Spyder?

Spyder?

Written by Zoe Humphreys Illustrated by Kaya Blouin & Zoe Humphreys

Dedicated to Mrs. Simon my first grade teacher for teaching me to love books.

Maple leaf writing project

Brattleboro VT

2019

Hi call me Emily, I can’t tell you my last name or where I live. Emily is actually just

my code name. All I can tell you is that wherever you are, whoever you are, you’re in grave danger.

It all started when charles was kidnapped by SPYDER 6 years ago. SPYDER is an evil organization that is devoted to destroying us once and for all. Their logo is a creepy spider. SPYDER forced charles to come back to MI5 (our organization) and tell us that he had escaped. He almost got lost in the hallway because he had been away for so long! Then every night he would report back to SPYDER via walkie talkie. Eventually we figured out that he was a mole but by that time SPYDER had enough information that they didn't need him anymore. He told us where their headquarters was but we didn't risk going there for fear of discovery.

I was recruited for Operation Creeping Badger 5 years ago as bait (whoever named this operation was evidently under the delusion that badgers eat moles). MI5 told me that I was going to a posh private college to get me to join them. I was really mad about this in the beginning but I like being a spy so I got over it. They put false information in my file that said I was a hacker to draw SPYDER to me. I think that they recruited me because I am a computer geek so the false information seems like it could be true.

MI5 is the UK’s version of the FBI. MI5 stands for Military Intelligence Section 5. Our headquarters is in the Thames House in London. It is named after the River Thames. When I first got there I actually thought it was a posh private college until I got inside. Inside our headquarters it is all the latest technology from a pen bug to a giant machine that supposedly brainwashes people. We had to share it with the NIO until 2013. It is very similar to the imperial chemical house across the street but it is not exactly the same. If you ever decide to visit don’t get confused!

Charles told us when SPYDER was coming and how they were planning to get past our security. When SPYDER attacked we were ready. I have no idea how they got into the building but once they were in they made the security cameras show a picture instead of a video. Because a video of an empty hallway is the same as a picture of an empty hallway right? But charles told us that they were planning to do this so we didn't fall for it.

Our guards were all over the place! We also all had com links in our ears so we could communicate. SPYDER searched the office part of the building making sure that I wasn't there. When they didn't find me they attacked me in my apartment on the 7th floor. I was looking at the security cameras on my computer. The SPYDER agents had forgotten to take out the camera outside my door. There were 2 of them, both dressed in black. One of them had a mustache and goatee and the other one was a woman with long silky black hair tied up in a braid. Black braid got right to work picking the lock but I still had time to hide. I had picked the spot beforehand. I awkwardly climbed into the drop ceiling on my step stool that looks like a stack of books when put away and put the tile back just as they came in. I was kind of squished and couldn't see very well but then I realized that I had forgotten to turn my step stool back into a stack of books. How careless of me! They saw it almost immediately. I was caught!

When we got to SPYDER headquarters they shoved a computer in front of me and told me to hack my way into it but of course I couldn't. When I didn't hack the computer they put me in a damp dark cell. In the cell there was a cot, a sink with a candle on it, and a toilet. I kept thinking that if I hadn't forgotten to push that stupid button to turn my step stool back into a stack of books I wouldn't be here. It was then that I realized that I still had my com link. I had to say “Hello? Charles?” a couple of times before anyone answered. When someone finally did it was my know nothing boss (that's the one who named the operation). I groaned inwardly and got charles to talk with me.

Charles and I decided that I should act like I didn’t have contact with him. We figured that if I waited long enough SPYDER would try to get me on their side. Then I would put up a fight just big enough so they wouldn’t suspect anything. After a while they would “convince” me to join them. I would then become a double agent.

So while we're waiting for that to happen let me tell you a little more about why you're in danger. SPYDER’s goal is to defeat us and all the other government agencies in the world so that they can be the people who make all the decisions. They will probably be very unfair to you and basically make you into slaves. Everything will belong to them. Does that sound bad? Yeah, that's why you're in danger.

I was laying on the cot in my cell ten minutes later and I guess I dozed off because the next thing I knew it was morning. There was a tray of food and a note just inside the bars. On the tray was a sandwich and a bottle of water. I read the note first:

Emily,

Are you at home? I am driving through London and was wondering if you wanted to

have tea. I'll be there at 3:00 if you want to join me.

