The Secret Agent Teens: The First Mission

Chapter 7: Diamond Research

"Vous voilà. Des questions?"

"Oui. Où seraient la section géologie et la carte du monde?"

"La section de géologie sera située en bas. La carte du monde se trouve là-bas dans la section 3-B, à côté des encyclopédies."

"Merci de votre aide."

"De rien."

Dylan asked. "What? What did she say?"

"She said the geology section is downstairs, and the World Map is up here by the encyclopedias."

"Thanks."

Well, monsieur and madam, looks like we have work to do," said Brian, using his fake French accent once again.

"You sure you can handle being by yourself, Brian?"

"Yeah. I totally got it, and I already know." He taps his earpiece.

"Good. Be careful."

With that, Brian went back downstairs with the librarian. Dylan and Xenna went down the aisle to the encyclopedias. They searched the shelves until they found the World Map. They walked to one of the tables in the reading room and went to work.

"Where's the map?"

"In my bag. Here." Dylan hands her his backpack.

"Turn to the Americas." Dylan opened the map and flipped the pages. Xenna took out the map from his backpack and set it on the table.

Downstairs, Brian made it to the geology section and started to look for books on the Blue Diamond. He used his phone to translate some of the words in the titles. Brian finally came across one book about the world's rarest jewels. He took it off the shelf and looked into it. As he flipped the pages, he came across a passage that talked about the diamond.

"Hey, guys. I think I found something."

Dylan turns on the microphone on his watch. "What'd you find, Brian?"

"It says that the Blue Diamond existed in the forests of Bali during the 16th century. It belonged to the Ter...Tersem..."

"Tersembunyi," Xenna helped. "Go on."

"They believed that the Diamond contained special powers that will relinquish anything that threatens them."

"Does it say anything about how the diamond ended up in South America?"

"Yeah. It says that during the Diamond trade in 1906, an explorer named Julius Escuro Valquréz set sail to find the Diamond in Indonesia. However, on his way back to America, he and his crew were caught in a huge storm and the Diamond ended up being lost at sea. It turned up in 1914 when a man in Sāo Luis found the Diamond floating in the ocean."

"Wow."

"See if you can find anything else."

Brian began to look for more books when something caught his eye. Across from him was the same girl from earlier. She looked over and gave him a lusty look before sauntering to another section. Soon enough, Brian forgot about the plan and went after the girl. Back in the reading room, Dylan was looking at the Amazon in the World Map and the map. He stares at it hard until he notices something.

"Hey. Does this map look different to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look here. By the Xingu River. It looks like it's going one way here, but on the map...it's parting ways."

Dylan then noticed a flap sticking out from behind. He pulled on it until a second page began to peel off. Once he was done, Dylan had two maps of the Amazon in his hand, except the upside down writing was on the map he peeled off. It also had a close up of the Amazon rainforest, featuring an unmarked trail by the Xingu River.

"Two maps?"

"Whoever had this map must've created a fake one on top of it." Dylan hands Xenna the peeled map. "This is the real map.

"Are you sure?"

"If I wasn't, would we have two maps in our hands? I mean, think about it: what other reason would someone have to make a fake map?"

Xenna thought for a moment and said, "The jewel traders?"

"Higher."

"...are you saying there's someone out there besides the traders looking for the Diamond too?"

"Higher..."

Xenna thought long and hard about the question. "...someone working with the traders?"
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Meanwhile, Brian was still pursuing the girl flirting with him. While he was following her, someone was by one of the shelves spying on him. As Brian went up the stairs, the man followed him. Back upstairs, Xenna and Dylan were still talking about the map.

"That's impossible. I know these traders. They wouldn't do business with anybody unless there were millions of dollars involved."

"Wait, Xenna...how do you know these guys?" Xenna was about to answer but hesitated. Dylan rose up and walked over to her. He knew something was wrong. "Xenna?"

"My uncle was a trader back in the 80s. He worked in illegal jewel trading, smuggling and exporting diamonds to a black market in the Ivory Coast."

"The blood diamond trade."

"...Before the UN got involved, my uncle and his team almost made out with $14.7 million worth of diamonds." Dylan whistled in response. "I always thought he was stupid. Getting mixed up in something like that."

Dylan spots something in the corner of his eye. Or someone. A man with a book was sitting at a table across from them. The man looked up and resumed reading. Then, he heard a noise and looked behind him to see another man browsing at one of the shelves. Dylan leaned in next to Xenna and said:

"We have to go. Now."

"Why-"

"Shh..." Dylan whispered. "Trust me...let's go." He motioned to his right, and Xenna looked around. When she noticed the man, she got the idea and began to get up. Dylan grabbed the maps, and Xenna placed them in her purse. The teens rose up from the table and walked out of the reading room.

Dylan leans in and whispers, "Just stay calm and try to act like a tourist."

"What about Brian?"

"We'll call him after we're out of sight. Once we're all together, we'll call the jet and get out of here."