2.
"Good morning, ladies," Mr Solomon said as he walked in. His eyes landed on me, and he seemed to glare slightly, before his gaze passed over. I smirked; he didn't trust me. That was exactly what I needed. "Follow me."
I picked up my bags and looked towards Cammie, who was walking next to me. She had that look on her face; the one that said she knew we were about to do something exciting, but not quite sure what it was.
We arrived outside, and almost instantly, all the girls started heading towards the van parked a few metres away. With the exception of me. I knew that if we rode in that van to D.C., it would take six hours.
"Girls," I said. "That's not our ride." I smirked at their confused faces, and almost on cue, the blades of a helicopter whirled behind me. "That's our ride."
Solomon thought he could out smart me. Ha.
As we climbed on to the helicopter, I made sure I had brush passed Solomon a note. He read it, a smile playing on his thin lips, and nodded at me. We may have our differences, Solomon and I, but we both work the same job; have the same goal.
After an hour, we landed in a deserted parking lot. We were then transferred to a minivan, before being blind-folded.
I almost smiled. For what, I'm not sure. I knew that the real test began now
"Ms Morgan," Solomon started from next to me. I could smell his cologne. "Stop trying to look."
I started counting the seconds in my head, knowing that Solomon was going to ask a question soon enough. 314...315...316...317...318...319...320.
After another hour in the van, we parked. Solomon told us to take our blindfolds off, which we all did quicker than expected. The van had no windows so it was pretty dark, we could only see Solomon.
"Ladies, today, you will have to get rid of tails," he stated.
Bex's voice rang out from the other side of the van. "How many tails?"
"Lots of tails."
This time I heard Tina's voice. "What kind of tails?"
I could practically hear the smile in Solomon's voice. "My kind of tails."
I felt a book land in my lap, then heard Solomon leaving. The book was a leaflet for the Wizard of Oz museum. On the front was a sticky-note saying: there's no place like home. 5 o'clock.
I smiled again, Zach was right. I pushed the doors open and told the others where we were. They looked a little confused, and scared, as they were new to CoveOps... sort of. This was their first CoveOps mission.
We all jumped out of the van, and all the girls headed out, each pair going in a different direction. I climbed back into the van and prepped all the equipment I had hidden in my bags.
I pulled my favourite laptop out and quickly hacked into the Smithsonian security cameras. Once that was set up, I did the same on two other laptops and made sure I could see all the Gallagher Girls on one laptop, all the tails on the other laptop and Solomon on the last laptop.
Cammie and Bex were just about to walk past Zach and Grant so I spoke to them through the comms. "Chameleon, Duchess; the two hot guys on the bench to your right are your tails. Chameleon, the guy with brown hair and green eyes is your tail; Duchess, the other guy is yours. Lose them, I have visual so don't worry."
I heard their acknowledgement and watched them through the cameras. Of course, I was looking at all the other Gallagher Girls, but Cammie and Bex were my priority at the moment.
"Mikayla... we have a problem. We have another tail following us," Cammie's distressed voice echoed in my ear.
My eyes snapped to the cameras, searching for Cammie. I finally spotted her in the underground. She was right, there was another tail; a tail dressed in a military uniform; a tail I knew.
Grabbing my phone, I pressed speed dial 2 and waited.
"Matthew Morgan."
"Get away from them!" I growled into the phone, making sure my comms was switched off. I could see him talking to me on the camera.
He laughed. "She's my daughter, Robinson. I'm only keeping a tab on her."
"I don't care if you are out to get a tan. You know the dangers, Morgan," I hissed.
"Yes, Kayla, I know the dangers, but imagine being in my shoes. Imagine not seeing your daughter grow up, or not seeing her start Gallagher Academy, or not meeting her first boyfriend. Huh? She hasn't seen me in seven years."
I banged my fist on the side of the van. "I have a mission to keep your daughter and her friends safe, and if having you around is compromising that, then I will do everything in my power to stop you. I came here to help them."
"I'm here to keep my daughter safe, Robinson. We have the same goals."
"We may, however, you bring danger."
"Anyway, when are you coming back to the Circle?" I could hear the smile in his voice.
"Go tell Cassandra that I am never coming back!"
"You know you can't escape the Circle, Kayla."
I laughed. "I know I can't. She can come after me for all I care. But you know who I know; you know what my people can do. Cassandra knows she can never match me. So leave. Leave now."
He sighed, heavily. "Who are you to tell me what to do? You're only a teenager, and a girl at that. I have 30 years on you, so you are in no place to tell me what to do. Anyway, with these people around to hurt her, I will do everything I can to make sure she's safe. And right now, with her in my sight, I will know when trouble is coming."
"Morgan. Why do you think you know more than me? Now leave, before I come and make you leave," I shouted. I really wasn't in the mood for him.
"Until next time, Robinson," he said, before ending the call. I turned my comms back on and looked at him through the camera.
He looked straight at it and winked, knowing I could see him.
"Mikayla? Are you there?" Cammie asked.
He'd gone.
"Yes, is the tail still there?" I asked, knowing he wasn't.
"No, just the guy who should be tailing me, I'll go into the elevator now." I acknowledged her, and pressed speed dial 4.
As I thought, he didn't answer.
"Hi," I heard Cammie say; she was speaking to Zachary. I zoned out of the conversation, knowing Zachary's normal speech pattern. He'd flirt.
"Ms Robinson? Why is Cassandra Goode here?" Solomon asked.
Trouble's arrived.
"Solomon, get Cameron out of here. Now!"
