Chapter 25:
Cammie POV
"This is our first stop on our cruise to Nassau. It's a personal favorite, and makes a good place for pictures. We will meet back here in exactly 6 hours, so set your timers and have fun." A chippy voice rang over the speakers as all of the families and couples hopped off. I wore high waisted jean shorts, a black tank top with a rose on it, and a jean jacket, pairing it all with hoop earrings and sandals. I mixed into the crowd of people, watching as everyone around disappeared.
In a few minutes now, Zach and the others will come back from wherever they went. They'll realize that Liz isn't answering her comms. They'll rush back into the room with the hopes that I'm there to find Liz passed out and all of their stuff missing. Rule #18 Always be inside of your target's head. It's sad that I have to think of them as a target.
I continued down until I was safely off the dock, then I ran onto the beach and close to the cabanas, where slightly pale lady with a white v-neck and high-waisted floral shorts, was waiting in a green Jeep for me.
"Walters." I said hopping in.
"Good to see you too." She popped the keys back into the ignition.
"If you were two minutes late my whole plan would've been messed up." We both laughed as she drove.
"We have a good two hour drive to a place where it's safe to take a helicopter, you think Zach can run that fast?"
"Well, it depends on how fast your driving." I smiled.
"So, what caused the sudden trip this time?" Tina's hair flew around as the wind blew.
"The usual terrorists that want to kill me for things I don't have." I sighed.
"And let me guess, you're protecting the family on this one?" I nodded. "Cammie, there's gonna come a day where you're gonna have to protect yourself." She whispered.
"I found him." I whispered.
"Your dad?"
"I also found the guy who tried to kill María." I could tell that she was interested. "Now that I've put everything back together, it doubled the things I have to lose."
"Who knows he's alive?"
"Only a couple CIA agents. There are moles on every level, someone is gonna let it slip out."
"But what does your dad have to do with the person that shot María?"
"It's the circle. There's one leader left."
"Who could possibly be left? Everyone that ever believed in that died with the people that led them."
"We killed every descendant, but the descendant of the man who started it all."
"That's not possible, Ioseph had no-"
"Yes he did. Ioseph had a frequent affair with a french maiden. That girl gave birth to twin boys, which is his direct line by technicality. From there it's always been the firstborn who gains control."
"How do you know all of this?"
"They spent they're whole life kidnapping me, you pick up a couple things on the way."
"But how do you know that the man that shot Maria is with them, maybe he's just-"
"Tina, it's all associated. I dug deeper in my spare time and found out that he was receiving funds from the Ferelinni Corp, one of the branches Josephine uses to pay off people she doesn't need often, and they want me. I need to give them what they want to stop them."
"Cam, you don't get it. You give a bad guy a chocolate chip cookie, it's gonna want a chocolate chunk cookie, and then from there a triple chocolate chunk cookie. You give them your life, they're going to turn around tomorrow and want someone else's."
"Tina, I've tried resisting, I've tried so hard." I put my head in my hands and ran my hands through my hair. "They did something to me, the more I resist her calling me, the more people I hurt. I stabbed Zach with a toothpick last night." My voice cracked as she continued to drive down the road silently, almost as if she was making a decision. It was the quietest I've ever seen her, and I wasn't sure whether I should be worried about her or enjoy the moment while it lasts.
"Cammie, I'm helping you get in." She declared.
"No, if they think something is up-" she silenced me with one finger in the air.
"Whether you like it or not, I'm already involved. You are gonna go in, I am your extract team." She ordered. I didn't bother countering, she had already made up her mind.
"Fine." I sat back and reclined my chair. The next thing I was sleeping.
Zach POV
I ran through the crowded halls, rushing past moms with babies and old ladies. By the time I had arrived at the bridge leading to the dock, the ship had already emptied, meaning that there was a high chance that Cammie was already gone. As I looked onto the dock, I tried to find anything different in the mix of footprints. The only thing that stood out was the faint tracks of tires, covered in flip flop footprints. She was gone. I let out a long sigh and started to make a few calls.
Grant, it's me.
Lemme guess, runaway fiancé ran away again?
Stop calling her that. I rolled my eyes. How'd you know anyways?
I have a source. I could feel him smirking from my end of the phone.
So Bex told you? He went completely silent. Anyways Cammie is going to turn herself in, you have any clue where?
Wherever Josephine is gonna be next.
You and Jonas work on that, we'll do what we can from our end, when you figure something out, call me asap.
I ended the call and sent a message to Bex. Within seconds she was out, standing next to me, within inches from the tire tracks. We both stared at it for a little bit, admiring what was left of the tracks in the sand.
