Girl Undercover 12: Showdown Read online

  I walked up to Dante, took his outstretched hand and squeezed it, then leaned in to kiss his cheek.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked him and took a seat on the metallic chair next to his bed.

  “Not bad, considerin’,” he replied. “Did you hear what was reported on the news a little while ago? It’s on every channel.” He inclined his head toward the TV behind me. I turned around to see what the anchor was saying, but all I caught was her announcing that she would be right back with more news. A cat food commercial took over the screen.

  I faced my friend again, who grabbed the remote control and switched off the annoying music accompanying the commercial. “No, I was, um, kinda busy,” I said. “What are they saying?”

  “That Tim Dalton was once involved with Mayor Bottini.”

  I felt my mouth drop open in surprise. “What? You mean involved as in romantically involved?”

  “Yeah. Well, I don’t know how romantic it was, but at least they were hookin’ up. Apparently someone saw the two of them at an obscure gay bar somewhere in West Hollywood. Makin’ out.” Dante wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

  “I’ll be damned… I had no idea Bottini was gay. Did you?”

  He shrugged his tattooed shoulders. “No, but I can’t say I’m that surprised. I always thought he was playin’ the macho card a little too much. In my experience, dudes like that are often gay. But I’m glad that, for now, the media is goin’ crazy with this tip, taking the heat away from Cuerpos and me. Hopefully, there’s some truth to the gay rumor. That would mean I’m off the hook forever.”

  “Yeah, let’s hope.” I thought back to the hostage situation. “Huh. Well, they sure did a good job covering up already knowing each other in that case. The thought never once entered my mind.”

  “Yeah, I can’t say I ever suspected anything, either. But I’m lovin’ it. Especially the revenge angle.” Dante chuckled to himself.

  I tilted my head in confusion. “Revenge angle? What do you mean?”

  “According to what’s being reported, Tim has carried a grudge against Bottini since Bottini dumped him for a younger model a few years ago. That’s what a waiter who knows someone who knows Tim claims. So Tim has been seeking to get back at him ever since.”

  Dante screwed up his face, narrowing his eyes as he gazed off into the distance. “Maybe it was Tim himself who called in the tip to the station this morning…”

  He glanced at me again. “You know, just to fuck with the mayor. It wouldn’t surprise me. I’ve heard he’s a dick.”

  “You think? Well, if he did, we can be sure he’s still alive. Even so, I doubt he’s behind any of it.”

  “Yeah, probably not. Either way, it’s great.” Dante grinned happily.

  I looked around the room, taking in the stark whiteness of it. “Where’s Ricki and Enrique? I thought they were gonna be here.”

  “Enrique never came at all. He’s been home with his grandma. No point in getting them to come here since I’ll be out in a couple of hours. Ricki left just before you got here to get some sleep. She needed it; she’s been up all night.” He gave an amused chuckle. “She was so tired she couldn’t keep her eyes open. I literally had to beg her to go home and wait for me there.”

  I smiled, picturing Ricki sitting before Dante, struggling to stay awake while slurring her refusal to leave his side. That was just like her.

  Dante took a closer look at me. “How are you doin’, chica? You seem kinda frazzled. You didn’t sleep well? How are our captives?”

  I expelled a dejected breath, debating which one of the calamities taking place this morning to tell him about first. I needed to reveal all that had happened to Dante; postponing it only made it worse, which was exactly what I was trying to do.

  “They’re dead,” I said bluntly.

  His black eyes widened and he stared at me. “De puta madre… For real? How the hell did that happen?”

  “Juback fell from the balcony as he tried to escape and Kelly was shot to death when he tried to climb out of his bedroom window. But that’s not the worst part.”

  He managed to look even more incredulous. “There’s more?”

  I told him about the bomb Ian had dropped on me earlier, ending my depressing account with how Ian and I had also concluded that Brady had become an untouchable involuntarily. “But the good news is that I have a pretty good idea how to cure him from whatever they did to him,” I added. I explained how Dr. Kelly had told me there was a drug I could inject directly into an untouchable’s bloodstream for that to happen. “Of course, Brady might die in the process what with his bad heart and all, but it can’t be helped. It’s all we’ve got.”

