Steam Spy: Steam and Mirrors

Steam and Mirrors: Act 2

As the ornate steamer ship cut through the chop of the English Channel, Hector Jordan sat in a private passenger lounge with his personal data archive device in hand. A small mirror had been flipped out of the base of the boxy gadget to reflect sunlight up through the bottom and through a series of film sheets containing as much knowledge from the Encyclopedia Englania as it was possible to cram into the small box. A series of knobs and levers along the sides allowed the viewer to rotate through all of the various "pages" of information.

"Ah, here it is." Hector grinned, "that zeppelin matches the description of the Raven stealth airship, developed by the Transylvanian Transportation company."

"Well I guess that solves that," Matt Smith sneered, "I guess we can all go home now."

"This kind information may very well give us a clue as to how to find the thieves."

"Yes, I'm sure your encyclopedia tells us exactly what the bad guys are up to."

"I know you American's enjoy leaping into action before you know what you're doing, but we..."

"Oh please," Matt interrupted, "if you English had your way, you'd spend so much time talkin' 'bout the various details of your missions that you'd never get anything done."

"Analysis is the basis of ...."

"Am I right?" Matt turned to Lau Singh, who was sitting across from them attempting to meditate away the headache she maintained from the previous night's assault.

"As the victim of your American rashness, I have to agree with Mr. Jordan." She said calmly.

"Hey, you attacked us first!"

"If you'll excuse me, I need to take some fresh air," Lau said as she stood and left the lounge.

"This is all a conspiracy," Matt turned back to Hector. "So what are you going to look up now?"

"Actually, I'm not looking up anything," Hector kept his head over the PDA device, but his eyes angled up. "I was analyzing how to go about apprehending the spy who has been watching us since we arrived on board."

"What spy?" Matt stopped himself from turning around and remained relaxed.

"By the door," Hector pointed the direction with nothing more than a flick of his eyes. Matt looked up to the mirror behind Hector, the gold leaf ornamentation distorted the figure to a dark shadow, but it was clearly there.

"What can you tell about him?" Matt asked.

"Her," Hector corrected, "I haven't been able to get a very clear look. But she's medium height, dark hair, and dark outfit. I'm not quite sure yet, but she might be..." but Hector's description was interrupted by an explosion of activity.

The dark haired spy flew out into the room as Lau flipped her from behind through the doorway. The brunette rolled with the impact and came up to her feet to face the small Asian woman. She dodged a series of furious martial arts blows that drove her back further into the room. Hector had his weapon out and was looking for a clear shot. But he was interrupted by the explosion of Matt's larger gun and the shattering of the large mirror in the back of the room. Rather than shoot at anyone, the American had taken his shot to create the most dramatic interruption possible.

"Everyone just hold it!" Matt yelled causing everyone in the room to freeze.

"Is that who I think it is?" Hector asked.

"Natasha Bristov, of the Shadow Bureau" Matt introduced the dark haired gypsy woman. "We've worked together before."

"Weren't you supposed to have been my contact on the train?" Hector asked as he put his weapon away.