies. Imperialists or not, the British Security Service would in the future be formidable enemies.


Opposite them, on the Canadian side of the border a small party of British and Canadian Officials were waiting, in fact one of them was the British Ambassador and the head of the Canadian SIS. He watched as the two Brits, the Loyalist still whistling, were taken in by them.

Suddenly he thought of something. He ran over to the car and took out a long package that was wrapped in brown paper and had the tag of State Security on it. He stepped up to the line that marked the Canadian border and yelled:


“Mr. Leiter!”


Felix walked back to the line out of the group and stepped up to the line. He was holding a steaming hot mug of real Coffee in his hand.

“Catch.”

The package came flying.

He unwrapped it and held the shotgun he had used on that day in his hands.

They merely exchanged knowing looks, one professional to another. Some things really transcended ideological lines.




+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-


Comments, questions, rotten Tomatoes?


[1] Marines don't duck, Marines take cover.

Special Authors note: Henderson's sacrifice is not what I initially planned for him. Originally I had the idea that Ian and Felix helped him steal an Avenger and covered his back while he flew it to Mexico, but I decided even as I wrote this chapter that it wouldn't do. Major Henderson's actions of OTL wouldn't be done justice, so it came out like this. I wished I could have kept him alive.
 
Well, a pity that Ian and Felix won't be making more tourist visit to this USSA :D:D:D
 
At least he got a pretty new toy to play with out of it though
 
You know I say ditch the whole WW2 thing and just keep writing about Felix and Ian's many adventures in the UAPR and Germany.

Or give us an update on the jet engine program / tank construction front :D

Bah! Moar War!

Tanks rolling out! Dogfights! Gunship battles! Heroic charges! Daring maneuvers! Wolfpacks!
 
Kurt_Steiner At least no Official ones. *hides folders marked Secret*

Raaritsgozilla That he did...

Agent Larkin Fear not, the war is still on.

ViperhawkZ Again, the war is still on.

Griffin.Gen Funny you should say that....