Spy School At Sea

Chapter 13

As I follow Murray, I make sure to be observant. If I can find anything that explains what WLA is up to, I will tell the rest of the group, so we can figure out a way to thwart WLA. Murray seems to actually be on my side, but I'm taking extra precautions, like looking for possible escape routes, just in case. I've taken too many chances. He does lead me to the weaponry where I grab a smoke bomb, hand grenade, and a bag of Cheez its. I'm starving since I still had not eaten dinner and it was almost breakfast time. I have found that it's always important to have a snack on you in the spy game. I follow Murray through the ship. He somehow stays away from all agents. I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad one. He stops at one door and motions for me to stand around the corner. I see what looks like a finger-print scanner, eye scanner, and voice test. Once Murray passes all the tests, he waves for me to come, and we go through the door. What I see surprises me. There are 10 cells, half of them full. There are four guards, though all of them have their focus on the prisoners, so they don't see us. My friends do though. They keep a straight face, but I can see the excitement in their eyes. I throw down the smoke bomb, and unlock their cells, while the guards are blinded. My friends quickly render all of them unconscious and start to escape. Mike walks over to Murray and puts him in a headlock position.

"Woah there," I say. "Murray is helping us. He freed me."

"You know Murray has double crossed us too many times to count. This is probably another trap." Mike says.

"I know, but I told him that if he helped me save you, I wouldn't kill him. He kept his part of the deal; I now will keep mine."

Mike releases Murray and walks through the doors. I however stay. "Murray, where is Erica?"

Murray responds, "oh she's not here."

"I know that. I want to know where she is!"

"Oh, you should have said so. Joshua has her captured in his room."

"Then take me to her, so we can save her."

"Well, that's really hard. Joshua has tighter security in his room than anywhere else on this boat. He doesn't have any weaknesses, and I've heard that Erica has angered him so much that he literally won't leave his room, making sure she doesn't escape."

"But we can't just leave her there."

Catherine walks over to me. "Ben, Murray's right. Saving Erica is too risky. We will probably get captured again. This won't happen again too, so let's take advantage of it. Erica will do fine on her own. Meanwhile we have other things to worry about, like what WLA is doing. So, Murray, would you mind telling us your evil plan so we can help stop it?"

Murray slinks away, "I uh, don't know what they were planning."

Mike and I both smack our heads in annoyance. "You were literally just telling us about your "amazing" plan that you were creating and now you expect us to believe you don't know what they are doing."

"Well, I uh, lied. I was just trying to make you guys believe that I was in charge here."

"Well, you do have some authority, which means you probably know parts of their plan, so please tell us."

"That's the problem! Even though I was the second most powerful person in WLA, I didn't know anything! Joshua still doesn't trust me to do anything!"

"A wise policy, seeing that you have messed up everything else you have done." Cyrus mumbles.

Murray ignores him. "If I knew anything, I would tell you. Especially since WLA wants me dead."

Catherine steps between us and Murray. "Ok guys. I understand that you don't trust Murray, I don't either. But I don't think he knows what their plan is. So, let's figure out what they are doing. Erica said something about knowing what they are up to. Murray, you have seen what they have been doing. So, let's put our knowledge together to figure out what Operation Shark is, and how to stop it!"

I'm about to answer her when another Hale speaks up. "Who the heck is he? What is WLA? And why was I just kidnapped?" Trixie Hale says.