Disclaimer: All rights to Ally Carter
Chapter 7
Zach's POV
When I'm done talking to Cammie, I head back into the dorm and get introduced to Simon.
"Who are you?" I ask the boy they call Simon. I already knew his name but I was just asking to be polite. How Madame Dabney would be proud.
"I'm Simon, I'm a friend of Kat and Nick's." He says. Not important information.
" Well obviously or you wouldn't be here right now" I state. "And…" I continue, trying to persuade him to tell me more.
"Well I'm the tech expert in our group. I can crack codes, decrypt messages, edit footages..." He rambles on.
Amateur. I can't help but think about Liz and Jonas and how bad they would have been able to whoop his butt. However I keep this thought to myself.
"Anyways" I cut him off. " We have found this microchip that was hidden inside the painting. It clearly isn't the CIA's work because they wouldn't have done such a sloppy job of hiding it."
Hamish speaks up. "So what now?"
"I can try and crack the code?" Simon suggests.
Finally we are starting to get somewhere.
I show him to the computer in Cammie's room, so he can see the encryption.
"Wow, who ever encrypted this is really good." Simon states in awe.
Yeah, who ever encrypted this is good, really Goode I think to myself.
"I won't be able to have this done for at least two weeks." Simon tells me after he has scrolled through the codes for at least five minutes.
"That won't work." I state bluntly.
"Why not?" asks Angus, who clearly doesn't know the time constraint that we are in.
"We only have one week." I tell the group. Well actually 6 days 23 hours 45 minutes and 35 seconds but who's counting I think to myself.
"Wait just a second" Simon says. He has been typing on the computer during this whole conversation. "Almost there, just another... Okay so I know know that the message has been edited from its original state. So clearly it wasn't the CIA. My best guess is that it would be Goode."
"Tell me something." I say directing my question at Kat, the leader of their groupe, "What is Goode's first name?"
"Gregory. His name is Gregory Goode" Kat replies in a bored tone. "Why?"
Are you kidding me.
This is not happening.
Of course it is.
Gregory Goode is my mother's, Catherine Goode's, brother. He was supposed to be dead. That's right, not alive, not in a coma, dead buried somewhere underground. I don't know how he was killed but apparently in the situation that he was in, no one would have been able to survive. No one has heard anything from him in at least 10 years. Why now?
"Zach…. Zach!" I hear the girl they call Gabrielle yell my name. I get pulled out of my train of thought.
"Gregory Goode is dead," I say, my voice as dead as he should be.
"No, he's not. How would you know anyways?" Gabrielle asks.
"He died ten years ago. And I would know because he's my uncle."
"What? Is this some kind of family thing, then? Because I am not getting involved in any family drama, we have enough of that already," Gabrielle says pointedly. I have no idea what to think right now, so instead I try to focus on the actual issue at hand.
I ignore her and ask Simon a question. "Is it possible that you can some how crack this in less than a week?"
"No" he tells me, a sound of defeat with his answer.
Realizing I still have my comms unit in my ear, I decide to tell Cammie to come back to the dorm for a second. In less than a minute she is here. With, I would like to add, the rose that I got her in her hand.
"I knew you wouldn't have left it Gallagher Girl." I state with a smirk on my face.
"Would you stop being a cocky jerk and wipe that smirk of your face before I do it for you." She tells me with a smile on hers.
Then Gabrielle speaks up. "Would you two love birds stop flirting and get on with the more important matter that is at hand"
" Ik moet je iets vertellen." I need to tell you something. I tell Cammie in Dutch.
" Ik weet al "I already know. She replies and points to her ear. She heard the whole conversation through the comms unit.
"We need back up." I state.
A smile slowly creeps onto her face because she knows that we are thinking about the same five people that we are going to call.
A/N: What did you think of this chapter? Please read and review!
Until next time!
-Canadianreaders