I have to restrain Kade, whose immediate reaction is to fight the smirking topknot guy, "Leave it Kade, let's watch and wait," I say, pulling him back onto the seat. He grapples in his pocket and pulls out his cell, "Damn, we don't have reception down here," he says, with rising impatience.

"That's ok, we get off at the next station and call Kelly and Troy right away," I say, over emphasizing my confident tone.

The guy with the topknot is sitting in between a little boy and girl, each with an imp, cradling into them like cutesy little koala bears. His three female colleagues are interspersed between the excited gaggle of children.

As the train trundles through the tunnel, I check out the women. I have an innate feeling that they are innocents, unaware of the evil that some of their charges are carrying.

Kade taps his foot, the way he does when he's tense. I put my hand on his knee, to stop the foot and in an effort to calm him. It works, he smiles at me, then catches the eye of one of the women, "So where you taking these lucky kids?" He asks.

She doesn't answer, instead the little girl next to her says, "She can't speak." Kade and I glance at each other, a sense of knowing passing between us. He leans forward, "Then you can answer my question; where are you kids going?"

"We're going on a school outing, I'm excited," she says, clapping her hands, gleefully.

"That's awesome, where is your outing to?" Asks Kade.

The little girl glances at one of the women, then back to Kade, "It's a magical mystery tour, we don't know till we get there," she answers, then looks at the woman, who nods her head, as if to approve her answer.

It's then I notice that the train has slowed considerably. Kade looks out the windows at the blackened tunnel walls passing ever slower, "Jeez, London Tube trains are real frustrating, they always crawl..."

..."and get stuck in the tunnel, when you're in a hurry to get somewhere," cuts in topknot guy, just as the train comes to a screeching halt.

He's aged in his thirties, I guess. Conservatively dressed, in trousers, a white shirt and dark blue pullover. Kade looks him over, "Aren't you a little too old to be wearing your hair like that?" He asks.

The guy reacts with a matter of fact manner, "It's not my style; and you know the story," he says. The train's engines kick back in and my anxiety drops at the thought of getting off the confines of this imp filled carriage.

But as it moves, my anxiety levels return to high – the train starts to trundle backwards. Topknot guy rises from his seat. Kade scrutinizes him and I know he's checking out his physique in a combative way. He's a small, skinny man; Kade would have no trouble overpowering him. Knowing exactly what Kade's thinking, I put my hand on his knee and whisper into his ear, "Don't act, not yet, let's try and fathom this situation and act when it gets into a station." Kade nods a hesitant 'yes.'

The train begins to pick up backward speed as topknot guy walks toward the door that connects the adjoining carriage. Kade shouts after him, "Hey, can you tell us where you're taking these kids?"

At the door, he turns, "We're all going back." He says, with a kind of vacant stare at no one in particular.

Kade stands up, and I grasp his hand to stop him from being over confrontational, "Back where?" He asks.

The guy opens the door, "Back there," he says, pointing back into the adjoining carriage, then stepping into it.

......

No sooner has topknot guy closed the door, then he opens it again, "Come along children, in you come, take your seats and settle down.

We watch as more children crowd in; all of them seem to have imps this time. Once again, they're accompanied by three women, who silently settle all the children down, before obediently taking their seats.

Kade addresses topknot guy again, "What's all this about?" He asks. The carriage is now full and still trundling backwards. Topknot guy seems seems perfectly polite, and he answers Kade without any obvious malicious intent, "It's about resolution. You have in your custody three of our top operatives, amongst them one of our top guys, 'The Man' Marko." I notice his focus switch to me, "Now we have in our custody, three of your top operatives, including your top girl, 'The Lady' Tanya."

I immediately correct his error, "You only have two of us, Kade and I," I say, with a friendly smile. He returns my smile, "We have three of your side." He looks over his shoulder and calls, "Come along, you can join the rest of your team, now," he says, gesturing with his hand into our carriage.

Kade and I swap questioning glances, before he comes bounding in, all excited exuberance – it's little Kelvin, clutching an imp tightly to his side.

