It seemed like at the perfect question at the time. After all, I was getting ready to break into Blackthorne. I was out of the mansion. I was getting ready to go on a mission. A real mission. With Zach.
And my mom.
Words could not describe the nerves. Or the weirdness.
It occurred to me that I should have been taking notes, savoring every moment. But there was no time.
Mrs. Baxter started for the truck, climbing in beside her husband as she tossed my mother the keys to the sedan with the dark windows. Abby was already crawling into the SUV as Liz and Macey started for Liz's van, but my mother waved them away.
"It stays here," she said with a shake of her head. "We can't take the risk that someone might trace it back to you and the school."
When my mother turned to me and asked, "Do you have everything?" she sounded like she was dropping me off at school or at a friend's house. She sounded almost like a normal mom.
When I said, "Yeah, we're ready," I sounded almost like a normal girl.
But as I watched my bodyguards pull onto the highway to monitor the perimeter of the school, normal felt completely overrated.
A moment later, my mother left us in a cloud of dust in the middle of nowhere, beside a gas station that had no gas, a van we couldn't drive, and a boy that some of the best spies in the world were hesitant to trust.
"And what are we supposed to do?" Macey asked.
Zach smiled. "We walk."
Chapter Thirty-Seven
It is a little-known fact about covert operations that you will spend a lot of time with people you can't really trust. They may be traitors and liars. We call them assets or informants. But mostly, in those days, I called him Zach.
The Operatives made contact with an asset who had firsthand knowledge of the Blackthorne Institute for Boys.
The Asset was also privy to Joe Solomon's private plans, the Circle's secrets, and some of the most awesome-smelling soap in the world.
The Operatives, therefore, tried not to trust (or smell) The Asset.
Walking across the week-covered lot of the gas station, I could feel the darkness falling.
The air was damp and chilly. I could hear Liz stumbling on the path behind me and knew without looking that Bex was bringing up the rear. I kept my eyes trained on the back of Zach's head as we walked deeper into the thick woods and closer to Blackthorne.
Twenty minutes later, I found myself asking, "How long until we get to the school?"
"Not long," Zach said, without a breaking a stride.
"How many guards will be there on patrol at our point of entry?"
He shrugged. "Don't know."
"What's the interval of the security camera sweep?"
"Hard to say."
I reached out for his arm in the dark. "What do you know, Zach?"
"You're on my home turf now, Gallagher Girl." His breath was warm on my skin. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"Guys . . ." I heard Liz's timid voice behind me.
"Maybe I do," I snapped back at Zach.
"Cam," Bex said, her voice mimicking the concern of Liz's, but I barely heard.