Andalucía, Spain

"¡Beto! ¡Beto!"

The African-American boy turned around and saw Lola running after him, trying to catch up. He stopped and patiently waited for her. Beto was more of a gentleman than anything else. He always had time for other people. "¿Qué pasa?" he asked when she got to him.

Lola made a quick and easy switch to English. "Did you hear about the people in Italy?" she asked him. Both of their English skills were good… far better than anyone else's around. They used it so that it would be harder for others to pick up on what they were talking about. It was standard in their country that everyone be educated in English, but few took it as seriously as they had. They needed to speak it well, quickly, and with as little of a Spanish accent as possible so that others couldn't understand.

"What people in Italy?" he asked.

She handed him a clipped-out article from the newspaper. The story hadn't been on the front; it was obvious that it was a more buried one, because the font of the heading was small. However, small or not, it was still there. The title: Italy Loses Five Teens. Beto scanned the article, trying to take in as much of it as he could as quickly as possible, and then he looked at Lola. "Is this… this isn't…?"

Lola nodded. "Yes it is. They're dead. And do you know who killed them?"

Beto didn't bother to ask her who; he was pretty sure he had an idea. "Did you tell anyone else yet?"

"Only Luz. We need to meet after school… we received another letter from Germany, anyways."

Beto nodded. Their friends in Germany sent them letters now and then about the Yeerk invasion, using a "code" in case the letters were stolen, lost, or something else unfortunate happened. The six Spanish kids always replied, though the letters often took a long time to send. Sometimes they would also communicate through e-mail, but never phone. The Germans had called the Spaniards only once before, and then they only talked about normal things... not the Yeerk invasion.

After school the Spaniards met in what they'd affectionately dubbed "the dungeon." It was a small storage room in their school that was cold and dusty, and one had to go through a million locked doors to get there. They informed a teacher of their cause a long time ago, and he always let them in.

There were six of them. Six Spanish saviors of the world. Ana and Luz came down together, Lola found her own way, and the three boys – Beto, Raúl, and Pepe – came down together.

Once everyone was there, Lola showed the newspaper article. "One of the Italian groups died yesterday," she announced. "At least, that's what I think. Five teenagers who were unnamed died at the same time, same place, same way. Their bodies were burned."

Everyone looked at the others, surprised. Raúl decided to speak up. "We don't know what this weapon is called, but we do know they have something that specializes in burning objects."

Lola nodded. "I think the evidence for it being the Yeerks is fairly strong. I don't know what group they'll target next, but we need to be ready. It could be us."

"It looks like the Yeerks are trying to finish off all the international groups," Pepe stated. "Obviously, we can't let that happen."

"How's America?" Ana asked. "The invasion is strongest there. We need them."

"Nothing's happened there yet," Luz answered. "Or, not to our knowledge. I'm trying to get names so we can make ourselves known to that group over there, but they're really watching their backs. Which, I guess, is a good thing. I'll keep trying to get ahold of them. Next order of business: Germany's letter."

Raúl reached in his backpack and pulled out an envelope. In it were two pieces of paper… one was the original letter to them. The second was the note after it had been decoded.

"It's shorter than most," Raúl opened. "It says:

¡Hola, españoles!

We all hope you're still going strong. We're glad to report that three Yerks were starved yesterday, and we have two more that we're working on right now, but they'll probably be dead by the time you get this letter. How are your numbers still coming? We're sorry to hear that business is slow, but it might be a good thing.

On to official business, we hear that Visser One is planning a trip to Spain. This is a popular rumor that we've heard from one of our five groups in America, Singapore, and Japan. We don't know if she is doing it to oversee your execution or for another reason. We also don't know where in Spain. To be honest, we don't even know if this is just a rumor or if it is true. Her host's name is Eva Monzolaz, but unfortunately, that's all the information we know right now. See what you can do, and we will notify you immediately if we find out anything else.

