Girl Undercover 12: Showdown

by Julia Derek

  I gave a lopsided smirk that I hoped conveyed just how inappropriate I found that question. “That’s none of your damn business.”

  He threw his head back and let out a loud guffaw. When he lowered his head again so he faced me, there were tears in his eyes that he wiped away with the heel of his hand. “No wonder my boys have taken such a fancy to you. You’re something else, aren’t you? No one ever talks to me in that insolent way. Not even Jonah. I have to say it’s quite refreshing.”

  “That’s good you feel that way ’cause there’s more where that came from. So you have more than one son then? Or did I mishear you?”

  “No, you didn’t mishear me. I have two sons. Jonah is my youngest. Guess who my oldest is.” He smiled. “Let me give you a hint—you’re intimately familiar with him.”

  As I stared at the old man before me, who was grinning big at me now, I felt how I got lightheaded and it was suddenly hard to breathe. He chuckled softly again, and I knew then why I had thought it sounded so familiar. It was because I’d heard it so many times before—over dinner, at Nikkei, over the phone. In bed. I also knew why I felt like I had gazed into his ever-changing eyes before—I had looked into eyes just like that almost every day the past several months.

  It took all I had for me not to let out the loud gasp that wanted to escape from my lips now. I wasn’t about to give the monster before me the pleasure of hearing my shock; it was crystal clear from his expression that this was exactly the reaction he wanted from me. For me to fall apart at learning that Ian—oh, God, Ian —was his fucking son.

  When did Ian find out? I didn’t think that he had always known. He would have told me in that case. Right? Unfortunately, as I considered that some more, it struck me that, even if he did know, he might actually not have told me and instead have done everything in his power so that I wouldn’t find out who his father was. Because, would I have helped him had I known? I honestly couldn’t tell. The fact that Stenger was his father changed everything. How could it not?

  “You look a little pale, my dear,” Stenger said, smiling with condescension now. “Would you like something strong to give you some color back? A shot of whisky perhaps? Personally, I find nothing to be as effective as a couple of fingers of Glenfiddich when I’ve had some upsetting news.”

  I shook my head no and forced a smile onto my lips. I refused to let Stenger know just how upset I really was. An image of Ian in the Mercedes as we’d driven from La Guardia Airport yesterday flashed through my mind. Remembering how he’d mentioned that he’d learned something bad, I was clearly able to picture in my mind how upset he’d been. Did that mean he had found out about Stenger at some point after having abducted Jonah? Had Jonah himself told him?

  Yes, that makes the most sense, I thought. Surely, Jonah, in his fury at being abducted by the man he hated so much, had blurted it out to Ian. That would be just like that blabbermouth to do such a thing. The more I thought about this, the more convinced I was that this was the case.

  “Are you sure?” Stenger asked, tilting his head sideways. “I promise you that it won’t be poisoned.”

  I gave him a flat smile. He had just given me the one reason I would never accept anything that could be consumed from his hands.

  Then I realized something. Even though my gut told me Stenger was telling the truth in regards to Ian, I couldn’t just accept it on its face. I should at least challenge him on his assertion.

  “How can I be sure you’re not lying about Ian being your son? For all I know, you might just be saying that to throw me off because you somehow found out what we’re trying to do. And Ian himself for that matter. Fuck with his head.”

  “Maybe we can call him right now and I’ll prove it to you? How does that sound?”

  “Yes, let’s do that.” I told him the number to Ian’s latest disposable. Punching it in, Stenger gazed at me, a devilish grin stretching his lips.

  Chapter 9

  With each ring that went through on Stenger’s speakerphone, my stomach clenched harder. I’m not sure why as I, deep inside, already knew that Ian was in fact the son of the evil man who sat before me. Maybe I was afraid of hearing Ian himself confirm it.

  “Hello?” Ian picked up on the third ring.

  “This is your father calling, Ian,” Stenger said. “Gabi here doesn’t believe that I am indeed your father. Can you set her straight for me, son?”

