Girl Undercover 6 & 7: Emma's Secret & The Truth

by Julia Derek

  “Fine. Though it’s not like there are that many people in here.” The closest ones sat about ten yards away from us.

  “True. But you don’t know who that busboy works for.” A small, Mexican-looking man was cleaning the tables right next to us. “He may very well be undercover for them.”

  I had to force myself not to groan; I really needed to put an end to this… sickness of his. But not today; I didn’t have the energy for the gasket he’d surely blow when I finally did.

  “In regards to where the meeting will be held, it won’t be so hard to figure out,” Ian continued. “If only I had access to her email account, it’d be a piece of cake.” He sighed heavily. “But I don’t.”

  “Really? Can’t you just hack into her computer like you did to Ron’s and get into it that way?” I asked and sipped my latte.

  Ian shook his head morosely. “No, I’ve already tried hacking both her and Chatterly’s computers. They must be using the same security Adler’s using for Nikkei’s networks ’cause I can’t get into either. Trust me, I keep trying. By the time I’ve figured it out, it’ll likely be too late.”

  Having a bite of my sandwich, I thought about how I’d seen the senator log into her email account to email me earlier. How her big smartphone screen had said something like 69MARISSA in the gym mirror. That just had to have been her password. “Would it help if you had her password? I have her email address, so I’m assuming the first part of that is her username.”

  “Yes, it would.” Ian grabbed my arm hard, fixing his wild gaze on me again. “Wait, you’re not telling me you have her password, are you?”

  He looked so crazy that I regretted bringing it up. What had I been thinking? I hadn’t; that was the problem. Well, it didn’t really matter, so I said, “Yes, I think I may know her password actually.”

  “Tell me.”

  My eyes went down to his hand that was squeezing the life out of my upper arm.

  “I will if you stop hurting me.”

  Ian instantly let go of my arm. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize—”

  “It’s okay,” I said, cutting him off. Then I explained how Janine hadn’t trusted that I would remember to send her a workout program unless she sent me a reminder message and how she’d sent the message during our session.

  “So her screen read 69MARISSA in the mirror you’re saying?” Ian asked when I was done. “Are you sure?”

  “Either that or 96MARISSA. I couldn’t tell as it was all backwards. The letters were much easier to make out.”

  Ian narrowed his eyes, looking pensive. “I bet you Marissa is the name of her mistress and that the numbers were 69… They’re lesbians after all.”

  He winked and grinned while nudging me. I rolled my eyes at him, but at the same time I couldn’t help but think that he was probably correct. His grin grew wider and wider.

  “Okay, tell me why you’re grinning like a madman,” I demanded. “It can’t be just ’cause your head fell into the gutter. At least I hope there’s more to you than that.”

  “There is. I just decided that I’m going to pay the senator’s house a little visit…”

  Chapter 2

  I stared at him. “You’re gonna what? Break into her house?”

  “Yep. It’s the only way I can get into her computer. Seems easier than trying to get hold of her smartphone. Well, marginally, but still easier. She probably carries her phone with her everywhere like most people, while her computer is likely left alone for long stretches of time. She does have a place she stays at while in the city, correct?”

  “Yes, she’s mentioned she has an apartment here. But can’t you just get into her account from your house?”

  It had struck me that I wouldn’t mind taking a look at the senator’s account myself; that way I’d perhaps learn more about what made the woman tick and discover why she had such issues with both Ariel and Emma. I wasn’t sure breaking into her house was worth that look, though. If I joined Ian and we were caught, we’d both go to jail. An ex-con like Ian might not care, but I for one didn’t want to spend a significant part of my future behind bars.

  Ian frowned at me. “I just told you. I can’t get into her computer because of the security. The only way to do it is if I have her smartphone or am at her actual computer and have her username and password. If we’re lucky, she has a desktop at her New York address. If not, surely she brings a laptop or at least an iPad as she travels. It should be at her house here.”

  I had another bite of my sandwich. While chewing, I thought about how I would have loved to have access to this incredibly hacker-proof software Adler was using. I didn’t trust that Ian would never again take a peek into my own computer.

  “What’s her New York address?” Ian asked.

  I pointed to my mouth to show him that I couldn’t answer right away. Finally, I swallowed. “I actually don’t know.”

  “Nikkei must have a record of that. Let’s go over there and check.”

  “Now?”

  “Yes, now. Isn’t it still open?”

  I checked the time on my smartphone. It was only slightly past eight.

  “Yeah, the club doesn’t close until eleven. Let me please just finish eating and then we’ll go. The senator mentioned she was going to dinner and a play tonight, so she should be out most of the night.” I wasn’t making that up; she had mentioned something along those lines as I stretched her out after her workout.

  Ian looked pleased. “Really? And you’re sure she was referring to tonight?”

  “I’m positive,” I said with more conviction than I felt. But it was the only way I’d get to enjoy my latte and sandwich, not just gobble it down like Ian seemed to want me to do.

  As I ate and drank, he kept pretending like he was just relaxing, putting his arms behind his neck while gazing out the window at passers-by on the street in front of Aroma. But I could tell that he was dying for me to be done so we could leave.

