Pandemic Spy School

Chapter Two

Chapter Two - The Letter

Deep in the Forest

Cape San Blas Florida

April 19th

0800 hours

Erica Hale sat me down on a log, and sat across from me on a tree trunk.

"You shouldn't leave your phone ringing like that all morning," she said, annoyed.

At first, I was shocked to see that she was down here in Florida, dragging me off without explaining anything to me. But once she had dropped me on the ground, I started piecing things together. Erica wasn't one to explain things before she did them. It would also explain the

constant phone calls.

"Why were you calling me like that?" I asked just as annoyed.

"Why do you think? I don't ever call you unless it's an emergency!"

"Okay fine. I get that. Why are you here?"

Erica rolled her eyes like it was the stupidest question ever, and I should have realised why already.

"Because something happened. Why else would I be here?"

She was sifting through her weapons on her utility belt. She wasn't wearing her usual black outfit, and instead was wearing an outfit that looked exactly like the forest behind her.

"Does anyone from the CIA know you are here?"

"No."

"So then... how'd you get here?"

"Easy. Catch a ride."

"You mean you snuck onto someone's car the whole way here?"

"What else could I have done?"

"Send me a text potentially?"

"Look how that worked out."

"Okay. What's wrong this time."

"Give me a minute. I'm looking."

"For what?"

"I said give me a minute!" she snapped.

She took something out of one of the pockets, and handed it to me. It was a piece of paper, folded over and over again. I unfolded it, and began to read.

"Clarice," the letter began. "I have written this letter to you, to inform you that Vi-1 has been made successfully. Va-1 on the other hand is still being manufactured. Please contact us as quickly as possible. Sincerely - Agent 225"

"Do you have any idea what this means?" I asked Erica upon finishing reading it.

Erica shook her head.

"I only know that whoever dropped this letter off was sketchy, and doesn't work for the CIA." she said.

"So you're telling me you watched a mailbox until someone dropped a letter off and then read the letter?!" I asked, appalled at her nerves.

"Not necessarily. I have been patrolling the mailboxes all around town with cameras. If anything looks fishy, I would go and check the mailbox the next day. I've been doing it for weeks now. Zoe started helping out as well. Turns out my theory was right."

If I had heard this two years before, I would have been shocked to hear someone did this. Now, I didn't think about it twice. Turns out, people do this all the time.

"Did you see the man who dropped it off?" I asked.

Erica gave me a hard stare. "What's to say it wasn't a woman?"

"I don't know. I just assumed..."

"That's just it. You assumed."

"I'm sorry."

"Anyways, it was a man. It looked suspiciously like Dane Bramage, although it wasn't. Dane was at his headquarters. I had Mike go check."

Dane Bramage had worked for evil organisations in the past, and I wouldn't put it past him to join another organisation again.

"Did you get a picture?"

"Who do you think I am? Alexander Hale?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at me. Alexander is her father, and one of the worst spies in the CIA. She fished a small plastic bag out of a pocket, and handed it to me.

Inside the bag was a small pixelated picture of a man, who, as Erica had said, looked a lot like Dane. He was ginormous, and he looked extremely annoyed. Which was, in retrospect, exactly how Dane had looked every time I saw him. I couldn't figure out what was different as the picture wasn't entirely clear, but I knew it wasn't Dane.

"You see what I mean?" Erica asked, taking the picture away, and replacing it in one of her pockets.

I nodded and then looked around the forest. We were so far in, I couldn't hear the quiet sound of the water, and I could no longer see the house.

"Well, what do you plan to do?" I asked, and then realised the answer was obvious. Erica seemed to sense that I had realised this, so instead of answering coldly, she answered like I hadn't asked a stupid question.

"I plan to bring you back to Langley, and then we find out where this note came from, and then we find out what they're up to and finally we stop them. We do it every time. What's to say we can't this time?"

She made it sound simple, although I had learnt from experience, that any time you try to thwart someone's plan, it is never easy.

"What if this note was written at someone's home?" I asked.

"Haven't you been a spy for two years? " Erica said, glancing up at me.

"Well technically not. Only a year and 3 months."

Erica rolled her eyes and moved on.

"If it is from someone's house, then we go and inspect that house. Or we force the information out of the person." a slightly devious grin played across her face.

"Okay then how are we getting back to the academy?" I asked.

"Don't worry about that. I've got it covered. For now, go pack your bags, and tell your parents you have to leave early, and they need to drive you back to the school. Leave 1700 hours tonight. Not a minute late, not a minute early. Got it?"

"Sure. 1700 hours tonight. That gives me 8 and a half hours to get ready."

"Sounds right!" She said. "See ya!" and with that, she jumped up elegantly into a tree, and then to the next one, and next one, until she was out of sight, and I was left alone in the middle of the woods, contemplating my life decisions.