Chapter 3

After we had stored our things and had a quick look around outside, we went over to the bigger farmhouse to help get the lunch. Apart from the three of us, there were only three others there, with Magnus, the Unit Leader, telling us that the others were all in the field.

He introduced Nora and Petra, the communications expert and the ‘dresser’. The first thing that surprised us was that when he introduced us, he gave us different names. I was Alex, Matilda was Mary, and Hortense was now Hope.

“Remember your new names. They are yours when on active duty. Nora has them on her list and will know who you are. Use them while you’re here or in the field, but revert to your real names when you’re back in the Academy or at the Uni. When you go out, you’ll be given a complete set of clothes from the inside-out, and nothing of your own property will leave the Unit. The building that you’re in will remain your base when you’re here over the following two years. After that, you may be relocated to city flats to work from. Now, let’s see what culinary skills you have.”

We set to with what we could find, which was varied and healthy eating. Over the time at the Academy, we had moved from the chippy to cooking for ourselves with Matilda being our teacher. After lunch, we tidied up and Magnus sent us to see Petra to be measured up. She outfitted us in camouflage fatigues, proper boots, and a dark balaclava. She then gave us a backpack, worn with the full set of straps and a sidearm in a holster. There were two pouches on the straps, one holding some energy bars and the other holding a phone. On the opposite side to the holster was a water flask. When she was happy with us, she sent us back to Magnus.

He gave us each a compass and a sketch map of the immediate area.

“This is just a little test to get you into the right thinking. When you do go out, it will be the civic equivalent of a war zone, so we need you to hone your stealth skills. To the east of us is Ochre Brook, and further on is the A5300, or the Knowles Expressway. There is a road sign which warns drivers of the next turnoff. We want you to get a photo of it without being seen. After that, you will trek north to the slip road that leads on to the M62, where there’s another small sign. We want a picture of that as well. Just one picture is what we need, so you can work it as a team. After that, you come back. Two other things, though. You should not be spotted at any time, and we want you to photograph any wild animals you see. Dinner is when you get back.”

We left him and started walking east. Ochre Brook was quite wide, so we followed it north until it was just jumpable to a small island and jumpable again on the other side. We got over it without any problems. Once we were under cover among trees, we stopped and discussed the task. We checked the phones to find that each one had a speed dial list with three numbers. One was marked HQ, while two of the others were listed with the names of our companions. While there, we checked the cameras, finding that only one had wide-angle.

As we made our way towards the Expressway, there was an open field to our right, so we stayed in the trees, hearing the sound of traffic in front of us. Hope was out in front, taking pictures of the small animals she saw that hid as we approached. Mary was at the back and spoke.

“That’s a pretty busy road. There’s no way that we can take the picture without being seen.”

“We’ll just have to set a watch to give us notice of a break in the traffic. It shouldn’t take long to take a picture. Hope, you have the wide angle. Mary, if you stay at the place where we first see the road and tell Hope about a break with the colour of the last car, I’ll go on ahead of Hope and give her the same message from the other direction. It may take a long time, but we have all afternoon.”

We came to a place where it was just the road in front of us, and the two of us left Mary to find a spot, walking behind the screen of trees and bushes and peering through them until we spotted the sign. It was marking the turn-off to the A5080. I went further on until I reached the actual turn-off. In position, I opened up a three-way conversation, telling the others that I was in place. It took quite a while before we both called out a break in the traffic that would give Hope the chance to step from the tree cover and take the picture. After that, I waited in place until they both joined me.

A little way further on the open land to our left ended and we were able to stay under cover as we moved west, crossing the track that was Ox Lane. There was a big sweep of feeder road to our north, on a bank with some vegetation, so we aimed for that, keeping low and freezing whenever a truck came into view. We followed the feeder until we reached the slip road that crossed over it, then followed the slip road, sometimes needing to crawl between covering bushes. The sign, when we found it, was just a warning that it was a hundred yards to joining the main highway.

I went back towards the bridge and found a spot where I could see a little way back to where the cars were coming from. Being a slip road, it was one way, and I opened up a conversation with Hope, with it being a good twenty minutes before there was a decent space.

