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

I was impressed against my will at how clever Ian’s thinking was. But then something struck me. “Wouldn’t it have been smarter to say that we were still in the room, but that we preferred to be anonymous?”

“No, that would just create suspicion. The governor would wonder how come we wish to remain anonymous. Now the waiter can just describe me and only me. He doesn’t know what you look like since he never saw you.”

“But won’t the waiter think it’s weird we’re hanging in the bar after we’ve finished dinner?”

“We’re not going to stay here. In fact, you’ll be leaving right now and go to the Starbucks across the street. When I’ve made sure the device is on the bucket and in the middle of the table, I’ll join you. We can listen to their conversation from the Starbucks across the street.” Ian turned his head away from me. “There’s the waiter. Go to Starbucks.”

“Fine.” I got to my feet and left the restaurant.

I soon spotted the Starbucks Ian had referred to and entered the coffee shop. Before I went over to claim a couple of empty seats in a corner, I bought two plain coffees, one for me and one for Ian.

Waiting for him to join me, I put the listening device into my ear. Almost instantly, I heard Janine’s voice talking about what sounded like her workouts with me, Governor Chatterly chuckling when she claimed I was a slave driver hell-bent on turning her into a female version of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Luckily, it sounded like her rantings were in jest, so I didn’t need to worry about her firing me the next time I trained her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Ian entered the Starbucks. I waved to him as he scanned the coffee shop, thinking that he must be very happy that his idea had not only worked but so quickly, too. As clearly as I could hear Janine and the governor, the bottle must be standing somewhere in the middle of the table, exactly like Ian had wanted. He must have tipped the waiter generously for all of it to have gone so smoothly.

The second Ian spotted me, he strode over to my table. Sitting down, he stuck his own device into his ear and took the coffee cup I handed him, mumbling “thanks.”

The sound of someone clinking a piece of silverware or similar against a glass entered my ear then. Janine and the others participating in the conversation quieted down. A man’s voice I didn’t recognize spoke.

“I think it’s time we get to why we have all gathered here tonight,” the man said.

A murmur of agreement ensued.

“As some of you may already know, there’s been a change of plan,” the man continued. “Instead of us going to…” The piece in my ear started to crackle in that moment, making it hard to hear what the man was saying. I pulled it out and put it back in, hoping that having done so would make it stop making that disruptive noise. Unfortunately, the crackling was still there, so I struggled to understand what the man said. I looked at Ian to see if it seemed like he was experiencing the same issue. Judging from the focused look on his face and the way his hands gripped his coffee cup, he must be fine.

The crackling in my own ear increased in strength and frequency, and soon it was impossible to make out what was being said.

“Ian,” I said, touching his arm. “I can’t hear what they’re saying. Can you?”

He held up a hand, signaling for me to hold on while he kept listening. The disturbances in my ear suddenly disappeared then, and I could hear a woman saying that one of the offices was going to be moved to London. A male voice thought this was an excellent idea and added something I couldn’t make out because the crackling started again, albeit softly.

I kept moving my piece around in the hope that adjusting it would fix the weird disturbances. It didn’t, instead the crackling got louder and more frequent, making it impossible to hear anything else. Soon it began to hurt my ear, so I removed it.

“What’s wrong?” Ian asked.

“My earpiece isn’t working properly.”

“Really? Mine’s working fine.” He picked up my earplug from the table and eyed it, pressing the one in his own ear closer to his head. His eyes narrowed as he listened intently, then they widened again. Then he sucked in a breath, as if amazed at what he was hearing. Slowly, he shook his head and clenched his teeth, his lips turning into a thin line.

“What are they s
aying
?” I hissed, dying to know what it was that made him look like that; clearly, important details were being revealed. He held up his hand again to signal for me to be quiet. It was with the utmost restraint that I managed to control myself and didn’t tear his listening device out to use it myself.

“Hold on,” he hissed. “I need to hear this.”

