Chapter 3
Cammie's POV
I awoke to the sound of Bex, Macey, and Liz moving around our room. I nearly fell out of bed once I remembered that we were supposed to leave today. We all had an unspoken agreement; get ready as fast as possible so that we weren't late. We moved groggily, but efficiently.
I took a shower, but when I got out I found Macey, Bex, and Liz grinning at me. Macey had her make-up kit with her, Bex had a hair curler, and Liz had an outfit that I was sure wouldn't be as comfortable as my jeans and sweatshirt.
When I realized their intentions I immediately began to protest. They just shook their heads in unison. It was a pretty creepy sight because they were still grinning.
I began to calculate possible exits, and luckily I found one. I faked a sprint for the door, but instead practically leaped out the window. I was a bit surprised that had even worked. I grabbed onto the sill and began to scoot my way over to the other girl's window. Eva, Tina, Mick, and Anna were going with us, so I knew they would be awake.
When I got to their window I opened it and climbed in. I paid no attention to the questions and strange looks I got from the other girls and left through the door very quietly. I knew Macey, Bex, and Liz would realize what I did in exactly 3 seconds so I began sprinting down the hallway. I heard pounding feet behind me, but I just went faster.
As I entered the Great Hall I ran over to Joe, who was waiting for the girls so that we could leave, and hid behind his back.
"Oh, Cammie dear," Bex said in a sing song voice, "Where have you gone?" Bex was the only one that could keep up with me, so the others must have stayed in the room.
"You can't make me go back up there Bex. I am not going to get mummified." I said. I had just remembered that Joe was there, and realized I could use that to my advantage.
"I'm sure you want to be ready for everything. Come back upstairs so we can make you look presentable." Bex said. She had obviously realized that Joe was there too.
"Joe, do I have to put on makeup, have my hair done, and dress in a fancy outfit for our mission?" I asked. I knew that he wouldn't want me to do all of that because we would be meeting a bunch of boys. Sometimes an overprotective godfather comes in handy.
"Well No of course not, you don't have to do any of that. You are fine the way you are, you need to be comfortable for this misson, you never know what'll happen" Joe winked. I put on a small victorious smile.
"HA!"
Bex glared
"Bex, would you be kind as to bring my bags down? I still need to get some breakfast." I told Bex in the sweetest voice I could. Bex saw right through it, but Joe was too relieved about the fact that I wouldn't be putting on makeup to detect it.
After about ten minutes all of the girls were there and Bex and Liz had brought all of my things down together. Macey had so many bags she could barely make it on her own. When everyone was present we all filed into the helicopter that had been waiting for us outside.
When we got into the helicopter Joe pulled out blindfolds from the duffel bag he was carrying. A few girls began to protest, but I made my comment heard over everyone else.
"Come on Joey, what if we want to sight see?" I asked innocently. He paused for a second, calculating the chances that I was referring to the fact that we were going to New York City. He soon ruled it as a coincidence; sucker.
Once we had been in the helicopter for about an hour and a half I decided to hint to Joe again.
"Joe these blindfolds are really annoying. The blackness is really getting to me. It's a pain in the butt, sort of like a thorn. Yes, black=thorn! Don't you think so Bex?" I said. I was being really obvious to annoy him more, serves him right. It's just too bad I couldn't see his expression.
"Oh yes, I completely agree." Bex said mischievously.
"Yes, but the thorn hasn't come yet. I think it will come a little later, don't you think so Liz?" I continued while keeping an innocent look on my face. I knew that Joe had caught on to how much we knew, but I didn't let him think I was toying with him if he didn't realize yet; which I highly doubted.
"I think so too. We aren't at the thorn part yet, but in a few hours we might be there." Liz said, instantly catching on to the game.
"Yes, soon we will be at that point. Joey, can we just take them off for a few minutes. It's not like we are going to some famous place like Los Angeles or Chicago or even New York City. Wouldn't it be crazy if we went to a place as famous as New York City, Macey?" I asked, keeping up my blank face.
"That would be absolutely preposterous, Cam." Macey responded with the same mischievous tone.
"Well Joe, can we take them off?" I asked him.
"No, that won't be necessary. We're almost there. When we land you may take them off." Joe responded a little distracted. I knew he was trying to figure out how we found everything out so fast.