  Dante just stared at me in silence as he digested all that I had broken to him. I couldn’t blame him for needing some time; it was a lot to swallow in one serving. Then he snorted, shaking his head, and said, “Damn… Only ten days before all hell breaks loose, huh... What are you gonna do? What are we gonna do?”

  I squared my shoulders to convey more confidence than I felt. “We have a tentative plan. Ian’s gonna get his hands on Jonah and make him tell us where we can find Stenger. Since my ‘boyfriend’—I made quotation marks with my fingers—“isn’t clued in on the coups, his dad’s not gonna miss him for a while as busy as he is with the takeover, so it should work. I’m heading back to New York to help Ian as soon as I’ve fixed Brady.” I realized that the mere thought of having to inject my compromised captain with the Haldol, ending up killing him instead of curing him, made me want to weep. Surely, with my luck, I’d make him croak.

  Looking at Dante, I sighed deeply. “I’d really prefer it if a medical professional could help me administer the Haldol to increase the chance of getting it right. Needles and I have never gotten along. If I have to do it, I’ll be nervous as hell.”

  Dante frowned at me. “Haldol? What’s Haldol?”

  “An anti-psychotic medication used to treat mental disorders. Like schizophrenia. It’s the drug Kelly says might fix the brain of an untouchable if administered correctly.” I licked my lips that seemed to get drier by the second. “Since giving injections isn’t my forte, it would be great if someone skilled in that area could do it for me. You know of any doctors we could convince to help out? Someone at this hospital maybe? A female doctor who’s taken a liking to you?” I winked at him, grinning desperately. “It wouldn’t be the first time a woman wants to get into your pants, and now we could really use it.”

  Dante gave a lopsided smile. “Chica, I’d love to help you out with that, but I haven’t been here long enough to bond with any doctor. I only got here last night, remember? And even if there was a woman doctor here who dug me, I don’t know how we’d be able to convince her to give an LAPD captain a potentially lethal dose of… whatever the name was.”

  “Haldol.”

  “Haldol. Right. In addition to convincing her, you’re gonna have to explain why the subject’s tied up or knocked out while receiving the injection. You’ll have to do something like that in order to subdue him. Think about it. It’s not like Brady’s gonna be all cooperative and shit, right? Come on, Gabi. You’ll just have to do it yourself.”

  I thought about what Dante was telling me and grudgingly had to agree that I’d never get a doctor to help me unless I made them do it. Did I really want to go through that? It seemed to me the likelihood of a doctor screwing up the injection was as big if not bigger if I held a gun to their head.

  “All you need to do is get the right amount into his bloodstream,” Dante continued. “How hard can that be?”

  I ran a hand over my face. “I guess I could do it myself. I’m just so nervous that I’ll fuck up. Hit an artery instead of a vein or something so the wrong amount reaches his brain.”

  “How about we ask one of the doctors here how you go about administering it? At least then you’ll feel more confident about it. In the meantime, I’ll call Jose and he can fake a prescription of the drug. He could have it done in thirty minute
s. He already has prescription templates in his computer, so it’ll go way faster than when he did your fake ID.”

  “Yeah, as long as he’s done cleaning up the apartment after the disaster with the doctors, he can do it,” I said dryly. “Hopefully, he and Albert didn’t screw up that part.”

  “I’m sure they did a fine job of it. I admit that bringing Albert wasn’t a good move. He tends to get nervous. But give him a break. It wasn’t like Jose had a lot of options yesterday what with all the shit goin’ on at Cuerpos. From what I can remember, he was supposed to bring some other dude. Something must’ve changed and Albert came in his place. Shit happens, chica. Remember how you screwed up when you tried to squeeze out the info about what Stenger looked like from the docs? You said yourself that someone with your experience should never have made such a mistake.”

  That moment when I’d fucked up so miserably with the docs returned to me, and I had to laugh at myself for being so annoyed with Jose. I was glad Dante had reminded me of it, so I could get over it.

