📎A/N. Hello my lovelies. It's that time of the weekend. I hope you had a relaxing one and are raring to go for the new week.

The Watty's awards have been announced! Congratulations to all the winners.

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Joshua held the door opened and touched her lightly on the small of her back. "After you."

A shudder of energy pulsed from where his hand rested and spread out through every nerve ending. Petra walked through the door and pretended she didn't recognize the knowing glint in his eye. Why her nerves had suddenly woken up was anyone's guess. The evening was two people sharing a dinner, with one of them—her, trying to elicit information from the other—him. This was not a date by any stretch of the imagination. Which meant her skittish behavior made no sense.

To be fair, he had unsettled her when he picked her up to drive them to the steakhouse. When he dropped her off, he'd been in jeans and a Nike sweatshirt. When she opened her door an hour later to leave, he had showered and changed into dark slacks, and a light business casual shirt, with sleeves, rolled up to just below his elbow. She was thankful that she had changed her mind at the last minute and slipped into something a little more formal than jeans and her usual oversized shirt.

As they were lead to their table, she couldn't help but notice the waitress was flirting with Joshua. And why not? While not traditionally handsome, there was something in his rugged features that you couldn't help but take a second look at. When they arrived at their table in a secluded part of the restaurant, Joshua quickly helped her out of her coat. She stiffened when his fingers touched her neck and shoulders as he pulled the garment off her. The move was innocent, so why did every move he made feel so...erotic?

Joshua pulled out her chair and threw her a warm, open smile. She was thrown at the unexpected gesture and hesitated before taking the offered seat. It appeared chivalry wasn't dead. When he gently touched her shoulder again, before moving to his side of the table, she was sure her face was so flushed she had broken out in a sweat.

Not a date. This is not a date.

The waiter poured them water and left them to peruse the menu.

"So you were saying there are two variations of the bacteria," said Joshua, returning to the conversation they had started on the ride from the weird little village.

She nodded and forced her brain to concentrate. "Yes. The DNA makeup from the one from O'Neill is different from the others. I will need more samples from other victims to determine if there are any other variations. But, they seem to have gone missing."

A muscle twitched in Joshua's jaw, and he fussed over the breadsticks.

She narrowed her eyes. He was avoiding eye contact and didn't look surprised. Another sign they all knew what was going on. The man knew exactly what attacked the victims. Which meant she was right to try and pry him of the information he held.

Petra reached for her glass and took a sip. "I don't suppose you knew any of the victims that died?"

"No, can't say I did."

"But from what Alice tells me, you do know Murphy O'Neill. Quite well, in fact."

He nodded. "We've known each other a while now." He chuckled. "You could say he's almost family."

They were interrupted when the waitress returned for their order. Joshua ordered practically everything on the menu while she settled for the chef's special.

"Are you seriously going to eat all that?" she asked when their server left.

He grinned. "I'm a little famished. But if you want to share, I'm okay with that."

She lifted her chin. "I will do no such thing. I was just trying to work out where you were going to put it all?"

Joshua winked. "Maybe one day I'll let you in on my little secret."

His reference to a secret pushed her back on point. "I don't know the details of the other cases, but Alice and the others briefed me on the attack on O'Neill. I really don't know why he wasn't there with his partner. The FBI are supposed to work in teams. We might have better answers had she been there."

She held her breath, hoping he wouldn't see through her lie.

When Joshua laughed she relaxed. "Murphy is quite capable in any situation, and I'm thankful Kaitlyn wasn't there. Besides, the backblocks of Nebraska isn't exactly the most dangerous place to be."

Petra held back a triumphant smile at Joshua's slip. So what if she pretended to know more about it than she did? At least now she had something to go on. Nebraska. The source of the strongest strain of the bacteria was Nebraska. That narrowed it down. By a lot. She had somewhere to focus.

Score 1 for me.

Now the question was, where had O'Neill disappeared to?

"I don't know why Daniel let him go when we still may need tissue samples and blood work from him. This could slow down our analysis."

Joshua topped up her glass with the red wine he had ordered. "He and Kaitlyn are on a case. If push comes to shove, it's only a two-hour flight from Albany."

