When I woke up, I was in my room in Mrs. Jones' apartment. My left shoulder was sore. There was a fresh bandage wrapped around the wound. I guessed that my shoulder had been tended to because my T-shirt had been taken off. I sat up and found Alex sitting at the foot of my bed, looking as though he were deep in thought.
"Oh my God!" I shrieked. I yanked the blanket over my chest. Thank God I was at least wearing a bra!
Caught my surprise, Alex jumped.
"What are you doing in my room?!" I yelled at him.
Alex began to blush. "Well…I-I was just waiting for you to wake up. Do you want me to go?"
"Please and thank you!" Duh!
Alex half-smiled. "I'll be in the living room."
Once Alex was gone, I got out of bed and went to the closet to change. Killer pain surged through my left arm and shoulder when I tried to put a shirt on. I slowly worked my arm through the sleeve, clenching my teeth to control the pain. I put on a pair of jeans and left my room. Alex was seated comfortably on the couch. I sat on the edge of the oak coffee table across from him. He sat up and took my hands in his.
"How are you feeling?" he asked me.
"I'm tired. I'm in pain. Other than that, I'm okay."
Alex leaned forward and kissed my forehead. "Mrs. Jones told me to tell you that the bullet only pierced flesh, so you'll be okay soon."
"That's good. I'm glad my gun arm isn't injured. We have to get back to Scorpia before they suspect anything."
"That's taken care of."
"How?"
"When MI6 came to pick us up, they made it look like an arrest because Scorpia could see us from satellite feeds. We're going to wait until your shoulder heals before we do anything to get back."
"How are we going to get back?"
Alex shrugged. "I don't know. Mr. Blunt will figure something out."
"If we wait too long, we can't go back. Rothman will get suspicious. We need to find a way back within a week."
"But, Cam, you need time to heal."
"I know, but if we don't at least try to go back soon, we'll blow the whole thing."
"Well, Mrs. Jones said that she wants us at headquarters once you wake up. So I guess we should go then."
We left the apartment and took a cab to the bank. Mr. Blunt, Mrs. Jones, and Smithers were waiting for us in the conference room. Alex and I sat down at the table. Mrs. Jones started a recorder.
"Now that the two of you are here, would you be so kind to debrief us on the Scorpia assignment?" Mr. Blunt prompted.
Alex started from arriving in Venice and told all the events up until arriving at Malagosto. I picked up there and explained about all the events that took place there until I fell asleep on the boat. Both Alex and I left out all the personal details.
"Did you get all that, Mrs. Jones?" Mr. Blunt asked.
"Yes," Mrs. Jones replied, clicking the stop button on the recorder.
"Good. Now we need to devise a plan to get the two of you back to Scorpia."
"So soon?" Alex asked.
"Probably not. We need to make plans ahead of time to be ready."
"While you're deciding this," Smithers chimed in, "I'd like to speak to Camryn in my office."
Mr. Blunt nodded. I stood up and followed Smithers to his office.
"How are things going with Alex?" he asked quietly.
"Okay, I guess," I answered hesitantly. "I don't know how long this will last."
"Does he believe you?"
"Yes."
"So what's the problem?"
"I don't know. This whole thing is messing with my head. My feelings keep getting in the way."
"Do you feel like you're falling for Alex?"
"Yes – I mean no. Well-" I paused. "I don't know. I keep reminding myself that he's just my friend, but sometimes I feel different."
"In that case, just keep going and see how things work out."
"I can't do this anymore."
"What do you mean? It hasn't even been twelve hours, and you're saying that you've had enough?"
"I can't lie to him! He's my best friend. I can't do this to him."
"I don't think there's anything else you can do."
I sighed. How long could I keep this up? I turned and went back to the conference room.
Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones were gone. Alex was waiting by the door. We left the bank and caught another cab back to the apartment. Soon enough, we were sitting in the living room again.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked.
"They said that the two of us should talk about it first."
"So, what do you think?"
"I don't know." Suddenly, Alex sounded distracted.
"Are you okay?" I touched his hand, and he looked up at me. His eye were unreadable, but still somewhat…sad…
"Tell me, Cam, that you haven't been lying to me about your feelings."
