Spy School: Old Becomes New

Chapter 14

May 15th, 2029

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1530 hours

Ben's POV

I had woken up from my nap to no Erica.

Shocker. 

I was getting really sick of her sneaking out and about behind my back. Emma was still sleeping peacefully with Bella. I sat up and fixed my ruffled shirt, then went to the desk where I had placed the laptops. I booted one of them up, and while I was waiting I sprayed some cologne and reapplied deodorant.

I went back over to the table and logged on. I opened up my wifi box from the suitcase and connected it, so I wouldn't be on any public servers. Next, I put in a secure connection to the CIA database.

I logged into our Operation to see if any other details had been posted. There wasn't anything listed other than the stuff Erica had shown me and the fact that it had Mike and Zoe listed as moles. I started to upload my brief from what had happened on the plane.

I listed the details of what had happened, including that I wasn't sure who had attempted to hit the plane down. I submitted the quick brief and went back to check on Emma, who was now finally starting to wake up.

"Hi, sleepyhead," I said, tickling her.

"Stawpp it," she said, smiling.

I picked her up and took her to the bathroom to get her freshened up.

"Where's mommy?" she asked me.

"I ... have no idea Em," I responded, washing her face.

"Is she coming back?" she asked.

"She will, don't worry about that," I said.

I brought her back out to the bed and set her down, then put my utility belt on. I didn't see the need to try for a spy suit right now, but to have some essentials on me would be nice. 

I had just finished combing my hair when I heard a knock on the door. I was instantly on high alert and checked the peephole.

I opened the door to find my best friend.

"Uncle Mikeeeeeeee," Emma said, running over to him.

"Hi Emma," he said. He gave her a little hug, going into a squat to do so. He looked up at me.

"You need to come with me, right now," he said.

"Why? Erica's not even here."

"What? Where is she?"

"I have no idea."

"How do you have no idea where your wife is?"

"It's ... been a tense past few days."

"Well, we need to get going. Don't bring anything else."

"Where are we going?"

"I'll explain on the way, but we need to leave now."

"Ok." I picked up Emma and followed Mike out of the room into the hallway. We headed to the elevator and Mike pressed to go to the parking garage.

As soon as we got down there, we headed towards a red sedan, which looked completely normal other than the tinted windows. I jumped into the passenger seat, letting Emma sit in my lap.

"I'm surprised you followed me down here," he said.

"Oh come on, you really think that I would believe you are a mole?"

"Well, it's been a crazy few weeks. Excuse me for being paranoid."

I just nodded my head. I knew what it was like to hide all too well.

We headed onto the street and towards the downtown district of Toronto.

"So, where are we going?" I asked.

"To my temporary hideout," he said.

"And ... why is that?"

"Look how easy it was for me to find you. You don't want that type of heat."

"I also don't want the type of heat that'll show that I'm with a registered mole."

"Exactly why you need to come hide out here."

We drove for another 15 or so minutes, then entered another parking garage. Mike drove up to a parking spot facing the wall, and waited. Then, the wall slid open and he went down a ramp. He eventually ended up beneath the garage.

It was reminiscent of a bat cave, with how long it was. There were two separate exits, and a third one that looked like it had no end. He pulled up to a work desk that was set up and parked. I got out of the car, Emma in tow. I walked up to the desk with him, which had three monitors and a bunch of area for writing or any other activity that needed a desk.

"How did you afford all of this?" I asked.

"It's not mine," he responded. "This was funded by the CIA after they sent me on numerous missions. I saved their money and spent it towards here."

"Wouldn't you need that money for your other missions?" I asked.

"I have a way of doing things that is cost effective. Thinking outside of the box."

"Amen to that."

"So, I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me."

"Yes. Why are you listed as a mole?"

"Because ... technically I am." I turned and looked at him.

"What?" I asked.

"I leaked one of my missions to the other side before I completed it."

"How does that even make sense?"

"Long story short, it got them moving, which made them easier to take out than trying to attack their heavily guarded fortress."

"Wait. So you told the enemy you were planning to attack them, which made them move, and then you took them out anyway?"

"Yeah. Along those lines." I just shook my head. This was getting too much to handle.

"And Zoe?"

"Zoe ... I'm not sure where she is right now."

"You didn't travel here with her?"

"No, I did, but she's been off the grid for 2 days now."

I shook my head again. This mission was just turning into a complete mess.

"Do you have anything on B&B?" I asked him.

"A little." He clicked a few keys on the keyboard and pulled up a file on them. It had a photo of their truck, some thugs, and dots of information.

"Very obviously a shell company, no real mentions of them in any mainstream media. They were linked to an operation down in California but I couldn't find any of their trucks there, so I'm not sure how much of that is true."

I remembered about the cruise ship that was on the USB stick that Erica had hidden. I elected not to mention that.

"They have been moving construction materials, food, and water to this site off of the Gardiner expressway."

He pointed on the map to where it was estimated to be. 

"And, you're in on helping me and Erica on this mission?" I asked him.

"Kind of. But I can't help you out in the open given my status. We had been tracking these guys off the record for a while. This will be more help to you than it is to me."

"I don't know what to say man, thank you."

"Don't mention it."

"I might still need your help though, in the field."

"We'll see."

I looked around to see Emma playing with a toy car and I picked her up and brought her over to a bedroom in the corner. 

"Looks like Uncle Mike has given us a big present Emma," I said.

"I like this place," she responded.

"Me too," I said. "Lets go to work."