Page 11 of Joshua's Mistake
Time passed at a different rate in dreams than in reality. It was nearly dawn and Joshua felt the odd sensation again. Reluctantly he pushed away from Tessa’s generous offer and woke.
It was the same strange sense he’d felt at the safe house. Something was coming and it somehow blocked his abilities. He had been woken by the lack of psi energy reaching out to him.
“Tessa. We have company.”
She woke instantly and was on her feet. Crouching, alert and completely naked. He guessed she’d given her clothes to Peggy to wash. He’d done the same but had put on a pair of swim trunks and a T-shirt left by the couple’s son long ago. He didn’t think he could have slept naked with Tessa and if he’d know she was completely bare and stunningly beautiful under the covers he still would not have slept.
Even with the eminent danger looming he couldn’t control his body’s reaction to her.
Opening the door a crack, he hoped to find her clothes washed and waiting.
Bill was there already. Joshua was sure the man had some psi abilities or he was the most intuitive non-psi Joshua had ever met.
“Trouble.” He had a folded stack of clothes in his hand.
Joshua took them. “You’d better take Peggy and get in the bomb shelter. I’m sorry about this. I never thought they’d connect me to you. I thought it’d be safe.”
Bill smiled. “Don’t worry about us. We’re glad you came to us for help. Peggy stocked it up last night just in case. After last year, we figured it was a good bet we’d end up down in the cellar again. There’s an ATV with the keys in it down near the barn. Take it through the woods and grab one of old Max’s cars. You got a way out in case of emergency?”
A year ago, when Kane and Lena had needed to run, Joshua, Bill, Peggy and Lena’s grandmother Rose had gone down in the old bomb shelter and hidden until the mercenaries looking for them had gone. Joshua hated the idea the Flacks would be alone with no one to protect them should the enemy think to look for the older couple. “I have a way out.”
“Better take it. I think this is going to go badly and you’ll need to protect that woman of yours.”
Joshua didn’t bother to explain that Tessa was not his woman. But he liked the idea, wrong as it might be, Bill thought she was. He simply nodded and closed the door.
The sound of shoes heading down the steps and out the back door reassured him they had made it to the bomb shelter.
Joshua tossed Tessa her clothes and pulled his own on. There was no time for modesty and neither one of them bothered to shield their nudity before getting dressed.
“I don’t feel anyone,” Tessa said, pulling her shirt over her head.
“No. I feel nothing and that in itself is strange and exactly what I felt at the shore before those agents showed up. They definitely have a blocker.”
“How far to the ATV?”
“A few thousand feet and there’s no place to hide.”
“I guess we’d better run for it, then.”
He sensed her excitement. God, everything about this woman turned him on.
Quickly making their way to the ground floor, they slipped out the kitchen door and broke into a run toward the barn. The cottage where Rose had lived until she’d moved in with Kane and Lena stood to the right. He rushed behind it for cover. The long, white barn was still more than a thousand feet away and there would be no further cover for them. He could hear the high-pitched whistles the enemy was using to communicate. At least it was good to know their blocker affected them as well. That made him curious.“Tessa, can you hear me?”
“I hear you,”her inner voice called back to him.
Interesting, the blocker doesn’t affect our connection.Was it because the blocker was too far away or did they share some kind of bond? Those questions would have to wait for a more opportune time to consider them. He looked down at the exterior power outlet just below his hand. Flipping the cover up, he silently drew energy out.
“The ATV should be on the other side of the barn. We’ll be exposed. I’ll draw fire. You run
for it.”
She didn’t answer immediately. She was considering the order before she replied.“I’ll come back for you. Be ready.”
Her long legs took off at a sprint and Joshua stepped out into the yard in plain sight. Electricity buzzed through his body. He gathered it and shot at the first movement he saw. A human scream broke the silence and a body thudded to the ground.
The predawn erupted in gunfire. A familiar aura touched Joshua’s mind.Not possible.Then it was gone and he knew he must have imagined it. Though it would explain how they’d found him at the Flack farm. He pulled his gun and fired on a dark figure moving to his left. All the while he backed up toward where Tessa would be waiting.
He thought he might have one more small charge left in him. Before he could get another bolt off, he heard the ATV motor behind him. Wheels screeched to a stop. She had backed the side-by-side Arctic Cat Prowler all the way down the barnyard.
