A/N: Have you guys ever heard of Anti-Virus 2009? It is EVIL!!! My idiot of a brother was stupid enough to download it onto our laptop and now he has totally ruined the computer. It took me a while to rewrite all this stuff and I'm pretty sure I forgot some of it so I'm really sorry!
Disclaimer: Don't own anything related to the Gallagher Girls Series. It belongs to Ally Carter.
Cammie
I cautiously took his hand and shook it. "Yeah, I'm Cammie Beckens." I introduced myself. Stupid, stupid girl! You don't even know this guy and you tell him your real name! I reminded myself a little too late.
"Hmm, that's interesting…" He quietly said to himself.
"Excuse me?" I said a little nervous. Usually I don't mind when people talk to themselves. Heck, I do it all the time. But this guy was just plain creepy when he did it!
"Is that what people usually call you?" He questioned. Well duh! It's my name!
"Well, Cammie is just a nickname." I said a bit confused. Mr. Solomon chuckled. Yep, definitely a creeper.
"No, I meant your lastname. Beckens, is that your name?" I took a deep breath. My real name. I didn't know my real name. I didn't feel comfortable talking about the fact that I didn't even know who I really was. My name, my family, my home, I knew nothing. Only the things people had made up for me. Cammie Beckens, Jamie and Rob Beckens, 14th Christopher Avenue. Who was I? I longed to know; ever since I found out I was adopted.
"I'm not sure." I replied quietly. I sat there in silence trying to keep the tears from falling. They came anyway. I felt the drops of water slide down my cheeks and drip onto the desk. I refused to look Mr. Solomon in the eyes. I didn't want his pity, but I could feel it radiating off him like a furnace.
"Here." I looked up to see Mr. Solomon handing me something, a book. It was thick and light blue color with gold trimming. It seemed the book had seen better days, the binding was worn and torn in some places. The whole book was caked in dust and grime, like it had spent its whole exsitsence in some aged attic. However, the condition of the book didn't seem to matter to Mr. Solomon, he held onto the ancient novel as if it were his own child.
"What is it?" I asked curiously as I wiped the tears from my face. It obviously had some sentimental value to Mr. Solomon so it had to be somewhat important.
"Something you should have seen a long time ago." He sighed, passing it to me.
I took it with shaking hands and stared at its blank cover. I finally mustered up the courage to open it and find out exactly what it was. I flipped through the first few pages (carefully, so I wouldn't damage it even more). The fist few were blank, but the third had a short paragraph on it, written in flawless handwriting that looked like fancy computer font.
When the light ceases shining
Shine without it
When the sun ceases rising
Rise without it
And
When life ceases to live
Learn
To live again
OK, that was an interesting little poem… I thought to myself. I decided to continue so I flipped the page. I didn't breath, I couldn't.
A stunning woman sitting on a white leather couch in a gorgeous living room stared back at me. Waves of dark brown hair cascaded down her slightly tanned back; she couldn't have been older than thirty. Her radiant smile seemed to brighten up the room as she seemed to be laughing at the camera. Yet, it wasn't any of those things that caught my attention. It was her swollen belly that peeked out from under her t-shirt.
Rachel, five and half months pregnant. Read the tiny caption below the picture. I then realized this wasn't a book. It was a photo album. I eagerly turned to the next page, I then wished I hadn't.
Cameron Morgan, Born August 17, 1992. The tears started running down my face again as I stared at the little green-eyed baby who gazed curiously back at the camera. The same green eyes as the woman on the previous page. The woman. My mother. I wasn't stupid; I could put two and two together.
I tore through the book, not caring about its frailness anymore. I devoured every detail of every picture. A little girl dressed in a jumper refusing to be feed green mush (I assumed it was some horrible brand of baby food). A man kissing the cheek of my mother while holding me. So many memories all rolled up in the tiny book.
"Where did you get this?" I asked Mr. Solomon. He gently pried the book from my hands and turned to a page that had been folded on the top corner. He stared longingly at the page for a moment before returning it back to me.
Joe and Cammie, Christmas. There I was, sitting on Joe Solomon's lap in front of a small Christmas tree adorned with an assortment of lights and ornaments. Solomon was smiling, I looked like I was about to cry. Without realizing it, I let lose a laugh that pierced the eerie silence.
"Jesus, what did you do to me? I look like I'm about to flood the house with tears." I said between laughs.
Joe frowned at me. "That's not funny. You were never nice to me whenever I came to visit."
"Ah, so I take it you were a family friend." Joe snorted.
"I was the family friend." My forehead scrunched up in confusion.
"What do you mean? Were you my parent's only friend?" I teased Mr. Solomon; I stopped laughing when he frowned.
"Their jobs didn't allow them the time to make any true friends." He said quietly as he closed the book.
"Their jobs? What did they do that didn't allow them to socialize with people?" I asked confused. Solomon seemed to being having an inner battle, probably deciding if I was worthy enough to hear the mystery that was my parents.
It was still hard to believe I had parents. A real family, which according to the pictures, loved me a lot. I had wondered my whole life where I had come from and now I knew. I had proof that for a short time in my life, I had had a mother and a father.
Solomon cleared his throat trying to get my attention. "OK Cammie, I'm going to tell you the truth but you have to promise me that you won't freak out, or at least let me finish the story, then you can freak out." I nodded my head eagerly in agreement.
"Have you ever heard of intelligence collection disciplines?" Mr. Solomon asked. I gave him a rather confused look before replying.
"Um… not really." I replied hesitantly. Mr. Solomon sighed as massaged his forehead. "So… are you going to tell me what that is?" I asked hopefully. Solomon ignored my request.
