Spy School Goes Wild Quotes

“How is going to the zoo supposed to hone your survival skills? Did your grandfather throw you into the wolf pit?”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“Unfortunately, I was running out of time, and fear was overtaking me. In my mind, my happy place became a very unhappy place instead. Erica suddenly fled from my side and the mountain collapsed beneath my feet. Terror gripped me. I started hyperventilating.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“would you drown a hamster in your underpants?” Svetlana asked curiously. “Is that something Americans do?”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“smitten”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“Oh.” Svetlana smiled warmly. She and Zoe had been smitten with each other from the moment they met; that was one of the main reasons Svetlana had defected. “That’s a good point. I vote for this French Riviera training too.” “Well, it’s not going to happen,” Erica said curtly, seeming annoyed with all of us. “This isn’t the movies. Spies don’t get caviar-level expense accounts and stay at ritzy hotels on the French Riviera. Most likely, you’re eating cold room-service borscht at a run-down hostel in Vladivostok.” “That’s still better than this,” Mike grumped, indicating the rain. Since our camp was located in a stand of old-growth forest, the thick canopy of leaves above was protecting us from the elements somewhat. Out on the open mountain passes we had been constantly drenched; now we were only getting moderately drizzled on. However, this wasn’t exactly a good thing, as the drier ground had attracted bears. Dozens of bears lived in the area surrounding our camp. They were all black bears, which meant they were significantly smaller than the grizzlies that roamed much of Alaska, but that didn’t mean they were small. Each weighed at least a hundred pounds, and some of the adult males were five times that. In addition, the bears had far more sense than we did and had sought shelter from the rain, rather than hiking in it for hours. They were all lurking in the forest around us. I had caught sight of a few in the distance, ripping apart logs in search of grubs or curled up and snoozing in dry spots. In general, the bears stayed away from us, but that wasn’t because they had signed a treaty. They were still wild animals. It was always possible that one might feel threatened and decide to attack.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“It took me four days to figure out how to get back to DC!” “Four days?” I asked, astonished. “But you were less than fifteen miles from the city.” “I was out in the wilderness! And the terrain was very treacherous!” “You were in the suburbs.” “It was a park.” “A small park. And it was completely surrounded by civilization. It only took Chip and Jawa thirty minutes to walk to a Taco Bell.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“I could tell Murray was concerned by the sight of the prison and its surroundings. But he did his best to hide it, putting on a show for all of us. “You really think this run-down joint is going to hold me?” he asked tauntingly. “I’ve gotten out of places with way better security than this.” “Yes, but you never broke out of them,” Catherine reminded him. “You weaseled your way out. SPYDER sprang you. Or you cut a deal with the US government to give evidence against other people in return for getting off scot-free. But that’s not going to happen here. SPYDER is gone. And the US government doesn’t even know where you are. Only we do—and we’re not about to share that information with anybody.” Murray’s confidence faded. It was a struggle for him to keep up his display of bravado. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll tell someone, right? You’re not going to boast to anyone at the CIA or MI6 about how you caught the greatest criminal mastermind of his generation?” My friends and I all looked to one another, then shook our heads. We all knew that while Murray would consider going to prison at Tsetseng horrible, the real way to take him down was to deflate his ego. “Greatest criminal mastermind of your generation?” Zoe repeated doubtfully. “You’re not even close.” “What?” Murray cried. “Who’s better than me?” “For starters, someone who didn’t get repeatedly captured,” I said. “There’s a young criminal in Russia named Boris Blatvatsik,” Svetlana reported. “Now he is a criminal mastermind. Much smarter than you. And he has much better hygiene, too.” “Ooh,” Zoe cooed, knowing it would get under Murray’s skin. “He sounds really devious.” Murray fell into a sulk. “Ha ha. Very funny. You’re all a bunch of jerks.” “I guess you’d be the expert on that,” Mike told him. Two prison guards flanked Murray. Each took an arm and they led him across the dusty ground toward the prison gate. I stood with Erica, Mike, Zoe, and Svetlana, watching as the kid who had lied to me, conned me, betrayed me, and tried to engineer my death over and over again was led away. “So long, Murray,” I said. Murray looked back over his shoulder, mustering a final bit of cockiness, and stared me down. “You haven’t seen the last of me,” he warned. Even though it was a threat, I couldn’t help but smile. Because I had the wonderful feeling that Murray Hill was wrong—and I had finally defeated my nemesis once and for all.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“Murray groaned. Only, it wasn’t his standard groan of despair, which I had heard hundreds of times over the past day. Instead, it was a groan of exertion, which concerned me. I spun back around to face Murray. He had picked up one of the big wooden oars from the rowboat, and was now swinging it toward my face like a baseball bat. I tried to duck out of the way, but wasn’t quite fast enough. I avoided having Murray flatten my nose with the oar, but it still glanced off the back of my skull. I toppled forward into the rowboat and my head banged against the side. “Sorry to do this, old friend,” I heard Murray say, although his voice was fuzzy because my ears were ringing. “But as you know, I’m evil.” And then I lapsed into unconsciousness.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“You know I have always respected you, right?”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“Well, whoever put this mission together is an idiot,” Erica declared. “I put this mission together!” the principal exclaimed.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“There was nothing he loved more than showing off how brilliant he was (except perhaps bacon)”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“Walrus”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“and there was a dearth of larcenous porcupines.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“In addition to being the international language of commerce, medicine, and science, English was also the standard language of evil.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“I did not,” the principal said defiantly. “I never learned them in the first place!”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“Soren Swollen”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“Hey there, Hot Mama,” Cyrus purred. “Got a kiss for me, Big Daddy?” Mary asked him.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“Well, whoever put this mission together is an idiot,” Erica declared. “I put this mission together!” the principal exclaimed. “Exactly,” Erica said.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“I’m just saying that my undies are really, really wet. And I hate wet undies because…” “They chafe,” Zoe concluded. “We know. You’ve been griping about this for the last six hours.” “Because I’ve been chafing for the last six hours!” Mike grumpily adjusted his soggy underwear. “Why doesn’t the CIA have someone working on this? One of the labs there ought to be developing chafe-proof boxers. Those would be a lot more useful on our missions than grappling hooks.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild

“he said that if I ever wrote anything remotely spicy to his granddaughter, he’d neuter me.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Spy School Goes Wild