Operation Holiday Cheer - A Spy School Story

Chapter 12: Busted and Planning

CIA Academy of Espionage

Washington, DC

Olson Science Building

December 18th, 2015

0252 hours

Erica POV

Everyone looked stunned. However, Mike was the first to break and grinned mischievously at me, with everyone else following his action. If I were to guess, they were looking for a little bit of humor to cheer themselves up after witnessing the scene we just saw. I wasn't sure whether or not I could blame them, but I certainly did not want them reacting to something I said.

"Soooo... you think he's hot, eh?" teased Mike.

I felt my face heat up. "No, I was commenting on the temperature. I said 'it's hot,'" I tried in my best calm voice.

But it seemed that my ability to lie failed me, as they all facepalmed.

"It is frickin' December in Washington, DC. Erica, that excuse sucked," said Chip.

"Shut up," I muttered.

Zoe nudged Jawa. "Hey, you know what this means?"

Jawa's grin grew wider. "Oh yeah, our ship will sail soon!"

I tilted my head in confusion. 'Again, with the boats.'

"What's this about a ship?" I asked.

Jawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, Chip groaned and buried his head in his hands, Zoe looked at the sky with a sigh, and Mike stared at me incredulously.

"You oblivious gray boulder," he said.

My nostrils flared and I shot a glare at him. "What was that?"

He smiled. "You know, your glare becomes considerably less scary when you blush." He then checked his scope, saying, "OK, you can look again."

I looked back through the scope to see that Ben had finished changing his lower half, but was still shirtless. The heat rose to my face again and I averted my eyes quickly, while everyone else was chortling.

"Mike, you piece of—" I started.

"Cool it, Ice Queen. Or should I say, Smokescreen's Queen?" Chip interrupted with a smirk.

"If you tell anyone—" I started to threaten.

"You'll find us and kill us, we know!" they exclaimed in unison. I've used that phrase a lot, haven't I?

Jawa looked through his binoculars. "OK, he's good. Catherine and Alexander just reentered the room."

I sighed in relief and looked through my scope, where I saw a fully-dressed Ben in Star Wars pajamas.

'He looks kinda cute,' thought my mind.

'SHUT UP!' I screamed mentally.

I refocused myself. Ben was holding a photo in his hand. It was his family.

"Are you OK, Ben?" asked Mom.

He sighed. "I don't know. I miss them. I know I might see them again in some great beyond, but I'm worried. They're going to hate me. They probably know now what I've been up to," he said tearfully.

Dad stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ben, I'm sure they don't hate you. Do you want to know why?"

"W-why?"