Chapter 13

Cammie POV

Liz was the first to arrive. Zach had insisted that she be booked on the first flight to Paris, because he wanted to break into this guy's house before the sun came up. I secretly thought it was because he was a control freak. It was nine-thirty by the time Lizzy got off the plane and we got back to the apartment. The boys had stayed behind to wait for their hacker, whose plane was coming in a few minutes later.

"I have so much to tell you guys!" Liz drawled in her endearing southern accent. I smiled and took a sip from my third coffee that night.

"Really? Like what?" I asked, intrigued.

"Well whatever it is- it can wait. You need to get a head start on this project so you can whoop the other nerd's ass." Macey said, unlocking the door to their apartment.

"Please. It's not like she'll need it." Bex said with confidence. Ignoring Bex, Liz went to sit down at the table and scrutinize the blueprints.

"Wow." That was all she had to say for a few seconds while she scrolled through the security measures of the house. "Where exactly is this? Are you breaking into the White House?"

"Yes, clearly. That's why we're in Paris." Macey said, unable to keep the sarcastic comment to herself.

"Can you do it?" I asked anxiously.

"Of course I can do it." Liz said, looking appalled. "It just might take a little time." She started tapping on the keys of the keyboard at about a hundred miles an hour. I stared at her hands, mesmerized at their speed. That's when I noticed the diamond ring on her left ring finger.

I gasped. "Liz, is that… a wedding ring?" I asked, stunned. Bex and Macey both looked shocked also.

She turned bright red and started stuttering. "Yes… well, you s-see, that's… funny story…" I didn't even know she had a boyfriend, much less a fiancée.

"Ohmigod, who is he!" Bex yelled, bouncing out of excitement. "When is the wedding?"

She didn't get a chance to answer because it was at that moment that the boys burst into the room. "Trying to cheat, I see?" Grant said, inching closer to Bex.

"It's not that big of a deal guys, it will get done either way." A voice I have yet to recognize said. It belonged to a cute, nerdy-looking boy with glasses.

"Hey, don't defend them- they're your competition!" Grant said.

The boy was no longer interested, however. He had caught sight of Liz and they were now staring at each other looking shocked. "Jonas?" Liz questioned.

"Liz!" The boy answered.

"Um… do you two… know each other?" Macey asked. They ignored her.

"I thought you were on a mission."

"I thought you were on a mission!"

"This is my mission!" They both said at the same time.

It was silent for a few seconds. Liz smiled weakly. "Oopsie daisy…" She said. Jonas smiled back and went to put his arm around her shoulder.

"Can someone please explain what's going on…?" Grant voiced the question everyone was currently asking in their heads.

"Do you two… know each other or something?" I questioned carefully.

"Um…" Liz twirled her engagement ring nervously. "He's my fiancé."

Cue awkward silence of about thirty seconds.

"Well…" Nick said, breaking the pause. "As heartwarming as this reunion is, I believe you both have work to do."

"So… the competition is still on, right?" Grant asked. Bex hit him upside the head.

"Of course it isn't you idiot! We can't ask them to compete, they're getting married. Besides, we all know Lizzy would have won anyway…"

Liz and Jonas weren't paying attention; they had already gotten out their laptops and were gibbering away in nerd-code. "If we bounce the connection around to several foreign servers, then the security could be broken for a few minutes, or at least long enough time to give us access to the mainframe where we can scramble the HTML code source-" Liz would have blabbered on forever if Zach hadn't interrupted.

"How long?" He questioned.

Liz and Jonas stopped typing to look at one another. "Three hours?" He said, looking at Liz.

She shrugged. "Two and a half."

Zach turned back to us and shrugged off his leather jacket. "Get ready- we're doing this tonight."

I followed him into the fancy hotel room. I started to grab black clothes to change into, but he stopped me. "No, no. You're staying here. With Liz and Jonas." I stared at him like he had grown an extra head as the words sunk in.

"And why am I doing that?" He looked to me as if the answer were obvious.

"You just broke a rib a little over a day ago, Gallagher Girl."

"It's completely fine! It's totally healed!" I exclaimed, proving it by pulling my shirt off so that he could see that it was now nothing but a ugly looking bruise. "Here! Punch me!" I was not going to sit this out.

"I'm not going to punch you. And what about the knife wound?"

"What about it? It's gone- nothing but a scar now. I'm telling you- that stuff Abby gave me was great." He couldn't tell me I had to stay here. He isn't my father.

He ran his finger down the scar and I suppressed shivers that had nothing to do with pain. He looked me in the eyes for a few seconds, probably trying to detect a lie. "Fine." He didn't sound very happy about it. "Get dressed." He threw one of my black t-shirts at me.

I grinned in triumph and started to go to the bathroom. "Hey." He grabbed my elbow and I found him staring directly into my eyes. "Stay with me the whole time, okay? No wandering off on your own or going into locked rooms with known terrorists who carry knives around… please." He added the please as if it occurred to him at the last second. Like I was doing him a favor by not getting myself killed.

Well, technically, you are. Since he was the one who had to save you last time… I thought to myself. I nodded and he looked exceptionally relieved.

He released a breath that he must have been holding. "Thank you. Now go put a freakin' shirt on, it's cold out there." He grinned, pushed me into the bathroom, and closed the door, leaving me to wonder what that was all about.

A/N: Action coming up soon! Yay! I would really, very much like to reach 100 reviews before the next chapter gets posted… so please review because I love every suggestion and every feedback. Thank you for all the support :)