Cyrus Hale

[1]

   **Cyrus Hale** is one of the top spies for the CIA and is Erica's grandfather. Up until *Spy Camp*, he is retired due to having made too many enemies in his career, but he reactivates himself to assist with Operation Angry Jackal. Cyrus lives underground in an unknown area. He possesses incredible skill and experience in the field of espionage and is a living legend. Alexander considers his father to be the best spy the CIA has ever produced, but Cyrus can be fooled, as proven by 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 is 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 that 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 does not 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."

## 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. The following are the missions he has operated in over the course of the *Spy School* series:

* 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, later in the series, Alexander starts proving himself to his father, earning a little bit of respect from him. It is believed that Cyrus has a grudge against Alexander, that would maybe be revealed in Spy School #12

### **Benjamin Ripley**

At first, Cyrus is not impressed with Ben's skills and questions multiple times what's so special about him upon meeting him in *Spy Camp*. Throughout the series, Ben earns small bits of respect from Cyrus and has been said to be the one person he thinks (somewhat) highly of besides Erica.

### **Catherine Hale**

Catherine Hale is Cyrus's daughter-in-law. He is unaware about her career in the MI6 until *Spy School Goes South*. When Cyrus asks how long she had been a spy, she replies, “As long as I have known you."

### Trixie Hale

After Trixie showed very little espionage ability, Cyrus decided to keep the family buisness a secret and send her to private school. Cyrus is very protective of Trixie, getting extremely angry when Ben and Mike put her in danger by revealing the family buisness in Spy School Revolution. They usually have fun together.

### Mary Hale

Mary is Cyrus’s wife. Mary can cause Cyrus to expose is softer side, with them occasionally sending each other love letters. Mary often criticizes Cyrus’s methods and attitude

### Ivan Shumovsky

Ivan is one of Cyrus’s cold war nemeses. The crux of their rivalry is Alaska, with Ivan believing Cyrus’s ancestors to have helped steal Alaska, and Cyrus thinking this is a delusion. After a long time of not encountering each other, Ivan kidnaps Cyrus in Spy School Goes North, where their rivalry is shown to still be present.

### **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). However he is not afraid to go rouge from the CIA.

## 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 once thought he was in the Mongol horde.
* 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.
* Cyrus knows the NORAD codes and the White House secret entrances.