"Zach Goode?" I asked again. We knew he was a spy after we saw the record in my mother's office. When Agent Townsend came to teach us last year, we thought we occasionally saw a boy that looked like our teacher walking the halls even now and then. Of course we only saw the back of him but we were curious. So we looked at Agent Townsend's record and found he had a son. A son who went to a spy school.
"So if Zach is a spy, why is he into this acting thing?" Macey asked.
Liz looked up from her laptop, she brings it everywhere, and said "I just hacked into a text message he dad with his dad, Agent Townsend. It seems to be that it's honestly a dream of his to be an actor and singer for awhile."
"Huh, well spies can have normal dreams as well." Macey shrugged her shoulders and Bex nodded her head in agreement with Macey.
"But how is he going to balance being a spy and acting AND college?" I asked pushing my breakfast plate further from the edge of the table, further from me. I was done eating for now.
"Well he's going to have to give one of them up..." Bex said, but we all knew there was one of those jobs that no one could give up. Once you're a spy, you're always a spy.
"Maybe he is going to get really good at juggling." Liz commented as she closed her laptop.
"...Liz?" That had nothing to do with Zach!
"I meant, like he may learn how to balance college life, spy life, and acting life."
"Does he have any other bloody lives we don't know about?" Bex just rolled here eyes as she said this.
"Well, I mean every time he went on a mission and needed an alias..." Macey just kind of smirked to herself.
"Mace!" Bex was not in the mood to joke around.
"Well okay we know about his background of being the son of that evil woman and Agent Townsend. But we don't know his personal feelings as of now. What are his feelings of coming back to Roseville to film a movie? I'm sure he remembers being in this town but staying here during the heat of the Circle mess..." But we also don't know his personal feelings romantically as well...No, I don't like him anymore but I can't help but be curious.
Making my way to lunch my mother was walking towards me in the hall.
"Cammie? Your father is on the phone in my office, he wants to talk to you." What? Is he okay? I'm sure fear flashed in my eyes because mom gave me a soft smile and said, "Don't worry, nothing is wrong. He just wants to tell you something about his movie thing!"
So, I made my way to my mother's office and picked up the phone that was off its cradle.
"Dad?"
"Cam!"
"Yes?"
"Hey, Zach's plane is here early. Early, as in before all the rest of the cast and crew members even arrive to set up. His trailer isn't here yet." My father sounded panicked and definitely stressed.
"His trailer? Like the one he'll live in for the next three to four months?"
"Exactly. I'm on my way to Richmond to pick him up from the airport. His manager, ugh she's a piece of work, accidentally booked him a flight here for today and then she won't even make an appearance here until July for a day. She claims she's busy, and that he's a big kid, he can fend for himself. Then she threatened me that if he does one bad thing to taint his image, she'll kill me! She was serious too! She's such a..ugh." Oh he's definitely frustrated and annoyed by her. But for a known fact that lady has nothing to do with the spy world, she had no clue Zach is a spy. Liz could probably kill her, this lady was absolutely no serious threat but she sounded annoying.
"So what's your plan then dad?" I balanced the phone between my ear and my shoulder, that way I could listen and snag a few peanut M&M's from the bowl on Mom's desk.
"Well with that piece of crap, she made the mistake of booking him an early flight, so I have to pick him up from the air port, which is fine, but now he has no where to live until the trailer arrives on set next Tuesday!"
"Yes, I understand that, but where is he going to stay?" I asked while taking a drink from my water bottle.
"At our house." With that he ended the call. What?! I started coughing and choking on my water.
I heard a gasp from the hall, "Take a deep breath Miss. Morgan." Then this person started rubbing my back as I struggled to take a deep breath, it just made the water that was trying to do down my throat, burn.
After a few solid five minutes of coughing and choking, I was finally good.
I turned to the person who had walked through the open door of my mother's office to assist me.
"Thank you Agent Townsend." I almost asked him where was his son but I wasn't sure if I was supposed to know that Zach was his son.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes sir, I was just on the phone and my father told me something that surprised me, that's all."
Agent Townsend cleared his throat, "I'm aware." So I guess it's okay that I know...
"Agent Towns-"
"You don't have to call me that, we're family now, you don't have to be so formal." Ahh yes, he was engaged to my Aunt Abby.
"Um if you don't mind me asking, why isn't Zach staying with you during the summer? I mean I know teachers stay here during the summer sometimes..."
"I have a mission. Not many people know he is my son, so I want him somewhere safe, especially with his fame and such now. He stayed with me last year during the heat of Circle issues."
"I thought I saw him in the halls, he stayed here with you because...?"
