Girl Undercover 6 & 7: Emma's Secret & The Truth (2 page)

“Did he say where the meeting would be?” Ian asked, suddenly sounding as business-like as I did. I supposed that was something to be grateful for at least.

“No, neither of them did. I’m thinking they’ve just become friendly while participating in the political arena. They’re clearly more than acquaintances. They might even be lovers. I know that they’re both married, but everyone knows that means nothing in politics.”

“They’re both part of the government faction involved with Adler,” Ian stated matter-of-factly, ignoring my assessment of the situation, exactly like I had expected him to do. “And the meeting has something to do with that.”

I swallowed back the groan that wanted to escape from between my lips and inhaled quietly instead. “Ian, I really think it’s something much more innocent than that. They’re probably just hooking up.”

Not that cheating on your spouse was my idea of innocence. Only when it was compared to being involved in a movement to eradicate humankind as we knew it.

“These two are not having an affair, Gabi. The senator is a lesbian.”

“What?” I nearly dropped my phone I was so surprised. I hadn’t seen
that
one coming. “How do you know that?”

“It’s well known in political circles. I found out years ago when I worked out of the D.C. Bureau.”

“But she’s married with kids!”

“So? That’s only a cover to appeal to her conservative constituents. She’s a republican, remember? I don’t think she’d ever have gotten elected if she came out of the closet.”

“Maybe she’s really bi. Lots of lesbians go both ways.” I considered what I’d said and thought it made lots of sense. “Maybe she and a mistress have threeways with the governor.”

“Doubtful. Damon Chatterly is notorious for being extremely straight-laced.”

“How do you know that?”

“I know lots of things.”

I snorted. “Clearly. Well, if they’re not hooking up, they must’ve been referring to that other thing I heard today.”

“What did you hear?”

“When I stretched Janine after her workout, she kept talking about how worried she was that she and Chatterly and the others wouldn’t agree on the content of the final bill they’d write.” That was the best lie I could come up with on such short notice. I kept virtual fingers crossed that Ian wasn’t as familiar with the U.S. political process having grown up in England as I was.

“Really?” Ian sounded incredulous. “You’re actually telling me the governor of Massachusetts is working on a bill with a North Carolina senator? Hmm, that must be a first.”

That last sentence had dripped of sarcasm, telling me he must be very familiar with how things worked in this country. I should have figured that since he’d worked for the FBI, but it was too late now. I decided to ignore his comment and stick to my guns, however.

“Anyway, I’m thinking that maybe—”

“Let’s discuss this in person,” Ian said, interrupting me. “Are you free now?”

Oh, right, we were being tapped. I rolled my eyes at the vastness of Ian’s delusions. But I was in no mood to be fighting about it, so I just said, “I was gonna swing by our favorite place to pick up a bite to eat. You can come over there if you’d like.”

In between rounds in bed, Ian had made me promise to refer to Aroma Espresso Bar as our “favorite place” as a meetup spot in case we ever needed to get together while talking on the phone.

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” With those words, Ian had disconnected.

A little baffled, I looked at the dead phone in my hand. Then I smiled and put it back in my purse.
Well, at least I’d managed to cut his unwelcome lovey-doveyness short,
I thought and headed toward Aroma. That was something to be grateful for.

When I entered the coffee shop several minutes later, Ian was already there, waiting for me seated on one of the stools at the window counter.

“That was fast,” I said.

“We need to talk,” he said quietly. “I think what I’ve been dreading might be about to begin. And if I’m correct, it’s sooner than I’d thought. Which means we
really
don’t have much time. We must act swiftly or it’s over for all of us.”

I raised a brow and laughed. “Really? Wow, that sounds dramatic.”

He leaned toward me, fixing me with wild eyes. “It’s so dramatic you’ll have a hard time wrapping your mind around it when you know what I know.
Trust
me.”

I couldn’t help but to let out a loud snort I thought he was acting so silly. Containing myself, I said, “Fine, I believe you. Do you want something?” I nodded toward the food counter. “I’m getting food.”

“You can bring me a latte. No sugar.”

“Coming right up.”

I returned with a tray containing two big lattes and a ham and cheese sandwich for me to eat. Putting it down next to Ian, I took a seat.

“So why are we meeting here?” I asked him and grabbed my sandwich.

“Because I wanted to discuss what we’re going to do about the senator and the governor’s meeting that you mentioned involved others. And that’s certainly not something I want to discuss over the phone.”

“We’re going to do something about it?”

“Well, I am, but I sincerely hope you’ll join me.”

“But we don’t even know where the meeting will be held!”

Ian glanced over his shoulder, then placed an index finger over his mouth. “Keep it down, please.”

“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.