Page 121 of Shadow Operative

Nia’s thoughts continued to race as she sat on the couch. Austin had slipped out to grab some specialty coffee drinks for them at the shop downstairs. Gage still studied some of the files they’d grabbed from Rob’s place.

But she was having trouble staying focused.

She wanted to do the right thing. The thing that would ensure her sister’s safety.

She mentally shuffled through all the options.

She picked up Rob’s notes again and scanned them.

What was she missing? There was a lot of information here to go through. How could she narrow it down?

Sophia’s life was on the line, and the pressure of knowing that scrambled her thoughts instead of making her sharper.

Too much was at stake. There were too many unknowns.

Tension squeezed at her chest.

Nia stopped at one page she hadn’t examined yet. It was an analysis of a test study of the app Rob had sent to a few psychologists so they could give feedback and offer an endorsement.

Part of what made his app more appealing tousers was the test results behind it.

Nia read through some of the notes and stopped at a section that had been flagged.

“Why are you making that face?” Gage asked.

“I’m not sure this is anything.” She sat up straighter. “But it looks like something happened during the test run on this app that had Rob concerned.”

“What is it?”

She squinted as she read the words. “It says, ‘Cannot recommend. Could have adverse effects.’”

“What?” Gage quirked an eyebrow. “Really? Can I see the prototype for this app?”

“Sure. If you let me see the tablet, I think I should be able to pull it up.”

He handed it to her, and Nia hit several buttons.

But before she could open the files, the device glitched.

She let out an irritated growl. “I’m going to need to reboot this.”

“I’m going to grab a granola bar from my room. You want one?”

“That would be great.”

Gage disappeared down the hallway, and Nia continued to play with the tablet. Finally, she got it working and got the app pulled up.

All at once, something snapped in her mind.

Nia stood, no longer in control of her own body.

Even though she was barefoot, she shuffled to the door, opened it, and quietly closed it behind her.

Then she walked down the hall.

chapter

sixty

---