Hurricane

Chapter Seven: You Get to Me

You're a buzzkill, every time you come around.
Those beers might as well have been poured out.
Why are you still showin' up and bringin' me down?
Why do I keep letting you get to me,
and mess up what this night was gonna be?
You walk right by, crashing my high like I know you will,
you little buzzkill.

- Luke Bryan

(Buzzkill)

The next week passed without either of them speaking. Cammie was hiding out because she absolutely would not take the chance of running into him. Because she knew fate would hate her, and somehow she would bump into him one way or another. She didn't want to see him before she had to; she knew how awkward it would be. And if Cammie could avoid an awkward situation, she did. She kept to herself, and tried her best to get prepared for the mission. She wanted it to be as perfect as it could be. That meant being prepared, knowing their targets, knowing each other. She must've read over the files thirty times each, making sure she missed nothing.

As for Zach, he did whatever Zach does. He didn't seclude himself as Cammie apparently had, and spent most of the time in a bar, dodging calls from his sisters and mother. He couldn't be bothered with Cammie. Their last encounter had left a bitter taste in his mouth but most people usually ended up dissapointing him. He hadn't particularly expected his new mission partner to exceed his expectations. And she hadn't, she'd shut down and lashed out. He was used to it; he was beginning to think he wasn't really a people person.

At least Ethan and Preston would still hang out with him.

"Hey Pres," Zach said as he walked up to his friend and clapped him on the back. "Ethan."

They all exchanged typical "bro hugs" before settling down at the bar, much like they'd been doing for the last couple nights.

"So any new news?" Zach asked after he order a drink. He was still trying not to think about that stupid night at Cammie's. He was usually good about comparmentalizing, but there was just something about her that got to him more than other people did. The way she acted always put him on edge, it was almost as if he couldn't help it.

"I'm getting re-assigned," Preston said. The statement dragged Zach away from his thoughts about Cammie and her strange behavior.

Preston was a CIA mission handler. This meant he basically managed missions, without ever actually getting involved. He was like a puppet master if you will. Preston didn't have the heart to be a real agent; he was too sensitive. The real point was, though, he was good at his job. Not like James, Zach's current mission handler, who sucked.

Zach would have been over the moon if Preston had been assigned to their case, but that would've been unlikely to being with. It was already strange that such young agents, such as Cammie and Zach, had been assigned to the case already.

"Well damn," Ethan replied. But they'd all been expecting it. Preston was too good to be doing low profile missions in LA, which he'd been doing for the past couple months. The CIA probably needed him abroad, managing missions in high profile cities like London and Beijing.

"That blows," Zach muttered.

Zach took a long sip of his beer. Ethan and Preston were about the only two people on the planet he could spend a decent amount of time around without getting irritated. It would suck to lose one of those people.

"No it doesn't," Preston said, suddenly smiling. "I'm on your case now."

Zach looked over at him, completely shocked. He had not been expecting that.

"What?" Zach said, not bothering to hide his surprise. "Why?"

Preston shrugged. "Apparently whathisname got pulled off for one reason or another. They wanted someone local to step in, and since I knew it was you, I offered."

"You're too good for this mission kid," Zach stated.

"It's bigger than you think," Preston said offhandedly. "It could be huge for my career."

"Don't you want to be overseas though?" Ethan chimed in. "I thought that was the plan."

Preston shrugged. "Plans change, and I still have time. I can always get out of it if I want, handlers change all the time. But like I said, this could be good for me."

Zach was to elated to ask what Preston meant by that. He'd never have to talk to James again.

Zach gave Preston a high-five. "Sweet dude," he said, happy now that the surprise had worn off and the fact that Preston didn't seemed bothered by it. "Now I don't have to deal with that shit head."

Preston laughed. "Yeah I don't know why they put him on to begin with, he has no idea how to do his job."

"Ain't that the truth?" Ethan laughed. "Why did he get kicked off anyway?"

"He sucks at his job, that's why. Apparently he lost contact with Cammie Morgan already and can't locate her."

Zach raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What do you mean lost contact? Like recently?"

