Spy School - Nemesis [1]

06: Odyssey

Dock 17

Virginia Beach, Virginia

April 25

700 hours

After dropping off our luggage at the check-in, Cyrus, Alexander, Erica, Mike and I were all waiting in line to get on the Queen Anne, which was taking a long time. We had to get past multiple checkpoints, which took about five minutes each, and have our passports checked and rechecked. Finally, we got on board and went to pick up our luggage before going to our suites. Alexander, Mike and I were in one, while Erica was in another with Cyrus.

In our room, there was a bunk bed, and a normal bed. "I call top bunk!" Mike yelled as we came into the room. I sighed and dropped my knapsack and briefcase onto the lower bunk, while Alexander was rearranging his overly expensive suits on the other bed.

The room was surprisingly well furnished. There were a couple of sofas and love seats around the room, and a couple of oak wood desks. The beds were soft, and there was a small television set in the corner. The last time I went to a CIA approved mission, the accommodations were cold, tiny, and cramped.

"How did we get such a good suite?" I asked.

"We got a bit of money when SPYDER was defeated, particularly by suing them," Alexander informed me. I was a bit surprised and confused by this, but then Mike interrupted my thoughts.

Mike exclaimed, "Aw man, I left my briefcase at the luggage pickup! I'll go get it now, I suppose."

"I'll come with you," I said. "We should try exploring the ship a bit anyways. Besides, I didn't have breakfast yet. Maybe we can go get some on the way." Mike agreed wholeheartedly, so we went out of our suite, which was on deck ten.

Mike and I looked at the map in our hallway. "Looks like the luggage pickup is on deck eight, restaurant on deck three, and the buffet is on deck fourteen," Mike reported.

"Lets go get your luggage first and drop it off at our room, then go up to the buffet," I suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Mike said.

As he said this, we felt a sudden lurch as Queen Anne departed from the docks. Mike and I ran to the nearest window to see the land move away from us. Everyone around us was doing the same, running to any available windows. After a few minutes, Mike and I took an elevator to the eighth deck.

We took a couple of turns and almost got lost, but before long we were in a room with a clerk. Behind him, there were piles of suitcases sorted alphabetically by party/name.

"Hello, how may I help you?" he asked us.

"Hi," I said. "My friend forgot his briefcase here, do you still have it?"

"Yes, we do," the clerk told us. "Party name?" he asked.

"O-15," Mike obliged.

"Full name?"

"Mike Brezenski."

"Well, we have two items in your party's section," the clerk informed us. "There is a briefcase for Mike Brezenski," he said, handing Mike his briefcase, then continuing, "and there also is a suitcase for Ben Ripley."

"What?" I said, confused. "I didn't bring a suitcase, none of the members in our party did. Are you sure it is for the right person?"

"Yes," said the clerk. He went out of the counter and exited the booth, rolling a huge silver suitcase that looked quite heavy.

"It says Ben Ripley here, take a look for yourself," the clerk stated, rolling the suitcase in front of us. Sure enough, the tag read Ben Ripley, 0-15.

"I guess this is mine," I told the clerk, wheeling it out of the room while Mike followed me with his briefcase.

Once we were out of the room and in the elevator alone, Mike asked, "What do you think the suitcase was doing there? Do you think the new organization placed it?"

"I don't know," I responded. "We should give it to Cyrus for now, check what he says."

Mike and I jumped as the suitcase started unzipping itself, meaning someone was inside, probably there to kill us. This was the end, I thought. This new organization got us cornered and we were going to die. I had survived all of SPYDER's attacks, and now I was going to die in an elevator with my best friend. We both raced to the opposite corner of the elevator and tried to come with an escape plan. I found myself panicking, time slowing down as the suitcase was unzipping it's last couple inches. I could always come up with something to foil an evil plot, but not this time. I felt as helpless as I was at the British Museum, when we were cornered Jenny Lake. Mike had came up with a plan to escape that time, but I saw he was out of ideas, just like me.

The last couple inches were unzipped.

And out lept Trixie Hale.

For a moment, I feared Trixie was an enemy agent, but then I saw she was unarmed, and I felt a little guilty for assuming she could be an enemy agent.

"Um, hi guys," she said awkwardly.

"I suppose you snuck on board?" I queried.

"Well, yeah. I guess I wanted to go on a mission, and prove I could go to spy school," Trixie replied.

"You know, once Zoe and I snuck on Ben and Erica's mission," Mike said. "How'd you sneak on the ship?"

"I was pretty sure Mike was lying when he said it was all 'same old, same old'. I followed you to Spy School, just to see where it was. I returned a couple of hours later and waited until five am, when you guys left the place, and followed you with a taxi. When you all put your luggage in a pile to get tagged, I subtly added my suitcase. Then, when you left, I zipped myself in."

I frowned. "You realize smuggling is a crime, right?"

"There are probably bigger crimes going on right now than me stowing away on a ship," Trixie said cooly.

"You know, Trixie, you can be a lot like Erica sometimes," said Mike, echoing my thoughts.

Trixie smiled. "Well, I am her sister after all."

I stiffened in fear. "Speaking of which, how are we going to tell Erica and Cyrus that you snuck on board?"

All three of us frowned.

The elevator door dinged opened, revealing Alexander who was looking adamantly confused.

I sighed. This was going to be a long ten days.

Word count: 1078 words

Sorry I didn't update, my wifi pretty much died.