Page 11 of Shadow Operative

Thankfully, he had facial recognition software at his disposal. There were some perks to working for the Shadow Agency, and this was one of them.

After he’d finished downloadingthe footage, he deleted the images of himself coming into the apartment from the building’s server. Once the police found Rob’s dead body, no doubt they’d look at this footage. If Gage appeared in the images, he’d be a suspect.

He needed to buy himself some time.

For now, he’d work on enhancing the image of that woman and then run it through his software.

Once he knew who she was . . . he would track her down.

Find out if she’d murdered his friend and why.

He stood and paced to the window, staring out.

She was out there somewhere.

He would find her.

Then Gage would demand answers . . . and make sure she paid.

chapter

four

Panic clawedat Nia as she paused on the dark sidewalk outside her apartment building.

Was the killer close?

No, the killer had the chance to do away with her earlier, and he hadn’t.

That must mean he wanted her alive for a reason.

A shock of fear rippled through her.

Had she been imagining things when she thought someone was following her earlier?

She couldn’t be sure. Her thoughts were too muddy.

She walked back toward Rob’s apartment. When she was across the street from the building, she glanced up.

Her breath caught. Someone was inside Rob’s apartment.

She saw movement near his windows.

Thatwashis apartment, wasn’t it?

She counted the floors to confirm.

Itwashis.

Nia slunk back into the shadows and watched.

The man paced toward the window to peer outside, almost as if he knew Nia was watching.

Her lungs tightened until she could hardly breathe.

She had no idea who that man was. She only knew he was dangerous.

He wore all black, and she couldn’t make out his features.

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