Page 15 of Misdirection

She swung her head back and forth in disbelief. “How is that even possible?”

“I’m not sure.” He stared at the screen and frowned. “Maybe this footage was manipulated.”

“If so, someone would have had to act quickly,” Olive said. “Beau had only been dead less than an hour when I found him.”

“There are people out there with the skills to manipulate video and quickly,” Rex said. “Tevin, for example.”

“I, of course, did not manipulate any videos from Conglomerate. I’m working on confirming that this one has been altered and trying to uncover the actual footage.”

“Make that your first priority,” Rex said.

Olive looked back at Rex on the screen. “Do you think I’ve been made?”

“I don’t know. But this deal is supposed to go down Friday. We don’t have much time to find answers. And we definitelydon’t have enough time to get someone else in at the company to replace you.”

Olive ran her tongue across her teeth as she thought through his statement. “I don’t like everything going on right now.”

“Me neither.” Rex stared at her through the screen, his eyes practically burning lasers into her. “But if anyone can do this, it’s you.”

She appreciated his faith in her. But she still didn’t like this. There were too many complications for her comfort.

“We also have another problem,” she stated. “As I’m sure Tevin told you, one of my ex-boyfriends just happens to be head of security at Conglomerate.”

Rex muttered something under his breath. “How did this slip by?”

Tevin visibly tensed. “I’m not sure. Conglomerate has more than four thousand employees. We mostly vetted upper-level management and people we thought Olive would be in direct contact with.”

Rex stared at her through the computer screen. “Do you have a handle on this, Olive?”

The truth was, she wasn’t sure. But instead of telling Rex that, she gave him a confident nod.

She had the ability to convince people of things—not only their clients but also her coworkers at times. Another trait she’d learned from her dad.

“Jason won’t be a problem,” she assured him.

Olive desperately hoped those words were true.

CHAPTER 5

After ending their video call with Rex, Olive stayed with Tevin in the van, talking through different scenarios and looking up what information they could. The two of them made a good team.

There were only six agents at Aegis, and Olive was one of them.

Tevin technically acted as more of a handler.

Then there was Rex, their leader.

Nova Levington was a tech genius.

Patrick “Trick” Grimshaw was another agent and a master of disguise.

Mitzi McGraw was the other female operative.

The agency also had tech support and administrative assistants who helped plan details for their high-level assignments.

Olive had followed an interesting path to get here.

She’d dropped out of college, overwhelmed by the classes, the debt, and the uncertainty of what she really wanted to do with her future. Instead, she’d taken a job as a salesperson for a health food company. She’d quickly worked her way up the ranks to become a top salesman.

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