Preston nodded. "For like three days. I thought you would've known since she's your partner. Don't you guys talk? Have you been in contact with her?"

Zach shook his head, looking vaguely confused and annoyed. "No, not since last week, but I didn't think that was out of the ordinary. We were supposed to have our official mission briefing tomorrow."

"I'm surprised James didn't try to call you and find out where she was."

Zach frowned. "I think he did, I've been dodging his calls."

Ethan chuckled.

"Well either way, he couldn't contact either of you apparently, so that got him kicked off the case. You better not dodge my calls Zach. And you better find out where she is."

"Isn't that your job?"

Preston shrugged. "You could help a brother out."

"She's done this before. . ." Zach muttered. "She said she was visiting family."

"Where?"

Zach shook his head. "She isn't the kind to share."

"Jesus," Preston mumbled. "We need to find her."

Zach took a long pull of his beer. "She'll come back. She isn't one to screw up a mission, she's too good for that."

"I thought you didn't like her," Ethan cut in.

"She's ok. And she is a good spy, as much as I hate to admit it. But still not as good as me," Zach lied. "We'll find her."

Preston looked at him grimly, like he didn't believe they would. "We had better."

:*:*:*:

"I was wondering when you'd read my file," Cammie's smooth voice came through the phone as she answered on the first ring.

"You're at the beach?" He had dug up her profile and found the number for the Morgan's beach house within it's depths. Of course, he'd called several others before she'd answered this phone.

She'd been waiting for him to call. It added to his irritation for her.

He swear he felt Cammie roll her eyes, thinking he was overreacting.

"I wanted you to read my file."

"Well good job, I did. Now can you please get back to LA and stop acting like a child?"

"If you remember Zach, technically I am a child."

"Bullshit," he replied. "You should know better than to go running off in the middle of a mission."

"The mission hasn't started yet, I was taking a couple days for myself. I'm less than hour away, so why don't you just chillax?" Her voice was so casual, so cool. She was better at this then he was, which made him even more annoyed. He hated that she could sound like she just didn't care at all.

"Because James got kicked of the case because you went off the map," Zach almost growled. He wanted her to understand the gravity of her decision. "You can't just go disappearing whenever you want."

"So you're complaining that we no longer have that asshole of a handler on our case? And now we have your bff running the show? I thought you'd be calling to thank me."

Zach was quite for a moment. "You knew."

"Of course I knew Zach," she replied in a superior tone. She thought she was better than him. "Who do you think recommended Preston for the case?" Her smugness made him so angry. He hated it, because that was how he acted. He didn't like her beating him at his own game.

"You're telling me you planned all of this? How do you even know Preston?"

"I don't," she said, still relaxed. "I just know you."

"What?"

"Unlike you, I did my research. I did my tailing, I poked my nose in places it didn't belong. I know a lot more about you then you probably want me to."

"You didn't follow me, I would've seen you, I woud've—"

"Don't be so arrogant Zach," she interrupted, her voice suddenly had an edge to it. "If you were as good as you thought you were, maybe you would've noticed that I left LA. Maybe you would have acted like a real agent and got to know who you were working with. The only reason you're calling me now is because you're pissed that I pulled one over on you. I'm not a sweet little girl Zach. I make my own decisions, I know what I get myself into, and sometimes I can be really selfish. Surprised? Don't let looks deceive you. And also? Read the goddamn mission file, all of it."

Zach knew she had hung up by the empty tone on the other end of the line.

God he could have killed her. She thought he was arrogant? She was just as much, if not more. She was just a lot more sneaky and annoying about it. And what the hell did she mean by "poking her nose where it didn't belong?" He nearly growled to himself in anger. He clenched his teeth and tried to relax his hands out of fists. He hadn't been this angry in a long time. He'd gotten use to squashing his anger down around his family, but it had been a while since he'd really had to deal with them. And this was Cammie. She was a seventeen year-old girl, and she acted like she was queen of the world. That would piss anyone off.

The rage was building in him. Because she was better than him at his own game. There was nothing worse for Zach. This was his thing. He was supposed to be the best. And Cameron fucking Morgan was taking that all away from him. He would like nothing more than for her to go back from wherever the hell she came from.

