Suddenly, the girls heard faint, high pitched gunshots echo in the street, getting closer and closer with every shot.
"What the hell is that?!" Screamed Hanna as they all ducked under the small table outside the Brew.
As the shots got closer, they noticed all the bullets were aimed at streetlamps and stoplights. As each pole was struck, a security camera came crashing to the ground, with the last on landing just inches away from Aria.
When the shooting seemed to subside, they sat back up and noticed a woman with wavy shoulder-length brunette hair, wearing a black trench coat and black knee-high boots walking toward them, placing two guns in the holsters under her coat. When she reached the girls, she stopped, brushed a section of hair out of her face and smirked, cocking her right hip. "Hello, ladies."
"Who are you?" Emily asked.
As the woman opened her mouth to introduce herself, a black SUV came speeding down the street, screeching to a halt right in front of them. "What the hell, Root? We're supposed to be covert!"
Rolling her eyes, the first woman turned around and leaned into the car, "sorry, sweetie. It's just been so long since we've had any fun." She gave a quick kiss on the cheek to the woman in the car and stood, turning once more to face the girls. "You can call me Root." She stepped to her right, sweeping her left arm out to her side, presenting the other woman as she exited the vehicle, "and this is-"
"You can call me Shaw," she said, almost begrudgingly as she slammed the car door. She was wearing combat boots, skinny jeans, a black v-neck t-shirt, and her dark hair was gathered in a messy, low ponytail.
"Why the hell did you shoot up half of Rosewood?" Spencer just sat there, stunned.
"You're being watched." Shaw looked through the front window of the Brew
Hanna scoffed and rolled her eyes, "yeah, we know. We've been trying to figure out who for like five years. It's like this person is everywhere!"
Root squatted, resting her chin on her forearms as she placed them on the table. "That's because they are everywhere. And it's not exactly a person…"
"How about we get out of middle of the town center, huh?" Shaw whispered forcefully as she opened the door to the coffee shop.
Rolling her eyes once again, Root stood and followed. Noticing that the five girls weren't following, Root stopped in the doorway, "come on, ladies. We don't bite." Looking at Shaw, she winked and added, on her way in the door, "well, we won't bite you, anyway." Even though it was very unprofessional and highly inappropriate, Shaw couldn't help but crack a little grin as she continued to hold the door open for the girls.
As each girl entered, she looked around the empty café. "Where is everyone?" Ali asked as she hooked her arm through Emily's elbow.
"I just sent out a little email to everyone on their email list informing them of a leaky pipe in the kitchen, so that the place will be closed today." Root took a sweep of the room and pointed her cell phone at the single security camera above the register, causing the red light to go off.
"Hey there, ladies, what I can I get for you?" Sabrina asked as she appeared from the back room.
Shaw's voice came from below, as she was looking through the glass at the display of baked goods. "Can I get that chocolate croissant, please?"
Sabrina placed the pastry on a plate, gave it to Shaw, and walked to the register. "That'll be-"
Root slapped a hundred-dollar bill on the counter and smiled, "keep the change and get lost." After locking the door behind Sabrina, she turned and practically herded the girls to the most hidden table in the place, "I know this one is your favorite. Please, sit." Root sat and made sure there was room for everyone.
But no one moved.
Finally, Aria broke the silence. Looking back and forth between the two women, she demanded, "who the hell are you?"
"Have a seat and we'll tell you," Root said, patting the seat next to her with every word, getting more and more impatient.
Still, none of the girls moved. "Oh for fuck sake! Sit the hell down!" Shaw yelled through a mouthful of croissant. All five of the girls sat at once. Shaw pulled a chair from a neighboring table, spun it around, and sat on it backwards.
Root crossed her right leg over her left, leaned forward, and placed her elbows on her knee. "We know who's watching you."
All five of the girls gasped at the same time.
"Well, there goes our plan to have all the information before letting them in on it." Leaning on the doorframe was Mona Vanderwaal. Amused by the surprised, she re-secured the door and smiled. "You really think that a pesky old door can keep me out?" She made her way to the rest of them, pulling up a chair next to Shaw. "Like I said, I thought we were going to wait."
