Chapter 2

Cammie's POV

"Cammie, you have five seconds to get up or I'm going to make you." Bex threatened me. I just pulled my covers up over my head trying to block out her words. The next thing I knew I was on the ground.

"Bex, why is Cammie on the ground?" Joe asked from the doorway. I didn't bother looking up at him.

"She's on the ground because she's a lazy bum." Bex replied simply.

"I see. Well, I just came to see how the packing is going and to ask if you got the piece of paper from last night." Joe explained.

"It's under my pillow." I responded, but my voice was muffled because I was still on the ground with my covers wrapped around me.

"Found it!" Liz said excitedly. I hadn't realized that she was in here, but now that I think back I did hear her fingers typing away on her computer.

"Thank you Liz, please hand it to me." Joe said pleasantly.

"What does it say?" Liz asked after a few seconds. I knew that she had given it to Joe, but I taught my girls better than that.

I'd bet anything that they had already read it and had been working on analyzing it. That must be why they wanted me up; they needed help. I had a strict rule about no one waking me up before 9am when we didn't have classes.

"That's confidential Miss Sutton." Joe answered. I couldn't hold back my scoff when I heard that reply. I finally stood up from the floor because it was getting really uncomfortable.

"Okay, bye Joey." I said.

"What, no questions?" Joe innocently asked.

"Why? To give you the satisfaction of saying that it's 'confidential' again?" I responded hotly. I was really cranky in the morning and I think Joe was just catching on to that fact. He already knew of course, but he probably assumed I had grown out of it. He turned around and left, holding the paper tightly in his hand.

"So," I yawned, "What did you find out?"

"It was in code, and we need your help with it." Liz explained. I looked around and saw Macey step out of the bathroom. She had a towel wrapped around her head, a clear sign she had just enjoyed a hot shower, and dressed herself in very unMacey-like comfy sweatpants and a baggy sweatshirt.

I immediately got jealous so I said, "I'll help once I shower and change." I didn't give them a chance to respond because I was already in the bathroom.

When I was ready to get down to business I sat down at Liz's laptop where the information was typed. "Liz, how did you not solve this?" I asked, completely shocked.

"I've never seen anything like it!" Liz said indignantly. I could tell that she was offended by my comment so I apologized. I was trying to remember where I had learned this formula.

"Now I remember where I learned it! My mom taught it to me a few years ago on a rainy day. I guess she thought I had forgotten, or she forgot she even taught it to me." I said excitedly. I decoded it really quickly, but what I read shocked me.

"It's to someone named Steve. That's the name my mom and Joe mentioned last night when she was talking about Blackthorne. Isn't that their headmaster? I can't really remember, but I think it is. We found out last year, didn't we?" I asked once I had the decoded copy in front of me.

"Yeah, I think it is." Macey agreed with me.

"Okay, it says:

Steve,

Two days. Bring sophomores to NYC for training mission prior. Eight students. Will arrive at Dinner. Joe will run this operation. Do not give them any additional information, especially regarding Chamleon. Bring your top eight boys to the mission; I want my girls to have a challenge. Be there at 1pm. Don't give them forewarning, this will purely be a test of skill and their ability to adapt on a moments notice.

-Rachael

That gives us a lot of information. Here's the plan for today; we are going to have a quick breakfast out of our stash so we don't lose time. Then Macey will pack for us while Liz, Bex, and I break into the Blackthorne file in the CIA. Understood?" I ordered. There were three confirmations, so I dropped down to the floor.

There was a lose floorboard in our room that we may or may not have loosened ourselves for a secret hiding spot, but that doesn't matter. We hide food down there so that when we are in a rush we don't have to go to the Grand Hall. I grabbed a Fruit Loops cup and tossed Macey Cheerios, Bex got Fruity Pebbles, and Liz got Trix. We aren't very healthy when it comes to our secret stash, but we need food that won't spoil. We finished eating in three minutes and then we got straight to work.

