Free Secret Identity (What's Her Secret?) by Stacey Lynn Rhodes

Chapter One
    Sienna steered her car into a parking space a few blocks from her destination. Transit wasn’t really an option this time of day but luckily she had her choice of on-street parking due to the hour. It was a dark part of the city, and at this forgotten time of the morning not another car or person was to be seen. Not the greatest neighborhood for her to be walking around in, but whatever.
    She flipped down the visor to take a quick look, and when the light popped on, she had a jolt of surprise to see her real self staring back at her. It was definitely the easiest undercover role Sienna had ever gotten into character for. The sad truth was, as one of the few female detectives in her precinct and with a talent for successfully immersing herself in whatever persona was needed, she got assigned mostly to white-collar crime cases. Her usual role was to cozy up to big business types as their new assistant or other office worker. Sienna had also done her time in Vice doing prostitution sting ops.
    This time she was going to take over a coffee shop as a barista-slash-business manager for the owner, her dear ‘Uncle Harlan’, who had suddenly needed to leave town due to a family illness. In reality, Harlan Coffman had been arrested the day before—a cog in the bigger wheel of a huge potential drug bust—and if he continued to cooperate, would likely be disappearing into protective custody until after arrests and trials of the main players.
    Harlan’s arrest had come about after a simple visit for questioning by Sienna and her partner at his home the day before. Too many small arrests had been linked back to Harlan or his shop in various ways, so they’d decided to see if they could rattle him by a surprise visit at his home. He’d already appeared frightened and stressed when they’d arrived, and when they’d identified themselves, he’d broken down. They’d immediately taken him downtown to continue the interview at the station, and he’d been more than forthcoming…except in linking his small-potatoes distribution end of the operation with the manufacturer and ringleader.
    Since then, they’d gotten a warrant to search his residence and phone records. Nothing had yet borne fruit in positively identifying who he was working for. But they’d come to the conclusion that, with all the time Harlan spent at the coffee shop, there had to be some contact there—some connection. They needed a person on the inside to find out what was happening in order to wrap this case up and guarantee a conviction and an end to the growing problem.
    So the tats and piercings Sienna usually had to hide or downplay were suddenly an acceptable part of—and even an asset to—her character’s appearance. She could style her hair any way she wanted and wear her own wardrobe. And after her experience working as a barista in college, that didn’t need a crash course to learn. In short, she was made for this particular role, and she was looking forward to it.
    Sienna grabbed her messenger bag-cum-purse then got out of the car and took a quick look around. A couple of homeless people leaned in recessed doorways, probably asleep. The sight made her sad but not nervous. She could handle herself and they were just trying to get a night’s sleep under cover from the intermittent showers. She locked up behind her and began to walk purposefully toward Primo Café through the light fog, hoping to time her arrival with that of the employee she’d be working with.
    Harlan’s note to his main employee and assistant manager, Jay Ayers, gave the story that his mother had taken a turn for the worse and he’d need to be on the East Coast for an undetermined amount of time. In the meantime, his niece Sienna, who was between jobs, had agreed to come take over the business and help Jay out. Harlan closed by saying he could be best reached by email as he’d usually have his phone off as per hospital rules. Of course, both the inbox and his phone