"Follow the what?" Liz asked.
"He was talking crazy, okay?" I took a deep breath. "One second he was telling me to run, and then . . . you know."
"So you're saying that one of the CIA's best undercover operatives - not to mention one of the most wanted men in the world - walked through an MI6 surveillance detail just to tell you to follow the pigeons?" Macey didn't try to hide her disbelief.
"Yeah," I said. He said he had to see me before I got back to school. And he said when I got back to school I had to follow the pigeons."
"Tell me this, Cam." Macey placed her arm around her shoulder. She seemed so much taller than me then. "Do you believe Mr. Solomon is working for the Circle?"
"Abby and the Baxters say he is."
"What do you say?" Macey asked.
"It's true," Bex answered for me, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "My mum and dad have been taking me on missions since before I could walk. They've never lied to me before. They wouldn't start lying to me about this." She turned and looked right at me.
"Abby would never lie to you about this."
Sometimes I hate it when my friends are right. Unfortunately, it happens a lot.
"But, Bex, your parents weren't there on election night," Macey countered. "Abby was there, but she was half dead. Cam, you were drugged and practically knocked unconscious, so you won't remember either - but I do." She shivered a little.
"I remember everything. Everyone was worried that night, but Mr. Solomon was terrified. He was as worried about you as your mother was."
"Mr. Solomon's been working for the Circle since he was sixteen! He's pretty good at faking things," Bex challenged.
Macey shook her head. "He wasn't faking."
"You can't know that," Bex said.
Macey laughed softly. "I know fake love when I see it."
I didn't know what to say, so I sank to the floor and rested my arms on my knees, suddenly far too tired for the first day of school.
On the other side of the room, Liz sat perfectly still on her bed, weighing options, waiting to cast the tie-breaking vote. When she spoke, her voice was so low. "Cam, where's your mom?"
"Buckingham said she's been temporarily detained. Whatever that means." I sighed. "She didn't even some to England after . . . everything."
"I wish she was here," Bex admitted. "There is something they're not telling us."
I pictured Zach, his breath fogging in the air as he'd said They know more than we know.
But my mother was gone. The Baxters and Abby were a thousand miles away. That morning Bex and I had walked away from England - from our last chance at answers -
except . . .
I smiled.
"Cam," Liz said softly, "What is it?"
"Townsend."
"What?" Liz said. "Do you think he's going to be a good teacher?"
I shook my head.
"Do you think he's hot?" Macey asked.
I laughed.
"Then why are you smiling?" Liz's voice went up and entire octave, but I just looked at her - thought about a folder on a metal table and eyes that looked like they'd seen everything.
"I think he knows things."
Chapter Twelve
Covert Operatives Report
When Operatives Morgan, McHenry, Baxter, and Sutton (hereafter referred to as The Operatives) returned to the Gallagher Academy for the spring semester of their junior year, they were faced with an absent mother-slash-headmistress, a fugitive former teacher, and a tall, dark, and cocky new faculty member who, presumably, knew far more than he was saying.
The operatives were resolved to make him say.
The first day of the semester started as semesters often do.
Mr. Smith gave a really good pop quiz on the world's most unstable political regimes and the top five ways to undermine each. By midmorning Madame Dabney was passing out place cards and instructing us to prepare a seating chart for a state dinner that includes two ambassadors, five senators, and three rogue operatives who may be selling nuclear technology to the highest bidder.
But walking out of Madame Dabney's tearoom that Monday morning, I couldn't help but remember that nothing would ever be "typical" again.
"That's it. It's official!" Tina Walters whispered to me. "Joe Solomon is in deep."
I shot an anxious glance at Bex, but Tine went slowly, savoring every word.
"According to my sources, he hasn't been farmed out to any cooperating agencies. He's not listed on the in-action list. And he's not exactly the type for official cover operatives, so wherever he is . . . our teacher is in deep, deep cover."
The entire junior class, and I recognized the look that was spreading through the narrow hall. If possible, Joe Solomon had just gotten cooler. And hotter.
"I bet he and your mom are on some super-secret and dangerous mission, Cam,"
Courtney Bauer guessed as we emerged into the main corridor on the second floor.
"Yeah." Anna Fetterman's voice had taken on a dreamy quality. "I bet your mom and Mr.
Solomon are going to find them. I bet . . ."
Anna went on, but I tuned out, barely registering the sounds of my school - slamming doors and running girls. I looked into center of the foyer below, where a half dozen teachers stood huddled together in a way I'd never seen before.
"Cam?" Anna asked. "Are you okay?"