Girl Undercover 8 & 9: Traitor & The Smiley Killer by Julia Derek Read Free Book Online Page A

it? Maybe we’ll find something interesting.”
    Ian let go of me. “Yes, you’re right. We should definitely take a peek.” Giving me a crooked smile, he winked. “See, this is why I need you so badly. In those rare instances when I miss something—and that was a big miss—I knew you’d pick up the slack. We make a good team.”
    I rolled my eyes at his back that somehow managed to look smug as he started toward the door at the end of the hallway, then followed him. Raising a knee to his chest, Ian landed a sharp heel in the middle of the door. It took him a couple of more tries before it came open.
    Staring into the big, dark room, Ian hissed under his breath, “What the fuck…”

    His hand went to the side of the doorway and he found a light switch, making the light fixture in the middle of the ceiling go on. Then he dashed into the room.
    I stopped in the doorway, shocked at the sight of a well dressed, raven-haired woman sitting tied up in a sturdy wheelchair in the corner farthest away from where I was, her mouth taped shut with a big piece of silver duct tape. She stared at us with slanted hazel eyes, her long hair a mess and her face ashen and clammy.
    It took a few seconds before I realized who sat there in the corner, unable to either move or speak; all the fresh blood staining the hardwood floor competed for my attention.
    Nadja, the membership advisor, was sitting in that wheelchair.
    Ian ripped off the tape from the woman’s mouth. She gasped for air.
    “Please… please help me…get me out of here,” she wheezed, staring first at Ian, then at me. “I need juice… Sugar.”
    “Don’t worry, doll,” Ian said and produced a small knife from a pocket in his jeans. “You’ll be out of here in no-time.” He began cutting off the zip ties around her wrists that attached to the wheelchair’s armrests. There were red sores crisscrossing her skin where the zip ties had been, showing that she hadn’t been taking her confinement in stride.
    I ran up to her, grabbing her shoulders as Ian sank to his haunches and continued working on getting her ankles free from the chair.
    “Nadja, do you know who I am?” I asked her.
    “Yes, you’re… you’re a trainer from the club…” Her voice was weak. “Jamie?”
    “Yes, I’m Jamie, a trainer from the club. But I’m really a cop and so is my friend here. I’m undercover at the club. We’ll get you out of here. Rest assured of that.”
    “Thank you,” Nadja said and tried to lick her lips. “Please… I need juice. Sugar. I’m diabetic…”
    “You’re what?” I asked her. “Diabetic?”
    “Yes… my blood sugar’s low. I need sugar.”
    When Ian had finished cutting all the ties, he grabbed the voluptuous woman under her knees and back and carried her out of the room like she weighed nothing.
    “Let’s take her to the living room and get her some water,” Ian said as he moved toward the doorway.
    “She’s diabetic,” I said. “Her blood sugar’s low.”
    He looked at me, then at Nadja. “Well, that explains the clamminess. It must be really low.”
    “We… we need to get… out of here,” Nadja managed to say. “They’ll… be back.”
    “We will, but first we need to get some sugar in you,” Ian said as we strode down the hallway and back into the living room. “Does water mixed with something sugary work?” He asked Nadja.
    “Yes…”
    As Ian placed Nadja on the part of the couch that looked the least filthy, he told me to look for anything with sugar in it in the corner kitchen and to put it in water. I dashed over there and turned on the faucet while opening the cabinets above at the same time, searching for anything sugary. Far inside one of the cabinets, I spotted what looked like an old bag of Domino Sugar. Pulling it out, I saw that it was and that it was half full with dried-up sugar.
    “Found sugar,” I said to Ian. “It’s all dry and clumped up, though.”
    “Break it up and mix it with water,” Ian