Undercover with the Hottie (Investigating the Hottie) Read online

  “Are you okay? Do you hurt? Is it too hot?”

  “It's perfect,” she said. “I can't believe how good this feels. I'm going to soak for a while, and then I'll need you to help wash my hair. I'm sorry to ask, but my arms are stiff and sore.”

  “No problem,” I said. “I'm so glad you're back. I would wash your hair every day if you wanted me to.”

  Christie snoozed for a while, and I kept an eye on her. Every now and then, I would let out some of the water and add some more hot water. When I did that, she'd stir but not wake fully.

  It had probably been about an hour when Nic came to the door. “Amanda, are you guys okay in there?”

  I opened it a crack. “She keeps falling asleep.”

  “Go ahead and wake her. I need her to answer a list of questions for GASI.”

  “She needs me to wash her hair. Can we do that first?”

  “Sure. Dry her hair too. We need to keep her body temperature regulated.”

  “Okay.”

  “Your dinner is getting cold,” he said. “Should I bring something up?”

  “No thanks. I'll finish with her hair first.”

  I got her awake enough to shampoo and rinse her hair. She was moving better after the soak, and she was able to towel off and put on her robe so I could blow dry her hair. When I was sure there wasn't any moisture left, I carefully brushed her hair. “What do you want to wear?” I asked. “Do you have some pajamas, or sweatpants?”

  “Sweatpants,” she said. “Definitely. And a T-shirt. Top drawer.”

  “Will you wait here while I go change?” I asked, looking down at my wet hoodie. I wasn't exactly trained in washing other people's hair.

  “I'll sit here on the bed.”

  I dashed down the hall to my room. I wouldn't have minded a shower, but I didn't want to put off my dinner. After peeling off the body armor, I decided to hang it neatly in the closet instead of throwing it on the floor. I had no idea how to properly care for whatever that fabric was. For all I knew, it was a blend of titanium and silk from magical silkworms.

  I found a red top in my closet that seemed festive. I paired it with a pair of cute but comfortable black pants. Then I kicked off my running shoes and pulled on a pair of black motorcycle boots.

  When we finally got downstairs, Will and Nic had eaten and set two places for us at the table. Christie took one look at the chair. “I'll eat on the couch.”

  She made her way to the couch and sat down, pulled her legs up, and then pulled the afghan over her lap. For the first time since we'd found her, she smiled. “I'm better now.”

  I sank down on the other couch.

  “Lasagna, spaghetti, vegetables and penne, or fettuccine Alfredo?” Will asked.

  “Lasagna,” Christie said without hesitation. “Do we have any Sprite?”

  Will lifted a glass from the counter. “I thought you might want some. And you, Amanda? What do you want to eat?”

  “I'll take the spaghetti,” I said.

  We waited while they ran our dinners through the microwave. Then they brought them over.

  “We also have salad, but if you're as hungry as we were, you'll want something bulkier first.” Will handed me a glass of unsweet tea and sat beside me.

  Nic fetched a laptop from the table and brought it over to sit next to my aunt. “I'm sorry, sweetie, but we need to cover a few things or they're going to send someone else over here to debrief you.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  She took another bite of her lasagna. “I know. Go ahead.”

  My spaghetti tasted better than anything I'd ever eaten.

  Nic looked down at his computer. “Do you remember me asking about the woman? Did you remember anything about her?”

  Christie swallowed and said, “I didn't get a look at her, but during the struggle, I had the impression that she was maybe four inches shorter than me, maybe five three? Very fit. She seemed to be in charge, not the man. And while he smoked cigarettes, she smoked clove cigarettes.”

  “Did they question you about anything?”

  “They knew I was a GASI agent, and they knew you were driving one of the UN Town Cars. They asked about GASI, about you, and about what we knew about the attack on the Secretary-General. They were very cautious. They didn't speak on their phones to anyone. I think they communicated with their people by texting. Last night they took turns sleeping and then she left this morning.”

