Author's Note:

Hey guys. Recent appearance (It's Nana! Woo!) since Erika's been taking care of the uploading for a while now :D I love action filled chapters, don't you?

Once again, review or PM with love and we'll be so happy! Enjoy~

And hi this is Erika. Just so answer a question that we got, the seventh graders are doing CoveOps because the trustees' decision.

Thanks for reading!

I bit my lip.

This was a bad situation. And it was something that the textbook didn't describe in detail.

Someone had cracked my cover, someone who wasn't supposed to. And apparently Townsend was sitting back in his chair eating donuts. Or something.

He reached us, quite easily, through the thinning crowd. And he had a cover of his own.

"Hey," he spoke, smiling at me like we were long lost friends. "Haven't seen you in a while! Let's catch up!" His eyes spoke differently. Get in a different location and talk, they said.

I looked him over. He was strong, without a doubt. Muscled. He was one of us. Even if we try, we wouldn't win. Maybe one of us could run away, but what about the other?

I glanced at Jake. Sure, he was pretty strong, but this guy was years older than him, and definitely would win.

So I meekly nodded and smiled back and replied back in spy language: We'll listen and do whatever you say.

Jake looked like he was about to argue, but I shot him a look and he shut up. I noticed the guy crack a real, sad smile at that and wondered why.

We went through a maze of Roseville, and totally went against Townsend's instructions. But I don't hear him talking.

We reach the edge of town, at which point we all wearily tear off our covers with no one else to see.

"Didn't think you would have an exercise today in town," the guy replied tiredly. He ran his fingers through his hair and examined us.

"You're a Sutton, aren't you?" He asked me, and I widened my eyes in surprise.

"How do you know?" I asked, my voice cracking.

He laughed. "I know a Sutton when I see one," he replied, edging around the question. "To think she'll let her sister in this … business."

My temper fired up. Maybe it was because of those words, or of the failure of today. Either way, I let it loose.

"Don't you ever say that," I snarled. "I chose this business, as you say it. It was my choice. And maybe I didn't know everything behind it, but it's my choice."

He regarded me after those words, and nodded. "That's right. At least you get to say that. Isn't that right, Blackthorne?"

I saw Jake grow pale with those words. "...Goode?" he whispered.

He laughed. "Looks like I'm famous, aren't I?"

Jake swallowed. "What are you doing here?"

He ignored the question, while my mind was racked with unanswered questions. Goode? Was he a Blackthorne? And why was he here?

Tapping his ear, he nodded to me. "Get out your comms unit, will you? I bet your teacher can explain."

I took it out without a word, and passed it to him.

He, after a quick inspection, put it in his ear and listened for a second. Then this time, he grew pale.

"How long has it been like this?" he asked urgently.

"Like what?" I asked.

I saw his tension rise. "No voices. No static. There's nothing."

"Why?" I panicked at his words. "What does it mean?"

He looked at the comms unit and replied, with a tight face, "Someone tapped into the feed. We've been compromised."

"Compromised?" I whisper. He nods.

We both know what that means. It means we had a leak. It means that we are in danger without any help. We are alone.

Finally, Jake speaks. "It's been like that, since, what, we left the restaurant? The last one we heard was about our tail being eliminated." I nod at that. It's true, maybe around half an hour or so.

"But..." I let my words trail off. "But we're seventh graders! We're on our first exercise! Why now!"

Goode shrugs. "It's because you're a Gallagher Girl. And even more over that, it's because you're already getting the skills for it. I have no idea why they started CoveOps for the seventh graders."

I felt my blood drop with realization that this was what Liz wanted me away from. The danger of being a Gallagher Girl. The feeling that you're never going to know when you're going to die.

"There must be something we can do." Jake's words slap me awake.

"That's right," I say with more energy. I am a Gallagher Girl, ready to protect my Sisterhood. I am Eleanor Sutton. I am not a helpless girl with no skills to protect myself.

Goode's eyes sharpen. "You're right. Regardless whatever level you're at, they are expecting fumbling kids with no experience. Even with me here, they think they can take you with no sweat."

"How do you know that?" I ask.

"They'd have killed us already," he shrugs.

First thing to do is go and find a crowd. Become our covers. Live them like they are real.