I picked up my own device and stuck it back into my ear, praying it was working better now. But this time I didn’t even hear jarring crackling sounds—I heard nothing at all.

I pulled it out again and checked to see if I’d turned it off by mistake somehow. Nothing that could be an on/off switch was visible anywhere. Finally I got so tired of not being able to hear anything and Ian not wanting to share his own earpiece with me that I got to my feet and walked over to the food counter. As always when I was frustrated, I craved bad carbs. I told the black girl behind the counter that I wanted an apple cinnamon muffin. The delicious-looking muffin was soon in my hands.

Walking back to our table, I took a seat and watched Ian as he kept listening intently to what was being exchanged over at Le Bernardin. He was so wrapped up in what he was hearing that he seemed blind to me having returned. Sighing, I didn’t even attempt to make him see me and instead began eating my muffin. I could always hear what was being said when we had retrieved the recording device.

Finally, half an hour later, he pulled out the plug from his ear. The only reason I had remained at the coffee shop was because I was very curious to know what had made Ian gasp and moan at times, as well as making weird faces while listening to the politicians’ dinner conversation.
Yes, he’s definitely going over there to get the recording device so I can hear everything right now,
I thought. That was the least he could do for me after I’d helped him so much.

“Wow,” he said. “That was so worth it. Thanks so much for bringing the device back, Gabi.”

“You’re welcome. What did you learn that was so ground-breaking?”

“Oh, God. So many things…” He supported his forehead in his palm, elbow on the table, as if the sheer knowledge of them exhausted him.

“Did you hear anything about Cardoza?”

He frowned at me. “Cardoza? Why would they talk about him?” Some of the color in his cheeks vanished when he realized his mistake, but it was too late. Fury surged through me. All that talk about the Texas senator and Janine knowing Cardoza and he being involved in future projects had been just that then—empty words to make me go back to the dining room and get the recording device for Ian. I was so livid when all of this dawned on me that I was momentarily tongue-tied.

That prick. I should’ve known he’d say
anything
to get me to do his business…

He displayed his palms and had the decency to at least give the appearance of contrition for having played so dirty.

“Okay, so I lied about having seen Janine talk to Cardoza in Germany,” he admitted. “And about the Texas senator knowing him. But that doesn’t mean he’s not involved in the conspiracy. I still think he may be part of it.”

I wouldn’t even dignify that with an answer. Instead I just glanced at him as icily as I could and said, “Let’s go get that recording device so I can hear with my own ears all those incredible things said in that meeting. One can clearly not trust you to be telling a person the truth.”

He didn’t answer, just looked at me sheepishly.

“You
do
have a plan how to get the device back, right?” I asked, already knowing the answer to my question. And it was not the one I wanted to hear.

He sighed. “I’m sorry, Gabi, but I’m not sure we can get it back. There was really no need for that since we would be listening to them talking live. It’s not like we need to drop off the recording somewhere like we had to with that first one.”

I glared at him. “You’re actually being serious? You’re telling me you were just gonna leave the device on the bucket?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, that was the plan. I have a few of those devices.”

I could feel my face twist with anger. As I opened my mouth to yell that he’d better get that thing back, he held up a hand.

“We can always try to get it back,” he said, “but I won’t lie—it won’t be easy.”

He reached for my fingers, but I removed them from the table before he could touch them. “Gabi, please calm down. I know you didn’t hear much of what they said, but I heard plenty. Enough to know what their next step is and how they’ve changed key parts of their plan. Isn’t my retelling of what was said enough for you?”

I scoffed. “Definitely not. How can I trust that you’re telling me the truth when you lie so easily?”

He rubbed his forehead and blew out a breath, looking miserable. “I’m sorry I lied to you about Cardoza and Graham and Janine. Truly, I am. Please just hear me out here. I really did learn incredible things in all that time I had that plug in my ear. Things that change
everything.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Uh-huh. And what exactly are some of those incredible things?” I was actually curious to hear what he’d say—even though I didn’t doubt for a second that it would all just be more lies. But maybe it would be mildly entertaining at least.