  Nic typed as she talked.

  It sounded to me like they found her through Nic.

  “Did they mention the driver?”

  “No.”

  “Did they threaten or torture you?”

  She glanced at me. “What you'd expect. Threats that they didn't carry out. They never got around to the torture but they said they would start tonight. The man made comments also but didn't act on them.”

  “Did they untie you at any point?”

  “No.”

  “Did they give you anything to eat or drink?”

  “No.”

  “We know that they drugged you with a sedative, probably to make it easier to keep you from escaping. Did they give you an injection today?”

  “I don't think so. I thought it was yesterday, but I can't be sure.”

  “Did they threaten to kill you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you think they would?”

  She paused. “I don't know. They were so careful to hide their faces. They didn't inflict pain. I don't think they had any fears about failing to get information from me.”

  “Tell me about the events in the gym.”

  “When I walked in, I got something in my lens almost immediately. It was weird. I had the impression that the space between the outer door and the inner door was full of particulates of some sort.”

  “You think they planned to sabotage your lens?”

  “It sounds crazy, doesn't it? How would they know about the lens?”

  “What was in the vestibule? Sand? Insulation particles? Did you have any impression of it?”

  “My first thought was spackle. Like you patch a wall with or fill in nail holes. When you sand it down, there's a lot of dust. It was like that.”

  “So you went to the locker room.”

  “Yes.”

  She described the attack which pretty much matched with our impression from the camera footage.

  “How long were you out?”

  She shook her head. “I have no idea. When I regained consciousness, I was already tied to that chair.”

  “Did they mention Will or Amanda?”

  “No. No references to teens at all.”

  “That's it for now. Eat your dinner before they email me more questions. Grandma says the mercenary is sitting with a sketch artist. We may have the woman's likeness in the next few hours.”

  “Good. I don't want her on the streets.” Christie took another bite of lasagna.

  “Did you talk to Grandma?” I asked Will.

  “Yes, she was glad I called. She's working on tracing the money backward. They also have a description of the woman who met with the mercenary to give him the assignment.”

  I turned to Nic. “Is there anything we can be doing right now, Nic?”

  “Finish your dinner first. It wouldn't hurt for you guys to connect with the teens next door. I'm hoping they've been passing those chargers around to their friends.”

  “They have,” Will said. “They've been texting us some.”

  “That's good news. We don't know where we'll go from here, but it cannot hurt to expand our surveillance.”

  “We can go soon,” I said. “Unless you need me, Christie?”

  “I'm fine.” She took a sip of her Sprite. “We can call you back if we need you.”

  “You guys are tired and emotionally drained,” Nic said. “That's a prime combination for mistakes. If you think you can't manage, tell me now. If you think you have it in you, then you can go for two hours. Don't say more than you need to. Just go to show you
r face and be sociable.”

  We sat there, like the family we were pretending to be, in a comfortable silence. I finished my plate of spaghetti, and when I started to get up for the salad, Will insisted on bringing it to me. Finally, I was ready to go next door.

  Christie had dozed off and Nic had carefully slipped the plate from her lap.

  It took me a minute to figure out what day it was. “It's Sunday, right?”

  “Yes,” my hottie answered. “Why?”

  “I'm just trying to figure out if I'm dressed appropriately.”

  “You look great.”

  I glanced over at him. “Did you change too?”

  “Right after I ordered dinner. I wasn't sure if that body armor would permanently attach to my skin after a certain amount of time.”

  I grinned. “You think GASI is trying to turn us into terminators?”

  “You didn't know they were training you. Maybe there's more we don't know. Like that we are part of a bigger, scarier experiment.” His eyes lit with amusement as he spoke, and I knew he was just kidding.

  “You could be right,” I said, nodding. “While I was helping Christie, I started thinking about water, and how water is a liquid, and how if I was a liquid, I could slip right out of the bathroom through the heat vent and slide down here to eat dinner. And I swear, my legs started to get softer, like the muscle and bone was breaking down.”