"Okay." I said in a fake cheerful voice. I finally allowed a smile to appear on my face. My goal wasn't to really get the blindfold off; it was just to let Joe have an idea of how much we knew.
I felt us begin to descend. As soon as I felt the copter touch down on the ground I ripped off my blindfold along with the other girls.
"Where are we Joey?" I innocently asked.
"New York City." Joe grumbled.
"That's most peculiar, isn't it? That is the exact same city I guessed we were not in. Don't you think that's weird Joey?" I teased him.
"Whatever." He mumbled.
The girls that weren't my roommates were really confused, but they brushed it off the moment they processed that we were in New York. They began to whisper to each other, but I tuned them out.
"So what's our mission Joe?" I 'curiously' asked.
"You are going to be trying to compromise other spies in this shopping district, more specifically all the shops/cafes/restaurants up to and including the mall down the street from here. They could be anyone. It will be difficult, so I expect you to be trying hard. Their mission is to compromise you girls, so be on your toes. There are eight of them, and eight of you. You will all have com units and cameras that I will be watching and listening to. You have five minutes to plan; then you will be released into the City. I will step outside briefly so that I don't know any of your plans for now; I want to be surprised." Joe explained. Then he stepped outside of the van so that we had privacy to plan.
"Liz, you will be going into the nearest restaurant to set up your laptop. Order some food, pretend like you're having lunch and studying at the same time or something. You will then hack into their com units and relay everything to us. You have to stay on guard, ask for a table away from the window and don't let anyone see your screen. They probably have a tech-y too so you have to make sure you aren't traced and that we can't be hacked."
"Everyone else split up into pairs and keep your eyes peeled. Don't come off to obvious, but never let your guard down. I will be going alone so that there is an even number. Do you guys have any questions on the plan?" I ordered everyone. No one had any questions so we called Joe back in.
"Here are you cameras and comm units. Good Luck girls." Joe dismissed us.
They all split off into their pairs, but I didn't wait to see how they were doing. I blended into the crowd and did what I do best; become invisible.
I followed the crowd for a few minutes, but it wasn't long before I got bored. I went over to one of the stands where a man was illegally selling fake purses. I pretended to be shopping, but really I was scoping the perimeter.
I spotted a teenage boy looking over his shoulder while talking to 'himself'. I knew at once that he was a spy, so I read his lips. He was saying something about being suspicious about a girl in a green shirt and jeans and a girl in a hot pink dress. I realized that he was talking about Anna and Tina so I took out my phone.
"These are like so cute! I just have to call my friend and see if she would want one too!" I told the salesman with fake enthusiasm. I pretended to type a number, and then began to talk into my com unit.
"Red, orange, and yellow plaid button down shirt, khaki pants, brown, short hair, brown eyes, blue sneakers." I said at once. I covered my mouth by pretending to scratch my cheek so that anyone looking wouldn't be able to read my lips.
"Correct." Joe stated.
"Liz, what do you have?" I then asked Liz.
"I'm almost in;" She began, "Got it! Okay one is saying that there is a girl near him that looks like an Egyptian Goddess. Bex, do you see him?"
"Yes. Short black hair, blue eyes, blue jeans, green shirt." Bex reported.
"Correct." Joe said.
"Sorry, but I think don't think I need a new purse and neither does my friend. Bye." I dismissed myself from the salesman so I could really get down to business. I stuck to the side of the road now so that I could see everyone on the other side as well as my side of the road.
"Mick and Eva, you have been compromised. Please come back to the van." Joe said.
I kept my face expressionless, but was fuming on the inside. These boys got some of my girls, and that wasn't acceptable.
I went into auto drive, while using all of my techniques to stay invisible. I caught five boys in the next five minutes. Liz said that I had taken out their tech-y because the com units had stopped being hacked, but I didn't pay much attention. I had one more boy, and I was determined that he wouldn't escape.
"Tina and Anna, you have been compromised. Please come back to the van." Joe said.
I calmed myself down in an instant, and I didn't let anything show on my face.
I think I saw the last boy; he had green eyes and brown hair. Pretty buff, but I could easily take him. I was really bored, even if this whole mission had only taken about half an hour.
"Joe, he has green eyes, brown hair, blue jeans, and a plaid shirt. Before you report him as compromised can I tail him? I want some fun in this. Just tell the other girls to go back to the van. This one looks like he actually knows what he's doing and I need to polish off my skills. Please can I?" I pleaded with Joe.
