In this fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies go codebreaking in Cairo in another international adventure perfect for fans of Spy School and Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls . Codename Kathmandu, better known as Kat, loves logic and order, has a favorite eight-digit number, and can spot a pattern from a mile away. So when a series of cyberattacks hits key locations in London while the spies are testing security for the British Museum, it’s clear that Kat’s skill for finding reason in what seems like randomness makes her the perfect candidate to lead the job. And while the team follows the deciphered messages to Egypt and the ancient City of the Dead to discover who is behind the attacks and why, Kat soon realizes that there’s another layer to the mystery. With more players, more clues, and involving higher levels of British Intelligence than ever before, this mission is one of the most complex that the group has faced to date. And it’s also going to bring about a change to the City Spies… James Ponti is the New York Times bestselling author of four middle grade book series: The Sherlock Society following a group of young detectives; City Spies, about an unlikely squad of five kids from around the world who form an elite MI6 Spy Team; the Edgar Award–winning Framed! series, about a pair of tweens who solve mysteries in Washington, DC; and the Dead City trilogy, about a secret society that polices the undead living beneath Manhattan. His books have appeared on more than fifteen different state award lists, and he is the founder of a writers group known as the Renegades of Middle Grade. James is also an Emmy–nominated television writer and producer who has worked for many networks including Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, History, and Spike TV, as well as NBC Sports. He lives with his family in Orlando, Florida. Find out more at JamesPonti.com. Chapter 1: British Museum 1. British Museum LONDON, ENGLAND—PRESENT DAY ON A SLATE GRAY NOVEMBER day, one hundred years after the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb, a group of five young people converged in a part of London known as Bloomsbury. Like Howard Carter, they were looking to recover treasures of Egyptian antiquity. Except they weren’t going to dig a tunnel in the desert. They were going to sneak through one in an abandoned section of the London Underground. And the artifacts they sought weren’t concealed in some long-forgotten tomb. They were on display at one of the busiest museums in the world. This was no excavation. It was a heist. “Testing comms, one, two, three,” Kat said into the microphone hidden in the red remembrance poppy pinned to her lapel. “Can everybody hear me?” “Loud and clear,” said Paris. “Perfectly,” answered Rio. “All good on my end,” Brooklyn replied. There was a pause as they waited for a final voice to check in. “Sydney, are you not responding because you can’t hear me?” Kat asked. “Or is it because you’re still pouting?” After a moment, Sydney replied, “I’m sorry. I was under the impression nobody cared what I had to say.” “So, pouting,” Paris commented. “I’m not pouting,” Sydney said defensively. “I’m just… disappointed . All I asked was that we slide the break-in a couple hours so we could see the fireworks at Battersea Park. You know how much I love Bonfire Night. It’s going to be huge and everyone’s going to be there.” “Which is exactly why we’re going to be here ,” Kat said. “The police will be spread thin, and there are no celebrations scheduled for Bloomsbury. That means they’ll be elsewhere, which dramatically improves the probability of us not getting caught.” Kat was the alpha on this mission, which meant she had to come up with the plan to break into the British Museum. She’d studied dozens of famous robberies and noticed that many took place on holidays or during special events, when police and security altered their normal patterns and were understaffed. She picked this date because of its connection to one of the most infamous figures in British history. On November 5, 1605, a soldier-turned-radical named Guy Fawkes was captured before he could execute his plan to use thirty-six barrels of gunpowder to blow up Parliament. Ever since, Britons had marked the occasion with raucous public displays that included bonfires, burning effigies, and fireworks. For Sydney, a born rebel who loved “making things go boom,” it was as if Bonfire Night had been created specifically with her in mind. And here she was in London, so close to some of the biggest celebrations in the country, yet she was going to miss out. “Just tell me this,” Kat said. “Are you good to go with the mission? Or is this going to be a problem?” “Of course I’m good,” Sydney replied. “I never let anything affect our work.” “Excellent,” Kat said. “And if it makes you feel better, I’ll try to find something for you to blow up.” “