  I didn’t let him stress me, though. I needed some time to think about what to do, if maybe I should risk going to jail in exchange for getting a look at Janine’s emails after all. It would take another couple of weeks before I saw the senator again. Who knew, maybe it would take longer. Maybe I’d never see her again. The senator struck me as a fickle person. Not only that, I couldn’t count on her opening up enough about Ariel and Emma for me to figure out what was going on.

  It really would be stupid not to take a look at her emails when I have the chance, I thought. You could learn a lot about a person going through their emails. Being such a fast reader, I could learn tons about the senator in a short amount of time. If only there was another way than breaking into her house to get a look at her emails… Something struck me then—why not use the same method I had used when I got the contents out of Cardoza’s smartphone? A smile spread across my lips as I turned to Ian.

  “Hey, can’t you copy the contents of her email account onto a flash drive and bring it with you?”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because people who are as technologically savvy as Adler surely have some kind of an alert system in place to warn them that an account has been compromised. It may even shut down completely if I try to copy it all. It’s not worth the risk. It’s better to use her usual login info and just pretend to be her. Besides, we only need her most recent emails. Surely we’ll find out where the meeting will be held by going through those.”

  I exhaled. “Okay, fine. I’ll go with you.” I simply couldn’t forego such a great opportunity to learn more about the senator.

  Ian’s eyes widened. “You’ll come with me to her apartment?”

  I shrugged. “Why not? I’m sure you could use my help.” While at the senator’s place, I’d try my best to check as many of her emails as I could. Hopefully I’d find something of interest.

  He smiled. “Yes, I agree. I’d be stupid to say no to such an offer.”

  I took my tray and
carried it to the counter where the dirty trays were kept. Then I turned to Ian. “Let’s go.”

  Twenty minutes later we were inside Nikkei and I found Janine’s NYC address in the computer system there. She lived in a high rise in midtown.

  We jumped in a cab and, after taking a quick detour to Ian’s place, we headed to her address. While on the road, we concocted a plan how to get around the doormen who would surely be guarding the entrance. Ian also explained to me how to use the set of bump keys and screwdriver he’d picked up at his house.

  “One of these five will slide into the lock,” he whispered, showing me the different keys in his hand. “Once one does, pull it out a notch and turn it to the right just a touch. Hold it in that position and give it a couple of taps with this.”

  He indicated the handle of the screwdriver he was holding in his other hand.

  “And then it’ll open?” I asked in as discreet a voice as Ian had used. As always, I doubted the cabdriver gave a damn what we were discussing, but since in this case the topic of our conversation was how to break into someone’s house, I thought it safer to whisper.

  “Yep. It’s really quite easy.”

  I gave him a raised eyebrow. “I take it you have practice?”

  He gave me a devilish little smile. “You could say that.”

  My thoughts immediately went to that Washington Post article I’d read about him, having been part of a burglary, but they were soon interrupted by Ian.

  “If you can’t get in, just text me and we’ll use plan B.”

  Plan B consisted of Ian showing the doormen his FBI badge and pretending to be doing an investigation in the building. After getting by the doormen, he’d join me and open the lock to the senator’s front door.

  As we arrived, Ian paid the driver and we got out. There was a deli nearby that we went into. We had a good view of the high rise entrance via the deli’s windows. The idea was that I was going in first by tagging a tenant coming home; bringing the FBI into the mix could potentially create a lot of unwanted attention. After I’d gotten by the doormen and hopefully managed to get into Janine’s place, I would pretend to be a friend of hers staying at her place. Claiming to be Janine herself was too risky as the doormen might remember her having left for the evening. When I was inside her apartment, Ian would tell the doormen that he was delivering food to me, Janine’s buddy.

  It only took a couple of minutes until an elderly couple was heading toward the entrance. We studied them for a few seconds. Then Ian hissed, “They’re perfect. Go!”

  Agreeing, I hurried out of the deli and walked up to the couple that appeared to be tenants. They weren’t carrying stuff like flowers or wine that would suggest they were only visiting someone, not living there, and they also seemed comfortable with their surroundings. Thankfully, I was wearing a conservative top and jeans with cute flats that I’d changed into when finishing work; my look fit well with theirs. Walking closely behind the couple as they entered the building, I mumbled silent prayers the doorman would in fact assume we belonged together.

  “Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Steinberg,” the smiling man who opened the door for them said. When his eyes moved to me, I gave him a nod and a shy smile, holding my breath all the while that Mr. and Mrs. Steinberg wouldn’t all of a sudden notice they had a human shadow.

  To my utmost relief, I not only managed to convince the doorman we were together, but the elderly couple remained clueless about me as they continued deeper into the high rise.

  As soon as we were out of sight from the front desk and before the first bank of elevators, I stepped away and positioned myself by the elevator farthest away from them. Not even as I was in their line of sight did the man and woman seem to notice me despite that they just stood there, not engaging in conversation. Even so, I only allowed myself to relax when I was alone inside an elevator. I zipped up to the twenty-third floor where the senator lived.

  So far, so good, I thought, exhaling a huge breath.

