Read The Dead Drop Online

Authors: Jennifer Allison

The Dead Drop

Table of Contents
 
 
 
also by Jennifer Allison
Gilda Joyce,
Psychic Investigator
 
Gilda Joyce
The Ladies of the Lake
 
Gilda Joyce
The Ghost Sonata
DUTTON CHILDREN’S BOOKS
A division of Penguin Young Readers Group
 
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) • Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa • Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Of
fices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
 
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Copyright © 2009 by Jennifer Allison
 
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage
and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher,
except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclu
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The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or
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CIP Data is available.
 
Published in the United States by Dutton Children’s Books,
a division of Penguin Young Readers Group
345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
www.penguin.com/youngreaders
 
 
eISBN : 978-1-101-05706-3
 

http://us.penguingroup.com

To my friends at the International Spy Museum with appreciation,
and to anyone whoever dreamed of becoming a spy.
PROLOGUE
Packing List for Washington, D.C.,
Internship and Spy Activities
• Jackie Kennedy-inspired pink taffeta dress with matching pillbox hat (awesome vintage clothing store find!)
• Jackie Kennedy accessories: short white gloves, multistrand pearls, oversize white sunglasses, white clutch purse
• White stiletto pumps (because my feet can take it)
• Rollers and curling iron for bouncy bobs and flippy flips
• Ponytail hairpiece for 1960s-style “spy hair”
• Leggings and boots (to approximate 1960s Diana Riggs Avengers-style catsuit)
• Nancy Reagan-style fire engine red “first lady” power suit with quarterback-sized shoulder pads
• Red-sequined evening gown for dinner parties
• Agent 99-style light blue trench coat (wear on rainy days with collar up and vinyl knee-high stretch boots)
• Jogging suit for early morning workouts near the U.S. Capitol Building (opportunity to rub elbows with winded senators)
• Ordinary tourist clothes, including yellow sundress and flip-flops
• Nondescript government-employee-style black skirt and white blouse (to blend in with the crowd during surveillance activities)
• 1960s “spy chic” minidress found at excellent garage sale
• Liquid “spyliner” and false eyelashes for creating sultry spy eyes
• Hairspray for big spy hair
• Disguise kit: wig, makeup, fake mustache and beard (for extreme disguises), spirit gum, thick eyeglasses
• Water bottle needed to brave scorching temperatures
• Map of Washington, D.C.
• Tourist guidebook
• Polaroid camera for ghost hunting
• Professional guidebooks: Haunted Government:
The Famous Ghosts of Washington, D.C.
, and
“Spy Savvy” : A Tradecraft Handbook
• Notebooks, pens, and my beloved typewriter!
1
The Arrival
Gilda exited Reagan National Airport and made her way toward a line of people waiting for taxis. The air was thick with humidity and, as she dragged her heavy suitcase behind her, she found herself wishing she hadn’t worn her Jackie Kennedy outfit for traveling. How did women stand wearing panty hose and high heels every day back in the old days?
You’re a spy and you’re actually here in Washington, D.C.!
she told herself.
Stop griping about a little hot air!
Gilda climbed into the taxi and was relieved to feel a cold blast of air-conditioning as the cab zoomed onto the highway.
“You coming home to D.C. or just visiting?” The driver peered at her through his rearview mirror, eyeing her pillbox hat with curiosity.
“I’m actually in D.C. to study spy tradecraft.” Gilda knew that a true spy would never actually give away this information; she would stick with a “cover” identity and purpose.
I’m going to visit my sick grandmother,
she might say, or
I’m here to study church music at the National Cathedral.
But Gilda simply couldn’t resist telling
someone
about the adventure that lay before her—a summer job at the International Spy Museum, where she planned to learn intriguing secrets while improving her own spy skills by picking up tips from the experts.
“A spy!” The cab driver grinned. “You workin’ for the CIA?”
“Not exactly.” Gilda hoped she actually looked old enough to be working for the Central Intelligence Agency, since this would make the grown-up tidiness of her Jackie Kennedy outfit and hairsprayed hair well worth the effort. At the very least, she needed to look older than her age of fourteen years and eleven months, because she had told the Spy Museum that she was
already
fifteen after learning that this was the youngest age they would consider for summer interns. Gilda figured that fourteen going on fifteen was close enough, considering her passion for spying.
“Lotta people ride in my cab are spies,” the cab driver continued.
“Really?” Gilda knew from studying her
Spy Savvy
handbook that Washington, D.C., was “the spy capital of the world”—a place where people from around the globe came in hopes of obtaining secret information from the U.S. government.
“I overhear everything in this taxi.” The driver exited the highway and drove through a lush, tree-dense neighborhood where grand foreign embassy buildings lined the street. “In fact,” he said, “maybe I should be a spy.”
Maybe he is a spy,
Gilda thought, remembering how her
Spy Savvy
handbook had warned that “nothing is exactly what it seems” when you’re operating in the world of espionage. “Don’t expect the spies around you to announce themselves,” the book warned. “A bus driver, delivery person, or even a homeless person on the street could actually be a spy in disguise—perfectly positioned to conduct surveillance or await a handoff of secret information without anyone noticing.”
The driver pulled into the entranceway of an enormous old apartment building surrounded by magnolia trees: Cathedral Towers Apartment Homes. Gilda’s stomach fluttered.
This is it,
she thought.
My new home for the summer.
She felt nervous, realizing she would actually be on her own in a new city. Gilda had traveled away from her family a couple of times before, but this would be her first experience in Washington, D.C. Not only was she in an unfamiliar city, she would be sharing an apartment with a much older roommate as well—a young woman who had just graduated from college. It would also be her first experience figuring out a subway system, making all of her own meals, and going to a real job. Gilda had flippantly assured her mother she could handle it, but suddenly she didn’t feel quite so confident.

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