Chapter 18

chapter

eighteen

As soon as Gage opened the bathroom door, he froze.

The chair was no longer wedged underneath the handle of the door leading into the room. Instead, it had been tossed aside.

He reached for his gun and cautiously stepped out. He scanned the room.

No one was there—not even Nia.

Nor were there any signs of foul play.

If there had been an incident, he would have heard something. Even though the water from the sink could have concealed some sounds, his ears were attuned for signs of danger.

Nia had left on her own, hadn’t she?

Gage muttered beneath his breath.

He shouldn’t have left her alone. But he thought he’d earned her trust.

What had spooked her? What had caused her to go out on her own with a gunman out there trying to track them down?

His jaw tightened, and tension thrummed through his muscles.

Gage had to find her before too much time passed.

Before someone else found her first.

Drawing in a deep breath, he stepped toward the door.

He’d probably only been in the bathroom for seven or eight minutes. But that was long enough for Nia to get too far away for his comfort.

He took the elevator to the lobby, stepped out, and glanced around.

No Nia.

No gunman either. At least that was good news.

A few minutes later, he paused on the sidewalk and scanned the city streets.

Still no Nia.

Where would she have gone?

That was what he needed to figure out.

Nia hadn’t known where to go. So she’d gone into work.

She’d gotten some curious looks from her co-workers when she rushed inside, but she largely ignored them and escaped into her office instead. Since she was the boss, no one had questioned her. She’d given instructions to Melissa, her assistant, that she didn’t want to see anyone or take any calls .

But now she was in her office, and she felt restless.

She kept glancing at the door, halfway expecting Gage to show up.

But he didn’t.

When she wasn’t glancing at the door, she was staring out her window.

But she didn’t see anyone suspicious or watching her from outside either.

Had she somehow managed to lose that guy?

It almost seemed too good to be true.

One thing was certain—she couldn’t just sit here.

She needed to find answers.

Her thoughts went back to the meeting Rob had here at the office. She’d been a part of it, as well as her VP, Graham Boston, and her Director of Development, Keith Washington. They’d met in the conference room, and Rob had truly seemed excited about the deal they’d brokered.

He’d left here at two-thirty. At four, he’d called about dinner.

What had happened in that time to change his mood from excited to anxious?

Nia tapped her finger on her desk as she thought it through.

Right as Rob had been leaving her office, he’d gotten a text, she remembered. He’d frowned as he looked at the screen. Nia hadn’t thought much about his reaction at the time. But what if that text was the start of his trouble?

If only she had access to his phone . . .

She continued to tap her finger.

She did have some capabilities for hacking into certain online accounts. Her company had brokered many deals in the tech world. As part of that, they kept prototypes and paperwork in the office as a backup.

And some of her clients had developed extraordinary technology and programs for both the private sector and the government.

She could dive into some of that tech to find out information she needed. But if she were caught . . .

The key would be not being caught, she supposed.

She turned to her computer as she contemplated what she should do.