Say It Again (First Wives)
Page 5
The first birth certificate had her name as Sasha Budanov Petrov. Mother’s name Natasha Budanov, the father’s name was left blank. Her birthday was a year off. “I’m only twenty-eight?”
“Surprise.”
The second birth certificate had her name as simply Sasha Budanov. Father’s name was marked as unknown. The third and final certificate had changed her birthday by a year.
“Alice went through a lot of work to keep Petrov from learning about me.”
“He knew about you. He just assumed you ended up as a gutter rat somewhere. Alice went through great pains to keep you out of the government system and used a series of handpicked foster homes for you before finding Richter.”
“And all those years I thought I was sent to Richter because I ran away from those homes.”
Linette sat in one of the half dozen chairs in the center of the room. “You were, in part. Only Alice needed to keep you out of the public eye and, more importantly, away from your father. I knew she was going to employ you once you left here. It was her way of keeping an eye on you.”
“She hired me to protect her son and his new wife. I failed.”
“She hired you because she could no longer keep you locked up here at Richter. She made sure you were enrolled in every possible self-defense, firearms, agility, and investigative curriculum we offered. And when she felt you’d mastered what we had, she insisted that we find new instructors and new classes. We teach computer programing, but only a few students were in the advanced class that gave you the path to the back doors of computers.”
“You taught me to hack.”
Linette ticked her tongue. “You educated yourself on that skill. We simply showed you where the door was. You chose to open it. Not that we didn’t know exactly what you were doing with your new skills.”
“My pranks.”
“Your fine-tuned skills used for mischief . . . yes.”
Sasha rested her hands on her file. “I wasn’t the only one in those advanced classes.”
Linette tapped a finger on the table. “Some of our students went on to agencies that needed those types of skills.”
“You mean the government?” Sasha thought of Amelia Hofmann.
“There are government agencies all over the world.”
Sasha voiced what she’d always assumed. “Spies.”
Linette held all emotion in. No denial. No validation.
“I suppose that would explain why my search for some of my old classmates has come up empty.”
Linette placed a hand over Sasha’s file. “Names change. People get married.”
“People lie.”
“Something we’re all guilty of, I’m sure.”
Sasha flipped through her file and read through a list of accomplishments she’d achieved in the underground education at Richter. “I was an orphan, skilled, without any family. I would think my profile would have been one sought after.”
She looked up to see Linette smiling. “You were promised to return to Alice.”
“And therefore not recruited.”
“No job would have earned you what Alice set aside on your behalf. Financially, you’re much better off than most of your classmates.”
An understatement if there ever was one. Alice had set aside millions for Sasha. A bankroll she wasn’t even aware of until after the woman died.
“Money isn’t your motivator,” Linette said.
“Which is why I returned searching for something.”
Linette leaned forward. “And are you finding it?”
Sasha nodded, glancing around the locked room full of secrets. “I feel closer than I did yesterday.”
An hour later Sasha sent an encrypted text message to Reed, spelling out AJ Hofmann.
The bar was much busier than it had been the night before. AJ sat at the far end, nervously watching the door. He’d gotten a text from a number he didn’t recognize. He assumed it was her.
Hoped it was her.
The text had simply said I’m thirsty.
So there he sat, waiting for a woman who never gave him her name, while the beer in front of him grew warm.
He ran his fingers along the condensation on the glass, his nerves nothing but raw tentacles, exposed and jumping around in a state of madness. He’d been at a dead end going on two weeks, completely out of his element, sitting in a pub in Germany with very little of the language inside his brain. The police had rummaged through Amelia’s condo in their half-assed attempt at finding her killer. They questioned him and his parents about a trip that his sister had apparently planned to fly to London. Since Amelia flew for work all the time, he hadn’t thought much about it. When he took the time to look through his sister’s home, he found a calendar with the dates circled and the words Keri’s funeral in the center of the trip. That’s when he followed his gut and flew to Europe. He spent less than forty-eight hours in Wales, realized the common bond his sister had with Keri, and flew to Germany. He really should have gone to Richter with Amelia. Then he’d have a better chance at getting on the inside.
Only he hadn’t taken that opportunity.
The chair on his right scraped against the floor, drawing him out of his thoughts, and Sex on a Stick turned it around and straddled it like a man.
His mouth went dry.
Her hair was pulled back in a single ponytail. Eyes framed with eyeliner she didn’t need and full lips painted red.
He ignored the stirring in his jeans and cleared his throat. “Where did you come from?”
“There’s more than one entrance.”
He glanced behind the bar. “You came in through the kitchen?”
“You must be new.”
AJ scooted his chair closer and tried to keep their conversation to just the two of them. “What’s your name?”
She lifted her chin, waited a beat. “You can call me Sasha.”
“Is that your name?”
“Sometimes.”
Damn, she was a piece of work. “I wasn’t sure you’d call.”
