Double Agent

Chapter 4: Reina

Come quickly.

There were coordinates on the back, and it said that the message was from Theo. When Reina finally decoded the coordinates, she got--Tulipton Academy? Had Theo been messing around with the USB again? Or adding top secret information? She could have ignored him, of course... but it seemed urgent.

So a few minutes later, Reina found herself trudging down the sidewalk in the direction of Tulipton Academy. The school's lights were already off, a sign that just about all of the people had gone--but, of course, not Theo. She slipped a key that Camila had given her into the front door lock.

The door swung open soundlessly, and Reina observed that the school was quite ominous at night. The dark, shadow-covered hallway was lit only by the moonlight streaming in through windows. She honestly didn't understand how Theo did this...

A quiet beeping sound came from the computer lab. She slowly crept towards the room, hoping it wasn't a ticking bomb. And then, as soon as she got to the computer, the ticking stopped. She turned on the computer from sleep mode, and the beeping started up again. DATA EJECTED, the screen flashed in bright red letters. USB UNPLUGGED.

Suddenly, Theo's face appeared on the screen. "YES!" he shouted, then smiled hugely. "Where are you?" Reina asked, squinting at the room full of wiring on the computer screen, where Theo now stood.

His smile faded. "Um... I kind of got locked in the control room. Can you get the USB--" "Wait! It must have been the Air spy," Reina interrupted. "Did you see who did it?" Theo sighed. "No. They were wearing a gray hoodie, though, and I saw that they had long hair. I wasn't really paying attention, so I didn't see the colour."

"Plus, it might not have been the Air agent..." he said hopefully, but any Underground citizen wouldn't go snooping around this area. Tulipton Academy didn't have anything valuable except for the UA's data, but nobody would care for that; Underground people were mostly filled in on this information anyway.

Reina was a tad disappointed, but it was the biggest lead they'd gotten so far as to who the Air agent was. "I'll get you out of there now," she muttered, turning to go to the control room. "You might as well grab the USB, so we can get out of here quicker."

Her mind flashed back to the DATA EJECTED, USB UNPLUGGED. She started searching frantically for the USB. It wasn't in the computer, wasn't anywhere around the computer...

"Theo?" she whispered. "You didn't, by any chance, take the USB with you, right?" Theo did a quick check of his pockets, then shook his head.

"It's missing."

Theo's eyes widened, and the expression on his face was pure panic. "WHAT?" he gasped. "Please tell me that you're joking." "I'm not!" Reina exclaimed. "Is it really that terrible?" "YES!" he shouted, before adding, "You can come and unlock the door now."

"Kat added agent files. These were top secret agent files that I was inspecting. The best spies in the whole organization--" he broke off, and said quietly, "I just lost half of the data for the whole UA. They have a backup for some of the files, but not all."

Reina turned off the computer and, using the same key, wrenched the door open. In all the years that she'd known him, Theo had never looked so miserable. "We still have all the photo and video files," she reminded him gently. "And it wasn't really your fault. But the agent we're facing is really good, so we have to work together."

Theo didn't give her a full-fledged smile, but hints of one lingered on his face for a moment before he turned away. "Thanks, Reina," he said. "You're right."

*****

"Reina!" her mother called. "We're being called to the UA for something we need to look into. And no, I don't know what it is," she said before Reina could ask.

Reina quickly drank her bowl of soup before riding in the subway (a benefit of being Underground) to Jewel Heights Station. Jewel Heights was one of the fanciest cities Underground, due to its high number of riches. Jewel Heights was in a manmade canyon. Since it had so many tall buildings, if it was built on the same level as smaller towns like Ivy Caverns, the buildings would poke out onto the mainland.

This was, of course, where Camila had decided to build the UA headquarters. The building was made out of glittering silver, and right in the middle of the city. The doors, which Reina now entered through, were massive and loomed over them.

Reina's mother and father discussed something private with Richard Grehen, a trusted official, and finally called Reina over to take a look at some footage of the mainland which had been taken using their periscope cameras. It was choppy and the periscope was wobbly, but this was what notes she took of it:

-Dog growls and barks; gears begin whirring. Must be robot dog.

-Person comes up to dog. Too blurry to see, but probably man, judging by voice saying "Come here, you little dog"

-Dog doesn't move, and person throws a bone. Dog races after bone, and person writes in diary, muttering, "Philip Sancoy, day 2 animal training. Success for 32 animals, failure with 45 others and all bladewing butterflies".

"Show it to me," said Mr. Grehen, looking very relaxed, but his calm façade vanished when he saw her notes. "Philip Sancoy?!" he asked incredulously, and shoved the note back into Reina's hands as fast as he could. "You don't know what you're dealing with, Reina," he whispered to her, tension rising in his voice. "Stay away from this case if you know what's good for you."

Then he had gone, and soon, so had Reina and her family.

*****

Reina spent the night pondering Mr. Grehen's reaction after trying (and failing) to fall asleep. Who was Philip Sancoy, and why did Mr. Grehen seem so nervous after seeing his name? Activity on the mainland was strange... yet no other spies in the UA seemed to know Philip Sancoy after she'd talked to them while leaving.

She stifled a yawn, knowing that she needed to sleep soon. But before Reina got there, she made it official: she would have a word with Mr. Grehen in the morning. "Mom!" she called from her bedroom. "Do you know if you could schedule a meeting with Richard Grehen sometime very soon?"

Her mother was taken aback. "You want a meeting with Mr. Grehen? He's a higher-ranked official than me... but I can try," she said timidly, adding, "You should be asleep by now." Just before Reina closed her eyes, she heard her mother dialing a number. "Yes?" she said in a hushed tone. Reina assumed that she was talking to Mr. Grehen's assistant, or maybe even Mr. Grehen himself.

But when it looked like she was about to end the conversation, Reina heard the last thing she'd expected to hear. It was her mother speaking, and she said:

"Okay, Mr. Sancoy. I'll be right there."