Cammie POV
'STOP!'
I shot up in bed, my heart pounding, a sweat film across my body and there was an undeniable ringing in my ears. Ringing that transformed into music.
The girls were fast asleep, the air in the room was still.
The music began to grow louder. I pulled my legs to my chest, feeling myself beginning to rock.
'It's not real, it's not real, it's not real' I whispered to myself repeatedly. After a while, the music died down. My heart rate slowly returned to normal. There was no point in going back to sleep. My stomach was churning as I remembered I hadn't eaten last night.
I glanced to my side, the clock reading 2:30 AM.
I sighed as I swung my legs out of bed, slipping on my shoes, grabbing my hoodie and closing the door softly behind me.
Even through my teenage years, I have loved Gallagher at night. There's something peaceful in the quiet. The power that it holds and the thrill of possibly being caught.
I opened the door to the kitchen and was surprised to find that I was not the only one awake.
'Ah, Cameron Morgan!' Chef Louis smiled 'I was expecting to see you much earlier'
'I'm sorry Chef Louis. Things have been...strange recently'
'Strange things always seem to find you, don't they Miss Morgan?' He playfully arched an eyebrow.
'You could say that again' I smiled leaning against the counter.
'Well, it's good to have you back in one piece. Are you hungry?' He asked. My stomach rumbled. 'I take that as a yes'
He moved through the kitchen to the fridge.
'I had this prepared especially for you' He spun around holding a creme brulee. 'I will heat it up for you now'
I smiled.
'Thank you, Chef Louis'
He went to work reheating the delicious creation.
'What are you doing up so late?' I asked
'It is my mother's birthday today. I sent her a package of all of her favourite desserts. Thanks to Gallagher, they arrived in France this morning. I have just finished speaking to her a few moments ago' He smiled 'And you? What has kept you up?'
'Bad dream' I said.
'Ah. Cauchemars. Nightmare. The best remedy for that and all other illnesses is-'
'Food' We said together.
'Oui' He smiled as the timer sounded.
Louis went back to work, putting the creme brulee on a dish with a spoon. As I was about to dig in, he told me to wait. After disappearing into the freezer, he reemerged with a tub of ice cream. And not just any ice-cream. It was a special creation of Louis' that is meant to be so delicious but very secretive that growing up there were several attempted heists from several girls trying to get a hold of it.
'Is that what I think it is?' I raised an eyebrow.
'If anyone asks, I know nothing.' He said as he scooped a large scoop on top of my dessert.
'Bon appétit, le cameleon'
'Merci, Chef Louis'
After returning the ice-cream back into its vault, Chef Louis exited leaving me alone in the kitchen. Or so I thought.
The kitchen door opened and a figure crept in. Although I was leaning to the side, I wasn't completely hidden.
The figure continued to move through the kitchen, a little clumsily and disorientated. They hit a stack of pans, swearing as they clattered. I chuckled.
'Bex told you about the ice-cream, didn't she?' I asked. The figure froze and turned to me.
'What are you doing here?' Nick asked
'I could ask you the same thing' I grabbed an extra spoon 'Want to share?'
Nick nodded. He took the spoon and began to tuck in. I watched Nick's actions, his knuckles were slightly red from punching something, his eyes were stormy and pained.
'So...why are you awake?' I asked
'Couldn't sleep' He muttered 'Time zone difference and all'
I nodded absentmindedly.
'Your mom told you, didn't she?'
Nick paused for a moment. His time zone difference lie was not getting past me.
'Yep,' He stabbed the spoon into the dish 'Turns out my dad's not dead' He looked up at me 'Is that what you were going to tell me outside?'
'Nick...I'm sorry-'
'Don't apologise. You should never have to apologise. It's not your fault, it's his' He stabbed his spoon once again. We went back to eating in silence.
'Can you promise me something?' He asked.
'Promises aren't really something spies keep'
'But friends do' He reached across to hold my hand. 'Promise me that when you find him, you make him pay'
'Nick…'
'Please' He looked at me with big puppy dog eyes that, damn it, are my weakness.
I nodded. A weight seemed to lift off his shoulders but it did not remove the pain.
'What about you? Did you have a bad dream?' He asked. I nodded, taking another spoonful of ice-cream.
'What was it about?' He asked. I paused for a moment.
'I was, um, tied to a chair. And...you can imagine the rest'
Nick put his spoon down.
'No, I really can't imagine. Was my dad the one who-'
'No' I shook my head 'In the dream it was someone different. Their face was blurry...just as it started to clear...I woke up' I absentmindedly rubbed my hands together
'Are you sure you're okay?' He asked
'Nick you don't need to worry about me'
'You're avoiding the question' He raised an eyebrow. I sighed.
