Say It Again (First Wives)

by Catherine Bybee

  Wiping imaginary lint from his lapel, he spoke into his sleeve. “Did you guys hear that?”

  “Copy,” Neil said.

  “How did she sound to you, Team Two?” Sasha asked.

  “Sincere,” Claire replied.

  “Me too. Okay, on the second subfloor. Range is toast. No stalls, nothing.”

  AJ moved around the room, listening to the team in his ear. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Isaac had joined him. The waiter uniform he wore matched perfectly . . . except his shoes.

  Isaac nodded to his left.

  Pohl.

  The man stood talking with several people, drinks in hand. He looked up, saw a woman passing by, and scanned her briefly before turning his attention back to the men he was talking with.

  Creepazoid.

  Claire had it right. AJ lowered his gaze and listened to the chatter in his ear.

  “Down on the lower level. Everyone still here?” Sasha asked.

  AJ glanced over at Isaac. His voice came through. “Team Four.”

  The rest of the team sounded off.

  “Fingers crossed, kids.”

  AJ held his breath.

  “It’s all here.” Sasha’s words were music to AJ’s ears. Gathering the information in the school’s locked room was the key to moving forward with their plan.

  “Why would they clear out the top floors and leave the bottom?” Cooper asked.

  “Because someone wants the information found. Like maybe whoever spoke to us last night?” Claire said.

  AJ wanted to comment but decided to keep his ideas to himself.

  “Okay. This is going to take some time.”

  Sasha opened the first filing cabinet and brought out a stack of papers. She removed a pair of clear glasses from her bag and turned them on. A digital display appeared before her eyes. “You getting this, Team Two?”

  “Yup.”

  “Okay, here we go.” Sasha opened the first file and flipped the pages as fast as she could before moving on to the next. None of it registered in her brain. She just kept flipping.

  Claire leaned back in her chair, rested her legs up on the table, and turned to her friends. “So, any new gossip in the pipeline?”

  As Sasha flipped pages, their computer recorded every document, every photo. Systematically all those images were filed and uploaded a second time to devices in Neil’s and Isaac’s tablets. If any one of them lost their packs, the others would have it.

  “This is so completely badass,” Jax squealed.

  “No personal chatter!” Neil grunted.

  Claire rolled her eyes, covered her microphone. “My boss makes Lodovica seem like an angel.”

  Jax and Stacey laughed. “You’re not going to believe this, but Lodovica moved Princess D into the staff housing.”

  Claire’s mouth gaped. “You mean she came out of the closet?”

  “Stop the damn chatter, kid, or I’m cutting your mic!” Neil was pissed.

  Claire put a hand in the air, stopped her friends from going on. “Yes, sir.”

  “That’s better.”

  She smiled. As much as he tried to be such a hard-ass, there wasn’t a lot of bite in his voice.

  The only noise on the line was Sasha moving papers and the chatter of room noise where AJ was pretending to party.

  “Did I hear that right? Lodovica is a lesbian?”

  Sasha’s question made Claire laugh with a snort.

  “Jesus, this isn’t a fucking chat line.” Neil was pissed.

  “Hold up. Princess D. That’s Denenberg?” Sasha asked. The pages she was flipping hesitated briefly.

  Claire waited to answer, nodded her head instead.

  Cooper looked at her. “The yearling is nodding,” he told the group.

  “Bear with me, team. Thinking aloud here. Lodovica loses her place at Richter, a new headmistress comes in, everything is status quo. Remove Creepazoid, Lodovica has all this on the board members, she keeps her position. School removes the subfloors, loosens up the rules. Lodovica and Denenberg come out. Happily ever after and all that.”

  “Motive for flushing out an operative and putting the target on Pohl,” Neil said.

  “Only Pohl is still with us, isn’t that right?”

  Silence.

  “How much longer, Team One?”

  “Almost there,” Sasha reported.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “AJ?”

  The sound of his father’s voice had him turning around.

  Surprise washed over their faces.

