Spy School: Crash of Canada (#1)

Chapter 10 - Decoding

Hotel Room 714

Toronto, Canada

February 7th

0230 Hours

We all stood watching over Erica's shoulder as the information on the flash drive began to load up onto the screen. It finished loading to reveal a single file. There was nothing else on the screen, so Erica clicked on it. 

The file opened and a message was displayed on the screen: "You thought it would be that easy, huh?" Then, the computer exploded. We all scrambled out of the path of flaming airborne computer circuits.

"Damnit! That was our only lead!" Erica said, angrily overturning a small end table.

"Now wait one minute," Catherine said. "SPYDER uses this flash drive, meaning there is a way to get the information off of it."

"And how do you plan on doing that?!" Erica asked, growing even more annoyed. "Because we can't trust any professional decoders at the CIA or MI6!"

Catherine sighed and took the flash drive out of the computer's flaming remains. Then, she removed a small device, that I assumed was a code breaker. Or possibly just a modified safe cracker. Catherine plugged the hard drive in, and a 19-digit entry code came up on the screen, each sifting through hundreds of possible solutions. A message appeared at the bottom of the screen: "2 hours remaining." 

"You see," Catherine said. "This code breaker will decode the flash drive and we can get SPYDER's plans."

"Will it really be that easy?" Zoe asked. 

"Ok, maybe not SPYDER's exact plans, but at least some useful information." Catherine replied.

Zoe nodded agreement and sat down in an armchair. I went and sat down on the couch, not knowing what to do until the code breaker was finished. While I did so, I tried my best to recall everything I had seen and/or heard while in SPYDER's headquarters. Even though the encounter had been less than 2 hours before, I was having trouble remembering the details. 

Just then, something important came to mind. I has seen a bunch of colorful wires wrapped around a large metal cylinder. Was it a bomb?  It had to be, what else like that would be in SPYDER's headquarters? But maybe it had been something as simple as an electrical box, I had been to busy running for my life to pay close attention. I began to get the distinct nagging feeling that I was missing something very important. I hoped that the flash drive would have all of the information needed to thwart SPYDER's plans. Unfortunately, it had only been 10 minutes since Catherine had started the code breaker. 

"Alright children," Catherine said. "I know it is nearly 0300, but we might just need to wait on the code breaker so that we can know our plan of action for tomorrow."

"Only if the flash drive has the information we need." Zoe said.

Catherine nodded. "I suppose in the mean time, we can pick up Micheal from the hospital. He has been there for nearly 2 days now."

"Can I come along?" Zoe asked. "I would really like to see him.."

"Of course, Zoe," Catherine replied. Then she headed for the door, Zoe right on her heels.

Erica quickly slipped into her bedroom, having called it in for the night, or morning for that matter. I followed her lead, changing out of my spy suit and climbing into bed myself. For the next 45 minutes I couldn't fall asleep. My. brain refused to stop trying to figure out SPYDER's plans. I still had the nagging feeling that I was missing something extremely important, but just couldn't put my finger on it. After a half hour, I finally fell asleep.

Unfortunately, that didn't last long. I was suddenly, woken up out of my sleep to a disturbing thought. I looked over at my clock, it was 4:30 in the morning. Catherine, Zoe, and Mike still weren't back. But I had just figured out what SPYDER was plotting.