JoshuasMistake (2 page)

Internally he was fascinated by the twists and turns of the
roller coaster living inside this remarkable woman. Darkness and light bleeding
together in a way he had never seen before. It was uncommon to probe the mind
of a truly gifted person. He’d been in his brother Kane’s head, but that was
different. They shared a link forged in childhood. He trusted Kane and they
didn’t need a probe to share intimate data. They were connected.

There had been a few sexual experiences where his partner
had allowed a connection, but those were shallow explorations to heighten the
experience.

Something about being inside Tessa’s aura was exciting and
dangerous. His cock responded against his will as he passed through her
desires. He caught a fleeting glimpse of her fantasies. Under different
circumstances he would enjoy lingering there and perhaps adding to her cravings
by sharing his own. The temptation to do it anyway was strong, but he moved on.

He could try to quell his desires, but what was the point?
She would know. She’d known he found her attractive from the moment he walked
in the room. The feeling was mutual, that much was obvious. Being in a woman’s
mind when she was aroused could be extremely mutually satisfying. He hated not
being able to mask his need, but then he felt her pussy clench. Her nipples
brushed sensitively against her blouse.

“I’m trying not to be turned-on by you
,
Tessa.
Believe me, I don’t want gratification that’s not offered willingly.”

“I’m struggling as well. Our timing is a bit off. Just
get what you need and we’ll be done.”

The fact she admitted her arousal so openly only made Joshua’s
condition more acute. He breathed deeply and pushed down his desires as best he
could. It didn’t help knowing she also felt the attraction. His cock remained
uncomfortably trapped in his trousers, but he was a grown man. He could deal
with a few minutes of discomfort.

“If you show me what I need to know, this will go faster.”

She didn’t respond in the silent conversation they’d been
having, but an area that had been obscure beckoned him closer. A wall forged up
around him, sealing him in.

“Tessa?”

“I’m trying.”
Pain threaded her words.

He stopped his advance and mentally placed a hand on the
obstruction.
“Relax, beautiful. I won’t hurt you. I just need to see what
happened. Take a deep breath and relax your mind. Let me walk through it with
you.”

“I can’t”
Her inner voice was near panic.

“You can. Just settle your mind and let me in.”
The
tone he used was assured, steady and calm over all.

The wall solidified. He hated that he was going to have to
break it down. She would never be the same. He only used a fraction of his
abilities to put pressure on the wall. Another few minutes and a bit more from
him and she would crack.
Fuck.
“Tessa?”

The barrier waivered as if it were liquid rather than solid.
The wall slipped away and the light of her memories glowed brighter.

“Good girl. Well done.”
Joshua navigated forward
through the other barriers he knew she could not control. It was nothing that
would damage her by pushing through, so he did.

As if a door were opening, Joshua stepped into Tessa’s
memories.

The desert stretched out behind her. Three men were
laughing together as she entered the tent. She liked them. They were her
friends. The paper in her hand held their orders and she hid her excitement
from them. She couldn’t wait to make a move. They’d been sitting in the tent
for too long, waiting and watching.

The memory jerked forward to a long table covered with
maps. The four of them stood planning their assignment. The fragment nicking
her arm was the first indication they were in trouble. Pain and years of
training crumbled her to the floor. The tent exploded in gunfire.

Crawling forward, she ignored the burning agony in her
upper arm, her hand came up bloody as she clutched Peter’s hair. She rolled him
over, but he was gone. Adrenaline and instinct were the only things driving
her. On her belly she moved to Jake’s side. His leg was bleeding badly, but he
was alert. She screamed the name of the fourth agent. Jake shook his head. The
tent was still erupting with bullets, smoke and shrapnel. It all rained down on
them.

Firing at nothing was also instinct, but she held back,
waiting for a target. She turned from Jake, and his dead body fell against her,
pinning her to the ground. It seemed as if hours had passed before the room was
silent. Nothing left, but she and three dead friends.

