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Since it was a test and everything, I knew Id better do as I was trained. I lay on the floor of the van, counting seconds (nine hundred eighty-seven, by the way), noting how we made a right-hand turn, two lefts, one U, and eased over some speed bumps that left me with the distinct impression that wed detoured through the Piggly Wiggly parking lot.
As the van veered south, I was willing to bet my semester grade in CoveOps (which, technically, was exactly what I was betting) that we were heading to the industrial complex on the south edge of town.
Doors opened and slammed. People got out. Someone pulled me to my feet on a gravel parking lot, then two strong sets of hands dragged me onto a concrete floor and then into the artificial light and empty echo of a large, hollow space.
"Sit her down. Tie her up," Mr. Solomon commanded.
Do I fight now? Do I fight later? I wondered, then took a chance—I kicked and I made contact.
"You know, Ms. Morgan, that was your mother you just hammered," Mr. Solomon said.
"Oh, Im so sorry!" I cried, spinning around, as if I could see my mom through my blindfold.
"Good one, kiddo. "
Someone pushed me into a chair, and I heard Mr. Solomon say, "Okay, Ms. Morgan, you know the drill: there are no rules. You can hit as hard as you want to hit. You can run as fast as you want to run. " His breath smelled like peppermint gum.
"Yes, sir. "
"Your team was tasked with retrieving a disk with pertinent information. You were captured and are being held for interrogation. The retrieval team will be after two packages. Care to guess what they are?"
"The disk and me?"
"Bingo. "
"You cant be certain that they can track you to this location. " I heard him step away, his feet scraping across the concrete floor.
"Are they Gallagher Girls?" I asked.
"Yes. "
"Then theyll be here. "
Fifteen minutes later, I was locked in a room. I was blindfolded and tied to a chair and thanking my lucky stars that theyd made it so easy on me.
Theyd left me with Mr. Mosckowitz.
"I really do feel bad, Mr. M," I said. "Really. "
"Um, Cammie, Im pretty sure were not supposed to be talking. "
"Oh, right. Sorry. " I shut up for about twelve seconds. "Its just that if Id known it was a test, I never would have used one of the forbidden moves—I swear!"
"Oh. " A heavy silence filled the room as I waited for Mr. Mosckowitzs inevitable, "Forbidden?"
"Dont worry. Im sure youre okay. Its not like youre light-headed or seeing spots or anything. "
"Oh, dear. "
For the worlds foremost authority on data encryption, Harvey Mosckowitz was pretty much an open book.
"Hey, Mr. M, dont worry," I said, trying to sound all fake-calm. "Its only a problem if the red splotches appear on the small of your back. You dont have red splotches. Do you?"
Thats when I heard the sounds of a certified genius spinning around in circles like a dog chasing its tail.
"I cant…Oh, the light-headedness is getting worse. " (I didnt doubt it—hed been spinning pretty fast. ) "Here. " He ripped the blindfold off. "You look. "
Sadly, it was just that easy, and it would have been a lot easier if I hadnt been afraid to use any of the actual forbidden moves (mainly because I like Mr. Mosckowitz, and I didnt have written permission from the Secretary of Defense and all). Still, Mr. Mosckowitz was a pretty good sport about it.
"Oh, you girls," he said in a very awshucks way, once I had him tied to the chair.
"Just sit tight, Mr. M. Itll be over soon. "
"Um, Cammie?" he asked as I headed for the door. "I wasnt too bad, was I?"
"You were awesome. "
The first thing I had to do was get out of that room. The disk wasnt there—if it was, no way would Mr. Solomon have left only Mr. Mosckowitz to guard it, so I darted through the empty warehouse to an exit door, checked it for sensors and alarms, then rushed out into the shadows of the complex.
Outside, I felt my eyes adjust to the black. A little light escaped from the building Id just left, but otherwise I was surrounded by nothing but old rusty steel, and dark, cracked windows. A cold wind blew through the maze, whistling between the buildings, blowing dead leaves and plumes of dust along the gravel lot. I squinted through the night, trying to sense movement of any kind, but if it hadnt been for the glistening new wire of a tall chain fence and some very well-hidden surveillance cameras, I would have sworn the place was a ghost town.
Then I heard crackling static and a familiar voice.
"Bookworm to Chameleon. Chameleon, do you read me?"
"Liz?" I spun around.
"Chameleon, its Bookworm, remember? We use code names when on comms?"
But I wasnt on comms! I was on a mission to break up with my secret boyfriend. I wasnt exactly prepared for active duty. But then I remembered the silver cross that dangled from my neck.
Before I could even ask, Liz explained. "I got bored one weekend and decided to fix your necklace. And upgrade it. What do you think?"
I think my friends are both brilliant and a little scary, is what I think. But of course I couldnt tell her that.
"So, howd it go with your project?" Liz asked, and I remembered that half the school was probably listening. "I mean, were there complications or—"
"Liz," I snapped, not wanting to think about Josh or what Id just done. The time for crying with your girlfriends about a broken heart is over chocolate ice cream and chick flicks—not stun guns and bulletproof vests. "Wheres the disk?" I asked.
