S.O.F.T Chapter 5

Chapter 5

C’EST PRAQUTIQUE

1 :30 (PARIS LOCAL TIME)

The Charles de Gaulle Airport, France

‘Ok, Andy, you’re telling me that we’re stuck in Paris, without any money, a desperate lack of any French-speaking capabilities, no clothes, equipment or contacts that we know of since we lost ALL of our luggage, all because of a certain young spy...’ Debbie broke off from her rant to shoot a pointed glare at Mel, who shrugged, looked guilty and said, ‘I’m sorry, ok? It’s not my fault that I can’t read French and instead of collecting it, I sent it over to Russia! I thought that ‘Russie*’ meant ‘rush’, not ‘Russia’! I didn’t learn French at school!’

 Mel was close to crying now, but Carrie, ever the caring bestie, comforted her by wrapping her arms around her and rubbing her back.

 Mike and David knelt by the sobbing Mel, glaring at Debbie, angry at her for hurting their friend. Debbie was a great friend, but sometimes she lost focus of how sensitive Mel was and said things that the others would take as a joke, but Mel took as an emotional attack.

 Andy sighed and turned to Debbie, ‘Look, Debbs. I’ll lay down the facts here: We’re broke, but I remembered the ICC (International Currency Card) that my mom gave to me before our first mission. We don’t have any contacts, but,’ Andy smirked at the simmering Debbie, and continued. ‘My cousin, Olivia, is an agent for the Diplomatic Association of France and, just before we left for the airport, I called her. Cassie and I haven’t seen Olivia and Auntie Desiree since we all were about six, so she was most happy to play as our old friend that we came to ‘visit’ in Paris as a cover. Essentially, that is correct, since we are old friends and we are, in part, going to visit them. The sad thing is, along with mom, Aunt Desiree was also kidnapped. We had been lied to this whole time. Mom wasn’t on a solo mission. Mom AND Aunt Desiree were on that mission. A-and they were both kidnapped. Together.’ 

By now, all the young spies had turned to Andy and Debbie, watching the one-sided exchange in quiet awe. Carrie, who had obviously heard this all before, Mike and David were watching Debbie’s face turn from angry to shocked.

Andy was right. He had never let them down. And he wasn’t about to start now.