Spy School Fail-Safe

Chapter 3

"Hold up, what-" Mike began, but Erica gave him a glare so cold he shut up and respectfully raised his hands over his head.

"Don't any of you dare come to his aid or whip your own weapons out at me," she spoke. "I said, Ben, you're under arrest."

For a second I was completely shocked, not knowing what to do. I was gawking at her in complete surprise. It took me a few moments to register what was going on. Erica Hale, my closest friend, was pointing a gun at me, her best friend. My friends, who stood within four feet of me, couldn't do anything to help.

"What did I do?" I asked honestly, because I had no idea as to what was going on. I wanted an answer, but it didn't look like I was getting one.

"As if you don't know," Erica replied, and the amount of calmness she spoke with was beginning to scare me so much that I was worried I was going to wet my pants. "You, only you, come with me now." She took a small step forward, the gun not moving away for even a moment. It wasn't particularly aimed at a specific part of my body, but I felt my heartbeat speed up.

I gulped, wondering why on earth Erica was ready to arrest me. I hadn't done anything wrong at all. "What did I do?" I repeated once more, wanting answers. "Seriously, just tell me, Erica."

"You planted eighteen small but powerful bombs around the CIA Academy of Espionage, all set to detonate one after the other within nine minutes," she calmly spoke. "You also defected to the bad side for who knows how long, and leaked information to suspicious people. On top of all this, I can't believe you betrayed me."

I blinked a few times, taking everything in. What? "I..I didn't do anything like that! Why would I do that?"

"I don't know, and I don't care," she continued. "You're under arrest, and the police are hunting for you all over. Come on out, and you'll die a less painful death."

My hand reached for my phone, but Erica grabbed a second gun from seemingly nowhere and cocked it, her finger ready to pull the trigger. "Don't you dare," she growled. "Now come on."

I could hear Zoe gasp softly, but I couldn't do anything at the moment. If I made one wrong move any of us could die. But I hadn't done anything. I was being falsely accused. But Erica of all the people should be knowing that. I wondered what had made her doubt me, of all the people.

"I'm still angry that you betrayed me, and the CIA," she spoke, emotion seeping into her voice. She sounded upset. Angry. Betrayed. Shocked. "Through all this I liked you as a friend."

"I didn't do it, Erica. I didn't do anything. In fact, I didn't even know there were eighteen!" I exclaimed in a desperate attempt to get her to understand. "How could you suspect me? I overthrew SPYDER with you! I've been pro-country and now you're declaring me a national terrorist? Erica, you, off all the people, should know this!"

"You betrayed me," she said. "I'm hurt by that. You betrayed me and lied to me. You're just like him, you know. Just like Joshua Hallal. And I actually fell for you."

I was surprised at the confession but I didn't dare talk, because I was hurt that she compared me to Joshua Hallal, her evil bionic ex-boyfriend.

She took one more step forward, then let one gun clatter to the floor. She then took a pair of handcuffs out of her utility belt and snapped one on me, and the other to her own wrist.

"You all, stay here until further notice," she directed. "I have motion sensors installed. If any of you tries to do something stupid, you'll regret it."

My friends obediently raised their hands over their heads as Erica slowly walked up to me with a cold glare. She didn't lower her gun, though, and kept it trained on me as she dragged me out of the shed.

The moment both of us had exited the shed, Erica looked both ways, then pressed a finger on my lips. She reached up with one hand and removed a small earring from her ear, then dropped it to the floor, crushing it. I stared at her, wide eyed. She placed her gun back in its holster and slid an earpiece out of her ear, crushing that beneath the sole of her shoe as well. Then she placed a finger on her lips and undid the handcuffs.

I smiled. Erica had merely been putting on a show. She deposited the handcuffs inside her utility belt and removed a small button camera from her collar area, crushing that as well. She switched her phone off and took mine, doing the same.

Then she let out an exasperated sigh, like she had been holding it in for a long time. "Oh, good lord, that's taken care of. Now come on."

I was partially shocked, but I followed Erica back into the shed. My friends were still frozen in shock, and when they noticed Erica no longer threatening, they sighed in relief, though I noticed Zoe and Jawa still tense up, like they weren't going to lower their guard around her.

Erica walked up to everyone, motioning for them to come close. "Okay," she breathed. "Look. I was just putting up an act. They surveyed the bomb blast and all that, and the detonator has Ben's fingerprints. There's a few strands of his hair that match the DNA test. Everyone's positive Ben did it."

"Which I didn't," I defensively replied. "I didn't do it."

"I know, you doofus," Erica replied, like it was obvious. But if anything, I was relieved that Erica was still on my side. But then again, why wouldn't she? "That's why I'm here. Because I'm rogue. The CIA sent me to 'arrest' you." She made air quotes. "They think I'm on their side. Ben, you're a national criminal. The CIA and FBI are hunting you down. We have to get the heck out of here. Before the CIA realizes we're rogue."

"Oh, woah," Jawa gasped, obviously surprised. Even though he'd been on missions with us before, this kind of stuff was still kind of new to him. "Why?"

Erica sighed. "I don't know," she replied. "All the teachers and students are confused because Ben's an all-star kid. Grandpa's furious, and Dad's disappointed. The Idiot is happy. Gleeful, actually," she spoke. "I had earpieces, microphones and cameras on me. I've broken them all, though, and I was lying about the motion sensors. It was just a ruse to get the CIA to believe that I'm bringing you to them to arrest you."

"Why would someone blame me for blowing up our school?" I asked. "I've helped overthrow SPYDER. Is that not enough? Why blame it on me?"

Erica shrugged, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear. "To make you look bad. I have a strong feeling that it's to get us all out of the way. If you're a national criminal, then naturally you'll try to escape, and I'll be with you, like always. So will Mike, and Zoe, and well, Jawa this time. So they'll have us away from whatever their main goal is."

"But there'll still be Cyrus and Alexander," Zoe put in. "And plus, if we're away that makes everything easier for whoever did this. How will we stop them?"

Jawa shook his head. "Erica's saying Cyrus and Alexander will be obsessed with trying to get their hands on Ben."

Erica nodded, mirroring Jawa's thoughts. "Plus, I have a feeling that we might find something useful once we're out of the country. Even if we don't, that doesn't matter because the whole CIA is here. Ben's a criminal as far as anyone else is concerned. So protecting him should be number one priority. Bad things can happen if he goes to jail."

The thought of being in prison sent a shiver down my spine. I couldn't be any more grateful that I had Erica Hale on my side. That, plus she cared about me not going to jail. Which could be a possible reason for her to like me.

"Okay, let's say this all makes sense. What do we do now?" Mike asked, still looking partially confused. "How do we protect Ben?"

Zoe smiled. She knew what Erica was getting at. "What else?" she replied. "We get out of the US."

Have a wonderful day/night! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, more coming soon!!!!