Spy School - The Truth (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 5

SPYDER suite

September 7

0830 hours

I woke up to the sun streaming through the window and I blinked my eyes a few times to get used to the sudden brightness. I looked around the room and it appeared that nothing was changed in my room during the time I was asleep. My jacket was in the exact same place I had put it and the furniture didn't even have a scratch. I dragged myself out of bed and dressed, tossing my clothes I had slept in to the side.

Since it still was 8:30, I decided to go exploring around the new SPYDER headquarters and try to listen into conversations that would reveal their true plans. I slowly opened the door, creaking, and peeked outside. There seemed to be no one present at the moment and all was quiet except for the occasional grunting of those still asleep.

I opened the door as wide as my body could fit and I slipped out of my room, but not before grabbing a gun on a nearby table. It was weird that they would leave guns just lying there, almost like waiting for someone to pick it up. Being a little skeptical, I decided that the gun probably had some tricks and put it back on the table.

As I walked down the hallway, I peeked through the others' doors, trying to see if they were still asleep or wide awake. After checking that no one was awake and doing something suspicious, I headed up the stairs and onto the next floor. But when I reached the top of the spiral staircase, there was a grey door with the letters: EMPLOYEES ONLY in bold letters. I was a junior CIA spy and sure wasn't going to let a sign get in my way. Besides, this was SPYDER's headquarters and I still was doubtful about SPYDER's new plan about now helping the world, not destroying it. I pushed open the door a slight bit and when I looked through the crack, I saw Joshua inside.

He was holding a camera and appeared to be finished filming himself and was uploading it onto his computer which was connected to the large screen that was attached to the wall with countless wires coming out of it and disappearing within the tangle of wires. On the monitor beside the computer Joshua was dragging his mouse toward a folder and inside there was a video tape of something. Joshua was about to click it when dust suddenly came over onto my face and I sneezed.

Not thinking about anything else, I turned and ran. I nearly jumped down the stairs and raced toward my room and just when I thought that I was safe, Murray was standing inside my room with his arms folded against his chest. Joshua was strolling down the hall with a dangerous grin and seeing no way out, I spotted the gun earlier and pulled the trigger at Murray.

When he fell to the ground, I found that the gun wasn't loaded with bullets, but sedation darts. And that was the last one. With Murray out of the way, I ran into my room and punched the glass window, shattering it. I looked behind me and without any thought, I prepared to jump out when I felt a firm grip on my shirt. I nervously turned my head and saw that Joshua had caught up and had prevented me from escaping. I dragged me away from my room and into the EMPLOYEES ONLY room where I had seen him before.

"You see Ben," he started, "this is a recorded video of when you and Erica were bound in the chairs. He motioned toward the video where I apparently was still unconscious as well as Erica.

"But," he continued, "we've had some new technology to allow us to put two different recordings together, seeming as if it was one." He showed me the recording with him talking about how we were now hostages and I had a feeling when these two were put together, the CIA might send a large amount of agents to save us, which probably wouldn't end well as SPYDER probably put up several traps.

Joshua must have seen the look on my face and said,"ah, I see you've already figured out part one of our plan. But that's not all. We almost have created a time machine and we just need you to figure out the mathematics so it can properly work."

"I will never work for SPYDER no matter what you offer us," I said firmly.

"Oh, but, we aren't offering anything. In fact, if you don't help us, we will harm your precious Erica or possibly even kill her. In fact, she's already been injected with a heavily sedated dart and cannot attack us in any way. "

I gulped. I either had to save Erica, which would kill plenty of people as if I cooperated, SPYDER would successfully build a time machine and could do virtually anything. But if I didn't save Erica, the good news would be that SPYDER would not be able to perform their plans but Erica's family would have a hard time getting over her as well as the entire CIA and would blame me for not figuring out a way to save both Erica and everyone else.

Just then, an idea started forming in my head. Didn't SPYDER want me to figure out the mathematics of the time machine? I could alter the right answers to do something entirely different and SPYDER wouldn't suspect a thing as they know that I am always right and would corporate with them if something horrible was going to happen to Erica. I just needed to act like I was giving in.

"Okay," I said, pretending to be hesitant as if I were just considering the situation, "I'll help you build your time machine but only on one condition."

"And what is it?" Joshua pressed.

"You must keep to your word that you will not harm Erica in any way and the second your time machine is done, I want to see Erica with my own eyes walk out the SPYDER headquarters safely."

"Deal," Joshua answered. His response seemed genuine but I had a feeling that he wasn't going to keep his word and that Erica would be harmed either way. As soon as that thought came, I pushed it away, trying not to discourage myself. Joshua turned and pulled out his drawer and searched for the papers, presumably, that I was to do in order to make the time machine work.

He eventually found them and handed them to me and that by tomorrow, I had to finish all the problems written on the paper. I nodded and was about to leave when Joshua stopped me and said, "you're staying right here so that way I can keep an eye on you and don't even try anything, I have security cameras in here everywhere."

I looked around and indeed, there were plenty of tiny security cameras, watching my every move. Joshua leaned against his swivel chair and put on a smug grin, looking as if he thought he had already won. Not yet, I thought, not quite yet.