Spy Ski School

  “Is the Climax Mine somewhere near here?” I asked.

  “Sure is!” she said. “It’s just a few miles up the road. Half the town works there.” She plunked the glasses down and headed back to the kitchen.

  “What’s all this about the Climax Mine?” Zoe asked.

  “Look,” I said, pointing across the room.

  “Oh!” Warren cooed. “Another jackalope! How do you think those things get in their burrows with those big horns?”

  “Not the jackalope,” I said. “The sign! Jessica Shang misheard her father. He wasn’t saying he was going to see ‘Molly Denham.’ He was going to see ‘molybdenum.’ ”

  “I’ll be danged,” Woodchuck said. “I can’t believe the Climax Mine is here.”

  “You’ve heard of it?” I asked.

  “Sure. I wrote a paper on it back when I was in spy school, for my history of espionage class. I knew the mine was in the Rockies, I just didn’t realize we were practically on top of it.”

  “Whoa,” Mike said. “Slow down. What is this molly-whatever stuff?”

  “Molybdenum,” I corrected. “It’s one of the elements.”

  “Its primary industrial use is to make steel much stronger,” Woodchuck explained. “It’s extremely important for making weapons, especially large-scale ones. The Germans first figured that out back during World War One. They were building these massive cannons that could fire one-ton shells for more than ten miles, but the cannons were tearing apart from their own explosions. Then the German scientists realized adding molybdenum to the steel would prevent that from happening—but there was only one place on earth known to have large deposits of it: the Climax Mine. So the Germans sent a covert team out here and essentially stole it from the owner. Then they starting mining molybdenum and shipped all of it to Germany.”

  “The Germans captured an entire mine inside Colorado?” Mike asked. “And then used it to make weapons they fought us with? And we let them do it?”

  “Yes,” Woodchuck replied. “In fact, the United States didn’t even notice the mine was in German hands for three years. It was a major intelligence failure. Of course, there wasn’t a CIA back then—or much of any organized spy network, really. Climax was one of the reasons the government realized they needed an intelligence agency. Once we found out what was going on, we took the mine back from the Germans, and it’s stayed in American hands ever since. To this day, there’s been only one other major deposit of molybdenum found in the entire world.”

  “Where?” I asked, although I was pretty sure I could guess the answer.

  “China,” Woodchuck replied.

  “I’m betting there’s a good chance Leo Shang controls it,” I said. “Anyone have a working phone?”

  “Already on it.” Mike had his phone out and was Googling the answer. “I don’t see anything about the owner, but it’s called Huangshan. . . .”

  “Huangshan!” Zoe exclaimed. “I saw Jawa type that name, like, ten dozen times while he was eavesdropping on Shang’s business calls last night!”

  “Do you know what Shang was saying about it?” I asked.

  “No. That was Jawa’s bug to deal with,” Zoe explained. “But Shang was certainly talking about Huangshan a lot.”

  The waitress came over with a plate piled high with bacon and sausage. “Eggs are coming, kids. But I figured you wanted this fast.”

  She set it on the table, and we all dove in, spearing meat on our forks and wolfing it down. Everyone except Warren, who groused, “Where’s the pickles?”

  It was pretty much the best thing I’d ever tasted.

  “One thing,” Mike said, through a mouth stuffed with sausage. “So Shang owns another molybdenum mine. What’s the big deal with him looking at this one? That isn’t a crime, is it?”

  “No,” I admitted. “But Erica heard him say he was plotting something for today. And he’s definitely been secretive, acting like he’s going heli-skiing when he’s not, renting the entire hotel and hiding something in his room. . . .” I trailed off, a horrible thought occurring to me.

  “What’s wrong?” Zoe asked.

  “I think I know what Operation Golden Fist is.” I snapped to my feet and pulled my jacket back on.

  “Where are you going?” Woodchuck asked me. “We’ve still got eggs coming!”

  “I need to talk to Erica right away.” I grabbed a handful of bacon, rebuckled my ski boots—doing my best to ignore the resurgence of pain—and headed through the restaurant. “Cyrus needs to hear about this!” I raced out the door into the parking lot and found Erica nearby.

