Spy School Revolution

Proper Planning

Suite 4

Portmier Hotel

Washington, DC

0200 Hours

It was well into the night when I woke up to the sound of Catherine and Alexander arriving at the room. I blearily rubbed my eyes and got up. I hadn't gotten much sleep, but I still felt more rested than I had in days.

The Hales were sitting at the dining table, examining photos they had taken of the warehouse. I looked over them myself as my friends slouched in, displaying varying degrees of tiredness.

"I hate being a spy," Chip said as he sluggishly dropped into a chair next to me.

Jawa thwacked him on the back of the head as Chip nearly nodded off again. "Ow, what was that for?" he groaned. But he did look more awake.

The only person who didn't look fatigued was Catherine, who was showing us the photos she had taken. "There are exactly two entry and exit points in this entire building." She pointed at her phone. "The first is the garage doors, where the cargo we saw yesterday was brought in through," she told us.

Zoe yawned and shoved her face into her hands. "Wouldn't those be too loud if we tried to open them?"

Catherine nodded. "The other option is the side door," She swiped to the next photo. "It's fitted with a relatively simple lock, so I could definitely get us in and out, but it would take a few minutes to pick."

"Did you see anybody while you were out there?" Mike asked.

"Not a soul," Alexander said irritably before turning to Catherine. "We really should've just gone in then and there!"

Catherine gritted her teeth. I suspected her ex had been getting on her nerves all evening. "Not without a plan, Alexander! How many times do I have to say it?"

Alexander huffed but didn't say anything.

I cleared my throat and said "So, maybe not all of us should infiltrate the building. It would be nice to have a few lookouts to cover us in case something goes wrong."

"And something always goes wrong," Chip grumbled.

"That's a good idea, Benjamin," Catherine said. Then she folded her arms on the table and said. "Children, this could be a very dangerous situation I'm getting you all into. You do not have to participate if you don't want to."

I glanced at my friends. The Catherine and Alexander I knew were some the most confident and brave spies I had ever met. Seeing them so nervous for their daughter seemed wrong. Mike, Zoe, Chip, and Jawa seemed to think so too. They wore somewhat worried expressions, but there was an undercurrent of excitement in their faces. After all, they were spy students. This was the big thing they trained for.

Jawa straightened up earnestly. "We're with you, Mrs. Hale."

"Yeah," Zoe agreed.

"Of course we're in!" Chip exclaimed

Mike merely gave a thumbs up, as he was chomping through a bag of chips from the minibar.

"Alright," Catherine said, seeming relieved. Then she devised the plan.

Chip and Jawa were to be the lookouts, posted up on the roof where we had staked out the warehouse earlier yesterday. They would text us if there was any trouble, or go in to rescue us should we need it. The rest of us would go in with Catherine. Since we didn't know what the inside of the building looked like, we would have to make decisions on the go after that.

"And you, Alexander," Catherine said as an afterthought. "You ought to be a lookout as well."

Alexander's pride seemed a bit wounded by this. "I can handle myself during an infiltration," he said, outraged.

Evidently trying to avoid another argument, Catherine quickly replied "Which is exactly why we need you looking out for us."

His anger subsided slightly, and he folded his arms over his chest and sat back in the chair.

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As we got into the car, Catherine turned to us and said "Everybody ready?"

We nodded assent. I was going over our plan obsessively, trying to find any obvious mistakes.

Mike sat up suddenly. "Hold on, what about Erica? Didn't you say we could blow her cover by revealing we're helping her?"

"Yes," Catherine said grimly. "But our only lead is this building. She could be in trouble already for all we know." She was trying to sound calm, but her voice wavered slightly. "It's a risk we'll have to take."

"Why can't we just call her cell phone?" he asked.

"The enemy can track our location if we do that," Zoe reminded him.

"And we'd still be revealing that we're helping her," I added.

"But so what?" Mike pressed. "If we do it here, all they'll know is that we're on some random street in Washington. Plus, there's already a pretty big risk of outing her for working with the good guys anyway, right?"

I blinked. It was extremely non-stealthy and unorthodox, a classic Mike plan, but it could work. I looked at Catherine and saw she was considering this.

"At least this way, Erica can control the situation and continue to manipulate the enemy," I said thoughtfully. "If we get caught helping her, there's no way she'd be able to lie her way out of it with them."

All of us turned to Catherine expectantly. She was by far the best spy there, and leader by default.

She took a deep breath and said "Alright. Let's do it."

She pulled out her phone. "Actually..." Mike said uncomfortably. "I think Ben should do it."

I started and stared at him. "Why me?"

Mike hastily glanced around at everybody, who seemed equally surprised by his suggestion. "Well, you wouldn't want to reveal that you're a spy to the enemy, right Catherine? They've probably already heard about Ben if they knew about Erica before this."

"I could do it," Alexander offered.

Catherine studied Mike curiously. I remained extremely confused, but apparently a bit of understanding passed between them. "I agree with Mike," she said firmly. I wanted to ask what was going on, but we didn't have time to waste.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Erica's number. Everyone fell silent, like they were holding one big collective breath.

It rang once, then twice. By the fifth ring, I had started to lose hope.

And then I heard the click of the call connecting.

"Hello, Ben."

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A/N: I'm sorry for the cliff-hanger...or am I? My evilness aside, I sincerely thank you all for continuing to read my story. I'm thinking it'll be about thirty parts, but that's a pretty rough estimate.

If you enjoyed today's chapter, I'd really appreciate a vote and a comment! Getting notifications while writing the next part absolutely makes my day. Have a great day! :)