Fool Me Once
Chapter Three

"Zachary Goode, Blackthorne student. Mission day two. The current time is 11:30 PM, and I'm at the Country Motel in Treyton, Virginia. Today was, well, interesting…"

Zach's day started with reapplying his disguise, cramming his weapons into his briefcase, stopping for breakfast in the hotel lobby, and driving to Roseville. Before he got there, he stopped at a campground – restaurants and gas stations had cameras – and showered before changing out of his costume. He switched everything to his backpack and left his car at the campground, taking a taxi the rest of the way.

Before leaving, he'd looked up Gallagher Academy. The website was generic, going on about the prestigious all-girls school founded by Gillian Gallagher. For some reason, the name had sounded familiar, but Zach couldn't place it.

Part of Blackthorne's curriculum was a class called Places and People, often abbreviated to P&P. Starting when they first came to Blackthorne, students memorized the names and faces of thousands of important people worldwide, as well as their families, friends, and wait staff. In their business, it was all about knowing people, or at least pretending to.

As they'd been told, it was easier to sneak into British security and take out the prime minister if you were pretending to be his butler. And the easiest way to do that was to make sure the real man was disposed of while you took on his identity for the night.

Zach didn't think the strategy really applied to his current situation. But at any rate, if Gillian Gallagher didn't immediately have a face associated with her, she probably just sounded similar to another person he knew.

Getting into Gallagher Academy was going to be slightly more difficult than he'd originally thought. The website had also boasted about the school's state of the art security system. It wasn't the kind of place you could just walk up to the door and ask for a tour.

At least that had been Zach's first impression.

The town of Roseville seemed small, and the people here were undoubtedly close. If Zach showed up too much, people would start to get suspicious. A problem he could easily avoid – he'd packed enough to create at least twenty different looks for himself.

Zach was almost nailed by a car driving on the wrong side of the road when he got out of the taxi. A sticker reading student driver was placed on the driver's side door.

Students out driving during the school day? Something didn't seem right to Zach.

A few blocks down the road, the car pulled over – still on the wrong side of the road, Zach noted. The girl he'd been following the previous night – Bex – got out of the car and slammed the door. "God, Madame Dabney. I was doing just fine!" she said with a heavy British accent.

That explained why she'd been driving on the wrong side of the road.

Three other girls got out of the car – his target and her two friends. Zach couldn't believe his luck.

He debated the pros and cons of approaching her before looking back to the girls and seeing his target had disappeared.

Damn. He was going to have to get better.

"Cammie was feeling sick," said the tiny blonde girl with a slight southern accent – Liz. "She went to the pharmacy to grab something."

Their teacher sighed. "I think we all need a few minutes of fresh air. Be back here in fifteen minutes, girls. We'll go through how to handle uncontrolled intersections."

Before Zach could decide whether or not to leave the scene, his target's friend was on top of him – Macey McHenry, the rich heiress. Not wasting time, she immediately jumped straight to the point. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, do I know you?" Zach asked, scanning the street for his target.

"You probably didn't notice me last night when you were tailing my friend."

Zach noted the website hadn't been lying when they advertised a close-knit sisterhood. "Are all Gallagher girls this paranoid?"

"How do you know we go to Gallagher Academy?"

Zach pointed on her shirt, where the logo of her school was clearly printed. "I saw it on the car when you friend almost hit me, too."

"Yeah, well what are you doing out of school?"

Zach didn't get to answer, because right then his target appeared next to her friend. "What's going on, Macey?" she asked.

"You're the super…student; you figure out what he's doing here," Macey said. Something about the way she said student told Zach it hadn't been the word she'd wanted to use. "I'm going to get something to eat."

Once Macey had left, his target focused the full force of her gaze on him. "She's been a bit tense since she found out her dad's considering running for office."

"You don't say."

"It's funny seeing you here again today," she said.

"Small town."

"I've never seen you before."

"Maybe you need to get out more," Zach challenged, a plan forming in his brain.

"I get out enough," his target defended. Zach could have sworn he'd struck a nerve.

"Then meet me at the town square tonight at ten. Unless that school of yours keeps you locked up all night?" he asked.

"Not a problem," she said confidently.

There was just one more thing. "Will your friends be there?"

"Does it matter?"

