Page 1 of Training Rain
Prologue
The Nevada sunwarmed the dry earth, but winter had come to the desert and a chill clipped the air. Jess was late getting back to Las Vegas after his first official assignment working for the Psi Alliance. Exhaustion tugged at him and a nice bed in a nearby luxury hotel called his name. Instead of following his desire for comfort and rest, he’d done as he’d been told. He walked up to the simple house used as headquarters for the Psi Alliance. Joshua Lakeland and Tessa Clark had bought the inconspicuous home just outside the city. It was modest and off the beaten path. No one would suspect a psychic spy network was meeting at that residential locale.
He kept his hand on the hilt of the handgun holstered inside his leather jacket as he knocked on the front door of the stucco house. Closed doors made him nervous. It was always possible that the threat on the other side was more powerful than he was. Jess was not a fan of the unknown. He kept his mind tightly guarded, though he sensed the build-up of psychic energy inside the structure.
Energy crackled from behind the door. It was a sensation he recognized well. His grip relaxed on his weapon and he smiled before the door opened.
“I didn’t think you were going to make it, Jess.” Tessa Clark grinned from the open doorway and stepped into his open arms for a hug.
Only an inch shorter than him, she was strong, beautiful and a gifted psychic. They had been partners for years and in the beginning, he’d wanted there to be more between them. Tessa had always told him that sex would complicate their working relationship. He’d been rejected so many times it had become a joke between them. Of course, she’d been right. Eventually she’d become like a sister to him and any romantic thoughts had faded completely.
It had hurt when she’d gotten into trouble over the summer and not contacted him for help. He knew she’d been protecting him by not entangling him in what was potentially the end of her career as a government agent. Still, he wished she’d come to him.
It turned out she was right about it ending her career with the government. Once Joshua Lakeland and she had proven her innocent of any wrongdoing in the deaths of her team members, the two had quit their jobs with the government and opened their own agency. They were still in the process of recruiting the best psychic agents in the country to work with the Psi Alliance.
If Jess was honest, it wasn’t that much different than working for the government agency, though he did feel as if Tessa and Josh had his back. The government was known for cutting their losses and leaving an agent hanging out to dry as they had done with regard to Tessa. If Joshua hadn’t felt instantly connected to her when he’d been ordered to do a mind probe, the outcome would not have been nearly as congenial.
He shuddered at the thought.
Tessa broke the hug and cocked her head to one side. “You okay?”
It was impossible to hide anything from a telepath. “I was just thinking about everything that happened over the summer. Seeing you—brought it all back.”
She took his arm and led him inside the modest home. The large open living room was likely the biggest selling point for the couple. They could easily use it as a briefing room and fit a dozen or more agents on the soft leather sofas and chairs.
The windows were treated with tan blackout curtains that kept prying eyes from having a look in when anything was happening. They could be pulled back at other times to reveal a normal home complete with stone fireplace and flat-screen TV. At the moment, all the curtains were closed and the room was filled with agents and artificial light.
Jess knew everyone in the room to some degree. He’d worked with most of them when he’d been with the Psi Agency.
Wanda Avery lounged on one of the couches. She raised her hand in greeting as he entered. The middle-aged redhead had never been very psychically talented, but no one could gather information better. She knew everything that was going on in the world and who was responsible. She could pick important bits out of a coded transmission and decipher that data faster and more accurately than anyone on the planet. Jess had not been surprised when Josh and Tessa had asked Wanda to join the Psi Alliance though it had surprised him that Wanda had come out of retirement and agreed to join.
Jess took a good look around the room. “You’ve done some recruiting since I’ve been away.”
Tessa nodded. “I think you know everyone. We were lucky to get Wanda. You met Kane, Joshua’s brother, but maybe you haven’t met his wife, Lena. I’ll introduce you later.”
She pointed to a curvaceous Latina standing next to the dining table with her hand casually draped over Kane’s shoulder. Kane sat, and the couple spoke intently to Piper Martin, a young agent with impressive clairvoyance as well as some other useful skills.
“Piper, Will and Don were with us when we lost Trip over the summer.”
Jess’sstomach tightened. “You almost lost me that day too.”
He thought he’d gotten over nearly having his soul ripped from his body. It had been months since he’d thought about the day in Las Vegas when they’d been forced to kill Troth Banta. Of course the psi mercenary had given them no choice. He’d been collecting power by ripping it from other psychics. They had to stop him before he became unstoppable.
Seeing these people brought Jess right back to that moment when he lay on the marble floor of the Venetian Hotel with Banta tearing his psi abilities from him. Psychic power travels through a user via their aura on a vibration. Having your aura taken away usually kills the victim or worse, leaves him existing in a private Hell. That might have been Jess’sfate if the Native American healer, Rain Silver, hadn’t risked her life to save him.
Trip hadn’t been as fortunate. Banta took his psi and his soul was ripped from his body. There was nothing anyone could do. It had happened too fast. They’d all mourned the loss of a good friend and a good agent.
Tessa tightened her grip on his arm. “I know. I’m so glad Rain was there in time. Remind me, after the meeting, I want to talk to you about her.”
“What about her?” Warning bells sounded in his head. The woman was safe on the Shoshone Reservation where they’d found her. It had given him some satisfaction knowing she was safe.
The image of her smooth, cocoa skin and shining dark eyes had filtered into his dreams many nights since the summer. Something in her eyes soothed his restlessness and healed him.
Joshua made his way across the room and cleared his throat.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” Tessa said.
Joshua Lakeland’s tall, imposing figure made people turn and listen. He stood at one end of the room and addressed the small gathering. “I’m glad you could all make it. I wanted to take a moment to make it clear that each of you have been invited into the Psi Alliance for not only your individual skills but also because I trust you with my life and the lives of the other people in this room. At the moment there are only ten of us, but I envision there being a need to expand as time goes on.”
