Chapter 4: Mystery Girl
Yup Still Cammie's POV
I left the house and got into my Porsche and drove toward my destination: the Mall. Swiftly parking, I got out of the car and walked around until the designated time, 3:15. I waited nearly 3 minutes and 43 seconds before the signature white Gallagher van parked at the side of the curb by the Smithsonian. Girls in flashy clothes filed out, followed by the one and only Joe Solomon, my godfather. I scoffed at one of the girl's outfits: she had high heels and a short skirt, practically everything for attracting attention, not blending in. But what can you expect from spies-in-training? The girls dispersed into the crowd, easily blending in (most of them at least) to normal people, but of course, for me, they were easy to spot.
I followed Joe as he lead me across the sidewalk and street to another parking lot, with another van. This time, the side read, "Blackthorne Detention Center". The school for assassins. Joe opened the back door, and spoke to the boys.
"Boys, track your targets to their destinations," I lip read from my spot 15 feet away, "Good luck!"
Joe disappeared into the crowd and the boys filed out. None of them really stood out to me. I was pretty much used to attractive guy spies since I had started working with them at the CIA. It had become normal. But I could just imagine the look on the Gallagher Girls' faces when they saw these boys. I almost laughed out loud to myself.
But it was time to have a little fun. It was time for me to be a Chameleon.
The cove-ops exercise the Joe had planned out was for the boys to tail the girls to their destination without their knowledge, and for the girls to get there without a tail. My mission, well, I was going to stop all of them from doing their missions.
I spotted a boy with buzz cut blonde hair tailing a girl with curly brown hair. Discreetly sneaking up behind the boy, I found the perfect time to 'accidentally' bump him into the alley. I then pushed his pressure point on the side of his neck. He would be out for 30 minutes after this exercise ended.
I then proceeded to knock the brunette he was tailing out, and went searching for more.
This was honestly child's play. I easily spotted another victim by the counter-surveillance techniques they were performing. This time, snapping a napotine patch on her, I moved on.
Less than 30 minutes into the exercise, I had everyone but one, unconscious, ready to wake up at 5:15 PM. My eyes discreetly scanned the crowds, looking for the sign of one more ammateur spy. After 3 minutes and 40 seconds, I spotted the last boy, looking confused, as he could see his target no where.
Playing with him, I ran and bumped into him and 'fell' to the ground.
"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, making my face seem flustered, "I am such a klutz."
"No, no it's fine," He said, not really paying attention to me, but looking for his target or any possible tailers.
"I'm Sherie," I smiled innocently and looked as cute as I could.
"Zach, nice to meet you," He looked down at me with bright green eyes.
I knew those eyes. They looked so much different on his kind face. The same as Catherine's, but comforting instead of nightmare inducing. To be honest, I liked that change. God knows I don't need anymore to keep me up at night. But in front of me was Zachary Goode, legacy of the Circle of Cavan.
I snapped into focus and put a blush on my face. It just made him smirk and I don't know why but I felt like kicking the family jewels when it appeared on his face. But I had to keep my cover.
Zach pulled me up to stand and I yelped, "Owww!".
Pretending to be in pain, I scrunched up my face and leaned heavily on one foot, "I think I twisted my ankle!" I announced.
"Do you need help?" Zach asked with true concern evident in his eyes.
"No, I think I'm fine," I said softly as I stood up and "fell" into him.
I knew that he was actually concerned, no matter how evil his mother was. It would be more suspicious if I asked him to help me.
"Here, I'll help you," His strong arm reached out to mine, " Where to?"
I smirked inside. This was going to be fun.
Zach's POV
The door of the Blackthorne van slid open and light flooded in. My old teacher, Solomon, appeared in front of us.
"Boys you may open your folders," He gestured to the basket of manilla folders.
We each orderly grabbed our folders and opened them. Mine revealed the information of a target. It was a girl, 16, named Tina. Of course, these weren't ordinary girls, they were Gallagher Girls. I'm not supposed to know that, but c'mon, I'm a spy.
"Boys, track your targets and follow them to their destination. Good luck." Solomon disappeared into the crowd.
Each boy filed out of the van and did the same.
Before I get too far ahead of myself, I'm going to introduce myself. My name is Zachary Goode, but I go by Zach. I am a spy-in-training at Blackthorne, a spy school disguised as a prep school (AN: It's just gonna have the same cover as Gallagher). Actually, I am THE best spy-in-training (specializing in being a pavement artist), well according to every spy database that we know of. My father is unknown, and my mother, well I haven't talked to Catherine in quite a while… She is kind of a terrorist… But not me. I could never do that.
Anyway, this was going to be a piece of cake.
I easily blended in and found 'Tina'. She was wearing bright pink, flashy clothes. Amateur. Blending into the crowds, I came closer to her, ignoring the chattering of my classmates in my ear. I saw her pretending to make a call.
"Hey Duchess! What time do we have to be at the Ruby Slipper Exhibit? Oh, 4:45? Okay thanks!" She exclaimed into her phone.
Like I said, amateur. But since I knew where she was going, and when, I decided to do some sight seeing.
About 33 minutes and 44 seconds into the cove-ops practice, the noise in my comms had become deadly silent. I stood up, only slightly panicked and went to go check up on the others.
Suddenly, a flash of blonde flew before my eyes, and the next thing I knew, there was a beautiful civilian girl lying at my feet. Oops.
She got to her senses and looked up, "I'm so sorry! I'm such a klutz!"
Her face was flustered and I found it cute. She was beautiful and her being embarrassed just made her look 10 times better.