  His mother’s shock faded quickly, replacing it were shifting eyes and hands that clasped in front of her like a shield.

  “What on earth are you doing here?” his father asked while reaching out to shake his hand.

  Before answering, he leaned down and kissed his mother’s cheek.

  She had a hard time looking him in the eye.

  “I received a tip,” AJ said. The rehearsed lines easily fell from his lips.

  “A what?”

  AJ stopped a waiter and handed his mother a glass of wine.

  He stepped closer to his parents, felt his own nerves settling. “I was told the person responsible for Amelia’s murder was going to be here tonight.”

  His father’s smile fell. The wineglass he’d brought to his lips paused midway, he shifted his feet and looked around the room.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.” AJ kept his eyes on his mother. “This school harbors a lot of secrets. Doesn’t it, Mom?”

  Marjorie set her wineglass down. “AJ, this is not the place.”

  “I think it’s exactly the place.”

  “What are you talking about?” Alex Senior asked.

  “Mom?” AJ directed the question to his mom.

  Marjorie leaned close. “There are very powerful people in this room, AJ.”

  “You mean dangerous.”

  Her gaze shifted across the room. Linette stood watching them.

  “What’s going on, Marjorie?”

  “I’ll explain later. Please don’t press me here.”

  On this, AJ had to agree. “She’s right, Dad. We can all talk later.”

  “What is he talking about?” Alex asked his wife.

  AJ paused and heard the chatter on his earpiece.

  “I have everything we need. Moving on to phase two,” Sasha told them.

  One by one the teams reported in.

  “AJ. What the hell?”

  AJ turned to his dad. “I need you and Mom to stay in the center of the room. Do you have your phone on you?”

  Alex tapped the breast pocket of his suit.

  “Perfect. Now I need you both to trust me.”

  “You’re scaring me, son.”

  “When I signal you, I need you to call in whatever distress code you know and have this place raining in police.”

  His mother reached out, grasped AJ’s hand.

  He grabbed her hand and removed it. “Mingle. Enjoy the party.”

  AJ lifted his sleeve to his lips, smiled, and said, “I’m ready on my end.”

  Chills danced down AJ’s spine. He looked across the room and had to swallow. Sasha said she would be dressed for the party, but holy cow. Black dress, above the knee, formfitting with nothing demure about it whatsoever. The high heel stiletto boots made him want to purr.

  “Is that . . . Jennifer?” his father asked.

  “Her name is Sasha. I might have lied about her.” He leaned forward, whispered in his father’s ear. “I also still steal cars, but that’s behind me now. Keep Mom by your side.”

  AJ left his stunned father and walked straight up to Sasha, lifted her lips to his for a soft kiss.

  “Who is watching?”

  “Everyone.”

  “Now what?” AJ asked.

  Sasha tapped her earring. “Claire . . . you’re up.”

  Neil’s voice echoed. “Stay alert.”

  Pohl’s eyes tracked her the moment she entered the r
oom. Now that she was at AJ’s side, Pohl’s gaze drilled into her as if that alone could stop her beating heart.

  Sasha watched as he moved to Linette’s side and spoke in harsh whispers.

  She brushed past him and headed their way.

  “Sasha. You look well.” Linette stopped short of them, her back to Pohl.

  “How do you sleep at night?” AJ asked.

  “Please, Sasha. The longer you stay, the more time he has to—”

  “It’s not me you need to worry about,” Sasha told her. Leaning in, Sasha put a hand up to Linette’s ear and slid a tiny transmitter into the woman’s hair. “Whoever killed Amelia Hofmann is the one who should be afraid. They’re getting exactly what they wanted.”

  Linette narrowed her eyes. “What are you suggesting?”

  AJ lowered his voice. “Killing my sister to flush out Pohl’s hit man worked.”

  The school intercom system sparked to life. The tone used to gather everyone’s attention worked, and the room went silent.

  Pohl’s voice came through loud and clear. “There are people in this world that government-like agencies would love to remove. But often their own bureaucratic red tape stops them from even finding these people. When you work for me and the people I recruit for, your job will be anything from obtaining information, analyzing, spying, engaging . . .”

