Page 73 of Smokescreen

She heard nothing unusual.

Finally, they reached Reid’s truck and helped Tevin into the back seat. Olive climbed in beside him.

Reid found a water bottle that had been stuffed in the door and handed it to Tevin. “It’s all I’ve got right now.”

Tevin thanked him and took a long sip.

As he did, Reid took off. Sitting in one place too long could be risky.

Olive peered at Tevin, more worry coursing through her. “You feel like talking now?”

He let out a breath. “I was just doing my own thing and minding my business. Then I heard some footsteps behind me. I expected to see someone about to confront me about flying the drone and telling me it was illegal or something. Instead, I saw two men wearing black masks.”

Two men? Were Edgar and Jon a part of this? Tevin had put a tracker on Edgar’s car. What if he’d realized that and come after Tevin?

“What next?” Reid glanced in the rearview mirror at them.

“They didn’t say anything to me,” Tevin said. “They just jumped me. Hit me over the head. I blacked out. Then I woke up in the cabin.”

How did they get him there? Olive wondered. Did they carry him? Drag him? Drive him?

She hadn’t seen any tire tracks to indicate that had happened, so they probably hadn’t done that.

Tevin was pretty scratched up. Maybe theyhaddragged him there.

“Were they gone at that point?” Olive asked.

“No, they were still there. They dumped a bottle of water on me to wake me. Then they asked me a million questions.”

“Did you break cover?” Olive asked.

“No, I stuck to the cover story. They didn’t want to believe me, but I think by the end I had them convinced. By that point, they didn’t know what to do with me, so they just left.”

“Did they indicate they were coming back?” Reid asked.

“It wasn’t clear. They whispered a lot. I could tell these guys were trouble, people you don’t want to mess with. If they had any inkling I might survive out there, then they would have probably silenced me for good. Instead, they left me to rot, starve, or freeze—whatever came first.”

Olive shivered again. “I’m glad we found you when we did.”

“Me too,” Tevin murmured. “I knew you would, Olive. You’d never leave someone behind.”

Emotion rose in her at his words.

They were true. She wouldn’t leave one of her colleagues behind.

But one day, that might not be enough to save someone.

Thankfully, today wasn’t that day.

CHAPTER 31

Before going back to the Homestead, Olive, Reid, and Tevin stopped to pick up Tevin’s van. Olive drove it back to the house.

Once there, Tevin grabbed some of his equipment, including a computer where the drone imaging was stored. The drone itself had been shot down and now lay in ruins in a hard-to-reach spot of the forest.

Then Olive, Reid, and Tevin went into Reid’s office. Trick joined them.

They were dangerously close to blowing their cover. But the four of them needed to talk.

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