"No, no it's fine," I replied while looking around for any of my classmates or tailees.
"I'm Sherie," Her voice grabbed my attention once again and I looked down to meet her bright blue eyes.
"Zach, nice to meet you," I continued the conversation as I saw her blush.
I was quite the womanizer. In town girls would literally sway at the sight of me. Maybe that sounds a little cocky, but I promise that's not one bit of my pride, no matter what my best friend, Grant, will tell you.
Being the gentleman I am, I finally pulled her up off the ground and she yelled in pain. Now I felt really bad. Who knew my rock hard abs could do that to a girl?
"I think I twisted my ankle," Sherie announced, scrunching up her face.
"Do you need help?" I asked, truly concerned.
I think Sherie muttered something about being okay, but the next thing knew, she was falling into me.
"Here, I'll help you," I forcefully volunteered, I would not take no for an answer, "Where to?"
She smiled, "Thank you so much! I'm just going to meet my friend at the Pizza shop by the National Museum of American History."
"Perfect," I responded, picking her up, "That's exactly where I'm headed as well. (AN: I'm gonna stop getting both of their views of the same exact moments because I don't really like it but I hope you kind of enjoyed that)
Cammie's POV
'Zach' picked me up like a gentleman and we started to make our way toward the pizza shop so I could supposedly meet my friend. His face was stone solid and he showed no signs of exertion. I may look skinny, but all that muscle underneath weighs a lot. I mentally noted that he was good at hiding his emotions.
"So… Where do you go to school?" I asked, and made a pink blush flash onto my cheeks.
"Blackthorne. It's a boarding school in Maine." He looked down and answered.
I guess he wasn't such a good spy as I initially thought. He didn't even make up a cover for his school! Quickly, I made a split-second decision to see how much information I could get, even though I already knew everything, I wanted him to look like a fool.
"Hey! I know that school! My cousins live in the town right outside of it, but they say that it's for snotty rich kids." I continued to smile innocently.
"If she only knew," Zach muttered.
He thought I was only a civilian. If I was a civilian, I wouldn't be able to hear that. But we've been over this, I'm not normal.
"Well yeah, I wouldn't call us snotty but that's my school," He talked louder this time for I was actually supposed to hear this.
I chatted non-stop about my life, asking questions about his, and getting small answers. If I talked enough, I knew that he would lose track of time and arrive at his destination an hour before it was time, 4:45. I felt his pace slowing with every word and knew that I had judged him right. There is no time to make mistakes in the spy business.
When we finally got to the pizza place, he set me down, "Here you go."
"Thank you so much," I pretended like my ankle was still hurt, and put all my weight on the opposite foot, "I have no idea what I would have done without you."
"No problem," He smirked, "I'm sorry that you ran into my rock hard abs."
My inner self rolled my eyes and I was beyond annoyed with that smirk and his comment. But a good spy never loses her cover. So I sucked it up and blushed.
"I'll see you later," I whispered into his ear as I gave him a hug.
I felt him stiffen and gasp in confusion. My hand opened, revealing a napotine patch, and I smacked it on the back of his neck, mid-hug. Now it was my turn to smirk.
Zach POV
My eyes opened and I found myself in an alleyway, hidden behind some garbage cans. I couldn't remember anything except for putting down that 'Sherie' girl. My internal clock set itself and I realized that I was 30 minutes late to the destination. Crap.
I sprinted out of the alleyway, seeing that I was right next to the pizza shop. People stared as I ran for my life to the museum and climbing up the steps to get to the Ruby Red Slipper Exhibit. I approached the level that the exhibit was on and I noticed Solomon standing alone by the exhibit. Looking very angry.
Making my way toward him, his head swerved at the soft sound that my foots made.
"Why are you so late?! And where are you classmates?!" He nearly screamed into my ear.
"I don't know, I just woke up in the middle of an alley," I sheepishly shrugged, "I can't really remember anything."
"Well-" Solomon started but was cut off.
"Hello Joe," I heard a familiar feminine voice, but I didn't see a person, "You should have known that I was gonna mess with you."
Solomon's face turned white. Meanwhile, I was scared, which is not something I say often, because they were calling him Joe. I had also never seen Solomon scared, which made it worse. Whoever this was, well Solomon was intimidated by her.
Feeling a breeze to my left, I turned and jumped at the sight of 'Sherie' standing there. I didn't even know she had came up next to me, and I was supposed to be the best spy-in-training!
"What? Sherie?" I blabbered, genuinely confused.
By this time, Solomon had regained his composition and said, "This is one of the best spies I have ever known."
I stared, shocked at the girl who had outwitted me, and probably put me unconscious. In the corner of my eyes, my classmates started to appear on this floor, all looking dizzy and dazed. 'Sherie' probably did this to them all. But how? She's a girl! And why do it to her own friends?
"Hi Zach! It's so nice to see you again, Blackthorne Boy," She had a genuine smile on her face but the look in her eyes told me it was fake, that reminded me of Catherine.
"Hey Gallagher Girl," I replied trying to act cool and gain some leverage with this girl.
"Nice try, Zach, but not good enough," She smirked and suddenly disappeared into the crowd.
I glanced at Solomon, who had a proud smile shining on his face. Who was that girl?
AN: The layout of the National Mall is probably wrong. I've never been there and I tried to look at a map layout, but honestly, as I write this, it is about 1 in the morning. This right here is dedication, but my eyes are too tired to look at the map and my brain is too tired to process the information so forgive me.
-S.L.