"Sure, but don't be seen. It would be embarrassing if you did." Joe said with a chuckle.
"When am I ever seen?" I asked him.
"Touché." He responded.
I hadn't really waited for permission; I was already off. He was pretty good, but I was much better. He would talk into his comm unit a little, but I always caught him, read his lips, and relayed exactly what he had said back to Joe.
"Chameleon, come back to the van. You've had your fun." Joe told me after an hour. I could hear the girl's laughter in the background so I knew he had told them and was keeping them posted.
"Okay, I'll come back, but first I have a question. What would you do to me if I went up to Zach and began to talk with him? I want to see how much I can get out of him." I asked. I really wanted to do this to see how good I really was, and Joe knew that.
"How do you know his name?" Joe asked me. I mentally cursed myself. Of course I had used process of elimination to find out his name because he had talked to all the other seven boys in his com unit, but I forgot that Joe didn't know exactly how much my friends and I had found out.
"That's completely unimportant." I smoothly replied.
"We will talk about that later. As for going up to Zach; that's a no." Joe said sternly.
"Too late." I responded in a sing-song voice. I didn't turn off my comm unit because that would be suicide in the middle of a mission, but I didn't listen to Joe's protests.
I saw Zach walk into a coffee shop, so I followed, but slipped into the bathroom. I took out my emergency wig that I always kept in my bag and my makeup kit. I had completely changed my appearance in one minute, twenty-eight seconds.
I walked back out of the bathroom and stood in line for a coffee. If I wanted to blend in then I had to have a cup of coffee with me. When I had paid for it I approached Zach.
"Hi, I'm Casey." I began, while managing to talk with a flawless southern accent in the process. He seemed uncomfortable, but I pretended not to notice.
"Um hi, I'm Anthony?" He replied but it came out as more of a question. Come on Zach, you can do better than that.
"What a cool name! Casey is a pretty boring one. So, can I buy you a coffee?" I giggled "It's a little funny you came in here and you didn't even buy a drink." Is this guy an amateur!?
Zach's eyes widened a small fraction at his mistake but as he opened his mouth to reply I began talking. "Anyway, you want to hang out for awhile? I'm stuck here for a bit anyway. Where are you from? I'm from Texas originally, but I'd like to live in the north; like Maine." I said with fake enthusiasm. I purposely gave him the Maine thing because Blackthorne is in Maine, so he could 'relate to me' and maybe he'd let his guard down and start giving me the information I wanted to hear.
"I live in Maine! It's pretty boring up there in the middle of nowhere." He said, eagerly taking the relation.
"Why do you live in the middle of nowhere? My friend lives in Maine, but she's in one of the cities." I said casually. I also noticed him discreetly checking behind him for a spy. I would mention it later when it became more noticeable.
"My private school, Blackthorne, isn't near anything. We all like our privacy there." He said, I could tell he was trying to act casual, but he was epically failing.
"That's cool. Hey, are you expecting someone? Seems like you're trying to find something." I asked.
"Uhh, no. How did you notice that, usually people don't notice my fidgeting." He replied suspiciously.
"I notice a lot of things. That's why I love this city so much. There are so many different details to notice, and the people are hilarious when they don't think people are watching them." I said innocently.
"You'd do well at Blackthorne, but it's an all boys school. What things have you noticed so far?" Zach asked curiously.
"Hmm well one example is that there is this one teenage girl that has stayed in this five block radius, I think she keeps pacing back and forth, and she talks to herself all the time. I've observed this because I've been forced to stay in this five block radius because my mom doesn't trust me. She is such a control freak, but that isn't important. Now that I think about it she was always looking over her shoulder too! Do you guys know each other?" I talked a lot, but kept the innocent southern accent. I knew that wondering if they knew each other was stupid, but I needed to give him a reason for me to keep talking so I could unravel my plan.
"Yeah, maybe," Zach said, now sitting alert on his chair, "What did she look like?"
"She had short, brown hair, green eyes, a plaid shirt, and blue jeans. On her bag were the initials ZG." I said, while putting on a thoughtful expression. I just fed him his own description to see what he did. I thought that I might have over done it with the initials, but he just ate it all up. He must have been really desperate to find one of us girls.
