.o Going to Virginia o.
Mystery POV
"Well?" I asked as the two girls came through the window and began unhitching themselves from the zip line cable.
Viper shrugged her shoulders as she straightened the knives in her belt. "They're out. It was so easy. Gallagher Girls always are."
I snorted, "You say that as if you've taken down a lot of them."
"If you can take the expert one, you can take all of them," she said, waving her hand.
Pixie rolled her clear, blue eyes. "Oh, please. I distracted the first two for you."
"Yes, but your singing wasn't part of the plan!"
I watched as some emotion I couldn't name flashed in the dark-haired girl's eyes. A second later she regained her composure and said quietly, "It didn't change the outcome, did it?" Then she scurried away to the computers she had set up.
I turned towards the blonde. "Try to be a little sensitive!" I hissed.
She looked at me, her grey eyes so full of venom I remembered why we made her codename Viper all those years ago. "You have some nerve to tell me that." She hissed back. I mentally slapped myself as I realized what I'd just said. I knew better than to tell her something like that. Why did everything have to be so complicated now? We used to be in perfect sync, practically reading each other's minds. Now, we were struggling to work together on a common goal! This was all their fault. We wouldn't be out of balance if Viper and Pixie hadn't been caught and locked up. They wouldn't have been caught if we hadn't been forced to run. The only reason we were found out and had to run was that he left us when we needed him most. He left us for her, and I would never forget it.
"Sorry," I muttered, running my fingers through my hair.
She sighed, pushing her bluntly cut, dirty blonde bangs out of her face. "I know." She shook her head and let out an exasperated groan. "Let's just deal with these Gallagher Girls," she said.
I nodded in agreement. We walked over to where Pixie was and sat in the chairs next to her. "What's it look like?" I asked her.
At first, I didn't get an answer. She just continued typing and quietly humming to herself. I noticed her eyes had some of their old distance again. It wasn't until I touched her arm than she acknowledged us at all. Her head shot up and she turned, wide-eyed, towards me.
Viper snorted. I gave her a warning glare and turned back to Pixie. "You alright?" I asked her.
She nodded, then pointed to the screen. "You're clear. No one noticed, and no one's going to come for a few hours," she answered quietly.
I smiled, "Thanks. We'll be right back. While we're gone can you pack up?"
"Sure," she replied quietly.
I grabbed the supplies that were in a small heap on the floor, then turned to Viper. "Let's go. Once we're done here, we can focus on the Three Musketeers."
She grinned and stood up. "You mean after this we get to go home?" She asked.
"Home?" Pixie echoed.
"Yup. Let's go."
Viper and I made our way back to the building the spies were in. Once we were inside, we made sure the doors were locked and the windows shut. Then we got to work on the girls in the center of the room. I tied the blonde one up while Viper worked on the British one. Bex, if I remember correctly. And I always remember correctly; I just didn't care. These girls were pawns. Just pieces in the grand game we were playing. And once we were done here, they would do exactly what we needed them to do.
I finished tying the little one up and dragged her to the right wall, setting her in a sitting position. Viper did the same with the other two girls, while I got to work on the left wall. I pulled out my giant, red Sharpie and began writing on the light blue wallpaper, careful not to leave any fingerprints.
As I was writing I heard the ring of a knife being unsheathed. I whipped around to see Viper holding a knife over the security guard's- Macey's- arm. "What are you doing!?" I hissed.
She looked up; I could see the anger churning in her stormy, grey eyes.
"Don't touch them."
"Why not?" She seethed. "They're part of this. You know what they did. They deserve to pay too. I thought you wanted that."
"Yes, I do, more than you know; but now's not the time! We need to stick to the plan or else this all fails!" I told her. "I had time to watch them. I know what they'll do. We need to do this right if we want to stay ahead of them."
Reluctantly, she sheathed her knife and continued to tighten their bonds, then she began cleaning the room- getting rid of anything that could be traced back to us. We needed to be smart and clean up after ourselves if this was going to work. I continued to write on the wall. When I was done, I stepped back and read over my handiwork. I heard Viper finish and walk up behind me.
"Sorry," I heard her mutter under her breath.
"It's fine. I know patience isn't your strong suit."
She snorted. "That's an understatement." I looked over at her. She was staring at the writing, reading the message. When she was done she nodded and chuckled. "Nice," she said, "Now what?"
