Spy School Viva Vegas

Chapter 17 - Tunnels

Unknown Location
Somewhere outside of Las Vegas
June 14
1330 hours

You'd think racing in the fresh air with my arms wrapped around Erica Hale while riding a motorcycle across the open desert would have been a highlight of my life. Instead, Erica decided it would be fun to launch us into the air anytime we came across a stable enough sand dune. At some point I thought she might try to flip us, or do some other kind of spinning trick. I was pretty sure she was doing this on purpose to scare me. At the same time, I also gripped her tighter every time I felt the motorcycle start to launch us up one of the mound, and I wondered, a little hopefully, if that was her real intention.

When I managed to, I glanced at the others, who were able to keep up with us. Unsurprisingly, Zoe was an excellent rider, and Jawa held tightly behind her. She didn't attempt the same daredevil stunts as Erica, though. Mike was reluctantly holding onto Chip, who didn't seem nearly as confident on the motorbike as he had led us to believe. He kept jerking the grip making the bike lurch forward and slowdown sporadically. Mike looked like he was about to puke.

Thankfully, we were a lot closer to the city than I had realized. That meant we reached the outskirts of the suburbs in very little time. We still needed to get to the convention center, and six kids on motorbikes was bound to draw some attention. I wasn't even sure if we were legally allowed to be riding this type of bike on the streets. Actually, I was pretty sure we weren't, and on top of that none of us had a driver's license yet. My eyes darted around nervously as we crossed through cul de sacs and other winding suburban road. The last thing I wanted was to be chased by the police, sirens blaring, as we approached the convention center, giving away our arrival to Murray and Hayden. Of course, they might have just been stuck underground at this point, and out of earshot. But, I thought it was better not to draw too much attention to ourselves.

I admit that I felt good for figuring out Murray and Hayden's plan. But, I was kicking myself for missing the connection between them. He must have been the one that somehow disabled the monorail doors, while Murray pushed me out. Looking back he seemed like an obvious suspect, and even Chip had recognized that in his own way. I was too focused on tracking Murray down that I wasn't suspicious enough of him. Now we risked SMASH getting hold of millions of dollars to fund their evil schemes.

We passed through neighborhood after neighborhood. Erica led the way. It was clear she had memorized the entire street network and knew exact where to go to get back to where we had started the day.  Luckily, we managed to avoid any police officers spotting us. We ditched the motorcycles a few blocks from the convention center, stashing them behind a large blue dumpster that smelled of week old take out, and dashed up the street towards the convention center building I had lost Murray in the night before.

"We're going to need to split up into pairs and try and track them down,"Erica said. "You'll come with me and see if his other friends know where he is." She gestured her thumb at me. "Chip and Jawa, search around the outside of the building and Mike and Zoe will go around the inside."

"What are we even looking for," Zoe asked.

"I don't know. Maybe some way to get down below ground, or evidence of Hayden's drill" I said.

"How big would the drill be," Mike asked.

"It would have to be pretty big, wouldn't it? I mean, to break through an underground vault," Jawa said.

We were getting closer to the building. More people were out on the sidewalk, coming back from their lunches, or maybe heading towards it. There was the same mix of self-important businesspeople, Elvis impersonators and students.

"That's why you and Chip should see if there is a loading and unloading area. They had to bring it in somehow. That might lead you to them," Erica added.