"That might be her. Just give me a second; I have to make a call." Zach said eagerly. I smirked on the inside, but did let my real feelings show.
He walked away and began muttering to 'himself'.
"Definitely amateur." I muttered to myself, not moving my lips at all. It was directed towards Joe, but I couldn't tell if he heard it because he was probably paying too much attention to Zach.
"Zach, you do realize that you just described yourself don't you?" I heard Joe's voice over my com unit, but he was also talking to Zach. I took this as my cue to leave, so I slipped into the bathroom to undo my disguise.
"So, Joey, how did I do?" I asked Joe once I was clear of the coffee shop.
"I just notified him that he was compromised. Come back to the van; we haven't moved yet." Joe said.
I stayed on guard as I walked because it was just like Joe to call in an extra challenge for me because I disobeyed his instructions.
Sure enough on my way back I saw two agents who were supposed to be looking for me. I knew because one of them had passed by earlier with a nice fitted suit and breifcase rather than the jogging gear he was in now. Also I don't remember that woman with the stroller having a baby about seven minutes ago. They were so obvious that I was really disappointed.
"Wow Joe, is that the best you could get to go up against me?" I asked him in my com unit.
"What do you mean Cammie?" Joe asked me, but he sounded a little sad that I wasn't caught by them. If I wasn't The Chameleon then I would have never picked up on it, but I did.
"There's a woman in a black leather jacket, green eyes, brown hair, skinny and pushing a stroller. Also, the blue windbreaker, jogging pants, male, blue eyes, buff, blonde hair." I raddled off their descriptions to Joe.
"Alright, you got them." Joe mumbled.
"Did they see me?" I asked. I knew the answer, but I wanted him to admit it.
"No Cammie, they never saw you!" Ooou Joey was upset.
"That's good. I'll be there in a second." I said.
I stepped into the van, but was immediately tacked by hugs.
"Cammie, that was amazing! You made him look like a complete idiot! He must be feeling so stupid right now!" Macey yelled at me.
I thanked everyone who shouted complements at me while I slowly made my way to the back of the van where Joe is sitting.
"What do you think Joey? Did I do well?" I teased him. When he didn't respond I decided to have even more fun.
"Cat got your tongue Joe? Or maybe the cat pounced on you and clawed you up so much that you had to get twenty-nine stitches?" I suggested. His eyes widened and he had a mortified expression on his face.
"How?" He managed to choke out.
"I think the question should be 'How much?'" I said deviously.
"You wouldn't tell?" He pleaded.
"I would; just think, the famous Joe Solomon couldn't take down a mere stray cat!" I responded, "But now isn't the time. Let's get this van on the road. Don't we have a long trip to Maine?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He said. To his credit he didn't even look surprised by my knowledge on this subject. I guess he had accepted the fact that we knew Blackthorne would be our final stop.
It turns out that we were going to take the Helicopter to Blackthorne instead of driving. I took advantage of the transition to change into comfier clothes. I changed into baggy black cargo pants and a black long sleeve shirt; I have a ton of black clothes because of all the spying I do at school.
We were nearing Blackthorne, but I didn't pay any attention to it because Bex and I were in a heated argument about a very important topic that we had discussed the night before.
"Matt Damon is way better than Tom Cruise!" I argued.
"No way, Tom Cruise is WAY better than bloody Matt Damon!" She yelled. We were going over Blackthorne at the moment to get to the landing spot, so Bex took this opportunity to push me out of the Helicopter.
My hair whipped into my face at the same time the wind whistled loudly in my ears. I fell through the air plummeting closer and closer to the school's glass roof, and I strained to navigate my body in order to land in a way that wouldn't kill me. Hopefully the glass would take off some of my momentum.
I landed with my knees bent and my hands on the ground to steady myself. Oddly enough the hoodie I had decided to zip over my outfit at the last moment had it's hood blown onto my head by the strength of the wind and somehow stayed up on impact. It shadowed my face so they couldn't tell who I was. Not that they knew anyway. The ceiling I had fallen through was unfortunately their dining hall ceiling and it was during dinner. I had my face hidden and was dressed in all black so I looked very ominous. I realize this probably wasn't the best way to greet a school full of spies, but hey! At least it was a unique way!