  I heard how Ian sucked in a deep breath, the way people do when they’re about to say something very difficult. “I’m so sorry, Gabi. I was as shocked as you must be when you learned about it. Trust me, I don’t want it to be true anymore than you do. You if anyone know how much I despise this man. But it doesn’t make it any less true.”

  I felt as though someone had pushed a big knife into my midsection and was twisting it back and forth. Even so, I managed to ask in a surprisingly clear voice, “How do you know he’s your father?”

  “Because of what Jonah told me yesterday.” Ian’s own voice was tight.

  “What… what did he tell you?”

  “About my mother. How my mother was once involved with Stenger. There’s no way he could’ve known that unless our father told him at some point.”

  I gasped. “Your mother was once involved with Stenger?” My eyes regarded the old man in the wheelchair. He wasn’t a particularly attractive man, nor a good man. What must she have seen in him? Then I remembered that Ian’s mom had been schizophrenic. I supposed that could explain it. She must not have been herself while with him, not seen him clearly.

  “Yes, right before she met my father… well, the one I used to think was my father”—he sighed with sadness. “Even though she was pregnant with me, she left Stenger for this new man. Apparently, Stenger tried to win her back for the longest time but failed. I now also know why I thought the name Green sounded so familiar.”

  “Green? What are you talking about? Who was called that?”

  “You told me that Jonah’s last name was Green because that’s his mother’s maiden name. Our father preferred him to use that name in public instead of the name Stenger so that it would be easier for him to retain his privacy. You told me that, too, remember?”

  “Yes, I do remember that,” I said, seeing Jonah in my mind’s eye as he told me exactly what Ian had just told me in the apartment he shared with Burt on the Upper West Side. “But why did you think Green sounded so familiar?”

  “Because my mother used to talk about the Green twins, my half siblings, when she was sick. She knew how much I wanted siblings, so one day when I was about twelve, she told me that I now had two siblings, a boy and a girl. Since I knew she was schizophrenic, I always thought that she was just hallucinating. But she wasn’t. The Green children are my half siblings. Jonah and his sister. Apparently, this man that she used to date named Demarcus was not a figment of her imagination, either.”

  “I thought you said that she dated Stenger.”

  “Demarcus is my middle name,” Stenger cut in then, smiling at me. “Jackie used to love calling me by that name.”

  “Gabi, Jackie was the name of my mother,” Ian said, sounding like he was about to get sick over the speakerphone. “I now finally understand why she always kept saying that my father loved me like I was his own, and that I should never worry about that. When I asked my parents if I was adopted, they always told me no, but it always seemed like they were lying to me. She only talked about how I should never doubt that my father loved me like his own when she had episodes.”

  He expelled a weary breath. “Can you see why I don’t doubt that Stenger is in fact my father, even if I don’t want to believe it, Gabi?” He scoffed and added before I could answer, “Knowing what a horrible man he is, I understand why my parents felt so compelled not to tell me the truth. They were trying to protect me. Tell me, dear father. Were you behind their car accident as well? To get back at my mom for leaving you?”

  Stenger’s eyes widened as if shocked. “Of course not! What do you think
I am? A monster? By the time your mother died, I had already moved on. If you want to know the truth, I was really the one who left her because she was defective. It took a while before I found out.”

  Ian snorted with disgust. “Yes, in your delusional dreams.”

  “You were always such a pigheaded boy, weren’t you?” Stenger said and clicked his tongue. “Why don’t you come here so we can talk in person?”

  “Why would I want to do that? I’m on my way to your other son, who will die if you don’t do as we want. Trust me, he’ll die a slow, painful death. I’m very much looking forward taking him out.”

  As I gazed at Stenger, I saw that he looked suddenly drawn, seemingly sickened by Ian’s words.

  “Please leave him alone, Ian,” he said tightly. “I promise I’ll do whatever you want me to do as long as you leave Jonah alone. He’s not bright and capable like you, but he doesn’t deserve to die. Come back here and we’ll talk.”

