Agent Benjamin Ripley

Chapter 26

Two updates today! By the way, I'm scheduling to update Was It all A Dream on Wednesday's now. See if you can spot the reference to the play that gave me inspiration. 2 updates today. I apologize for ending this so short, but I have been running out of ideas. I got this good opinion, but I'm going to Ireland for a competition in less than 20 days and I really need to focus on that. I have way to many stories running, and getting my oldest one out of the way is the best option. *wipes away tear* My baby is all grown up! *sob*

"So, you're telling me that Ben's been captured? Again?!" Nefarious yelled, running his hand through his hair. 

"Nefie!" Zoe slapped his arm. "Lower your voice!"

Mike glowered at the former evil spy. He didn't like how close he and Zoe were. Erica nudged him with her shoulder, telling him with her eyes to get on with it.

"Can you get into this flash drive and tell us where to find Ben? They have to have something." Mike begrudgingly handed the flash drive over. Nefarious plugged it into the side of the laptop and began typing furiously, muttering to himself. He pushed his brown hair out of his face, and after a tense 10 minutes of transcribing and opening various documents, he turned to the spies. 

"They don't know where he is, but..." He trailed off at Erica's crestfallen face. 

"But?" Zoe prompted him, rubbing circles on Erica's back. There were no tears left.

"It's all my fault." Her mouth was parted slightly and she murmured this to herself. 

"Ben, why do you have to be so stupidly selfless? Why do you have to be so... Ben?" (Anyone picking up what I'm throwing down?)

"But..." Nefarious continued. "They think he might be in a warehouse in Virginia. I can give you the coordinates after I crack the code protecting it."

Erica's head snapped up. 

"Send it to me ASAP." She looked scarier than usual. Maybe it was the fact that she was closer to getting to Ben than she was before. 

30 minutes later, they were scoping out all the possible warehouses. There seemed to be quite a few. You know how in crime dramas all the bad guys appear to have holed out somewhere in abandoned warehouses? Well, this wasn't exactly like that. They were looking for a formerly abandoned warehouse that contained a possible secret underground bunker that contained a plethora of technology, weapons, and... Ben... Her Ben. 

Nefarious hadn't finished decoding the firewall. Again, it wasn't like the movies where the tech whiz clicked a few keys and immediately fractured through the codes protecting sensitive information. Nonetheless, they were at a disadvantage. Ben was the best at deduction, and without him there to help them, they didn't have a clue. 

"Maybe this one?" Zoe spoke up, pointing to a blip on a map. Mike shook his head. 

"Nah, the geography isn't right. Let's watch the video again." They had been analyzing the video from Callim. ( I almost wrote Cadmus) 

The three friends watched the video again. Mike paused it in the middle. He pointed a white flash near the man's shoulder. It was a bird. More specifically, a north eastern cadmus finch, indigenious to Virginia. (Also, completely fictional bird. I couldn't find one that was only native to Virginia/Washington D.C)

"Those types of birds are only found in this section of Virginia during this time of year." Zoe began typing on the laptop.

"We have three possible warehouses in that area." Mike crouched down next to her. 

"What do we do next?" He addressed Erica.

"We find Ben, and we bring him home."