Author Biography

Elizabeth Cage is the pseudonym of a noted young adult author. Her true identity and current whereabouts are classified.

Excerpt from Book

Chapter One "Beam me out of here," Jo Carreras muttered as she and Theresa Hearth entered the now familiar white plastic conference room of The Tower for another debriefing. "This place needs a major makeover. The latter-day mother ship motif is way out." "Tell it to Uncle Sam," Theresa replied. She gently set her laptop on the pristine white conference table that stretched the length of the entire room. It had to be at least twenty feet long. "Maybe he''ll turn you loose with The Tower platinum card." "Yeah, right. Only if we save the world just one more time." Jo flipped her long black hair out of her face. Then she snatched a blueberry muffin from a small tray of juice, bagels, muffins, and other breakfast treats in the center of the conference table. The tray was the only thing in the room that hinted at warmth. Let alone humanity. Actually, there was a time when the sight of this conference room/bad Trek set creeped Jo and Theresa out. Now it wasn''t eerie so much as tacky. But back then, they were just raw recruits thrown together to save the Free World from Evil and other capitalized words. They''d been so green when the organization known only as The Tower had trained them as secret agents. Naturally, their enemies underestimated three teenage girls. But the adventures had been intense. Dangerous. Thrilling. Terrifying. And exhausting. They had defused bombs, fallen out of airplanes, hacked into top secret computers, run from the law, and trotted the globe using false identities. They had used gadgets that would make James Bond drool. They wore fabulous couture that would make him drool even more. Soon they stopped being just girls. They became the Spy Girls. Jo glanced around and blinked her large ebony eyes. "Where''s Caylin?" Theresa shrugged. Then they heard a high-pitched "Kiii-yai!" The door at the opposite end of the room flew open, and Caylin Pike burst in, blond ponytail flipping, fists wrapped in athletic tape. She danced back and forth, boxing the air and twirling while she executed a series of wicked roundhouse kicks. "It''s about time," Jo murmured. Caylin whooshed past Theresa and headed toward Jo''s seat. She punched with each step -- "Ya! Ya! Ya!" -- all the way up to Jo. Then Caylin launched a final sidekick that came within an inch of Jo''s nose. "Now that''s what I''m talking about." Caylin grinned, holding the foot in front of Jo''s face. Jo didn''t even flinch -- except to wrinkle her nose. "Ever hear of foot-odor spray?" she asked. Caylin swung her foot back to the ground and stood in place. Her shoulders slumped. "I do not stink!" "Your feet do," Jo replied with a wry smile. Caylin ignored her, choosing instead to plop her foot on the conference table, bend forward, and stretch her hamstring. "This tae-bo stuff is unreal. It''s total body kamikaze. You guys have to try it. You''ll die." "Just what I want out of a workout," Theresa said. "No thanks, Van Damage," Jo added. "You work out enough for all of us." "You don''t even know what working out is." Caylin scolded, massaging her calf. She paused to snag a bottle of water from the tray. "Working out?" Theresa asked, looking confused. She turned to Jo, shrugging. "Never heard of it." "You know, weights, treadmills, ambulances," Jo quipped. "You''ve seen the infomercials." Theresa widened her gray eyes in mock surprise. "That''s working out? Ew!" "God forbid you break a sweat," Caylin grumbled. "You break the sweats, I''ll break the codes," Theresa replied, patting her laptop. "So what does Jo break?" Caylin asked. Theresa grinned. "Wind." "Hey!" Jo erupted, throwing a muffin. It exploded against Theresa''s arm, sending chunky crumbs across the spotless white table. "You''re supposed to be the quiet one!" "You should try quiet sometime," Theresa said with a laugh, brushing crumbs away. "Very funny," Jo said with an exaggerated toss of her dark hair. "The only thing I break is hearts, Spy Geek. Don''t you forget it." "Yeah, I heard that enemies of state all over the world are paying big bucks for the latest satellite pics of you sunbathing on The Tower roof," Caylin pointed out. Jo blinked. "They are?" Caylin and Theresa exploded in giggles and groans. "Yeah, right!" Jo sighed melodramatically and shook her head. "It''s so hard being beautiful, brilliant, and top secret." "Ahem," came a deep voice from all around them, as if from within the walls. The Spy Girls froze. "Uh-oh," Caylin said, glancing about. "The Sam-man cometh. Cease all fun." The lights dimmed. A large video screen emerged from the far wall, blinking and humming. Gradually the pixelated image of Uncle Sam, their boss, came to life before them. As usual, they couldn''t make out any of his features. "Greetings, Spy Girls," Uncle Sam said. "How are the debutantes of d

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