  “Really?” Ian said over the speakerphone. “Just like that?”

  “I don’t like to waste time, and I certainly don’t want you to hurt Jonah. I’m not doubting that you’ll fulfill your promise. So let’s not waste time. Please come back here and join me and Gabi, and we’ll talk business.”

  A long, pregnant moment of silence ensued as Ian appeared to contemplate Stenger’s words. I watched the aged man in in the wheelchair as he sat behind the wide oak desk, which made him appear even more bird-like.

  “What do you think, Gabi?” Ian asked. “Should I just come over there and discuss our conditions with… with my father?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t see why not. How close to the city are you?”

  “About halfway.”

  “Turn around and let’s hear him out then. It’s not like you’re that far away and Jonah won’t go anywhere.”

  “Okay. Make sure your guards let me in to see you without a fuss, Stenger,” Ian said. “And don’t act like I’m there in a hostile manner. As far as your men goes, Gabi and I are friends of yours, and Jonah is all right.”

  “Of course,” Stenger replied emphatically. “I’ll even let them know that you’re my long lost son, which you are. Ian, all I want is a chance to see you in person, talk to you in person. You don’t know how much I’ve longed for the day when that would happen.”

  Stenger smiled dreamily, gazing into the distance. “I hope you do realize that I love you, my son. I would never let anything bad happen to either you or your beloved.” His eyes went to me then. “That’s why I have kept the two of you alive all this time despite all the mischief you’ve been up. Especially you, Ian.”

  “Are you telling us you knew about us trying to stop you all along?” I asked then, unable to keep quiet any longer. I needed to know exactly what Stenger was getting at.

  He faced me and smiled, again appearing like a kindly university professor.

  “Yes, I was aware of all that you did. Well, mostly. I had men surveilling you at all times. Your switching phones did make it a lot more complicated to keep track of you, but we finally caught up with what you were up to. I really do admire all the precautions you took. You were doing an excellent job trying to stop me. That’s why I want you to take over the empire once I’m gone, Ian. You’re much smarter than Jonah and born to be a leader. He’ll be upset, but eventually he’ll understand that I’m only doing what’s best for everyone involved. I will always do what’s best for everyone involved.”

  “You’re crazy if you think I will have anything to do with the brave, new world you’re trying to create, Stenger,” Ian hissed over the speakerphone. “Maybe it’s better if I just stay the course and kill Jonah…”

  “No! Please don’t hurt him.” Stenger sounded truly terrified. “He’s already hurting enough. Please just come here and see me. At least give me a chance to explain why I’m doing all of this. Why it will be better for everyone in the long run. Every living person.”

  “Fine. I’ll come if Gabi agrees it’s safe.”

  I looked around the spacious study, at the aging, power-crazed man in the wheelchair. What harm would it do if Ian came here and heard him out? I couldn’t see anything gained from him driving all the way back to his brownstone only to show Stenger that we had in fact captured and tied up Jonah. It seemed the man had no doubt we were serious about this anyway. Plus, Brady was aware about Jonah and where we were, so he could save us were Stenger to try and do something to us.

  “Yes,” I said, “come here. It’ll be okay.”

  “Fine,” Ian said. “I should be there in fifteen minutes. I’ll drive fast. Tell your men to let me in without a hitch. I don’t want them to feel me up to see if I’m carrying a weapon. If they do anything suspicious, I’ll head right back and cut Jonah’s head off.”

  “I’ll tell them to send you straight in,” Stenger confirmed, looking pale. “Don’t worry. They won’t put a hand on you. They didn’t put a hand on Gabi, either”—he glanced at me—“and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she is armed.”

  He was right about that; under my hoodie there was a handgun in my hip holster. One with a silencer so good you could barely hear the shots when it fired. I would never have agreed to enter the mansion without being armed. But I didn’t see the point in either confirming or denying this to Stenger, so I just looked at him with a blank face.