Just the thought of her face brought his blood to a boil. And to think, they were starting to get along. She had actually seemed like a decent human being. One thing was for sure; she was one hell of an actress.

Zach should've known all along. They would never be friends, not when she was stealing his spotlight.

He needed that spotlight, that attention. He needed it like he needed air. It was what made him wake up in the morning, knowing that people admired him. Knowing that people respected him. Knowing that people wanted to be like him. It gave him a high, it kept him going. It made him forget the terrible things he'd done. It made him feel valuable, like he wasn't the worthless agent his family had always told him he was.

Without it, he felt helpless and purposeless. He felt like that same guy he use to be. Back when his family controlled him. He would never feel like that again. No one was going to be better than him, control him, or defeat him. He wasn't going to let anyone take his spotlight away from him.

Especially not Cameron Morgan.

:*:*:*:

"Ugh!" Cammie said to no one after she'd hung up the phone. She hated that stupid boy; he got under her skin like nothing else.

Who did he think he was? Acting all high and mighty like he could control her. Why should he know where she was all the time? He hadn't seemed to care until he found out James had been reassigned.

She'd kept her cool on the phone, but inside she was sizzling. He thought he was so much better than her, so much better than everyone else. Well he wasn't, and if she had anything to prove; it was that. It wasn't that she wanted to be better than him, she didn't care about that. She just wanted to knock his ego down a peg. He had no right to walk around acting like he was god's gift to the earth.

She had gone to the beach, because she didn't want to take the chance of running him after the way they'd left things. She just needed a little mental break before she had to spent the several months (at least) with him. Was that seriously so wrong?

And while she was at it, she saw an opportunity to get rid of that asshat James. He was bad at his job, incompetent, and a total douche bag. He didn't deserve this case; whoever had given it to him in the first place must have a screw loose or something. It hadn't been hard to get rid of him.

So maybe she'd taken it an extra step father to get Zach's friend Preston Winters assigned to the case. She did follow Zach to the bar once, where she'd recognized Preston from the agency. She didn't do it to make him angry, per say. She might've done it to get under his skin like he did to her. That wasn't the only reason though. She wanted Zach to completely read the mission file, and her file. He didn't seem to understand how important those things were to have a successful mission. She knew if she got Preston assigned he would inevitably tell Zach that she was "missing" and that James was no longer on the case. Which would force Zach to read the files.

Sure it was sneaky and she was playing mind games. But she was a girl, and Zach seriously needed a rude awakening.

He needed to understand that she wasn't some naive kid that didn't know what she was doing. Cammie was good at her job, and she'd spent her entire life trying to prove that she'd be a good spy. Zach Goode wasn't going to take that away from her. She wouldn't let him think he'd won, she wouldn't never, ever let that happen.

Her phone started to ring again.

"Hello." She answered in her annoyed voice. She knew it wouldn't be Zach, he wasn't the kind to call back after getting hung up on. He had way to much pride for that.

"Someone pee in your cereal Princess?"

Her mood did a complete one-eighty, and a grin found its way to her face.

"Mac!" She almost shouted. She hadn't heard from him in so long. He would send her emails regularly, but she hadn't her his voice in months.

"That's better," she could hear her brother's smiling voice on the other end. "What's up with you?"

"Not much, I'm at the beach house. Tell me about you though! Where are you?"

She could picture him scratching the back of his head, trying to think of what he could tell her.

"You know," he said. "Here and there."

She frowned. She felt like she didn't even know him anymore. His stupid job kept him from telling her anything. She of course could relate, being a spy and all. But being in the Navy was like a whole other level. He couldn't even tell her what country he was in.

"Right," she said, trying not to let her voice fall. She was use to faking emotions. She'd done it in front of her mother, her father, and both of her siblings for most of her life. "Well I'm glad wherever you are has a phone."

He laughed. "That is a perk," he replied. "You on a new mission then?"

"Yeah," she replied. "LA drug lord sort of deal. You miss the business big brother?"

