Enjoy this chapter and have a great day!

"Ben, get up," came Erica's voice from outside my room, jolting me awake. I stretched and realized we only had twenty minutes to go to the party. I pulled on a pair of jeans and put on a good looking shirt.

Erica came out a moment later in her skinny jeans and a small blouse with lace. I was pretty sure she had her black unitard underneath. Surprisingly, Erica had opted for lip gloss, hoop earrings and a small necklace with a blue heart pendant. I smiled at her choice of clothing and she smiled softly back. It was subtle and untraceable, but I knew what it meant.

"Let's get going," Erica said. "I have some bugs in my back pocket and a tracker that we can place on his phone or jacket or something."

"Did you tell your dad?" I asked. She nodded and slipped into her shoes. I followed her out the door and we got into the car. I figured that either Riley had already dropped Zoe and Mike, or she was yet to.

Riley didn't say a word. She simply held her hand out and I slid my phone into her palm. She glanced at the address for a brief moment, then nodded and slid my phone back to me.

Fifteen minutes later we were in front of a huge mansion that looked about as big as Wickham Palace, Orion's home in the Cotswolds. Riley told me to call her back when we needed to be picked up. Erica rang the doorbell, which was outside the big iron gates.

"State your names, please," came an automated voice, then it sounded like a recorder turned on.

"Lacy and Ben," Erica said. "We're here for the party."

A couple of moments later the big iron gates opened up. There were steps that led to a door, which was slightly ajar. There was a butler standing at the entrance. He nodded as we passed through.

"Ben! Lacy! You guys made it!" Cynthia exclaimed as soon as we set foot into her house. She made her way to me and waved politely to Erica, who set about looking around the house.

I looked around. There was a grand hallway with a stairwell and multiple huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It was magnificent. There were rooms on either side of the stairwell, and more rooms were upstairs. It was a two story house, but it extended on behind the stairwell.

I followed Cynthia down the hallway. She led me past about twenty to thirty rooms, past the stairwell, past the giant windows that overlooked the gardens behind the house until we were in front of a door. She pushed it open, revealing about twenty kids my age dancing, talking, eating and hanging out. Jazz music was playing in the background. I spotted Jamie in the corner, standing by the DJ. Erica stood next to him and they were talking to each other. A couple of girls from school waved to me and I waved back.

"Your house is amazing," I said. Cynthia laughed.

"You've only seen about a tenth of it," she said. "If you want, I'll give you a tour."

I smiled. "This party is amazing."

"Enjoy! Help yourself. I'll be here if you need something," Cynthia said, then hurried to the other side of the room, where she found new people to greet. I looked around, headed over to the food and grabbed a slice of pizza.

"Ben!" came a voice over the loud music. I turned around and saw Mike and Zoe. I waved them over and they joined me.

"Isn't this party great?" Mike asked. I nodded, then anxiously looked at Erica. She wasn't turned our way.

"Erica's here too, remember? What if she finds out that you guys are here?" I asked.

"I have colored contacts on," Zoe said. And I partially sprayed my hair, so it looks like I have highlights."

"What about you, Mike?" I asked.

"She won't notice me," Mike replied confidently. I sighed.

"Okay, look. Here's the plan. Cynthia's offering me a house tour. I'll go with her, get a tour of the house, then tell you guys, then we excuse ourselves to the bathrooms and carry on with the plan," I explained.

Mike nodded, but Zoe wasn't so sure. "What about Erica?" she asked. "What role does Erica play in this?"

"I can show her to a different location and we'll go in a different direction," I said, hoping it would work.

"Okay, we'll get back to the party," Mike said and they walked away. I walked over to Cynthia, who was in a corner talking to her friends. As soon as they saw me they left Cynthia alone.

"Hey, Ben! What's up?" she asked.

I smiled. "Can I get a tour of the house?"

She brightened. "Why not?" she said excitedly and led me out of the room. We started with the lower floor, which was mostly the kitchen, dining room, gym, movie theater, all that stuff.

Down in the basement was the gaming room with video games, pool tables all that. There were three bedrooms in the basement and twenty-two on the main floor. The windows were overlooking the gardens, the two pools and the bar her parents used. There was also a kitchen outside for barbeque and grilled foods.

Upstairs was another set of bedrooms, mostly belonging to the family. "There's mine, Jamie's, our parents', there's a study, and my dad's office," Cynthia explained, leading me down the hallway. Then there were more guest bedrooms, one indoor pool and a yoga/fitness room.

