Teen Spy: The Observer

Chapter 22

Kiara sits down in the left chair, while Sasha sits on the furthest to her right, leaving Will in the middle of them.

"ISS's surveillance has brought to light an interesting... comme on dit?" Agent Carville says, murmuring the last part as he searches for the correct translation in his mind. "... you could say, pattern in the French government that up until recent events, was mere conjecture."

A timeline appears in the left screen that highlights important events as Agent Carville speaks.

"In the past twenty years, parties that seemed to be in the opposite side of an issue, suddenly make last minute agreements that seem unfair to one of them, accidents of important figures happen, along with sudden 'natural' deaths, and more.

"It has been subtle and many events when viewed alone could be easily dismissed or classified as... coincidence. But when we start connecting them..."

"A bigger picture appears?" Kiara fills in.

"Oui. ISS has reasons to believe that someone is manipulating the French Parliament."

Agent Carville makes a pause, and a photo of a man appears in the right screen. Kiara studies it, the face seemingly familiar. She searches her memory until finally she connects a name with the face.

"Three days ago, one of its members died of a heart attack, according to the press. However, the forensic analysis reveals that the cause of death was not the heart attack on itself, but a kidney, liver and spleen failure that leaded to it."

"How is this connected to the conspiracy theory you mentioned at the beginning?" Will asks.

"72 hours prior to his death, he had perfect health."

"That's weird." Sasha says. "What happened in those 72 hours? Did he have an accident?"

"No. That's what has the forensics confused." Agent Carville says. "His body started to deteriorate in that period for no apparent cause."

"You believe there was foul play, but how?" Kiara says.

Agent Carville looks confused by her comment.

"You believe he was murdered" Kiara rephrases.

"Possibly. There are two other cases similar to this one in the last decade." Agent Carville explains. "The first one was not a member, but she did have a lot of influence in the parliament. Since she had a medical background of heart attacks in her family, it didn't raise any alarms."

"And the second one?" Sasha says.

"It was a rumored candidate for the last parliamentary elections. He was the favorite and he had no medical records of heart attacks."

"What does the Government say about all this?" Will says.

"Officially, nothing. Off the records, they asked us to open an investigation." Agent Carville says. "My team has been following this situation for a long time and now that we have the government's approval, we have more resources at our disposal. I was given the task to coordinate all the investigation teams, including this one. Since we're going along with the theory that this is a murder, poison is first in the list of causes of death."

"Do you know which poison was used?" Sasha asks.

"No, but we do have a list of suspects based on what he ate and drank the day prior to his health decline."

"If we find who did it, we can figure out with what. Right?" Kiara says.

"That's the idea" Agent Carville says.

A picture of a man with appears in the right screen.

"Your mission is to investigating Monsieur Luis Berte, owner of Berte Wines. Our tests show nothing out of the ordinary in his wine, but it is too much of a coincidence that our three victims drank his wine before their health deteriorated, which makes him our prime suspect."

Kiara's eyebrows lift in surprise. Yeah, that's no coincidence.

"Research tells us that he prefers his vineyard office over the one in the administrative building. Therefore, all his sensitive information and any evidence that proves his involvement should be in the former."

"Our class trip is scheduled to go to Berte Wine's Vineyard tomorrow. I suppose ISS has something to do with that." Kiara states.

"We're giving you the opportunity, it's up to you to plan the moment. The tools you'll need are placed on the tables to the side and the vineyard's buildings schematics are in the screens along with your tour's path and security detail. Good luck, Agents and remember to get some rest."

With that Agent Carville signs off the video chat and as promised, the information appears on the screens.

"Okay, let's see what Agent Carville left behind" Sasha says excitedly as she takes a closer look at the tools in the side table. "Uh! Let's start with this."

She takes the earplugs. Then hands one to Will and one to Kiara.

"These are earpieces. Their design allows them to go unnoticed while we wear them, and they also allow us to communicate with each other, hear what the others are hearing and translates up to 50 languages if needed."

"How do you know all this?" Kiara says curiously studying the earpiece.

"I've memorized their blueprints and have made several modifications" Sasha says with a smug smile on her face.

Kiara is mildly impressed, though she'll never admit it out loud. Sasha proceeds to hand out the smartwatches.

"These control the earpieces aside from having normal functions. With them, we can record what we're hearing and access the translator mode. It has a 1Tb memory, so you don't have to worry about running out of space. And they also control the eyeglasses."

She hands them out.

"These are binoculars and digital cameras. They also have an infrared mode and its information is stored in the watch."

Sasha pauses and puts one on. She seems to be browsing its features until she reaches a conclusion or maybe finds what she was looking for. Kiara cannot deduce which one it is.

"Okay, it still needs to be updated. Hopefully, it will someday be able to connect directly to a computer by Bluetooth and make videos, not only pictures."

"Nice, but how do we explain their existence?" Kiara asks curiously.

"That's up to you." Sasha sasses. "I can't do all the work."

Kiara rolls her eyes. She should have seen that coming.