The bouquet from the Syrah was rich with a scent of cinnamon. She downed another gulp to give her some Dutch courage. So far, her tactics had worked, she was hoping to push her luck a little further. "I know you have the additional gene."

Joshua's gaze snapped to hers, and she inwardly grimaced. Had he cottoned on to what she was up to?

"What you probably don't know is that I do too," she said quietly.

Joshua's features relaxed and his lips tug up in an easy smile. "I am fully aware of that fact."

Goosebumps erupted up her arms. Something in the way he admitted it implied something far more than the words out of his mouth. She wasn't sure to be concerned or comforted.

Her fingers played with the stem of her glass, and she lowered her voice. "So are you going to tell me the significance of this gene and why someone is out there actively trying to kill anyone with this gene?"

Joshua leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Right now, you are better off not knowing. It's safer that way."

"But you do know I will work out what that secret you're all determined to hide? It's only a matter of time." She paused. "And as for safer, if you're implying that it's risky for me to be here in Colorado, well in two days that won't be a problem."

"I know. I'm coming with you to Atlanta."

Her head shot up. "I beg your pardon?"

Joshua leaned forward and placed his hand over hers. "Petra, it's my responsibility to keep you safe. I couldn't live with myself if anything ever happened to you."

Safe? Safe from what?

Unsettled at how his touch set her skin on fire, she snapped it away. "I think you and Daniel are being a little ridiculous. It's one thing to believe the sky is falling over Colorado, it's quite another to assume that it will follow me back to Atlanta."

Joshua's lips narrowed into a firm line. "You've already said yourself. Someone is targeting people with this gene. You have the gene. Therefore, you are a target."

"But that doesn't make sense. How would anyone know I specifically have the gene. That information is restricted to..."

"Look, you don't know who's behind this, I do..." Joshua's face dropped when he realized what he had let slip. "Fuck!"

Petra folded her arms over her chest. "I thought you said you didn't know who was behind this."

"Look, forget I said anything."

She reached for her glass to put a barrier between them. While he was on the other side of the table, he was large enough to make it feel like the smallest table ever.

When the waiter returned with their order, she was thankful for the break of uneasy silence that had descended on them like a ton of bricks. It wasn't until they were halfway through their meal that Joshua moved the conversation back onto neutral territory.

However, she couldn't get beyond the fact that Daniel's spy was taking his mission a little to the extreme. When she left Colorado, she was not expecting a shadow to accompany her. No matter how nice it was wrapped.

Her mood simmered for the rest of the evening and finally vented as Joshua dropped her back to the Inn she was staying at. Their heated argument must have carried to the other rooms and well down the road to the nearest neighbors.

She fished in her bag for her room key, her temper now well out of control. "Well, I can tell you one thing. You are not coming to spy on me on my own home ground."

Joshua let out a low growl, and his hand gripped her elbow. "The hell I won't."

Petra's breath caught. In her anger, she hadn't realized just how close he was hovering over her. He had backed up against the door of her room. She had no way of escape. Right now she was very aware of just how male he was. From his dark stubble to the earthy scent that swirled around him, that never failed to entice her, despite her wishes to the contrary.

A shiver ran up and down her spine when his head slowly dipped lower. When she met his eyes, her knees became weak, and a flurry of desire ripped up from the pit of her stomach. The need she recognized from the depths of his iris's was raw and primal. For a woman that prided herself on her ability to cope with anything, she lost the capacity to think straight. Her lips became dry. When she ran her tongue across them, Joshua's gaze followed every movement, and he snaked his free hand around her waist.

Joshua's voice came out like smooth whiskey and further set her alight. "Just so you know, I'm going to taste you now."

She forgot to breathe and liquid heat pooled between her thighs. How did she get this wound up? Her limbs were useless. Nothing she did could convince them to move. This was a bad idea. Really? Was it?

Joshua's head dipped lower, and his breath fanned across her face. His lips brushed against hers, almost touching, but not quite. "Then I am going to kiss you," he whispered slowly, prolonging each syllable as if to savor them.

