Girl Undercover 8 & 9: Traitor & The Smiley Killer Read Free Page A

hasn’t left by now, he’s probably not going to. Or already left a long time ago. Are you heading home now?”
    “Yep. I’m about to get into a cab.”
    “All right. I’ll be there soon then.”
    We said goodbye and disconnected. Two minutes later, I was in a cab myself, on my way to Ian’s house. Wiping away the raindrops that had fallen on me as I’d waited on the street, I watched nighttime New York zip by outside the car window. An image of Burt’s face when Janine demanded that he come with her flitted through my mind. Why had he been so uncomfortable and still gone? Burt was no small man, measuring about six foot three inches, and while his body was on the leaner side, he was certainly strong. Janine might be taller than the average woman, but she was not exactly muscular. Yet, given Burt’s reaction to the senator, it had appeared like she could easily subdue him, using her physical power.
    She must have something on him. Something big.
    I couldn’t wait until I got a chance to ask Burt about his reaction, not to mention found out what it had been that he’d wanted to tell me. As soon as I saw him tomorrow at the club and he wasn’t with a client, I’d march right up to him and put him on the spot, albeit discreetly.
    The cab came to a halt outside Ian’s brownstone, so I paid and got out. I had barely pushed his buzzer before I sensed a familiar vibration in my purse. Someone had sent me a text. At first I wasn’t sure which of my cells it was since I now had two—my regular one and my disposable that I got renewed every couple of days. That’s the time Ian and I had assumed it was safe for us to use them until people at Adler might have figured out our numbers.
    The text was on my regular phone. And it was from Jonah.
    Hey Jamie, so sorry to kick you out of the house when we were doing so well… I didn’t have to go see my dad in the end, so am at home. Wanna come over and continue what we started?

    The text was followed by three vulgar emoticons, the kind an immature man like Jonah surely thought were awesome.
    My stomach twisted as I thought about having to kiss him again, in addition to anything else that he seemed to have in mind. Gorgeous or not, that childish, possessive streak he kept displaying was a major turn-off, reminding me of someone I used to date in L.A. years ago who’d ended up working for Cardoza. I sighed. I couldn’t believe I had insinuated to Ian I was looking forward to sleeping with Jonah even as a joke.
    I didn’t have to consider my feelings regarding Jonah for long, though, because the shrill sound of Ian buzzing me in interrupted my thoughts. Opening the heavy door to his brownstone, I ran up the long, steep stairs and reached his floor within short. He was standing in his doorway, waiting for me.
    At the sight of him, I sprinted up and embraced him, burying my head in the crook of his neck as I caught my breath. His arms were soon around me, returning the embrace.
    “Gabi,” he said softly after having given me some time to get my breathing back to normal. “Is everything okay?”
    “Yeah,” I murmured into his neck. “Well, as okay as it can be considering the circumstances…”
    He removed my head from his neck and, cupping my cheeks, he looked into my eyes with those ever-changing ones of his own, a deep blue right now. Not saying a word, he picked up a damp piece of hair that had stuck to my face and placed it behind my ear, smiling warmly. The gentle action was similar to what Jonah had done as we’d embraced only hours ago. A wave of unpleasant sensations rippled through me, cutting the moment between me and Ian short.
    I grabbed his hand. “Don’t do that.”
    “What? Tuck your hair behind your ear?”
    “Yes. It brings back bad memories.”
    “Okay. I’m sorry. I won’t ever do it again.”
    I removed his hand from my face and leaned into him again, closing my eyes. I was suddenly feeling exhausted. All I wanted was to lie down and sleep,