Throwing a glance over his shoulder first, he leaned closer to me. “Well, in addition to finally getting it confirmed once and for all that lots of their product have been among us for years already, I learned that they’re planning
a coup
against all major governments in the world
six months
from now
.
I always knew they had something like that in mind, but I thought it would take much longer. Like years. I didn’t realize they were so
far along.”

I stared at him.
A coup against all major governments…
What he said was so ridiculous, so impossible, that I couldn’t stop myself from laughing out loud.

One of Ian’s eyebrows hiked and he watched me, the rest of his face frozen.

Finally I contained myself. I exhaled. “Ian, this is exactly why I need to hear what’s on that device. How else am I supposed to believe something like
that
? A coup against all major governments? Come on, you can’t blame me for thinking that’s a little… crazy-sounding.” I snorted. “I feel like I’m part of a Steven Spielberg movie…”

“Gabi, listen to me. I
know
it sounds crazy, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Think about this—why would I be making all this up?” He gazed at me with earnest eyes.

I sighed, tired suddenly. “I don’t know, Ian. I really don’t. But I’m sure you have your reasons. Or you’re just plain
insane.
” There, finally I’d spelled it out to him. But even as contentment spread within me for having done so at last, a small part of me ached when I saw how hurt he looked.

He shook his head. “Fine. I’ll get that thing for you and you can hear them discuss it with your own ears.”

“Great. Can’t wait to hear it.”

He glanced at his wristwatch. “In that case we should head back to the restaurant and get the waiter. By now they should have finished dinner and be ready for the check. He should be able to remove the ice bucket without a problem and hand it to me.” Ian smirked. “That is, if I give him more money, he might remove it and let me have it for a moment… Well, it’ll be worth it. If we move quickly, at least the bucket won’t get lost like that pepper shaker did.”

“You’re probably right about that,” I said and got to my feet, realizing I was exhausted. I honestly wasn’t sure I’d be able to remain standing for much longer. All I wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed.

With what was left of my strength, I started to head for the coffee shop’s exit. Ian joined me. As we were outside, I raised a hand to hail a cab.

“What are you doing?” Ian asked, frowning at me.

“I’m going home. It’s late and I’ve had enough of this. You’ve gotta get that device back on your own. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle such a little detail without my help. Shoot me a text tomorrow when you have it and I’ll come over to your house to listen to it.” Barely had I finished talking when a cab slid up before me. I opened the door of the vehicle. Nodding goodbye to Ian, I dove inside and left him standing alone on the street in the drizzly night.

Chapter 6

“I’m glad to hear you’re feeling so much better,” I said to Emma. She and I were having lunch together down in the club’s cafeteria, me having a chicken stir fry and she a colorful salad with tofu. Her cravings for high-calorie, carb-rich foods had disappeared and so seemed her mood swings to have done as well; lately she was happy all the time. Or at least so she claimed.

“Yes, thank God, huh?” she replied and stuck a piece of tofu into her mouth, smiling big. “I can’t believe I wished this precious child that’s growing inside me”—she patted her stomach that was still not showing much—“was out of me there for a while. But I guess that’s what raging pregnancy hormones are all about. One day you’re up, the other you’re down.”

I nodded and smiled back. “Yeah, that’s probably true. Hey, what do you think of my new client, the senator? The one that Ariel used to train? Tall, dark-haired woman.”

I was determined to get to the bottom of why exactly Emma seemed to have a problem with Janine, even if that meant I’d need to corner her. Confronting her was the reason I’d asked her to have lunch with me today and now we had both pretty much finished our meals, so it was time.

The ecstatic expression on the plain girl’s face disappeared, and instead she looked like the whole world was weighing her down all of a sudden. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and cleared her throat, looking away momentarily. Then her gaze returned to me.

“I’m not sure who you’re referring to,” she finally said, obviously lying.