  Ian was also aware that I was armed and surely took my refusal to reply as a silent agreement to proceed.

  “I’m turning around the car as we speak,” Ian said. “Expect me shortly.”

  The minutes felt like hours as Stenger and I waited for Ian’s arrival to be announced. He offered me refreshments twice more and I finally agreed to a bottle of water, insisting on drinking directly from the bottle. I kept wondering if maybe it was better that I left when Ian arrived so that we weren’t both here at the same time. Head to Ian’s apartment and make sure that Jonah was safely in place. If Stenger had kept us under surveillance all this time, he surely knew where Ian lived and where Jonah was kept. Which meant that they could break in to Ian’s apartment and free Jonah any time they wanted. But something told me that they wouldn’t, or they would have done so already. They would have done so while Ian was inspecting Stenger’s property for hours yesterday if that’s what they had in mind. Maybe they didn’t realize Jonah was at Ian’s place.

  Maybe Stenger was exaggerating when he claimed to know what we had been up to all this time… I could only hope this was so. It sure behooved him to make us believe he was in complete control of us. Be that as it may, if Ian and I were both armed, there was little Stenger could do while alone with us. He would have to do what we wanted or he would die.

  When ten minutes had passed, I couldn’t take the silence any longer, so I asked,

  “Why did you kill my husband?”

  Stenger pressed his lips into a thin line, looking truly contrite. “I’m really sorry about having to kill Nick, Gabi. But he just knew too much. The case he was investigating contained too much information about what The Adler Group was doing. I couldn’t risk him revealing our mission to the world. I know he was a very good detective.” He sighed. “Too good for his own good. And I of course needed to make it seem like someone else was behind his murder so that we sent the cops in the wrong direction. That’s where Cardoza came into the picture. Since he’s part of our movement and knows he’ll be released from prison as soon as I take over, he had no problem giving my men careful instructions as to the methods he used to eliminate rats.”

  I winced at the levity with which he said those words, like he was discussing something as innocuous as the most effective method to lose belly fat.

  I glared at him, silently urging him to go on talking.

  “I really thought the matter was taken care of by making it seem like Cardoza was behind your husband’s murder. Who would’ve thought your boss would be such a good investigator and find two of the men involved in it?”

  He chuckled, shaking his head. “Thankfully, fate h
elped us out by giving your captain a heart attack before he got a chance to interrogate them. That, combined with us removing the cup with the fingerprints, saved the two men’s lives. I really would have been loath to kill those two. They’re not bad men. Because I was in a good mood and realized what a great opportunity had been provided us what with your captain lying in the hospital, I decided to use him as a test instead of killing them—which would have led to unnecessary suspicions anyway.”

  He smiled big at me as he refilled his tumbler with whiskey.

  A hunch told me to play stupid. “A test? What kind of a test?”

  “Your captain is now one of ours.”

  I made myself look shocked and confused at the same time. He obviously does not know all that we do then, I thought. If he did, he would not sound so incredibly smug about Brady having become an untouchable right now.

  “What?” I exclaimed. “What do you mean? Have you hurt him?”

  He waved a dismissive hand at me. “No, no, silly. Why would I ever hurt him? Let’s just say that there are things we can do to people that convince them our cause is worthy of pursuing. When Ian gets here, I’ll explain in more detail. But don’t worry. Captain Brady is and will remain fine.”

  I wondered just how much Stenger knew about what I had learned from the doctors. From Dr. Kelly especially. So far, it seemed he didn’t know too much—certainly not that we’d cured Brady—which was a huge advantage. But how long would it take until he and his team realized that Brady was no longer executing the commands sent to him via the man in his head?

  It must be only a matter of time before that happened.

  An intercom on Stenger’s desk sounded then and a voice announced that Ian Armory had arrived to see him and that Stenger expected him.

  Stenger pressed a button on the intercom and said, “Yes, that’s right. Send him to my study right away. He’s family, so no need to frisk him.”