This time, it was Bexs voice that answered, "We think theyre in the big building on the north side of the complex. Tina and Mick went to recon, and were holding here. "
"Wheres here?"
"Look up. "
Two days after my dads funeral, my mom went on a mission. I never understood it until then—that sometimes a spy doesnt need a cover so much as she needs a shield. Crouched on the roof between Bex and Liz, I wasnt a girl who had just broken up with her boyfriend; I looked at my watch and checked my gear instead of crying. I had a mission objective and not a broken heart.
"Okay," Liz said, as the majority of the sophomore class circled around her. "My guess is the school actually owns this place, because someone has sunk some serious cash into it. " She pointed to a crude diagram, which my superspy instincts were telling me was made out of Evapopaper and eyeliner. "There are motion triggers on the perimeter. The windows are rigged to an alarm. " Bex lit up at the sound of this, but Liz stopped her enthusiasm cold. "A Doctor Fibs original. No way were cracking it in the middle of the night with minimal equipment. "
"Oh. " Bex deflated as if they werent going to let her have any fun.
Eva pointed a device that looks like an ordinary radar gun but is really a body-heat detector toward the building across from us and swept it side to side before saying, "Bingo. We have a hot spot. "
At least a dozen red images walked back and forth across the screen, but the majority of the red figures were huddled in the center.
"Thats our package," Bex said.
"Doors are problematic," Liz said, reeling off options. "Windows are out. Youd better believe theyre watching the heating ducts and—"
"You know what that leaves," Bex said, her voice like a dare.
Liz looked at us one by one, realizing what we were all thinking—what our only mission option was—and that we had twenty pounds on her.
"No!" Liz snapped. "Ill get tangled or decapitated or—"
"Ill do it. " And thats when I turned to look at Anna Fetterman—Anna, who had clutched her class assignment slip just months before as if CoveOps was going to be the death of her, was stepping forward, saying, "Im the right size, am I not?"
And thats when I knew that Dillon was going to see Anna again someday, and then hed be the one who would need saving.
Beep.
What was
that? I wondered.
Beep-beep.
"Is it a missile?" Anna snapped, looking to the sky.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
"Were locked in as targets of a heat-seeking tranquillizer dart!" Eva yelled.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeep
"Okay, everybody, freeze!" a male voice behind us cried out.
Some of my classmates did as they were told. I did too, but for an entirely different reason. Id never thought Id hear that voice again, but there it was, saying, "Ive…Ive…already called nine-one-one. The cops are going to be here any—"
But the Gallagher Girls didnt let him finish. The nine-one-one thing had been the totally wrong thing to say, because in a flash, two of the girls were on him, and I had to cry, "Eva, Courtney, no!"
Everyone was staring at me—Josh, who was surprised I wasnt tied up or dead; and all of the sophomores (besides Bex and Liz), who couldnt imagine why I would have stopped them from neutralizing someone who had such obvious honeypotness.
"Josh!" I snapped in a harsh whisper as I turned off the power to the tracking device and headed toward him. "What are you doing here?"
"Im here to rescue you. " Then he glanced around at my black-clad classmates. "Who are they? he whispered.
"Were here to rescue her, too," Bex said.
"Oh," he said, and then nodded blankly. "There was a van … I saw you … I…"
"That?" I said with a wave of my hands. "Its a school thing. " I tried to sound as casual as possible when I said, "Kind of like… hazing. "
Josh might have believed me if the entire sophomore class hadnt been standing on a warehouse roof, dressed in black and wearing equipment belts.
"Cammie," he said, stepping closer, "first I find out you go to that school, and then you tell me youre leaving, and then I see you kicking like a madwoman and getting kidnapped or something. " He took another step, accidentally knocking over an old piece of metal that then skidded off the side of the roof and crashed to the ground below.
Sirens started wailing. Flashing lights streaked across the ground below us. Liz looked down, then cried, "He tripped the alarm!"
But that didnt matter, because I couldnt see anything but Josh. I couldnt hear anything but the fear in his voice when he said, "Cammie, tell me the truth. "
The truth. I could hardly remember what it was. Id been eluding it for so long that it took me a moment to remember what it was and what had brought me to that rooftop.
"I do go to the Gallagher Academy. These are my friends. " Behind me, my classmates were moving, preparing for the next phase of the mission. "And we have to go now. "
"I dont believe you. " He didnt sound hurt then—the words were a dare.
"What do I have to say?" I snapped. "Do I have to tell you that my fathers dead, and my mom cant cook, and that these girls are the closest thing I have to sisters?" He looked past me to the girls of every size, shape, and race. "Do I have to say that you and I cant ever see each other again? Because its true. Its all true. " He reached out to touch me, but I jerked away, saying, "Dont come looking for me, Josh. I cant ever see you again. " And then I looked into his eyes for the first time. "And youll be better for it. "