Say It Again (First Wives, #5)(44)

“We’re good, right?” Sasha asked AJ, her eyes sparkling.

He didn’t trust himself to speak.

Claire chuckled and seated herself in a recliner.

The flight attendant returned. “Would you like something to drink before we take off?”

“Oh, yeah. I want a beer,” Claire said faster than AJ could open his mouth.

He and Sasha looked at the teenage girl.

“What?” Claire asked. “It’s legal in Europe.”

The flight attendant looked to Sasha for approval.

She did with a nod.

Neil walked back into the cabin, placed his bag under one of the seats. “We’ll be in the air in ten minutes.”

The flight attendant handed Claire the beer and replaced Neil’s spot with the pilots.

Once the door to the plane was closed, the pilots put the aircraft in motion.

AJ sat in a rear-facing seat across from Sasha, who didn’t appear to relax until they were in the air and leveling out.

Claire had found a pair of headphones and was watching a movie on the large television on one of the cabin walls.

Sasha unclenched her hands and pulled her stare away from the window. She glanced over at the distracted teen.

“You’ve taken on the role as her protector rather seriously,” he said.

“Until we clear her name and runaway status, she’s going to need it.”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

Sasha turned to him. “Secure location. Have our lawyers find her original birth certificate. Get ahold of Linette and threaten the woman to pull her head out of her ass and stop playing pawn to Pohl.”

“From what I could tell, Linette doesn’t threaten easily.”

“Depends on who she’s scared of. Once I finish our conversation, it will be me.”

Neil made his own observation. “You threaten the head of the school and Pohl pops one off in her head. Who do you think the authorities are going to blame?”

Sasha closed her lips together.

“Hard to frame Sasha for a murder in Europe when she’s in the States,” AJ pointed out.

“You mean if she has an alibi. An eyewitness that would keep her from the scene of whatever crime Pohl is planning on using to try and blackmail her.”

“That, too,” AJ said.

Neil and Sasha exchanged glances.

“You need a shadow, Sasha.” His eyes slid to AJ.

Slowly, she started to shake her head. “No.”

“Yes.”

AJ wasn’t completely sure what the yes and no were about.

“It’s simple. Whatever you plan to do, take AJ with you.”

He looked at Sasha. “What are you planning?”

“Nothing . . . yet.”

Neil leaned forward, rested his arms on his knees. “Sasha won’t sit idle. It’s not in her DNA. As soon as we find anything on Pohl, she’ll be right back out there, working on taking the man down.”

“You’re talking about me as if I’m not sitting right here,” she said with a glare.

“Am I wrong?” Neil asked.

She kept silent.

“Keep AJ by your side or I put a detail on you.”

“I’ll lose your detail within an hour.”

Neil released a rare smile. “If that detail is me?”

“You’re too big to go unnoticed.”

AJ smiled at Neil. “She has a point.”

“You know I’m right on this one.”

She unbuckled her seat belt and stood. “I’m going to get some sleep while I can.” Without another word, she went into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

“She’s not going to sleep,” AJ said.

“No. She’s pissed. Knows I’m right. I’m not sure if you have any influence over her, but now would be the time to use it. She’d drop my detail in thirty minutes, and they’re all damn good. We need more time to learn who this Pohl is. We need boots on the ground for every possible victim tied to Richter. She’s going to want to be one of them.”

“So we go to DC and investigate my sister.”

Neil shook his head. “You’re too close. I’ll have someone else on your sister.”

“That’s ridiculous. I can be objective.”

He laughed. “No. You can’t. What if my man finds out your sister took a job with Pohl—”

“She would never have . . .”

Neil stopped him with a look.

“You admitted that you and your sister weren’t close. She had a UN job that put her in contact with untold diplomats and lobbyists . . . people in power. No one would suspect your sister was anything but what she said she was. Did she travel for work?”

“Of course. She worked alongside other analysts in foreign countries who had poor water regulations.”

“Did anyone of importance die in those countries when she was there?”

AJ’s jaw clenched. “What the hell are you suggesting?”

Neil looked him dead in the eye. “That you’re not objective.” Neil sat back. “Now, go in there and convince Sasha to keep you by her side. That way I have one less person to worry about.” He glanced at Claire, who was riveted in whatever movie she was watching.