She looked at his glass, took her time moving those dark eyes to him. “What are you drinking?”
He pushed the warm beer aside. “Whatever you want.”
Sasha flagged down a waitress and ordered in German. AJ had no idea what.
Much as he liked to watch her, AJ wasn’t there on a social visit. “Did you find out—”
Sasha leaned forward and stopped his question by placing one long finger on his lips. Her eyes followed her fingertip as it slid off his lips and rested under his chin. She drew him close until their lips were a breath apart.
His entire frame tightened.
“First things first.” Her eyes looked at his lips. The tip of her tongue licked a tiny portion of her upper lip.
His cock stood at full attention and all the energy inside his brain traveled south. He’d seen this before. Smoky woman in a bar enticing a man . . . right before she slips his car keys or wallet into her purse. AJ was pretty sure he’d taught that move to a couple of his friends in Florida.
Only his car keys were in his front pocket, and his wallet was outside of Sasha’s reach.
She leaned back when the waitress set a bottle of vodka on the table with two glasses.
“You’re serious?” AJ asked, looking at the liquor and then her.
“I told you I was thirsty.” She opened the bottle and poured a generous portion into each glass. “Cheers.”
“I didn’t come here to get drunk.”
Sasha picked up the glass. “Then don’t.” She finished her drink with one swallow.
He picked up the drink and followed her lead. The liquid burned the back of his throat like a trail of fire.
For the first time, she smiled. “What I need to know, Alex, is if you simply got better at breaking the rules or if you stopped breaking them altogether.”
AJ cleared his throat. “You looked me up.”
“A stranger goes out of his way to follow me home under the guise of co
ncern for his family and I’m supposed to take his word as gospel? Of course I looked you up.”
He supposed when she put it like that . . . “Both. I got better, and then stopped.”
She poured another shot for each of them, took her time sipping her second round. “Why don’t I believe you?”
“Which part . . . better or stopped?”
She kept silent.
“I got caught. And since my goal had been to gain the attention of my father, and that was never going to happen unless I followed his political path, I decided to follow the rules.”
“Your dedication to your version of the truth is admirable.” Her accent hit every r a little harder. She was calling him a liar in the best possible way.
AJ sat back in his chair, lifted the vodka to his lips. He knew damn well his day job hadn’t followed him to Europe, or anywhere, for that matter.
Sasha was speculating.
“Your father, Alex Senior. US ambassador to Germany back when Amelia was at Richter.”
“You did look into her.”
“I looked into you. I knew Amelia. Remembered why she was at Richter to begin with.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “She was killed as an adult. There shouldn’t have been any threat for her safety, especially after my father left Germany and took a position on the Democratic campaign trail.”
“Political affiliations are always targets.”
“For my father, maybe, but not his adult daughter working with the UN . . .”
Noise from a nearby party grew louder.
“Executions of political families receive plenty of police attention. What do you think you can do or find out that they can’t?”
“They aren’t looking here. One death in Europe six weeks ago and Amelia’s one month ago. They said they aren’t related.”
Sasha put back another shot of vodka, looked at his glass.
He wasn’t sure of the test she was giving, but holding his liquor came easy. They finished their second round and poured a third.
She leaned forward, wiped her bottom lip with her thumb. “You were caught stealing your neighbor’s car. Maybe someone was angry at you for taking something that didn’t belong to you.”
So they were back to him. “I was a minor.”
“You’re not a minor now.”
He expected the same questions from the police, only they never happened. That was how good he was at what he did.
The fact Sasha knew about his record proved she was good at what she did.
“This isn’t about me.” He’d run through that idea so many times his nose bled.
Sasha skirted her eyes toward the group of people, sat taller, and then looked back to him. “I’m hot.” Without another word, Sasha stood and dropped several euros on the table.
AJ jumped to his feet and grabbed her hand to keep her from running as they headed for the door. Surprisingly, she didn’t pull away.
The cold night air snapped against him as they walked away from the light of the bar. AJ stopped in front of his rental car and Sasha positioned herself against the door, her gaze flickering to the bar behind him. With a move he wasn’t expecting, she pulled him close enough to feel the heat of her body against his. Sasha reached up and placed a hand on the side of his face.
“Who else have you spoken to here about Amelia?” she asked in a voice just above a whisper.
What the hell was she doing? The warmth of her hand on his cheek distracted him. “Just Lodovica. I’ve hung out in the bar, waiting until I recognized someone from the school.”
“How did you know to talk to me?”
One of her hands reached for his hip.
“The woman you were with. I’ve seen her leave the school, noticed her in the bar, but didn’t think she’d let me buy her a drink.” AJ stopped her hand with his as her palm started to move over his ass. “What are you doing?”
“You’ve caught the attention of several people in the pub, AJ. And either you’re an exceptional liar, or you’re being followed.”
“No one knows I’m here.”
