Once A Spy, Always A Spy

Chapter 11: Shakespeare Gave Me The Idea

"Ideas are like wandering sons. They show up when you least expect them."--Bern Williams

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~Rose~

I absent-mindedly twirled my pencil in my fingers and sighed in frustration. I've been sitting in the main room for about an hour, trying to think of a plan to get that remote from the Arc and so far, I've got nothing. The others were in their rooms, probably catching up on some sleep. We figured that the remote would be embedded somewhere in the Arc, and all we need is to figure out how to search it without being noticed.  

I even locked my door with hopes of it'll help me concentrate but for some reason my mind just keeps wandering back to that ring Zach was holding. I frowned for about the billionth time that day.

What on earth is so important about that ring that it's distracting me from my job?! 

There was a slight knock on my door and Jessica's voice spoke: "Rose, we're having dinner before we land. Want me to bring you anything?"

"No thanks. I'll be out soon anyway," I lied.

"Do you need help there? You've been in there for a long time. Your brother thinks you jumped out the window."

Despite the stress I found myself laughing. Typical of him to say that. Even in the most awkward situations Ian always manages to make me smile for the dumbest things. "Tell him if I'm jumping I'm pushing him out first," I said.

There was a pause then finally Jess said, "He said that that was the nicest thing you've said to him in months."

I laughed again and without helping it, unlocked the door. Jess stood there, grinning.

"Come in," I said and sat on my bed, feeling the soft and cushy mattress lower.

Just then, my brother came in and raised his eyebrows at the dent I was making. "You need to lose weight," he said and sat on the chair that cramped my butt for nearly an hour.

I rolled my eyes and threw my alarm clock at him. Just as I expected, he swiftly caught it, as if he expected it too.

"Nice reflexes," Jessica said, her voice filled with awe. "I wish I have that."

I laughed and said, "I bet you do. A turtle has faster reflexes than you!"

She laughed and playfully shoved me. I found myself laughing with her and felt myself loosen up for a bit.

Moments like this make me seriously wonder if the whole spy business was for me. I mean after Ian and I retired and went to a normal high school, I actually liked it. And when I met Jessica, Matt, and Eddie, I loved high school more. We would often hang out after school sitting around exchanging stories (I wouldn't tell them about my missions) and at the end of the day I would feel like I had tons of fun. 

I remember one time when we, along with my brother, were hanging after school. We decided to go to the school's theatre since the Drama Club just performed the Spring Play earlier that day. Not finding anything interesting, we decided to create a little play just for the five of us. Jessica and Matt would reenact a parody of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet while Eddie was handling the sound system and me handling the lights. My brother would be the one filming it on Jessica's videocam. I remember laughing a lot so much that day that we had to redo the scenes over and over cause I couldn't keep the light steady, making the stage dark.

Blinking out of my reverie, it hit me. I was suddenly aware of my arm being poked.

"What?" I turned to Jessica.

She raised an eyebrow and said, "We've been calling your name for like five minutes."

I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I just figured out a plan to get the remote from the arc."

My brother sat up and stretched his arms lazily. "Which is?"

I crossed my legs and grinned excitedly. "Okay, remember when we were filming a parody of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?"

Jessica rolled her eyes. "How can we forget that. The Drama Club saw us and chased us till we got to the parking lot."

Ian chuckled and said, "They were screaming something about making fun of a well respected piece of literature. But how is this gonna help us on getting the remote from the Arc de Triomphe?"

"Remember when I couldn't hold the light from the catwalk steady?" I asked.

"Duh," Jessica giggled. "Matt and I would steal a kiss whenever the light wasn't on us."

"Exactly! So basically what we gotta do is--"

"Go to the Arc at night so we can turn off the lights that are shining on it so that we can climb the Arc unnoticed." I turned and saw Zach leaning against the door. "Not a bad idea."

I felt my pride swell up again. "Of course it isn't."

Claire appeared next to Zach and said, "Where did you get zis idea? 

I winked at my friends and said, "Shakespeare gave me the idea."