seemed unjust, but in reality, it probably saved many students from lost job opportunities in their futures.
Sasha moved through the pages quickly and slowed down when she found the pictures of students on the obstacle course. She recognized her own image as she scaled the wall, one leg in the air, her arms wet with perspiration. Her face was hidden from the camera, but that didn’t keep anyone from knowing who it was at the time.
She’d nailed the best time for any female student in her junior year of high school and then kept beating it, if only by a few seconds, for the next four years. How would her time be now? Sasha rolled her shoulders and turned the page.
The class pages started with the college students. There were only a couple dozen of them at that age. Most of the kids left after high school to go on to universities all over the world. The ones that stayed were often like Sasha. Their absent, dysfunctional families paid to keep them enrolled at Richter for their own good. Some students were hardened by military families and didn’t do well without strict rules.
Sasha’s gaze found the image of one of the male students she’d gotten to know in her last two years at the school. They’d been lovers, if you could call it that at that age. Russell Visser. He’d been kicked out of two boarding schools before he reached Richter in tenth grade. He’d tried to get kicked out of Richter, too. Only that wasn’t an option. The headmistress never expelled students. She put them in solitary instead. It was the most effective way to keep students from crossing the line. In society if you can’t follow the rules, and get caught, you’re put in prison. Richter had its own version. And instead of hardening the students, it made them focus. When they broke the rules, they did it on purpose, and often it was immaculately calculated to avoid getting caught. A standard goal of any student, Sasha remembered, but at Richter, those who broke rules on epic levels became school legends. It wasn’t until graduation that the offenders, or heroes of these legends, let themselves be known.
Sasha remembered listening to Russell speak in the ten minutes he had onstage during their graduation. Russell had been caught many times in his early years, but by the time he left Richter, he hadn’t spent one night in solitary for two years.
She smiled when she thought of the scroll he’d unraveled to read from.
“The missing lion paperweight from the headmistress’s office that was later found duct taped to the hood of her car; junior year.
“The entire supply of gym towels taped to the ceiling of the girls’ locker room; senior year.” Sasha had been a part of that stunt.
Russell was the physical joker, where Sasha took pride in a different type of prank.
She’d hacked into the mainframe security at the school and spent hours recording film of uneventful days and nights. Once a month, for her last year in school, she’d uplink her footage and cut the live feeds in order to break into various classrooms. She picked locks, hacked computers to display naked pictures of strangers on home screens. Those pranks aged quickly, and she moved on to placing hidden cameras and recording conversations she’d later pipe into the PA system at the school.
When Sasha had left Richter, she’d owned up to about half of her self-entertainment. All the talents she’d managed in those final years helped with her escape and trip to the bar her senior year.
She’d called the headmistress on purpose.
Why? To show off? To prove she could? A little of both, she supposed.
Sasha flipped through pages.
She wrote down the names of several students. Classmates that she remembered going on to criminal justice careers. Whispers of government agencies recruiting on campus were a constant buzz in those final months. Only the elite were offered interviews, and those students were not always vocal about where they went.
Sasha found Amelia Hofmann’s photograph. Instead of writing down her name, Sasha searched for other photos of the girl to see who she spent time with outside of class. When her search came up empty, she opened Amelia’s senior yearbook. She found a picture of Amelia in her room with two roommates.
She wrote their names down.
The hair on Sasha’s forearms stood up seconds before a girl pulled out a chair opposite her and sat.
Sasha closed the book and looked up.
“You’re the Sasha Budanov.”
“I