  Now I only needed to get into the apartment.

  The elevator pinged as I reached the senator’s floor and the door slid open, allowing me to exit. I scurried out of the car and soon determined in which direction apartment 23 F was. Fortunately, the corridor was completely empty at the moment. I hurried toward my destination and, within short, I found myself before a white door that said 23 F in golden letters.

  Having made sure I was alone still, I stuck my hand into my purse to find the bump keys and the screwdriver. Before I could pull them out, it dawned on me that I couldn’t just count on the senator being out for the night. It was best to double-check by ringing her doorbell first.

  I pressed the doorbell hard three times, then scurried around a nearby corner so that she wouldn’t spot me was she in fact to open the door. While hiding, I kept sticking my nose out to see if she was appearing. I let two minutes pass before I dared returning to her door, assuming she must be gone then.

  Pulling out the equipment from my purse and ensuring that no other people were around, I got to work. I only had to insert two keys to determine which to use. I pulled it out a notch and then turned it to the right just a touch as Ian had explained. Grabbing the screwdriver that I held between my teeth, I tapped the key hard once. To my surprise, the entire door slid open.

  What the… Had Janine forgotten to lock the door? Or did she just not care to lock her door, thinking she was safe enough living in a doorman building? From what I knew of the senator so far, the former seemed most likely. Actually, neither option seemed likely; the woman seemed quite anal-retentive.

  Throwing a couple of glances over my shoulder first, I pushed the door open all the way. It was dark and quiet inside the senator’s apartment, and it felt deserted. I ventured into her long hallway, closing the door behind me.

  Well, that was easy, I thought, smiling to myself as I searched for a light switch along the wall. I soon found one and turned on the light. I peeked into the bathroom on one side of the hallway and the kitchen that was on the other.

  Tiptoeing farther into the apartment, I ended up in a quiet living room. A door in one of the living room walls had been left ajar. I assumed it led to the bedroom. I scurried over there and saw that it did, and that it was also empty.

  I found my phone in my purse and texted Ian to proceed with part two of plan A.

  A few minutes later, the intercom next to the front door sounded. I picked up the receiver attached to it and said, “Hello.”

  “Good evening,” a cheery male voice said. “I have some take-out for your unit.”

  “Yes, please send it up.”

  “Will do.”

  I thanked him and then put the receiver back in place. As I waited for Ian to come up, I checked the time. Nine twenty. If Janine was out for dinner and a play, we should have at least another hour before she returned, maybe more. But an hour should be enough. Looking around the living room, I spotted an open laptop on the coffee table. Bingo.

  There was a light knock on the door then. I hurried over to the front door. Even though I had no reason to doubt it was someone other than Ian, I still checked the peephole. There he was, wearing a dark ball hat. The hat’s brim, while pulled down low over his face, didn’t succeed in hiding his urgent expression.

  I let him inside.

  “There’s an open MacBook on the coffee table,” I hissed and indicated the living room at the end of the hallway we were in.

  “Great,” Ian replied as we headed in that direction. “And great job picking the lock so quickly.”

  I decided that I might as well let him keep thinking I was such a great burglar; no point in wasting time trying to guess why exactly the senator hadn’t locked her door.

  Throwing aside the white plastic grocery bag in his hand, he plopped down on the black leather couch, putting the laptop on his lap. I sat down beside him and watched him push a couple of buttons on the keyboard that made the screen light up.

  It asked for a username and a password.
/>   Holding my breath, Ian typed the username I’d given him and marissa69 as the password.

  The screen immediately opened up.

  “Wow!” I exclaimed. “We got in.”

  Ian gave me a quizzical look. “Why does that surprise you so much? Most people use the same username and password for everything.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” I got to my feet and went to turn off all the lights just in case the senator decided to come back home early. Not that I thought that she would, but if it was dark, at least she wouldn’t instantly think someone had broken into her place and we’d have some time to hide.

  Ian looked up from the computer. “Why are you turning off the lights? Didn’t you say she was out for the night?”

  “Yeah, but she could always change her mind and come back home, right?”

  Ian nodded with appreciation. “Good thinking. You should also lock the door. I think I left it open.”

  I went up to the front door and pretended to lock it. It was smarter to leave it open as it had been open when I got there. Then I returned to Ian.

  He was already inside the senator’s email account.

  “Aha!” he said, grinning pleased. “Looks like they’re meeting at Le Bernardin tomorrow. I know that place.”

  He pointed at an email from the senator addressed to several other people, some of them ending with .gov, which suggested they were part of the U.S. government. The email’s subject line said “Dinner May 19, Le Bernardin.” He clicked it open, revealing a message inside that was short, mostly reminding all attendees that the reservation was at eight p.m. and explaining the exact location of the restaurant.

  He put the laptop back on the coffee table. “That was easier than I’d thought. Let’s go.”

  “Wait,” I said, grabbing his arm before he could let go off the computer. “Let’s scroll through some of her other emails to see what else is in there.” Now that I had managed to get into the senator’s apartment and was staring at her personal emails, I’d be damned if I’d leave before I had scrolled through several more of her correspondence.