Girl Undercover 12: Showdown Read online

  “In all seriousness,” Ian continued, “I didn’t have to work on him too much for that to happen. It was more because of what I learned that I didn’t get any sleep.”

  I frowned. “You mean because you found out Stenger was living so close to us?”

  “No. I always thought that he’d have some residence in the vicinity. I just had no idea where it was.” Ian turned his head away from me even though we had stopped at a red light. We were only minutes away from my place, the traffic was so sparse.

  “Then what did you learn?” I asked him.

  When he didn’t turn his head to look at me but kept staring out the windshield, I put a hand on his arm. “Ian? Are you okay?”

  He shot me a quick glance that lasted long enough for me to catch a pained expression in his eyes. I instantly froze. What is wrong?

  I asked him just that.

  “Nothing,” he responded. He tried to smile but failed as he kept staring at the road. “You’re right; it did rile me that Stenger was living so close to us. Knowing that we could’ve found him much sooner had I only applied pressure to Jonah really pissed me off.” He shook his head. “If only I’d have gotten to him much sooner!”

  Glancing at him, I was mesmerized at how easily he had just lied to me, lied straight to my face. But something in his eyes, something hard and unrelenting, warned me to confront him about it. It told me loud and clear that I better not do it if I wanted him to go through with our mission. I don’t know what it was that made me so sure of that, only that I was, and that I needed to keep in place the accusation that had been about to leap off my tongue.

  We lapsed into an uncomfortable silence that lasted until we reached my house.

  “Well, here we are,” Ian said and opened the door. “I’ll help you with your luggage and then we’re off to pay Jonah a visit.”

  Chapter 7

  As I had expected, there were no marks of any kind on Jonah when I saw him an hour later, tied up on a wooden chair in the middle of Ian’s living room. When he noticed me, his eyeballs looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets, he was so furious. But the gag in his mouth prevented him from getting more than a small, garbled sound out. His face quickly turned red from his efforts to speak.

  “Hello, Jonah,” I said, stopping before him while Ian switched on his TV and turned up the volume. Massimo, who had been sitting before Jonah like a watchdog, skittered off and hid underneath the antique leather couch. I was beginning to think it was just me that cat didn’t like.

  “Feel free to remove the gag,” Ian said. “As thick as the walls are, no one will hear him if he tries to scream now that the TV is on. Besides, he knows that it’ll hurt badly, so he’ll probably stay within reasonable sound levels.” Ian joined me, looking at Jonah. “Right, mate?”

  Jonah didn’t try to say anything, just glared at Ian like he wanted to kill him. I went around Jonah and loosened the gag little by little to see if he would obey and not scream.

  When all he did was hiss that I was a two-timing bitch, I removed it completely and walked around so that I faced him.

  “You never did love me, did you?” he demanded in an accusatory tone. “It was all just a lie, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, it was,” I replied calmly. Ian was standing beside me, peering at Jonah as he wriggled like a worm on a hook in the chair.

  To my surprise, Jonah’s face twisted like he was about to start crying. A couple of seconds later, he did start to cry. Big, fat tears rolled down his cheeks. Staring at him, I didn’t know what to say. Had my admission really hurt him that much? Apparently so.

  “Oh, God, you’re so mean,” he sniffled like a young child. “How can you do this to me? I would’ve given you everything… Treated you so much better than what that jackass ever will!” He glared at Ian, daggers shooting out of his eyes.

  “Oh, you know that’s not true, Jonah,” Ian said calmly, returning Jonah’s furious glare. “You’re a loser and everyone knows it. Stenger knows it, too, which is why I’ll be the one taking over when he’s dead.”

  As Jonah sputtered with ire in the chair, I shot Ian a look. Taking over what? It couldn’t be the empire Stenger strived to create, so what was he talking about?

  I didn’t get a chance to think about it for long, though, because Jonah yelled, “No, you won’t! If you were, you wouldn’t feel the need to kidnap me and hide me from the world. It’s too bad that approach won’t work.” Jonah let out a hysterical guffaw. “It’s only a matter of time until Dad starts to wonder where I am and sends out people to look for me. And when he finds out you’re the one behind it, he’ll have you executed for sure! I can’t wait to see what he’ll do to you.”