  “Removing.”

  Guests looked back and forth, some gazes landed on Pohl.

  He shifted in his shoes.

  Olivia’s encrypted voice followed the conversation Sasha had had with Pohl less than a week before.

  “I thought I was taking on a legitimate job. What I ended up being was an assassin. Geoff Pohl blackmailed me, leaving me no choice but to be his hit man.”

  Pohl’s voice followed. “You could be part of a team responsible for making this world safer. Imagine being on the inside of stopping terrorists before they attack.”

  “And you recruit children for this job?”

  Olivia’s voice followed. “I was barely twenty-one. I had no idea what I was saying yes to. My innocent roommates from Richter are dead because of it. All those pompous board members think they’re protecting their children. Geoff Pohl murders those children.”

  Pohl started to move.

  Sasha went into motion. “Stay here.” She tracked him like radar on a submarine as he weaved in and out of stunned members of the board, family, and staff.

  Olivia’s encrypted voice kept talking. “Lodovica recruits for him. Like lambs for slaughter. And the board supports her. They have to. Every dirty secret is tied up . . .”

  Behind Sasha, she heard a woman yell.

  “Turn that off. It’s lies. Linette didn’t do this.”

  Sasha hesitated, turned.

  Brigitte rushed to the center of the room, next to Linette. “This isn’t your fault. None of it. I did.”

  Sasha’s jaw dropped.

  And someone grabbed her from behind.

  AJ lost track of Sasha when Brigitte pushed forward.

  The PA continued to play the audiotape they’d spliced together. Much of the room was in motion.

  “Now would be a good time to make that call,” AJ told his dad.

  “You did this?” Linette stood face-to-face with Brigitte.

  “Keri was an accident. I mean, I didn’t mean to kill her. Then it was done. I needed to move. All of my best students were being taken by him. You and I couldn’t live our life. I’m tired of hiding.”

  “And Amelia?”

  Brigitte shook her head. “I had no choice.”

  “How, Brig? Why? We just needed to be patient.”

  “You mean invisible? You mean live a life hidden behind walls? No, Linette. I couldn’t wait. I did what I had to do. Pohl . . .”

  The room watched as the drama unfolded. “What did Pohl say to you?”

  “What do you think he said to me? If he goes, you go . . . and I won’t be far behind.”

  “He knew it was you?” Linette asked.

  “You’d like to think that no one knew about our affair, but that wasn’t the case. He’s been gloating to me for years, threatening to expose us and have both of us removed. Then how would we have stopped what he was doing?”

  “Oh my God.”

  “I did it for you,” she told her.

  “You killed innocent people,” Linette cried.

  AJ stared at the woman who’d shot his sister.

  He saw red.

  Then he tuned into the com link in his ear.

  “Move out, team,” Neil’s voice yelled.

  AJ heard Sasha’s rushed voice. “I need a . . .” He heard flesh hitting flesh. “Few minutes.”

  He scanned the room. Didn’t see her and ran toward the door.

  Sasha allowed whoever grabbed her to drag her a few feet, away from the people at the party and out into a dark corner of the courtyard.

  “Pohl said you’d be hard to take down . . . nice and easy toward the car,” the voice of the man coaxed her.

  The second Sasha felt the butt of a gun on her back, she moved. Every instinctive lesson she’d been taught kicked in.

  Her body twisted, her elbow came up to her assailant’s temple, while her leg kicked his out from under him.

  The gun skidded across the courtyard.

  She retracted on the balls of her heeled feet, eyes alert.

  Someone rushed her from the side while voices in her com link shouted orders.

  “Retreat, Sasha. Authorities are on their way.”

  She took a blow to her side, kept to her feet, and spun the man rushing her toward the first one on the ground.

  Scanning the area, she saw Pohl exiting the courtyard and took off running.

  She reached the darkness of the arches, lost visual, and skidded to a halt.

