I looked at the explosives that filled the room - the burn bag they were locked inside of -
and knew that Mr. Solomon hadn't come here to save his life but to end it, and hopefully, take as many of them out as possible.
Zach started to stand, but I grabbed him.
"Think, Zach." I held him there. "We only have one chance."
I watched as fury faded into fear, and Zach stared into my eyes. "Cammie, you have to take this." He pressed the plastic-covered notebook into my hands. "You have to run."
"No. I have to help him."
He squeezed my hands tighter. "You have to live. Now go, and don't look back for anything."
"But, Zach -"
"They won't hurt me."
I wanted to ask why, but I knew he wouldn't say. I wanted to ask how, but I knew it didn't matter. Despite my training and good sense, I wanted to argue, but I knew we were out of time. Because A) There's very little use in arguing with a spy who has made up his or her mind. And B) Three armed men stood blocking the tunnel behind us, and there was absolutely no way out.
When the woman saw us, she laughed. It was a haunting, echoing sound there in the middle of the mountain.
"Found them on a sweep," The guard said, dragging me down the stairs. I tried to pull free, but the man was holding me to tightly. The woman walked closer, staring at me.
Appraising me. It was the dirtiest I'd ever felt in my life.
"Oh, this is a surprise." She smiled at me teacher. "Joe, you clever boy, why didn't you tell me you were bringing me a present?"
I looked at Mr. Solomon - tried to say that I was sorry. That I had followed the pigeons, but I'd failed. I expected to see disappointment in my teacher's remaining good eye, but instead what I saw was rage.
"They go or I give you nothing!'
"Now why would I do that?" the woman asked. "Break up this touching reunion?"
She reached out her hand, and I thought for a second that she was going to stroke my hair, but at the last minute she shifted, reaching for Zach's cheek, and said, "Hello, sweetheart. Aren't you going to introduce your little girlfriend to your mother?"
Chapter Forty
The mind is a powerful thing. I've read the research. I've seen it in action. My whole life had taught me those simple facts, and yet, in that moment, there was one thing my mind couldn't start to comprehend: the woman from the roof in Boston was Zach's mother.
I wanted to be sick.
"She's your mother," I stated plainly. It wasn't a question - it was a data point, and Zach was slowly somehow, making sense.
He reached for me. "Gallagher Girl -"
"Don't touch me." I pulled away, but not before his fingers grazed my skin, before I felt a spark, and I swore it would be the last thing I'd feel for him ever again.
In my ear, the comms unit was silent. We'd searched for too loch, gone too far, and now there was entirely too much mountain between me and any kind of help.
"It's very nice to finally meet you, Cammie. I've heard so much about you." When Zach's mother spoke, she sounded serene. "I hope you're not afraid. I'm sure Joe here would gladly confirm that we don't want to kill you."
My heart was racing, and yet somehow I knew that it was true - they really didn't want to hurt me. Which meant they wanted something far, far worse.
"Cammie, I -" Again, Zach reached me for. Again, I pulled away.
"Oh, sweetheart, I can see why you like her." Her mother laughed. "But now, everyone spread out and look for Morgan's diary." She eyed her son and me. "And someone search the two of them."
A guard was still holding me. Another man was moving closer. Through the light of the dim bulb that hung in the middle of the tall ceiling, I saw Zach's eyes go wide, and I thought of all the times he'd looked at me before - on an elevator in D.C., in the town square in Roseville, and in a tiny compartment on a train barreling through the night.
But as the guard reached me, and entirely new face was staring at me, whispering,
"Now!"
Believe it or now, there are some advantages to fighting two attackers instead of one. It was so much easier to throw my weigh back against the man who held me and kick the guard who was walking forward with his hands outstretched.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw Zach was spinning, kicking one of the ancient filing cabinets in the direction of his mother. It crashed against her, knocking her to the floor, paper falling all around her, while the guard at my back pushed me aside as if I were nothing, and ran to his boss's aid.
"What are you doing?" the woman yelled. "Get her!"
I heard the words. Felt my vision go blurry with rage. And in the next second, a dozen things seemed to happen at once.
Mr. Solomon lunged toward one of the men near the entrance of another tunnel. My teacher threw his bound hands over the man's head and strangled him, while I ran with all my might in their direction.
Someone move to block my path, but I jumped onto the bookcase, used my momentum to flip midair and catch the man's chin with my foot, before dropping lightly to the ground.
But someone else appeared in the corner of my eye, and I moved just as Zach's mother place a kick inches from my ear.
I stepped back as she circled me. Like I was prey. Above us, that lone light bulb swayed, casting a moving shadow over everything it touched as the woman who'd been haunting my dreams for months moved closer to me and smiled.
"You're far prettier up close, you know."
I parried away another of her blows, and when I countered, I landed I swift punch to her kidney and another to her face.
"Oh yes," she said, wiping at the blood that trickled from the side of her mouth. "I can certainly see the appeal."