by Julia Derek
GIRL UNDERCOVER
Part Twelve—Showdown
Julia Derek
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Published by Adrenaline Books
Copyright © 2015 by Julia Derek
This is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Published as an e-book October 2015 by Adrenaline Books.
To find out more about the author and to sign up for her new books release, visit JuliaDerek.com
Cover design by Luly Blazek at Kalosys Art.
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MORE JULIA DEREK BOOKS
THE SMILEY KILLER(YA Thriller)
The Smiley Killer
THE DIARY(Dark Psychological Thriller)
The Diary
THE L.A. GIRLS ROMANCE SERIES (Sexy Romantic Suspense)
Trigger
Love Cursed
Undercover Lovers
Lovely Revenge
* * *
The Girl Undercover Serial is dedicated to Brad Slaight, a great friend and tireless critic/supporter of all my writing.
Chapter 1
“The coups are taking place in ten days?” I asked, my stomach twisting with pain as I gripped the phone more tightly with one hand, the steering wheel of my car with my other. “I hope this is not your idea of a joke, Ian, because if it is, it’s definitely not funny.”
“Do you really think I’d ever joke about something like that?” Ian replied gravely.
No, unfortunately I didn’t think that he ever would. Especially not after I had just told him how both Dr. Kelly and Dr. Juback had died, one falling to his death and the other shot, while they tried to escape their captivity. Ian was not a crude man.
“No,” I said, my voice small as the enormity of what he had said sank into my head—The Adler Group’s New Year’s Eve was not December 31st. It was August 1st. Which meant we had ten days, not five months and ten days to figure out how to stop Stenger from realizing his perverted worldview. How the hell would we make that happen in so little time? I told Ian what was going through my mind.
He exhaled heavily. “I don’t know, but one way or another, we’ll have to figure it out. Because we must stop them. I literally found out only minutes ago, so I haven’t had time to think about it that much yet.”
I bit the inside of my lip, chewed on it so hard that I soon tasted blood. “Well, I guess I don’t have to worry about what to tell Jonah about what happened to the doctors then…”
“No, you don’t.”
Part of me still refused to believe the bomb Ian had just dropped on me was for real. Wasn’t it possible that Ian had misheard Jonah? “Are you absolutely sure you understood him right? I mean, you’d think he’d have mentioned something about the coups to me if they’re about to take place so soon. I can’t remember him talking about it at all.”
“Yes, I’m absolutely sure. What’s there for him to say? How excited he is about them happening? Maybe he’s nervous they’ll fail. Has he said something that makes you think they won’t happen August 1st?”
I thought about Ian’s questions, went over in my mind the conversations I had shared with Jonah. “Not exactly. But I still think he’d say something about it, as much of a blabbermouth as he is. Worry about that they won’t go as planned like you just suggested.”
Again, that terrible sensation that Stenger and The Adler Group’s mission was unstoppable seized me, causing me to shiver with cold despite the pleasant July weather here in Los Angeles.
“Sadly, if we’re to go by Jonah’s actions recently, it doesn’t seem he’s all that worried actually,” Ian said, putting my fears into words. “Like publicly killing Nicki. That was a bold move. And, blabbermouth or not, I seriously doubt he’d have been so open to you about everything unless he firmly believed his father would succeed.” He paused, as though something occurred to him. “There’s of course another possibility.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe Jonah doesn’t know when the coups are taking place, only that they are at some point. That would explain why he’s not talking about them more with you right now.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“But I’m sure he does know. If you don’t believe me, you could always ask him about them directly.”
I gasped. “What? You mean I should just call him up and ask him when his father plans his takeover? Um, I don’t think that’ll work. He”—I suddenly remembered that Jonah had in fact mentioned the coups only a couple of days ago. When I asked about getting to meet his dad: “I can’t give you an answer to that. You probably won’t get to meet him until after the coups. He’s really stressed out right now. You know, worried that everything will go according to plan.”
I told Ian this.
“There you go,” he said. “So it certainly seems Jonah knows all about the timeline then. It makes sense Stenger would be so stressed out what with the big day being just around the corner. Which means the coups are happening in ten days, Gabi,” Ian added sternly. “I didn’t misunderstand anything.”
I sighed deeply. Having to accept that Ian must be right made me feel even worse. I wanted to start the car and drive to my hotel room and curl up in the big, comfy bed there, get drunk and forget all about this disaster if only for a few hours. But I couldn’t do that. As difficult as it was, I needed to pull myself together and immediately get to work, come up with a plan together with Ian to stop Stenger and The Adler Group from taking over.
Leaning back into the car seat and closing my eyes, I took a couple of deep breaths. That was all the respite I would allow myself before I returned to reality.
“Okay, fine. They are happening in ten days then,” I said. “The next logical step seems to be me trying to pick Jonah’s brain for as much info as I can regarding them. Of course, he completely shut down on me when I asked about seeing his dad, so I’m not sure that it’ll lead to much.”
“Maybe not, but you should still try. As soon as you’ve spoken to him, call me back and let me know what you found out. If he doesn’t open up easily, just let it be. We don’t need the additional pressure of him going nuts and trying to kill you because he realizes you’ve been manipulating him all this time.”