Well, I guess that's about all we have to say. E-mail us once you find out more about Visser One, and if there's any other urgent news. We're eager to find out how this all goes.

Keep fighting, and stay strong. Remember the cause.

-Manny, German Yeerk Resistance Director"

"They got five Yeerks," Lola stated. "That's good."

"Raúl, write back," Beto told him, taking charge. "Tell them about Italy… see if they know anything. And why don't you mention Russia." There were no rebel groups in Russia, and they had been trying to break through and find someone there to fight. Manny had offered to buy some plane tickets and fly some people to Russia, as he came from a wealthy family. Then they would be able to find someone to "open up a network" there. The only problem was that people at home would notice their being gone.

"Beto? Our computer whiz?" Lola said. "See if you can break through any securities they have on Visser One and find Eva Monzolaz on a plane."

"What if they have a private plane?"

"They'd still need to reserve a runway, right? Find something… anything."

"Now, look," Raúl began. "This opens up a huge can of worms that I don't think Manny's aware of. If we find her, we should kill her right away. Yeerk, human, and all. Visser One is smart, and she might think of a way to get out. Even if not, she's the Yeerk Queen or something, right? So they'll come for her and break her out. It's best we get rid of her right away."

Beto and Luz nodded, Lola looked unsure, and Ana and Pepe disagreed. Their faces all showed their positions.

"She has a human host," Ana said. "What if that host has a family?"

"It doesn't matter," Beto said. "We're killing his wife or her mother to save their lives. Someone has to die; this is a war we're fighting."

"But we can avoid it," Pepe argued. "When we started this thing, we all agreed that there would be no unnecessary killing."

"Yes, and I won't deny that," Luz spoke up. "The only issue that's debatable is whether or not this is necessary. I think it is. We need to kill her, because otherwise she might find a way out. It's too risky. We need that Yeerk dead at all costs."

"So do we take a risk or save a life?" Beto summed up. "Keep in mind, amigos, that this isn't a poker game risk. We're betting with the world's lives. So maybe the real question is: do we possibly kill millions or definitely kill one?"

"The ratio is too much to too little. We need to get rid of Visser One, and that's all there is to it," Raúl insisted.

Lola voiced her own opinion cautiously, like she was unsure of what she was saying. "Well, what if Beto checked to see if she has a family? If she doesn't we kill her. If she does, we starve the Yeerk."

"So we leave our decision to chance?" Luz challenged. "If she just-so-happens to have a daughter, we risk it? Besides, where do we draw the line? If she has an aunt, does that count? A husband, no kids? A step-dad? What would we classify as 'family?' She probably has some sort of relative."

"Exactly," Ana said. "She probably has at least three relatives, friends are assumed… we can't kill her."

"Everyone has relatives and friends," Raúl said. "It's irrelevant. We just need to get rid of her; that's our job. We need to do it."

"Let Germany decide," Pepe suggested. "Manny is really smart, and his rebels are the head, anyways. Tell them to take a vote and tell us what to do."

"I'll e-mail them," Ana said. "It's faster."

"You know the code?" Raúl asked. She shook her head. "It took me two months to learn that code. I'll e-mail them."

"You realize that if the Yeerks ever crack that code, they can intercept all of our messages?" Beto asked. Raúl smiled.

"They won't. They can't. The code is uncrackable. They won't even get the first step. And man, there are 8 steps. The entire message gets so garbled after three. And it's all random."

"Then how do you decode it?" Lola asked.

"Don't even bother to ask," Raúl said. "It's way too complicated."

"If no one else is going to say anything constructive, I think we're done here," Beto announced. "I'm checking airlines and Raúl's writing a reply letter and an e-mail about what to do with Eva. Missing anything?"

"Be careful," Luz said. "If the Yeerks find out we're sniffing around their Visser, they'll infest you and kill us."

"I know."

"Much as I like Italy, I'd hate to keep them company."

"And," Pepe added. "As always, we're on the lookout for Controllers."

"As always," Beto agreed.