Blackthorne, Meet The Chameleon

Cammie is one of the best spies never known. She is known only as the Chameleon, pavement artist, never to be seen or heard. Find out what happens when the Gallagher girls must go up against Blackthorne on a mission.

Chapter 1

Cammie's POV

"Chameleon, Duchess, and Peacock, I choose you." My Covert Operations teacher and Godfather, Joe, told me and my best friends Bex and Macey. Even though he was my teacher I always call him Joe since he is also my Godfather. Mr. Solomon just didn't sound right. I have known him ever since I was a little kid, and we got really close when my dad went MIA. Now we're like brother and sister, but he has the power to give me detention.

Chameleon was my codename, Duchess is Bex, and Peacock is Macey. We were some of the best in our school; including my other best friend, Liz, but she wasn't on the Cove Ops Track. She specializes in computers and intel so she went with R, the research track. Liz is really smart, Bex is really strong, Macey is our boy dictionary, and I'm a pavement artist. People call me the best, but I don't know about that. My Dad now he was the best. I keep trying to improve everyday, and take any chance I can to do so.

We were in Roseville at the moment, the town nearest to our private school. Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a little different from most; it's a school that trains girls in... let's say special areas of concern. Gallagher is definitely unique but it's not the only one of its kind, there is another school like us called Blackthorne Institute for Boys. Only Bex, Macey, Liz, and I know that, even we aren't supposed to. We found out by spying last year and even the teachers don't know that we know.

Right now we are on a mission; tail my mom, the Headmistress of our school and a former CIA agent for two hours at the town fair. Bex, Macey, and I were just chosen to participate in the mission while all the other sophomores observed our work.

"What is this, Pokémon?" Bex muttered, referring to his statement before. She made sure that only Macey and I heard. We quickly covered up our laughs by pretending to go into coughing fits. We stepped forward and received comm units and cameras disguised as accessories.

"Well, let's get started! The moment that you have spotted your target I will start the timer. You will be trying to find out what she brush passes to someone who is disguised as a regular civilian. She is not aware that you are tailing her, but she will still be on guard. You must bring me the object at the end of your two hours. That is all; just remember, if you're compromised you fail." Joe said, finally going into the details for our mission.

"Alright girls, let's go." I said. We all stepped out of the van and into the crowd of people.

"Let's split up, and search. When one of us finds her tell the others." I ordered the others. They quickly obliged, and I was left alone. I expertly blended into the crowds, becoming invisible to everyone around me. They don't call me the Chameleon for nothing. I wandered around, and seemed to be looking for a good ride to go on next or a game to play. I played the shooting game and won myself a stuffed elephant, which I tucked under my arm. When I passed a cotton candy stand I bought some. To everyone else it seemed as though I was having a good time, if they even saw me at all, but really I was searching the sea of people for my mom.

After a few minutes I saw her, but was still invisible to her. I startled myself and reached for my phone as though I had just received a call "I have eyes. Five feet in front of the cotton candy stand." I didn't wait to see if they were coming or not. I fixed all of my concentration on the task at hand, mainly noticing everything. I followed from a distance, using almost all of my pavement artist skills. I knew she was good, and I didn't want to fail, especially against my own mother.

I had been following her for a while; socializing with others when needed, standing perfectly still when she looked my way, and blending in with different groups of teenagers so as not to look suspicious. Bex and Macey were doing okay. They had a few close calls, but if she suspected us she didn't let on. That's what I thought at least until I heard Macey's terrified voice over the comm unit.

"Shoot, I've been spotted! She's walking toward me! Ohhhhh, she's pissed!" Macey whispered.

"Don't give us away and stand strong. Do not give away that this is a cov-ops mission. Then she will know there are others." Bex managed to get out before I heard my mom's voice over Macey's comm unit.

"Macey McHenry, what do you think you are doing outside of Gallagher?" My mom asked, obviously fuming. I was watching from a distance because I had to keep an eye on my mom, but not be seen like Macey.

"I plea the Fifth!" Macey immediately responded. (A/N The Fifth Amendment imposes restrictions on the government's prosecution of persons accused crimes.)

"You can't plea the Fifth! You aren't arrested!" My mom said exasperatedly.

"I don't care! I plea the Fifth!" Macey persisted.

"Go back to the school now! If I find that you didn't run the whole way back then you will be very sorry! Go!" My mom growled. I could tell that she had now put herself on guard at the fact of Macey being here. They were still in my line of sight, so I got the full view. Macey turned around and sprinted away from the sight towards the academy grounds. It was about a two-mile run, but to us Gallagher girls it was nothing.

