By now, Cammie and Zach have been smashed flat against the wall in the corner, by the office door. "Remember the plan?" Zach whispers, turning his head so his temple was flat against the wall to face her.
Cammie starts breathing through her mouth to avoid the scent of his intoxicating spearmint gum in such a cramped place. "Yeah," she whisper-replies, "But I still don't see why you need a stapler." She glances down at the black stapler gripped in Zach's palm.
"Do you see any other weapons in here?" he retorts with a joking grin. It's true; the office was surprisingly unfurnished, and there weren't even any scissors in the desk. Kindof grotesque to think about, but necessary none the less.
Suddenly, footsteps are heard coming down the hall. Cammie nudges Zach's hip with her own, and they share a wide-eyed glance with each other. "Ready?" he mouthes in silence. She nods, aware of her role in the attack.
A key rustles in the lock, and the door opens. Right as Mr. Hemlock's foot enters the office, he snaps the light on. As the light snaps on, Zach flings his broad arms around Mr. Hemlock's neck and throws him to the floor. Cammie, meanwhile, flicks the office lights off and shuts the door as quietly as possible, locking it too.
Zach pins Mr. Hemlock underneath his heavy weight, and punched him in the face with the stapler, once, twice, again and again. The end of the stapler cut his skin, broke his nose, and left bruises everywhere. The older man flailed under Zach, except he wasn't a challenge for the young spy's strength.
Cammie couldn't take the sight of it anymore, and she squeezed her eyes shut. She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, pressing her eyeballs into the back of her eye sockets until bright colors started to appear in her vision. Mr. Hemlock groaned loud enough to bring attention to them, except the majority of the offices had been closed for the weekend.
Cammie's eyes couldn't take the pressure anymore, so she let her hands ease up on the pressure. By mistake, her eyelids open a sliver and she sees the final blow to end Mr. Hemlock's life. Zach raises the stapler and brings it down hard on Mr. Hemlock's temple. Cut off in mid-moan, Mr. Hemlock's body goes limp.
She squeezes her eyes shut again, and presses her hands against her eyelids, desperate to erase that last memory. Cammie locks her knees, which was probably a bad decision on her part. Her legs begin to crumple, bringing her down, but Zach gets there in time to wrap his arms around her.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," he murmurs in her ear. Cammie wasn't aware she was trembling until she was held firmly against Zach's chest and she could feel her own bodily vibrations. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she answers, although she wasn't so sure. Cammie has had her fair share of death. Her father's mysterious probable-death, her Aunt Abby's almost-death from sophomore year, and the threats of Mr. Solomon in Co-Ops that 'some spies never come home.' Except she had never witnessed a murder before, and this was much different. Neither had she ever killed anyone before. Sure, she could slap a Napotene patch on them and knock somebody out, or punch them until they passed out, or anything of the sort. But Cammie wasn't a killing person.
"You know it was necessary, right? We couldn't just convince him to keep quiet. He'd have spilled our cover, killing you, and killing me. Not to mention the fact of how many people would have been killed if his nuclear weapon plan is carried out," Zach says gently. Cammie's mind reeled. What he said was true, but she couldn't ignore the fact that what Zach did almost scared her. He had killed Mr. Hemlock without a second thought, and he did it so quickly and violently that it was shocking.
Zach reaches up and strokes her hair with his hand. When he does, Cammie's body involuntarily stiffens, and Zach drops his hand. As if he was reading her mind, Zach looks down at her with a concerned expression. "You're not… scaredof me, are you?" he asks. Cammie looks up at him and bites her lip. Apparently her silence was enough of an answer.
"Don't look at me with those eyes.
Please don't hint that you're capable of lies."
- First Date by Blink 182
"I'm sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to. I had to kill him quickly, and I hope you know that. I'd never do that for any other reason than that one. I mean, it would ruin the mission if we couldn't trust each other anymore," Zach explains.
Cammie takes a deep breath and looks at Mr. Hemlock's still body on the carpet. There was a little bit of blood trickling from his mouth and nose, and his eyes were glazed over. She looks into Zach's eyes and breathes, "Right now… you seem to be one of the only people I can trust."
His eyes glint and he smiles a small smirk. "Good. Now let's get out of here. We still need to get Mrs. Hemlock," Zach reminds her. He takes her hand and they walk out of the office and down the hallway as casually as possible.
They leave the building and climb into the Lamborghini. Zach merges into traffic and answers his cellphone, which had started buzzing in his pocket. "Jonas, did you find Mrs. Hemlock?" he asks, pressing the speakerphone button on the keypad.
"Yeah… how'd you know it was her and not Mr. Hemlock?" Jonas replies warily.
"We took care of him already," Zach answers nonchalantly. "So, about Mrs. Hemlock?"
"She's right across the street walking on the sidewalk. What am I supposed to do? I can't confront her right in the middle of all this pedestrian traffic!" Jonas complains.
"Well, just--"
"Oh, wait! Now she's going into a little café. Liz and I are on our way in," he reports.
"Good," Zach says, "Just find a way to get her on her own. I can't help you any more than that. Which café are you at? Cammie and I will meet you there." Cammie sees him look at her out of the corner of his eye in her peripheral vision, but she keeps her eyes on the screen of her own cellphone. Cammie was texting Bex, telling her that Mr. Hemlock was killed and Jonas and Liz were already taking care of Mrs. Hemlock.
"The Hard Rock Café," Jonas states. Cammie texts the information to Bex and Zach nods.
"On our way," he says simply and hangs up.
He spins the wheel and turns onto a side street that opens up onto a fairly busy street. Cammie points out a parking meter and they park in front of it. Zach slips in a few coins while Cammie goes inside the café. She wasn't aware how close they already were to the café.