  “Yeah, you’re right,” I said and smiled. “Okay, let’s get a doctor here that I can talk to about how to inject Haldol properly.”

  Dante pressed a button next to his bed, then asked to use my disposable. Punching in a bunch of numbers, he put the phone to his ear.

  “Hombre,” he said after a few beats. “Where are you? Driving home? Good. I need a prescription for a drug called Haldol. H-A-L-D-O-L. Haldol. Anti-psychotic medication. Look it up online.” A brief pause. “Let me ask Gabi, she’s the one who needs it.” He looked at me. “He’ll do it as soon as he gets home, but wants to know how much to put on the prescription.”

  I shrugged. “The biggest possible amount. At least 100 mg, but more is better. We also need big syringes. Ones that can fit 50 mg at a time.”

  As Dante told Jose that, the door to his room opened and a freckled nurse with big glasses entered, her gray-streaked hair in a conservative bun at the nape of her neck.

  “You called?” she said, glancing at Dante.

  Dante gave her a friendly grin. “Yeah, ma’am. I have to ask you something. Could you please hold on a sec?” His eyes moved away from her and he said to Jose, “Gotta go, man. Can you take care of that and swing by Marina Del Rey Hospital afterward? She’ll be here waiting for you.”

  Saying goodbye, he disconnected and returned his attention to the nurse, who had politely been waiting for him to finish his call.

  “What can I do for you?” she asked, still at the door.

  “Is there a doctor available that I can talk to?” Dante wondered. “I have some questions about a medication.”

  “What are they?” she asked. “Maybe I can help.”

  “Do you know how to properly inject...”—he shot me an inquiring glance.

  “Haldol,” I said, looking at the aging nurse. “My friend has schizophrenia and she’s forgotten the instructions how to inject herself with Haldol, and she can’t get hold of her physician. She needs an injection soon.”

  “That’s not information we can give out without having first seen the patient,” the nurse replied. “Haldol is a controlled substance. She’d have to come to the ER here and have the doctor on staff evaluate her, then give her the proper dosage. If she comes within the next hour, they should be able to get to her before the evening. So tell your friend to come here and we’ll take care of it.”

  I forced myself to smile gratefully at the nurse. “Okay, I’ll do that. Thanks so much.”

  Giving a curt nod, the nurse turned around and left.

  “I guess we won’t get anyone here to give us instructions then,” I said and smirked at Dante, even though it wasn’t his fault that the nurse was so by the book.

  “I guess not,” Dante replied, sounding guiltier than he should.

  I blew out a defeated breath. “I’ll just have to bite the bullet and do it myself. But it’ll be fine.” I nodded to myself. “Just fine. I can always Google how one goes about properly injecting a vein. Like you said, how hard can it be? I’m making too big a deal of it!” The way my stomach kept twisting at the thought of injecting Brady contradicted my words.

  Gazing at me, Dante suddenly lit up, like something had just occurred to him.

  “What is it?” I asked him. “Out with it.”

  “Forget Google. I have a better idea. Junkies are experts at getting drugs into their bloodstream. They can teach you how to go about it correctly. And I happen to know the perfect person to help you with that.”

  I frowned at him. “You want a junkie to teach me? Come on, be serious.”

  “I’m dead serious. The person I have in mind is an old friend from my days in the gang. He used to be a big-time heroin addict, but when I ran into him the other week, he told me he’s been clean for the last couple of years. He should be around. Let me call him and see. Can I have your phone again?”

  I handed Dante my disposable. Putting the phone to his ear, he called information, asking for the number to a man called Donald Lee in North Hollywood. As the operator connected him to Donald, Dante blocked the mic part of the phone with his hand, glancing at me and whispering, “I don’t know Donnie’s number of the top of my head. Thankfully, he’s listed.”

  His eyes left me and I could tell someone was on the other line because of the way he lit up. Then he looked at me again, smirking with disappointment. “Voicemail,” he managed to hiss before talking into the phone. “Hey, Donnie, it’s me, Dante. Dante Davila, former member of the Latin Devils. We bumped into each other at the supermarket last week. Ralphs. Hey, I need a little favor. It’s pretty urgent. Call me at—hold on a sec.” His eyes went to me again. “What’s the number to this phone?”

