Chapter 16

Zach pov

Luke face appeared on the screen, almost unrecognizable due to injuries. Saying he was beaten badly would be an understatement. One of his eyes was swollen shut and the other was sporting a black bruise that looked sickening. There were scars all over his face, small one and and one large slash going from the center of his left cheek ending at the base of his jaw. It was red and you could even see the dried blood beginning to form.

"Liz quick hack into their frequency." Solomon shouts. If we could get any trace on them that would be beneficial. It's closer to a trace than we have gotten recently.

So far Luke hasn't said anything but I think it's about to change. So far this has come up on almost anything with a screen.

And then Luke began to speak. Cammie let out a shaky breath.

"My name is Luke and I am an agent for the CIA." Every word he said looked pained, not to mention the fact that he seemed to be reading from cards in front of him. With all his injuries it was a miracle he was able to focus on anything other than pain.

"I have been held hostage by a crime organization called The Eye." I noticed Cammie tense up next to me. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it for support. It wasn't that long ago that she was in the same situation as him.

"They have a specific message for the agents trying to rescue me." That sparked my interests. I had ready begun to memorise everything in the background of the video. It could be useful in narrowing down their location. I also took notice of the positions of the camera, and the noises in the background. From what I could tell there was probably about 4 other people on the room not including Luke.

"Don't waste your breath or your efforts to find me. You haven't succeeded before. As of this point I am as good as dead." As much as I hate to admit it, maybe we have been going about this the wrong way. We know there is a traitor and our methods so far haven't been working. Maybe the reason we haven't found anything is because they don't want us to. They are always one steep ahead of us, who's to say that they aren't the ones manipulating us?

"But to make things interesting you have 72 hours to come and find me, otherwise they will kill me and thousands of innocent civilians." As always, things got more complicated. Now we have to come up with populated and public areas and I honestly have no idea where to begin. It was all becoming too overwhelming.

"You were lucky you were able to get your operative out alive. Next time she won't be that lucky. Now try your luck with me. Time starts now." There was a short pause before he began speaking faster. "Don't save me, save the civilians!" We could hear him shouting before the camera dropped. There was a scuffle, we could hear men moving and Luke's screams but no visuals. It lasted for a short time as the live feed was cut off.

"Were you able to get a trace Liz?" Rachel asked, although her gaze was focused on Cammie with a worried look on her face. I shared the same anxiety. They threatened to capture her again. I won't allow her to suffer like that again, not if I can prevent it.

Liz didn't even look up from her computer screen. She was still typing when she began to reply. "I managed to get a partial trace off the video. They move their base to the US, around D.C. I can't get anymore specific than that, I haven't gotten any coordinated yet. But I'm confident that I can get those soon enough if I keep working on this." They are going back to D.C, where it all started. And soon, where it will all end.

"My jet is the fastest way to get back to the states. We need to start moving. We can discuss strategies on the ride back home." We are going back to our home turf, where we have the upper hand. "What are we waiting for?" Cammie asked. I smiled down at her, she will be all right.

We moved out of the safe house as quickly as possible. We eliminated all traces of us wing in there, took what we needed and disposed of everything else. That took about an hour and t took another to get onto the jet on our back to D.C.

The plane rid was anything but relaxing. We only had a few hours to come up with some type of plan. 72 hours may seem like a large amount of time but in these situations that is nothing. We discussed strategy after strategy. Some were more violent than others, but for the most part they seemed weak and ineffective. Meanwhile Liz was still on her computer trying to get another trace from the signal.

"We need to get to them before they kill Luke and innocent people. We can find another snitch. I have a specific person in mind." Abby told us smirking. She was talking about the director, although I don't know if I would classify him as a snitch. It won't be that easy.

"We all know who you are thinking about Abby. You want to go and interrogate the former director while we are in D.C." That could give us a huge advantage, if he manages to reveal any information. Let's face it, he is or was the director of the CIA. I'm pretty sure he is immune to dozens of interrogation tactics. I guess we are just going to have to try harder. He is privy to all kinds of information with his information, not just about The Eye.

"What about their motives?" Cammie asked changing the subject a few hours into the flight. "We have been trying to figure it out for a while now." She did have a good point.

"They went public which brought attention to themselves, the attention they were craving by using Luke." Bex said adding onto Cammie's idea.

"In the video they never mentioned the other hostages they had. We know there were more people due to Cammie's statement and the testimony from the snitch. There must be a reason they are choosing not to reveal them now." Macey interjected. Perhaps the other hostages didn't have the same status as Luke. However it was suspicious that they did not bring this up at all.

"The other hostages aren't our top priority right now. When we bring down The Eye, we will set them free. If we choose to divert all our resources into liberating them, then The Eye will just kidnap more people." Solomon said shaking his head. We need to take a step back and prioritize our situation.