Joshua pulled back from her mind. He knew everything he
needed to know. She had not known the attack was coming and she had mourned for
the loss of her team. Tessa was not a traitor.

When he opened his eyes, his right hand was wrapped around
her head in an embrace. A tear pushed between her lids. He shook as badly as
she did. Probing left a mark on both parties.

He released her. “I’m sorry.”

Her eyes opened. Any sign of tears was gone as if they had
never been. “It’s not your fault.”

“You think you were set up?”

“Don’t you?”

“Why?”

“You tell me,” she said.

He could think of a few reasons why she and her team might
have been a target. One thing he was sure of, unless she was the most skilled
psychic he’d ever met, she was innocent. “I’ll give them my report.”

She put her hands back on the table, offering her wrists up
to be chained back to the metal. “Thanks, but it won’t make a difference.
Whoever set this up wants me out of the way. I wasn’t supposed to leave that
tent. They made a mistake and now they’re trying to correct it.”

Joshua didn’t like the sound of that, though he couldn’t say
it wasn’t true. “They called me in.”

Half a smile lit her face. “I’m glad they did. It’s good to
know someone will know the truth.”

Tessa turned toward the door just as Joshua sensed a change
in energy. Something was wrong. His senses were on fire. The group in the
anteroom had just grown from four to fifteen and the newcomers were a psi team.
He should have noted it sooner, but he’d been engrossed in the probe.

He kept his voice low. “Close your mind.”

She’d already done it before he made the command. She felt
them too. “What’s going on?”

He noticed something familiar, but it was gone before he
could figure out what it was.

Someone banged on the door. Blake’s voice came through the
wall. “It’s time, Lakeland. The transport team is here. Whatever you got from
her will have to be enough.”

“Funny, that doesn’t feel like a transport team, Special
Agent. My senses tell me it’s an assassination team.”

Either Blake didn’t know and he was assessing the men in the
room, or he did and he was deciding how to respond. When he spoke again his
words were clear and slow as if very carefully chosen. “Sometimes a man has to
do things he might not have expected, old friend. Onward and upward.”

Joshua looked at the ceiling. He could barely make out a
panel in the drywall. He jumped up on the table and put his hand inside the rim
of the can-light fixture, pulling down and opening a doorway. Decision time.
Blake obviously thought he’d be better off taking the exit in the ceiling. It
was doubtful the FBI Agent wanted him to create a fugitive situation and he’d
move quicker on his own. Still—he looked into those bright, intelligent eyes
and remembered how it had been to touch her mind.

He put one open hand down toward Tessa. “Time to go.”

“You sure about this?”

“Nice of you to ask, but we’ll have to discuss my choices at
another time, beautiful.”

She smiled, took his hand and let him lift her up into the
newly opened doorway. He shimmied up right behind her. It was an attic. One
door, she turned the deadbolt and pushed. They found themselves on a roof ledge
looking out over the Atlantic Ocean. White-sand beaches stretched in both
directions and the early summer brought tourists and locals out.

Banging from below indicated they would have company
shortly. It wouldn’t take long to break down the door and even less time for
them to find the escape hatch. It was a short jump to the next rooftop. Joshua
made the leap and turned back in time to watched Tessa’s long legs push off and
follow him. He steadied her when she landed, though he suspected she didn’t
need help. She smiled and raised her eyebrow.

On the other side of the house, they easily climbed down and
crouched behind the garbage cans. The sound of boots on the sandy streets let
them know they were not alone.

“Now what?” she asked.

Six men dressed in black SWAT battle-dress uniforms, or BDUs,
crossed the far end of the alleyway. Joshua and Tessa moved silently toward the
beach and crawled under the porch of a large house. Sand had blown up, creating
a small embankment they could hide behind and remain in the shadows. They would
need to keep moving. The search would be systematic and thorough. With the
beach and dunes behind them they had a few moments to watch the assassination
team spread out to canvas the area. Blake leaned against his car and watched
the street. The agent never looked up toward the roofs or made any effort to
aid the search. He lit a cigarette and shook his head when one of the assassins
asked him something.

