AN: Happy Holidays! It's almost 2012, you guys ready? I know I am!
Sorry about the wait, this Chapter was a bit hard for me to write, for reasons even I don't know...
abby98: Thanks for the compliment, and the idea! Don't worry, Cam wont fall in love with him or date him to get Zach jealous. I hate it when that happens, in stories or real life. Thanks again!
GenuineQT: Thanks! You are so lucky, I wish I was at that football game! Being from Chicago, I obviously love the Bears, but I agree, Tim Tebow is pretty dope. He has made me a bit of a Broncos fan myself, so I wasn't too disspointed the Bears lost to them:P. Thank you so much, and I reread the chapter, and I kind of agree about the soft Zach, but don't worry, I'm trying to make him a little more 'Zach like" but still have the chemistry. Thanks again!
droreo3344: Thanks so much! I hate to say it, but I'm not positive when they will kiss, this story kind of writes itself, but don't worry, Zach and Cammie will kiss in the near future. I do know I want it to happen soon, but not too quick.(: Thanks so much!
Who'sThatChick: Hahah, thanks so much! I must say, I do have a good taste in music:P, but so do you! I love all of Drake's new album, and most all of Eminem songs. I also really like Mac Miller. If you haven't listened to him yet, you should!(: And, again, I loved the quotes thing! And yes, very fancy:D. Thanks again!
So, happy holidays, and here is Chapter Nine...
"Take a left." I wasn't focused on Zach's hand intertwined with my own. I was keeping my attention solely on Liz' voice which was rattling off directions through the comms unit in my ear.
The halls were empty, seeing as it was almost eleven. Twelve till, to be exact. Twelve till eleven… twelve till the meeting.
"Fourth door on your right," Liz said as we rounded a corner. I slid one of the bobby pins I had in my hair out, and quickly picked the lock on the door.
"Two and one quarter seconds," I muttered, opening the door, "New record."
Zach smirked at me, before surveying the room. "What is this place?" he asked Jonas through comms.
"Maintenance closet." He replied, "Get changed. It's what you need to get into the meeting. You'll walk in while Macey is complaining with the guard. No one will notice you. From the bathroom, a vent will allow you to listen in to the meeting."
"Got it," I said, picking up one of the navy blue plumbers outfits. Macey would have had a fit if she was here.
"Turn around, Zach!" I snapped, as he was watching me undress.
He smirked, but complied. We had changed into the black attire in less than a minute, pulling the plumbers jumpsuits over. Throwing our old clothes into the bottom of a trash can, we headed back out into the hall, Zach wheeling the can.
"Down the hall to the right, and then second left," was all Liz had to say. We knew that was where the auditorium was. "Macey, Nick? Are you at the front of the line yet?"
Her question was answered by Macey's pissed off voice ringing in my ear. "Why the hell can't I go in? The ship is open for everyone!" she was screaming at the guard checking tickets.
We rounded into view, seeing the scene unfold. "Ma'am, you need a ticket," he said, putting it bluntly.
We were a couple feet of passing the front of the line. "How much is a ticket? I have enough money!" she was whining, like the brat her cover was. Nick was standing there, trying to calm her down a bit.
Zach and I just kept walking, without a second glance thrown our way. The rather nice bathroom was down one short hall and to the left.
"Six minutes," Jonas informed us as we stopped. We rushed into the side leading to the girl's bathroom (Zach seemed oddly comfortable doing this) and stripped off the ugly plumbing suits.
"Do you have a screw driver?" I asked Zach, franticly, not remembering packing one.
"Of course I do, Gallagher Girl. Good spies always come prepared," he said, with a smirk, pulling out a small metal screw driver, and handing it to me.
I sighed, "Give me a boost," I told him, sternly. Now was not the time for joking around. Good spies know not to mess around on missions.
Zach eagerly came forward, putting his hands on my waist too quickly. I dismissed it, saving my steely glare for later.
I had no idea Zach was so strong. He lifted me up like I was a lap dog, not a one hundred some pound teenage girl. With a quick couple twists, the vent cover came off smoothly.
"Ready, Gallagher Girl?" he asked me, in a whisper no normal ears could possibly hear. Yet another advantage to being a spy.
I nodded, and he almost threw me into the vent. I still wonder how he did it so… gracefully.
There is a… no, many reasons why normal people don't crawl around in vents for no reason.
One: Believe it or not, vents aren't made to fit normal sized people in them. If I was having a hard time in them, I couldn't imagine how bad it was for six foot tall Zach.
Two: Small, confined spaces never smell good.
Three: Being quiet in a metal vent it very difficult. You have to travel very slowly.
Four: 'Ladies first' is just an excuse for men to looks at women's asses.
"Zach?" I began, quietly. I had felt his eyes on me for too long. It was beginning to make me feel uneasy.
"Hmm?" he responded, in an 'innocent' tone.
"Get your eyes off my ass!" I snapped, somehow in a quiet voice.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I could almost hear the smirk in his whisper.
