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

by Julia Derek

  “Yes, two men were arrested and then cross-examined by Detective Garcia. But they were cut loose in the end. That same day in fact.”

  “Really? Detective Garcia did the cross? Why not Brady? In the email, he told me he’d do it, and that he also believed that the two suspects were as good as a sure thing. You know the captain doesn’t use words such as those unless he means them.”

  “No, I do know that. So you didn’t hear then?”

  “Hear what?” I gripped the phone more tightly; I didn’t like the sound of George’s voice.

  “Captain Brady had a heart attack a few days ago. Actually, I think it was the same day that he was going to do the cross of the two suspects… Yes, it was that same morning.”

  “What? He had a heart attack? Is he okay?” Please don’t tell me he is dead… I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle hearing that.

  “He’s alive, but he’s at the hospital still, in critical condition. That was the last I heard.”

  I exhaled, my body relaxing somewhat. Being in critical condition was better than being dead.

  “I’m sorry, Gabi,” George said. “I should have called and let you know as soon as I found out, but I’ve been really busy lately. Also, part of me didn’t want to worry you unnecessarily, if I’m going to be completely honest. We’re all hoping that he’ll be better soon.”

  “That’s okay, George. I totally understand. I’m sure he’ll be fine.” He had to be. Captain Brady wasn’t allowed to die too. That would be so unfair.

  We spoke some more, then hung up. I pressed the phone against my chest as I mouthed a quiet prayer that Captain Brady would be fine. No wonder I hadn’t heard from him if he was lying in a hospital bed, fighting for his life.

  I thought about the two suspects that had been cut loose after being interrogated by Detective Garcia. Carlos Garcia was a decent detective who had worked years longer than I had at the LAPD, having been promoted to level three status last year. I had no reason to question why he’d been chosen to interrogate the suspects in place of Brady. Even so, it irked me that it had come to nothing when Brady had appeared so convinced that these two men were it. Why had he been so convinced?

  I pondered calling up UCLA Medical Center where George had told me Brady was and see if I could talk to the captain, find out what had made him so sure they were behind Nick’s murder. But I soon gave up on that idea; there was no chance in hell that any nurse would allow me to speak to Brady if he was still in critical condition. I’d just have to wait until he was feeling better. I’ll shoot him an email and ask him to get back to me when he is able to, I thought.

  But what if he dies? a small voice in my head asked. Then you’ll never find out, Gabi.

  A sense of discomfort jolted me as I considered this possibility. If he was in critical condition, it could very well happen, even though I didn’t want to admit this to myself.

  Fuck. What the hell should I do? I couldn’t just sit here and wait to see if he responded to my email. I needed to do something. Anything was better than just waiting.

  I Googled the number to the UCLA Medical Center and soon found it. Having dialed it, I held the phone against my ear, listening to the rings as they went through.

  “UCLA Medical Center, how can I help you?” a pleasant female voice answered.

  “Hello,” I began, having taken a deep breath to steady my voice. “I’m calling about one of your patients. A James Brady. My name is Gabriella Longoria and I’m a friend of his. I was told he was in critical condition having suffered a heart attack. Has his condition improved?”

  “What was the name again?”

  “James Brady. He’s a captain at the LAPD and I’m one of his detectives.”

  “Hold on a moment and I’ll check for you. May I put you on hold?”

  “Of course.”

  While I was waiting for the nurse to get back on the line, I chewed on my nails, praying that she wouldn’t tell me that he had in fact already passed. By the time she was back, very little of my nails remained.

  “Detective Longoria?”

  “Yes, I’m still here.”

  “Good news. The captain’s condition has improved somewhat. He’s now considered to be in serious condition only, not critical.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from letting out the big breath that I’d been holding and a gasp came out of my mouth. “Oh, thank God for that! Thank you so much for giving me this information, nurse.”

  “You’re welcome, Detective. Have a good evening.”