They then joined me, and we blue toothed the three phones, with Hope transferring everything to ours. She then sent the two sign pictures to HQ. We made our way back to Ox Lane, staying low. Instead of strolling back along Ox lane, as if we had finished, we went back into the cover of the trees and took it slow and carefully. It was Hope who noticed a hidden camera that was pointed along the Lane, so we detoured around it after taking a picture. At one point, there was an open area, so we backtracked towards the Expressway, where we knew there would be plenty of cover getting back to the Unit.

It was getting dark when we arrived and checked in with Magnus.

He immediately sent us to Petra to change back into what we had been wearing that morning, which, oddly enough, we had been carrying around all afternoon in our back packs. Back in the main house, there was food waiting for us which was very welcome. After we had eaten, Magnus spoke about our exercise.

“The Boss told me that you’re some of the best he’s seen. I didn’t quite believe it until today. The packs all have tracking devices, and we’ve tracked your movements. You never took the easy way out and worked as a team. We were listening to the phones as well, and your ability to wait for an optimal moment had us sitting on the edge of our seats. Most of the others who have taken that test have just walked back on Ox Lane, even if they had been successful in taking the photos without being seen. In todays’ world, a picture of an armed person in camo outfit with a balaclava, standing by the road, would have been on social media as soon as the dashcam could be downloaded. The other thing has been that you took pictures of the animals. Most forget the side task.”

Next day, we were all turned into street kids with baggy pants, hoodies, fake tans and tats on our hands, different hair colours and impossibly bright trainers. The Transit arrived with an older guy who looked like he had slept in the street and smelt like it as well. We were driven to Manchester, where we were let out besides the railway station, tickets to Liverpool in our pockets and some money, as three runaways. On the way to the station, we had been given our orders, as well as a bit of background information that street kids from Manchester would know. Our task was to make our way from the railway station to Toxteth, finding the Fire Fit community centre, where we should ask about places to stay. The task was to last as long as it took, with us being tracked from HQ.

It was expected that we would be welcomed into the arms of Scouse Josh gang, as fresh from the countryside. They were known to be heavily into drug distribution, and we were to see how much information we could get. If we had something worth passing on, we should seek out the guy that had been with us in the van as he had direct links to HQ. He would be spending most nights in the open area behind the Penny Lane Football Club. The gang was also known for its violence, so we had to stay true to our story.

We boarded the train separately and got together along the way. We all got off at Lime Street, near the university and I followed the others at a distance as we made our way along Mount Pleasant, and then on Hope Street, which would take us almost directly to Toxteth. We were beside the Cathedral when a couple of guys stopped the girls. I pretended to tie my shoelace and watched as they got pushy. I walked up to them.

“Are these guys bothering you girls?”

“Yeah! They want us to turn tricks for them.”

“You stay out of this, punk! This is Crocky Gang Land, and we’re about to let these girls live a life of luxury on their backs earning money.”

“What, with you two as their lazy pimps!”

They did what I expected them to do, and that was to both turn towards me as I backed up. That’s when I hit them, one hand each, with the ball of the hand under the chins. They both went over on their backs, and I kicked each one in the balls, hard. They had both hit their heads on the pavement and would only notice the pain when they came round. The three of us carried on along the road.

We didn’t need to ask about things at the centre, as a guy joined us as we entered Windsor Street. He stayed out of reach and matched our pace.

“Nice move back there, kid. You do realise that you’ve pissed off two members of a gang that’s been known to murder people.”

“That right? Those two were just wannabees. Thought they could turn these girls into working girls for them. We’d only met on the train, but I felt a need to look out for them.”

“Where’re you heading?”

“I heard that there was a place along here called the Fire Fit where we may find out where we could doss down, and then see if we could find something to make money.”

“What do you do?”

“I’ve done a lot of things since I ran from home. I’m up for anything except beating up little old ladies.”

Hope spoke up.

“Me and Mary will do most things except giving out to marks. We ran drugs in Manchester before it got too hard.”

“We could have a place for you in our operation. We don’t do prostitution, unless that’s what the girls want to do. We need new faces to move our product around, especially ones who can guard it with their lives. You, my lad, have showed me that you can do that with ease. Follow me and I’ll take you to digs where you can stay the night. You’ll be visited by one of our leaders to see if you’re all right. If he thinks that you’re not good enough, you’ll be able to move on the next day, with directions to another gang area.”

