Page 40 of Shadow Operative

Gage cleared his throat. “I have someone in my sights. Someone I want to explore.”

“Then you should keep all your options open.”

He continued to stare at her. “That’s what I plan on doing. But I’m going to have to talk to you more later. You got the picture I sent, right?”

He’d sent his friend a picture of the knife used to kill Rob. It seemed like it could be significant. Jonah had a connection, an old friend who collected knives. Gage hoped Jonah might talk to his friend and find out anything noteworthy about the weapon.

He glanced at Nia again.

If Nia was behind this, then Gage would find out . . . if it was the last thing he did.

What was that conversation about? Nia wondered.

There wasdefinitelymore to Gage Pearson than he let on.

She’d been a fool to trust him even a little.

In fact, what if this had actually been a setup? She couldn’t shake the thought from her head. What if that gunman had purposefully missed them? Just so she would trust Gage? So she would come here with him?

After all, she already knew he’d been in Rob’s apartment.

It was twisted . . . like something from the plot of some action-adventure movie.

But this was real life.

Whatever happened with Rob, Nia still couldn’t remember any of it. For all she knew, Gage had been a part of last night’s deadly shenanigans. Maybe he’d killed Rob, framed her, and then come back to plant more evidence.

Or maybe he’d killed Rob and now he wanted something from her.

Information on the app Rob was developing? What if someone else wanted to profit from it?

Nia didn’t know. But her thoughts rushed so quickly she felt like she might pass out.

At the first chance, she’d escape.

And what then? That gunman could still be out there, waiting to finish her off.

There was so much she didn’t know.

The only solution was to find out answers about Rob.

“What are you thinking?” Gage shifted before taking another sip of his drink.

Nia didn’t dare tell him the whole truth. “I want to know what happened in the time between when Rob met with me at the office and when he called around four to set up dinner. Something appears to have spooked him.”

“I agree. We need to figure out what that was.”

She nibbled on her lip as she thought. She needed to make it sound as if she was working with Gage still, eventhough she planned on escaping as soon as possible. “I wish we had access to his phone or his files. That might tell us something.”

“The police have those. They’re not going to share any of that information with us. What about this Sigmund guy you mentioned earlier? The other tech broker trying to woo Rob?”

Nia sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know what there is to say. The guy is a good businessman and my biggest competition. But not necessarily a killer. He’s smart enough to know that contract was iron-clad.”

“Then who else could it be?”

“The only other people I can think of to talk to are Hector, Rob’s lawyer, or Cormac.”

Nia watched Gage’s face to see if he recognized Cormac’s name. If the two of them were truly friends, he would.

---