Chapter 21

Zach pov

Chaos was the best way to describe what happened after Solomon threw the knife. I was a little disappointed that he missed. The director was shot in the stomach by myself. Personally I didn't think he suffered enough but I had my hands full as it was.

The director was already taken care of, he was bleeding out on the warehouse floor. I hope it was at least a fatal shot. His cries of pain echoed through the warehouse. I'm not sure how deep the bullet got.

Now all I had to worry about was taking out Luke, and getting the hostages back. It seemed that the simple tasks ended up giving us the most problems. It's almost over, we made it this far.

I can't believe we didn't suspect Luke sooner. Now I understand the smiling face in the window, Cammie only catching a glimpse of him while captured, not being able to find any information on him. Preston kind of helped with the last bit. He didn't tell us when they threatened his mother but I can reasonably assume that it was from the start. He was able to shift the suspicion onto others.

If it wasn't utterly infuriating at this point, I do have to admit they The Eye has always been one step ahead of us. They exploited our love for Cammie as a weakness and used her as leverage. They psychoanalyzed everything we did over the past few years to understand what our next moves would be.

We were not rookies, we shouldn't have been so emotionally involved that we overlooked things that were now so obvious. I love Cammie, I love her with all my heart, having her taken from me was a pain I had to endure for months. I should have been a better spy and figured this all out sooner. Instead, we are all now suffering in this horrible mission that never seems to end.

Every time I think we are getting close, another surprise appears. At least now the list of things to accomplish was getting shorter. I just have to shoot Luke, then all of his men would hopefully come to realize that none of the things he promised them are true, and they would leave. Then there are the hostages to take into account. We know they are civilians, but would they have to become a sacrifice to end all of this?

I won't let that happen. There are other ways this could go down, ways that are less messy, ways that are quicker. I wonder which one will happen. Hopefully it's the quicker one, this has dragged out a bit long.

Once the shot was fired the guards surrounded Luke forming a protective circle around him. I could only see the top of his head. Preston was crouched down ducking for cover. He was in a messy position. All the shots were fired over his head, any stray bullet could harm him.

He was a traitor, not by choice but driven to protect his mother. I can't hold that against him for so long. I don't want him to die. I quickly shouted at him to get cover while shooting at the guards surrounding Luke.

I need Luke alive at this point because he knows the location of the hostages. Once I know they are safe, then I can deal with him. At least this would make for an interesting coveops report. I wonder what Cammie would write about all of this.

The men not surrounding him were too busy shooting in our general direction. Luckily none of their shots actually hit any of us, either they were really bad at aiming or they were missing on purpose to scare us off. I'm not scared of them. I'm not afraid.

Suddenly Luke ordered his men to put their weapons down. They were still trained on us, with a slight twitch of their fingers a bullet would be released. Solomon, Rachel and I stood in front of the others. We had our own weapons pointed towards them. In the shootout that ended only a few minutes before, none of the shots we fired were fatal. Some of the men we hit were limping or groaning in pain, yet they still stood to defend Luke.

Why are they still trying to defend him? What is he promising them? Why won't they let us get to him?

"Look at what he is putting you through!" Bex shouted at the people standing in our way. "Is sacrificing your life for his worth it?" Macey joined in trying to isolate them. He has all these people protecting him right now, if we can get them to turn on him, or even run away like the scared cowards they are, it would make things go much smoother. Witht them out of the way, there

Sadly that was not the case. "We all know what you are trying to do, and it isn't going to work." Luke called out mocking us. I had the sudden urge to push my gun aside and lunge at him. It would be satisfying punching him in the face. And the option of doing so looks better every minute.

"Then stop hiding behind your men and face me." I said challenging him. He won't refuse, I know his type, they can't back down from a challenge.

"Why should I, it's much more fun this way." He sounds like a crazy 5 year old. He's scared that I am going to beat him, and then everyone will see him fail. His men would see the flaws in whatever plan he promised them and they would realize they are screwed. We did give them a chance to leave, we were still going to pursue them anyway because they are criminals.

"Because you can't refuse a challenge." When his smirk faltered I knew I had right where I wanted him. He threw his gun to the floor, hesitantly at first and began walking in my direction. Solomon grabbed my arm trying to persuade me otherwise. I shook my head, this was going to work.

Hubris will be Luke's downfall. He was so prideful of his plan that manipulated everyone. Now I've manipulated him into a fight I am going to win. I know I am going to win because I can't afford to lose. There is too much at stake for me not to lose, including my life.

