Spy School: Outbreak

Chapter 1

Artillery Range

Academy of Espionage

Washington, DC

May 5

1330 hours

I fired off another few shots at the target. I hit it each time. It had been over a year since we had gotten the results back on the rock from Murray Hill's shoe, telling us that he had either been to Nicaragua or Antarctica, but we still didn't know why.

 I had originally thought that we would've gotten wind of a mission to find out what Murray was doing there, or even been sent on one ourselves, but it was like it never happened. Everyone had gone back to school, then back to Spy Camp, and the school year was nearly over already, and nobody had gotten any word of a mission. 

I had decided that I was done being the guy that needed to be carried. I was finished being dead weight. Every second of my free time was either spent at the school gym(If you could call it that), at the firing range, or sparring with Erica, who jumped at the chance to help me improve. I had gone from getting new grades invented to accommodate my lack of skill, to reaching an average grade of A- in Self Preservation, and a B in Firearms.

I squeezed off a few more shots, hitting the stomach, arm, shoulder, leg, and ear. I had gone from not being able to hit the target at all from thirty feet away, to regularly hitting it from seventy-five yards. I reloaded again, aimed, and-

"We need to talk."

I pulled the trigger, startled, and whirled around. Standing there, in all her raven-haired, blue-eyed glory, was Erica Hale.

"Jesus, Erica, don't do that!" I breathed, heart racing. "I swear, you just enjoy scaring me."

She gave me a small smile.

"Maybe I do," She said slyly.

She cleared her throat.

"Anyway, Grandpa told me to come to get you. I think it's time!" She said, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Okay," I said, glancing over at the target. "One second. Do you have a pen?"

She looked at me weirdly, then gave it to me. I jogged over to the target. I had shot a hole in the eye when she startled me. I pulled a scrap of paper out of my pocket, wrote Joshua on it, and stuck it over the eye. I walked back over to Erica, who was giving me a hard stare.

"Bad time to bring up your ex-boyfriend?" I said. "Okay."

She glared at me.

I held my hands up in surrender.

"Alright, alright."

I followed her to the main building. She led me up the familiar staircases and twisting hallways until we arrived at the principal's office. I had blown up the principal's office eighteen months ago, yet repairs had only just begun. 

We walked through the door, into the main office, and held up our arms to get frisked. A minute later, we were walking into the principal's office. Inside was the principal; Barnabus Sidebottom, Cyrus Hale, and an American woman in a sleek business suit.

"Ah, you're here," Cyrus said gravely. "Sit down, shut up, and listen. This is worse than we feared."