I held up the Sharpie, grinning. "Now, we sign it." I reached out and wrote a large A. Then I shrugged; Pixie wasn't here so I added the C for her. I held out the marker, and Viper snatched it out of my hand. She leaned forward and wrote a large E.
I smiled as I saw our infamous signature.
I turned around and walked out of the room. "Come on," I called behind me, "we have a plane to Virginia to catch."
Zach POV
I sighed as I saw the guy we had been tailing for the past four hours board the train to Virginia. It had taken a day to track him down; we had been tailing him all day, trying to find an opportunity to approach him.
"Jonas?" I said into my comms. He was somewhere near me, blending into the crowd like I was, though not as well. Jonas had always been the nerdy one, less coordinated on the field. It's a miracle he passed CoveOps, which, unlike at Gallagher, was mandatory for everyone at Blackthorne.
"I see him," I heard my friend's voice in my ear. I caught a glimpse of him pushing through the crowds towards the train. Though not the most covert way, he had the right idea. I made my way towards the train, weaving through the crowds a bit less noticeable than Jonas. When I made it to the train, I jumped on just before the doors shut.
"Jonas?"
"I'm in. I think he's in the food compartment."
"Of course I am," a familiar voice snorted.
I rolled my eyes. Of course, he hacked our signal. It was something we- and they -learned growing up. We had special lessons when we were younger. I pushed back the memories that threatened to consume me to the back of my mind. I needed to focus on the task at hand.
"How'd you know we were here?" I heard Jonas ask as I made my way to the food compartment, trying to keep my balance as the train began moving.
"Please, Einstein, you're as covert as a giraffe in a zebra herd."
I rolled my eyes. I had forgotten he had just got back from- well, doing something in Africa.
"I figured since you were tailing me, Shadow must have been with you. I expect this is about the President's daughter?"
"Yes, and no. We need to talk, Cobra. Meet us-"
"Wait. Cobra? I told you I want my codename to be Greek God!"
I groaned. We didn't have time for this nonsense. "Stop it! This is important; we don't have time for childishness. Your name is Cobra, has been forever. We have to talk. It's serious." I had made my way to the compartment and could see the back of his head. He was sitting in the far corner of the room, mostly hidden in the shadows. He had a laptop open and a notebook on the table. He could have passed for a college jock. I saw, well more like felt, Jonas come up behind me. We made our way to the table.
"Aw, come on. What's so bad? Rogue assassin? Random terrorism? We can take 'em. I'd like to see them try to get away from me," the guy said, unaware we were behind him.
"Grant. Stop," Jonas said as he and I slid into the booth, sitting across from our friend.
Upon seeing our expressions, Grant finally sobered up. "What?" he asked, finally taking things seriously.
While we had tracked him down to answer that question, neither Jonas nor I wanted to be the one to say it. I sighed, and Jonas looked down and started polishing his glasses. When neither of us gave an immediate answer, Grant nearly growled. "Guys, spit it out. What is going on?"
Jonas sped up his polishing and placed his glasses back on his nose, still avoiding looking at Grant. "Well, we were in London recently, and we- um, we came to find out something important-"
"So this is about the President's daughter?" Grant asked, impatiently cutting off Jonas's mumbling.
"Yes and no. It's about who's attacking her," I said. "Grant, they're alive. Somehow, she survived, and now she's found them."
It was quiet for a minute before Grant shook his head and snapped, "How are you sure? We looked everywhere!" I sighed. I knew this was going to be hard for him to accept.
Jonas was the one to speak up. "The latest attack scene was signed, Grant. ACE has returned."
I watched his reaction. Waiting for the explosion. But instead, we were met with silence. Grant simply blinked and leaned back in his seat. He glanced around, and when he looked back at us, his dark eyes were torn between pain, longing, and a silent rage. After two minutes and twenty-three seconds, he finally said something, his voice low and dangerous.
"If they're alive, why the President's daughter?"
"Publicity," Jonas said as if that answered his question completely- which Grant made sure his face told otherwise.
Jonas sighed. "The President's daughter would be the best way to gain attention. Though, I think we all know that she is not their real target."
Grant nodded. "They just wanted us to notice. They did always love grand entrances."
I nodded. "It might not be just us they wanted to notice," I said. "If I know her at all, we aren't their main targets either."
"Are you sure it was a good idea to leave without telling Macey? Or at least Joe?" Jonas asked.
I shook my head. "They'll be fine. They can take care of themselves. Besides, our biggest concern is in Virginia."
Grant shook his head. "You mean your biggest concern is in Virginia," he muttered. "You're still putting her before them. After everything- I can't believe you!"