“Good point.”
Ian inhaled, then said in an ominous tone, “If he doesn’t talk to you, I’m going to have to make him talk. At the very least, he’ll know where his dad can be found. With the coups happening so soon, we have little to lose by making Jonah disappear.” He took a beat before continuing. “Actually, an abduction might even result in Stenger postponing the coups to find his son…”
“That would be good, but we can definitely not count on that. So we need to find him. Are you sure you’d be able to inflict so much pain on Jonah that he’d give up his dad’s whereabouts, though? It’ll probably take some effort.”
For some reason, I had a hard time imagining sophisticated Ian turning into a ruthless torturer—even if Jonah wasn’t the nicest guy on the block.
“I’ll do whatever I have to do in order to save this world,” Ian replied darkly. “If that means I’ll have to burn Jonah with cigarettes or pull his teeth and nails out until he talks, that’s what I’ll do.”
“Got it. Let me call him first and see what I can find out before you do anything drastic. Are you still at the gym?”
“Yes. Well, in the downstairs lobby next to the elevators. Best way to know if Jonah leaves the club.”
“Okay, I’m calling him now. He called me half an hour or so ago. It must’ve been right around the time you overheard him being so upset while talking to that other person. If we’re really lucky, maybe it was because he wante
d to vent to me about something not going right with the coups.”
“We can only hope. Remember to be careful and call me as soon as you’re done with him.”
We disconnected and I found my regular phone in my purse that I had thrown on the passenger seat as I’d gotten into the car. I would use that one instead of the disposable to call Jonah. As the rings went through in my ear, I for once prayed that he himself would pick up and not his voicemail. Much to my relief, he did.
“Hey, Jamie,” he said in a sulky tone. “I tried to call you earlier.”
“Yeah, I saw. I’m so sorry I missed you. I didn’t hear my phone ring.” I clicked my tongue as if annoyed with this. “Something must be wrong with it. I should get a new one.”
“Yeah, you definitely should. How are the doctors doing? Your mom must be cured by now.”
Right as I was about to tell him that they were still struggling to find a cure for her, I thought better of it and instead said, “Yes, she’s getting much better. It looks like they’ll need a couple more days and then all of the cancer will be gone. I’m so happy!”
“See? I told you they’d fix it. And you didn’t believe me.” He huffed resentfully.
“Yes, you did tell me that. Again, I’m so sorry if I came across as ungrateful. You’re the best. How are you doing? You never left a voicemail. Everything okay?”
“No, I’m very upset.” His voice had become taut like a rubber band about to snap. “I’m going to have to do something about one of my friends. He’s too stupid to live.”
In Jonah’s case, it would be meaningless to ask if this was his idea of a joke—I didn’t doubt for a second that he’d meant every one of those last words literally. The finality with which he’d uttered them chilled me to the bone, and I pictured Nicki climbing across a few of the many steel cables that supported the Brooklyn Bridge, slippery in the rainy night.
As quietly as I could, I cleared my throat and then forced myself to casually say, “Oh? Who’s that? Burt?”
I hadn’t been back at the club long enough to have reason to ask why Burt was no longer there, or Nicki and Nadja for that matter. So my suggestion was valid.
“Burt?” Jonah said with disgust. “No, that loser’s already dead.”
“Oh, my God, really? What happened to him? Why do you say he’s a loser?”
“He turned out to be a traitor and was killed. He got away far too easily if you ask me.”
“That’s too bad,” I said dryly, wondering how Jonah and The Adler Group had found out about Burt’s and his girlfriend’s fates. Had it been by watching the news? The discovery of Alyssa, the serial killer who’d escaped from Rikers Island years ago, had been all over the news for the next few days. Most law enforcement officials assumed that she was responsible for all the bodies found in the basement, as well as Burt’s and Nadja’s deaths, even though nothing had been proven yet. Speculations were running rampant as to who must have snapped Alyssa’s neck. The Philly cops at the crime scene hadn’t been able to catch our license plate as we’d driven away, and we weren’t about to help them solve the mystery.
“So then who is it?” I asked.
“One of the trainers is acting up,” Jonah replied. “Carlos.”
“Carlos Hawkins?” He was one of the guys who’d helped Jonah punish Nicki.
“Yeah. The guy can’t remember when our New Year’s Eve is. After all this time, he still thinks it’s December 31st. I can’t fucking believe it.” Jonah huffed again.
“Wow, really? That’s crazy. Even I know it’s August 1st,” I stated boldly, not about to lose an opportunity to reconfirm Ian’s bad news. The more proof we had that the coups were taking place in ten days, the better.
“See?” Jonah’s voice was triumphant. “Even you, who haven’t grown up like the hybrids, know which day it is.”
“Yeah, Burt told me,” I said quickly in case he’d begin to wonder how the hell I knew when their new year was. It wasn’t exactly common knowledge. “Wow, that’s so effed up… Was he drunk when he told you he forgot? It doesn’t make sense that he’d just forget, right?”
“Yeah, but that shouldn’t have mattered.”