"Incredibly so." Zach gave her a half-smile. He wished that in all the lessons Blackthorne taught them, there'd been at least one on how to seduce a teenage girl.

"They'll be there. I don't think I trust you."

Zach was impressed with the way she was blatantly honest with him. Unfortunately, he couldn't help but be less than truthful with her. "Then I'll meet you there, Gallagher Girl."

"My name's Cammie."

He knew. "Zach."

At 9:30, Zach took a seat at a booth in a restaurant with a perfect view of the town square. He ordered coffee and pretended to be interested in reading a newspaper. If his target looked across the street and saw him, she'd see a college-aged man with a mop of blonde hair and thick glasses.

There was no such thing as too careful.

At 9:45, his target arrived with her three friends. Zach wondered how they'd gotten out. They talked for a few minutes before splitting up, the three girls disappearing out of sight.

Zach waited a few minutes before paying for his coffee and leaving. He got into his car and drove off, stopping a few miles from Gallagher Academy. If four teenage girls had gotten out, there had to be a way for a highly trained operative to sneak in.

It turned out to be easier than he'd thought. Once he got nearer to Gallagher Academy, he saw four sets of footprints leading off the road, as well as a stretch of forest that seemed like it had been walked through.

Zach followed the footprints up until where they ended – a large oak tree. He looked around for anything he might have missed.

Nothing.

In frustration, he slammed his fist against the tree. The sound echoed.

Echoed?

Zach felt all over the tree, eventually stopping when his hand found a knotted piece of bark. He pulled, and to his surprise, the tree trunk swung open like a door.

Inside was a ladder and a flashlight. He should have found this odd, but his training had prepared him for stranger things. This was probably just some old underground railroad, and the entrance had been added at some point over time.

Judging by the fact that the flashlight had been left on, this probably led directly to the Gallagher Academy.

It was a short walk, but Zach found the silence eerie. The dim light cast shadows everywhere, and several times he was sure he heard the sound of his target and her friends from behind him.

When Zach eventually reached a door, he turned the flashlight off and pressed his ear to the solid wood. He couldn't hear anything, and no light shone through the crack at the bottom of the door. He realized he had no idea where his target's room was, but chances were he wouldn't get another chance like this.

He slipped out of the door, carefully closing it behind him. It looked like he was behind a large tapestry. He took note of the exact position of the door and made sure he could open it again before slowly creeping out.

Even in the darkness, he could tell the school was old, as well as expensively decorated. Stained glass windows were above the main entrance, and countless artifacts were set out in display cases. He couldn't waste time examining the architecture and design now, though. He had a mission.

Having no better idea, he crept up a winding staircase and went through a couple hallways. Twice, he heard the sounds of girls giggling and immediately blended into the shadows as students walked by in their pajamas.

"…but Liz isn't in her room. We have a huge text with Mr. Moscowitz tomorrow, and I'm completely lost!" a girl said loudly to her friend as she walked by. "I guess I should just get some sleep."

Out late looking for their friends? Zach followed the two girls, stopping once they came to a hallway that branched off into several doors – similar to the layout of a hotel. The two girls entered one room, leaving Zach to guess what room belonged to his target.

It turned out to be simpler than he'd imagined. Pressing an ear to each door, he could hear girls talking about clothing, or makeup, or the big test they had coming up. The door at the end of the hallway was dead silent.

Zach opened the door, surprised by the fact that it wasn't even locked. He didn't waste time searching the room – he could only guess how long it'd be before his target would realize he wasn't going to show up.

He dumped the contents of his backpack on the floor, quickly installing cameras, microphones, trackers, computer spyware, and every other piece of technology he had at his disposal in the room. It took him less than a minute to set everything up.

It would take him a few minutes to get out of the school and back to the woods. He'd drive back to the hotel and see what his bugs picked up, and then go from there. The next time he saw his target, he'd have some excuse for her explaining why he didn't show.

It would be simple. It would be easy.

Until Zach turned around and walked straight into someone.

Joe Solomon. Shit.

"I see Blackthorne's gotten sloppy," he said, eying Zach coldly. "You'd best come with me. Quietly."

Notes – My PJO followers have gotten this speech a million times. When I get a review demanding faster updates, a part of my soul dies and I find it hard to work on the story. Praise is inspiration. Reviews are love.