"That's what I told Root," said Shaw, "and look what that got us: a bunch of scared girls!"
"Ummm okay, wow." Obviously offended by the comment, Spencer jumped into the conversation, "so if you know who this new A is, then tell us."
Finally, Root got more serious, "well, it's more like a who and a what. All those cameras I just shot down, even the ones on your phones and computers, that's Samaritan looking down on you."
Mona let out a big sigh, "Ok, Agatha Christie, let's bring down the dramatics a bit, shall we? Yes, there is an all-seeing super computer that watches your every move. But it's not just you five, it's everyone, all across the country."
"Yeah, that makes us feel much better, thanks Mona," said Hanna sarcastically.
"You still haven't told us who you two are!" Emily was beginning to lose her patience.
Root smiled. "We're just your friendly neighborhood secret agents working with a super computer to keep the world safe from another, evil super computer."
With a look of confusion on her face, Ali asked, "and how do you know Mona?"
Mona inhaled nervously, "well, you know when I was A, and it seemed like I always had my eyes on you? Well, I sort of did."
The girls just sat there, staring silently.
"Ok. So you know how I'm sort of a master hacker?"
Root couldn't help but roll her eyes and scoff.
Glaring at Root, Mona continued, "well while I was hacking into each of your laptop cameras, I noticed that there was some sophisticated code already present and monitoring you. So I followed it. And what I found was some straight-up science fiction shit!
"It turns out that, for years now, the government has been using a super computer, called Samaritan, to hack into any tech device and monitor what goes on across the country."
"Like phone tapping?" "Like Watergate?" Hanna and Spencer interjected together.
Glad she finally had the girls' attention, Mona continued, "the government has a secret system, a machine they call Samaritan, that spies on you every hour of every day. The machine was designed to detect acts of terror. When they are identified, a secret team of agents is sent out to neutralize the threat."
When they heard that last sentence, all five girls scooted closer to each other and farther away from Root and Shaw.
Root smiled. "Oh come on, ladies. If we were sent here to kill you, you'd all be dead by now and Shaw and I would be having a romantic weekend at that haunted hotel down the street; we know you're not terrorists."
Moving in closer to Spencer, Aria asked, "well then why are you here? What does Samaritan want with us?"
Mona continued, "but the machine doesn't just see the potential acts of terror, it sees everything: violent crimes involving ordinary people. The government considers these people irrelevant."
"We don't." Shaw placed her empty plate on the table.
"You see, we have our own Machine," Root continued. "All the games your little friend Mona, here, played on you were constantly bringing you onto our radar."
The huddled girls looked guiltily at each other and Mona, who looked the guiltiest of all.
"But you always came out more or less ok." Shaw laid her forearms across the top of the chair back and rested her chin there. Almost unconsciously, Hanna rubbed her leg and Emily rubbed her shoulder.
At this point, though, Root became more serious. "We weren't too worried about it all, until Mona and Spencer started working in D.C. Then we realized we had to do something, because Samaritan doesn't fuck around."
Spencer dropped Aria's hand and sat up straight, "but I haven't committed any violent crimes!"
Mona looked at Spencer, her face filled with remorse. "But I couldn't stop going back and taking a look every once in a while."
"So," said Shaw, "Root and I contacted Mona and told her that she's better stop spying if she didn't want to get you girls killed."
"And I did, I swear, you guys. But then Charlotte's number came up." Mona looked down at her lap.
Ali grabbed Emily's hand and tried to keep herself from crying.
"We knew that, with Mona and Spencer in town, and with an election just around the corner, we had to get to Charlotte before the Samaritan agents could." Root looked at Ali with concern.
"Well you were a little late," Emily snapped, as she put her arm around Ali.
"We know, and we are so sorry that happened. But we are here to give you some assistance." Everyone looked at Root with surprise, including Shaw. "It's true that Mona is very skilled with computers, but I'm better." Root smiled and winked at Mona. "With her and I teamed up, and all your help, I'm sure we can find out who did this to your sister, Ali."