Chapter 16: Confrontation

Cammie's POV

My legs ached as I hopped off my Harley. It was 12:30, I had sped here, well over the speed limit. Monroe Park sat a mile away, and in the distance all I saw was the ink black night. I had 30 minutes to do some recon and come up with a plan. My hope was that Zach hadn't told my aunt, but I doubted he would keep quiet for long. Just long enough for me to get Liz and myself out. I spied an area of brush and I led my bike over there to hide it in before quietly making my way to Monroe Park.

It was too dark to see far ahead, even with my binocular sunglasses. Liz and Catherine, if they were even at the location, were hidden by the dark sheet of night. Silently, I crept forward. Monroe Park was a small park, maybe 1 mile in each direction - relatively small. There were paths that led from the corners to the centers, where the Whisper Rock was. A park surrounding one wish granting rock, named by the superstitious early pioneers from England. That's where I was figuring Catherine would be, all the roads I've ever taken have always led to her, both figuratively and literally - given the fact that I was now standing on one of the paths to the Whisper Rock.

I had crept along most of the perimeter, eyeing certain hiding spots and looking at all the escape routes. My internal clock told me that it was ten to one. It was time to start approaching and scoping out the hostage situation. I felt shivers zing down my back, a tell-tale sign of my adrenaline reaching new heights. Feeding off the feeling, I got to the edge of the clearing, still hidden by the human manufactured nature.

Catherine was there 5 minutes early, standing in front of Liz, who was being escorted by two of Catherine's body guards. Fortunately, Liz looked mostly unharmed, with the exception of a red scratch on her face. She was shaking but brushed the body guards with a defiant look on her face when they tried to pull her further into the circle, instead walking on her own. I was a little bit proud of this tiny scientist - she wasn't made for fighting or bravery but 'fake it 'till you make it' and she was doing that well.

The four of them were glancing around in the dark, waiting for me. I noticed the gun her body guards had on their ankle, under their dark jeans, another one in a holster on each of their belts, with a knife strapped to the bicep. The telltale signs of fabric being pushed out showed me all their hiding spots. I turned my eyes to Catherine, who was seemingly calm - shoulders relaxed, corner of her mouth limp, patiently waiting for me to show up. She had only one gun, attached to her hip showing her cockiness on the exterior. Catherine was too relaxed, I could tell she had something up her sleeve.

My plan was to go in, pretend to trade myself for Liz. I knew that was her goal. She wanted me. She wanted the information locked in the dark caverns of my brain. When Liz got far enough from her and I got close enough, I would have to fight. Liz's life was expendable to them, but they wouldn't dare killing me. Injuring me? Maybe… but this situation isn't too shabby for 1 in the morning.

Exactly when my internal clock struck 1, I walked into the clearing. Catherine's relaxed lips curled up into a malicious smile, the cat was preparing to pounce on the mouse. Cat and mouse… more like cat and cat.

Liz immediately looked up, bewildered by my appearance. She was relieved but tension strung her body tight - knowing Liz, she was probably calculating the probability of our survival. I already did - 12%, not too bad. Her percentage although, was probably a bit lower considering she didn't know the full extent of my abilities.

"Nice meeting you again, Catherine. Hey, Liz, how are ya?" I flashed Liz a smile.

Liz nodded, but didn't speak.

Catherine, on the other hand, was almost giddy, "Oh, Cammie, it's been too long, how have you been?"

I rolled my eyes internally - I couldn't chance looking away from her, if only for half a second. "Let Liz go."

"Ooh, straight to business," Catherine giggled out, her face betraying her tone. "I'll play. I want to exchange you for Liz."

I pretended to contemplate it, as I slightly screwed up my face and exuded signs of stress. "I'll come with you… Let Liz walk over here first."

"It's cute, you think that I'll let her do that."

I leveled her with a serious glare, "I'll walk over there at the same time. Your buddies can walk Liz down to the middle and then take me."

She seemed appeased by that, and gave her bodyguards a small nod to let them know they could proceed.