  Will raised a brow and then reached out and pinched my thigh.

  “Ouch!”

  “Feels solid to me.”

  “I'm not thinking about liquid right now, silly.”

  He laughed. “Well don't think about it when you take a bath or swim in a pool. If you get mixed in with all that water, we may not be able to put you together again.”

  I batted my eyelashes. “Would you miss me?”

  He reached out to tweak me on the nose. “Terribly.” Then he kissed me on the lips for the briefest of moments. “Let's go see our friends, and my date for New Year's Eve.”

  “Fake date. She's your fake date for New Year's Eve.”

  He shrugged but I saw that his lips twitch into a smile. “Are you jealous?”

  “No!” I said automatically. That was always the answer to the question. Deny it. But in this situation, it seemed better to let him know I cared. “Yes. A little.”

  Will leaned his forehead down against mine and we stood with our foreheads touching. “You don't have anything to worry about.”

  No words came to mind and I just grinned at him like an idiot when he stepped away.

  “We should go,” he said.

  I nodded and followed him out the door and over to Leah, Logan, and Sydney’s.

  Leah squealed when she opened the door. “We thought you'd never get here!”

  “Where have you been?” Sidney asked. “We haven't seen you in forever.”

  “Actually,” Will said, “it was only a little more than twenty-four hours.”

  “It felt like a week,” Leah said. “Come on in.” She stepped back from the door and we entered.

  Logan was in the middle of a game with three other guys, West, Ethan, and I couldn't remember the third guy's name. He didn't run to us squealing but he did wave at us excitedly, taking his hand off the controller long enough for West to yell at him.

  “What are you doing, dude? You're gonna get me killed. Cover me!” West never took his eyes off that giant television screen.

  “Hey, Will, you wanna play?” Logan called.

  Will dutifully wandered over to the guys.

  After scanning the rest of the loft, I looked at Leah and Sidney. “Where are the other girls?”

  “It's just us, tonight,” Leah said with a smile.

  “Now we can really talk,” Sidney said.

  Uh oh. I knew we had read them in on most of the mission, but I wasn't sure what subjects were off limits. Like my aunt getting taken and held captive. And Nic had specifically said to do a minimal amount of talking so as not to reveal anything by accident. But this was Leah and Sidney. Wouldn't they be safe enough?

  “Okay, but be warned, I haven't had much sleep. I don't know if I'll make any sense.”

  Sidney snorted. “Don't be ridiculous. We need to tell you what we've been doing.”

  “And hear about where you've been,” Leah added. “Let's go up to our room.”

  “You guys share a room?” I asked. I wouldn't mind having a sister, but the idea of not having my own space didn't appeal to me.

  Leah nodded. “Here we do. Logan has his own room, and Dad has his room and his private office. That leaves us having to share. But at Mom's we have our own space. So it isn't too bad.”

  “When we watch scary movies, it's actually kind of good,” Sidney said.

  We climbed the stairs to their room. The room was a total decorating mismatch. Sydney’s comforter was lime green with bright yellow smiley faces on it, and the wall next to her bed was covered in posters. Leah's was soft pink and teal green with flowers. She had white shelves on the wall with necklaces and bracelets hanging from hooks. The hardwood floor was covered with a plush red rug that didn't match anything.

  “Wow,” I said as I took it all in. “It's bright in here.”

  Sidney pulled out a hot pink butterfly chair from the corner. “You can sit here or on the bed.”

  Even though it probably wasn't the best choice from an espionage point of view, I decided on the chair. As I sank down into it, I realized two things—I wasn't going to get to a standing position very quickly and my back was to the door. Double no-no's.

  Each of them jumped on their beds and got comfortable sitting cross-legged.

  “Tell us everything,” Leah commanded.

  “Well,” I said slowly as my mind raced through all that had happened for something I could tell them. “First thing is that Sydney’s date with Will is almost definitely on.”

