Spy School: Old Becomes New

Chapter 22

May 18th, 2029

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1330 hours

Erica's POV

The thugs were well trained, or so I thought. Mom, Dad and I each handled one, which took us a good bit. I had seen 3 others but I didn't know where they had gone.

We each took out our attackers around the same time, and wheeled around towards where Murray was.

Ben was holding him at knifepoint.

"Well well well," he said. "We meet again, Murray."

"I should have known it was you, Ripley," he said to Ben.

Ben didn't correct him on the last name.

Us three walked up behind him and he noticed us.

"And of course your entourage is here with you. Why wouldn't they be?"

"It's over Murray," Ben said. "Stop it."

"No can do, sir," he responded. "I don't have control anymore."

I walked up so I was right behind his ear.

"You better shut off whatever the hell you are doing right now, or so help me," I whispered.

He just turned to face me.

"HA! So you don't even know what's going on? That's amazing!"

I pushed him out of his chair onto the ground. I heard him moan but I didn't care. I looked at his laptop and it was just displaying four radars, with blue circles overlapping the entire city.

Ben had picked up Murray and placed him on another desk, with his hands tied behind his back.

"How do we shut it off?" he asked.

"How does it feel, Ripley? You couldn't figure it out this time. And it's too late for you now! HA!"

"You planned to take out the four major sources of renewable energy in Toronto on the 20th. Since the election moved up two days, so did your plans."

"What does this have to do with the election?" he said, though I could see his bravado starting to fade.

"You're in the trenches with one of the leaders. He wants to free the energy sector in Alberta, the oil sands. If you show how easily it is to disrupt renewable energy, he will gain a massive advantage in popularity and win. People want reliable energy, and if their renewable sources aren't working, especially in the biggest city, they will switch.

"Then, he pursues to reopen the oil mining across the country. He will need construction companies, where you can make money by using your shell company. You make a share of the profits for putting him in power, and you also gain intel."

"Yea, but - but - but why was I in Calif-

"You were scoping out places on the marina to buy. You want to live away from the illegal action, but in a big city like Los Angeles, so you are still connected. Since you're by the ocean, you can easily launder the dirty money from the Canadian government by shipping it overseas. Running the laziest crime scheme I have ever heard of."

Ben wasn't done.

"By disrupting the renewable sources with electromagnetic waves, technicians won't be able to fix the energy sources, since they will look fine. You can keep your sources running until popularity has swayed enough."

Ben paused for a second.

"You really need to think through your plans better."

Murray to my surprise, wasn't upset.