Liz was hesitant and her questioning eyes pierced me as she began her slow shuffle forward. My face was completely slack, no emotion in my eyes to be searched out. Every step that Liz and the goons took, I took a step forward. Catherine hung back, her cat eyes carefully examining my body language and her arm hung loose with her gun in hand.

The distance between Liz and I was closing. My heartbeat thumped faster in my chest and my body became electrified by the streams of adrenaline shooting off the walls of my veins. We got to the middle and the goons allowed Liz to take a step forward and they reached for me. Catherine lifted up her gun and trained it on Liz, making eye contact with me. She was making it known that she would kill if I didn't comply.

Her bodyguards grabbed my arms on both sides and one of them begun to procure handcuffs. I looked behind me to see Liz standing there, frozen. She didn't know what to do, she was hesitant to leave me there. I had to make a move, fast.

The hefty bald man to my left snapped handcuffs on one arm and made a move to attach it to my other arm.

"Liz, run!"

I quickly spun into action, shoving Liz away from me just in time for Catherine's bullet to miss. She bolted off and I let out a sigh of relief. I only had to worry about myself. Do-able.

My knees dropped and one leg stuck out as I swung at right bodyguard's legs. He tripped and fell, momentarily dazed - giving me time to deal with lefty over there. Lefty was reaching for his gun and I reacted, kicking at the gun from the spot I was on the ground. Standing up, I watched as he unsheathed the knife that was stuck to his bicep. He wielded it in front of him, eyes unafraid.

A swipe to the right of my face resulted in a soft breeze as I dodged the blade. The next swipe was counteracted by my hand hitting his wrist. The blows were constant, I blocked and he swiped again, trying to cut a chunk of skin out. His arm thrusted toward my chest and I jumped back, spotting Catherine smiling from the background.

The moment of distraction awarded me a fist in the face, from righty who was apparently ready to jump into the fight. A metallic taste filled my mouth and I threw my face over my shoulder and spit, splattering drops of blood on the pavement. The sight in front of me consisted of two angry men, both with knives and a smiling woman in the distance.

Righty and Lefty decided to approach at the same time. Too bad that bad guys only approach one at a time to fight in movies. My fleeting thoughts left me as Lefty swung his knife forward and I had to block it with my right hand while Righty decided to plunge it forward and I had to catch it with my right leg. I knocked their knives away and they went into a rampage, trying to overpower me. Knife plunged, arm goes up, knife swipes, body dodge, knife slice, leg kicks.

There was a motorcycle in the distance. The noise of the engine didn't go unnoticed by Catherine. I watched out of the corner of my eye as she lifted up a cell phone and spoke into it. Then the sound of an engine was coming from her side of the park, too.

Leftie's knife suddenly sliced through the skin on my side, under the ribs. Pain flashed through my body as it made it's way through my flesh and back out. My breath came out gasping before I was fighting again.

This had to end, I didn't know how much longer I could last. I took control of the situation, sliding down and knocking Righty out by swiping his legs once again. I brought my left leg to smash Lefty in the groin as I blocked the knife with my right arm. He grunted and his face paled for a moment before he brought his knife back up to swipe again.

I was already bringing up my leg to smash him in the chest and knocked him down. There was a small breeze behind me and I turned with my leg out to smash Righty in the chest as well, stopping his knife, inches from my face as it flew back with him and his palm.

Both engines grew louder and a black van flew into the clearing, stopping behind Catherine. She caught my eyes and smiled as the door slid open and 8 men stormed out, heading straight for me. Righty and Lefty were starting to get up, without the knives. The rest of the 8 men were unarmed as well, as much as I could see. Catherine must have ordered them not to hurt me. Of course, she wanted to know about Rome.

As the men approached me, it became a stream of fists and legs as I spun and kicked. Warm blood was soaking my shirt, I wouldn't last much longer, I was losing too much blood. I spun and struck, the few blows that got past my fists landing on my body with a resounding thump. A hand reached out and in the corner of my eye I saw something flying toward me. As something hit my skin, I was subjected to strong electrical impulses that inhibited me. The world turned sideways as I fell to the ground.

