However, I was distracted by a few other things.
First of all, Erica had smiled at me and said, “Good thinking.” Over the past few days, she had gone back to being her usual distant self around me. In fact, she had even been a little icier than usual, as though she was annoyed at me for taking advantage of her lowered defenses to ask embarrassing questions—or possibly embarrassed by the results. But now she had actually given me a smile and a compliment: the same sort of thing that had made me jealous when she’d done it to Mike. And she had done it in public. In front of a whole crowd of people and television cameras. Which meant that, just maybe, the Ice Queen was thawing out.
Second, I was still concerned about what SPYDER was plotting. Were they actually trying to bump off Gorsky? If so, why? What was SPYDER up to now? And were Warren and Ashley a part of it?
But as important as both those lines of thought were, something else was distracting me from the president’s speech even more. In fact, it was distracting everyone in the audience as well.
Jason Stern had wet his pants.
The moment the president began speaking, a large wet spot had bloomed right in the crotch of Jason’s pressed khakis. Jason didn’t seem to realize what had happened, but everyone else sure did. The entire crowd was gaping at him and, more often than not, trying to restrain their laughter. The camera operators subtly shifted their lenses from the president to his son. Through it all, Jason stood by the podium with his standard smug grin, completely unaware of what was going on.
I caught Erica’s eye in the crowd. Even she was trying not to laugh. She also seemed quite pleased with herself.
I had no idea how she’d done this to Jason. Perhaps it involved some sort of high-tech, time-released hydration pellets. Or maybe she had smuggled in a long-range water gun and scored a direct hit. But however she’d managed it, it had worked beautifully. Jason Stern, who’d been such a relentless jerk to me, was about to become a national laughingstock. The ceremony was on live TV, and my friends were already on their phones, doubtlessly posting photos online. Many adults appeared to be doing the same thing. Including a couple of congresspeople.
President Stern hadn’t noticed yet himself, although he was starting to sense that something funny was going on. His speech became more and more stilted as he looked for whatever was distracting the crowd—until his eyes fell upon his own son. “Jason!” he gasped. “Have some decency!”
Jason glanced down at his pants, gave a yelp of horror, then slapped his hands over his crotch and bolted from the dais. Or at least, he tried to. Due to his haste—and the fact that he was trying to run with his hands clamped over his private parts—he tripped over a microphone cable and pitched headfirst into the buffet. The table promptly upended, and the enormous cake that had been baked for the celebration toppled over on Jason, smearing him from head to toe in buttercream frosting.
The camera handlers all recorded this as well. Every last moment.
No one could contain themselves anymore. Everyone, from the president to the Secret Service to my parents to Erica Hale herself, burst out laughing.
Thank you, I mouthed to Erica.
She gave me another smile in response.
Maybe Erica wasn’t ready for a relationship quite yet. And maybe she never would be. I wondered if I’d go through my whole life waiting for another kiss from her—or if someday our stars would align.
But in the meantime, I knew one thing about Erica Hale for sure:
I was awfully lucky she was on my side.
February 17
To: CIA director XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX
Re: Operation Pungent Muskrat recap
First off, I apologize for going rogue on this one. Unfortunately, as intel on this mission reveals, our highest levels of government remain corrupted by XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX. There was simply no other choice.
Admittedly, there were a few glitches in this operation. I accept full responsibility for Agent Ripley being used as a Bombay Boomerang and the subsequent destruction of the Oval Office. I understand that the president is still quite peeved about the whole thing. And, in a perfect world, XXXXXX agents Warren Reeves and Ashley Sparks would not have been allowed to escape.
However, if not for the performance of my team—including Ripley—things would have been far worse. We uncovered a plot to XXXX XXXX XXX XXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXX and thwarted it. And we captured two XXXXXX operatives to boot. While Elmore Finch is still holding out from giving information, I hope to get Murray Hill to tell us what XXXXXX has planned for the future—or even better, XXXXX XXXXX XXX XXXXXXXXXX XXX XXXXXX. Armed with this intel, I believe we can get the jump on XXXXXX for once, and therefore recommend we initiate Operation Tiger Shark. (I know we used that for a mission back in the 1960s, but damn it, I think it’s about time we started recycling names. I’ll be damned if I’m going to call this one Operation Flaccid Sparrow.)
Given their success on Operation Pungent Muskrat, I would highly recommend that Agents XXXXXX, XXXX, and XXXXXXXXX be a part of this new operation as well.
Sincerely,
XXXXX XXXX
about the author
STUART GIBBS is the author of the New York Times bestselling Spy School and Moon Base Alpha series, the FunJungle series, and The Last Musketeer. He has also written the screenplays for movies like See Spot Run and Repli-Kate; developed TV shows for Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC, and Fox; and researched capybaras (the world’s largest rodents). He has never worked as a spy—but then, if he had, he couldn’t tell you anyway, because it’d be classified. Stuart lives with his wife and children in Los Angeles. You can learn more about what he’s up to at stuartgibbs.com.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Simon & Schuster New York
Visit us at
simonandschuster.com/kids
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Stuart-Gibbs
Also by Stuart Gibbs
The FunJungle series
Belly Up
Poached
Big Game
Panda-monium
The Spy School series
Spy School
Spy Camp
Evil Spy School
Spy Ski School
The Moon Base Alpha series
Space Case
Spaced Out
The Last Musketeer
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2017 by Stuart Gibbs
Jacket design and principal illustration by Lucy Ruth Cummins, copyright © 2017 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Book design and illustration by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Map illustration by Ryan Thompson
The text for this book was set in Adobe Garamond Pro.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gibbs, Stuart, 1969- author.
Title:
Spy School secret service / Stu Gibbs.
Description: First edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2017]. | Series: Spy School | Sequel to: Spy ski school. | Summary: Thirteen-year-old Ben Ripley is assigned to protect the president from an assassination attempt in his first solo mission, but he may be in over his head.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016037360 | ISBN 9781481477826 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781481477840 (eBook)
Subjects: | CYAC: Spies—Fiction. | Assassination—Fiction. | Presidents—Fiction. |
Friendship—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Washington, D.C.—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / Mysteries & Detective Stories. | JUVENILE FICTION / Humorous Stories.
Classification: LCC PZ7.G339236 Spq 2017 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037360
Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Secret Service
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