Id Tell You I Love You, But Then Id Have to Kill You

by Ally Carter

Page 12

 

  "Cammie, dont make fun," Liz said, the way she always did. But just then, Macey mocked, "Yeah, Cammie, dont make fun. " Even Liz wanted to deck her.

  "Now, girls," Madame Dabney said, "lets focus. " She drew her hands into a position of prayer as she turned to Bex. "Rebecca, dear, how do you feel about starting us out?"

  I gasped. Dont get me wrong; I love Bex. Shes my best friend. But Ive been driving since I could see over the wheel and work the pedals at the same time (something Grandpa Morgan swears is a milestone in every farm kids life), so why should Bex, a native Londoner who spent her formative years riding the Tube and waving down taxis, be the first to tackle Highway 10?

  I consoled myself by thinking that Bex is my best friend, and she is good at everything, or so I thought until she pulled out onto the highway ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD! Now all this might have been funny except theres a hill there—did I mention that? A great big cant-see-the-semi-until-its-about-to-hit-you-head-on hill. But I was the only one who noticed, because Madame Dabney was writing on her clipboard, Liz was doing bio-chem homework, and Macey was having a fingernail emergency.

  I tried to yell, but I must have temporarily lost the power of speech, and Bex was the only other person paying attention to the road, and she thought she was on the right side of it—or left side—or whatever (you get what I mean).

  My voice returned just in time for me to yell "BEX!" and she said, "What?" turning and sending us swerving into the other lane, which under normal circumstances would have been disastrous, but in this case really saved our lives. Fate is tricky that way—something I guess every spy figures out eventually.

  Then Bex calmly righted the car and headed into town, completely unfazed.

  When Bex hung a left at the Piggly Wiggly and nearly took out a crossing guard from Roseville Elementary School, Madame Dabney made her pull into the grocery store parking lot and trade places with Macey. But Bex didnt seem mad, which in itself was a little scary. Instead, she had a really pleased look on her face as she opened my door and made me push Liz into the seat Macey was vacating, which was harder than it sounds, since Liz had become kind of… oh, whats the word?…petrified.

  Madame Dabney had obviously learned her lesson with Bex, because there were lots of Easy on the accelerator, dears and Okay, theres a stop sign over there, darlings coming from the front seat as Macey eased onto the streets.

  Things were starting to get pretty calm. I mean, really, it was almost nice, being driven around, sitting between my two best friends in the world, feeling the sun beam through the windows. It was almost normal—or as close to normal as three geniuses, a cosmetics heiress-slash-senators daughter, and a secret agent in a Ford Taurus can ever be.

  Nestled in the backseat between Liz and Bex, I started thinking that it would have been way too much to ask for us to have a tour of the town before we were supposed to tail one of the most wanted men in the world through it. Oh, yeah, that would have been a totally unfair advantage. In the daylight, I could see thousands of hiding places where a girl could linger unseen. I recognized alleys and side streets that would have been great shortcuts. I started, despite everything, to want a rematch with Mr. Smith. But mostly, I wondered about the boy Id seen. Was he real? Did he really walk these streets?

  Then, I got my answer.

  "What the bloody hell are you doing down there?" Bex asked.

  "Looking for my contacts," I snapped back.

  "You have twenty-twenty vision," Liz reminded me.

  "Its just… I just… I cant look up right now. "

  I knew the car was stopped, probably at a traffic light— one of only two in the town, so Josh had to be getting close.

  "What?" Bex asked in a whisper. "Whats going on?" She shifted into spy-mode, sat up, and looked around. "Theres nothing out there. Oh, well, you are missing a real hottie at three oclock. "

  Liz craned her neck around to look. "Ooh, yeah, hes pretty skinny but worth checking out. " Then she shrugged and said, "Oh. Never mind. Hes giving us the Gallagher Glare. "

  I have no idea who came up with that name, but its what we always call the look that people in town give us whenever they figure out where we go to school. Its the only time I ever hate our cover story—when people look at me as if I must be privileged, as if I must be spoiled. As if I must be like Macey McHenry. I want to tell them that I spent my summer cleaning fish and canning vegetables—but thats just one of a thousand things that the good people of Roseville will never know about me. Still, when people like Josh look at you like youre a cross between Charles Manson and Paris Hilton, it hurts a little—even for a spy.

  "Yeah, but hes still a boy," Bex said longingly. "Hey, Cam, come take a peek. "

  "I am not going to look at some boy!" I snapped. "I dont care how wavy his hair is. "

  "Who said anything about wavy hair?" Oh, Bex is good.

  "I cant believe this!" Liz said, pacing. She hadnt sat down once since we got back to the mansion—she just kept going back and forth—trying to make sense of it all. I couldnt really blame her. Lizs belief system is pretty natural for scientific geniuses. She wants life to be something that can be tested in a lab or referenced in a book. Shed thought shed known me. Id thought Id known myself. Now both of our hypotheses had been thrown out the window, and we hated to start from scratch.

  I couldnt let her see how shaken I was, so I did the next best thing: I got angry.

