Girl Undercover 10 & 11: The Abduction & Dante's Inferno (20 page)

Getting to my feet, I stuck my head out the window above Kelly. The balcony was right next to it. If you didn’t fear heights, you could reach it fairly easily by climbing out the window. I spotted what appeared to be several sheets tied to the side of the balcony railing, at the very bottom of it. The sheets hung all the way down to the balcony under it.

I retracted my head from the outside and turned to Jose. “What happened in here?”

“I went out to the balcony just in time to see the skinny, mean doctor lower himself from the balcony with the help of sheets. I must’ve scared him or somethin’ because when he heard me yell to Albert to check if the fattie was in his bedroom still, he lost his grip and fell to the ground.”

“I’m sorry for killing him,” Albert stuttered, appearing genuinely ashamed. “I really only meant to stop him.”

“Don’t sweat it,” I said, patting his huge shoulder. “Maybe it was for the best.” Squatting, I checked Kelly’s pulse to be one hundred percent sure that he was really dead. When I was, I got to my feet again and added, “We need to hide his body and clean up in here in case the LAPD suspect foul play and want to visit every apartment. Especially ones immediately above the place where Juback landed.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Jose said. “Don’t worry, Gabi. Go do what you have to do. The cops won’t find anything off in here.”

After the two doctors had managed to die under Jose’s watch, I wasn’t sure I could trust that everything would be okay when he was in charge any longer. But I didn’t have much choice, so I just nodded and went into the adjacent bathroom to wash off the blood on my hands, arms and clothes. My denim shorts were dark enough not to show whatever blood splatter remained when I was done, but my yellow top was impossible to get fully clean.

I left the bathroom and dug up one of the T-shirts that had been meant for our captives in the closets. Finding a stack of them, I pulled a big, ugly gray one over my head, pleased to note how boxy it was. I no longer needed to look even remotely attractive. Asking Jose for a handgun to replace my Glock that Javier had taken from me, I left the apartment, hoping that cops had yet to arrive to the building. It would be easier for me to make a smooth exit if they hadn’t. As shocked as the concierge had appeared, I doubted he’d even called them yet, even though at least fifteen minutes must have passed since I met him in the building entrance.

I was in luck—when I walked out of the high rise, I couldn’t spot any cops anywhere, only throngs of people around the body. The traffic was at a standstill, horns beeping and angry drivers yelling at the crowds to get moving. But as I was about to cross the street to get to my car, I noted that a patrol car was approaching farther up the road. I picked up my pace and eventually reached my Toyota that was parked almost a block away from the building entrance. I was thankful now that it had been so hard for me to find a parking spot earlier, as I would get out of this busy area quicker being so far away.

It still took me a good ten minutes to get through all the commotion. Right as I was about to relax somewhat and enter the freeway, Jonah called on my regular phone.
Fuck.
Having to speak to this nut job and pretend like everything was just great was the last thing I needed. I honestly didn’t think I would be able to do that.

As the phone kept ringing, I debated whether to answer or not.
When was the last time we’d spoken?
I thought it had been yesterday, but I couldn’t be sure; so much had happened in the last twenty-four hours that everything had become a big blur in my mind. If it was the day before yesterday, I really should be picking up. By the time I had made up my mind that I’d better answer, the phone stopped ringing and the call went into voicemail.

Oh, well, it’s better that I don’t talk to him right now,
I told myself. As wound up as I was, I would have said something stupid, revealed what was really going on here in Los Angeles. I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. What with the doctors being dead now, I had to behave perfectly in order for Jonah to keep believing all my bullshit. Laughing without humor, I wondered what the hell I could tell him that didn’t involve the doctors having attacked me in some way. After my promise to Dr. Kelly, I had to make at least
him
appear like he’d remained a loyal follower of The Adler Group’s cause all the way to the end.

