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“Go on.”
“Since Zeppelin and Verity are commuting from Wargrave, I have an open room in the cottage.”
“Say no more, Mag.”
“No? I mean, I don’t want you to misunderstand?—”
“I understand perfectly well. You’re a good man, Justin Magnussen. A very good man.”
12
SCHÖN
Now that Verity and I were alone, I felt myself on the verge of panic. I truly did have so much respect for her, and the way I’d acted in St. Moritz was shameful. I felt worse eyeing the cane that rested near her chair.
“I want to apologize for the way I treated you in St. Moritz,” I said, getting the words out as quickly as I could.
“I accept. However, you’re probably remembering it worse than it was.”
“That’s kind of you to say.”
She shook her head. “You may have made missteps, but nothing that compromised the op. As far as your behavior toward me, I stand by what I said. It wasn’t as bad as you’re remembering.”
Zeppelin returned carrying two glasses of wine. “Mag is meeting with Nemesis. Shall we circulate and meet some of the new team members?”
I stood when Verity did, seemingly not needing any help. I remained where I was, unsure if I should wait for Magnet. Truthfully, I wanted to disappear into a corner, preferably make myself invisible.
“Come on, then,” said Verity, motioning for me to join them.
“I love your code name,” I said to Flick. “I’m Schön, by the way.”
“Wait, are you Swiss but not on that task force?”
I chuckled. “We have a lot of crossover within the coalition. I’m on the Albanian team. You’re on the Swiss task force, but you’re from the UK, yes?”
She chuckled too. “That’s right.”
“I put a master list together, just so I could keep everyone straight.”
“Wait, what?” said Verity.
“I was just telling Flick I created a list of everyone in the coalition. I obviously have to add more now.”
Verity’s eyes widened. “I’d love something like that. God, why didn’t I think of making one?”
“You probably already knew everyone.”
She shook her head. “Wrong. Hey, Zep. Did you hear this?”
“What’s that?”
“Schön made a master list of everyone and which task force they’re affiliated with.”
He looked over at me. “How do you keep up? I have a hard time just with my own team.”
“What else have you done?” Verity asked.
“I made a spreadsheet of the briefs and categorized them so I could find things more easily if I had a question.”