Spy School Viva Vegas

Chapter 12 - Chase

Oasis Motel
Las Vegas
June 13
1900 hours

"I don't want to ever see another self-serve ice cream station in my life again," Chip said

We funneled into the boys hotel room, and found places where we could stretch out or lie down. Chip chose the floor and let his arms heavily fall to his sides. Zoe laid prone on bed, and Mike chose to stand. Even Jawa, still wearing a paper royal crown, seemed ill.

Mike looked offended at the thought avoiding ice cream for life, but instead said, "You weren't supposed to eat everything at every buffet."

"I couldn't help it. It all looked so good, and the CIA was footing the bill," Chip argued.

Mike shot up, and said, "Good point. I'll be right back."

"We are never stepping foot in a buffet again. Or a casino for that matter. It took us thirty minutes to get out of one of them," Zoe said, grabbing Mike's arm before he got to the door.

"Where's Cyrus, by the way? I haven't seen him since this morning," Jawa asked.

"He's out at the courthouse, searching through property records and trying to find a trace of Murray," Erica said, appearing at my elbow.

"Did anyone have any luck at the buffets," I asked hopefully, starting to think that maybe the mission hadn't been everyone's focus that afternoon.

They all shook their heads. This didn't improve my mood. My shoulders sagged. Erica looked at me sympathetically. Admittedly, that didn't help either. Suddenly the room seemed smaller than it already was.

"I'm going to to get some fresh air," I said.

Now Erica looked concerned, so I smiled at her, letting her know I was fine. I closed the door behind me, not really feeling like being at our motel, and started heading back towards the strip. I thought maybe the crowds might block out some of the noise in my head. Before reaching the main road, I found myself heading back up the stairs towards our monorail station. It seemed like as good an option as anything else, so I climbed aboard the first train that came by, and sat down. Sometimes, I just needed a distraction to clear away the cobwebs.

While the rocking of the gentle train  was soothing, I still placed my face in my hands in frustration. C'mon Ben, think; I whispered to myself. I was forcing it, which I knew wasn't the best approach. 

Before I realized it, the train had reached the convention center. There were still plenty of kids my age excitedly talking about their day at the convention, and where they were going for dinner; that another one wouldn't look too out of place. It struck me like a good place to disappear in the crowd. Plus, it was also the only place I really had gotten to know, and felt comfortable wandering around.

I tried to focus on where Murray could be and what he might be doing. I was worried he may be plotting another scheme, and that scheme would involve assassinating me in some way. I also didn't know if he was still with Agent Durkee, and Ms. E, or if they had split up, intending to stick with Murray's plan of running simultaneous evil plots to improve their chance of success. Now, I began to doubt what I really knew about him. Was he really here? As Jessica had pointed out, maybe this was a bust. He could have sold the property and left town in a car without us even knowing. How long would we hang on before we couldn't justify being here? The science fair competition ended tomorrow night in the large battle of the robots, and it wouldn't make sense for our covers to stay much longer than that.

I had enough. I wasn't going to get anywhere, so I decided to head back to the motel before it got too dark. The number of middle schoolers had thinned out, and I became more noticeable by standing out in the open. At the same time, I couldn't let any of it go. My mind was so focused on Murray, that I wasn't paying attention. At least, that's what I'm blaming my distracted state on as I returned to the station and platform for south bound trains.