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

  GIRL UNDERCOVER

  Part Six—Emma’s Secret

  Julia Derek

  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 June 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.

  MORE JULIA DEREK BOOKS

  THE SMILEY KILLER SERIAL (Young Adult)

  Part One

  Part Two

  Part Three

  THE LOVING A KILLER SERIAL (Dark Psychological Thriller)

  The Diary--Part One

  The Other Woman--Part Two

  Guilty--Part Three

  THE L.A. GIRLS ROMANCE SERIES (New Adult)

  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

  “You’re very strong,” I said to Janine as she finished the dumbbell overhead presses I’d wanted her to do. We were finally doing another session together, our third. It had been two weeks since I saw her last as, lately, the senator had had to spend all her time in Washington D.C. and in her home state, North Carolina. “Ariel must’ve done a great job with you.”

  The tall woman handed the eight-pound weights she’d used back to me. “Yes, she was a very good trainer. It’s a shame she’s no longer with us. It was because of her that I carved out time in my busy schedule to begin training. Thankfully, D.C. is so close that I could do it and still tend to my senatorial duties. Of course, I’d have loved to come more often than once a week, but that wasn’t possible. And, as you know, now my sessions will have to be even more infrequent.”

  “I can always write you a workout program that you can do on your own.”

  Janine brightened. “Really? That would be great! Can you email it to me?”

  “Sure.”

  “Fantastic.” She pulled out her smartphone from a pocket in her workout jacket. Holding the phone so the back faced me, she began typing. The floor-to-ceiling mirror right behind her enabled me to see what she wrote, though. It was something like… 69MARISSA. Or maybe it was 96MARISSA. The numbers weren’t as easy to make out backwards as the letters.

  She raised her gaze to meet mine. “I’m going to email you a reminder so you won’t forget to send me a program. I really, really need to work out more. I’m getting fat. What’s your email again?”

  I gave it to her, all the while wondering why she assumed that I’d forget so easily.

  “A reminder will be in your inbox,” she said and put away the phone. “What’s next?”

  “We’re going to do some leg presses.” I pointed at a leg press machine at the other end of the spacious workout floor we were on. We began walking in that direction.

  At the risk of putting a damper on the somewhat cheery ambience between us, I asked what had made her start training with Ariel. The conversation needed to return to the dead woman.

  “A friend of mine recommended her,” the senator said. “Claimed she was the best trainer she’d ever worked with. And she was great.” She gazed into the distance for a moment. “Ariel was talented in so many ways.”

  “She was? I didn’t know her very well. What were some of her other talents?”

  “Well, for one, she had a great sense of how to survive in this world.”

  It took all I had not to stare at Janine. She just had to have meant that sarcastically given that Ariel had been murdered so recently. I honestly hadn’t been able to tell from the tone of her voice. The senator could be quite difficult to read at times.

  As we reached the leg press machine, I decided that she’d probably been serious after all. In a light tone followed by a laugh, I said, “Oh, yeah, that I noticed almost as soon as I got to know her. No one stepped on Ariel without getting stepped back on twice as hard. That girl was a tough cookie. What other talents did she have besides being a survivor?”

  “She was smarter than most and knew that it was wiser to make that known only to those who mattered. Is it set up correctly?”

  She nodded her head toward the machine. I leaned over to change the weight stack so that it was set at seventy instead of ninety pounds while again pondering what Janine had just said.

  Was she saying that few people had mattered to Ariel then? The murdered woman had certainly not appeared overly brainy to me, and no one else at the club had ever mentioned or even hinted that she was so smart. Good trainer, yes, but that was it. I supposed the fact that she’d been so unfriendly to everyone, including to me, at least until the end of my first time UC, might be the reason no one had ever noticed. Whatever the senator meant, one thing was clear—if what she was saying was true, I was not among the people that had mattered to Ariel.

  “Okay, done,” I said and Janine took a seat on the machine. “Can you give me fifteen repetitions?”

  “I can give you more than that,” Janine replied and pushed her feet against the footpad. I didn’t want to argue with her now that we were doing so well on the subject of Ariel, so I let her go for as many reps as she wanted. By the time she was done, she had completed twenty-five.

  “Great job,” I said, noting how that vein in her smooth forehead was bulging from the effort she’d just put herself through. “We should take up that weight since you’re so strong.”

  She stared at me like I had suggested she shave her head. “No, we’re not. I do not want to end up with big, bulky legs, thank you very much. This weight is just fine.”

  “Um, okay.” There was no chance in hell a slender, long-limbed woman like the one before me would ever end up with bulky muscles no matter how heavy we went, but I wasn’t about to try to explain this to her. Instead, I just nodded and smiled.

  As I was about to tell her that we should go do another exercise before she did another set of leg presses, her face brightened and she looked beyond me. Her hand went up and she waved at someone behind me.