“No, it shouldn’t. It’s too important a day. He really must be very stupid then. What will you do to him?”
“I haven’t decided yet. All I know is that he has to die. We can’t afford to have such stupid people in our brave, new world.”
“Right. I agree that we shouldn’t have stupid people around, but won’t you be too busy what with all the coups about to take place to take care of it right now?”
“Not really. It’s not like I’m gonna be part of the actual attacks.”
“I see. But you must be worried still. You know, that everything will go according to plan. I remember you telling me how worried your dad is. I can totally see that. It’s a big deal overthrowing the governments. So many things could go wrong.”
“No, I’m not worried at all. How can I be when my dad won’t allow me to be part of the actual operation?” His tone had become sulky again. “He tells me nothing!”
“Really? Why is he excluding you like that?”
“Because he thinks I’ll flip out too easily if something goes wrong. You know, because of my anger issues. He doesn’t believe I have the right temperament to be involved in something so important.” Jonah sounded like he was about to start crying now, sucking in a frustrated breath. “He doesn’t tell me that straight out, of course, because he doesn’t want to hurt my feelings, but I can tell that’s what he thinks deep inside. So I keep looking for ways to prove that I’m competent and that I’ve changed. You know, to make him feel confident that I am the right person to be his successor when he’s gone.” He exhaled. “When I tell him how I dealt with Carlos, he’ll realize I’m the one. He has to realize it.”
“Oh, Jonah, I’m so sorry to hear all this,” I said emphatically. “I’m sure he’ll come to his senses once the coups are over. If he didn’t believe you have what it takes to take over, he wouldn’t bother to have his psychiatrist work with you to manage your anger, right?”
“I’m hoping so. I’m really working hard to prove him wrong. So I used to have some problems controlling my emotions, but that’s history now. I’m thinking logically when I make decisions now, not emotionally like before. Eventually he’ll see that, too, and then he’ll have to accept that only I can be his successor. Only I!”
I had to bite my tongue not to laugh. If his behavior these days was his idea of controlling his emotions, I couldn’t imagine how he used to be before he went into therapy.
“He will, Jonah, he will,” I said. Since his father wouldn’t let him participate in the takeover, I decided that I was wasting my time trying to pick his brain any further. So I said, “I’m so sorry, but I have to go to the hospital now. Can we talk more later?”
“Yeah, fine,” Jonah replied, not sounding pleased with my suggestion. I didn’t care; I really had better things to do than to sit here and listen to his whining.
“I should be back in New York in the next few days and then we can talk in person,” I said suggestively.
“That’ll be good. And we’ll do lots more besides talking… I miss you.”
“I miss you, too.” My stomach turned as I uttered those words; fortunately, my voice didn’t give away how unbearable I found him.
We said goodbye and hung up. I dialed Ian’s number next on my disposable, and he answered before the first ring had gone through completely.
“Did you speak to him?” Ian asked by way of greeting.
“Yeah, but he didn’t say much we can use. His father apparently thinks he’s not fit to be part of the coups, so he doesn’t tell him anything about the actual operation.”
Ian chuckled. “I’m not surprised.”
“Yeah, not me either. I do get the sense that Stenger really does love his son, though, so he’ll likely be upset when he realizes someone’s kidnapped him.” I proceeded to tell Ian about Carlo
s and how Jonah hoped that, after punishing the trainer, his father would finally realize he was a capable heir to his empire. “He must’ve been talking to Carlos when you overheard him,” I finished my report.
“Yes, most likely.” Ian tskd. “It’s hard to believe the bloke forgot when their New Year’s Eve is. As smart as the hybrids are supposed to be, you’d think they’d never forget something as basic as that.”
“Jonah claims he was drunk.”
“In the middle of the day?”
I exhaled. “Who knows what the reason is? The trainer probably just misspoke or something, and Jonah took it as him forgetting. He might just be looking for people to take out his frustrations on what with his dad not finding him fit to be his successor. I’m not too worried about what will happen to Carlos—he was one of the trainers involved in Nicki’s death, so he knows what’s on the menu for him after Jonah lost it on him. If he’s smart, he’ll go into hiding somehow. I doubt Stenger will waste too much time looking for him. As crazy as it may sound, I’m getting the sense that Stenger isn’t as evil and unreasonable as his son is. He has much bigger things to worry about than someone mixing up a holiday.”
“Yes, that’s very true.”
“What do we do now?”
“You should get your hands on Captain Brady and inject him with the Haldol. Hopefully that’ll undo whatever they did to him. We could definitely use his help. While you take care of Brady, I’ll find a way to make Jonah tell me where I can find Stenger.”
Chapter 2
Dante smiled at me when I entered his room at the Marina Del Rey Hospital. Wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, he sat propped up in a bed that was so big it dominated the white-painted, bright space. An IV drip was connected to his hand. He must have slept well and gotten every ounce of his lost blood replaced, because he no longer looked pale and exhausted. I had expected Ricki and maybe Enrique to be by his side, but he was all alone. A small TV was hooked up in a corner of the ceiling, and it was showing a newscast.
