Free Blue Maneuver by Linda Andrews Page A

hands free and stepped back.
    Slowly, he tucked the chair under the table and sauntered toward me. “Let us return to your domicile, and I’ll brief you.”
    I didn’t want him in my condo. I didn’t want him anywhere near me. I backpedaled at a diagonal, until I reached the open kitchen. The cold granite countertop of the island cut across my back. Trapped. I clutched the bull-nose edge. “What if I don’t want to be part of any mission?”
    Three feet away, he paused and cocked his head to the left. A shaft of morning sunlight illuminated his strong jaw. Stubborn and determined. “Then I’ll kill you.”
    I sighed. And we were back to that again. The thought was oddly comforting. Still, the man needed to expand his repertoire. Chewing on my bottom lip, I edged along the kitchen island toward the front door.
    I’d never killed anyone. I didn’t even think I could. But maybe if I could tip off the police to an impending hit and they arrested him… A ray of hope warmed me. Again with the single digit IQ thoughts. He was the government and would be out before the cops could slam the cell door shut. Face it, Rae. You’re stuck . “What if I agree to help you but can’t perform as expected and we fail?”
    He scratched the stubble on his chin. “If you are not already dead, then I will kill you.”
    Remembering my earlier thoughts, chagrin blistered my cheeks. What if those Cee-Bee thingies gave him mind-reading abilities? I’d already dismissed the plan, but there could be a time delay, before he knew I changed my mind. “Even if it’s not my fault?”
    He nodded then shrugged.
    Son of a monkey’s butt! Here I agree to help, somewhat reluctantly it’s true, and I would still lose. “That’s not fair!”
    “It is what it is.” Tobias cupped my elbow and tugged me away from the counter.
    I tried jerking free but his fingers dug in, not painfully just determined. He glided almost silently across the tile, while my loose sneakers slapped my heels. “You really need to work on your incentive program.”
    He snorted and guided me toward the front door. “Living another day is a pretty big incentive for most sentient species.”
    There was that. But I didn’t want another day. I wanted a handful of decades. Maybe even two handfuls. I leaned back slowing our progress. Once I passed through that door, my life would change forever. Here, in this room, I might still convince him to change his mind. “I think—”
    “Don’t.” Where his voice had always been calm and monotone, it now brimmed with raw savagery.
    Now what had I said? I tripped over my feet from the pain in his voice. The white tile rushed up to greet my face.
    His arm snaked around my waist, catching me.
    Before I could catch my breath, he had me turned and plastered against him. From chest to thigh, I touched every hard, unyielding inch of him. The contact was perversely un-nauseating and the heat radiating from his skin could practically raise blisters. He gripped my upper arms but the hold wasn’t bruising, merely detaining with determination. Anger painted red marks on his stubbly cheeks but didn’t touch the pain blazing in his eyes.
    Tobias sucked in air through his straight teeth and his gaze was a branding iron at the back of my skull. Whatever he said I wouldn’t forget it. Ever. “Your ignorance and inexperience could cost many people their lives, if not the enslavement of the human race.”
    Cost lives. Enslavement of the human race. My brain slammed against my skull from the over the top dramatics. I blinked. Holy Toledo! The man made a great straight man. And I had bought into the whole thing. Laughter bubbled up my throat before traipsing across my tongue. A hoax. This had all been a hoax.
    “Wow! You really had me going. Until that last line, I’d believed you meant to kill me.” Muffling my giggles behind my palm, I backed up into the kitchen.
    He let me go but his brows met above the bridge of his nose.
    “I’ve been