"Cam," Liz hisses, dashing up to her friend in the restaurant's dim lighting and grabbing her arm, "Mrs. Hemlock went to the bathroom and I kinda slapped a napotene patch on her shin from under the stall door. She's out cold and, luckily, she hadn't pulled down her pants yet when she passed out. But now I don't know how to get her out without creating a scene."
By then, Zach had walked up and heard the last bit of what Liz said, and Jonas soon appeared too. "You need a distraction? I can distract everybody while Jonas takes the Lamborghini around back and Cammie and Liz carries Mrs. Hemlock through the back door," Zach suggests, handing the keys to Jonas.
"Sure," Liz quickly agrees, pulling Cammie towards the bathroom. She leads her to the handicapped stall at the very end of the empty bathroom. Liz slides through the space under the locked door and Cammie follows her. Mrs. Hemlock was sitting on the toilet seat with her tan capris still firmly attached to her hips, a Napotene patch on her shin, and her forehead was slumped against the gray tile wall.
"Here, take her arm," Cammie orders, getting on one side of Mrs. Hemlock and hoisting her up. Liz gets on the other side and supports her other arm. Mrs. Hemlock's weight was like deadweight, but Liz and Cammie were used to that. "What if someone walks in?"
"We'll pretend she's our friend who has fainting problems and, oh snap, she just fainted again," Liz offers off the top of her head. "Just kidding. Kinda. But if Zach keeps distracting everybody, things should go just as planned."
Cammie opens the bathroom door a crack and peeks out. Waiters and waitresses were running towards the stage, where they were currently hosting a karaoke night with one hour left. Somebody was singing terribly, though Cammie couldn't make out the tune of the song. "The coast is clear," Cammie whispers.
Liz snorts and rolls her eyes good-naturedly. "That line is so cliché," she comments.
"Whatever! Let's just get going," Cammie retorts. They hustle out of the bathroom and towards the back of the restaurant to the door that employees exit out of for their smoking break. Luckily, no employees were around because they were all too busy trying to drag somebody off the stage and quit singing, though Cammie couldn't tell who because of all the crowds.
Liz and Cammie drag Mrs. Hemlock outside to the alley, where Jonas was waiting in the Lamborghini. They struggle for a few minutes until, finally, Mrs. Hemlock is propped up in one of the cramped backseats. Liz goes around front and climbs into the passenger's seat, next to Jonas. Meanwhile, Cammie slides into the backseat next to Mrs. Hemlock who was, luckily, still unconscious.
Suddenly, Bex and Grant appear in the alley in front of the Lamborghini. Bex opens the door to the backseat and says, "Thank goodness you're here. We searched inside, but we couldn't find you or Mrs. Hemlock."
Zach walks out the employee door and squeezes past Bex, who was half-blocking the door to the backseat. He sits next to Cammie and glances at Mrs. Hemlock, who was buckled into her seat. He chuckles, and Grant punches him in the shoulder.
"Hey, man, you gonna let me and Bex in too, or are you just going to sit there?" Grant asks sarcastically.
"Oh, right," Zach replies, nodding at Cammie, "Scoot over and sit in my lap."
"What?"
"Okay, fine, would you rather sit in my lap or Mrs. Hemlock's lap? Because there isn't enough room for all of us to have our own seat," Zach explains slowly, like talking to a second-grader.
"Fine," Cammie grumbles, a little pissed at him for talking to her like that. She hefts herself up, crouching in the cramped space, while Zach shifts underneath her. She cautiously sits in his lap and Grant slides in next to Zach, patting his lap for Bex to sit. Bex climbs in next, sits on Grant's lap, and shuts the car door behind her.
Jonas starts driving, and Grant starts snickering. "What the heck?" Zach asks. He nudges Cammie's rigid back with his shoulder, silently urging her to relax. She leans back against his chest and looks out the window.
"You suck at singing so bad," Grant answers with a final chuckle.
"That was you singing?" Liz asks from the front seat.
"Yeah…," Zach says with a bit of hesitation in his voice. "It was the only way I could think of on such short notice for me to create a distraction for everyone in the café to pay attention, by singing--"
"Jizz In My Pants!" Grant crows so suddenly he makes Bex cringe in his lap, starting up another fit of laughter.
"You sang that?" Cammie exclaims, twisting around to look at Zach.
"Well--," he begins, but Grant cuts him off.
"Yeah, dude, why the hell did you sing that?" Grant asks.
"I was gonna freaking answer before you interrupted me," Zach snaps. "Anyway, I needed to sing something inappropriate enough so the employees would freak out and try to get me off the stage, and they'd get away from the back door so Cammie and Liz could get Mrs. Hemlock out without being seen. What's really weird, though, is that the karaoke guy even had the song in the CD collection if I wasn't supposed to sing it."
Jonas laughs and hits his palm on the steering wheel. "That's hilarious!" he exclaims.
Suddenly, Cammie feels something brush against the her upper thigh, just below her butt. "Zach!" she shrieks, sitting up straight again.
"What?"
Cammie turns her head to look down at his lap, but his hands weren't anywhere near there. Instead, Mrs. Hemlock's elbow was by his hip, since she had slouched down a bit during the ride. "Uh… guys? We better get to Grant's apartment a bit faster. I think the Napotene patch on Mrs. Hemlock is starting to wear off," she suggests. Jonas floors it and they zoom off down the highway.
"Misery is manifold.
The wretchedness of the earth is multiform."
- Matt LeBlanc
(Author's Note: Okay, so that was a bit of Zammie. At the end of the party at Mr. and Mrs. Smith's house, there will definitely be a lot of Zammie. Lol. Just wanted to let you guys know, for something to look forward to.)