  Quickly, I wrote down the number on the notepad next to Dante’s bed. He read it slowly so Donald’s voicemail could record it, then hung up.

  “He wasn’t home,” Dante said unnecessarily and handed me back the phone.

  “Yeah, I figured that. Well, thanks for trying.” I couldn’t help but sigh disappointed.

  “Relax. I’m sure he’ll get back to me soon. Let’s talk about how you’re gonna get your hands on Brady. What are you thinkin’ in regards to that?”

  I screwed up my lips, considering the problem with Brady in depth for the first time. My first instinct had been to abduct him against his will, but now that I thought about it some more, it dawned on me that such an approach might be overkill. I doubted Brady was aware I was onto him. I told Dante that.

  “After the so-called accident that Dr. Sokoloff had this morning”—I grimaced to show my disgust and sadness with what had happened to the psychologist—“I immediately assumed he must know. But now I realize that I’m probably wrong about that. As far as I’m aware, he doesn’t even know that I found out she died this morning. And even if I do find out, why would I assume he had anything to do with it? It’s not like I’m supposed to know that he’s become an untouchable. So, really, nothing has actually changed between us since we last interacted. In other words, I could just call him up and ask him if we could meet somewhere.” I smiled deviously at Dante. “If I agree that I need help with my crazy fantasies and that I want to discuss it in person with him, for sure he’ll drop everything and come running. I might even convince him to come to my hotel room…”

  “Sounds like a good plan, but how are you gonna explain staying at a hotel? If you’re back for good and agreeing to enter treatment, it would make more sense that you’re staying at your old place or with your parents. Plus, you do realize that you’re gonna have to either tie him up or knock him out to be able to inject him, don’t you? That could get rowdy. It would be easier to take care of such a situation at your old place.”

  “Hmm. Yeah, those are all good points.” I bit the inside of my lower lip. “Why would I be staying at a hotel if I’m planning on living here now?” I expelled a dejected breath. “I suppose I’ll just have to suck it up and ask him to come to my old place then.”

  My phone mercifully ran
g then, cutting short the darkness that was about to descend upon me at the thought of returning to the apartment in which I had found Nick. I fished it out of my purse. I didn’t recognize the number on the screen, but I answered anyway.

  “Hello?”

  “Um, hey,” a tentative male voice said. “Dante Davila called me and told me to return his call on this number.”

  “Yes, that’s correct,” I said. “Hold on, please.”

  I extended the phone to Dante, mouthing a big “it’s Donald.”

  Dante took the phone and put it to his ear, a smile spreading across his lips. “Donnie! My man! It’s Dante, how are you doin’?” The smile kept growing as he listened to what Donald had to say. “Oh, no, I’m fine, but thanks for asking. What about yourself? You still clean?” Dante listened some more, saying uh-huh every now and then. After a couple of minutes had gone by, the smile shrunk and instead Dante rolled his eyes at me; apparently, this Donald-guy was a big-time chatterbox. It didn’t sound like they were discussing what had happened at Cuerpos, though, which was pretty amazing given that the hostage situation was all over the news.

  Finally, Dante got a word in. “That’s great. I’m glad to hear it. Hey, so I need a favor. A weird one. You think you could help me out?” Donald must have launched into another bout of babble, because Dante just listened for a while. Within short, he cut Donald off, however, saying, “Don’t even mention it. Listen, I have this friend who needs a lesson in how to properly inject drugs. We’re talking prescription meds here, not illegal drugs of course. Anyway, so I thought of you. Could you show her how to do it right?” Dante listened again as the other man spoke, the smile on his lips back, growing wider by the second. “I thought so. You’re the best, Donnie.”

  They exchanged a few more words, then disconnected.

  “Donald will be happy to instruct you,” Dante said, grinning pleased. “If there’s someone who knows all the tricks to shootin’ up, he’s your man. He’ll come anywhere you want him to.”