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
sion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

 

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or
third-party websites or their content.

 

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

 

PROLOGUE

Packing List for Washington, D.C.,
Internship and Spy Activities

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.