Barking Up the Wrong Lead - A Gallagher Girls Story

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

The tension in the room rose as my father and I—both ticking time bombs—sat far too close to each other. In my attempt to look anywhere but at Dad, my eyes scanned Grandpa Joe’s desk, spotting a packet labeled BLACKTHORNE and a copy of Espionage Today.  I read the headlines, trying to find any excuse not to speak.  “20 ways to make your hair stay put during an op!” promised one.  “Today’s Top Gadgets” said another.  “Op Gone Wrong: The Family of Natasha Azarov Speaks Out”.  It was all bologna. 

“Ms. Anderson.  If you could give us the room,” said Townsend.

“Ms. Anderson stays,” said Grandpa Joe certainly.  Alice—who only let her shock show for a moment—nodded firmly at Townsend as if to say you heard the guy.

Townsend didn’t hide his distaste towards the idea.  “The matters which we are going to discussed are highly classified—”

“I’m not at my youngest, Townsend,” Grandpa Joe cut him off.  “I’ve been teaching for a long time, but sometimes I think that I’ve learned more lessons than I’ve taught.  One of those lessons is that as soon as one of these girls knows something, they both know it.  We might as well keep them both in the room and decrease the spread of misinformation.”

Townsend looked to Abby for backup, but it looked like Grandpa Joe had her convinced.  “Fine,” he growled.

“What are you doing here?” Dad asked, throwing a hand up in the air.  His foot tapped.  His fingers twitched.  Dad wanted to run.

Townsend sat up a little straighter.  He looked like a thinner, more confident version of his son.  “Langley has made me the official American ambassador for the case.”

Case?  What case?

“There’s something ironic about a man with an English accent being appointed an American ambassador,” Dad said.  It seemed like the words were trying to be sour.  Like he had meant for it to be an insult.

But if the words stung Townsend in any way, he didn’t let it show.  “They figured that someone with my particular knowledge would make a valuable addition to the team,” he said.  I didn’t know what particular knowledge Townsend had, but he sure seemed pretty proud of it.  “Not to mention the fact that I know the agency better than anyone else.”

Dad looked like he wanted to fight it, but couldn’t dispute the facts.  “Well how about you?”  He turned to Aunt Abby.  “What’s your excuse?”

“Six couldn’t keep me off this case if they killed me,” she said, every bit of determination within her shining through.

“Well I don’t see why we need—”

“You had you chance, Zach,” Abby said.  “Now it’s our turn.”

The words didn’t mean anything to me, but evidently that was not the case for Dad.  His eyes widened and he started to raise his voice.  “We don’t need to do this with her.”

Well, by “her” I was pretty sure he meant me, which, I have to admit, sparked my interest.  I glanced over at Alice to make sure that she was hearing this too—that it wasn’t some weird trick of the ears.  Maybe after all this time of overhearing, they were finally starting to crap out on me.  But one look at Alice’s face told me that everything I heard was really happening.

“She’s the only lead we’ve got,” Townsend replied, his voice calmer than Dad’s.

At this, Dad jumped up off of the little couch, pointing a finger at Townsend.  “My daughter is not a lead.  She is a person.”  And then he turned to Grandpa Joe.  “You know how she gets.”