  “Yes,” the younger sister said, pumping her fist into the air.

  “That's pretty cool of him,” Leah said. “And cool of you too, since you're loaning out your boyfriend.”

  I shrugged. “It will be fun to see how it goes.” With a great deal of effort, I managed to avoid gritting my teeth.

  “Yay! What else?” Sidney asked. “Where did you guys go? Did you do something cool like sneak through the heating ducts to spy on bad guys?”

  “Not exactly.” I sighed. “We did free a hostage and capture the man who took her. We're hoping he gives us some good information on the people behind the plot to assassinate the Secretary-General.”

  “Did you and Will take him down?” Leah asked, eyes bright.

  Not even close. “We were involved, but other agents did the actual wrestling him to the ground and cuffing him part.”

  “Oh.” Sidney frowned.

  I wanted to tell her about the gym, and how brave I'd been. Maybe if I were vague. “I did find the main piece of evidence that gave us the lead to identify the hostiles and rescue the hostage.”

  I had their interest again.

  “That's awesome. What was the evidence?” Leah asked.

  “And where did he have the hostage?” her sister chimed in.

  “I found some video footage that showed the attacker taking the hostage,” I said. “And the hostage was in a nasty motel that smelled horrible.” That should be vague enough.

  Sidney leaned forward. “So the guy was involved in the plot? OhmyGod was the hostage the Secretary-General?”

  “No. The Secretary-General wasn't the hostage.” I hurried on so they wouldn't ask who the hostage was, “But we should be able to trace this guy back to the people who hired him. Once we take them down, the Secretary-General will be safe.”

  “I wish my life was as exciting as yours,” Leah said. “How did you get picked?”

  I explained about my aunt and the training. Then I told them about my first mission and meeting Will.

  They were rolling with laughter when I finished.

  “So Grandma really is Will's gr
andmother, and your real aunt is your 'mother' on this assignment.” Sidney smiled. “You are so lucky.”

  Since I had them here, I may as well ask them about me and Will. “Before you busted us kissing, how were we doing? Did you think we were brother and sister? Or did we seem weird.”

  Leah considered for a moment. “I thought you were twins. You acted like brother and sister.” She shrugged. “I think you pulled it off.”

  Sidney agreed. “But we didn't really have any reason not to believe what you told us. I mean, nobody's ever pretended to be a family to spy on us.”

  “Not just you guys,” I hurried to say. “Everybody.”

  “Plus, Sidney was so distracted by Will,” Leah teased.

  “Like you weren't,” her sister snapped. “You did your share of staring.”

  Leah blushed. “You are pretty lucky, Amanda.”

  Heat spread through my cheeks and I smiled, unable to stop myself. “Yeah, I know.” When they finished giggling at my reaction, I said, “But it would be better if we lived in the same city, or even the same state. And I can't tell my friends that he even exists. It would be great to be able to talk to my friends about him.” I shook my head. “My parents don't even know I'm a spy.”

  Sidney inhaled in a whoosh of shock.

  “How could they not know you're a spy?” Leah asked.

  “Aunt Christie took care of it. I was supposed to tell them last week, but this came up.”

  “Don't you feel bad about lying to them?” Sidney asked.

  “Yes. I totally do. I am going to tell them as soon as I can.”

  “That's awful that you can't talk to anybody about having a boyfriend.” Leah looked thoughtful. “I would want to show his picture to everybody. I would want to tell my friends about all the sweet, romantic things he does.”

  “Yeah,” Sidney said. “Valentine's Day is coming before too long. Can he even send you flowers?”

  “I don't know. I never thought about it.”

  “Can you tell us where you really live? And your real name?” Leah waited expectantly.

  “No. I can't. But if you want, I think I may be able to figure out a way for us to stay in touch.”

  Sidney grinned. “That would be amazing.”

  “Not with Will,” I said, giving her an exaggerated glare. “Just me.”