Driving onto the freeway ramp, I wondered if maybe I could tell Jonah that the two doctors had gotten into a fight, and that Dr. Juback had killed Dr. Kelly in the process. In an effort to try to stop Juback, we had been forced to shoot him and thereby killed him. It would be a very thin explanation, of course, which was why Ian and I had decided from the get-go that we needed to keep these two alive. Killing them had been out of the question not only because it would be difficult for us to come up with a motive plausible enough to do such a thing, but also because we felt it would be plain wrong. The only reason I’d be okay with killing them was if we could determine that the doctors were truly evil. I hadn’t gotten to know either of them well enough to be able to have a strong opinion regarding that either way.

No, I can’t tell Jonah that Juback did something to Kelly that resulted in his death,
I soon concluded. If Kelly feared that Jonah would do something to his family, he would surely do something to Juback’s, too, if he had a family. Maybe he didn’t. Unlike Kelly, I hadn’t noticed a wedding band on the tall, skinny doctor’s ring finger. But I wasn’t about to take any chances.

As I drove along the freeway, my thoughts moved on to the cure Kelly had suggested to fix Brady. And how it might very well kill him if he had a history of cardiovascular disease.

I had already made up my mind to try it on him despite his bad heart; if Brady was aware of what he had become, I knew that he’d rather be dead anyway. I should do it as soon as possible, so he couldn’t do any more harm to me and others. It would be best if I could get a doctor to help me administer the drug. Someone who knew what the hell Haldol
was.
I had never heard of it before. The way Kelly had spoken of it made it sound like it was something people in his line of work would be familiar with. I sighed heavily. I sure hoped that was the case, and that they could clarify how such a drug was taken on a regular basis.

Finding my burner phone in my purse, I was just about to speed-dial Ian’s number when I recalled that I hadn’t changed my phone in at least three days, and it was my turn to do so. I should get a new one before I told him all the crucial information. I was especially concerned about discussing the fact that I was planning on trying to cure Brady the way Kelly had suggested. It was bad enough that I had spoken so openly regarding my intentions during our last phone conversation.

As soon as I reached Hollywood, I took the nearest exit and drove on side streets until I found a 7-Eleven store. I parked my car in the small shopping mall lot outside the convenience store and went inside to get a new disposable. When I was done, I threw my old one in a huge garbage container, then went to my car and started the engine.

I had already driven out of the mall when I realized that I didn’t know Ian’s latest burner number by heart. Nor did he know my new burner number.

Damn it,
I hissed under my breath. I had to go back and dig up my old burner phone to get his number. Making a U-turn, I drove back to the little shopping mall and parked my car. As I approached the green garbage dumpster, I spotted someone standing there. It looked like a homeless man judging from the torn attire he wore and the knotty, long hair. Yes, it was definitely a homeless dude, I decided as I got closer and saw that he was searching through the garbage. I also noted that he stank terribly.

Great,
I thought, rolling my eyes. The man was so into his task that he didn’t notice me when I was beside him.

I cleared my throat noisily to get his attention. He still didn’t notice me.

“Excuse me, sir,” I said loudly. “I think I lost something in the trash.”

He finally swiveled his head in my direction, his face dirty and sunburned a dark brown.

“Get away, this is my can,” he grumbled and turned back toward the overflowing dumpster.

“No, I can’t because I need to find something,” I said with as friendly a voice as I could muster. “It’ll be over in a sec and then it’s all yours again.”

“No!” he yelled at me like a three-year-old and blocked the dumpster with his body. “Go
away.”

I debated whether to get the gun Jose had given me from the car and threaten to shoot the homeless man if he didn’t move when I saw that he held what had to be my old disposable in his hand.

“I’ll give you forty bucks for that phone in your hand,” I told him.

That got his attention. He stopped rooting around the trash and glanced at the phone in his other hand. He grinned at me, displaying an uneven row of brown teeth.

“You can have it for sixty.”

Sighing, I dug for my wallet and hoped that I had that much in cash. I pulled out all the bills in it and counted them—fifty-six bucks. I told the bum it was all that I had, and then showed him that my wallet was indeed empty.