  "Exactly what is so unbelievable?" I asked. "That a boy looked at me?" Sure, Id never be an exotic beauty like Bex or a pixyish waif like Liz, but I had yet to grow boils all over my body. Mirrors dont crack when I walk by them. My Grandfather calls me Angel. Was I that unworthy of being noticed?

  "Cam!" Bex ordered. "Of course thats not it. "

  Liz threw her hands into the air and said, "I cant believe you didnt tell us! I cant believe you didnt tell someone. "

  Lizs definition of someone didnt mean someone. Lizs someone meant a teacher.

  "So what?" I said, trying to brush the whole thing aside.

  "So what?" Liz said. "So, he saw you! Cammie, no one sees you when you dont want to be seen. " She eased onto the bed beside me. "When we were trailing Smith and I had to keep you in sight, it was almost impossible, and I could hear you through the comms unit. And I knew what you were wearing. And …" She threw her hands into the air. "So what?"

  I turned to look at Bex, my eyebrows raised as if to ask Are you freaked out, too?

  "You really are amazing, Cam," Bex said in a perfectly serious tone, so I knew it must be true.

  "Something isnt right, here," Liz said as I went into the bathroom and started brushing my teeth. (Its hard to say things that will do lasting damage to a lifelong friendship when youre foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. ) "Mr. Solomon wants summaries of our mission, so weve got to include him. He could very well be trying to infiltrate the school through Cammie. He could be a honeypot!"

  I nearly gagged on my own toothbrush. The technical definition of a honeypot is a female agent using romance to compromise a target. The practical definition is anyone with cleavage. (Rumor has it Gilly kind of inspired the term. ) The thought that Josh could be the male equivalent made my stomach flip.

  "No!" I cried. "No. No. No. He is not a honeypot. "

  "How do you know?" Bex asked, playing devils advocate.

  "I just do!" I replied.

  But Liz was shrugging, saying, "Weve got to include him in the reports, Cam. "

  But reports lead to reviews. Reviews lead to protocol. Protocol would lead to two weeks of the security department tailing him through town while they track down his birth certificate and find out if his mom drinks or his dad gambles—theyve done far more for fewer reasons. After all, the Gallagher Academy hasnt remained a well-kept secret for more than a hundred years by taking chances.

  I thought about Josh, how sweet and normal he had seemed. I didnt want strangers looking at him beneath a microscope. I d
idnt want there to be a file in Langley with his name on it. But mostly, I didnt want to sit in a room and explain why hed approached me, when the town square had been full of far prettier girls.

  I looked down at the floor, shaking off the thought. "No, Liz, I cant do it. That is way too high a price to pay for talking to a girl. "

  Then Bex crossed her arms and grinned deviously in my direction. "I think theres something more to this story," she said with her usual flair. The rush of blood to my cheeks must have been enough to betray me, because she leaned down and said, "Spill it. "

  So I told them about the trash can and the dropped Dr Pepper bottle and, finally, Tell Suzie shes a lucky cat, which, even if it hadnt been for the whole genius thing, I still would have been able to remember verbatim, because sentences like that are like peanut butter on a girls mind. When I finished, Bex was staring at me as if she wondered whether or not I had been replaced by a genetically engineered clone, and Liz had a starry-eyed gaze very similar to the one Snow White wore while those birds fluttered above her head.

  "What?" I asked, needing them to say something—anything.

  "Sounds like I could snap his neck with one hand," Bex said, and she was probably right. "But if you go in for that sort of thing…"

  "…hes amazing," Liz finished for her.

  "It doesnt matter what he is or isnt. Hes…" I struggled.

  Liz shot upright and finished for me. "…still got to go in the reports!"

  "Liz!" I cried, but Bexs hand was on my arm.

  "Why dont we do it?" Her most devious expression flashed across her face. "Well check him out, and if hes an ordinary boy, we forget about it. If somethings strange, well turn him in. "

  I knew instantly what the arguments against it should have been: we were too busy; it was against about a million rules; if we got caught, we could be risking our careers forever. But in the silence of the room, we looked at each other, our mutual agreement settling down upon us in the way of people who have known each other too well and too long.

  "Okay," I said finally. "Well do the basics, and no one has to know. "

  Bex smiled. "Agreed. "

  We both looked at Liz, who shrugged. "Lets face it—hes either an enemy agent trying to infiltrate the Gallagher Girls through Cammie …"

  Liz stopped midsentence, prompting me to say, "Or… ?"

  Her entire face lit up. "Hes your soul mate. "

  Chapter Ten

  Okay, from this point on, if you are related to me or in a position to add things to my "permanent record" (which Im assuming at the Gallagher Academy is a little more detailed than what they keep at Roseville High), you might want to stop reading. Seriously. Go ahead and skip the next hundred pages. It wont hurt my feelings at all

  In other words, Im not proud of what comes next, but Im not exactly ashamed of it either, if that makes any sense. Sometimes I think my whole life has been that kind of contradiction. I mean, all Ive heard for the last three years has been Dont hesitate, but be patient. Be logical—trust your instincts. Follow protocol—improvise. Never let your guard down—always look at ease.