H.

I noticed that there were very big spaces between the lines. It was probably invisible ink. Luckily someone had left matches! I lit the candle that was on the sink and held the paper over it for a little while. Now the note read:

Emily,

Change of plans. We need you here ASAP. use the water to get yourself out

Are you at home? I am driving through London and was wondering if you wanted to

Of there. It is chloroform. Do not harm the chef. he is our friend.

have tea. I'll be there at 3:00 if you want to join me.

P.S. your com link is not working otherwise I would have just told you this.

H.

The sandwich was turkey and cheese. It tasted sooooooooo good! I was awake when the chef brought me lunch. I told him to let me out of my cell and then let me drug him to fool the cameras so it looked like I had attacked. Yes, I do realize now that I could have just got him to fake it but at the time it didn’t occur to me. He did as he was told and I used the napkin that had been wrapped around my breakfast sandwich to chloroform him. I had had him lie down beforehand so all that really happened was that he went limp and I knew he was unconscious.

I walked around SPYDER’s HQ for a couple minutes trying to keep calm and not get found. Then I turned a corner and all of a sudden I was surrounded by SPYDER agents. I broke into a run and almost immediately came upon a shark tank. I remembered one of my teachers telling me when I was new to spying that almost every spy headquarters has a shark tank. I think SPYDER’s shark tank was mainly used for throwing enemy spies in. I snuck around the edge and watched most of the SPYDER agents fall in. For a second I almost felt bad for them. All but about 5 of them were able to swim across and climb out on the other side where I was. We ran through the halls and then I got to a dead end. It was a porch with roses climbing up a trellis. I climbed down the trellis as fast as I could. Then I ran…

Charles was in a car outside the gate and I jumped in. That car ride probably only took 10 minutes but I was so exhausted that it felt like hours. You know how you sometimes get those ideas and you think Oh! That’s a really good idea! and then you forget what it was? Well I had one of those ideas in the car that night. For the rest of the ride I tried to remember my idea but no matter how hard I tried I could not remember. I Charles took me to a hotel for the night (the house’s owners had come back). I dreamed I was running from SPYDER again only the agents were crocodiles and ate me because I had fallen into the shark tank.

The next day charles and I did not go back to our headquarters. Instead we went to a different hotel. Charles explained to me in the car that SPYDER had burned down our headquarters. This took a little while to settle in. I had a million questions buzzing around in my head but I decided not to overwhelm charles by asking them all. Everyone in MI5 was staying at the hotel. A lot of agents looked like they were stressed but trying to hide it. I mean we could all lose our jobs! Why shouldn’t we be stressed? Then I remembered the idea I had had in the car! We could put smoke bombs in the heating vents! I excitedly explained my plan to the others and they thought it was a good enough plan and me and a couple of others were selected to do it. We drove to a house right around the corner from SPYDER headquarters that we knew was empty and slept all afternoon so that we had energy. We had hacked the floor plan of SPYDER and found out that they had 5 heating vents around the outside of the building.

At midnight we crept up to the gate and I pointed laser pointers at the cameras to disable them. We had walked into the yard of SPYDER headquarters! I had a feeling it would be harder than that though. I mean who leaves their evil spy headquarters guarded only by cameras all night? Then I saw it. There was a sleek black doberman sleeping in front of the door. Since we were not actually going into the building we just had to not wake it up. The five of us split up, each armed with 3 smoke bombs. I had been assigned the heating vent closest to the dog. I opened the vent and tossed the bombs in as quickly as I could without waking the dog. When I put the cover back on the vent it made a ringing sound. The dog stirred, stood up, and growled at me. Luckily I still had the “water” from escaping from SPYDER. I took off one of my socks and wet it. The dog was walking towards me now still growling. I said, “Good doggie, good good doggie...” but I guess I am not very good with dogs because it just bared its teeth at me and kept on growling. I guess I just had to go for it. I lunged at the dog and put the sock over its mouth.

It wandered towards me looking dazed and then it swayed and fell to the

ground.

After I was sure that the dog was unconscious I used a device that I had created to make the biometric lock on the door malfunction so that no one could get out of the building. Then I met my friends who were waiting outside the gate in our getaway car. I climbed in and we drove away. I watched out the window as the lights came on and I could see the smoke in SPYDER headquarters and knew that they were out of the way, at least for a little while…