Page 90 of Shadow Operative

Then she searched through her files.

Several minutes later, she leaned back in her chair and ran a hand over her face.

“I take it it’s not good news,” Gage muttered as he paced away from the window, where he was keeping watch, and walked toward her.

“My files are gone.” Nia ran a hand over her face again as tension stretched through each of her muscles. “Both versions of them. Someone’s been in my office. Took my files and got on my computer. Wiped those out too. I need to figure out who.”

chapter

forty-two

Gage wasn’tcertain he’d heard Nia correctly. “They’re gone? You don’t have backup copies of your files on a Cloud somewhere?”

“I checked the backup. These files are gone from that also.” Her jaw hardened. “I’ve got to pull up my security cameras. See who has been in here. First, let me talk to Melissa.”

She stuck her head out the door and called her assistant into the office. Gage listened carefully, curious to hear what would transpire.

Melissa—who couldn’t be any more than twenty-three, twenty-four years old—rushed to her feet, knocking a stack of papers from her desk in the process. “What’s going on?”

“Has anyone been in my office the past two days?” Nia asked, helping her assistant to gather papers.

“Besides you?” Melissa grabbed the last of the papers, took the stack from Nia, and then straightened.

“That’s right,” Nia said. “Has anyone come in here while I was gone?”

Melissa swung her head back and forth, her motions still jerky with anxiety. “No, I haven’t seen anybody. As far as I know it’s been locked.”

“So you didn’t let anybody in for any reason?” Nia locked her gaze with Melissa’s. “Even a janitor or somebody in tech looking at the computer?”

“No, no one.” Melissa wrung her hands together. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m missing some files that were here on Tuesday.”

Melissa’s eyes widened. “I haven’t seen anything. I’ve been getting into the office every day at nine o’clock, and yesterday I didn’t leave until five.”

“Was anybody in the office before you got here?”

Her eyes wavered back and forth with thought. “Nancy in accounting. You know she always likes to get here early. And maybe Jeff in marketing. But I didn’t see either of them coming this way. Like I said, your door was locked.”

“Where do you keep the spare key?” Gage leaned against the desk with his arms crossed.

“It’s in the safe behind my desk,” Melissa said. “Near the island.”

“Who has the combination to the safe?” Gage continued.

“Just me and Ms. Anderson. That’s it.” Melissa offered an affirmative nod.

Nia and Gage exchanged another look.

Something wasn’t adding up here.

Nia thanked Melissa and dismissed her.

Then Nia went to her computer. “I’m going to look at this security footage myself.”

Then she began tapping away at the keyboard.

Gage’s lungs tightened as he waited to see what they might find.

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