  The sound of someone breathing told her where he was before she saw him.

  She turned in time to catch his blow to the side of her jaw instead of her temple.

  It stunned her but didn’t stop her movement. She twisted out of his range, hands up in a defensive position.

  “It’s over, Pohl.”

  Even in the dark she could see the heat in his eyes, the anger on his lips. “Even if you make it out of here alive, you’ll be dead in twenty-four hours,” he threatened her.

  “Why wait? I’m here right now.” She motioned with her hands for him to engage, kept to the shadows.

  He didn’t make a move.

  She lowered her arms. “Too much of a coward to do any of the dirty work yourself.”

  “You’ve gone too far, Sasha. I’ll have you and that adoptive family you’ve foolishly taken in before I’m done.”

  Her hair stood on end.

  Thoughts of Trina, Lilly . . . AJ all surfaced.

  “I don’t think so.” One step into the shadows and Pohl moved forward. Sasha leapt around a pillar and shot in from his side. It was like hitting a stone wall. With more agility than she thought the man possessed, Pohl slammed his fist into her gut and tossed her back. Wind rushed from her lungs while adrenaline fueled her reserves.

  “Lucky punch,” she mocked as she spun around with a kick to his knee followed by a jab to his face.

  He lunged back and Sasha rushed forward and stopped short when she saw the muzzle of a gun gleam in the dim light from the corridor.

  Before she could move out of range, she heard AJ shout her name.

  Pohl hesitated.

  A shot rang out and Pohl went down, holding a bloody hand as the gun skittered across the cobblestone path.

  AJ ran toward her.

  “The threat is neutralized. Fall out,” Neil barked in her ear.

  AJ fell on her, arms pulled her close.

  “Are you okay?”

  There were several parts that hurt but none that would stop her from moving.

  Sirens filled the night air.

  “We have to go,” she told AJ.

  “What about him?” he asked.

  “I’
ve got him.”

  They both turned to see Charlie, his foot resting on the forgotten gun. He reached down and picked up the weapon, aimed it at Pohl.

  Sasha stepped out of AJ’s arms. “He’s dangerous, Charlie.”

  “I can handle it, young lady. Get out of here. You don’t need a target on you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You can thank me by staying alive. Now go.”

  Sasha didn’t need to be told again. She grasped AJ’s hand and headed back into the administration building and up the back stairs, where she slid one boot off after the other. In silence, she stepped into the black pants she’d worn earlier and pulled the skintight dress over her head. AJ helped her pull her shirt down and bent to secure the tie on her combat boots.

  He shed his jacket and tie and followed her out a window and onto the roof.

  Neil’s voice came over her earpiece. “We’ve cleared the building.”

  “I’m out,” Claire reported for her team.

  Sasha hesitated on the edge of the building, AJ at her side. “Ladies first,” he said with a wink and a grin.

  She shimmied down the drainpipe and he followed right behind. They sprinted toward the walls of Richter and didn’t look back.

  Back in the van, everyone slowly took off their microphones, their earpieces, and shrugged out of their backpacks.

  Claire offered Cooper a fist bump.

  Neil looked at the empty expression on Olivia’s face.

  “What?”

  Olivia scowled.

  “I let you shoot him,” Neil told her.

  “In the hand. It doesn’t count,” Olivia argued.

  AJ pulled Sasha back against his chest, and for the first time in days, she closed her eyes and let her mind rest.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  AJ stood outside his parents’ house, his hand in Sasha’s, as soft rain fell over both of them.

  “I can go in with you.”

  He shook his head. “No. I need to talk to them alone.”

  The last few days had been nearly as much of a tornado as the week before.

  The team had done the legwork and now the legal wheels were turning. Murder, extortion, missing people, false imprisonment, falsifying records, false accusations . . . the list went on and on. Denenberg confessed to Amelia’s murder and that of her other two roommates. She accused Pohl of blackmailing her into it. Lodovica was fighting child endangerment charges and placed on administrative leave until a full investigation could be made.