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

replied.
    “Okay, how much sugar in a glass of water?” I asked.
    I heard him ask Nadja, who said a few tablespoons in one glass of water would work.
    I found a glass that I rinsed out a few times and filled up with cold water. Then I broke up a few chunks of sugar and stuck it into the water. It immediately began to dissolve.
    I hurried back to where Nadja and Ian were, placing the glass against Nadja’s lips. She drank greedily, all the sugar water gone in only seconds.
    “More, please,” she mumbled. “But just water.”
    I walked back to the faucet that was still running, filled it up again and returned to her. She drank this glass more slowly.
    “Who did this to you?” Ian asked as she kept taking swallows of the water.
    “That Massachusetts governor…” she murmured.
    “Damon Chatterly?” Ian asked.
    Nadja nodded, already looking better. “Yes. He came into my office last evening and told me he was having a cocktail party and that lots of the guests were looking to sign up for a health club membership. I’d make thousands in commission.”
    “So you went with him?” I urged her on. “Weren’t you supposed to meet up with Burt?”
    “Yes, but the governor was so insistent that I come right away, so I didn’t have a chance to tell Burt. And then Richard came into the office, telling me I needed to do as Chatterly wanted.” She paused to catch her breath, then, “The club needs more membership sales.”
    “Who’s Richard?” Ian asked.
    “Our general manager,” I clarified.
    “He’s definitely in on it too then,” Ian said to me. He looked at Nadja, who was looking significantly better, color having returned to her cheeks. “So you felt pressured and left without notifying Burt about the change in plans?”
    “Yes,” she replied. “I thought I could text him in the cab over to Chatterly’s house. And I tried, but Chatterly kept asking me questions and I didn’t want to be rude, so I kept putting it off.”
    “Then what happened?” I asked.
    “We arrived at the governor’s house and went inside.” She looked around the living room, her face tense with worry. Her skin was streaked with mascara, and it struck me that it must be the result of her having cried. “We need to get going. They’re supposed to come back here any time now, and then it’s over.”
    “They?” Ian said. “Please explain quickly and then we’ll leave. We need to know what to expect.”
    “The governor and that senator from North Carolina and their man. Burt will be back too.” Sadness mixed with terror flashed across her face. “To finish what they want him to do.”
    “Burt was here?” I asked. “What did he do?”
    “Please, let’s leave,” she implored, grabbing both my and Ian’s hands. “I’ll tell you everything as soon as we’re out of here. I don’t want them to come back. I’ll be dead if they do.”

Chapter 5
    Nadja didn’t have to stress another time how important it was for us to leave the apartment right away. We helped her to her feet, each of us sticking an arm under her armpits and flanking her from either side. Her royal blue silk blouse was sweaty and had what looked like blood splatter on it in some places, and her black dress pants were wrinkled. Her legs were shaky and unstable, which, in addition to her low blood sugar, suggested that she must have been confined in the wheelchair for many hours, so it was difficult for her to walk at first. It got better as we kept walking, though. Soon, the three of us had left the old brownstone and were hurrying down the street, me holding Nadja’s purse that had been in the room with her, containing insulin injections. Right before we left, she told me to go pick it up.
    “Where are we?” Nadja asked us, just barely avoiding stepping into a pothole in the sidewalk with her high-heeled black pumps.
    “Northern Spanish Harlem,” I replied. “We need to find a cab to take us out of this area.”
    Even with our guns on us, it