"I just need to make sure she's alright," I sighed. Maybe it wasn't the best move, but I had to see her. Make sure she was okay.
"Fine, we'll go to Virginia- wait, we're on our way to Virginia,-anyway, we'll make sure Cammie's fine, then we need to find them, Zach," Jonas said urgently.
I sighed again. I knew I was probably letting my feelings rule my actions too much. Heck- who am I kidding? My feelings were totally mixed up. I just needed to make sure Cammie was safe. I guess that's what got me in trouble in the first place. But, I couldn't bring myself to tell Joe or anyone else and lose everyone's trust yet though. I needed to try to fix this myself first.
"I know. We will."
Macey POV
My head ached. My arms felt like they were made of rubber, and my legs like they were filled with liquid. Whatever that girl drugged me wi-
My eyes shot open as I remembered what happened. Liz and I had reached the room first. when we got close, we heard the same clear voice from our comms singing. "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the -"
I had cut the singing off as I shoved open the door. There had been a small, black-haired girl in the room. As soon as I had tried to grab her, she was behind me. She had twirled and grabbed my hair and arm from behind. She had moved so fast. It was like she knew what I was going to do. The next thing I knew there was a rag on my face and someone had kicked my legs from under me. I remembered hearing Liz fall right next to me before I couldn't hold my breath any longer and blacked out.
Now I looked around. We were still in the room. It was dark. From the window, I could tell it was late at night. At first, I wondered why no one had looked for us, but then I remembered that we had told Joe and Townsend not to worry about us. That we probably would be leaving soon. Looked like we were on our own.
I looked around the room. The computers were gone. It actually seemed this was an abandoned apartment building. There was a small kitchen like area to the left, but no furniture. An old light bulb hung from the ceiling. The only light was coming from moon and streetlights coming through the open window.
My head felt groggy from the drug and my limbs were heavy, but overall I was fine. Bex and Liz were on either side of me. We were all tied up; other than that, we seemed to be fine. Liz had a bump on her head, and there was dried blood in Bex's hair. But they didn't seem any more injured than me.
I wiggled around, feeling how tight the bonds were around my hands. In a matter of seconds, my hands were free and I started working on my feet. They weren't difficult to undo. Either the girl was an amateur, or we were meant to escape.
Bex started to wake up as I finished untying Liz, her brown hair falling over her face as her head rolled. Her eyes shot open, and she looked around. Silently, she started untying herself.
"There was a black haired girl in here. Did she knock you out too?" I asked her.
Bex shook her head. "A bloody blonde got me," she muttered as she untied her feet. By the time she finished, I had Liz free and was trying to wake her up by gently shaking her. Bex decided to take matters into her own hands and clapped her hands on Liz's tiny arms and whispered something frantically in her ear.
"Liz! You're late for Professor Buckingham's final!"
I nearly laughed as I watched Liz jump up, only to be stopped by Bex's arms around her. Even unconscious, Liz wouldn't ever miss a test, even if we left school almost a year ago.
"Wha-" she started, but stopped once she realized where we were.
As we all looked around again, I noticed that the door to the room was wide open. Once we woke up were we meant to leave? Why would we be attacked if the girl was not going to keep us? Was there a guard? Was she just escaping? I looked at my friends to see them with questioning looks also. It wasn't until Liz pointed at something anyone spoke.
"Guys, look!" She was pointing at the wall across from where we were positioned. There was a message written in bold, red letters across the baby blue wall. How did we not see that sooner? We should have. I guess being knocked out takes a toll, no matter how well trained you are.
We stepped forward to read the writing. I heard Liz gasp as she read it. Bex was glaring daggers at the signature, muttering, "Over my dead body."
I turned to read it.
By the time you wake up, we'll be long gone. Sorry about knocking you out- wait, no I'm not. Anyway, you guys are right, we're not after little Bianca. Though, if it helps, we're not above using her. We actually have a certain Gallagher Girl to deal with right now. Good luck trying to stop us. It was fun playing with you. Bye, now we have a plain to Virginia to catch.
-ACE
My mind took a minute to digest everything those eight, short sentences meant. One- ACE was more than one person, at least two girls. Two- they attacked us to escape. Why they hacked our comms again, I didn't know. Three- we were right to guess they weren't after Bianca. Though, from the message, she did still need to be protected. Four- we were not this ACE's targets either. And the scariest one of all, five- it seemed our best friend was.
