Spy School Revolution

Lodging

Minivan

Deanwood

Washington, DC

0400 Hours

"There's nothing for it. We're going to have to investigate that building more," Catherine said.

We had piled back into the minivan and driven several blocks away from the warehouse. It was too suspicious to randomly park the car in a nearly deserted part of town, right next to the enemy. 

"Does this mean we can finally infiltrate it?" Alexander was still miffed about the way Catherine had ignored his input about this subject earlier that day. "There's obviously illegal stuff going on in there."

She heaved a sigh. "Yes, but I think it'd be best if I spent another few hours performing some recon around it."

"I'm coming too."

She shot him a look. "I'm not sure how to put this," she began in a delicate tone. "But this operation will require stealth and patience."

"I can be stealthy!"

"Alexander--"

"Catherine." He remained persistent. "It's dangerous! You can't go alone."

Her eyes flicked back to the rest of us, looking like she fervently wished we weren't there to witness the debate. "It would be more dangerous if you went with me," she said.

Alexander winced, but he wasn't deterred. "Our daughter could be in there!" 

 It was only recently that Alexander's debonair, self-assured act had started to deteriorate around us, and it still seemed counter to almost everything I knew about Alexander. And yet, I didn't think I was imagining the desperate gleam in his eyes.

Catherine could see it too, probably better than the rest of us. She studied him for a moment, looking concerned. But her expression also had the tiniest bit of respect in it. "Fine," she said. "But you must listen to what I tell you to do."

He nodded vigorously, then said "Let's go, then."

Catherine turned to us in her carseat, handing me a sizable wad of cash. "Get us a hotel room near here and try to get some rest," she told us. "You'll need it. If all goes well, we'll be infiltrating the base tonight."

I examined the money in my hands. "Er...where did you get this?"

"A spy never reveals her secrets," she said, her eyes full of mischief.

"Oh god, you pickpocketed it, didn't you?" I shook my head sadly, not needing her to confirm it. "Erica always does that, too."

We exited the car and watched the Hales drive off the way we had come.

Chip immediately grabbed the money from me and started counting it, eyes wide. "Geez, there's enough here to rent a sports car!"

Zoe elbowed him in the solar plexus and snatched the cash from him. She calmly turned to me while Chip doubled over, wheezing. "I think there's a decent hotel around here, the Portmier. My parents stayed there once when they came to visit me last year." 

"Good thinking," I replied, as Jawa and I tried to pull Chip to his feet. 

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The room we rented was actually pretty nice. As we'd entered, Chip whistled in appreciation. There were plenty of beds, a living room area, and even a small kitchen. Best of all, though, was that it was on the top floor of the high-rise the Portmier was located in. We got a nice view of downtown in the distance.

Jawa set his pack down. "You guys always stay in places this fancy during your missions?"

Mike flopped onto one of the beds. "Kind of fifty-fifty, really,"

"Yeah," Zoe agreed. "In Mexico we got this really nice house, but last time we had to stay in this creaky, ancient inn that was in the middle of nowhere."

I caught sight of my reflection in the window while looking at the view. Messy brown hair, grimy face, tired eyes. One black eye. I looked like I had been in a fight.

I headed straight to the bathroom while Mike and Zoe continued regaling Chip and Jawa with more stories of our missions past.

I took a quick shower, which felt amazing. For the first time in about two days, I felt clean. My hair smelled like lemon shampoo instead of dirty rainwater. 

Feeling refreshed, I pulled on my clothes and joined the others in the living room

They were looking over room service menus and discussing what we had overheard at the warehouse.

"...Yeah, but centuries?" Jawa was saying, aghast. "America itself isn't even three centuries old! How have we never heard about this organization before?"

"Maybe she was just exaggerating," Mike reasoned. 

"I don't know," I said, leaning against the door-jamb. "She kept talking about 'keeping operations with their own people'. Seems like these people have a lot of loyalty to the organization."

Everyone turned to me. I guess they hadn't noticed I was there, as they were so absorbed in their conversation. "That kind of trust doesn't just happen out of nowhere," I continued.

"But for centuries?" Jawa repeated.

I walked over to nearest empty armchair and sank into it with a sigh. "Maybe it was an exaggeration, but remember the guys at SPYDER?"

"What about them?" Mike asked.

I glanced at Zoe and realized she was staring at me. She quickly looked away as I did. I didn't think anything of it. "Well, they were always backstabbing each other. Nobody trusted anyone." I picked up a room service menu. "But these guys...they're on a first name basis. They were teasing each other. It's almost like they're friends."

We all fell silent, considering this. One of the sole reasons we had been able to take down SPYDER in the first place was because Joshua Hallal had turned against it out of his own greed. If we were up against a united force that would fight for each other, it was bound to be more difficult.

"I realize this is all very important spy stuff," Chip spoke up. "But I'm absolutely starving. Can we order already?"

It was abrupt, but the grumbling from my stomach agreed with him. Jawa called in the order. 

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A/N: Thanks for reading, guys! The number of notifications I've been getting for this series makes me so happy, thank you so much for all the support! See you all tomorrow with the next part! 

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