Spy Between the Lines (formerly New World, Old Foe) [Gallagher Girls Fanfiction]

Chapter One

My other work-
Tailing the Chameleon, Until Death Do We Stop Spying, Winters-McHenry for President, Finishing What We Started

(First chapter written by Ally Carter. This chapter is just here to get us all on the same page. [I meant that figuratively.]) Skip to Chapter Two to officially start the story.

Some girls are looking at me as I write this. Well, not me, exactly. I think they want this table. I can't really blame them. It's warm here in the sun with the cool breeze washing over these pages. Every now and then I reach down to smooth my plaid skirt, but then I remember that my plaid skirt days are behind me.

Some guys throw a Frisbee across the quad. A man in a tweed jacket parks an old fashioned bicycle near the library. And I sit here, alone and unseen.

A chameleon.

Turns out, you can take the girl out of spy school, but you can never take the spy school out of the girl.

"Here you go," I tell the guys and throw the Frisbee back to them, harder than they must have expected.

"Hey, thanks," one guy tells me. "Wow. You're really strong."

He has no idea.

He's cute, Bex would say. But Bex isn't beside me. None of my friends are, so I'm alone when the guy asks, "Have I seen you before?"

I gather my things and have to smile.

"Nope," I tell him.

"See you around?" the guy asks.

I doubt it.

He doesn't know my story. He hasn't seen my scars. To him, I'm just another freshman, another girl. He can't possibly understand why I bend so easily into the wave of backpacks that fills the sidewalks. He doesn't know me, and I realize that maybe I don't know myself. That I have a lifetime to figure out.

People say that Georgetown University is prettiest in the spring, but the autumn air seems sweet to me. It's the closest thing to freedom that I have ever felt. When the path branches, I can either walk along the main road to and from campus or go down an overgrown path that runs along the river. Most coeds would be afraid to go down the dark, twisting trail alone, but I don't think about it twice. I walk on, sun streaking through the fallen leaves until I pass beneath a stone archway.

Overhead, cars and pedestrians and cyclists make their way to campus. They dont't think about what's down below, but I walk on without another thought.

When I find a derelict-looking door, I punch in a code into a cleverly hidden box and turn the knob. Once inside the cold space, I don't blink as the red line sweeps across my eyes, reading my retinas. I hold my hand to the sensor and wait for another steel door to swing open. Then I step inside and start down the stairs, two at a time.

"Ms. Morgan," Agent Townsend yells from below. "You're late."

"Sorry," I tell him. I hold up my report. "Almost finished," I say, but he doesn't care about the paperwork.

He nods towards the boy who looks like him. "We have a lead on a rogue asset outside of Kabul. CIA wants the two of you. If you have the time?" Townsend asks, almost condescendingly.

The boy looks at me and smiles. "What do you say, Gallagher Girl. Do you?"

I take the file from Townsend's hand.

"Let's go."

Please comment if I make any grammar, punctuation, or spelling mistakes (point out where it is. Ex: "There is a grammar mistake in the fifth chapter in the third paragraph.") Thank you!