Untrained Eye by Jody Klaire Read Free Book Online Page B

he’d always had since she
was a kid. “You know that’s not exactly true. I let you play with those people
but I still have the papers.”
    “And I still know where you hide your money.”
    Huber laughed again. “I’ve missed your insolence.” He slapped his
hand against something. It used to make her jump as a kid. Now, it didn’t even
make her flinch. “There’s an auction, a big one being held at an academy . . .
Caprock.”
    She tensed at the name, glad he couldn’t see her face. “I don’t
care.”
    “You will. Two children, fifteen and sixteen. Prized for brains
and talent. Worth a lot of money.”
    Frei clenched her jaw. Huber could have been drooling the way he
was talking.
    “Even the Kühns are going to be there.”
    That did make her flinch. A powerful family. “What is so important
about these children?”
    “No one knows. Principal won’t give out any details. I want them.”
    Him and everyone else by the sound of it. “Why would I be
interested in this?” The more she spoke in German to him, the more her accent
came through.
    “Easy. If they don’t impress, like the others in their class,
they’ll suffer like your sister did.” His chair creaked and she could see him
recline, whiskey glass on his desk. “Not everyone is as lucky as you.”
    Frei crunched the chair between her fingers at his snide remark. “ You were the lucky one. I made you millions.”
    “A billion actually.” He slapped his hand against something again.
“I will get you into that school but you’ll need a team. If you pull it off,
think of the acclaim . . . Think of how it’ll look for Caprock.”
    That line used to work a long time ago. It irritated her that her
fingers flexed at his pitch. She’d tried helping, tried making a difference but
straddling his sordid network and CIG had come to a head.
    Renee had threatened to turn her in. She’d walked away. Renee had
been taken by Yannick. So she made a choice. Renee or the helpless kids.
    It was a no win situation.
    In spite of everything, Huber had been good to her. He’d
been a tyrant and intimidating but he’d never raised a hand to her and he’d
never touched her. In return, she’d made him richer than he could ever have
imagined. “I don’t work for glory.”
    “Then, how is this. Thirty children in that class, you get me two,
you can smuggle the rest out for your own purposes.” He clicked his tongue.
“Twenty eight strays that you can save.”
    He had her. Even more than he realized. Twenty eight kids who
would end up like her sister otherwise. Twenty eight lives. “Give me a week to
build a team.”
    Huber hummed his approval. He came from a long line of slave
owners, that was the excuse she’d always given on his behalf. What else did he
know? He’d been good to her, atrocious to others, but good to her. He treated
her like a daughter. A bound, enslaved, and useful pawn of a daughter. Stupid,
but she still felt loyal to him. 
    “I knew you’d see it my way. Be in touch.”
    He cut the line and she stared down at her cell phone. Aeron and
Renee’s problems felt distant now. She had kids to save.
    Aeron and Renee . . . Frei tapped her cell to her chin. With their
help, she could pull it off. Renee wouldn’t go for it but Aeron . . .
    Frei looked at the medical block.
    Aeron . . .
    She got to her feet. If this plan worked, it could save lives and save the CIG team from imploding. Why not?

 
    Chapter 7
     
    EVERYTHING HURT. I didn’t know where I was when I finally came
around but I felt as if Blackbear Mountain had dropped on top of me and run for
it.
    I was pretty sure that I’d been restrained, again, and given
another dose of something, again. One thing guaranteed to make me want to hurl
objects across a room.
    I was different. I had some issues, I got that but who were these
people to lock me in some tiny cell and get all defensive when I didn’t like
it? I hated shrinks.
    I hated padded cells and I was in one.
    I pushed myself