  Unfortunately, she was unconscious. She was sprawled on her side in the snow not too far from the horse.

  I ran to her side to check on her. To my relief, she was still breathing.

  It occurred to me a little too late that I’d just dropped my guard in a very big way.

  “Get your hands up, Ben,” someone said from behind me. “And don’t try anything funny. I’ve got a gun.”

  I knew the voice. I did exactly as ordered, turning around to face my nemesis:

  Murray Hill.

  SHOWDOWN

  Minturn, Colorado

  December 30

  1330 hours

  Murray wasn’t much older than me, but he had been a dangerous covert agent for SPYDER. The last time I’d seen him, he was running for his life as a missile was about to blow up a good bit of New Jersey. Despite there being hundreds of CIA agents around, he’d escaped and disappeared without a trace. He hadn’t changed much since then; he was still as slovenly as ever. His hair was unkempt, his posture was terrible, and the thick parka he wore was splotchy with food stains. He was flashing the same cocky smile he always did when he had me at the business end of a gun and spoke with his same lackadaisical attitude, like he was having a great time. “Hey, Ben. It’s good to see you.”

  Since he’d caught me by surprise, it took me a few moments to manage to say anything. I had a thousand questions all vying to be asked at once. “Where did . . . ? How . . . ? When . . . ? What are you doing here?”

  “I’m competing in the halfpipe at the X Games,” Murray said sarcastically. “What do you think I’m doing here? I’m working for the bad guy.”

  “You mean SPYDER is working with Shang?”

  “SPYDER?” Murray laughed. “Those jerks don’t know anything about this. That whole organization is a mess since you blew their headquarters up.”

  “So you’re not working for them anymore?”

  “Those dirt bags left me at the scene of the crime to be their patsy while they all fled the country! That was completely uncool. I’m not about to work for people who don’t respect me. I’m a freelance evil agent now.”

  “There are freelance evil agents?” I asked, unable to hide my surprise.

  “Oh, yeah. Tons of them. SPYDER was unusual. There’s not a whole lot of organizations out there dedicated to causing chaos and mayhem full-time. A guy like Leo Shang pulls off maybe one or two evil schemes a year, if that. In fact, sometimes he’s gone years without doing anything evil. So there’s no point in him having a bunch of guys like me on the payroll twenty-four seven. Instead, he hires us all for a scheme, we come in, we get the job done, and then we move on.”

  “Like Dane Brammage?”

  “Yeah, that slab of meat is a freelance too. It’s way better than working for SPYDER. The pay’s higher, the accommodations have been top-notch, and I don’t have to worry about anyone setting me up as a patsy and blowing me up. The only problem with this plan has been the weather. I am freaking freezing!” Murray shivered and rubbed himself with the arm he wasn’t using to hold a gun on me. “Ski people are crazy, coming someplace this cold on vacation. What do they have against the beach?”

  I glanced toward the restaurant door, hoping someone else from the gang would be heading outside soon. Murray’s major weakness was that he loved to talk. I figured if I could keep him on his favorite subject—himself—I could stall long enough for so
meone to come to my rescue. “So, have you been here with Shang this whole time?”

  “In Vail? No. Believe me, if I’d been here, there’s no way you would have gotten anywhere as close to Jessica as you did. I was in China, handling some really important stuff this morning. I got in on the ground floor on this one. In fact, a lot of this whole thing was my idea. So I fly in to help put the final pieces of this plan into action and hear Leo’s having a cow because some kid’s charmed his way in with Jessica. Well, the alarm bells go off for me. I ask if there’s a picture of the kid, and he shows me, and I’m like, ‘Holy guacamole, that’s no normal kid. That’s Ben Ripley!’ ”

  “So then you’re the reason I was almost killed today.”

  “No, no, no. The reason you were almost killed today is that you can’t stop poking your nose into other people’s business. You know the risks with the spy game. I’d try to convince you that it’s much safer to be a bad guy, but frankly, I’ve given up trying to recruit you. You’ve burned that bridge. Or, more to the point, you prevented us from burning some bridges. And totally ruined our plans to cause chaos in Manhattan.”

  I glanced toward the restaurant door again.

