done horrible things.” Her hands stilled, her gaze focused on the back of the room.
“How many of those atrocities have you committed since Pohl’s death?” he asked.
“None.” She paused. “Well, I might have dabbled in a little information gathering and liberating a couple cars . . .”
She found Leo smiling. “What’s a little fraud and grand theft auto among friends?”
“Necessity,” she insisted.
“We’ll figure out how to move forward once we’ve gotten through this. And we’ll do it together,” Leo insisted.
She didn’t know if she could do that . . . the moving forward thing. But there was no shaking Leo at this moment. Not with him and Neil’s team deeply embedded in the outcome.
“Don’t even think about bolting.”
“I’m not.”
He peered closer, seemed satisfied with what he saw. “Let’s get a good night’s sleep and regroup tomorrow.”
Olivia grinned and proceeded to remove the rest of Leo’s disguise.
“It’s disturbing,” Leo said looking through the mirror at Olivia two nights later.
She’d disguised herself as a man.
Her clear complexion was gone. A face riddled with acne scars and a scattering of facial hair was enough to throw many people off.
“Good,” Olivia said to Leo.
Leo was back in his Mr. Anderson attire.
Jax donned another revealing dress as Miss Swan.
Neil, despite telling her that he wasn’t flying to Europe, was going to sit in the surveillance van dressed to scale a wall if he had to.
“We have coverage from the front of the building and the back,” Neil told them.
“We don’t even know if Schmidt is in there,” Olivia said.
Leo called A Róka and received a message that there was some closure to the answers he sought and he needed to come in to obtain it.
Friedrich’s picture circulated between them. “He might look more like Jax and less like this.”
Olivia shook her head. “I doubt he’ll be in drag. Regardless, if he’s there, I will be the one to talk to him. Jax and Leo need to be on the periphery.”
No one argued.
“No risks,” Neil insisted.
Olivia looked around at the faces of the team. “If he wants privacy, I’m giving it to him.”
“He tried to kill you.” Leo’s voice was hard and steady.
“If he wanted me dead, I’d be dead. If he needs me to cooperate with him for some reason, he’ll target one of you.” The thought gutted her. “I’m not the one who needs to look out.”
Neil was nodding. “Olivia is right. If he isn’t there, he’s likely casing the place looking for her. I’m more concerned about a lack of an audience than if he is there and wants privacy. Olivia trusted us with the first round, we will trust her with this one.”
“Let’s get this party started,” Jax said with a little bounce in her shoulders.
“Your enthusiasm is killing me,” Leo announced.
A few of them snickered.
Leo turned to Olivia. “You ready?”
She nodded, lowered her voice. “I am.”
Leo cringed. “I like you better as a woman.”
Neil reached for the door. “We arrive in stages. We’ll do a mic check en route.”
Jax reached her fist out and looked Olivia in the eye.
For a second, she didn’t quite know what to do. Then she pressed her knuckles to Jax, who smiled and stood taller. “C’mon, Sugar Daddy . . . I need a drink.”
Neil lifted his hand. “Five minutes.” He walked out of the hotel room to get a head start.
Five minutes to the second later, Olivia squared her shoulders and left with her driver.
They completed the mic check once Leo and Jax were in motion.
The plan circulated in Olivia’s head. Her breathing became a meditation.
A Róka came into view.
“We’re here with you,” Neil said in her ear.
“Got it.” And she pushed out of the car.
Olivia went in first, following the same route that Leo and Jax had a couple of nights before.
Inside was much how Leo had described. Maybe a bit busier since the weekend was in full swing.
With a perch on one corner of the main bar, Olivia ordered a whiskey and avoided eye contact.
Fifteen minutes later, Leo and Jax walked in, her arm tucked in his.
Jax created a stir, even if she didn’t realize it.
“Welcome back,” the bartender said to Leo.
The earpiece gave Olivia the opportunity to eavesdrop.
“Chardonnay and a whiskey, correct?” the man asked.
As the bartender filled their drink order, Olivia searched the room to determine if anyone was watching the two of them.
The room was heavily dominated by men, most gathered in small numbers of two to four. A couple of larger groups congregated in the center of the room.