"Wait so you mean to tell me you have never heard of the act of obtaining, delivering, transmitting, communicating, or receiving information?" He said again hoping it would make sense to me, though he was not succeeding.
"Huh?" I asked more befuddled than before. "You might want to try simpler terms, it might help a bit." I suggested.
"You know what I'm talking about. A person employed to obtain secret information." No, I have no idea what you're talking about at all.
Solomon leaned in a little closer before saying in a hushed tone. "This is probably as simple as it gets. Your parents were spies." The room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop.
"Hah, that was a good one Joe." I said after I burst out into laughter. "Now seriously, what did my parents do for a living?" I was trying to ignore the fact that Solomon looked completely serious.
"Cammie, this isn't a joke…" He said quietly as I continued to double up with laughter.
"Cameron Morgan, calm yourself this instant!" Solomon shouted at me. I ceased my laughter and realized Solomon's face was slightly red with anger and his lips were set at a frown.
"I can assure you that this is no laughing matter. What I told you is the truth, your parents were spies." Mr. Solomon looked me straight in the eye as he said that. As much as I wanted to point and shout at him for lying something in the back of my mind was shouting listen to him.
"Prove it. Prove that my parents were spies and then I'll listen." I said after thinking through a response. Solomon sighed.
"I shouldn't have expected you to believe me." Solomon opened a compartment in the desk and pulled out two enormous files.
"What you're about to see is First Class information. I wouldn't normally be aloud to show you this, but I'm willing to make an exception." Solomon smiled as he opened the first file. "So this will be our little secret. Promise you won't tell anyone?"
"Yeah, sure I won't." It's not like I cared at all. All of his stories were just lies. Those files were probably fakes.
"Alright then." Solomon opened the first file which had the picture of my mother on the top corner. "Rachel Ann Morgan. Born July 2, 1963. Daughter of renowned agents Katherine and James Held (terminated 1990). Was invited to attend The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women at the age twelve. Graduated with honors at age-"
"Ok that's enough!" I stopped him before he could continue. "That's enough, I get it. My biological parents were spies."
"Aren't you interested about how their lives were, what they accomplished? Do you even care?" Solomon questioned me as he scrunched his face in confusion.
"Mr. Solomon," I addressed him in an angry tone. "It's not that I don't care, believe me when I say I do. It's just…" I paused.
"It's just what?" Solomon probed me further.
"I have a life Mr. Solomon. A life that doesn't involve secret agents or classified information. A life where I'm a normal person. I can't give that up." I tried as hard as I could to explain my situation to Solomon. How would he feel if some random person kidnapped him and told him his parents were spies? "Mr. Solomon all I want is to go home now." Solomon began massaging his temples again, which seemed to be a habit of his when he was faced with a difficult situation.
"Cammie I'm sorry but you can't go back. Not now, not ever." I stared at him in shock.
"What are you talking about? You have to bring me back! You've already kidnapped me, but just in case you didn't know that's illegal!" I shouted at him furiously.
"Cammie I am perfectly aware kidnapping someone is illegal. But in this case it's not. It's to maintain your safety." Solomon attempted to explain in a calm voice.
"My safety? Is this what this whole thing is about?" I screeched unable to control my anger any longer. "I was perfectly safe with my real parents!"
The door to the room burst open and five heavily armored men positioned themselves at the door.
"We're ready to move out when you're ready sir." One of them announced while keeping his eyes and gun pointed towards the hallway.
"What's going on?" I said nervously. Solomon grabbed a black backpack and emptied the contents of the desk (mostly more files and two handguns) inside. He handed the bag to me.
"Here put this on and stay behind me." He said quickly as he pulled out another handgun.
"I'm not going to ask again," I stated in a loud and clear voice. "What is going on?"
"Cammie, did it ever occur to you that your parents did not die from a simple car crash. After all I've told you about them wouldn't you think a bit more highly of them?" Logically his explanation made perfect sense, if my parents had been highly trained secret agents then it was hard to imagine them being killed in something as effortless as a car crash.
"Did it ever occur to you that the person or people that killed your parents are still out there?" I froze at his words.
"It's no longer safe for you out there Cammie. You did a good job of hiding yourself for the first sixteen years of your life but you can't remain hidden forever. I swear, if you hadn't been at that mall on that specific date you would have still been an empty grave." Solomon pulled me out into the hallway and we were immediately surrounded by the group of what seemed to be well trained agents.
"Wait, that was you at the mall! I remember seeing you with-" I was cut of a Solomon continued to drag me along faster.
"No time to talk. We have to leave now." We entered through a door marked by a red exit sign.
"We're going to head to the roof sir. We have a transport vehicle waiting there." Another nameless agent reported.
"Good. We'll be out of here five minutes' tops." Solomon said taking my hand as if urging me to go faster as we climbed numerous flights of stairs.
We finally made it to the rooftop were a helicopter sat, its rotors already speeding up as it prepared to fly off. Solomon opened the door and motioned for me to go in. I was reluctant to go but I had little room to disagree.
I sat watching the building fade away as we flew off towards an unknown destination. Well it was unknown to me. I stared out the window, wondering how life was ever going to be the same.
Wow I'm happy to finish that chapter. It took way to long to write but I'm glad it's out. You can think of it as a New Year present :)
I'm not sure about any of the information I made up about Cammie's mom. I made her 29 when she gave birth to Cammie ( I think) that's how old my mom was when she gave birth to me so I seemed like an okay age. Cammie's mom is always described as young and good looking in the book, so I figured she couldn't be that old…
All the stuff I had on secret agents I found on the wonderful Wikipedia! What would I do without you...
Don't forget to review!
and…
Have a Happy 2009!!!