He snatched the bills out of my hand and tossed me the burner, then returned to going through the trash. Checking that it was in fact my old one, I hurried back to my Toyota, glad to be able to breathe fresh air again. I found Ian’s number and typed it into my new burner.

“Hello,” he replied after a couple of rings had gone through.

“Hey, it’s me,” I said, leaning back into the seat, my eyes resting on the homeless dude to be sure he stayed where he was. “I’m on my new burner. It was high time for a new one. You won’t believe what happened since I spoke to you last. It’s getting more and more surreal.”

“Tell me.”

“The doctors tried to escape from the apartment. One of them fell to his death and the other died from a gun wound. Jose’s buddy accidentally killed Dr. Kelly when he tried to stop him from escaping.” I didn’t see the need to go into too much detail here. I proceeded to tell Ian that I had learned of a way to potentially bring Brady back to our side. “Unfortunately, the Haldol might kill him since he has a history of heart disease, and an extra big injection is apparently required the first time it’s administered. Kelly also said that he needed to keep getting Haldol into his system for the effects to remain. I need to find a doctor who can tell me exactly what Haldol is, so I have the biggest chance of succeeding.”

“Haldol is an antipsychotic drug typically used to treat schizophrenia.”

“Really? How do you know that?”

“My mom was schizophrenic and took it to control her disease.”

“Oh. Did it work?”

“Yes. As long as she took it on a regular basis. She had to take it every day, but she didn’t always. Her disease caused a lot of strain on my parents’ marriage. It may even be the reason they’re dead today.”

“Why do you say that?”

“According to the police report, there were signs of them fighting in the car. Which makes sense because I remember that they were fighting when they left the house that morning.”

“Wait.” I sat up straighter. “I thought you told me they died just a few years ago.”

“Yes, I know. I wasn’t quite truthful about that. I didn’t feel like talking about it. Anyway, I was fourteen when they died.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been awful. Who raised you?”

“My grandparents on my father’s side. Yes, it was a tough time. My grandparents were already very old, so it was difficult for all of us. I wasn’t an easy child, but they didn’t want to send me away anywhere. My father was an only child and my mother had no family, either.” He drew in a long breath, which I attributed to the fact that thoughts of his childhood upset him and deep breathing made him calm down. I gave him a few seconds so he could collect himself.

“You’re not the only one who had an eventful morning,” he said after some time.

“Are you telling me yours was crazier than mine? Unless you found Stenger, I can’t think of anything that can beat all the pressure I was just under.”

“No, I didn’t find Stenger and my morning was comparatively pleasant until about thirty minutes ago. I tried to call you, but you must have just gotten rid of your old disposable because it said the number was no longer in service.” He cleared his throat, his voice getting deeper. “I found out something really disturbing when I overheard Jonah talking to someone on the phone a short while ago. It will for sure make the future a lot crazier. Mine, yours, and everyone else’s.”

I grasped my new phone more tightly, not sure I was able to handle more drama in my life right now; judging from Ian’s voice, it sounded like there was lots more to come.

“Go on,” I said tensely.

“When we disconnected earlier, I went to Nikkei to work out. As I was walking up the stairs to the fifth floor, I spotted Jonah talking on the phone with someone. He was standing with his back to the stairs, totally immersed in his conversation and oblivious to his surroundings. He was very agitated for some reason. I’m not sure who he was talking to except that it didn’t sound like it was his father. Anyway, since he didn’t seem aware of me standing right behind him, I hung around, pretending to check something on my phone. I must’ve been standing there listening to him talk for a couple of minutes at least.”

“Okay, and what did you find out?” I couldn’t take the suspense much longer.

“That we have our timeline for the coups totally off.”

“How? They’re not happening New Year’s Eve?”

Part TWELVE entitled SHOWDOWN, which is the conclusion to this serial, is now available.

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