A/N: I forgot to put up a disclaimer...whoops.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of Ally Carter's brilliance (this applies to the whole story).
Cammie POV:
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The endless dripping was about to drive me insane. Or maybe I already was. I didn't know…all that separated time was pain. And the dripping of a leak in the wall.
Gradually, they had worn me down. It became a struggle not to scream. Now all I had the energy to do was hang limp.
I thought maybe I would give out soon. When was the end? I wondered. For a second I contemplated giving them information, then immediately dismissed it. I would never. Like my father…I would keep my mouth shut until my death.
My vision blurred suddenly as tears formed. I didn't know why I was crying. Maybe it was because I had pictured my father in this situation so many times. Oh, God, I didn't want to die. I was too young. I hadn't even seen the last Harry Potter movie yet!
Footsteps. I tried to ready myself. Maybe it would be something new this time. I was almost delirious…
Someone came into my field of vision.
It was my dad.
He stopped at the doorway and stared, then ran over to me with a worried, almost desperate, look.
"I'm going to get you out of here, okay?"
I tried to smile, but failed. "It's okay, Dad. I didn't tell them…anything."
He looked startled, but then took out something and started sawing on my chains, while muttering something I couldn't hear.
All I could do was stare down at him as he worked on my chains. Finally, the bottom left one broke apart. My raw and bleeding ankle was suddenly free. But all I could muster was one train of thought.
"Dad…why did you dye your hair?"
He looked up, startled. He paused, and said softly, "…I'm not your dad."
"CAMMIE!" I heard the whisper-scream loudly from his comms. Even in my hallucinating state, I knew that voice. It was my best friend.
Bex raced down the hallway, faster than if there was our chef at Gallagher's famous crème brûlée for dessert (and believe me, that's pretty darn fast). Macey followed soon after, wearing a look of pure determination on her face.
Bex skidded in front of me and stopped suddenly. "Cammie! It's us! We're breaking in!"
I lifted my head and saw through the haze that was my vision. "Bex?"
Macey said, "You never believed we wouldn't come, did you? After all we've been through? And plus, you missed our date!"
Bex rolled her eyes. "Macey, can we cut the chitchat, please?"
The last of my chains broke. Without their strong hold, I immediately dropped to the floor. Not all Catwoman-ish, like I wanted to, but I crumpled.
I was vaguely aware of someone picking me up and carrying me, bridal style. It wasn't Bex or Macey, because this person's arms had strong, muscular biceps and a toned chest. Then the lights went out.
"INFILTRATION INFILTRATION CODE BLACK CODE BLACK" a loud, piercing siren wailed. It was pitch black.
"Fuck. How are we supposed to get out of here now?" a male voice asked. My ears were working fine, it seemed.
"Geez, Nick, it's exactly 300 feet from us to the door," a superior female voice answered.
"Yeah, but –" the voice was cut off by a scuffling and smacking sound. A thump.
"Knocked out a guard. Hey Mace, got any napotine patches?" Bex said.
Through a combination of Liz and Jonas shouting at us through comms, and superior Gallagher spy skills (okay, maybe a tiny bit was Blackthorne. But that's beside the point) we finally made it out of the dungeon where I was captive. After unscrewing a pothole cover, we popped out of the ground and into a parking lot.
"Ahh…air…where are we?"
"The freaking zoo parking lot! Bookworm, Brainiac, where's the van?"
"And call Cammie an ambulance! She has some serious injuries."
I gasped slightly as my carrier person shifted my weight. My throbbing pains came back in full force. "Hurts…" I managed to mumble.
Here's the thing: good spies never admit to pain.
A needle full of something was injected to my arm. I had the vague impression of someone sweeping my hair back from my face, and I closed my eyes.
Zach POV:
Liz said, her voice strained, "Copy that. Ambulance should be meeting you at the corner of zoo." The sounds of furious typing and clicking were heard.
Jonas added, "It's an ice cream truck."
Macey grumbled, obviously disgruntled with the cover, but the frown quickly faded when she looked down at Cammie, still lying in Zach's arms.
Bex whispered, more to herself the girl lying in my arms, "Hold on, Cammie."
Zach POV:
I paced around the small, sterile, white room, right outside of the operating room. My ears detected a small, persistent beeping sound. The sound of Cammie's heart.
It had been about thirteen hours since Cammie had been wheeled on a bloody stretcher into that room. About thirteen hours since I had a pulsing headache. About thirteen hours since I had not said a word. About thirteen hours since I had started worrying my head off.
I had never met the famous Chameleon in person before, but I had heard the rumors and the stories. She wasn't half bad. One of the most capable spies in the CIA, if not the best. Then again, that wasn't counting me. My files would almost certainly be of higher clearance than hers. Cammie didn't have anything to hide.
Spies always have things to hide, the little annoying voice at the back of my head told me. I pushed it away.
People say that I'm hot, attractive, and sexy, and I know it. I've always been fawned over by girls, even gone out with a few. But it was different compared to what I felt when I saw Cammie. I didn't know what was happening to me, but it was definitely not what I had felt with my ex-girlfriends. I really didn't want to think about it, so I ended up worrying about her survival instead.
Flashback
I was running down the halls, in spy mode. I was Agent Goode, on a mission. And Agent Goode never fails missions. That's why I'm the best. This mission just happened to be to save another really good spy, but that was just a detail.
I was checking each room, looking for the girl that matched the photo I memorized earlier. She didn't look like anything special. Actually, she looked downright average. If I passed her on the street, I wouldn't give her a second glance.
And then I came to a dungeon-like room, with nothing but a chair in the middle and someone shackled to a wall.
I skidded to a stop, and carefully took out my saw. I got ready to break her out. Then, I got a good look at the girl's face.
My heart stopped. That picture didn't to her justice at all. Her face, even bruised and bloodied, was more gorgeous than anything I'd ever seen. Her blonde hair, dirty and torn, still had some of its shine and luster. Damn, that girl was hot.
Snap out of it! I thought. I was getting distracted. And distraction means sloppiness. And sloppiness means failure.
Her head hung down low, and I couldn't stop myself from whispering, "I'm going to get you out of here, okay?" I knew it was wrong to do so. I was getting emotionally connected. But I couldn't resist.
When I received no response, I started sawing at her shackles. From a glance, some of her wounds looked really bad, so she might have been delirious.
I stopped when her voice, still musical but croaky, said, "Dad?"
End Flashback
So now, I was stuck in that same white room, wondering how anyone could make me feel this way within that short amount of time. And it kind of added to the stress that that someone was in intense surgery.
Grant rolled his eyes at me. Bex had fallen asleep an hour ago, her head unconsciously on his shoulder. He hadn't said anything about it, but I knew he was enjoying it. Macey was asleep too, except she refused to let Nick touch her. "Zach, stop pacing!"
I didn't say anything, just continued.
"She's going to be okay." Jonas said quietly. Liz was typing on her computer, and letting out a sniffle every now and then. Jonas stopped talking to me when he noticed a tear had fallen down Liz's face. He moved his hand to hers slowly, and touched it. She looked at him for a second, and then burst into tears and leaned into his shoulder. Jonas looked bewildered and stammered, "Liz…uh…do you need some tissues?"
I smirked at the pair, and then stopped immediately when the door of the operating room opened.
Hola, everybody! I noticed that I didn't have many reviewers for the last chapter, so I would appreciate it if you guys reviewed a bit more...maybe 5 this time? Pretty please?:)Love you guys!
- BubblesAndThings