I really didn't have any good comebacks racing through my mind, but luckily, we had finally reached the exit. "We're here" I said, under my breath, just loud enough for Zach to hear.
"One minute!" I head Liz in my ear, just as I got the last screw off of the vent cover. I slowly pushed it off its hinges, and crawled out onto the carpet. Zach was soon to follow, looking sort of like a cat. I held in my giggle, and began crawling again.
We were in the empty upper section of the auditorium; all of the Circle members in attendance were in the lower level.
Zach and I quickly found a good spot, were we were completely hidden from view, yet we could still peak through some small holes to watch the meeting.
I scanned the crowd, looking for Bex and Grant. They were sitting in the seventh row, fitting right into the scene.
I looked at my watch, to see it was two minutes past eleven. The meeting hadn't even started yet. I looked to Zach, who was just to my left. He had his mask on, not giving me any sign of how he was feeling.
But, I could almost feel the anger radiating off of him. I followed his gaze, and let out a small, silent gasp.
On the stage, looked like a family. One bitch of a mother, Cassandra Goode… Zach's mother. Next to her, was a grown man. Defiantly not Zach's father, seeing he had blonde hair. A boy about mine and Zach's age, also blonde, was next to him. Finally, the most shocking, was who was on Mrs. Goode's other side.
Zach… He looked exactly like Zach. A few years older, but still. He had the small dark brown hair that fell over his eyes. He did the same hair flick Zach used to get the hair out of his eyes. His eyes. They were the exact same stunning emerald green.
It had to be Austin. The brother Zach was once so close to. The brother he looked up to. The brother that shot an innocent man without giving it a second thought.
I wanted to comfort Zach, and help him through the pain, but I couldn't… the meeting was beginning.
Zach's mother, along with Austin, stood up, and made their way to the podium at the center of the stage. "I would like to thank you all for taking the time to come out to this very important meeting." She said, almost sounding… nice.
She moved to the left, and Austin was now in front of the microphone. "The first, and most important order of business…" he trailed off. A picture came into view, projected into the screen behind Austin. It was… me.
"Cameron Ann Morgan." I admit, I was a little scared hearing them talk about me. It was something I had never had to face before.
I felt an arm snake around my waist, tightly. I looked over to Zach to see him looking at me intensely. I gave him a small smile, and turned my attention back to his brother.
"You all already know this, so I won't go into much detail, but she has valuable information that we need. Not to mention, she would be a great asset to the Circle of Cavan. Cameron would also give Matthew Morgan a reason to help us." He said trailing off, with a smirk. Zach's smirk…
Wait, Matthew Morgan? My father? He pretty much just said he was alive! My father is alive!
The members in the audience were all mumbling their own questions quietly. "Dead or alive?" I heard Grant ask, while many others nodded, waiting for the answer.
"Alive. If you can't get her alive, don't even bother… someone else will. We need her alive." He responded, confident. Mrs. Goode seemed to have pride in her eldest son, as more questions popped up.
"Do we have any idea where she could be?" Another voice called out.
Cassandra Goode whispered something to Austin, and spoke up for him, "She works for the CIA, and we know she is going to be looking for answers. Austin already checked her apartment, she isn't there, but it seemed as if she had packed for a mission. For all we know, she could be on this very cruise. Keep your eyes open, always. Dismissed, this isn't the best place for the whole briefing. When the ship docks in Belize, we'll finish this up. See you all then, at the Belize base."
I was in shock. They had been to my apartment? I was pondering the scary thought when I locked eyes with a boy. Not Zach… not Austin… but the blonde boy sitting on the stage with them during the meeting. He stood up, still looking at me with chocolate brown eyes, and began to head to the doors, glancing at me every other second.
"Gallagher Girl, we need to get out of here," Zach said, with a sense of urgency in his voice. He had seen this exchange too. He was pushing me towards the vent, looking back at the Circle members, who were already streaming out of the auditorium.
We moved through the vents as quickly as we could without making any noise. Zach made me go first; he said he needed to see me so he could 'protect me'.
"I don't need protecting…" I muttered for the fifth time, as we had been crawling for a good five minutes.
Zach finally responded this time, "Yes you do, Gallagher Girl. Think about it. It's just the two of us, and there are a good fifty Circle members on this boat. Not very good odds, if you ask me." He snapped at me, not leaving it up for debate.
Finally, we reached the opening to the bathroom we had entered from. I quickly maneuvered my body so I could go out feet first. Silently, I slipped out of the vent, into a strong gasp… Zach.
But that's when I remembered Zach was behind me… he was still in the vent. The arms set me down gently, and turned me to face them. I gasped, and tried to squirm out of the muscular arms, but they were too strong.
I knew it was useless, but I kept struggling, as the blonde boy with chocolate eyes had me trapped in his grasp.
AN: Review? I think yes.(:
So, hope you all got some pretty awesome gifts for the holidays and made some great memories. But, remember, it's about giving, not recieving...
but getting presents is pretty awesome too:D
So, thanks so much for reading, and please review with ideas, questions, concerns or anything you want!
Haters Gonna Hate,
~Kaylie~