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

assure you, they won’t take any chances. They’ve killed people for just trying to damage The Adler Group’s solid reputation.”
    I immediately thought of my client Eve, the skinny blonde who’d wanted to sue Adler.
    “No, I don’t want to die,” Nadja muttered right as our waiter returned and asked if he could bring us anything else. Ian told him that the check would do.
    “What about Burt?” Nadja said as Ian pulled out his credit card to pay.
    “What about Burt?” Ian asked.
    “What’s going to happen to him now that I’m not in that room when they return with him?” she asked. “What if they think the reason I’m gone is because he came back to rescue me? Or sent someone to rescue me if he couldn’t go in person. Oh, God, that’s what they’ll think…” Gazing off into the distance for a moment, Nadja grasped her napkin so firmly her knuckles went white. Then her eyes found us again, big and round with fear. “Who else would have come to rescue me but him? No one but him knew I was there. Not someone who cared about me at least. So they’ll kill him then, won’t they?”
    Ian and I looked at each other. Unfortunately, Nadja was making a very good point; surely they’d suspect he was somehow involved in her disappearance.
    Ian broke the tense silence first. “They might, yes, as he’ll be a traitor in their eyes. Though I’m thinking that someone smart enough to plant his own phone without his companions noticing would also figure out how to get to you before it’s time for all of them to return to you.”
    Nadja relaxed a little, letting go of the napkin. “Yes, you’re right. He probably would.” She smiled at us, sweetly and openly. “Burt’s a very, very smart and capable man, you know. So incredibly nice and caring. One of a kind, really.” That dreamy smile on her face withered then, and instead she scowled slightly. “Maybe that’s because he’s not really human.”
    “He’s still very much a human even though he’s had his genes manipulated,” I said, hoping to make her feel better. I wasn’t really sure I agreed with that myself, but it sounded good. Plus, what Ian had mentioned earlier about human evolution made a lot of sense. We, humans, were all a work in progress.
    “I hope you’re right,” Nadja said darkly.
    Ian got to his feet. “Shall we?”
    A few minutes later we were in a cab that would take us to a twenty-four-hour parking garage where Ian kept a car he owned. From there, he and Nadja would get into the car and drive straight to the house in Philly. I needed to stay in New York, go to bed and prepare for my clients tomorrow.
    Nadja wanted to swing by her house on the way to the parking garage to pick up some of her stuff, but Ian instantly shut down her request. Not only was it possible that people from Adler were waiting for her there, having discovered that she’d escaped, but the sooner we could get her into hiding, the better. Ian promised to buy her everything she needed in Philly. When Nadja kept telling him how expensive that would be what with all the insulin she needed that would have to be bought without using her insurance since that would leave a trace, Ian told her not to worry about money. Money was not a problem. Clothes, food, everything she needed would be provided for her. Besides, someone could always go get more insulin from her house in a few days when the Adler people had left, as well as other things she’d want.
    I, if anyone, knew that, in Ian’s case, all that talk about not worrying about money was true, so I assured Nadja that she would be fine.
    “Well, but you won’t be able to buy me any clothes tonight,” Nadja insisted. “I would really love it if I could get out of these sweaty, disgusting, blood-stained clothes and put on some fresh ones. Clothes that don’t belong to an old man I don’t know. If his clothes are still in the house, they must be full of moths,” she added pointedly before Ian could challenge