"My house is quite big," Cynthia said with a laugh. "We have so many staff too. There's a cook and a butler, a waiter, five housekeepers, and a bunch of others. It's hard to keep track."

"Do you like it? Being so rich?" I asked.

Cynthia stopped laughing. Her face turned serious, then sad. "Sometimes it's nice, but sometimes it's a burden," she said. "My dad has to pay everyone, then he gets more and more money, then he stores that, then there's always someone at our house, but I guess it's neutral."

I smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I understand how it's like. I know it's never easy."

She smiled. "I'm actually glad someone knows me."

I shook my head, confused. Just then, two boys walked out of the party area, talking to each other. They headed towards the bathrooms. Afraid that they might hear our conversation, Cynthia pulled me and led me to a room. She closed the door behind us and took a deep breath.

"What I mean is, no one ever gets me when I say that life as a rich girl is hard. Everyone who goes to my school have rich parents and stuff, but my dad's super super rich. He has so much money we donate billions to organizations. They think it's super cool and stuff but honestly, it's not." Cynthia's face faded as she continued. "I'm grateful that someone gets me."

I smiled. "Can you show me the way to the bathroom?"

She nodded. Third room down the left side of the staircase. Though if that's taken there's one upstairs too meant for guests."

"Thanks," I said, then headed that way. Once Cynthia couldn't see me I texted Mike and Zoe. they came out a couple of minutes later.

"We're here," Zoe said. "What's the plan?"

"Okay, go upstairs. Second room to the right is Lucio's master bedroom. He's in there. See if you can get some shots. I'm headed to his little office room."

Mike and Zoe obediently headed that way. I headed up the stairs and walked across the hallway to the office room. It was slightly ajar. Lucio wasn't in there, though.

His laptop was open to something that looked like it was important. I felt around in my pocket and pulled out a tracker. I stuck it to the underside of his laptop and then inserted a USB drive into his computer, downloading almost everything he had. I also snapped pictures, just to be safe.

There was a vibrating sound as the pen drive finished loading everything. I pulled it out from the laptop and pocketed it. Then I placed two bugs under his desk and bolted out of the room just in time to duck behind a pillar as Lucio walked back into his office.

I ran downstairs and ran right into Erica, who caught me just before I fell down. "Ben?"

"Hey, Erica," I said. "I got the pictures."

She nodded. "Good work. I've planted two bugs so far. I've also placed a tracker on his car and managed to hack his security cameras. They're connected to my phone and guess what: Ms. E's right hand man James Thomas was here yesterday, and he was here today too. He'll be here tomorrow too, and-" Erica was cut off by Zoe.

"Ben! Oh, you're here, great. I was searching for you and-" Zoe stopped mid sentence, realizing that she and Mike were face to face with Erica.

Erica's eyebrows shot up in surprise and her eyes widened. Then she looked to me, then back to them. Finally she turned to me. "Ben? What's..."

"I...uh..." I stammered.

"Hey, Erica," Mike said weakly. "Fancy seeing...you here?"

Erica shook her head. "What in the world is going on?"

Mike, Zoe and I took turns explaining everything to Erica from how I met them at Starbucks and how they've been keeping a secret. Erica took this all in carefully and then spoke up.

"Okay, so we have two more people with us on this mission. That's not bad. Show me what you got," Erica said, so Zoe whipped her phone out of her purse. She scrolled through a couple of photos.

"I got these photos of him, and here's photos of some file he had with him. I couldn't take it, though, but as you can see, it confirms his alliance with SPYDER," she said.

"Hold up," I said, gathering everyone's attention. "Murray's the one who found James Thomas. What's he doing in Lucio's conference room?"

"What do you mean?" Erica asked. I opened my hand up and Zoe gave me her phone. I zoomed in on the photo, which was of a file on a conference table. No one had noticed that in the corner, behind the big screen was a figure. You could only see the shadow, but I knew Murray's shadow anywhere.

"Oh my god," Mike said. "Murray's here."

"Worse, he knows we're here," Zoe said with a concerned look.

"Worse," came a voice. "I'm right behind you." There was the cock of two guns, and we all spun around. My worst fear came true. Erica tensed up beside me, and I could hear her breathing sped up. "Hello there, my dear friends."

Murray Hill.

I'll probably be updating two to four chapters at once every week or so like this. Anyways, enjoy and have a wonderful day!