We went past the centre and into Pickwick Street, passing a homeless man sat on the steps of the centre, who didn’t look as if he was conscious. The places in the street were old-fashioned, two up – two down, and in the back-to-back style so loved by developers in the glorious industrial revolution. One thing that we had learned at Uni was that these were ideal to knock through, so having an escape route into the next street. The one that we were taken to was configured that way, as we went in the front door, out the back and into the other house, where it was a veritable dormitory, with mattresses on the floors of almost every room.

It was a bit of a shock to be forced to live together, wash together, and to sleep in our clothes for a few days, but we were interviewed, declared ready for work, and then sent out with small amounts of drugs. We took the drugs from place to place, as couples or as a single messenger. We looked so unsuspicious that we weren’t stopped. I did have to defend my load once. I left the two assailants by the road, and the guys that were tailing me cleaned up the situation to such an extent that the attackers ended up in hospital.

We were there a month when I was passing the Fire Fit and the homeless man whispered that there would be a van behind the Penny Lane ground that night. The three of us declared that we were going to get fish and chips and walked down the street to Kevin’s. With our meals opened, we strolled along Dorit Street as if we were heading home. We carried on up the next block and ended up crossing Upper Warwick, and then around to the back of the ground where the van was waiting. We had no more than when we had arrived with, except for clean undies and some more money.

The driver took us directly back to Ox Lane, where we were told that there would be a debrief in the morning but to get a good sleep. The first thing we did was to take turns in the shower, with two or three shampoos each. After a month, we weren’t ashamed about wandering around naked. The girls treated me as if I was one of their own.

In the morning, I had dressed and was waiting for the girls before going for breakfast. Matilda came into the sitting room and sat on a chair.

“Abel. There was something I wanted to say while we were in Toxteth but couldn’t do so at the time. You really are a remarkable person, you know. You’re kind, you looked out for us as if we were sisters, and you’re able to act as if you care about nothing at all. I wondered if you were gay until I saw your body. You don’t have any knackers.”

“That’s right. It wasn’t something that I thought of until we had the big medical. The doctor remarked about it, with my bloods showing very little testosterone. Sisters? I do regard the two of you as sisters. I know what that’s like, having two of my own, even though they were much older than me. I assume that the lack of male hormones is what allows me to curb any rush when confronted.”

Hortense came in, one hand working on her hair.

“I heard some of that. Abel, during the last month, the three of us have lost any inhibitions between us. We’ve all seen each other naked, and that little dangly bit you have has never so much as twitched. I have the thought that the C.I. may be thinking of making us a three-woman team sometime in the future.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t know if I would look any good.”

“Good! You’d rock it, Abel. Maybe that’s why they gave you the Alex moniker, which could be both sexes.”

“I suppose that I’ll find out more when we get back to the Academy. The doctor sent me for an MRI before we came here. Anyway, I’m hungry, let’s go and eat.”

We walked to the big house and the others were waiting for us. Both Nora and Petra gave us hugs, and I noticed that mine was no different to the others. We had breakfast, the first cook-up we had for some weeks. Afterwards, we were sitting with hot drinks when Magnus opened a folder.

“Now, you three. I have to congratulate you on a good job.”

“But we did nothing except work for the gang!”

“Quite right, Matilda. You worked for the gang. You moved drugs, in bigger and bigger amounts. You must have noticed some places where you went more than once.”

“There was that off-licence.”

“Exactly. You went about your allotted tasks as if you were just street kids looking for work. We have the full tracking map, and it threw up some very good intelligence as you got into bigger loads. It’s enough for us to make raids and set up surveillance. We’ll leave it a while, so that the gang doesn’t think that you were the link. Give it a month or two, and they’ll think that you just moved on in the same way you moved in. The money you earned is yours to keep, we want no part of it. One thing that impressed the Boss is that you never had a need to speak to your controller, a real bonus for your first time in the field.”

I spoke up.

“I know that I felt as if we were on a knife-edge at times, so going to a strange location would have exposed us. The rest of the gang weren’t that bad, although we did keep to ourselves. For most of the time, it was just ‘carry this from here to there’ and we did have older minders watching us. Mine showed themselves after I disposed of a couple of guys from another gang who wanted to rob me.”