"What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
I shook my head. "No, I don't." Did he overhear me talking to Smithers?
"I head you talking to Smithers." Oh crap…I'm screwed.
"Well-" I started to explain, but Alex cut me off.
"You don't need to explain. I know it was just for the sake of the assignment."
"That's not all."
"Really…" Alex muttered sarcastically.
"I didn't mean to hurt you, Alex. I really didn't. I felt terrible about telling you that I think no more of you than just a friend."
"And you thought you'd make it better by lying to me," Alex finished for me.
"I know I screwed up, and I'm really sorry."
We were silent for a while.
"Can you forgive me?" I asked finally.
"I don't know," Alex said.
I can't say that I was surprised by his answer. I kind of saw it coming, but hey – I deserved it.
"You took a gamble with my feelings," Alex continued. "You hurt me more than you could ever know."
"I'm sorry," I said again. I felt so pathetic. I couldn't think of anything else to say. Then I remembered something Alex had said to me yesterday.
"I was just waiting for you to realize you feelings," he had told me.
"Yesterday, you said that you were waiting for me to realize my feelings," I said. "What made you think-"
"I was wrong," Alex interrupted. "Everything with you felt so real to me. I truly believed that you had feelings for me that you wouldn't admit or didn't notice. It turns out that you didn't."
I bit my lip in anger at myself. I didn't notice I was crying until Alex asked me why I was. I couldn't answer him. I broke down into hysterical sobs. Why was I crying anyway?
Alex touched my hand. "Cam, stop crying," he pleaded.
I couldn't stop. Suddenly, I felt as thought the sky was falling, and my entire world was coming undone. I had always felt safe and secure around Alex, but that was all different now. I felt so stupid. I could have had the perfect boyfriend, but I screwed up. I threw away any chance I had of being with Alex. At that moment, he was everything to me. After a while, I finally stopped crying.
"You should go," I told Alex. He silently agreed and left me alone to mope in my misery.
That night, Mrs. Jones drove me to Albert Bridge in London. We were making an exchange with Scorpia. Some of Rothman's agents had kidnapped Mr. Blunt's two kids.
"I didn't know Mr. Blunt had kids," I had said when Mrs. Jones explained the situation to me.
"He does. That means we'll have to give you back to Julia Rothman sooner than we hoped," Mrs. Jones had told me.
I stood leaning casually against Mrs. Jones' car. The night was dark and quiet. It was so foggy that I could barely see fifteen feet in front of me. The bridge was very dimly light since some of the light from the full moon couldn't penetrate the thick mist. Finally, Mr. Blunt's car pulled up. He and Alex climbed out.
"It's midnight," Mr. Blunt said. "Scorpia should be on the other side." His cell phone rang. He answered it immediately. "Where are my children? Yes, they're here…no, let me speak to them…but - …fine. They're coming." He hung up and nodded to Alex and me.
We started across the bridge and disappeared into the fog. A moment later, Alex and I were lost in the thick cloud of mist. After walking about half way, two small children appeared out of the fog. The boy looked about seven, and the girl looked about five. They were crying and whimpering, clutching each other's hands in pure terror. I walked over to the kids and squatted down in front of them.
"Are you okay?" I asked quietly.
"I want Mum and Daddy," the little girl wailed.
"Shh…" I hushed her. "Everything's going to be okay."
"Where's Daddy?" the little boy asked frantically.
"He's just ahead of you. Look, I want you two to run as fast as you can off this bridge, okay?"
Both kids nodded.
I smiled at them. "Alright, good. Now run."
The two kids raced into the foggy night. I stood up and continued across the bridge with Alex. Rothman and Nile were waiting on the other side. There was also a car waiting.
"Get in the car," Rothman said.
Alex and I climbed into the car. Nile jumped into the driver's seat, and Rothman got into the passenger side. Nile hit the gas and we sped away.
"It's good to have you two back," Rothman said. "We postponed the test just for you. Now, Camryn, about that shoulder…do you think you can still compete?"
"I know I can," I answered with confidence.
"Good. I rescheduled the test for tomorrow afternoon. We're meeting in the dorm lobby at two o' clock."
Finally, this is what I've been waiting for.