Page 85 of Misdirection

She swallowed hard before saying, “As fine as I can be considering the circumstances.”

“Makes sense.” He drew in a quick breath. “I plugged in the address for Adriana. She’s not far from here.”

“Perfect.” Olive tapped the dash a little too hard. “Let’s go.”

Silence fell as they drove until Tevin asked, “So . . . it seems like you and Jason are bonding.”

He’d been hesitant to ask the question, Olive realized, but curiosity had driven him to ask it anyway. Tevin usually didn’t get personal. They both knew it was better that way.

“Bonding?” She snorted. “We’redefinitelynot bonding.”

“Rekindling an old flame?”

She resisted another snort. “Jason has a girlfriend. Or hehada girlfriend until he found out she was a deceptive liar—the same thing he’ll eventually find out about me.”

Tevin’s eyebrows twitched. “How will he react when he hears the truth?”

Olive stared out the window as she thought through the question. “Not well. He values integrity—as he should. Integrity is important.”

Tevin stole a quick glance at her. “It’s not that what you’re doing lacks integrity. The job requires subterfuge in order to stop the bad guys.”

She nodded slowly, wrestling with his statement. Did the ends truly justify the means? What did the Bible say about that? She wasn’t sure.

“I know that,” she finally said. “But I’m not sure Jason would ever understand.”

“You never know.” He shrugged.

She turned to study Tevin a moment, curious about his questions. “You’re not rooting for us to get together or something, are you?”

He raised his fingertips from the steering wheel as if throwing his hands in the air. “You know I don’t get involved in personal things like that. It’s not my business.”

“Yet you’re the one who broached this subject . . .” She tapped her index finger in the air.

“Ouch.” He hunched himself as if he were injured. “Shots fired.”

“Let’s talk aboutyourlove life instead. Whenever you meet the right one, you have to run her by me, you know. I consider you a brother.”

His smile softened affectionately. “And I consider you a sister. Everyone needs someone to watch their backs, right?”

“Absolutely.”

“So I’ll definitely seek your approval.”

That thought filled Olive with warmth.

They pulled onto the side of the road and stared at the building where Adriana’s apartment was located. The place was sleek and new, more than twenty stories high if she had to guess, with occasional breaks in the concrete where greenery had been planted.

Tevin crossed his arms and sighed. “What now?”

Determination raced through Olive’s veins. “Now, we come up with a plan.”

It had taken some calculating and research, but Olive and Tevin figured out which window showcased Adriana’s apartment.

Then they’d realized her light was on.

Tevin had grabbed his binoculars, and they’d kept an eye on the apartment to see if anyone was inside.

Fifteen minutes later, they hit paydirt.

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