Spy School Out West

Chapter 26

Long time on this one. I kept getting distracted *shrugs* 

Shoutout to @spyschoolagent for voting and commenting on a lot of chapters :) I genuinely thought nobody would read this, so even thinking that I'm getting upvotes and that people are enjoying my writing feels so surreal :0

-- 
Ben's POV 
-- 
Joshua Hallal's house 
Paris, France 
August 4 
0615 hours 
-- 

"Good morning, Ben," Erica said from the other side of the bed as she sat up. 

I sat up as well. The morning was awfully humid. I jumped out of bed and put on my gross overalls. "Ready to go?" I asked her. 

"I've been ready," Erica replied. 

We left the room together and went downstairs, where Catherine and Cyrus were waiting for us. Catherine was making French toast again, and Cyrus was coordinating with the CIA at the dining table. "How was your night?" Catherine asked, turning to face us. She wore a pale pink apron with blue accents that said Live. Laugh. Bake. 

"It wasn't what it looked like..." Erica started, seeming embarrassed. 

Catherine laughed. "I know," she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "And I won't tell anyone." 

Erica smiled, though it was more of a pained grimace. "What time are we moving out?" She asked. 

"Around 0645 hours," Catherine replied. "So let's sit and eat now." 

I didn't need to be told twice. I ate one slice and was about to eat another when the rest of the junior agents filed down the steps, wearing their new work clothes. Mike jumped the last three. 

"We had an epic game of cage ball just now," Mike said enthusiastically. "You should have come!" 

I pointed to the French toast, and, like most teenage boys, Mike was diverted easily. He excitedly took three pieces. 

"This smells great, Catherine," Jawa said. "Thank you." 

"My pleasure," she said. "Does everyone know what they're supposed to do today?" 

We mumbled positively around the food. "This is ah-mazing," Balto said after she'd finished two slices. "Is all your cooking this good?" 

Catherine was about to say something modest, but Zoe beat her to it. "Yes," she said. "Catherine makes incredible blueberry muffins, too." 

"That sounds delicious," Balto said as she adjusted her hat. "Ready?" 

Catherine checked the time and nodded. We picked up our pilfered construction supplies and walkie-talkies from where they waited by the door and hailed a taxi to a construction site about a block away from the conference. 

"Hall three is right here, girls," Catherine said once we were at the Paris Nord. "Let's go see what security features they have." 

There was a scuffed back door that Catherine guessed led into the thin maintenance corridor behind the expo hall. Unfortunately for us, it was locked. 

Unfortunately for Joshua, though, Catherine was extremely adept at picking locks. Catherine had guessed correctly; it was a maintenance corridor about three feet wide with a stairwell at the end. Dingy fluorescent lights flickered on and off. 

We sent Zoe and Balto on their way, then dropped Chip and Jawa off at hall four. 

Five-A was a bit trickier. Until then, we'd been sticking to the employee parking lots. Now, we were going to have to go around into the main plaza, where the most punctual generals and exhibitors were already waiting for morning briefing.