Ahhh It's been forever since my last post! I'm sorry! But I have not forgotten about this story and I am determined to finish writing it. Just please bear with me.

ENJOY!

Every good operative knows its highly important to analyze every mission. Whether it be a simple reconnaisance mission or a highly classified top level clearance one. You have to strategically comb through the details; Pick out mistakes, if any in order to avoid them from happening again; Dissect every encounter, whether it be with civilians or other agents and more simply;

Retrace your steps .

This is probably the most crucial aspect of a mission. One I know about all too well, because 90 percent of the time there's something or someone you've missed

...

I pulled my legs in closer to my body and tucked a piece of loose hair behind my ear as I stared out across the shimmery lake, watching the sun dip behind the blue mountains.

I was lost in my thoughts going over everything that had happened. The Circle, that day behind the waterfall, the airport and the parade in Omaha. I was thinking about my mission,my reason for leaving in the first place and the possible dangers that lay ahead as I faintly heard the sound of three sets of footsteps softly making their way closer to me.

"No I'm telling you the Bazinsky method is full proof." Bex and Liz were discussing the easiest way to take down a bodyguard.

Macey reached me first and quietly sat down beside me placing an arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer towards her.

"This all seems a little too familiar doesn't it?" A sad smile crept its way to her face.

I remembered the last time I found myself in a safe house similar to this one. Unaware of the danger that was threatening me, hidden on a lake almost identical to this one, standing besides a girl who was merely but a shadow of my best friend.

That felt so long ago now.

"I just..." I tried to collect my thoughts to form the right words but my mind was too jumbled. I sighed instead, "It's so quiet here."

I felt Macey's eyes intently stare at me, she was about to say something. But Liz sat beside me, "It's beautiful isn't it?"

Bex gracefully sat next to Macey and said, "It's perfect."

Liz had managed to locate a safe house in a location that is well, for lack of a better word 'safe' and classified. I can't tell you the exact location but I can say it was nestled between a beautiful mountain range. A crystal blue lake lay behind it and a single winding road led down the mountain to a gorgeous little town.

It had been exactly 36 hours since I had last seen Zachary Goode standing before me in the airport. 24 hours since me and my best friends set up camp in this safe house. And I truly did feel safe. Away from all of the commotion. Away from worry and for a little bit, I almost felt normal. Like a girl on summer break with her three best friends.

Almost.

"What's that Cam?" Bex pointed to the familiar worn out piece of paper that I had, until then, kept to myself.

"A note. " I simply said before passing it over to the girls for further inspection.

"Be careful Gallagher Girl" Liz read slowly and flipped the little piece of paper over in her small hands, bringing it up to her face for a closer examination.

"Lemme see that" Bex stretched out her hand and gave the piece of paper a once over before returning it to me.

"Zach?" Macey knowingly asked.

I nodded, "He said he had things to take care of."

"Typical." Bex huffed and Liz shot her a look.

"What!" Bex shrugged her shoulders and raised her arms, "I'm just saying!"

"Yeah." I anwered, but my mind was thinking about what Zach had told me in the tombs of Blackthorne. The piece of information he had revealed to me about his school. About his training. About his special skills and abilities. I hadn't told the girls about that...yet. I was waiting for the right time, the right moment to tell them, looking for the right words to say...

"Blackthorne's not a school for spies." And just like that it was said and done.

"What? What do you mean? Excuse me?" Liz, Macey and Bex answered simultaneously.

"It's an undercover institution used to train assassins." I had been focused on looking away from the girls faces and focusing instead on the still water of the lake,watching the last bit of sun rays dancing across it's reflection. But I as I turned to face them, meeting their eyes, I knew exactly what I would find.

This was the first time I had ever seen Liz Sutton look completely lost. Macey's face was in utter shock and her mouth hung wide open. Bex's face slowly transformed from a look of pure shock to a look of such intensity that I had only ever seen once when she was told she would never be able to beat James Bond 007 status because girls were simply incapable of ever doing such a thing.