Macey got all of our suitcases out and began going through the tedious work of folding clothes. I saw her pack all fashionable clothes, but most of them were black. This was because we always wear black when are in spy mode, and since we are always spying on people it has become a color that we all usually wear. I approved of the clothes she was packing me so I left her alone.

"Liz, how are we doing?" Bex asked her. She was typing furiously at her computer with Bex and I looking over her shoulder. I could tell by the look on her face that she didn't want to be interrupted. Bex and I watched her silently for a few minutes. She finally relaxed her hands and turned to look at us.

"We're in the CIA database, but the Blackthorne files are so highly protected that I'm going to need both of your help. Grab your laptops and help me." Liz ordered us. We both complied, and soon we were ready for some hacking.

"Plan 18 for this job." Liz grimly said.

Bex and I glanced at each other. Plan 18 was the most covert and difficult of all of the hacking plans we've made up in our free time. The school only teaches us up to Plan 5, and even that one was hard to master. We quickly recovered and set up our hands to begin our job.

"Macey, you're going to have to cover for us if anyone comes. This is going to take awhile." I said to Macey, but I didn't wait for her response. I gave Liz the signal to begin typing.

It took a good three hours before we were past their firewall. Macey was just finishing packing for all of us. The three of us were sweating profusely from the strenuous focus we had committed to. We had to try extra hard not to be detected by anyone.

Liz quickly copied everything in the file to her computer. Bex and I were already working on getting out of the Blackthorne file undetected, but also covering our own tracks so that no one would ever know that we were there.

"What did you find?" Macey asked once we were all successfully out of the CIA.

"A lot, come see for yourself." Liz responded.

We spent basically the rest of the day reading all about Blackthorne. I read all of the information written in Joe's folder, and there was a lot on it. Joe had been a busy boy when he attended Blackthorne. He was a top student most of the time he spent there, however some of his missions he had some pretty embarrassing moments. One time when he was following a target down an alley, a stray cat had apparently set up home there and when he approached it attacked him. He had to have twenty-nine stitches from all of the claw marks. On his first mission he was supposed to be following one of his teachers and when he spotted the teacher, instead of keeping to the shadows he went straight up to him and said, "Yes, I found you! Now pretend you never saw me so that I can tail you, okay?"

These stories kept us occupied for a good hour, but sadly after a while he began to become a good spy. It began to show all of his achievements, so I skimmed those; then moved on.

When we were finally done reading about their security, cover story history, teachers, and other important facts it was already five pm.

"We have to go to dinner in an hour, so let's check who the top eight boys in the sophomore year are. Then we can delete all of this so that no one will ever know we read it." I whispered. It had been so silent for so long that it felt right to whisper.

"The boy's names are Zachary Goode, Grant Newman, Jonas Anderson, Jason Perckert, Hanson McBeth, Chris Sinter, Patrick Rothburg, and Ryan Pillax. There aren't any pictures, but there is background history." Liz exclaimed. After we had studied every boy and memorized everything about them we deleted any traces of the files.

"Come on guys, I'm starving!" Bex yelled. We all laughed at her eagerness, but followed her out anyway.

We spent most of dinner in silence as we processed everything that we had read for the last few hours.

"Why are you guys so quiet? Cat got your tongue?" Joe joked. He had walked up to us once he realized how noiseless we were being.

"No." I responded. I really wanted to make a reference to the mission that he went on where the cat attacked him, but I had to restrain myself. If I did say it then he would know we saw his file in Blackthorne, and we weren't supposed to even know about Blackthorne yet.

"See you tomorrow, Joe. We have to go finish packing." I lied. We all got up and walked back to our room.

That evening we sat on our beds in silence; still thinking over everything we had found out. It wasn't until about 9pm that Macey spoke.

"Bourne Ultimatum or Mission Impossible 3?" She asked.

"Both." We all immediately responded.