Page 4 of Joshua's Mistake
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. Boot falls, fast and hard sounded on the sandy streets.
“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.