  I disconnected the phone and thought of what to do about the encouraging news. My first instinct was to take a cab to the airport and see if I could get on a flight to L.A., and then wait for Captain Brady to improve further so I could get to him as soon as he was able to talk. In fact, being in serious condition, he might be able to talk right now. But I soon came to my senses; I couldn’t just leave my job as a trainer at Nikkei like that, stay away for days. It was bad enough that I had canceled on my evening clients with such short notice yesterday afternoon. I suddenly remembered that I had Dante and that he knew the captain.

  I would just send Dante to talk to Brady.

  Shooting to my feet, I searched my apartment for the disposable cell I’d used to call him with yesterday. I soon found it and dialed his number. Unfortunately, he didn’t pick up and instead the call went to voicemail.

  “Dante, please call me as soon as you hear this. I need a favor. It’s very important.”

  Hopefully, he’d get back to me shortly.

  ***

  Jonah was working out alone on the fifth floor the following afternoon, toward the end of my floor shift. It was the perfect opportunity for me to approach him and ask him why he’d lashed out at my client the day before. Ian and I had briefly discussed me bringing up the matter to Rolf before parting ways yesterday. We’d soon discarded that idea, though, as Ariel had mentioned to Ian that my fitness manager was in on the conspiracy, not to mention me having seen him being so friendly with Damon Chatterly, making plans to meet up with the governor.

  So instead I began looking for opportunities to corner Jonah and see what I could squeeze out of him. I hadn’t counted on one falling into my hands as soon as I was on the only shift I had left. But there he was, grunting as he was lifting two huge dumbbells over his head repeatedly.

  I sauntered up to him, sitting on the workout bench next to him, and waited for him to finish his set.

  He dumped the heavy dumbbells on the floor, producing two loud thumps.

  “Hello, Jonah,” I said and gave him my most friendly smile.

  He turned his head toward me and blew his long, dark bangs out of his gorgeous, blue eyes.

  “Oh, hi, Jamie. How’s it going?” There was a big smile on his lips, like he couldn’t be happier to see me.

  I stared at him, sure that he must be mocking me. That was so not the reaction I had expected from him. But when he just kept smiling, his eyebrows going up slightly as though wanting to know what had prompted me to take a seat on that bench, I decided that he simply couldn’t be mocking me. He was sincerely happy to see me and had meant that question, “How’s it going?”

  “I’m good,” I said, wary still. “What about you?”

  “Fantastic. I just made the top five trainer list of the club.” His smile grew wider.

  Every month Rolf sent out a list of the five trainers with the most clients to all the trainers so we knew how well we were doing. I had noticed that Jonah was on that list when I’d checked my email last night.

  “Really?” I said. “That’s great, Jonah! Congratulations. You deserve it, you work hard.”

  “Thanks, Jamie. I’m sure you’ll be on that list yourself soon.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe, we’ll see.” I cleared my throat and prepared myself for bringing up what I had come for. “Um, Jonah. What was all that about yesterday?”

  He tilted his head, gazing at me from under his long bangs with a confused expression.

 
“What do you mean?”

  “What do I…” Okay, I clearly needed to spell things out for this guy. I got to my feet and walked closer to him so that our faces were only inches away from each other. “Why did you lash out at my client like that? What do you have against him? Did he do something to you?”

  “Huh?” Jonah said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Okay, now I was getting annoyed. This guy just had to be screwing with me for some weird reason, but he was taking it too far. It wasn’t funny. I told him so.

  “But I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jamie! Which client are you referring to anyway?”

  I clenched my teeth. “You know exactly who I’m referring to. Cut the bullshit and tell me what that was all about yesterday. Why did you tell my client Ian that he was not gonna get it? That it was going to be all yours, including me? Ring a bell now?”

  Taking a step back, he raised his hands as if he needed to defend himself against me. “Whoa. Take it easy, girl. Are you high or something? I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.”