  This time Murray noticed. “Looking for your friends?” He grinned knowingly. “They should be along any moment. Ah! Here they are!”

  Now the door swung open and my friends emerged. Only, they weren’t coming to my aid by attacking Murray. Instead, they filed out with their hands up: Zoe, Warren, and Woodchuck. To my relief, Mike wasn’t with them. The others were all followed by a girl about Murray’s age. She had long brown hair tied in a ponytail, giant lavender earmuffs, a nose ring, and a gun, which was trained on my friends.

  “You don’t think I’d come here without backup, do you?” Murray asked me slyly. “Ben, this is Jenny Lake, my cohort in crime . . . and my girlfriend.” He waggled his eyebrows as he said this. “Jenny, this is Ben Ripley.”

  “Oh, hey!” Jenny said, seeming genuinely friendly and excited. “It’s nice to meet you! Murray’s told me so much about you.”

  “Nice to meet you too,” I said. Not because it really was nice to meet her, but because it was kind of a reflex.

  Zoe shot me an annoyed look. “Ben, she’s a bad guy.”

  “Sorry,” I apologized. “It just seemed polite.”

  Murray grinned at the others, basking in the moment. “Now, now, Zoe. Just because we’re enemies doesn’t mean we can’t have manners. I’m pleased to see you’ve been activated. You’ve worked hard for this. And, Woodchuck, once I heard the CIA was in town, I figured you might be here, since you’re Mr. Outdoorsy and all. Though, Warren, you’re a bit of a surprise. I really thought you’d have washed out of spy school by now.”

  “Do you have any pickles on you?” Warren asked. “I am really jonesing for a pickle.”

  Murray leaned in to me and whispered, “Is it just me, or has Warren gotten weirder?”

  “He banged his head on a tree pretty hard earlier,” I replied. “Knocked himself silly.”

  “Ah,” Murray said. “That’d explain it.”

  It occurred to me why Mike wasn’t with the others. Murray had no idea who Mike was. And thus Jenny wouldn’t have known to look for him either. I wasn’t sure exactly how Mike had slipped away, but there was no way to ask anyone what had happened. At the very least, though, I was relieved to know he was safe. Maybe he was even calling the police.

  Of course, I couldn’t guarantee that. For all I knew, Mike was in the restaurant bathroom, completely unaware that the rest of us had been captured. Or maybe he’d been knocked unconscious himself. If he hadn’t called the police, the only other way I could think of to get out of this jam was to hope Erica would regain consciousness and kick Murray’s butt. Either way, I needed to keep stalling.

  I turned to Jenny Lake and asked, nice and friendly, “So, how long have you and Murray been dating?”

  “Only a few weeks,” she replied. She seemed surprisingly sweet for a villain. “Shang recruited both of us to work this job and we met the first day. The moment we saw each other, we just connected, you know? It was amazing. And ever since then, I’ve been his little pookie-wookie and he’s been my fuzzy-wuzzy bear.”

  “Awww.” Warren sighed. “That’s adorable.”

  Meanwhile, Zoe mimed throwing up.

  “Jenny,” Murray said. “Now that the gang’s all here, we really ought to take care of these guys. Woodchuck, could you be a pal and carry Erica for me? I’d do it myself, but I tweaked my back doing push-ups the other day.” This was obviously a lie to impress Jenny; Murray had always avoided physical exertion like the plague.

  Woodchuck obediently picked Erica up and slung her over his shoulder. I’d been hoping that Erica was only faking being unconscious so she could get the jump on Murray. But now she flopped about limply. I was pretty sure this was actual limp flopping and not an incredible act by Erica, meaning she wasn’t going to be any help.

  “Where are you taking us?” Zoe demanded.

  “Oh, not too far.” Murray motioned for us to start walking across the snowy parking lot, toward the base of the closest mountain. “Over there should do. I just want to get you away from the restaurant and any witnesses before we take care of you.” He looked to Jenny. “The problem with Ben is, you have to get rid of him quickly. If we let him hang around too long, he’ll figure our plans out.”

  “Oh, I’ve already figured them out,” I said.

  Murray shot me a skeptical glance. “No, you haven’t.”