  Jonah’s darkened gaze went to me then. “Too bad it’s too late for you, too, now. After you pull something like this on me, I can’t ever take you back, which means you’re dead. You’ll finally realize your mistake and then you’ll come crawling back to me, begging me to be your boyfriend again. You’ll realize that you do love me then. He’s just managed to poison your mind to think that you don’t. I’m not surprised; I’ve heard he’s good at that.”

  He glared with hatred at Ian again.

  I just stared at Jonah, too confused to say anything to refute his words. He must have interpreted that as me doubting him because he suddenly scowled so hard that his eyebrows turned into a V. Then he scoffed and shook his head at me like he couldn’t believe I was so stupid.

  “What? You actually believe this guy? He won’t take over a thing. I will. Dad told me so when I spoke to him yesterday, promised me. That one’s a dead man walking.” He kept glaring at Ian, who was just standing there beside me, watching Jonah go on and on. “He’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done to me!”

  “Oh, yeah, you think?” Ian said sarcastically. As I turned to look at him, I noticed that the confident tone of his voice didn’t match his face, which had gotten strangely pale and clammy. He looked sick. Is he okay? Then I remembered how he hadn’t gotten any sleep last night. That must be why he looked like he felt so bad.

  “How about we ask him directly?” Ian asked Jonah.

  “Sure, let’s do that,” Jonah spat back, then gave an evil grin. “When he sees how you’ve tied me up like some low-level thug, it’s definitely over.”

  “Hardly. But just because I enjoy to prove you wrong, I will ask him. Actually, why don’t we have Gabi ask him? She can go to his house and have him log onto a computer. When she’s done that, we’ll call him up on Skype and he can make his choice. I’ll just hold my laptop before you and he’ll instantly see what I’ve done to you.”

  Jonah scowled. “Gabi? Who’s Gabi?”

  Ian laughed with scorn. “Right, you don’t know that Jamie’s real name is Gabi. Why am I not surprised? You didn’t even realize she was stringing you along all this time.”

  Jonah’s eyes filled with tears again, but he managed to blink them away this time around. He turned to me. “Your name isn’t Jamie?”

  “No,” I said, feeling as confused as he looked. Why did I feel as though something was going on here that I wasn’t aware of? Had Ian forgotten to tell me some vital part on our way over to his house? It sure seemed like it.

  “Why did you lie about your name?” Jonah demanded.

  I looked at Ian, not sure what to say to that. Had it really been necessary to reveal this detail to Jonah right now? Ian just looked at me with a tense, wax-like face. Sweat coated the sides of it.

  Reluctantly, I turned my attention back to Jonah. “Because I like Jamie better.”

  “I personally prefer Gabi,” Ian said curtly, then looked at Jonah again. “How about it? She goes over to his house and have him call my place on Skype. When he sees you tied up and me next to you, we’ll know what the deal is.”

  “Yes, that’s a great idea,” Jonah snarled. “I can’t wait to hear exactly what method he’ll use to make you pay for what you’ve done to me. I’ll advocate for it to be as painful as possible.” />
  “I’m sure you will,” Ian said. “Let’s take care of it as soon as possible. Is he home tonight?”

  Jonah scoffed. “What a stupid question! It’s Mom and his anniversary tonight. They’re always in Jersey to celebrate that. Mom wouldn’t have it any other way. She loves the mansion. If you knew anything about Dad, you’d know this.”

  “Well, we wouldn’t want to interrupt their special night, would we?” Ian said carefully, eyes glued to Jonah. “How about Gabi goes there tomorrow instead? It’s late. I know Gabi’s tired and could use some rest.”

  “I’d rather she went now,” Jonah replied. “I’m not exactly comfortable sitting on this chair.”

  “We can change that,” Ian said. “I’ll let you take a shower, even lie down in my bed until I hear from Gabi. Before she contacts us on Skype, I’ll put you back in the chair again.”