Kade reacts with surprise and anger, "DAD! How'd you get here?" Two little girls opposite begin to giggle and one shouts over, "You're a silly man, you called him dad, and he's just a kid, like us!" Her giggling infects the rest of the children until the sound of raucous childish laughter and banter fills the carriage. The children with the imps jump from their seats and begin to sing – "SIDE BY SIDE, OR EVEN APART, AN IMP IS FOREVER CLOSE TO YOUR HEART."

Kade jumps from the seat, inhales deeply then shouts at the top of his voice – "SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!"

All the children are suddenly startled, stop singing and laughing and take their seats – except one.

The little girl who called Kade a 'Silly man' remains standing, defiantly. She strokes the cutesy teddy bear head of her imp, which responds by nuzzling into her ear. I note the concentration on her face, like she's listening to something being said to her.

The sudden realization of what we are entrapped with hits me!

I know Kade's feeling the same, as he reacts calmly in order to deflect any sudden violence, "You know, you should respect your elders, it's rude to call them names." He smiles, sweetly, "Now be a good girl and sit down," he says, taking his seat next to me.

I follow her stare until her eyes meet topknot guy who still stands by the door. He gives her a gentle nod, and with it she places the imp on her seat and moves toward us.

She stops In front of Kade, parts her feet to steady herself against the rocking of the moving train, leans in and says, "Talk to me like that again, and I'll rip your throat out!" She holds out her right hand to display her nails. They're filed to razor sharp points, more akin to shark's teeth than human nails; they glisten with lethal intent.

Kade nods his head, "I hear you," he says, compliantly.

She stands back up, "Good. We want our journey back to be a clean one. But if it has to be a bloodbath, it will be a bloodbath," she says, with a chilling maturity that's at odds with a girl of six.

Looking down the carriage, I see all the kids with the imps are holding their hands forward, displaying their nails, accompanied by sweet, but warning smiles.

Strangely, I feel no fear. Instead I feel a sense of control, knowing that our subservience to these kids with imps will sustain us until we see a chance to escape this fast moving prison. I follow Kade's example and smile sweetly at the girl, "It's also our wish, that our journey remains clean," I say. She nods her approval, returns to her seat, lifts her imp and sits back down.

I turn to Kelvin and ask quietly, "May I see your nails." Thankfully they are those of a normal kid, then I recall his imp is benign, rendered inactive when we disabled Marko's topknot.

Moving in closer, I whisper, "You were supposed to be staying at the hospital, while your wife was having her procedure; how'd you get here?"

"Why are we whispering?" He asks.

"Because it's fun."

He sniggers, "Oh, I see. Well, Kelly and Troy came back to the hospital because Kelly changed her mind and wants to be near her mum during the operation." He continues like a six year old telling a bedtime story, "So then, just before her brain was about to go back in her head, my wife told me to follow you both. So I did, and now I'm here," he says.

Kade joins in with our little conspiratorial chat, "Why did she want you to follow us?" He whispers.

Kelvin moves in closer, "To tell you about the bomb."

"WHAT?" Asks Kade, his raised voice causing some of the kids to look our way.

Kelvin puts his finger to his mouth, "Shhh, we're whispering." He leans in, "If her procedure doesn't work, the hospital will blow up, so she didn't want you coming back, so you would survive if the bomb goes off," he says, with a big smile to indicate the end of his story.

The train continues to trundle backwards through the tunnel as Kade and I lean our heads back onto the glass then simultaneously turn to look at each other. Kade is pragmatic, "She planned it thoroughly, if she doesn't survive it's – BOOM!"

I nod, "Taking the good, bad and the ugly evidence with her," I say.

"That's the facts!" Says Kade, taking my hand and squeezing it – a reassuring gesture that says 'we will survive' – against all the odds.

Leaning up and down the speeding tunnel train, I see that many of the kids are subdued and sleepy and I'm suddenly conscious that the train is travelling at considerable speed and we haven't passed through any stations.

Topknot guy still stands straight and alert at the carriage door. I ask him the question with which Kade had little success, "Where are we going?"

His answer is the same, "We're going back."

"I know we're going backwards, but what's our final destination?" I ask, with a firm emphasis.

He turns around, and with his back to me, he answers, "We're going back to your beginning..."