Mom was now looking for us and that's how she spotted Bex. Bex had been flirting with a group of guys, it was a tactic she often used to divert attention from herself. Seems redundant right? Here's the concept: if she knowingly draws attention to herself it was less likely the target would suspect her of being on their tail. Making yourself stand out wasn't typical spy behaviour and that's why it worked. Well usually worked. In this case, I really wish she'd chosen a different tactic seeing as she also drew my mom's attention too. She did almost the exact same thing to Bex that she did to Macey.

After that Mom was still paranoid, but not as much. I suppose she knew Liz wasn't here seeing as she would have heard an "Oopsie Daisy!" by now. As for me? Mom probably thought she would be able to spot her own daughter in this crowd. I almost felt offended.

I followed her for twenty more minutes, and it was coming to the end game. I was still using everything I knew, but I was starting to grow worried that I missed the brush pass. My two-hour deadline would come to a close in the next five minutes and I hadn't caught any suspicious interactions yet.

Suddenly her shoulders relaxed just slightly, i'm sure unnoticeably to everyone else. I almost lost her in the crowd as she disappeared towards the Ferris wheel, it reminded me that my mom was no slouch at blending in either, she looked just like she was enjoying the fair with no other motivations. I knew instantly that she must be taking extra precautions because the person that was coming for the brush pass was drawing near.

I watched the situation play out in the reflection of a funhouse mirror while I made funny faces into it and chuckled to myself. It happened perfectly, if not a little distorted, so perfectly that I almost missed it. Almost. The man was wearing a plaid button down shirt and worn out jeans, he only make slight contact with my mothers left hand for the briefest of moments. After the pass was complete I took my chance and strolled up to the man and "accidentally" bumped into him. For the few seconds that we made contact I expertly picked his pocket. There was a only a piece of paper, so I took it.

"Sorry." I mumbled, ringing my hands in what I hoped indicated awkwardness.

He smiled "That's okay, miss. Have yourself a great evening." I gave him a strange look that most teenagers have mastered. It conveyed why-do-old-people-always-talk-so-fancy-grownups-are-weird with one look. He shook his head slightly, as if asking himself what was wrong with teenagers these days. I shrugged it off and skipped over to the hammer game. I immediately asked the carnie to play and I swung the hammer with vigour in the test of strength winning myself a blow up sword. The man would realize that he didn't have the paper soon, but by then he wouldn't be able to see me anymore. I also doubted that he would suspect some random teenager with an attitude problem.

My two hours were up and I made my way back towards the van. When I got there I saw Bex and Macey waiting for me... alone. Macey was pouting at her shoes as she mumbled a "Hey."

"What happened? Where's the van? Where is everyone?" I asked.

"They left us to go back to Gallagher." Bex answered.

"Why?"

"They left because we," Macey motioned to herself and then to Bex "got caught."

"He counts it as a failure for all of us because you 'let it happen'. How stupid is that? You got what we needed! That was all that was important! But not to Mr. High-Expectations!" Bex exclaimed, while visibly fuming.

"How do you know I got it?"

Bex just gave me a 'You're kidding right?' look.

I grinned "Well let's go back to Gallagher. There is no point in sticking around." I pointed out.

"Hey we could play bumber cars first!" Macey exclaimed with excitement.

Bex and I exchanged a look. Without another word we began to jog back to school.

"Hey!" she yelled after us before begrudgingly following.

I wasn't surprised with the failure. Joe gives it out at every pop quiz like this whenever at least one girl gets caught. I'm the only girl that hasn't been caught actually, but I still get a big fat F. I wanted to get mad at him, but since he's my Godfather I had a feeling that talking behind his back would be 'frowned upon'.

We reached Gallagher in six minutes, thirty-two seconds according to my internal clock. We went up to our room to go complain about our score to Liz, but when we got there we saw a note that had not been there earlier on the bulletin board. It read:

Girls,

You are to meet in the Great Hall at nine am the day after tomorrow. Prepare for the whole school year. I will answer no additional questions. Be efficient about it because complaining will not be accepted. Before we go to our final destination we will be going on a cov-ops training mission, prepare adequate attire for this situation.

- J.S

We had a million questions, but first we had to find Liz. We hoped she would have answers, and sure enough when we opened the door she was typing furiously at her laptop.

"We need details Liz! What do you have for us?" Bex asked.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! This trip isn't recorded anywhere. The only people who would know about it at this school are Mrs. Morgan and Mr. Solomon." Liz said in an outraged voice.

"Well, you know how we're going to find out information then, don't you?" Macey asked mischievously.

I said no, but Liz and Bex said yes. I looked at them confused.

"What is it?" I asked suspiciously, because now they all had mischievous grins on their faces now.

"You have to spy on your mom of course!" Bex exclaimed, completely shocked that I hadn't realized before.