'I'll be fine'
Nick nodded, in a way that made it seem he was half satisfied with my answer. Nick went back to the ice-cream.
'You should talk to him' Nick suggested.
'That's not going to happen' I replied. Although Nick didn't specify who the him was but you can guess.
'Why not? You'll eat yourself up if you don't'
'I'd rather eat this creme brulee' I went to take the final bite when Nick beat me to it.
'Now there's nothing stopping you' He smiled. Despite everything I found myself chuckling.
'Goodnight, Nick'
'Night, Cam' He gave me a long hug, neither of us wanting to pull away. Eventually, he left me alone.
I began to walk back through the corridors, heading for the elevator.
As I stepped inside, I stared at the control panel. I should have hit the button for sublevel 4 where all the rooms are, but I didn't. I hit a lower level, the cell level.
…
The elevator doors opened, the cool light illuminating a tiny slither of the corridor that was otherwise dark.
I'd been down there a few times so I knew my way around, yet I couldn't deny the queasy feeling in my stomach that grew with every step.
I glanced at the two cells on my left to see Grant and Jonas fast asleep.
They looked peaceful.
'Gallagher Girl?' I froze at the voice coming from behind. 'Cammie?'
I turned around slowly to see Zach sitting up in bed.
'Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?' He asked standing up and coming to the door.
'I…' I shook my head, hating how easily he figured me out. 'I need to ask you some questions'
'At 3 am?' He arched an eyebrow but his eyes were curious 'Cammie, what's going on?'
'Dr Steve. Have you heard that name before?'
Zach thought for a moment.
'Max had that name written down somewhere...about a year...two years ago...they were planning on meeting'
'Do you remember where?'
He shook his head.
'I don't. Why? What's going on?'
'Don't worry about it' I began to turn away.
'Cammie!' Zach hissed. I stopped. 'What's going on? Are you okay?'
'I'm fine Zach' I turned to leave again.
'Hey!' His voice was a little louder this time causing it to echo around 'I've never lied to you and this is not the time for you to start either. What's going on?'
I took a deep breath.
'Zach…'
'You had a nightmare, didn't you?' He asked. I didn't say anything, I just looked back at him. His shoulders slumped 'Cam, let me out, I can help you'
'You know I can't do that' I said 'I'm sorry. I...I shouldn't have come down here' I headed to the elevator.
'Wait, Cammie! Cammie! CAM!' Zach's voice slowly faded as the elevator doors shut and I got further away.
I leaned back against the elevator doors and closed my eyes.
…
'Cammie?' I looked up to see Macey in front of me. 'You seemed to have drifted there, you good?'
'Yeah, I'm good. Just a little hungry' I rubbed my hands together. Macey arched an eyebrow
'How about you eat your breakfast.' She signalled down in front of me. I glanced down to realise I had a plate of delicious pancakes on the table.
I looked around, we were in the cafeteria, it was around eleven am. Somehow I had gone back to bed, woken up, got dressed and came here.
I'd lost track of time, and I never lose track of time.
'Oh…' I muttered.
'Hey' Macey reached across, placing her hand over mine, giving it a small squeeze 'It's okay. You've got us'
'Thank you' I squeezed her hand back.
'What are you girls talking about?' Bex and Liz joined us. Macey looked at me, wondering if I'll say anything.
'Just that I lost track of time' I said. Bex and Liz looked at each other with worry. 'It's fine' I waved it away 'Happens to all of us'
'But you never lose track of time!' Liz exclaimed
'Liz!' Bex and Macey hissed.
The table became very quiet.
'Say it…' I looked at each of them in turn. Bex sighed
'After what you told us last night...it got us thinking-'
'-It's nothing bad-' Macey interjected 'It's just-'
'Liz was able to open one of the files' Bex said. Liz slid a yellow file across to me.
'It's an old case' Liz said 'The names of the agents are redacted so we don't have a solid confirmation'
'Basically, an asset went missing' Bex informed me 'After months of looking, the asset just...appears out of nowhere. He had no recollection of what happened. The agents monitored the asset and said that he suffered from sleep paralysis, hallucinations and...well…'
'He went crazy?' I filled in the blank. Bex cast her gaze down and nodded
'The asset disappeared once more' Macey took over 'They found him at the bottom of a lake with makeshift weights tied to him…' I pulled out an evidence photo.
'He did it to himself?' I asked. All three nodded.
'From what we could gather, this is the kind of thing that happens to people who come into contact with Dr Steve' She gripped my hand 'And we won't let that happen to you. We're in this together'
Liz and Macey put their hands in. All of us squeezing tightly. Anchoring each other.
I felt a tear slip and I quickly wiped it away.