“That, Abel, was another line of intelligence. We had noted that point where you stopped for a while, and when an ambulance was sent there, we were able to have someone at the hospital to see who was brought in. When we had their names, we knew which gang they were in and sent another member of the Unit to be in the next bed with a cast on one arm. They moaned about being taken down by a kid but were both sure that their injuries were inflicted afterwards as a cowardly act. We got a lot of good scuttlebutt from them. One thing was that they weren’t just going to rob you. They were mates of the two that you put down by the Cathedral. The gang had offered a bonus to anyone who put you out of the picture. I believe that their next move would be to have someone take you on with a gun. That’s why we called a stop to the operation.”

“A bounty on my head? This isn’t the Wild West!”

“No? You three have just spent a month in the Badlands. Now, let me take you through the real debrief.

Over the next hour, we discussed our time from day one, giving him the names of everyone we had met, and anything that had been dropped in conversation with other gang members. We had, between us, been told the streets where four other dosshouses were, as well as nicknames of some of the upper management of the Scouse Josh gang. Magnus was grinning as we finished.

“That has been a very successful operation. You’ll be back at the Academy for the rest of the period before the summer break. With the normal Degree course, you would be working out of a normal station, but you three will be doing more study. Abel, the doctor wants to see you when you’re back. We’re putting the three of you in one flat. Petra will return you to your normal skin and hair colour this morning. Pack your bags and be ready after lunch.”

Petra did wonders with some foul-smelling chemicals to get the colour rinse out of my hair, and we had another shower with some special soap for the skin, and a rough cloth for the tats. We showered together, making sure that every remnant of the disguise was gone. We repacked our bags with me thinking that I may have well left them unopened. All of the clothing that we had worn on the operation was given back, even the bits that we had bought while we were in Toxteth.

We all got more hugs before we got into another Transit, this one set up as a minibus with blacked windows. At the flats, we were all given a key to one of the flats, and were left to take our bags in. The girls took the bedroom with the queen-size bed, while I had the other.

The next day, we walked to the Academy, entered one at a time and made our way to the office. There, the Boss told us that we had done well, and that we were going to be studying business management, with the focus on policing. It was a short course, full time with a lecturer at the university with possible extra modules next year. He gave us information sheets and told us that the course started the next day.

“When you finish the term, we have another operation for you that will take you to the end of August. After that, you will have a three-week holiday before you start the second year of the course, like any normal job. There is an option for you to bank the holiday and we can find you something else to do.”

The girls went off to the gym to work out, while I was told to see the doctor. When I was in his office, he gave me a check over, took more bloods, and sat me in front of his desk.

“Abel, that MRI that we did was very interesting. To start with, your testicles had not descended because they had never developed. While there is no development of female internals, you can be considered as completely neutral. When we compare your measurements with typical females of your age, the only difference is that you have a penis and no breasts, while they have breasts and no penis. It does give you the opportunity to partially transition without invasive surgery. We can augment the breasts and put a realistic cover over the groin area, so allowing you to live as a female. That would only take a few days to do, and a week or two to heal. At the moment, there is no way that you will be going through any kind of puberty, but if you take up the female course, we will be giving you plenty of hormones that you will have to continue with for some time. We can disguise them as vitamin pills, or birth-control pills while you’re operational.”

“That seems like a big step, doctor, can I think about it?”

“Take as long as you like. There’s nothing to stop you staying as you are and using a gaff and falsies if you want to present as female, but they wouldn’t do if you need to look the part while operational.”

When I left him, I joined the girls in the gym and beat the living daylights out of a punching bag. Back in the flat, the girls sat me down and asked be what the problem was. I have to admit it, I started to cry as I told them the results of the scan. I was enveloped in hugs until I stopped and wiped my eyes. Matilda held my hand.

“Abel, we’re your friends and we already consider you more as a sister than a brother. If you take that step, we’re here for you. We can teach you the things about being a girl that you’ll need to know.”

That night, we all slept in the same bed, me in the middle with two warm girls protecting me.

Marianne Gregory © 2026