Spy School: Life After School

Chapter 18

Palm Heights
June 15, 2026
1000 hours

Ben's POV

We were all gathered in Cyrus's room. We were going over the mission plan. Catherine and Alexander would go outside and scope out, looking for trouble. Mike would monitor the private airstrip. Cyrus was going to do infiltration of the hotel's data banks, to see if they had given anyone anything. Erica was to do surveillance on top of the hotel. I had to stay in the hotel, however, due to SPYDER knowing I'm here.

Everyone split off and I went to my room. Erica stopped by to grab her gear and gave me some words of encouragement. I read up on what was going on, but nothing seemed significant. I tried looking for clues anywhere on the internet, but SPYDER had me stumped. I was bored out of my mind. I turned on the TV but nothing was playing.

This was honestly the worst way the mission could go. I went onto my comms but no one had checked in yet. It seemed like we weren't getting anywhere, and that SPYDER was going to get away with things.

I got so bored I decided to go up and see Erica. She looked at me then motioned for me to come watch.

"What do you see?" I asked.

"Nothing much, really," she said. I grabbed a spare pair of binoculars and looked out, but there was really nothing eye catching.

"What's the crowd about?" I asked, looking at the crowd around the expo.

"I have no idea," Erica responded. "Wanna check up on it?"

"Sure, see you in a bit." I finally felt like I was doing something. I raced back to the room and opened up a laptop and started searching. After a few minutes, I found what I was looking for.

There has been a conference for the International Travel and Tourism Board for the past week. It stretched from June 12-June 19. I kept reading into it.

There was supposedly a conference every day that included some of the largest members of the country's involved, as well as some high admin members, and finally, the President of the group. It all seemed very corny, to be honest.

I dug up some more information on it but nothing was really eye catching. It was mostly stuff about land ownership, pricing changes, etc. I texted Erica to come back to the room so we could talk about it.

She got there within 5 minutes. I showed her my laptop.

"Wow, what a bunch of nerds," Erica said.

"I know right. They're going crazy outside the expo, for what?"

"I guess it really is nothing. I should go back out. See you soon." She left the room. I still had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right here, but I couldn't pinpoint it. I moved on to see if anything of importance was going on in the Caymans, but it didn't seem that way. I walked out to my balcony.

I saw a man park 3 ski doos by the end of the dock. When I remembered the map, I knew this was the place SPYDER would rendezvous. I dialled Erica.

"Hey Ben."

"Erica, look to the dock. Do you see the ski doos?"

"Yes. What about - ohhhh."

"Yea. What do you think we should do?"

"We shouldn't do anything. I will tell Grandpa and he will set something up. Sit tight."

I was more frustrated then ever. I threw my phone on the bed. The case slipped off. The photo dropped out. I had forgotten I even had it in there. It was a picture of Erica kissing me on the cheek, on her graduation day. I looked at it and smiled. It was about to be 4 years ago, today.

Then, I remembered something else. Erica had my old phone in the CIA package, which meant she probably saw my reminder that said "Give Erica her present" or something along the lines. I opened up my bag, and went into a secret pouch. I pulled out the silver necklace. It had the letter "E" with a heart around it.

I had forgot I even had it. I realized that it had travelled with me almost everywhere, as if a part of her stayed with me. I smiled again. The things I would do for her.

I put the necklace back and slipped the photo back and put my case on. I went on the couch and just watched the news.

**timeskip**

Erica's POV

We were all gathered in Grandpa's room. We hadn't the slightest idea of what SPYDER's plan was. Mike had confirmed that there was a jet ready to take off on quick notice, and Catherine and Alexander had heard chatter on the plans, but nothing descriptive. Cyrus had figured out that nobody had stolen any data and the employees hadn't given any away. Finally, Grandpa had booby trapped the ski doos with a malfunctioning engine that wouldn't start upon request.

We were all confused. Nothing seemed to add up. Even Ben, our chief brainiac, couldn't come up with anything. SPYDER had hidden their tracks perfectly, as usual.

We had all just eaten dinner and were getting ready to go to bed. We were going to wake up for 0800 hours and try and see if we could figure out their plans last minute. Grandpa dismissed us and we went back to our respective rooms. By the time me and Ben both took showers and cleaned up, it was 11:30.

I hacked into the CIA database to figure out how the hunt for my family was going. They had apparently figured out we led them on a fake trail, and were desperately trying to make up ground. I watched over a few other things. Ben was just on his phone, and he looked both frustrated and sad. I felt bad for him.

After about 28 minutes, he came to lay in bed. He was just rubbing his eyes and getting ready for bed.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

"I'm tired, even though I didn't do anything."

"Well aren't you a special type of guy."

"Says the ice queen." My mental timer was about to go off in 10 seconds.

I pulled him so we lay face to face.

"I missed you, Ben."

"I missed you too, Erica."

3....

2....

1....

I kissed him. He kissed me back passionately. It felt amazing. Then I let go of him.

"What did I do to deserve that?" He asked.

"Happy Birthday, Benjamin Ripley," I whispered in his ear. He just smiled and looked happy that I remembered.

"Thank you, Erica Hale." He said back to me.

"I'm sorry that I didn't get you a present, but I was hoping I would be enough."

"Of course you are." He kissed me on the forehead.

"I didn't mean like that."

Ben's POV

Oh. Erica Hale wanted to ....

Wow. I never thought this day would come.

Erica's POV

He just stared at me.

"I didn't know you were like that."

"Is that a no?"

"It's a 100% yes."

(Edited).