"It was the safest place for him to be. And he didn't wonder the halls that much, I'm surprised you saw him."
"I saw the back of him, he was walking away from me down the hall." I paused to take a deep breath and then I continued, "It was the safest place?"
"Yes, his mother..."
"I'm aware." I said using is words. "I know she was one of the big names of The Circle, but she died when Zach and I were twelve..."
"Exactly, The Circle is a family business, it was in his blood to be the next generation. Just like your friend Preston. But I saw Catherine and Zach while I was on a mission. He was nine, when I saw him with her, I knew he was my child. I had to face him before she bread him to be evil. Even though Zach has been raised to be a 'good guy', The Circle was still in his blood. He had to be somewhere safe because they wanted him dead too."
"Oh," that's all I could manage to say because he was finally telling me information to full in empty gaps of this whole Circle thing. It was all staring to make perfect sense. "Wait, who killed Catherine?"
"There was three of us that day, we had come so close to finding your father and someone we were so sure that was part of the Inner Circle. It was your mother, Mr. Solomon and myself. When we got to this abandoned building it was Catherine and someone tied up with a cloth bag over their head. We thought it was your father but it was another Circle member that was double crossing The Circle. Catherine babbled and threatened that if any of the three of us moved she should shoot Matt. She held the gun to the temple of who was tied up. It got really bloody that day. I was shot in the shoulder, Solomon, his left calf got grazed with a bullet that was meant for your mother. And of course the man who was tied up was shot." I looked into Agent Townsend's eyes as he talked. His green eyes seemed cloudy and filled with fear as if he was reliving that situation, I guess he was. At least that's how I feel when I talk about my personal battles with The Circle. But Agent Townsend continued, "Catherine was crazy, just constantly shooting. Your mother got real lucky, the bullet was slightly more than grazing her waist, but she was still lucky. As she approached Catherine, Catherine starting hitting and kicking. Your mother broke several fingers as Catherine smashed the gun against her fingers. She got close enough that with the help of Solomon they got to hold Catherine still for a split second as I pulled a gun that was laying on the floor and shot Catherine. Just before I shot her, she shot me, right in my stomach. Well I bled so much I blacked out and then woke up in a hospital place and found that the bullet in my shoulder had been removed. As well as the bullet that was lodged in my gut, and I was lucky that it didn't hit any major organs. I was so scared I was going to die and The Circle would get Zach."
When he said those words I knew when talking about the past and the present looking a lot like the past, The Circle was a close nerve for him. "Is that why you don't really share that Zach is your son? To protect him?"
"When you're a big name in the spy world your children are even bigger names. There also everyone's achilles' heel. You're the reason your father never spoke a word that gave any indication of where you or your mother was. Just like I don't tell too many people that Zach is my son, it could put his life in danger - even more so than it is, and anyone else that's around him, it could but their life in danger as well."
"Agent Townsend, were you aware that Zach is coming to town earlier than the rest of the cast is scheduled?"
"I know it was most likely going to happen, his agent - which really is a phony title if you ask me, she in no way is a spy nor has any connections to the spy world. She doesn't know that Zach is a spy, or anyone else for that matter. Anyway, well let's just say she's not the brightest star in the sky so I had a feeling something like this would happen. But your dad and I are good friends so Zach is welcome at your house. As well as safe, safer than a movie trailer."
As I head back down the hall way from my mother's office I couldn't help but think about the conversation I just had with Agent Townsend. How he said that big names spies; their children become bigger names - not only because they get more training but because they are their parents achilles' heel. I hope if I ever have children one day they'll be better spies than everyone in my family so they can really take down the bad guys.
"Cam, what's the news? What did your mom say to you?" Bex asked me as she met me in the hall on the way to class.
"Um, my mother told me my dad was on the phone. So I went to her office to talk to my dad, he said that Zach's plane was booked early and he's due at an earlier time."
"When?!" Macey joined Bex and I in the hall. "Like did they put his name in a book and then said, poof! Come to Virginia early?!" Macey is super smart but she has her ditzy moments, she's too funny to not keep around and total bad ass when she wants to be.
"Yes, he is due today. Like this evening."
Macey's eyes went wide, so did Bex's "So like he'll be here?! This evening?!" Macey asked in a tone way to excited.
"Maybe, but don't you dare tweet, blog, post on Instagram, Facebook or anywhere else. You understand me, Mace?"
"Yes ma'am!" Macey said with a hair flip and a cocky smile, but i saw the truth in her eyes and knew it was alright to share my new found information about this famous actor who happens to be an undercover spy.