Page 5 of Joshua's Mistake
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.”
