48 pages • 1 hour read
Ally CarterI'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 27-29Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 27 Summary
Attackers jump out of a van and surround Cammie. She fights them off, but they tie her up and toss her in the van. She recognizes their voices as her professors and realizes this is her Covert Operations final exam. They take her to a warehouse, where Mr. Solomon details the assignment. Cammie has been captured and is one of two packages a retrieval team will be sent to collect, adding that she doesn’t know if she’ll be rescued. Cammie asks if the team is made up of Gallagher Girls. Mr. Solomon says it is, to which Cammie replies “then they'll be here” (257).
Mr. Solomon leaves Cammie with a bookish professor as a guard, who Cammie has tied to the chair in her place quickly. She escapes the building and suddenly hears Liz’s voice over the necklace-communication unit she forgot she was wearing. She meets up with the rest of her class on the roof of a nearby building and they devise a plan to break into where the second package is being kept. Before they can move, Josh arrives. He saw Cammie get kidnapped, followed her, and called the cops. Sirens wail in the distance.
While the girls prepare to leap across the rooftops, Josh demands the real truth from Cammie. She tells him that what he’s seeing—the equipment and secret missions—is the truth and that they can’t ever see each other again. When he tries to argue, she turns her back on him, tells him “I don't have a cat” and attaches herself to the zipline to get to the building across the way (264).
Chapter 28 Summary
The group breaks into the building. Bex and Cammie sneak along, getting as close to the package as they can before giving themselves up as a distraction. Liz cuts the power, and most of the other sophomores attack while one of the smallest girls sneaks into the room and retrieves the package without tripping the floor sensors. Mr. Solomon doesn’t notice the girl and berates the girls on their sloppy work. When Cammie points out the girl, Mr. Solomon is stunned, proving that once again “men will always underestimate girls. Even Gallagher Girls” (270).
Before Mr. Solomon can respond to what just happened, Josh drives a forklift through a wall of the warehouse, toppling shelves and yelling for Cammie. Since the exam and all Cammie’s lies are over, she says the only thing that comes to mind: “I'd like you to meet my mom” (272).
Chapter 29 Summary
As she cleans up after the long night, Cammie realizes that the best-case scenario is that Josh is forced to drink memory-removal tea to forget her and the Academy. In the morning, she goes to see her mother, expecting Josh to be gone, but finds him still there. He goes into the hall while Cammie’s mom and Mr. Solomon reveal they knew about Josh almost from the beginning. Her mom asks why Cammie didn’t tell her, and Cammie admits she didn’t want her mom to be ashamed. Mr. Solomon says there’s nothing to be ashamed of and asks Cammie if she’s sure she wants to continue with Covert Operations. Cammie’s sure, and Mr. Solomon promises her that she’ll be field ready by the time she graduates because “I owe your old man that much” (278).
In the hallway, Cammie finds Josh and apologizes again for all the lies. He’s angry because he feels like she never told him anything real, but she insists she did, adding that she spends her school breaks on a farm but will be back. Josh shoots her a sweet smile as he turns to leave, but right as Cammie feels like there’s a chance for them, he adds “tell your mom thanks for the tea” (282).
Cammie stands frozen on the stairs until her classmates start to mill around her. Bex, Liz, and Macey retrieve her to study for finals. As she walks up the stairs with them, she realizes she doesn’t know what the future will bring, but she knows her friends will be beside her, and that’s enough for a good spy.
Chapters 27-29 Analysis
These final chapters are the true climactic scene and resolution of the novel. Josh’s arrival on the roof shows that, despite how Cammie lied, he really does care about her. After seeing her get jumped and kidnapped, he does what a “normal” boy would do and call the police because someone is in danger. In Cammie’s world, this “normal” action is never something that would be considered, which is the final divide between the worlds she and Josh live in. Cammie makes her choice when she turns her back on him, and there’s no going back.
In the final chapter, Cammie learns her mom and Mr. Solomon knew about Josh almost the entire time, which teaches Cammie she still has a lot to learn. Though she was careful and touts herself as invisible, her actions were detected and followed. Throughout the story, Cammie thought Josh was the only person who truly saw her, which isn’t true. The fact that her mom and Mr. Solomon kept such close tabs on her shows that they not only see her but also care about what happens to her. Being seen by spies tells Cammie she belongs among them and that she doesn’t need to feel alone or invisible because the people who love her see her.
The tea Cammie’s mom gives Josh is the memory-wiping tea, which sets up Cammie to start fresh without Josh in the sequel. Josh argues that Cammie lied about everything, not realizing that Cammie changed the details of her life but didn’t change the important figures or her relationships with them. The truths in Cammie’s cover show how there are parts of us we can’t hide, even when we lie. Cammie’s attempt to make plans with Josh for the following semester are an insincere final attempt to have both worlds. She already knows where she belongs, and she’s reluctant to release the idea of having the best of both worlds. When she realizes Josh won’t remember her tomorrow, she gives up on a future that involves him and gets back to her daily routine, knowing she has her friends and the life she’s meant for.