'I, um, I need to speak to Joe and the others. I'll catch you all later'
I cleared my untouched breakfast, hurrying towards Buckingham's office.
...
I didn't even knock, I just barged straight in to find Buckingham, Joe, Professor Smith, Abby, Townsend and Amelia talking.
They stopped abruptly once they saw me.
'Cameron-' One of them began.
I marched forward and slammed the file on the table, the evidence photos spilling out in front of them.
'So this is what Dr Steve does?' I asked
'Where did you get this?' Joe asked. I arched an eyebrow at him. He sighed 'We will speak about this later'
'No' I said, standing my ground 'We are discussing this now. Dr Steve or whoever he is did something to me and you all are worried' I turned to Professor Smith 'What precautions were you talking about?'
'Cameron' Joe gripped my arm 'We will discuss this later'
'Tell me' My eyes didn't waver from Professor Smith who looked between Joe and me.
'She has a right to know' He said
'Over my dead body' Joe hissed
'Well, up to a week ago, we thought that was true' I quipped. Joe's grip loosened 'I told you all everything I knew, now please do the same for me'
Silence descended over the room
'To work out what information Dr Steve extracted, we'd have to...perform something risky' Professor Smith said. He looked up at Joe, waiting for him to break the next part.
'We'd need to find your triggers and exploit them' Joe said
'Exploit? How-' Then it dawned on me 'You'd need to torture me'
'That's the last thing we want to do. We're trying to think of another solution'
'I'll do it' I said 'If it's you all then I'll be safe so it'll be fine'
'It won't as easy as you think, Squirt' Abby said from across the room 'All the pain, it'll be real'
'If that's how we get my memories back, catch Dr Steve, find Max and rescue mom...I'll do it'
'We'll take it one step at a time, Cameron' Professor Buckingham cleaned her glasses 'I have notified our alumni about the threat Dr Steve and Max Edwards poses. Our Gallagher Girls will find them. And your mother. But for now, I suggest you and the girls try to get information out of our guests. And do so in the ways we have taught you and not in the ways you've been treated'
'Interrogate, not torture. I understand' I nodded, heading to the door.
'Miss Morgan' Professor Buckingham called 'Could you also remind Miss Sutton that, although she is very skilled, hacking is illegal and that perhaps sealed files should remain sealed'
'Yes, Professor' I nodded once more, reaching for the handle.
However, the strangest thing happened. The exact moment I pushed down on the handle, the alarms started ringing.
CODE BLACK.
Then we were all plunged into darkness.
Author's Note: Code Black can only mean one thing - Trouble. Cammie now knows what Dr Steve is capable of and is determined to find out the truth - will she put herself through being tortured again? Is there another way? Nick and Cammie have a cute little heart to heart but did Nick make Cammie promise something she can't keep? Or will she make Max pay? So many questions and a little Zammie reunion! Zach is still clearly worried about Cammie...what will she do next? See you all soon xxx
Guest: There was a little Zammie snippet, but they'll be face to face and in the same room very soon. Thank you so much xxx
Blue: I can't believe it either! I've been super proud of myself for having longer chapters as well because I know a lot of you prefer them longer. Don't worry about forgetting characters, Abby was brought back for a reason. Amy better be very careful. *Wink wink*. Cammie seeing Zach seemed very bittersweet to her. There's still a part of her that trust him, if only she'd listen to that part. But then another part of her remembers all of what Zach did...Thank you so much Blue! I love the Nick & Macey sliding in there too...the only one left is Bex & Grant xxx
Alecks454: Not to worry, hope school is going well! It's definitely a little bit of entanglement at who is telling the truth and who we can trust. I think Nick is absolutely heartbroken but is still in shock. Dr Steve is back...and it seems that he has unfinished business. xxx
Guest: Thank you so much! Nick seemed kind of pissed, I think he's still processing the emotions, but it was a good thing that Cammie was there for him. Zammie will be back soon! xxx
Guest: Cammie did tell the truth...or most of it at least xxx
Theoneandonlygg: Thank you so much! Dr Steve is back and no, it won't be good xxx
Smiles180: Hehehehehe the truth about who Cammie saw won't be revealed just yet as Cammie doesn't even know the truth herself. She can't place their face. The adults are clearly hiding something to do with Cammie & Dr Steve...but what? xxx
Allison: Thank you xxx
Guest: Ahh thank you so much! Here was a little bit of Zammie but there will be more soon! xxx
Guesttt: Ah you got here just in time! I don't usually have a set time for uploading but It's usually between 7pm - midnight UK time depending on what I'm doing. If I'm busy I might upload earlier but recently it's been in the evening. Hope you like this chapter! xxx