  “You’re going to set off a nuclear bomb to irradiate the Climax Mine so Shang can corner the world market in molybdenum.”

  Murray gaped at me in genuine surprise. “You have got to be kidding me! You did it again! Man, you’re good! Pookie, didn’t I tell you he was good?”

  “You did,” Jenny agreed.

  “I thought we really had you this time,” Murray told me. “How’d you figure it out?”

  “It wasn’t that hard.” I stopped walking, hoping Murray and Jenny would be too distracted to notice. “I know Dane Brammage used to work for this scumbag arms dealer named Paul Lee who hooked SPYDER up with some nukes before. Then I saw the case for something like a nuke in Leo Shang’s hotel room. And I know Shang has been doing some sort of reconnaissance in these mountains all week instead of heli-skiing. So when I realized the Climax Mine was close and that he owns the only other major supply of molybdenum in the world, it all just kind of made sense.”

  “Really?” Murray asked. “Because it seems like a pretty big jump to assume Shang’s going to nuke the molybdenum to corner the market.”

  “Well, there was one more thing,” I admitted. “The name of the operation is ‘Golden Fist.’ And what you’re doing is basically the same scheme as in Goldfinger.”

  Murray suddenly looked as rattled as I’d ever seen him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

  “Goldfinger, the greatest James Bond movie of all time,” I explained. “Auric Goldfinger plans to corner the world’s gold market by nuking Fort Knox. You’re doing the same thing with molybdenum.”

  Jenny gaped at Murray in astonishment. “Murray! You told me—and Shang—this was your original idea! Did you steal it from a movie?”

  Murray turned bright red. “No,” he said defensively. “I’ve never even heard of this Goldfinger.”

  “Yes, you have,” Warren told him. “You used to watch it all the time at spy school. Back before you were evil.”

  “I can’t believe you!” Jenny exclaimed. “Shang paid you to come up with a way to take out the competition and you just stole the plot of a movie?”

  “I didn’t steal it,” Murray said defensively. “I modified it.”

  “Sounds like stealing to me,” Jenny huffed, looking annoyed.

  “So what’s the big deal?” Murray sighed. “We’re bad guys.”

  “We’re only supposed to commit crimes,” Jenny pointed out. “Not lie to each other.”


  “We’re about to set off a nuclear bomb!” Murray exclaimed. “And you’re upset at me for a little plagiarism?”

  “This is about trust,” Jenny said curtly.

  The two of them were quite distracted now. They seemed to have completely forgotten about marching us across the parking lot to our deaths. I glanced toward Erica, hoping to see her awake. If there was ever a good time to catch the enemy by surprise, this was it.

  Only, Erica still lay limply across Woodchuck’s shoulder.

  “Trust is important to me,” Jenny told Murray. “I need to know that when you say something, you mean it.”

  “Of course you can trust me,” Murray said. “I never lie.”

  “You lied to us all the time!” Zoe pointed out. “When you were a mole at school, you did nothing but lie to us.”

  “That was different,” Murray argued. “That was business.” He turned to Jenny. “You deceive people all the time for business!”

  “Don’t try to make this about me,” Jenny said.

  Murray groaned. “Do we have to have this conversation right now? In front of the hostages?”

  “Why don’t we talk about the fact that you’re setting off a nuclear device just to make money?” Zoe said angrily. “Innocent people are going to die in this scheme!”

  “Well, we are evil,” Murray told her. “That’s how these things work. You don’t corner the world market in molybdenum by giving everyone a free puppy. And speaking of killing people . . .” He glanced at his watch. “Where the heck are those guys?”

  “What guys?” Warren asked.

  “The guys who are going to kill you,” Murray replied.

  This caught me off guard. I did a bad job hiding it, and Murray noticed. Normally, he might have taken some joy in this, but he had grown quite testy during his argument with Jenny. “I’m not as dumb as you think,” he told me. “I know what you’ve been up to this whole time, trying to distract me so that I don’t kill you right away, giving Erica a chance to wake up and rescue you. Well, it just so happens that I’m the one who’s been distracting you. I’ve been waiting for the real thugs to get here so they can take care of you once and for all.”