I instantly began to notice every detail in the giant room. There were four tables against the walls and two floor-to-ceiling windows on the opposite walls, and giant double-doors that presumably led out into the rest of the school. There was a big space in the middle, and this is where I had landed. The tables were full of boys, and they were all now standing up and looking at me like I was a threat.
Before I could protest they began to attack me. I wasn't going to let them take down the Chameleon that easily, so naturally I fought back. The really crazy part about it was that I was winning.
They weren't great at hand-to-hand combat, but they weren't terrible. Maybe the truth is that I was just really good at it. Training at Gallagher was intense, you had to be ready for virtually any situation, and I was. I would duck a second before they threw the punch. The younger kids were down in seconds, but the more experienced ones took about two and a half minutes each. I had them right where I wanted them until someones arm closed around my throat.
Everything stopped, silence overtook the room. You could have heard a pin drop, in fact I thought I could hear the sound of them breathing.
"Who are you?" The boy who had grabbed me whispered into my ear. I soon recognized voice, it was Zach. Well well, can't say I wasn't more than a little pleased. Takes a lot to get the jump on me.
"Well, I have to hand it to you Zach, you're brave." I choked out, still managing to twist my words into a Russian accent so my voice didn't sound American anymore. I didn't want them to know that I was actually a girl that would be staying here for the rest of the year. Plus Russian accents were just plain cool.
"How do you know me?" Zach said menacingly. I gave him points for that, at least he had the guts to stand up to me.
Finally it was getting very difficult for me to breathe and I unlocked Zach's death grip and whipped him around to face me then flipped him onto his back. He landed with a sickening 'thud!' on the polished marble.
I smirked and pointed to myself "Spy."
"It doesn't matter how you know him. The question is why you're here." Another boy growled. I realized that this must be Grant; Zach's best friend.
"Well Grant, maybe I'm here to distract you from where my team is really doing the work or maybe my best friend pushed me out of a helicopter when we were passing over your school. What do you think?" I asked him.
I said that because I knew that the real reason was absurd, so they would be forced to assume the latter. As I was talking I began to walk, looking as though I was inspecting them but really I was just trying to get my lay of the land, and figure out what my options were from here on out. When I got in close to any of the boys they stiffened, but didn't back down, as they shouldn't.
"I don't believe you." Grant argued.
I shrugged and responded calmly, "Believe what you want to believe."
"Give us the truth!" A boy shouted. I turned to him, he wasn't very big but looked really smart; like Liz. I realized that this was Jonas; the Tech-y for the sophomore class.
"Oh, Jonas, why would I tell you that? Where's the fun in it?" I said while still keeping up the annoyingly calm voice.
"This is now a code red situation!" I heard Zach shout from behind me. I didn't look back because I recognized his voice at once.
"Awww, that's really no fun!" I complained, "Don't you want to know how I even knew about your 'top-secret-spy-school'?"
"You can tell us all that when we have you tied up." Grant smirked, but I just smiled sweetly.
"Why do you think that you're going to catch me?" I didn't wait for them to respond because I had already shoved the nearest boy into the guy next to him, clearing a path for myself to the floor to ceiling windows.
It wasn't difficult; since the boys were spread so thin they couldn't form a wall to block me completely. I sprinted as fast as I could toward that window to build up the momentum I needed for my famous spin heel flying jump kick and broke through, rolling on the ground as I landed. I was out of there and running around the side of the building to the helicopter pad before they even processed that I was gone.
"Thanks for that, Bexy-boo" I said my voice dripping with sarcasm. Once I had reached the others I ripped off the hoodie to reveal my the black long sleeve shirt. Since they never saw my face they would never know that I was the same person.
"You're so welcome, Cam." Bex replied. I could tell that her way of apologizing was not breaking my arm for calling her Bexy-boo.
"So, some boys are going to be coming out here soon in search of a Russian girl with her face covered. In case you were wondering, we never saw her." I told the girls and Joe. They all nodded their heads and didn't ask questions.
"Are we going to enter?" I asked Joe excitedly.
"Yes, we don't want to be caught here. I know a back entrance; then we can meet Dr. Steve to get everything sorted out." Joe ordered us, taking charge again.
I smiled "Let's get it done."
And there you have it, Chapter 3! A lot of this is still anonymousreader666 work but I made a few big changes in this chapter as well, enjoy!