"What! But how! Assasins? That can't be. That just...but that means..that means..But your mom and Mr. Soloman.."I could almost see the wheels of Liz's mind turning, sorting things out and working hard at putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together.

"They're killers? Cold-blooded killers. Executioners. Hit-men. Murderers?" Macey softly said in disbelief.

"I knew we couldn't trust them!" Bex leaped to her feet fuming and began pacing. "This is unbelievable. All this time...and they're assassins" She said the word as if it were poisoned.

"We can't trust him Cam. We can't trust anybody...Assassin? Do you know who hires assassins? Do you know which terrorist organization is crawling with assassins?" She roared.

Suddenly Liz shot up off the ground and bolted for the house.

Bex Macey and I stared at each other for only a moment before running after her.

I raced up the wooden steps of the porch behind Bex and Macey and closed the frail door behind me, placing the rusting chain back in its lock, as if that were enough to protect us from a highly dangerous terrorist organization. Bex made eye contact with Macey, signaling her to tug on a wooden ornament that was nailed into the wall. She nodded in response and everything seemed to happen at once. Suddenly steel panels rolled down every possible entry into the house, covering the large bay window that overlooked the lake and sealing off all doors. The 72 inch plasma screen tv in the living room that was tuned to the news instantly switched to a live feed of 12 different surveillance cams located throughout the perimeter. The marble countertop of the island that lay in the center of the elaborate kitchen flipped over to display a case of state of the art weapons and ammunition and the almirah opened up to reveal a hidden computer system which rivaled the ones found back at our school. The lake house was lit with an eery red glow for exactly 1.5 seconds before a mechanical voice sounded throughout. "House Secured"

It was a fortress. A spies dream. And it would be virtually impossible for anyone to come within 100 feet of the house without us knowing.

"Liz?" I asked and watched as the petit blond girl franticly began rummaging through her bag, throwing things around and shoving everything off the glass dining room table. She flipped open her laptop and her fingers flew across the keyboard.

"Liz? What's wrong?" Bex walked over to her, peering over her shoulders and bending down to get a closer look at the screen.

"No...it can't be...but your mom and Mr. Soloman wouldn't have let..and and and he fought with...but what if" She was rambling and babbling on incoherently making Macey rush over and place both of her hands on either side of Liz's shoulders, "LIZ!"

It worked. Macey had managed to make Liz snap out of it. The petit blonde looked up at Macey, breathing hard and holding her stare before turning to look directly at me.

"Liz?" I asked having a hard time trying to figure out the look she had on...it was almost guilty.

"I think we need to leave." She said in squeeky voice.

"What?Why?" Bex asked raising her voice, "Why would we leave this place. It's the safest place we can be in. It's probably the only place we can be right now."

"Why would we leave Liz?" I asked walking closer, walking directly behind her to see what she had pulled up on her laptop.

There displayed on the screen was a picture of a green eyed, brown haired boy with a sly grin plastered on his face.

Before I could ask why his face was displayed on the screen, why his file was labeled 'Possible Threat', or what he had to do with us leaving this fortress of a safehouse, a loud and obnoxious beeping rang throughout the entire house.

"Intruder."

The mechanical voice screamed in our ears and the four of us instantly jumped. My heart banged in my chest and I quickly scanned over the surveillance cam for any sign of movement.

But just as soon as the lights began to flash and the voice screamed throughout the house, and just before I had time to sift through all of the possible identities of the intruder, it stopped.

And a tall boy was opening up the front door, walking right in, strolling over to a small box on the wall and punching in a code as if he were simply turning off an oridnary house alarm.

"Hello Ladies."

Zachary Goode closed the door of the small box and smirked.

I could only imagine the look that appeared across my face and if it was anything remotely close to Liz's then I really don't want to imagine. I didn't have time to react. My feet seemed to be glued to the floor and I couldn't even move. I just stood and watched Bex suddenly break in his direction, leaping through the air and I swear she broke a record for the length of that jump. Zach didn't even have time react. He wasn't prepared because he didn't even block Bex as she dove, sending them both smashing into a porcelain vase and knocking him straight to the ground.