Cyrus Hale

**Cyrus Hale** is one of the top spies for the CIA and is Erica's grandfather. He retired due to having made too many enemies in his career, but in *Spy Camp*, he comes out of retirement to assist with Operation Angry Jackal. He possesses incredible skill and experience in the field of espionage and is a living legend. Alexander considers him the best spy the CIA ever produced. Cyrus can be fooled, however as proven upon many occasions.

## Appearance & Personality

Cyrus is around his seventies, so presumably he has white/gray hair. Being a Hale, he most likely has the trademark ice blue Hale family eyes. He's quite tough and agile for a man his age. His personality is very similar to Erica's cool, sharp, cold, tough, and hard to impress.

Erica is thought to be Cyrus's "pride and joy" according to Alexander Hale, as she is the perfect spy Alexander was not. Due to this, she is also Cyrus's only weakness. In *Spy Camp*, Cyrus gives up the coordinates to Camp David when SPYDER starts torturing Erica. In *Spy School Secret Service*, he does not activate Erica but rather Ben for Operation Pungent Muskrat. Cyrus cares about Erica too much to put her in danger, so he activates Ben, even though Erica is more qualified.

Cyrus is quite harsh on his son, Alexander, who lacks the skills in the Hale family. Nonetheless, when it comes to missions, he acknowledges that Erica can be reckless and stubborn, which is why he doesn't place her as the primary agent on several missions.

Cyrus is almost never happy or cheerful. Even when Alexander saves Cyrus and Erica's lives in *Spy Camp*, Cyrus smiles for three seconds then says, "Enough celebration. Let's get moving." He never even smiles after the end of a successful mission.

## Skills & Abilities

Cyrus is a very talented spy. He is also extremely good at fighting and espionage in general, as he had taught Erica Hale everything he knows. In *Spy Ski School*, we see that he can understand Chinese, and most likely is fluent in it as well.

## Missions

Cyrus has been through countless missions and has survived them all. He has mentioned "personally stopping the Bay of Pigs Fiasco" and claims to have prevented the earth from going thermonuclear ten times.

* Operation Angry Jackal
* Operation Bedbug
* Operation Snow Bunny
* Operation Pungent Muskrat
* Operation Tiger Shark

## Relationships

### **Erica Hale**

Erica is Cyrus’s granddaughter and one of his only vulnerabilities. He is very proud of his granddaughter and has been teaching her since a young age to shape her into the equally impressive fighter and spy she is today.

### **Alexander Hale**

Alexander is Cyrus’s son, but it is no secret that they have many issues with each other. Alexander once told Ben, “I hope you not just saying that to impress my father, it won’t work. Believe me, I've spent my whole life trying.” However, toward the end of the series, Alexander has started proving himself to his father, earning a little bit of respect from him.

### **Benjamin Ripley**

~~At~~ first, Cyrus isn't impressed with Ben's skills, but as stated in the letter at the beginning of *Spy School Secret Service*, it appears that he has earned a glimmer of respect from him.

### **Catherine Hale**

Catherine Hale is Cyrus's daughter-in-law. He doesn't know about her career in the MI6 until *Spy School Goes South*. When Cyrus asked how long she had been a spy, she replies, “As long as I have known you."

### **CIA**

Cyrus is extremely loyal to the Agency, being one of their best spies and completely incorruptible (due to the fact he never communicates with anyone) but he never trusts the Agency (ex: two of the only agents he trusted in *Spy School Goes South* were moles for SPYDER).

## Trivia

* He despises cell phones and pretty much any modern/day technology.
* Cyrus, along with Lucas Crandall, is a Cold War veteran.
* In *Spy School British Invasion*, Cyrus gets knocked out by Joshua Hallal and Dane Brammage. When he wakes up, he is delusional, thinking he's a general in the Revolutionary War.
* He has a hearing aid, but instead of being there to help his bad ears, he has perfectly fine ears, and it is used to hear things better.