Spy School: OPERATION DOWNFALL

Chapter 1: Recovery

After thwarting Operation Hornswoggle, I was absolutely exhausted.  I hadn't eaten in a couple days, I'd almost died, and I needed sleep very badly.  Sadly, any of those things weren't possible until after the post-mission stuff was dealt with.

"Where are we going now?" I asked Erica after we had reconvened with the rest of our friends.

"Let's see. We could possibly fly back to Washington, but that would be risky, knowing that a ton of assassins know where the Academy is." She replied.

"I can answer that for you." Alexander Hale said. "While you two were on your mission, Catherine and I contacted the CIA to see if there were any areas they had available for us to recover."

"And what did they say?" Zoe asked.

"They do have one!" Alexander pumped his hands in the air triumphantly. "It's in San Francisco, behind some kind of secret passage in a museum."

"Oh, sweet!" Mike exclaimed. "I've always wanted to go to San Francisco!"

"It looks like you have another adventure ahead of you," Ivan Shumovsky said, smiling. "I better leave you to it!  Svetlana and I will board a plane back to our home."

"Thank you for not initiating the doomsday plot." I said, grateful that I had another day to live.

Svetlana laughed, "You changed Grandpa's mind, and so we thank you for that."

"I hope I see you around soon!"Zoe hugged Svetlana.

Svetlana pecked Zoe on the cheek, and Zoe blushed a little.  As we all said our goodbyes (and Zoe and Svetlana exchanged numbers), my friends and I all began walking back to the Sea Knight, looking forward to our time in the Bay Area.

We shuffled into the helicopter, Alexander and Catherine in the cockpit, and the rest of us in the back. After Cyrus had had his meal laced with laxatives, he was holding his stomach in pain, and glaring at Alexander. Though I'm sure Alexander was terrified of his father giving him "the look", he covered it up with a playful smile as we lifted off.

"What a day," Erica sighed/yelled over the whir of the helicopter. She had sat next to me and laced her fingers through mine.

"Agreed,"  I kissed her forehead, then rested my head against the walls of the Sea Knight.

Before I even knew it, I was fast asleep.

(❗️AUTHOR INTERVENTION: I just finished reading the Spy School Goes North book. It. Is. Amazing.  I definitely recommend it. WARNING: my memory of what happened in the book is not amazing, so a couple things may be off❗️)

I woke up to Erica resting her head on my shoulder, snoring quietly, which I found cute.  It was still light outside, though the sun had began setting. An orange hue filled the helicopter interior, and over the whir of the blades, was pretty calming.  Alexander was the only one awake, as the rest of us were tired from the crazy day and had taken a nap.

As we began our descent into the San Francisco airport, I could partially see the vast city through the window.  Skyscrapers peaked through the low clouds, and I could see the thousands of houses along the hillside.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Erica had woken up without me noticing, so I jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Yes it is." I replied. "I got a question."

"Fire away." Erica had positioned herself into a sitting position, but kept holding my hand.

"So after all these missions, we finally get a break," I started.

"Uh-huh..."

"When does all of this crime fighting and world saving stop? I've enjoyed my time as a spy, but it's a little overwhelming constantly trying to protect my country." I've had this thought on my mind ever since Alexander announced where we would be laying low.

"Good question," Erica pondered this for a second before answering, "I guess the spy business never sleeps.  Once you've thwarted a couple evil organizations, thugs from all around the world will have you on their radar.  That's why we have each other.  You're one of the smartest people I've ever met."

"And you're- the smartest, most beautiful, athletic, and amazing person I've met for a while." I grinned at her, before pulling her into a kiss.

We sat in silence for a little longer, admiring the gorgeous sunset, until Alexander announced, "Okay, everyone!  We're landing in about 10 minutes! Hope you've all had wonderful naps."

Mike and Zoe woke up slowly, and yawned a few times before gasping at where we were.

"Wow." Mike said, his jaw dropped in awe.

After landing, we all groggily stepped out of the Sea Knight.  Alexander refueled his helicopter, before taking off to find a safe place where he could find it.

"Okay, so where do we go now?" I asked, scanning the busy streets.  Pedestrians were everywhere, crossing streets, entering and exiting shops, and sitting down for dinner.  Despite the typically warm summers in California, San Francisco seemed to be slightly cooler than usual, even though I had just been in the icy parts of Alaska and Russia.

"First we need a car." Catherine immediately went to work, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a huge stack of money.  Then she approached the nearest citizen, who was just getting out of her car.  Catherine talked to the young woman, gave her the money, and in return, got the keys.

"I need to learn how to do that." Mike muttered, walking over to the car.

It was a white minivan, perfect to fit all of us.  Catherine and Cyrus took the first row, Mike and Zoe took the second, and Erica and I were in the third.  It was debated whether or not Erica should sit in the passenger's seat, but Cyrus demanded that he sit in front because he was "more prepare for action".  To prove his point, he passed some gas and we all heard his stumble growl in displeasure.

How much laxatives did Alexander give him?   I thought to myself.

Catherine pulled up her GPS on her government issued phone (which Cyrus scoffed at), and put in the address of the secret living space.  Zoe had gone on her phone and began texting Svetlana, while the rest of us looked out the windows at our surroundings.

"What's Svetlana talking to you about?" I peeked over her seat, and examined their texts.

For the five minutes Zoe and Svetlana were texting, they had said a ton. Svetlana had just landed back in her homeland, and she said Ivan was already putting her through training. 

"Grandpa just told me to dodge some knives from our kitchen and like started throwing them at me 🔪😭," Svetlana wrote.

The texts went on and on, before I sat back down in my seat, and turned my attention to Erica.

"How do you feel about this new CIA issued living space?" I asked her.

"I'm a bit suspicious.  You know how many moles there are in the CIA." Erica replied cautiously.

We pulled into an outdoor parking lot, which Catherine claimed to be right next to the museum.

"Who knows?  Maybe it'll be different this time." I shrugged.

"I doubt it."

And she couldn't be more right.

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