Spy school, paradise city.

Chapter 23

Yep. I've updated. Sorry it took so long. Hope you enjoy it. Give me ideas.

Thanks.

"Will you please, please, please tell me what's going on?" I desperately asked Erica. 

"You'll know soon enough, you're a spy, figure it out," She replied.

Yeah, we'd been going back and forth like that for an hour. Now, usually, I'm not the one to complain when walking through an awesome city like this, but I was quite scared, seeing as I had nearly died the night before. Then, I finally found out where we were going.

"We're heading towards the train station, right?" I asked.

"Took ya long enough," Erica replied.

"Why aren't we taking the subway or bus?"

"Might be a bomb."

"A whole entire subway's just a bomb?"

"No, I mean there might be a bomb there. But if we're walking on these crowded streets, we're harder to spot."

Made sense. We walked for another hour (It's a massive city) before finally arriving at the train station. Beijing south railway station. (Guys, google it and then go to images, it's insane). 

"You know that all this cover will be gone when we enter the train station, right?" I said.

"Well... I know that if..." She started. I raised an eyebrow. "Fine, I've been under a lot of stress lately, no thanks to you, and I'm not really my normal self now."

"Umm-"

"I just told you that. Shoot. Wait. Did I tell you that I've been under a lot of stress?"

Well, this was worse than I thought it would be. "You've told me twice, are you feeling alright?"

"Mostly."

"Mostly."

"Stop that."

"I'm just trying to understand what's up with you..." I quickly explained. I'd been Annoying Erica a lot lately, and It's a wonder I still have my head. I didn't do it on purpose, but it still had the same effect.

"Well, nothing's up with me so drop it before I kill you." She said.

For the rest of the morning, Erica bought us tickets, got us through security, and didn't say a word to me. Not that it was really unusual for her to do this, but my curiosity was tenfold the normal amount. Finally, after an hour of just sitting in the waiting area, listening to the few albums I'd bother to download for the trip, I broke the silence. The hunger in my stomach was too much for me to bear.

"Is it alright if we get some breakfast?" I asked tentatively. 

"We board in two hours, I'm pretty sure you can wait until then," Erica said, then she went back to reading something on her phone. Knowing her, it was probably some top-secret for-your-eyes-only folder containing information that if lead into the wrong hands could destroy the USA and NATO.

Or not.

But I didn't have the time to check. I was pretty sure starvation would claim my life before the end of the hour if I didn't get something. "Is it alright if I just sneak off to the nearest McDonalds for a few minutes?"

"I'm sure you can wait."

"I'm sure I can't." Oops... forgot who I was talking to for a moment. She glared at me with her classic ice-cold stare. 

"Fine. You have ten minutes," she said.

"Thanks," I said. I headed towards the fast-food chain. On the way, I stopped to admire the scenery, the railway station was truly something else. In truth, it looked more like an airport than a bullet train station, however, it had the same amount of security. I was still amazed at how we got through. 

"Sir?" The cashier tapped me on the shoulder. "Choose." He said in his best English.

I quickly ordered myself a burger, and two cups of coffee. If I brought back nothing, I'd feel like a complete jerk. I quickly wolfed down my burger, then made my way back.

On the way there, I bought some mints. After all... Well... I don't really have to explain it. McDonald's breath. Come on.

I made it back just in the brink of time.

"What took you so long?" Erica asked me. I dogged the question by asking one of my own.

"Coffee?" I held up the cup. After 10 seconds of indecision, she finally decided to take it.

"Thanks," She said under her breath. 

I decided to spend the rest of the time doing exactly what I did before. Listening to music. I closed my eyes and drifted away.

Just when I was getting comfortable, Erica tapped me on the shoulder.

"Wha - yeah?" I yawned. 

"Save your sleeping for the trip," She pointed to the boarding area. People were being checked in.

We stepped in line and were ushered onto a massive escalator that led to an enormous platform. After some time searching, we found our train. 

"So, what class are we traveling in?" I asked as we got on. 

"First," Erica answered. I'll admit, I started to get pretty excited, but Erica somehow managed to read my mind. "Don't get your hopes up. First and Bussiness are switched in China."

"Still..." I said just as we got to our seats, they were massive, very well cushioned, and... Two to a row. I stopped dead in my tracks, which wasn't an inconvenience as I was going to stop there anyway.

"Do you want the window seat?" Erica asked me.

"I really don't care," I replied. Erica shrugged and took the window seat. I sat right next to her and started taking out my earbuds - I really didn't have anything to at this point - and putting them on when I realized that I still had no clue where we're going. I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out how I could get this information. Then it occurred to me that I could just ask Erica. So I did.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The yellow mountains."