  I turned around to see who it could be. My eyes widened a little at the sight of Governor Chatterly, who was coming toward us, as dashing as always and with a charming smile on his lips. He was wearing a white T-shirt and red athletic shorts that fit him so well they seemed to have been made especially for him.

  So these two knew each other then?

  “Hello, Janine,” the governor said and stopped next to me. “Working out hard?”

  The senator placed a hand above her chest and threw her head back and fake-gasped. “Yes, my new trainer is killing me.”

  The governor chuckled and then gazed at me, stretching out a hand in my direction. “Hello, I’m Damon Chatterly. Please be gentle with my dear friend. I don’t want her to end up in the hospital. I’ll be needing her in the future.”

  “Jamie,” I said and shook his hand. “No worries. I’ll make sure she’s still breathing and in one piece when I’m done with her.”

  Chatterly’s grin grew wider and he chuckled some more before returning his attention to the senator, who didn’t look nearly as amused.

  “Are you coming to the meeting?” she asked him and his smile immediately shrunk.

  “I’m having some problems, so I’m not sure,” he responded. “I can’t give a definite answer until sometime later this evening. Can you guys wait until then?”

/>   “Do we have a choice?”

  Chatterly sighed. “I wish I had better news for you, Janine. I really do.” He looked momentarily pensive, then, “Well, I’m going to let you continue working out.”

  His sexy, dark eyes found me again and they glittered invitingly. “It was nice meeting you, Jamie.” He fired off one of those great smiles he was known for, and it literally weakened my knees.

  “Likewise,” I quaked, hating myself for being so affected by this man’s charisma. I watched him as he walked away from us. I could totally see how he’d once been an underwear model. Those shorts he wore may be baggy, but that only seemed to make his apple-shaped backside look even more appealing.

  It was only when Janine cleared her throat behind me that I turned my head back to her.

  “Should I do another set?” she asked, her gaze cool. Again, I couldn’t tell if I had caused her to look that way, or if Chatterly failing to bring her the news she’d apparently wanted had. Either way, I’d better be on my best behavior from now on—which meant it was wiser not to keep prodding her about Ariel or even Emma. I would have to leave that for the next time we trained.

  As I walked home a couple of hours later, I was thinking about what meeting Chatterly might have referred to. One regarding politics? Could be, though what would a governor from Massachusetts have to discuss with a senator from North Carolina? Not only were they concerned with different states, but the governor was a local executive whereas the senator dealt with national legislation. Plus, Janine was a republican while Chatterly was a democrat. Maybe the governor had been a senator before, covering national politics, and they had gotten to know each other while working on a bill together or sitting on a bipartisan committee.

  I couldn’t remember how Chatterly had risen to power, but I did know that Janine had been a senator several terms. They could also have befriended each other during some charity event or similar; the world of politics was surely not very big. The only thing that was clear was that these two were quite chummy judging from the casual way they’d spoken to each other.

  Were they romantically involved perhaps? Probably not as the meeting had sounded like it regarded business. Plus, both of them were married. Then again, I was well aware that, in politics, that didn’t mean much. I bit my lip. So maybe they were having an affair then… Out of decorum, I could imagine they’d do their best to keep the affair a secret. The cool look Janine had given me when I’d stared at the governor’s delectable butt certainly supported the notion there was something romantic going on between them.

  My phone ringing in my purse brought me back to reality. I fished it out to see who was calling me. It was Ian. I had left his apartment this morning after another exciting round in bed. He was an amazing lover—last night he’d outdone himself—and I didn’t regret my decision to keep sleeping with him. It was a good distraction and made me more relaxed. As long as he didn’t think there was more going on between us than amazing sex, it was perfect. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure Ian had gotten the hints I’d dropped in regards to us being only friends with benefits. The last thing I needed was for him to think we were a couple now.

  Right before Ian’s call could go to voicemail, I picked up. I’d better be crystal clear about where we stood and do so immediately.

  “Hello,” I said, making my voice business-like as opposed to intimate and sexy.

  “Hi, baby,” Ian said with a lot more warmth. “How’s the day treating you? Tired from last night, I bet…”

  Oh, God. Yes, he was definitely thinking there was more between us than there was. What could I say to put a stop to that without being hurtful or rude?

  “Not too bad,” I replied. Before I could think about whether mentioning the interaction with the senator and the governor was a good idea or not, the words began pouring out of my mouth. “Something very interesting happened today during my session with Senator Eastwood.”

  “Really? What’s that?”

  “Damon Chatterly suddenly showed up and spoke to her.”

  “What did he say?”

  I explained what they’d spoken about, knowing full well that by doing so, I kept feeding into his obsession with government conspiracies, but I couldn’t stop myself. At the time, having to listen to him going on and on about how their meeting must have something to do with The Adler Group and their plan to take over the world was less torturous than having to tell him straight out that us hooking up didn’t mean anything more than that.

  “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 min
utes.” 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.”