Spy School Project X: A fan teaser

Chapter 10 - ESCAPE

June 23
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0700 hours

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! I snapped awake, my heart racing a hundred miles an hour. I instinctively brought my hands up to defend myself, but I didn't see any assassins. Then I noticed Erica laughing a few feet away, smoke rising from the barrel of Ashley's rifle.

"You should have seen the look on your face," she said, trying to stop laughing. "You looked like the Home Alone kid did when he put on aftershave."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll get you back for that," I said in a half-irritated way.

Ashley had been awakened by the gunshots as well, and she was not happy. Well, the muffled sounds she was making through the sock in her mouth didn't sound happy. She was also writhing back and forth on the ground, trying to break out of the vines Erica had used to tie her up.

"What's that?" Erica asked tauntingly. "You want to be a good girl and tell us how to get out of here?" She walked over to Ashley and yanked the sock out of her mouth.

"I'm not telling you jidiots diddly-squat," Ashley spat.

"Suit yourself," Erica said, before stuffing the sock back in her mouth. This produced more angry muffled sounds from Ashley.

"So what's the plan?" I asked, remembering what Erica had said while we were changing watch shifts.

"We wait for the next assassin to come, throw the grenades through the entrance when it opens, then figure it out from there."

Erica wasn't a "wing it" type of person, so I was surprised that she didn't have something more elaborate. "Uh, that doesn't sound like a very good plan," I said, concerned.

"Well what would you rather do? Stay here until we get killed? Besides, we don't know anything about this place beyond the wall, so we can't plan for much."

I had to admit, she had a point. "So we're just going to sit here all day until the doors open?" I asked.

As if in response, there was a loud creak as the doors started to open again. I instinctively glanced at the noise, then looked back to Erica. She had dropped the rifle and sought cover behind a tree, holding a grenade in each hand. I hid behind another tree, and we watched as the doors opened wider. As they did, a muscular man holding a rifle and wearing an evil grin on his face stepped into the arena--- Mr. Seabrook.

Mr. Seabrook, another former SPYDER agent, had been the firearms instructor at evil spy school. He definitely didn't like me, because when I was using a bulldozer to escape SPYDER's headquarters a few months ago, I'd ran over a row of Porta-Potties and splashed him with human excrement. In my defense, he was trying to shoot me. I thought he'd been captured when the CIA had overwhelmed the compound, but apparently he'd gotten away.

Mr. Seabrook arched an eyebrow, then struggled to contain his laughter as he noticed Ashley squirming around on the ground. The doors began closing behind him, and Erica didn't wait any longer. She used her teeth to pull the pin on each grenade simultaneously, then hurled them one after the other towards the doorway. Mr. Seabrook's face turned from one of amusement to one of horror as he noticed the grenades flying his way. He dove away from the wall, just as the grenades flew through the opening. Half a second later, the doors sealed shut.

As the creaking stopped, there were a few seconds of silence. Then the grenades went off. There was a muffled boom from the other side, which was followed by a much, much louder boom. Both of the solid concrete doors were torn completely from their hinges and launched into the arena at frightening speeds. One cartwheeled past the tree I was hiding behind with a whoosh while the other sailed through the air, flying high over the treetops. Smoke began billowing out of the opening.

"Come on!" Erica shouted. I followed at her heels as she sprinted through the opening and into the dark cloud. Behind us, I could hear the sounds of Mr. Seabrook giving chase. "Must have been an explosives storage room," Erica said as we ran through the blackness. Suddenly, the smoke cleared and the passage came to a "T". Erica hesitated for a moment, then cut to the right. As we rounded the corner, Mr. Seabrook opened fire. The wall to our left was riddled with bullet holes where we'd been just milliseconds before. Ahead of us, a wide switchback staircase began. Erica took the stairs two at a time, and I followed suit. After we had ascended a few stories, Erica stopped on the flat halfway point. I started to ask why, but she held a finger to her lips.

The sound of Mr. Seabrook thudding up the stairs echoed through the stairwell. The thuds grew louder as he neared our location. Erica got into a sprinter's stance, waited a few seconds, then took off like a shot just as Mr. Seabrook bounded onto our level. She slammed into him with enough force to send him into the wall. He dropped his gun in surprise, and Erica quickly kicked it back down the stairs, causing it to discharge and send a bullet ricocheting around the staircase. I felt like I should help, but I knew I'd probably just get in the way. Plus, Erica fighting was a thing of beauty. She moved with such grace that it felt like you were watching a ballet.

Mr. Seabrook staggered from his collision with the wall, which gave Erica the opportunity to sweep his legs out. He fell to the ground, then tried to sweep Erica's legs out from under her. Erica easily leapt over the attack and then pounced on him. Mr. Seabrook rolled out of the way, but in doing so, he rolled off of the top step.

"Ow! Oof!" he exclaimed as he bounced down the stairs. This seemed unfortunate for him, but after bouncing down a flight of stairs, he rolled to a stop right next to his rifle. He quickly picked it up and started to swing it our way, but Erica had already drawn her pistol and had her finger on the trigger.

"Drop it or I'll shoot," she said calmly. Mr. Seabrook ignored her and shouldered the rifle. So Erica shot him. But only in his trigger finger.

"OWWW!" he howled, dropping the gun to hold his wounded digit.

"Stop whining," Erica said, "I only grazed the tip of your finger. If you try anything else, I'll shoot something more painful." Then she walked down the stairs to where he ways laying. Mr. Seabrook's eyes widened in fear as Erica loomed over him. "Which way to the control center?"

"Up two more flights, through the door and at the end of the hall," he said quickly.

"Thank you," Erica replied, before pistol whipping him in the head and knocking him unconscious. "Ben, tie him up."

"Aye aye," I said dutifully. I proceeded to remove Mr. Seabrook's shoelaces and used them to tie his hands and feet. I stood up when I was finished to indicate that I was ready to move on. "So where are we going now?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Erica replied. "To find Murray."

Guys I'm so sorry for not updating in so long. I actually kind of forgot all about this story with school coming to a close and all. I should have more time to write with summer starting. Let me know what y'all think happens next.