"No way, I'm not doing that again!" I immediately replied. I had found a passageway into a small space that connected to her office a few years ago, but I felt guilty using it to spy on my own mom.

"You have to Cammie! Don't you want to find out what's going on?" Macey asked.

I contemplated my options, but finally agreed to the plan.

Sighing I turned to Macey, "Give me something black to wear, light fabric, breathable." I ordered with reluctance. The three of them all began to bustle around, trying to find something perfect.

Once I was ready I duct taped a recorder to my shirt and slipped into the airshaft in the ceiling of our room. I quickly began to work my way to the entrance to the passageway. After a few minutes I reached it and soundlessly slipped down to the ground and crept into the hidden passage.

It didn't take me long to reach my mom's office, and when I did I heard Mr. Solomon's voice. I switched on the recorder so that I could replay it to Macey, Liz, and Bex when I got back.

"Are you sure none of the girls could be spying on us right now? Your daughter and her friends are pretty sneaky." I couldn't hear them but I could tell that voice belonged to Joe.

"I'm positive. I have cameras posted outside my door and no one is out there, also I know that all the girls will be in their rooms talking about what they think is going to be happening on the upcoming mission." My mom assured him.

"Alright, so the brush pass was successful? It will be in Maine for the whole semester. I want Steve to understand what he's getting himself into by agreeing to this."

"Correct." My mom answered, not at all as fazed as I was.

"I've decided on New York City for this assignment. They'll be trying to compromise them while in the shopping district during peak hours. The boys will be doing the same to the girls." I did a double take. Wait...Boys?

"The girls will not be told about Blackthorne until we arrive on location. The boys have not been told about Gallagher either, nor will we tell them anything until much later. Well, they do know about Cammie, but they only know what we've told them. Most of them think she's a guy, and some even think that she is a legend to get them to work harder." Joe continued. The last bit he said with a prideful tone of voice.

"Good." My mom confirmed with the same tone.

"I often help out with Blackthorne training so I don't see my presence being a surprise to them. I'll be listening in to the different sides, boys and girls, the whole time. I see all this as being quite entertaining." I could just tell from that tone he was smirking.

My mom sounded a little impatient with him, I could practically see her eyes roll at his giddiness "If you're done basking in your own cleverness you may go now, Joe. I went along with your little plan so you might want to be more low-key if you want to keep it from Cammie and her friends. I would even check your air ducts periodically for snooping girls." My mom said brushing him off.

"Hold on, one last thing, Rachel. This evening, the girls were on a cov-ops assignment. Who did you spot and how easy was it? I want to know if the girls are improving. They began following you at seven-thirty two." Joe said.

"That explains a lot. Well it took me around an hour and thirty to find them both. They were pretty good, but Macey and Bex need to focus on improving their discretion a lot more. I certainly didn't see them right away but I could sense there were people watching me. They shouldn't need their eyes fixated on me at all times in order to successfully follow me." My mom reflected. I felt a surge of happiness when I realized that she never spotted me.

"Bex and Macey?" Joe asked, obviously savoring my mom's failure.

"Yes, Bex and Macey that's what I said."

"You missed one." Joe said in a singsong voice.

"Don't tell me..."

"Yup! Your daughter, The Camster." Joe said with a satisfied grin. The 'Camster' was a nickname he had given me when I was four years old. He only uses it when he is especially proud of me. It started after I successfully tailed my dad for four hours in the mall just to find out what he was getting me for Christmas.

"I lost to my own daughter! You'll have to tell Steve that one too!" My mom said with a laugh.

"I'll get right on that." Joe said, and then he turned around and disappeared through the door.

Once I was sure he was gone and that my mom was occupied with her work, I turned around and left back through the passage. As I went I switched the recorder off and put on a triumphant grin. I was extra careful about getting back to my room. The worst thing a spy can do is get overly cocky.

"Did you get any info?" Bex instantly asked me once I was in the room again. I wordlessly handed over the recorder.

After they were done listening they sat there for a few minutes.

"The Blackthorne students know about you!?" They said in unison after everything was digested. I jumped back with a start.

"Yeah, so? That's not important right now. What do you think of the rest?" I asked once I recovered from the shock.

"I think that we should sleep on it and and start on our plan tomorrow when we are all well rested." Liz stated logically. We all nodded in agreement. Even though my mind was flooding with questions, I instantly fell asleep.

A/N READ PLEASE! Hello people, CaptainMeghanSparrow here! I just adopted this story from anonymousreader666, it was originally called "Blackthorne meets the Chameleon and her friends" but I changed the title as well. I'm reposting all her original chapters with just a few edits here and there, and then I'll be continuing where she left off. Enjoy!