  While Jonah seemed to ponder Ian’s incredibly generous suggestion, I had to force myself not to stare at Ian. Was he being serious? We couldn’t risk letting Jonah loose all night. Not unless someone watched over him while he slept at least. I really hoped he didn’t assume I would sit guard over Jonah all night. And Ian couldn’t do it, either. Both of us needed our sleep. He especially, as bad as he looked.

  “Okay, fine,” Jonah said finally.

  “Fine what?” Ian asked.

  Jonah rolled his eyes at him. “Are you effing stupid? I said fine as in she can go there tomorrow to see him. As long as you let me out of this chair, she can go tomorrow. He’ll still be there, and that way Mom won’t have to see me in this state. I don’t want to upset her.”

  Ian turned to me. “Are you okay with driving up to Alpine tomorrow around nine to see Stenger?”

  I shrugged and said “sure,” not knowing what else to do.

  “Great,” Ian said. He picked up the gag from the table where I had left it and quickly tied it around Jonah’s mouth. Instantly, Jonah started to protest, but little came out from his lips.

  Lowering the volume on the TV that was showing an episode of the Kardashians, Ian blew out a breath. “There. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to take much more of those women.” He proceeded to pull out a gun from his waistband under his cashmere sweater and handed it to me. “Point it at him while I undo his feet.”

  As he squatted next to Jonah, I pointed the gun at the seated man.

  “What are you doing?” I asked Ian. “Just so you know, I want to get some sleep tonight. Preferably more than a couple of hours. And you could use a lot more. Like eight.”

  “Don’t worry,” Ian said. “We’ll both get to sleep enough.”

  “Can we be sure that this freak doesn’t go anywhere in the meantime?”

  Jonah glared at me, trying to say something. Mercifully, the gag stopped whatever insult he tried to hurl at me.

  “Yes,” Ian said. Jonah’s feet were free now, so he moved on to the arms tied around the chair back. When those were free as well, he told Jonah to stand up at the same time as he pulled out a switchblade from a pant pocket. Flicking the blade out, he put Jonah in a chokehold and told him to walk, holding the knife to Jonah’s ribs all the while. Jonah started to walk with Ian attached to his backside.

  I soon realized that they were heading to Ian’s bathroom.

  When they had reached it, Ian told me to open the door and switch on the light inside the bathroom. I did.

  Pushing Jonah inside the small bathroom, Ian said, “Take a shower and do your business. When you’re done, you can come out again. You have ten minutes to clean up. Any longer and you can look forward to spending all night in there. I’m going to remove the gag from you now because I’m nice. Before you think about doing something stupid like screaming off the top of your lungs, I promise you I’ll cut off a couple of your fingers.” Ian waved the switchblade in front of Jonah’s eyes. “I’m sure you’d much prefer keeping your hands intact, so keep the volume down, okay?”

  When Jonah nodded stoically, Ian removed the gag and pushed him into the bathroom, shutting the door after him. We soon heard the shower run behind the closed door.

  “Was that smart?” I asked Ian quietly.

  “Very. He’ll feel better after a shower and relieving himself, be more compliant. I’d rather he use the toilet than shit his pants. It’s only a matter of time before he needs to use the bathroom. The last time he went was this morning and getting him over to the bathroom on my own was a pain in the arse. I’d rather not go through that again, and I certainly don’t want to smell his shit when he can’t hold it in any longer. There are no windows in my bathroom, and it’s more soundproof than the rest of my place, so there isn’t much the bloke can do in there than what he’s supposed to.”

  “I see what you’re saying,” I said. “But I don’t get why you told him he could sleep in your bed. We both need to sleep tonight. So who’s gonna watch him while he’s in your bed? Since your bed doesn’t have bedposts, I can’t see how you’ll tie him to it, and there are also the windows facing the street to consider. If he manages to wiggles out of bed, he could stand before the window and someone might see him.”

  “Don’t worry, Massimo will watch him for us,” Ian said, gazing at me with a dead serious face. “That cat can be one scary beast when he wants to.”

