I want to start by thanking you all so very much for your reviews and more importantly, your patience. I want to make sure this story sounds authentic and follows Ally Carter's storyline, so it takes time to create the idea and make sure it doesn't stray off. Also, I am very busy, but I have not let go of writing this story, and I want to thank you all for continuing to patiently wait. I hope by the time this story ends, it will be one of your favorites. If you have any suggestions, please drop them in the reviews! (No cursing pleassseeeee.) So without further ado, here is Chapter 21.
If you thought it was rough having to admit that I, a highly-trained spy who had taken down groups of terrorists at a time, was now afraid of one man, try sitting next to the person who made you realize it and next to the boy who doesn't necessarily like her parents.
Trust me. It's not fun.
But there we were: Mr. Solomon, my aunt, Agent Townsend, The Baxters, myself and Zach, all at their eight-seater table, making small talk while Zach, Bex and I awkwardly ate dinner.
Zach kept his focus on his food, not saying a word as the adults filled in the Baxters on what happened during the past week.
Mr. Solomon relayed he and Abby's encounter with Eli in the alleyway and their meet up with us before Townsend brought up the fight at the warehouse.
"Wait, so he shot after you and Abby in the car, right?" Bex asked Mr. Solomon. He nodded his head in agreement as he stuffed his face with a piece of meat.
"So when did he come in contact with Cammie and Zach?" she asked.
"Zach and I met up with Abby and Mr. Solomon in the same alleyway two days after Eli shot at them," I told her. "After they left, he showed up in the alleyway and confronted us."
"So he was tailing you," Mr. Baxter interrupted, a serious look on his face.
"No," Mr. Solomon interjected, "he was tailing us."
"What did he say to you?" Mrs. Baxter asked us.
"He said he needed our help," I responded, looking at Mr. Solomon. "He said the prisoner you and Abby were tracking got out of jail and was probably going to try to kill him."
Bex didn't even try to hide her snort. "That's bloody lame," she mumbled, moving the food around on her plate, "did he really think you'd fall for that?"
"Well, when we didn't he said, 'I wouldn't expect any less from a Gallagher Girl.'"
Bex looked up from her plate and turned to me, along with the rest of the adults.
"He mentioned you being from Gallagher?" Abby asked, alarm written on her face.
"Yeah, he-"
"He stated that she's from Gallagher and that me and Joe are from Blackthorne." Zach interrupted, finally looking up from his plate and right at Abby. "And he said that no one in this business can be trusted, because the good ones work with the bad, and because of that, anyone could be a double or triple agent."
"If he mentioned Zach and Joseph being from Blackthorne then it's a good chance he knows Joseph is still alive." Agent Townsend said, looking directly at Mr. Solomon as the room fell silent. The only sound that was heard was the sound of Bex clinking her fork against her plate.
"Is that when he attacked you?" Bex asked, looking at Zach and I.
"No, he dropped a piece of Evapopaper on the ground and I took it," I spoke up, looking down sheepishly as I saw Mr. Solomon look at me with disappointment.
CoveOps Lesson 16: Don't fall for the enemy's tricks. Fell for that one.
"When we examined it the next morning, we saw a tracking device hidden in it, so we cleared out the safehouse and left separately." I said, looking up from the table. "We had our Comms with us, so I could hear Zach while I moved towards his location, but Eli showed up before I made it there."
"When she got there he had already finished with the prisoner," Zach said, "he said dealing with him wasn't important, but he knew it would give him the chance to run into Cammie."
Bex's eyes widened in surprise and Abby shared a concerned look with Townsend as he went on.
"Then he mentioned her father," he said, glancing at me as if I would burst into tears at any moment, "and said Catherine specifically assigned Eli to him. He also mentioned you," Zach said, turning his attention to Townsend, "and Abby. He thought you two, or at least one of you, were dead from an incident in Buenos Aires."
I watched as my aunt's face turned a pale white color at the mention of Buenos Aires and Mr. Solomon looked down at the table.
"And lastly, he said before Catherine died, he became aware that Zach rebelled against the Circle," I finished. "And then he attacked."
The room was deathly silent as everyone looked at us. Mr. Baxter shared a look with Mr. Solomon before exhaling a sigh and placing his hands on the table. His fingers drummed along the table before he spoke up.
"So it's him." He said softly. Mr. Solomon slowly nodded his head in agreement, and soon Abby and Townsend did the same.
I looked at them nodding their heads in unison curiously. "What do you mean 'it's him'?'" I asked.
"He's the one Cameron." Mr. Solomon replied shortly and somberly. "He's the one who took out Matthew."
Bex, Zach and I looked at each other before I turned towards Mr. Solomon again.
"But—are you sure? What about Catherine?" I asked, the pieces not coming together in my head.
"What about her?" he asked, and I glanced at Zach.
"Well," I started, squirming in my seat, "Wasn't she in Rome around the time my father went missing?" I asked, and watched as the facial expressions on the adults (and Bex) all looked at me with alarm.
"Where did you get that information from?" Bex asked me. I looked down at my plate as I softly replied.
"From Catherine."
10 minutes later we were all in den, with the adults (and Bex,) interrogating me.
Zach stood close beside me in a slightly protective manner, while Bex and the rest of the adults stood across from me, all of them with their arms crossed.
"Okay Cameron," Mr. Solomon spoke up first, "I need you to tell me exactly what Catherine told you when you were captured."
I fidgeted on one foot as I relayed what happened. Abby's face lit up with surprise as I mentioned Catherine accusing her of ulterior motives for not going to Rome.
"Me?!" She exclaimed, livid. "Is she honestly insinuating that I would just let Matthew die?" she yelled loudly. Let me just tell you that if looks could kill and Catherine was in that room, at that moment, she would be dead twice.
"To think she would use that as leverage to make Abby a suspect," I heard Townsend mumble to himself in disbelief. He shook his head and instantly looked irritated. "Nothing is past her." He said.
I snuck a glance at Zach watching his father talk about his mother. His face was expressionless, and as much as I tried in that quick second, I couldn't read how he must have really been feeling. Bex snapped me out of my quick glance as she threw the next question at me.
"What makes you think Catherine was in Rome at the time your dad went missing?" she asked.
"She held up a file with a picture of him on the phone and said he was calling Abby and telling her to come to Rome," I said. "That agrees with what Abby told us last summer, but for Catherine to know that he was specifically calling Abby, she would have had to actually hear it." I said.
"Which means she was in Rome at the time.." Mr. Solomon finished for me, shaking his head. "She was onto him the whole time without him knowing." He said, lowering himself onto a nearby couch. The room fell silent as we realized the gravity of what was said.
"If it was truly Catherine," Zach spoke up, his face hard and his voice cold, "then who is Eli? Really?"
Bex clapped her hands together and turned to face the adults, her face full of determination. "Guess we're gonna have to fly over to Washington and find out. I'll get our bags packed."