"This is a Jeep." I stared at Bex. "Only a Jeep can make this prints in the sand."
"Zach there are a million unregistered Jeeps in the world. We need to wait for Grant and Jonas to find information on Josephine's location."
"Wait." I thought for a second. "Are you and Grant doing three way calls on me or something?"
"He's my boyfriend, I tell him, he does." She smirked at me. For some reason everyone was smirking at me instead of the other way around. Here I thought that smirking was my move.
"Fine, we'll wait for them to call. Is Liz up?"
"Macey's working on it." She looked to me as we both walked onto the dock, and back to the room. When I opened the doors, I saw Liz fully awake, with red cheeks. She winced in pain from her arm as Macey pulled the napotine patch off.
"How'd you do it?" I asked.
"You don't wanna know." Matthew chimed from the bathroom as he washed a red liquid off his hands. Was it blood or wine? In this business you can't tell the difference unless it's under a microscope. I walked over to Liz and looked into her eyes.
"You good, Bookworm?"
"I feel dead." She brought a hand to her forehead.
"You guys?" Matthew called. "Liz is gonna need a good thirty minutes to come to her senses, in the meantime we should find someone whose going to finish this cruise." I looked to him as he continued. "If a high roller like Cammie's cover just goes missing, don't you think they'd notice? Someone needs to replace her."
"I can stay back." Macey offered.
"No, it has to be someone else, I need the whole team on this one." Bex pondered for a moment, before picking up her phone and dialing a number.
"Who are you calling?"
"A Gallagher Girl."
Cammie POV
The ride was mostly silent, we were about 10 minutes from the helipad. Tina just kept driving on as I slept, kinda reminding me of Zach. A call woke me up, it was Tina's. She showed me the Caller ID, it was Bex.
"Answer it, pretend I'm not here." She pressed accept and put it on speaker.
Walters.
Hey, Tina it's Bex.
Well if it isn't my favorite sister Becca! You finally called me. She said in the most chipper voice she had in her. I could feel Bex cringing from the other end.
Tina, it's an emergency. Cammie is missing-
Again? Please, Bex, tell me something new. She exaggerated.
The thing is, she has a reservation booked, she's paying the most money on a cruise ship, and were worried that if a high-roller like the person she used as an alias goes missing, it'll lead them onto us. I smiled at the thought about how it was my dad who probably suggested that. Damn, he was good.
You're asking me to go on a cruise, and spend a couple days on a boat in the biggest suite they have for free?
Don't tell me you're not interested. Bex countered sarcastically, clearly annoyed by the high pitch of Tina's voice.
Of course I am! Tina squealed as I looked at her in shock.
Great, we'll-
But-. Tina put a finger in the air. I have things to do so unfortunately I have to decline. Her voice saddened in the most fake way as she smiled at me.
Tina what could be more important than helping your favorite sister out? Bex tried sound as happy as Tina.
Ending what could turn into the Cold War 2, hanging with my boyfriend, finding the person that almost killed my best friend María, should I go on?
Tina, I am begging you, mind you that I never beg anyone, for anything.
I really do wish I could, but I can't. I've got a matter of life and death on my hands. And with that she hung up. She sat in silence for a moment before turning to me.
"So how did I do?"
"Had me fooled, I actually thought you picked the cruise." We both began to crack up.
"Ugh, the main struggle was maintaining that annoying, I'm-so-happy-all-the-time voice." She took a sip of water. "I'm so glad I don't sound like that anymore."
"Bex was your favorite sister, you always talked to her like that anyways." I chuckled.
"Bex was my favorite sister, and the best sparring partner-" we both took a pause to laugh. "I always admired you most Cammie."
"Thank you Tina."
"For what?"
"For being my sister." I looked into her eyes with sincerity before we both started laughing.
"Get your cheesy ass in the helicopter, we haven't taken off and you're already losing brain cells." And with that we hopped into the helicopter, and we were off.
I'm sorry that it's short! Wish it could've been longer but lately I've been in a funk, and instead of wanting to write FanFiction I want to read it and binge watch The Flash (having a mini Barry Allen addiction while I wait for season 2 of supergirl to be on Netflix) I just wanted to get something up for you guys.
Smiles180: To be completely honest, I didn't know it would take that turn either. My head was spinning from thinking and I just put that in. Zach will forever be determined to chase Cammie as long as it's my story :) xxx
Guest: yep, she's going headfirst to meet her doom (not the first time) honestly when I was writing that I did thing of UWS but I will make it different this time ;) xxx
AaGallagherGirl: Thanks! Honestly I wanna admit that last chapter was complete and utter improv, I definitely didn't intend it, but they can't help her get better if she keeps running off. Xxx