“So you have a fake passport?”
He blinked a few times. “Why would I need . . . ?”
“You really are an amateur.” She placed her body flush with his from knees to chest and lifted her lips. “You’re going to kiss me and look at the man by the door.”
Without any time for thought, Sasha pulled his lips to hers and moved her hands up his back.
Her breasts pressed against his chest. Pliant, soft lips blew warm air against his. His brain fried.
“Kiss me back,” she demanded, her lips flat against his.
AJ looked into the depths of her gaze and grasped the sides of her face. He might not have realized someone was watching them, but he knew how to kiss. He tilted her head and opened his lips against hers. Her tongue darted in and he followed.
Her kiss was both fire and ice.
Dangerous.
AJ turned her around and kissed her harder while his eyes searched for a man at the door.
No one was there.
He closed his eyes, shifted positions, and kissed her again. Her hands moved over him like smoke, barely there but would leave a scent when she was gone. She lifted her leg alongside his.
She was good.
“I don’t see anyone,” he said between kisses. Purposely lingering over her frame and taking full advantage of the position she’d offered him. “Wait.” He captured her head in his hand, bit at her lip, and pretended to scope out the bar a second time.
He drew away slightly.
Her lips opened enough for him to know she wanted more. Even if this was nothing but a game to her. He ran a free hand down the length of her, his thumb tracing the outer edges of her breast.
Her eyes darkened and it took all he had not to smile. No, he tasted her again, looked behind her shoulder. “No one,” he finally said.
Sasha looked over his shoulder, and broke their kiss. “He was there a minute ago.”
Right, sure he was.
AJ kept his body pinned to hers, her back resting against the car. He ran his thumb over her swollen lips.
She watched him.
“Anything you want to know about me, you can just ask. You don’t have to steal my wallet to find out.”
Slowly, she started to smile. Sasha stepped out of his arms, reached inside her boot, and handed him back his possession. “Not as clueless as you first appear.”
“There was no one in the bar, was there?”
Her grin faded. “And you’re not wearing a wire.”
“You’re testing me?” He gritted out the question.
“Trust no one. Richter taught me and your sister that.”
He closed the distance between them, flattened his body against hers once again. Any amusement he may have had on his face a moment ago was now gone. He felt the anger pulling at his gut. “My sister obviously forgot that lesson and now she’s dead. I don’t have time for games, Sasha. Every day that passes makes the trail to her killer colder. I don’t have to be a cop or a graduate of whatever kind of military school Richter is to figure that out.”
“Get. Off. Me.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Quite a change of tune from a moment ago.”
She shifted her weight, clueing him in at the last second to what was coming. Her knee came up, and AJ doubled over and grabbed his junk. Absolutely the worst way to kill an erection.
Sasha pushed away. “Good luck in your search, Mr. Hofmann.”
AJ leaned against his car, caught his breath as her footsteps faded.
Son of a bitch.
He yanked open his car door and slid behind the wheel. Halfway back to his hotel, he removed Sasha’s cell phone from his back pocket.
He knew he’d see her again.
Chapter Six
The difference between someone who attempts to be badass and one who is, is the education and skills behind them.
Sasha had the upper hand.
She was pretty sure AJ hadn’t even managed to get past her phone’s security to make a call.
He’d taken a few precautions with the small computer that everyone trusted but few understood. The kind that turned off his tracking and didn’t automatically offer access to his microphone. By midnight she was deep in his e-mail.
AJ lived in Florida, and from what she could tell, he’d had a series of go-nowhere jobs that he kept for a little over a year before moving on to something new. The address she found for him, or at least the address his Amazon orders were shipped to, was to a condo on the beach that his piss-ass jobs couldn’t possibly afford. Smoke and mirrors. All of it.
There was no way he was exactly who he said he was. Only she wasn’t going to find out much more without a juicer computer that wasn’t recording her every move.
Sasha found flight information from Virginia, where his parents now lived, to London and then Berlin. He’d been in Germany for almost two weeks.
A quick track search of what he looked up online had plenty of Richter hits. The basic website of the school, the few faculty images they provided, most of those who actually lived on campus and didn’t leave very often.
Right before she closed the phone for the night, she found where AJ had performed two extensive searches, looking for the names of Amelia’s ex-roommates at Richter. Not that his quest for information had gotten him anywhere.
Apparently AJ was doing exactly what he said he was doing while in Europe. That didn’t mean he wasn’t keeping his personal truths to himself.
Then again, who didn’t?
She’d trust him as much as he trusted her.
Probably less.
She slid into bed, a smile on her swollen lips.
And the man kissed like a demon.
A phone ringing by her bed woke her four hours later.
“Good morning, Sasha.”
So he had managed to hack into her phone. “AJ.”
“Seems we managed to pick up the wrong phones last night.”
She swung her legs off the small bed, rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Did we? I hadn’t noticed.”