  The glint of violence that flashed through his eyes in that moment contradicted his fervent denial, however. He knew exactly what I was referring to, but for some reason he was hell-bent on pretending like he didn’t. He stared at me with the same intensity as I was using eyeing him and crossed his arms. A small smile curled his lips then.

  “I always thought you might have a problem with drugs,” he stated calmly. “As hard as you work out, you must be on some kind of upper. Everybody talks about it. What’s your drug of choice, Jamie? Coke? Amphetamines?” That smile on his face grew wider, and his eyes flashed with that same fury I’d witnesses yesterday. “Maybe a blend of both? I think that client of yours is into heroin. That and alcohol. Actually, I know that he is. I read about it in the papers.”

  I returned his smile with one of my own. “Ah, so you do know what I’m talking about then. You read about him in the papers, huh? What else do you know about him?”

  He leaned closer to me and whispered, “That you’re an idiot for fucking him. If you were with me, you’d be so much better off. One day you’ll see that I’m right. But then it might just be too late.”

  I had clearly struck a nerve inside Jonah, whose face was slowly turning a light purple color. I needed to milk his anger, take advantage of his fragile temper. Make him talk.

  “Really?” I said. “I will? Can you please explain why that’s so? Exactly why would I be so much better off?”

  “If you were my girlfriend, you’d be an untouchable of course. I can guarantee you that.”

  An untouchable? What the hell is this guy talking about? I wanted to ask him what it meant to be an untouchable, but changed my mind at the last second. I got the sense that it was better if he didn’t realize I had no idea what he was babbling about.

  “An untouchable, huh?” I said instead. “How could I be an untouchable when you aren’t? They told me you weren’t.” I was just throwing words out there, hoping some would stick, trigger him to reveal more useful information.

  His face went fully purple then, and I knew my gut had been right in suggesting that I should act like I was in on it as much as he was. To my surprise, he closed his eyes and sucked in a couple of deep breaths. Opening them again, he looked at me with arrogant eyes. Then he leaned so close to me that I could feel his hot breath against my skin.

  “Whoever told you that, I’ll make sure they’re eliminated,” he hissed furiously. Then he swiveled around and marched out of the huge weight room.

  I don’t know how long I was standing there, just looking in the direction in which Jonah had disappeared. Okay, so Jonah is definitely in on it then, I thought. And must think I was, too. I wondered what made him think that.

  I threw cautious glances around me to see if anyone had overheard our exchange that had turned increasingly heated. It didn’t seem like I had anything to worry about; as it was four in the afternoon and summer now, there were few people working out at the moment. The ones that were wore headphones that had effectively blocked out our conversation.

  As I started walking, eager to get a message to Ian that I had experienced something that might potentially be very helpful, my phone rang in my pocket. Fishing it out, I hurried to the club’s cell phone designated area before picking up.

  Dante’s name lit up the screen. I pressed Talk and answered.

  “Hey,” I whispered.

  “Hey, chica, you okay? I heard your message.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Why are you calling this number? You should use the other.”

  “I know, but I got worried when I heard what you said and you didn’t pick up the other one. I’ve been tryin’ you the whole morning.”

  Having overslept this morning, I remembered that I’d forgotten to bring my disposable phone as I’d rushed out of my place. “I’ll call you in an hour. I’ll be home then. Okay?”

  “I’ll be expectin’ your call.”

  Chapter 6

  After I had called Dante on my disposable as promised and asked him to go talk to Captain Brady at the hospital for me, I texted Ian to meet me at our place—code for Aroma Coffee Shop—as soon as he could. Thirty minutes later, after I had nearly finished the sandwich I had ordered, he entered the establishment.

  Spotting me, he strode up to the table where I sat.

  “You found out something important?” he asked and sat down next to me.

  “I think you could say that,” I replied, wiping my mouth with a napkin. “I spoke to Jonah about his behavior yesterday.”

  Ian leaned closer, putting an elbow on the table. “Really? That was fast. What did he say?”