I can't be too cocky about winning this fight. I dropped my gun and started walking towards Luke. I have never seen him in combat. However he has already seen me fight. In his research about all of us, surely he must have taken note of my fighting style.

He has a huge advantage and the fight has not yet begun. I clenched my hands into fists at my side. We both put our weapons down, it was just our fists and wits. I orchestrated this fight to end this quickly. The Eye will fall once they see Luke lying in the floor with a puddle of blood surrounding him.

It would be easier to get the location of the hostages from Luke, or any one of his men after beating them to a pulp. Then it will be all over and I can see Cammie.

I need to win this for her. I need to win this in order to see her.

Luke is a killer, if I don't beat him, he won't hesitate to end my life. I have so much to live for. I want to marry Cammie and watch our children grow up. I have so much left in life. Luke can't take this away from me.

"Are you sure about this Zach?" Rachel whispered as I walked past her. Just as I did with Solomon, I nodded at her. I can do this. At least now, the only blood shed will be mine or his.

Time to make Cammie proud.

"No weapons." I say to Luke once we are standing a few inches apart. He laughs, "That's not going to be a problem for me. You might want to tell your guard dogs to stop pointing their guns at my men."

"Funny I was just going to say the same to you Luke."

Our eyes locked for a monet. His eyes were cold and hard. I glared at him waiting for him to strike first. I could tell a lot about his fighting style in his first hit. Luckily for me, it doesn't take long for him to extend his arm back and punch me in the jaw. I stumbled back, he won't get a shot like that again.

I aimed a punch at his face. I smirked when my fist successfully made contact with his jaw. I didn't stop there. I kicked his right leg because he seemed to favor that more, and punched him in the stomach quickly. Even though I don't know much about his fighting style, if I am quick enough with my punches then what he does wouldn't matter.

All of my hits were thought out and calculated. I hit with precision and enough force. I was quick and swift, never giving him a clear shot to hit. He did end up with a few punches here and there. I kept him on his feet. He was always on the defensive.

I aimed punches and kicks everywhere he I saw a weakness. He favored his right leg, so I swept them out from under him sending him tumbling to the floor. He was getting sloppier. He was getting weaker. There was no holding back.

I pinned him to the floor where he was trying to fight back. I admit, he did get a good punch hitting me in the face. I got him back for it though. I delivered one last punch, my knuckle slamming into the side of his head knocking him out. I gave him once last roundhouse kick to his stomach.

Cammie would have been proud.

Once he was knocked out I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him up. "Look at him." I said addressing Luke's men. "This is the man you have followed. Look at him. I won't hesitate to do even worse to all of you." I was hoping that would get some of them scared enough.

Instead, one of his men glared at him. Then he raised up his gun and shot him in the ribcage. "That's for threatening my sister." It would be a miracle Luke survived that, at that proximately and position, it was too close to his heart. And honestly that is what he deserves for threatening everyone and their loved ones. I dropped Luke and watched as he fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood. It seems less satisfying that I originally.

The rest of the mission went a lot smoother. Once Luke was shot, Solomon interrogated one of the men to find out where the hostages were. Macey and Bex focused on getting some medical help for the director and regrettably Luke. Once they recover from their gunshots wounds, they are going to prison for a long time.

The rest of Luke's men would follow, some of them were blackmailed into joining while others did freely. You can guess which ones got off easier.

When all was said and done, I am glad this was finally over. We can move on with our lives. I can finally take that vacation with Cammie.

We called in the rest of the agency to help with the cleanup and arrests. I left as soon as they arrived. I needed to see Cammie. They called out asking me where I was going, but we are all spies, I think they know where I was headed off to: Cammie.

I found out which hospital she was staying at fairly quickly. I had a feeling visiting hours were over, so I did what Cammie does best and blended in. I opened the door to her room and sighed.

She looked so pale. And all the tubes attached to her made her look so fragile. I sat on the edge of her bed and held her hand in mine. I leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. "I love you Cammie."

I was right where I needed to be.

A/N: New chapter that's only a day late, progress. This is not the last chapter, I'm going to write a new one that wraps everything up more neatly, then there the be the epilogue. But basically this is how the story ends unofficially. What did you think of this ending? Let me know in the comments.

I can't believe this story is so close to finishing. I think it was a year ago when I first started writing this, I'm very slow at updating. But I'm planning on updating the next two chapters quickly. I think you guys are going to like my plan for the epilogue :)

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Also check out my new Gallagher fanfic called Classic. It's a rewrite of So Much for Ever After, and the second chapter is already up!