Chapter 20

Cammie POV

Time slowed down. I watched for the second time in my short life a bullet heading towards me. But there was no one immediately behind me. Everyone were at least 5 metres away from me, there was no way anyone could jump in front of me in this second. So I did what most spies are trained to do. I jumped. I leapt up and to the left but I was too slow, the bullet hit me in the leg. There was a sharp, paralysing pain as I cried out and tumbled to the ground. Spies don't cry or scream. I didn't cry or scream. I pulled myself off the ground and watched as my friends tried to rush towards me, only to stop when they saw that the man was still pointing a gun to me. He was still smiling. I was not. My leg throbbed as I stood, shakily, feeling warm, wet blood oozing down my leg. I snarled at the man. He laughed.

"We certainly haven't gone very far, have we Cammie?" he chuckled, still holding his gun.

"I know it hurts Cammie," he soothed as I blinked at him, "but don't worry." I felt a chill run down my spine. I shivered. He smiled at me again, cold and hard.

"You've caused me a lot of trouble, young lady," he reprimanded me, like a school teacher, shaking his head disappointedly, as if I had let him down somehow, "you've ruined two of my plans now Cammie, and I must say most don't even get to one," he paused and stared me in the eye, "and none ever get to two."

"Well I guess I'm an exception," I quipped before I could stop myself. Even though I had a bullet through my leg and a gun pointed at my chest (again) I still managed to be sarcastic. I amaze myself sometimes too. He didn't seem to mind though. He laughed cheerfully, though his eyes remained dark.

"Ah Cammie, ever so funny," he smiled at me, I shuddered unnoticeably, "you really are most amazing." I was confused, what was going on?

"If we had met in different circumstances, I think you could have been great use for me," he continued staring at me hungrily, "imagine how powerful I would be when I could tell everyone 'hey guys, guess what? I've got CIA number one the Chameleon working for me!' wouldn't that be amazing?" he was walking slowly towards me, gun still outstretched.

"But then Cammie, you made me a laughing stock," he sound genuinely hurt and I couldn't help but realise that he was good, that he was better, "you had ruined my plans 3 years ago, making me more humiliated than I had ever been." His gaze was locked with mine. I couldn't look away. His eyes were dark brown, clear but they so clearly showed his evil.

"I used a lot of money bailing myself out of jail darling, and a lot of will power," he paused and ran his tongue over his lips, "I got out and became a failure. Beaten. I had fallen off the ladder which had taken me years to climb, by a single storm." I was barely breathing. He was close, if I reached out I would just be able to touch him.

"So then I began to climb again," there was silence in the room as each of my friends looked horrified and lost, not knowing what to do, "I had climbed a great deal, the fall had taught me many things. It had helped me. But then, one day, I met the storm which knocked me off the ladder. And well," he laughed a dry, humourless laugh, "you can imagine my surprise." I prepared myself. I knew what I had to do. I knew what he was going to do.

"And so of course, I had to have a rematch with this storm," he continued seriously, his face ever calm and steady, "I couldn't let it hit me off the ladder again now, could I Cammie?" he asked me gently, like a school teacher talking to a small child, reminding me of his superiority, his position in our little 'game'.

"No, Cammie, I couldn't have that," he blinked at me suddenly, as if realising a thought, "so then I thought to myself, how else to climb faster than to kill the storm? Kill the Chameleon? Wouldn't that restore me to my former glory?" Everything in the world went away, it was just me and him. Him and me.

"And so Cammie, I'm sorry about this but, you see, it had to be done," he stopped and pulled the trigger. Again.