  I couldn’t help but picture the goofy scenario Ian was describing, tiny Massimo guarding big Jonah, and, much to my annoyance, it cracked me up. Quickly controlling myself, however, I slapped his arm hard.

  “Be serious! Who’s gonna watch him?”

  The sound of someone stepping into the bathtub came through the door, and then Jonah cursing to himself. He was obviously not trying to listen in on our conversation, but hurrying to do his business before his time was up.

  “I am being serious, luv,” Ian responded in an undertone. “I won’t let him near my bed of course, but put him on the couch where he’ll be lying down. In addition to Massimo keeping an eye on him, the bloke’s hands and feet will be tied and attached to the couch legs. He won’t be able to move when I’m done with him. Trust me.”

  I nodded, appreciative of his solution, then smiled wryly. “He’ll be so mad when he realizes that you tricked him… I’m sure he imagined he’d get to sleep comfortably in your bed. It’s gonna be tough for you to tie him up again.”

  “Not if you help me.”

  “That’s true.”

  “At least now we know that Stenger is in his house, so we won’t waste our time going there.” He slung an arm over my shoulders and pulled me close, his mouth next to my ear. “I also know how we’ll get him to do what we want.”

  “How?” I whispered back.

  “We’ll tell him we’ll kill his son if he doesn’t put a stop to the coups. When he sees Jonah gagged and tied up, he’ll know we’re serious about that.”

  I pulled away from Ian, staring at him. “You honestly think that’ll be enough for Stenger to put an end to his entire world vision? I don’t. He’s been working to achieve it for decades, for Christ’s sake!”

  Ian put a finger to his lips and shushed me. “Don’t be so loud. While I doubt the idiot in there can hear what we’re saying, it’s best not to take any chances. Yes, I do think it’ll be enough. That was another thing I learned from hanging out with him all of last night. Stenger loves his children so much that he can’t stand the idea of them suffering. He’ll do anything to protect Jonah. So, that approach will work to stave off the initial coups at least.”

  “Okay. What were you talking about in there, by the way?” I jabbed my thumb toward the living room. “All that stuff about taking over. What was that about?”

  Ian looked away, his eyes going a dark bottle green at the same time as he turned that sickly pale again.

  I put a hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”

  He shook his head as though wanting to clear his head, then gazed at me. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just really, really tired. I needed to play mind games with him to get him to talk. What you heard in there was part of
the games I played. I was just goading him to get him to tell us about Stenger. So we could be sure that we weren’t wasting our time.” He gave me an odd smile. “Really, I didn’t have to inflict much pain on him at all to make him tell me all kinds of stuff once I started.”

  “Oh.”

  We lapsed into an awkward silence then, the only sound accompanying us the shower running and Jonah moving around inside the bathroom.

  Ian banged on the door. “Time’s almost up. Don’t bother putting on your clothes again. I’ll have some new ones for you when you get out.”

  “I don’t want your effing clothes!” Jonah barked through the door.

  “It doesn’t matter what you want. You’re wearing them, or I’ll tie you up on the chair again.”

  Apparently, Jonah would rather wear Ian’s clothes than sit on that chair again because he didn’t say anything else.

  Ian turned to me and whispered. “If he wears those same clothes, he’ll stink real bad by the time tomorrow comes.”

  I nodded in agreement, having already noticed that Jonah reeked of sweat.

  Again, we fell into an awkward silence. Ian leaned against the bathroom door and crossed his arms over his chest, looking deep in thought.

  Not able to handle the silence any longer, I said, “What do I say when I get to Stenger’s house? How do I get him to agree to see me?”

  “You tell him that you have a message from Jonah.”

  “You think that’ll be enough to get me in the door?”

  “It should be. If not, tell him that Jonah will die if you don’t get to see Stenger alone. That will get you in. Would you prefer that I go instead and you stay here with Jonah? That would work too.”

  “No, I’ll go.” Just the thought of being along with Jonah was more than I could handle. Also, for some reason I didn’t think Stenger would take me as seriously as he would take Ian when it came to hurting his son. Ian was a lot bigger than me, and had the ability to look like he could do some real damage when he wanted to. “It’s better if you’re with Jonah.”