Spy School Goes to Trial

Chapter 4 - Old Friends

[Redacted] Park
Near Washington D.C.
May 29
1400 hours

Being pulled off my feet and dragged along wasn't a strange way to be treated by Erica. In fact, it was quite normal. I had often been thrown into a room or tossed on the ground by her, and learned it was often best to go along with it, unresisting.

"You know I would have come with you. You could've just asked," I said.

She immediately eased up on her vice-like grip, allowing me to catch up. She glanced back at me, and to my surprise she seemed bashful. Erica was many things, but rarely was she ever bashful. Despite opening up to me on the cruise ship, I was still shocked to see the range of emotions at play in her.  After all, her code name - Ice Queen - wasn't just for her coolness under pressure.

To be fair, I believed much of her aloofness had been caused by her relationship with one of our enemies - Joshua Hallal. He had been a student at spy school when Erica first started, and was ranked as one of the best students, possibly better than Erica at the time. They became friends, and were very close, perhaps even more than friends. Then he died in a gruesome explosion.  Or at least, that's what we were led to believe. We found out later that he had faked his own death in order to join SPYDER, turning evil. Since then he had become one of our greatest foes.

Erica never talked much about their relationship, partly because it was painful and partly because Erica never talked about anything if she didn't have to. I could still tell the betrayal had left a deep wound. At the very least, it made her suspicious of friendships, and getting close to people. However, we had run into Joshua several times since discovering he was a traitor, and she found some catharsis in punching him.

She fully released my wrist, gently caressing the inside of my hand. It was one of the subtle, concealed, ways she showed we might be more than friends. Anyone watching probably would not have noticed, but it sent my heart racing.

Sensing the change in my pulse she turned and said, "Don't have a heart attack, Ben."

While I wasn't a hundred percent sure, she seemed to be teasing me. Then she playfully nudged me with her shoulder. This was something else that was new to me - Erica was capable of flirting.

She quickly changed the subject, returning to her usual business-like tone, "Does my mother know about us?"

I did not respond immediately. Catherine's words echoed in my head. How often would we be forced to keep secrets from each other, I wondered. I didn't want something to tear us apart before we could barely start. It felt like there were a lot of external things that would be working against us. I really didn't know what to do about it. After all, we were only teenagers, and I was even a little younger than Erica. The biggest problem seemed to be the secrets. That's what put a strain on Catherine and Alexander's relationship, so I thought in the least I could not keep secrets from Erica. Not that I could keep anything from her anyway. She was like a human lie detector, and claimed she could hear me grimace with her eyes closed.

But, I didn't know if she would do the same for me. On several missions, Erica hadn't kept secrets exactly, but she had certainly withheld information from me. However, I always understood why. It was never done to harm me, or for her own personal gain, but for the of the good mission. Still, it didn't feel right to be on the receiving end of these omissions.

We sat down at the base of a tree, sheltering from the afternoon sun, and gently pressed our shoulders against each other. It was maybe one of the first romantic spots we were in that wasn't part of a mission. It wasn't exactly how I envisioned the moment, though. We weren't smiling and laughing, or talking about unimportant things. Instead we sat staring off into the distance.

"Yes, she does. I think she figured it out a while ago," I said. Then I thought to add, "She's not against it though."

Erica nodded, "That's not a surprise. She's always liked you. And she was right about us being a good team."

"I think she's mostly worried. She wanted to warn me about what we could be up against. Keeping our...."

I stopped mid sentence, because I didn't know what to call us. We never officially said what our relationship was exactly. She certainly never called me her boyfriend, and I was always reluctant to take the lead. It had taken a long time for Erica to open up, and I didn't want to push her.

Instead I just said, "It's hard to keep secrets like this, and to keep secrets from each other. If the CIA finds out, we may be asked to split up on missions, or worse. Then our enemies might try and use this against us in some way."

"I think we both knew this wouldn't be easy. Not to mention, our enemies have already tried to use our friendship against us. The Croatoan tried to use me to get to you. And, don't forget Murray has mentioned your feelings for me more than once as a way of distracting you."

"It's not just enemies. What happens if we need to keep things from each other? On our last mission, I was supposed to be bait and you were ordered to keep that hidden."

Erica winced.

"I'm not saying that was your fault. I know you were forced into it, but I think that's the point." I changed tactics, "What about if we need to become close to someone else on a mission, like I was asked to do with Jessica Shang?"

At the mention of her name, Erica turned sharply to me. In a mission to Colorado, I had been tasked with getting close to Jessica, so that we could find out what her father was up to. Then, we met Jessica on the last mission, as it turned out to be her family's cruise ship. On both occasions, Jessica had hugged me, which Erica interpreted as Jessica wanting to be more than friends.

"What are you saying?"

I was expecting there to be anger  in her words, maybe even a hint of jealousy, but instead she seemed worried. I rested my hand on hers and squeezed it tightly. I was never sure how Erica would react to physical contact, anywhere from pulling away to punching me, but she didn't move. I took a deep breath, "I'm just saying I know it will be hard, but I also know that this will be worth it." Then I added, "I don't want to keep secrets from you. I promise that I won't do that."

After a moment's pause she said, "I don't think that's something you can promise."

"I know we can't always do it, given the nature of the business, but we can try," I said.

"When I can be honest with you I will be."

Erica made a sudden movement. At first, I thought she was going to kiss me, but she stood up instead. Her reaction didn't surprise me too much, and I assumed she was trying to act normal, because Mike and Trixie were returning. Despite being my best friend, I hadn't told him about Erica and I's last kiss, thinking she would like to keep it a secret. Although, I suspected Mike knew something was up. I wasn't sure if Erica had told Trixie about us. However, Trixie was a Hale, and very clever, so she could probably figure it out on her own, too.

But they weren't anywhere to be seen. I looked back to where Catherine and Alexander were. Catherine was trying to untangle Alexander from the hammock he had somehow wrapped himself inside of. She suddenly stiffened, and turned in the same direction Erica was facing. It was one thing if Erica reacted this way, but the two best spies I knew were on high alert.

Finally, I heard what had alarmed them.

A helicopter was getting closer and closer. While the sound of a helicopter in Washington D.C. was not that unusual, they were often used by the police to track criminals or fly the President to Camp David, it was unusual to see one swooping down out of the sky, stopping to hover only a few hundred feet above where Erica and I stood.

The side door of the helicopter that faced us wrenched open, revealing who was inside. My heart sank. Joshua Hallal stood there aiming his mechanical arm at us, readying to fire a missile.