Generation 18 (Spook Squad 2)

“Yes. A warehouse in Altona.” He pressed a button on the side of the phone. “Security, cancel the medics and take Agent Ryan straight down to medical. I want a twenty-four-hour guard placed on her.”

“Gee, nice to know that I’m trusted.”

Stephan barely glanced at her as he walked toward the door. “Until I check out your story thoroughly, you will remain under guard.”

And if they didn’t find Gabriel at the warehouse address Orrin had given them, she was in big trouble. That much was obvious.

The door opened. Three gray-clad security officers strode in.

“Barnes, I want full identity tests taken on anyone entering the building.”

Barnes, a big man with craggy features, frowned. “That’ll cause a bit of hostility, sir.”

“I don’t care. Just do it.”

Barnes nodded and stepped aside as two medical officers came in, guiding a gurney between them.

“I’ll let you know what happens,” Jessie said to Sam, then rose and stepped away as the two doctors approached.

One shoved a needle none too gently into her arm. Thankfully, it was her numb arm, she thought wryly. After a few seconds, the throbbing aches that assailed her body began to ease and her eyes grew heavy.

The doctors picked her up and placed her onto the gurney. The last thing she saw was Stephan handing Jessie a laser rifle as he walked from the room.

—

She dreamt again of the white room. This time Joe’s shadow was less indistinct, more man-shaped than merely a blot of darkness.

“You called to me again. Why?” His voice held just a hint of annoyance.

She shrugged. “It’s not as if I do this consciously. It just happens.”

“Nothing just happens, Samantha. You reach out because you wish to talk. But your timing right now is not the best.”

“Why? What does a street bum have to do that is so important?”

His amusement washed over her. “Who said I was a street bum?”

“That’s the image you present to the world, isn’t it?”

“It is. But I am not what I appear. You’d best remember that.”

The soft warning sent a chill down her spine. She knew nothing about this man, who, conversely, seemed to know so much about her. She didn’t even know if she could trust him. And yet, he’d saved her life, had given her somewhere to live when she most needed it and had come to this room when she called—even if she wasn’t aware that she had called.

His sigh was a breeze that stirred past her hair. “What troubles you?”

“I did a search on the pin. It led me to Mary Elliot.”

“Did it, now?” There was no surprise in his voice. He’d obviously known a

ll along where it would lead.

“She kept confusing me with a woman named Josephine. Kept insisting I had a brother named Joshua.”

“And do you?”

His shadow swirled slowly around her. Though he appeared relaxed, she could almost taste his tension.

“I have dreamt about Joshua, but I don’t know who he is.” She studied the shadowed form in front of her for a second. “Just as I don’t know who you are. You might be Joshua, for all I know.”