"Not even a little bit," he said with a small chuckle. "Navy does is for me just fine. Plus there's no way I miss our crazy parents."

"Yeah. . ." Cammie said, her voice hitting an odd note.

"Cam?" McKenzie asked. "You ok? Something happen with them?"

"I. . ." She trailed off again, unsure of what to say. McKenzie had left because he'd wanted nothing more than to forget about their mother' crazy antics and their father's deep depression. Cammie was use to dealing with it; she was the middle child, and had the strongest will of all of the children. She knew it upset McKenzie a hell of a lot more than he let on. The only reason she knew it made him so crazy is because she was a spy and she was trained to see these types of things, especially in her brother. She didn't want to cause him any grief, particularly when he was where the hell ever and couldn't do anything about it.

"It's nothing," she finally said. "Nevermind."

"Is it dad?" Mac asked. "Is he ok?"

She suddenly felt like she was going to cry. She was the strongest of the three, but that didn't say all that much. Hearing the raw concern and distraught tone in his voice tore at her like nothing else could. This was her big brother, her big brother in the Navy. He was supposed to be the strong one. But in reality, he was just as sensitive as everyone else.

"No he's fine," she managed to say, but only because it was the truth. "He's back with the agency. I think he's finally getting back on both feet."

"That's good," his voice was still concerned. "So it's mom then?"

Cammie sighed. "Well yeah," she admitted. "But isn't it always?"

"Same old same old then?" The disdain in his voice was clear enough to cut glass. McKenzie hated their mother, probably more than anyone on the planet. And Rachel didn't exactly have a lot friends. Cammie knew he was disappointed with her on some level for still keeping contact with their mother. But she also knew that McKenzie understood that she did it out of necessity.

"Basically. She's making a fuss about my new mission partner. Saying that I need to find out all his secrets and stuff. Which you know, I would do anyway because he's my partner. But it's like; she won't stop pushing. She has to know. "

It was true. Rachel had called her three times in the past five days, demanding to know what she'd found out. Cammie hadn't mentioned much, just enough to feed the shark.

"Well who is your partner?"

"It's Catherine Goode's estranged son."

There was silence on the other end. "Shit." McKenzie was no stranger to the Goode name. He did use to work with their mother after all.

"Exactly. And mom wants me to figure out what he knows because she thinks Catherine is somehow trying to plot against her through him, through me. But I don't think he's even talked to her in years! Plus he's really irritating and closed off."

"Looks like you've met your match then little sis," McKenzie said, his voice sounding vaguely amused. "Sounds like you."

"I am not irritating!"

"You can be. And you also don't like to talk to people about your family or your feelings."

"I'm pretty sure you're supposed to take my side Mac."

"Eh, sometimes. I was just telling you the truth, Princess. How's Tibey?"

"You dare ask?" Cammie asked with a fake gasp. "Mother and father would not approve."

"Good thing neither of us gives a fuck about them then isn't it?"

She laughed. "She's ok, you know, as good as she can be I guess. I went to see her the other week. But of course Dr. Griffen was a blabber mouth, so mom had my head for it. I just hate that's she alone, it isn't fair."

McKenzie sighed. "I know. I hate it too."

"Why we just be a normal family? And why do our parents have to be such assholes about it? They're so cruel. It's just so. . . you know?"

He did know. That was one of the reasons why he'd left. Because he couldn't do anything about it. Mac hated nothing more than feeling powerless.

"Yeah," he said in melancholy voice. "Unfortunately I do."

She was just to about to reply when McKenzie cut her off. "Sorry Princess I gotta go. The other guys have to call people too. I promise to email and call you when I next get a chance. I love you."

"Oh," Cammie murmured to herself, sounding surprised. But she wasn't, not really. This is how their calls always ended.

"I love you too," she said.

But he was already gone.

Sorry about the wait guys, my computer had a nasty virus, but it's all gone now :)

Anyway we finally met Cammie's brother Mac, find out a lil bit more about her parents and Zach's.

Zach's hella pissed with Cammie, but all shall be ok ;)

Leave me a review if ya liked it :))))

Love you guys!