A group of men swarmed around me and lifted me up by my limbs, hurriedly carrying me toward the trunk of the black van. I was thrown through the black doors, and as the van's engine's revved, before the door close, I saw Zach riding a motorcycle into the clearing as we sped off.

"Get Liz…" I barely whispered before my world went black.

Zach's POV

My bike skidded into the center and I spotted the black van starting to speed away. They left two guys who raised their guns at me.

One of the men warningly said, "Don't move any further. Catherine doesn't want you following her."

Of course.

"Our orders are not to kill you, but that's not going to stop a bullet from hitting you in the leg."

Of course. The van was already a small collection of yellow and red lights in the distance. I was too late.

Defeated, I turned the bike around, keeping and eye on the guns trained at my limbs. I rode away quickly and made my way over to the area of foliage that Liz was hiding in.

"Liz, all clear, but we have to get back to school, and fast."

The small pixie stumbled out with wide eyes. "Zach? Where's Cammie?

The sigh I was holding billowed out, "They have her."

*****************************0200 Hours**********************************

Liz and I burst through the front of Gallagher Academy's prestigious halls. There were no words exchanged. We knew exactly where we were going.

We raced around corners and ended up banging on Headmistress Cameron's room in the faculty hall. The banging stopped short when the Headmistress opened the door, obviously annoyed and glaring right at us. However, that stopped short as the words bursted out of a frantic Liz.

"They have Cammie!"

"The Circle," I offered in clarification.

Headmistress Cameron's face quickly morphed into confusion, worry and then a stoic mission face. Agent Townsend appeared in the doorway behind her, obviously having heard our words. One hand was on her shoulder as he swallowed hard.

"My office. Now." The Headmistress took off in that direction, not stopping to gesture for Mr. Solomon to follow her, who was standing in the doorway of his own room.

His eyes squinted in confusion but he followed her. Mr. Solomon was attentive. He was a pavement artist, and thats probably how he knew to follow without questions. Apprehension was written all over his face but his attitude slowly joined the serious feeling emanating off of the rest of us.

The headmistress immediately went into her office and gathered herself as we all took seats, beside Agent Townsend, who went to stand by the headmistress' chair. She rubbed her temples and blew out a slow breath and gestured to Liz and I to tell our story.

Liz's voice shook slightly, "I was in the library and something hit me in the back. I was sedated, and when I woke up, I had a bag over my head. It was all black and I think… I know we were in a vehicle. They took off the mask when we parked. I didn't really hear anything but snippets of their conversation."

"Cammie went to the meeting place alone, at Monroe Park. The Circle ambushed her and she was injured and captured. I wasn't fast enough." I hung my head.

Headmistress Cameron's face was stretched tight with stress, "Do you remember anything else?"

I shook my head, "Sorry, no, Headmistress Cameron."

She looked at me, "Please, Abby. It's too early for formalities." She turned to Liz.

"They wanted to trade me for Cammie. Something about Rome."

In the corner of the room, Solomon stood up and started pacing, "Rome… Rome… damn it!"

He slammed the corner of Abby's desk, causing everything on it to shake. Abby looked confused as Solomon continued his pace around the room, cursing under his breath. We all waited silently, unsure if we should break his stupor.

Agent Townsend voiced the question that everyone had, "What does Rome mean?"

"Cammie never told me. But Rome.. Rome…" He sighed, "Rome is the reason Ryker is dead."

AN: Okay. Really, really, really, really sorry. I got distracted once again, as these last few chapters have been spaced out months apart. I hope some of you are still reading this story despite the very long waits. I think you might be pleased to hear my summer goal: Finish "The Legacy: Chameleon". If everything goes as it should and I don't break a finger or an arm, then this story will be done in the next 3 months. Hopefully. I'm thinking about 5 more chapters.. Maybe. I'm not sure yet, but I guess we'll see.

Leave comments, suggestions, ideas and all that what not if you'd like.

-S as in Superman