Spy School: Royal Flush (Fan-Made)

Chapter 14

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Emerald Mining Site
May 16th
1700 Hours

Murray, Rem, Tess, and I took the bus to the mining site where the emeralds were found.
"Woah... I've never seen so much machinery in one place..." Rem murmured.
"I know! Luckily for us, it also provides a lot of hiding places!" Murray started climbing the chain fence with difficulty.
Rem and Tess hopped over the fence with ease.
"Show-off..." Murray grumbled.
They helped us over the fence.
Every time we saw a security guard, we dashed behind a machine or dived into a hole.
We did that until we arrived at the main building.
"Okay, according to the map, this building leads to the gem storage." I referenced a small map of the area I printed out.
We snuck around the building's perimeter until we arrived at the door.
Murray inputted the passcode we got.
"Why didn't it work?!" He cried incredulously.
"Wait, doesn't the company change their passwords every month or so?"
Murray groaned.
"Wait, may I?" I went over to the keypad.
I inspected the pad for any worn keys.
"Alright, 1, 4, 5, and 7... It's a four-number code, so 16 possibilities..."
My hand practically flew over the keypad as I tried every combo I could think of.
Eventually, the door clicked open.
"Woah! Good work channeling your inner nerd!" Murray laughed.
I huffed at the tease. "It's not nerdy...it's just common sense..."
Following the map, we walked around the building.
"Oh! Are you kids here for the field trip?"
A scientist approached us with a look of concern.
"Yes! Yeah, we just got lost!" Murray lied.
"Don't worry, you can wait in the lunch room! The trip is almost over anyways!" She guided us to the lunch room.
"Help yourselves to some snacks! Wait here while I alert your teacher!" She rushed off.
"Snacks? Well, don't mind if I do..." Murray smirked at the basket of Cheezits and reached for a bag.
Rem slapped his hand away.
"We're not here to snack." She said coldly. Murray sighed in defeat.
"We need to get out of here! Erica and the others might be here already!" I urged, really not wanting to face Erica.
We all rushed out of the lunchroom, Murray sneaking a bag of snacks into his pocket.
I rolled my eyes. Some things never change.
We finally arrived to a door labeled Specimen Storage: Employees Only!
I was a bit put-off by the use of the word specimen, but I shrugged it off.
Tess took out a lock pick and unlocked the door.
Sure enough, the room was filled with emeralds. But there was also something else.
"What are these cases of green juice for?" Murray asked, picking one up.
I stole a glance at the label and my eyes widened.
I dashed over and snatched it from his hands.
"These chemicals are radioactive!" I pointed to the label.
"Oh shit!" Murray backed away from the case.
"But why would there be radioactive liquid in a room with precious gems?" Rem narrowed her eyes.
"Hey guys, you might wanna see this!"
Tess called us over to some research papers.
"It looks like they were experimenting with radioactivity in gemstones..." Rem murmured.
"Look at this one!"
Murray held up another paper.
"Holy crap! It looks like it can even function as a poison!" Tess cried.
While they pored over the increasingly disturbing research, I stumbled upon a door. What was on the other side made my blood run cold.
"Guys...?"
I shakily pointed to what I found.
The room stank of dead animals and chemicals.
"I think I know what they're using this radioactivity for..." I said.
"We need to shut this down! If we let this stand, lots of people might get really hurt!" Rem shouted.
"That's the point."
We all turned around to see a face I had hoped I would never see again.
Joshua Hallal.
At the sight of Murray, he sneered. "Of course... The first thing you do after leaving SPYDER is start a rival organization."
"Well, right now it's more of a ragtag gang of misfits..." Murray corrected.
It was kinda hard to tell because he only had one eye, but I think Joshua was trying to do an eye-roll.
"But this ragtag gang of misfits has the smartest person I know!" Murray wrapped an arm around me.
I made a small, awkward wave at Joshua, who didn't seem to care.
"It'd be in your best interest to surrender peacefully. Or would you rather be put down like animals?" He narrowed his one eye at us.
Murray shot me a look that said "What do we do now?"
"Trust me." I mouthed.
Then I did the stupidest thing anyone could've done while being faced with an enemy.
I laughed in Joshua's face.
Needless to say, he did not like that very much.
He pulled out a gun and aimed it at my forehead.
"You think this is funny, Ripley? Or are the chemicals in here getting to your head?" He growled.
"You've never been very good at planning. Heck, Murray's better and he copies his schemes off of James Bond movies!" I chuckled.
"Hey! I do not!" Murray protested.
I ignored him and kept going.
"I mean seriously, did you even know we would be here?" I clicked my tongue.
"See? Not too smart." I shrugged.
Joshua looked like he wanted nothing more than to put a bullet in my head.
I could see his hand clench the gun in barely restrained rage.
Which is exactly where I want him.
I remembered another lesson I was taught at Spy School.
When people are mad, they tend to be more impulsive and lose their cool. Which means they're more likely to slip up.
And Joshua is no exception.
A guttural, enraged yell rang out as he brought his gun up to hit me.
Then the CIA burst through the door.