A/N Sorry guys, that was longer than two weeks. To make up for it, I have posted a one shot called Dark and Terrible Things. Feel free to check it out. As always, R&R and enjoy.
PS- Chapter 30. Wow, I promise it will end very soon.
Running, always running. We left the mansion a week ago when it became clear that if we stayed there any longer we would be leaving with our friend's dead around us and guns at our backs. Needless to say, we got out of there quickly. I sigh as I hear a gunshot resonating against the walls of the tunnel they are chasing us through. They are Circle members of some sort but I don't know if they belong to Catherine and her splinter group or the rest of the COC. The gunshot is loud. I'm not particularly worried about the noise: we're in a bad part of Paris where gunshots are heard so often that most go unreported to the police. Still, we can't have the authorities on the lookout for us because they could blow the whole operation before we even have a chance to put it in action.
I see an alley off to the side and tug Zach's hand pulling him into it with me. I motion quietly to a fire escape hanging on the wall and watch with satisfaction as Zach climbs up. When he is at the top, he motions for me to follow. I'm a quarter of the way up the ladder when I heat a sound below me. I look down to a perfect view of two men and three women with their guns pointed at my face. I sigh again in irritation this time and glare at Zach, clearly telling him to stay where he is, then I let go of the ladder. I land in a crouch at the base of the ladder and look up at our tails/murderers/kidnappers.
"Hi, I'm Cammie," I get up and stick out my hand, "do you work for Catherine or for the intact part of the COC?" I ask with a smile. They gape at me but say nothing. "Alright then. What is your purpose tonight, murder or capture? You see, it would kind of help me decide whether or not to kill you if I know whether or not you wanted to kill me."
"You are going to kill us? You're just a little girl. Catherine warned us you'd try this." Says one of the men whom I immediately dub Dumbo due to the fact that he just revealed to me not only that they worked for Catherine but that they are also low level grunts that she wouldn't tell who I am and what I can do, nor that I have Zach with me.
"Is that so? Well if I'm just a harmless little girl, it wouldn't hurt to tell me what you're going to do to me, would it?"
Dumbo, who I think is the leader of this group of idiots glances at one of the women who gives an almost unnoticeable nod. Well unnoticeable if you're not a spy. It would seem she is the one calling the shots. I look at her carefully, taking in her posture, stance and grip on the gun. She looks totally at ease but I can see fear in her eyes. She carries herself with dignity, not like a low level grunt would, and her grip on her gun is perfect and steady as is her stance. I look at the gun. It is different from the others, I can't pin point how but it is. I don't understand until she talks.
"We have been ordered to kill you." Says the woman stiffly. My face stays blank but my thoughts fly. I know that voice and it doesn't belong to a low level grunt of Catherine's. It belongs to a very high level agent of the COC who reports to the heads of the organization.
A way to carry out our plan forms in in my head. "Well then I will have to kill you first." I say and without further warning shoot the three who haven't spoken through the neck, hitting the brain stem. They drop immediately. I turn to look at both Dumbo and Not Catherine's. They both have their mouths open and fear in their eyes. "Go back to Catherine. Tell her it wouldn't be a good idea for her to kill me just yet. Also to send some higher level people next time. This was insulting."
"We can't go back, she'll hurt us," stutters Dumbo.
I pull my shirt over my head, showing of the scars on my stomach and arms. "Believe me, I know, but if you don't go I promise you...I'll do worse." Then I turn to the fire escape and start climbing. When I reach the top, they are gone.
Twenty minutes later Zach and I are sitting on an actual bed in an actual room in an actual motel. So what if the motel happens to offer by the hour prices for rooms and the sheets look like they haven't been washed in months, we've spent every night the past week sleeping under bridges or abandoned buildings and on a particularly bad day, in a dumpster. I sigh in content as I lay back on a pillow. Zach does the same then slides an arm around me.
"Why did you let those two people live?" He asks after a moment.
"The woman didn't work for Catherine, but the man did." I answer. "The woman works for the rest of the circle. The man is just a low level agent with whom Catherine will do what she wants. Both of them will be on their way to report to their respective masters and mistresses right now so all we have to do is wait and taunt."
Zach, although looks kind of surprised, smirks. "That's why I love you Gallagher Girl, always one step ahead of the game." He kisses me.
I don't return his kiss but instead pull away, a sudden sense of shame filling me. "No, Zach, I'm not a step ahead of the game. I'm just a better bad guy then Catherine. The only way I have left to fight her is to be her." With that, I roll over and go to sleep.
I wake up to a gun to my head. A voice tells me to keep my hands up and kneel on the floor, I comply, but first reach into the pockets of the jeans I had never changed out of and press a button on the phone in the back pocket. It is programmed to send GPS coordinates to Liz's favorite laptop and Macey's phone along with an SOS message, all encoded of course. As I roll onto the floor, I notice that Zach is already kneeling on it, his hands in the air, his eyes fixed on one person. I give a small gasp when I see who it is, even though I knew she'd be here, knew she'd want to be the one to take me or kill me.
"Catherine, how are you? Have you updated the security of your Paris stronghold, it was almost too easy to escape." It is harder than it looks to sound condescending from below the person you're trying to look down on.
She sighs. "Shut up Cammie." Then I see a pole and then nothing. The last thing I remember is hearing Zach cry out, then a thud as his body hits the ground.