  I told him about our little clash on the gym floor.

  “Hmm,” Ian said when I had finished. “Well, now we can certainly count on this bloke being a hybrid and that he’ll easily crack if pushed. That’s very good to know. Great job on that one, Gabi.” He stroked his chin with his thumb and index finger the way he so often did when he was pondering something. “I wonder what he meant by being an ‘untouchable…’ Maybe they have some kind of ranking system amongst themselves, too.”

  I scoffed. “Yeah, maybe some of them are considered super super humans and better than the rest. Judging from how mad he got, it’s clear Jonah considers it a grave insult not to be an untouchable. And he must also think I know what it means to be an untouchable.”

  “I agree and that’s odd. I should see if hacking his email will yield something to shed light on that. Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if he uses the same security as the rest of Adler in which case I won’t be able to get through.” Ian sighed heavily. “If only I could figure out how to get through their bloody security…”

  “Yeah, if only you could. No use in beating yourself up about that though.” I patted his shoulder to soothe him as I was well aware how much this bothered him. “At least we now know that zeroing in on Jonah could pay high dividends. That’s something.” I sat up taller as an idea suddenly occurred to me. The more I considered it, the better I thought it was. The corners of my mouth stretched into a small smile.

  “Okay, what are you so happy about all of a sudden?” Ian asked, shoving me lightly.

  I could feel the smile on my lips growing bigger and bigger. I nodded to myself. Yes, it is a very, very good idea, I decided and then fixed my gaze on Ian.

  “I think I’m gonna ask Jonah out on a date.”

  Ian’s eyes widened a touch. “You’re going to do what?”

  “Exactly what I just told you—ask Jonah out on a date. The poor guy is clearly yearning for more of my company. And I wouldn’t mind spending some time with him. In fact, I wouldn’t mind sleeping with the guy. He might be a loose cannon, but he’s a hot loose cannon. I bet ya he’s great in the sack. Only twenty-two and bursting with energy.” I nudged Ian playfully and grinned meaningfully, wiggling my eyebrows. “You remember what it’s like to be twenty-two, don’t you? Wasn’t that your pri
me?”

  I was obviously just kidding about wanting to sleep with Jonah—I didn’t want to sleep with him at all, but I’d happily make him think that I’d do it to get information out of him. The world as we knew it was at risk after all.

  Ian twisted in his seat, his nostrils flaring. “I’m not okay with you sleeping with him.”

  I raised a brow at him. I had expected him to applaud the lengths I was willing to go for our cause, not this kind of a sulky attitude. But just as I was about to fire off the sarcastic comment that had formed on my tongue, telling him that he had no say in the matter, I stopped myself. There was a distinct hurt in Ian’s face, even though I could tell that he was doing his best not to let it show.

  Shame surged through me as I realized how thoughtless I’d been. Looking down into my soda, I thought of what to say. It was time for me to straighten out the mess I’d entered when I’d gone to bed with Ian that very first night. Deep inside I’d always known that, while I was very sexually attracted to him, he had more feelings for me than I had for him. I hadn’t wanted to face that at the time because sleeping with him suited me, gave me what I needed. An escape from reality. Pleasure and relaxation. But what about him? What about what he needed? He wanted more. I knew that even though he’d never actually spelled it out to me. Except for now maybe.

  I raised my head, opened my mouth to tell him that I was sorry if I had given him the impression there was more between us than there was. It had never been my intention to hurt him in any way; I was only giving him as much of myself as I could in this particular moment in time. That might change in the future, but I couldn’t guarantee it.

  But before I could say anything, he spoke, “I’m sorry, Gabi. I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know what came over me. Your idea is great. In fact, it’s brilliant. Men are always more likely to talk during sex, and I’m sure Jonah isn’t any different. You should make it happen as soon as possible and squeeze out as much info as you can out of him. We don’t have much time and we need to both do everything we can to fight them.”