Tessa’s arm rested snug against Josh‘s shoulder. The day was
warm, but he felt her shiver.

“My car is parked in front of the safe house. We’re going to
have to borrow one.” He pointed toward the south. As the search drew closer
they made their way out from under the porch, around the back of the next house
to the garage. He turned the knob and found the door locked. With only a
thought the tumblers clicked and the knob turned. He locked it behind them.
Crouching down under the window, they waited until the sun cast shadows across
the streets.

They ran south between the houses and the dunes until they
came to a parking lot adjacent to the beach. He couldn’t help admiring her long
legs and round little ass. Clad in formfitting jeans, she was delectable.

Turning his focus to the cars in the lot, he pulled a key
fob out of his pocket and found a car with keyless entry and starter. The small
computer in his hand found the code for the door and ignition. A shame someone’s
day was going to be ruined, but there was no help for it. Moments later they
were crossing the bay and driving west away from the Jersey Shore.

She was quiet though her mind was a whirl of emotions some
of which were strong enough to punch into his awareness. As hard as he tried to
allow her some privacy her mind was too sumptuous to resist.

They were all the way to Route 30 before she said a word. “Why
are you doing this?”

“Why do you think they called me in?”

“To find out if I’m a traitor. So they could shoot me with a
clear conscience.”

“I’m pretty sure whoever is behind all of this already knew
the answer to that.”

He glanced over and her eyes were wide. “They want you gone
too. But why? You’re Joshua Lakeland for God’s sake. You’re a fucking Psi
Agency legend.”

“Well, you know what happens to legends, beautiful. They
always come to a bad end. Besides, we don’t really know who ‘they’ are, do we?”

“What does that mean? I was picked up by the FBI.”

He shrugged. “That just means Blake was assigned to pick you
up. We need to know who gave that order. I heard from Blake to do the probe,
but I also had a text message from my handler.”

“But your handler’s identity would be classified.”

She was right. He didn’t know who the text came from. It
kept the handlers safe if an agent went rogue. “Whoever it was had the current
code for high-priority instructions.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere safe where we can think this through.”

Her fingers were tapping on her jean-clad knee. “How far do
you think we’ll get in a stolen car?”

“Not far.”

He touched her still-tapping hand, she stilled and he
wrapped his fingers around hers.

She didn’t look up from their clasped hands. “Lakeland, you
should know getting involved with me is a bad idea even when I ‘m not accused
of treason.”

“I think we’ve advanced to the point where you can use my
first name.”

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Yes. You don’t think we should get involved. The problem with
your statement is we’re already involved.” He lifted her hand and kissed the
fingers.

She froze at the contact as if he had struck her with a
poison dart.

“Are we?”

He could practically hear warning alarms going off inside
her head. “Do you think probing is usually so familiar? Do you think I’m gentle
with every perp and talk them into pulling down their walls? Something about
you encouraged those decisions from me. Something about you makes me want to
know you.”

She pulled her hand away and wiped her palms down her long,
denim-clad legs. “Where exactly are we going?”

“I know a place where we can spend the night. I have friends
in New Jersey. It will take another hour if you want to get some sleep. You’re
tired, Tessa. How long has it been since you closed your eyes?”

“Did you steal that bit of information from my head?”

He smiled in spite of the bite in her words. “You have rings
under those pretty eyes. Sleep. I’ll wake you when we’re close.”

She ignored him and stared out the window. Tension crackled between
them.

Obviously she didn’t trust him enough to rest, so maybe some
fact-finding was in order. “Your file says you’re telepathic as well as
clairvoyant, Tessa.”

“Neither helped me in Afghanistan and neither did any of my
other skills.”

“No. We’ll have to think about that. I assume your team
members were all psi of some kind and none of them had warning of the attack
either. It’s very strange to not sense your aggressors before they strike. In
your memory, you gave no indication you felt anything before you were hit.” He
touched the red scar marring the flesh of her left, upper arm.