Read Spy School for Free Online Page A

I don’t like him. I’ll take any excuse I get to render him unconscious. Speaking of which . . .” Murray nodded toward the door.
    Chip had entered. He’d taken the time to fix his hair after being electrocuted and was now flanked by two kids even bigger than he was. They were both hulking slabs of muscle with crew cuts and attitudes, though I thought one of them might be a girl.
    “Greg Hauser and Kirsten Stubbs,” Murray told me. “Neither one’s exactly a genius, though the Agency always has use for a few people who are just big and mean and don’t question orders.”
    Everyone in the room paused in mid-conversation to find out whom Chip and his goons were targeting. Every pair of eyes followed him—except Erica’s. She stayed riveted to her book, as if unaware anything else was happening.
    The other 294 students heaved a collective sigh of relief as they saw Chip, Hauser, and Stubbs heading for Murray and me, not any of them. No one resumed their conversation, though. We were now the center of attention.
    Chip slammed a hand on our table so hard that theplates jumped. “I know you pulled that little stunt earlier,” he snarled at Murray.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Murray stayed amazingly calm, given that everyone else in the room seemed to be terrified for his safety. “I was in the computer lab all afternoon, and I have sources to corroborate that.”
    “Don’t give me that garbage!” Chip snapped. “You know exactly what I mean.”
    “Oh, I’ll bet I do,” Murray said. “You’re referring to the incident where you were trying to intimidate Ben here into helping you cheat because you’re not capable of doing your own dirty work, but then you let your guard down and allowed someone to knock you unconscious. Yeah, everyone’s talking about it. I can see why you’re upset. I’d be embarrassed as heck if I got caught with my pants down like that.”
    Around the room there were a lot of snickers at Chip’s expense, though they were quickly stifled before Hauser and Stubbs could figure out who was making them.
    Chip turned crimson in anger. Veins the size of night crawlers bulged in his neck. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you?”
    “Not at all, Chip,” Murray replied. “I know I’m smart. For example, if I had played that little trick on you, I’d have snaked a fiber-optic camera under the door first and recorded the entire event, so that if someone like you or your girlfriendshere threatened to retaliate physically, I could threaten to send the video to the principal in return. He might not give a hoot about the coercion or the cheating, but he certainly wouldn’t be pleased to see how you got knocked out so easily. That’s F-quality self-preservation.”
    Chip stared at Murray a long time, unsure whether this was a bluff or not, trying to figure out his next move. He ultimately opted for saving face. “But you didn’t shock me, right?”
    “Of course not,” Murray replied. “And Ben here had nothing to do with it either.”
    Chip nodded menacingly. “Well, you let whoever did do it know that, one of these days, I’m gonna get the upper hand on him. And when I do, he’ll wish he’d never crossed paths with me. Is that clear?”
    “Crystal,” Murray said.
    Chip turned his attention to me. “If I were you, I’d stop hanging out with this loser. It’s gonna cause serious harm to any chance you have of a social life here. It might even cause serious harm to you .”
    To emphasize this, Hauser snatched the spoon out of Murray’s hand, clenched his fist around it, and squeezed. When he opened his hand again, the steel utensil had been crumpled as though it were a candy wrapper. He plunked it into Murray’s milk.
    “I’ll be keeping my eye on you,” Chip warned me. Then he and his thugs stormed off to grab dinner.
    “Morons,” Murray muttered. “Big muscles. Very little brains. Anyone remotely intelligent would know there wasn’t enough time