By the time we got into the US, we had already used up 8 hours from the 72 that we started out with. One thing we did agree on in the jet was to brief the CIA on the mission. It was time for them to get involved as well. And now with an interim director, they were confident that the agency could actually help instead of causing harm. Also, Rachel and Joe personally knew him well. They said that he was someone they could trust and confide in.

And of course by the time we got to him he already knew what was going on. His exact words were, "We are well aware of the situation and are taking necessary action." He also felt the need to remind us that he will be having a long discussion with all of us about our conduct during the mission. He was staring directly at me as he said it. I sighed feeling the dread of having to go through that once this is all over, once we can put this entire mission behind us and move on. I had to push away all doubts that we couldn't catch them, thinking negatively would only set me back even more.

Going to the new director was a big help though, he had managed to get some extra agents to secure the entire D.C area. More security was being placed on the White House, more specifically the president, and all public places in the area. Everyone who was not on a mission was called out to do this. We were using every resource at our disposal. We were certainly stretching ourselves thin.

"Cammie?" She was staring at the wall with a blank expression for 5 minutes. Something was bothering her, it was probably the video with Luke. She didn't move or even acknowledge my voice. I walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Cammie jumped and pushed me backwards.

"What the hell Zach?!" Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits glaring at me. "Are you ok? I'm worried about you Gallagher Girl." I put my hand on her shoulder to which she shrugged it off immediately. "We have been over this before Zach, I am fine. I don't like being constantly reminded of my time in captivity. This time around I actually remembered what happened to me. And seeing Luke with his face almost bashed in made me think back on what I've been trying so hard to forget! The image of his face on the screen is burned in the back of my mind and I can't get it out no matter how many times I've tried."

This is affecting her more than I thought it did. She was shaking and quivering and I knew nothing I could say would help her. Actions speak louder than words so I brought her into a hug, wrapping my arms around her tight as if they would shield her from everything else. "Cammie, we can get through this." Personally, I was having my own doubts, but I need to be string for the both of us. I need to find some way to help Cammie.

"We are strong." I whispered to her rubbing her back. "Tell me what happened." I don't want to rush her, but opening up about what happened might be able to help. She shook her head. "I don't like thinking about it." I kissed the side of her head. I am going to respect her decision, she will open up to me once she is ready. "I'll be with you for whenever you are ready."We stayed like that for a few more minutes. When Cammie and I had to leave I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. This mission had taken a negative toll on both of us. Can we push past it in the end?

Bex glared at us when we came back into the conference room with everyone else. "Please tell me you guys didn't miss an important breakthrough because you were making out." She grimaced.

"Would that gross you out Rebecca? And for the record we didn't." I let go of Cammie's hand and took a seat. She followed suit silently. "Liz was trying to get another partial trace since we got into D.C. This time she got a full trace on Luke." Her tone was worried.

"How is that a problem?" I asked leaning back into my chair. It seemed like we got the information we finally wanted. It was an easy win-win situation. "Don't you find it suspicious that they got the information so quickly when Liz was been trying to get her hands on it for a while?" Cammie told me resting her head on her elbow. I sighed. "Sorry if I am looking for the good in things." I apologize half-heartrendingly. I knew she was right, I need to get my head in the game. I can't afford any more slip up like this, we have gotten to far for me to mess up right now.

"It's obvious it's a trap." Solomon said walking into the room with Abby, Rachel and Townsend behind him. "Now we have come up with a plan." He took a seat next to Cammie. "Our only option is to split up. Cammie, Rachel, Macey and I will go interrogate the director. Townsend, Abby, Zach, Liz and Bex along with all the available agents we can get will go to the location." I opened my mouth to protest. I'm not leaving Cammie. He shot me a glare and continued to speak. "We won't be sending you in unarmed. You are all going to have at least half a dozen tracers on you and mobile units following your every move from a distance. Liz you are going to be in charge of those units. We are going to have eyes on you at all times. No one is getting left behind today. We will regroup once we have the information we need. My team will be updated on your status every couple of minutes. We are not taking any chances tonight. If we are sending you to into a trap, at least you will be ready for it."

"I won't leave Cammie." I say standing up once he is finished talking. "Sit down Zach." Joe warned me. I shook my head. "Not again. I won't do this again." He sighed and looked at me disappointed. "We don't have time for this Zach, everyone needs to be prepped in less than an hour."

"Zach." Cammie begun to say. I already knew the next words that were going to come out of her mouth. "I'll be fine. We will both be fine but I need to go." I had a bad feeling about this. She walked up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist in a quick hug. I leaned down and kissed her. "Reassure me one more time."

I am ready to walk into a potential trap.

A/N: First off my timing for this story is just horrible. I have next week off so I am going to use that time to work on a new chapter for Last to Know and a new chapter for this story. I want to finish this story by June so I can start working on new stories.

I know this chapter was a little rushed and I added in some Zammie moment randomly, I just felt like this story didn't have enough cute moments of them together.

Vote if you liked this chapter and comment telling me your predication for what happens next! The next chapter will be up before we know it!!