Say It Again (First Wives, #5)(83)

“Sounds like the headmistress is more aware of what’s going on than a single AWOL student,” AJ suggested.

“Lodovica knows me. She knows I was unhappy with Pohl’s offer and thought less of her for it.”

Olivia walked to the window, looked out the curtain. “Lodovica could care less. She allows Pohl to access anything he needs on his recruits to assure they work for him. I guarantee the man has your prints on a weapon that has already been used.”

A memory sparked of Brigitte’s anger that Pohl was following after her during her range time. “I’m sure that’s true.”

“The headmistress is nobody’s friend,” Olivia stated. “God, I could use a cigarette.”

That itch in her head started to feel like nails on a chalkboard. “Pohl won’t blackmail me now. He’ll just try and kill me.”

“Easy guess since there were bullets flying through Amelia’s apartment a few hours ago.” Olivia started to pace.

“He assumes I’ll be dead. No longer a threat to him or the school.” She scratched her head. “But the headmistress doesn’t.” She leaned her head back as that thought took root.

“Maybe she has more faith in your ability to outsmart Pohl,” AJ said.

“Or maybe she stacked the deck.”





Chapter Thirty



“Claire, your game is pinging.” Isaac waved toward her computer.

She jumped up from her cross-legged position on the floor, shook out her right foot to stop the tingling, and limped to her desk. Cooper followed her and grabbed a rolling stool to sit by and watch.

Claire deciphered the first sentence, the cloaked code that told her Jax wasn’t writing under duress. What do Han and Denenberg have in common?

Claire giggled as she responded. They both wanna do Leia.

“What is it?” Cooper asked.

“An inside joke. You’d have to know the staff to understand.”

Claire waited for Jax to respond. She had to write a few words out and then put it together. “Wow.”

“What is it?”

“She said that sometime last night over fifteen upperclassmen were removed from campus.”

“Removed?”

Another message followed before Claire could respond. “The roommates said they were woken up after lights out, asked to move to another room, and when they returned, they were gone.”

“Should we be worried?”

Claire typed in a reply asking if anyone had managed contact through the senior computers.

Her message popped up. “There are two that have made contact. Said their parents pulled them out.”

“That’s it? No more explanation than that?”

Claire shrugged. “Don’t know what to tell ya, Coop. I never had parents. But I have heard that they say ‘Cuz I said so’ when they don’t want an argument.”

Jax kept typing.

“Looks like the martial arts studio has moved to a section of the primary school gym.”

“Why would they do that?”

“No idea.” Claire asked the question to Jax.

It’s lame, Loki. Princess D is going over stuff we already know.

Claire looked up at Cooper. “Should I ask her anything else?”

“Not now. Just tell her to keep her conversations with you private. Don’t tell any of your friends.”

Claire started typing. “I already told her that, but I’ll tell her again.”



“I’m starting to notice a theme in our relationship,” AJ leaned over in his seat and whispered in Sasha’s ear.

“We don’t have a relationship,” she said through stiff lips.

That struck him as funny although he didn’t dare laugh. Sasha had been hyperfocused since they’d landed in Prague. Now they were on a train headed back into Germany.

“We travel really well together. I’m told that’s a true test of compatibility. Small spaces and lots of uninterrupted time.”

The redheaded version of Sasha lifted the magazine she was pretending to read. He could tell she was pretending because she’d keep it open on nothing but advertising for long periods of time before turning the page. “Don’t read into us, Hofmann. Compatibility and relationships are for other people.”

He looked across the small table in front of them. Olivia stared out the window, oftentimes letting her eyelids drop. None of them had slept much the night before and now jet lag was winning the battle, at least with him and the extra baggage. Sasha, on the other hand, was like the Energizer Bunny. Where she pulled her reserves from, he didn’t know.

“I don’t know about that. You’re the Bonnie to my Clyde.” He was teasing her, trying to get a smile, something out of her that had been missing since they’d visited his parents.

“He was an ex-con and she was a lovesick puppy who followed him around. We’re hardly that.” She dropped the magazine in her lap. It was late and the train was only half-full, with more people leaving than coming on at each stop.

“Yeah, maybe that isn’t the right couple.” He went through several couples in his head. Romeo . . . no, that didn’t fit. Fred and Ethel. He shook the thought away. Scarlet . . . “I can’t think of any.”