Girl Undercover 12: Showdown Read Free Page A

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