And we do that. I see Goode flirting with a girl, his smiling looks never revealing anything.

I see ourselves, Jake and I, as we pass a mirror. We look like a couple. We look like we are in love. With our arms hooked, giggling and smiling, we are living our covers.

It's not enough, though. I spot out of the corner of my eye, a flash of a tail. My adrenaline runs, and I fight to stay calm. No one would attack in a crowd. Not with innocent casualties. At least, that's what I tell myself.

Random thoughts come spilling into my head. I try to remember all that we've learned in P&E and attacks, though I've committed them all to memory and can execute them perfectly. The more nervous and scared I am, another piece of my cover crumbles apart. My breath becomes slightly ragged and I clutch Jake a little too tightly.

He winced. "Ow, Gillian." But in an imperceptible whisper, he says "Calm down, Ellie. They'll be able to find us easier if you keep it up. Just play along." His voice is reassuring, but I can tell he's just as terrified as I am.

We round a corner, following the tide of the crowd until I give a small gasp. Jake shoots me a worried look and asks, "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"I lost something. Do you know where my good earrings are?" I add slight emphasis on some words to tell him the message. We lost sight of Goode. He blends into the crowd so well that we can't find him, our only backup.

Please understand I tell Jake mentally. Sure enough, his eyes widen ever so slightly. He eyes sweep the street before he looks back at me. He couldn't find him either.

"No, sorry sweetheart. Do you want to go back to the restaurant to check?"

I nod. We found Goode outside of the restaurant. Maybe we'll get lucky again.

We go back to the glaring waitress, and this time, I occurs to me how familiar she looks though I've only met her once.

Leading us to a table, I trip on the floorboards and end up sprawling on the floor. I curse quietly. My knee how had a scrape and I'm walking with a slight limp.

Jake gives me a look that says "Really. And now this."

The waitress's eyes widen in surprise and quickly ushers me towards the kitchen.

"Oh, honey, are you alright? I think I have some ice and band-aids in the kitchen. Follow me."

I give Jake a questioning glance saying, "Are we in?" If we go in, we're most likely vulnerable to attack, and it's hard to get out. On the other hand, our tailers wouldn't be able to go into the kitchen.

"Tracy, you coming?"

He ponders for a minute, and we exchange glances. "Sure, Gillian."

The waitress comes in after us, the door swinging behind her. Her smile quickly turns malicious, and my blood freezes. I see a metal object in her hands. She looked so familiar... because she was the tail I saw on the street. I gasp, and Jake stiffens beside me. I've been so stupid. I mentally kick myself for dragging Jake down with me. We're trapped.

"You were the tail." I state the obvious.

"What do they teach you at that school of yours? You can't even spot a tail in front of your face," she sneered.

My temper flared, but I suppressed my feelings. Nothing good could come out of angering her. It wasn't my school's fault that I wasn't good enough. Smart enough. Strong enough. I was careless.

"Please." I plead. "What do you want from us? We didn't do anything."

"Like you don't know." She spat.

I could feel a fight coming on, like the eerie calm before a storm. The silence was tense and every cell of my thrummed with energy.

I quickly glanced at Jake who never took his eyes of the woman's face. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see movement from his fingers. By his sides, his fingers flashed- one... two... three!

I aimed a kick at her knee, but her knife was faster. I had just enough time to jump away before getting sliced to ribbons. While she was facing me, Jake quickly kicked the back of her kneecap, collapsing her leg and making her fall. I swiftly kicked the knife out of her reach.

Taking advantage of my shifting weight, she spun her leg and tripped my steady foot, causing me to land badly on my ankle and flat on my back, the wind knocked out of me. I gasped in pain, and the woman pounced, punching me in the face. The pain stunned me for a second and I faintly tasted blood. My vision went blurry, and my cheekbone ached and was quickly swelling.

"Jake, run!" I screamed.

The woman pressed her hand to my nose and mouth, effectively cutting off my screams. At first I thought she was trying to suffocate me, I struggled under her firm grip. I took a quick breath and I realized that she was holding a rag laced with a drug. As a survival instinct, I jerked and kneed her in the stomach. I felt satisfied when I heard her gasp.

Then everything went black.