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“I said it.”
He looked up. “What?”
“You didn’t say it; I did.”
He rolled his eyes. “All right. You said it. What was next in the brief?”
“Read it for yourself.”
Rather than do so, he sat beside me. “I told you I do better with collaboration.”
“And I told you I prefer to work alone.”
“My op.”
“What?”
“I’m the Swiss task force commander. I own the op. I decide how we approach the investigation.”
My eyes scrunched. “You cannot be serious.”
He didn’t respond.
If we weren’t undercover as newlyweds, I’d find somewhere else to work. I supposed it wouldn’t do if I requested Nem booka second room—or chalet—for me. The resort staff—and Schön—would certainly notice.
“Are you thinking about leaving again?” His icy blue eyes were round, and his lower lip stuck out. Like a child’s.
“Zeppelin, I’m imploring you. Let me read through these briefs. I won’t have time tomorrow, and I really want to refresh my memory.”
“Why won’t you have time tomorrow?”
“We have meetings at the banks where the funds were moved, remember?”
“Right. Wait. Tomorrow is Sunday.”
I shook my head. “Apparently, along with everything else I’ve done indicating I’ve lost my mind, now I’ve lost track of what day it is. However, I do think we should go out for a bit. There’s no sense in us being undercover in St. Moritz if all we’re going to do is hole up in this chalet and visit banks in two days.”
“We could ski.”
I slammed my computer closed. “Argh.Yes, that’s what we should do.Ski.” I got up and returned to the bed since he wasn’t making use of it.
No more than five minutes passed before he sat beside me. “If I promise to be a good boy, will you please work with me?”
“Is that usually effective? You pout, give a woman puppy-dog eyes, and she does your bidding?”
“Almost always.” He plumped his pillow, lay down, and propped his computer on his knees. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Accepting he’d continue his intransigence regardless of how many times I said I preferred to work alone, I gave in. “We identified the M in AMPS was for Mithras and the P for Pharaoh. Wait! You were supposed to tell me why you think Puck abducted Z.”
He nodded but didn’t sit up. “As I said, Puck is off the rails. First, he lost two agents on their first international op. Second,he was besotted with Seshat, who’s now dead. The very next day, Z goes missing.”
“And?”
“Puck likely doesn’t believe Seshat was killed. He’ll want Z to take him to her.”
I shook my head. More like rattled it. “That’swhat’s behind your theory? We all know she’s dead.”
Our mobiles pinged simultaneously.