His tongue trailed across her lips, and she let out a moan. How could this elicit so much pain? She was parched and needed more.

"And then I'm going to kiss you some more until I'm done."

Joshua licked and nipped at her lips until she parted them willingly. The moment she swayed towards him, he wrapped his arms around her and hauled her to him. Unable to help herself, her hands inched up his stomach to his chest, where she clutched onto his shirt in case she fell. Not that she was worried. The arms wrapped around her were strong and muscular. And, if what she was feeling under her fingers was right, his chest held a lot more than could be seen by the naked eye.

She wasn't strong enough to resist.

Joshua deepened the kiss. Or was that her? Their breathing became labored. Her heart beat out of control with each stroke his mouth and tongue made against hers. All she wanted was to fuse herself with him. The emotion was so violent and needy that it nearly scared her. How could one kiss make her feel like they were doing so much more?

Fire ran through her veins when he hauled her closer to his body, and she felt just how affected he was.

"You have no idea how long..." his voice came out tortured and as labored as her ability to think straight.

Joshua began a trail of moist kisses along her jaw and proceeded down her neck. Each lick, each nip, each touch, marked her soul. How was a kiss like this possible? She's had sex less intimate than this.

When Joshua slowly pulled away, an acute loss overwhelmed her. Unable to find her voice she blinked rapidly to try and make sense of what just happened.

Joshua brought a hand up and cupped her cheek. She had to physically stop herself from leaning into it. It was like he was magnetic. "Get used to me being around. My one purpose at the moment is you, and I have never shirked my duties."

Duties?

The fog lifted and Petra was violently brought back to reality. She'd been played. He had just demonstrated just how far he would go to make sure he followed Daniel's orders to keep her under surveillance.

Petra glared at his retreating back, torn between wanting to thump on his broad shoulders and scream at him, or run her hands over what was clearly a toned chest and see for herself what lay underneath the shirt.

Aware she is standing outside of her room in the middle of the night, she fled inside her room and leaned against the door still breathing heavily. Her mind was in turmoil at just how quickly she succumbed to his very persuasive charms.

She placed a hand on her chest, and her pulse beat through like tom-tom drums. Where the hell was her cigarettes when she needed them?

Focus, she needed to focus.

Her eyes widened. Work. That always helped in getting her centered.

She slung her jacket on the counter and reached for her laptop. After opening her email program, she groaned. It was going to take her all night to get through the backlog of unopened mail. Actually, that's good. She wasn't entirely sure she would be able to sleep.

Most of the messages were dealt with quickly. However, when she got to one of Lyn Kwon's, one of the doctors on her team, alarm bells went off. Lyn had sent a report from a routine tissues samples found on some of the bodies from a mass killing spree in New York State. The victims had all died by a gunshot wound or a broken neck. However, when the coroner found evidence of some sort of flesh-eating bacteria on some of them, he'd forwarded samples to the CDC, as protocol dictated.

A nagging sensation ate away at the back of her mind. What was it about New York State that sounded so familiar?

O'Neill!

Murphy O'Neil and his partner were working a case there. She quickly brought up a browser and typed in her keywords. When she found what had made front-page news, Petra realized she had been out of touch for the past few days. No matterwhat the press or authorities said, this was something to do with the flesh-eatingbacteria. Alice, Daniel, Parker, Joshua and the others knew exactly what was goingon. 

A thought struck her, and she froze. Until now she had been under the assumption that whoever was behind this had infected dogs. Who, in turn, attacked and infected the victims. Her guess was that the attacks were not random and that the dogs had been trained to attack on demand. Since when did dogs use guns and break people's necks? Something was not right. Something was going on that was a lot bigger than her original assumptions.

She grabbed her phone. It may be late, but she needed answers.

"Petra, you do know what time it is?" Lyn said.

She rolled her eyes. Lyn never did well without her full eight hours. "Sleep is overrated. Look, I need you to get tissue samples from every victim at Silver Lake as soon as possible. Run them all through DNA sequencing and put a rush on it."

"That will take days. Do you know how many bodies they found?"

"Lyn, just do it and get Sanjeev to help you. Whatever you do, keep it to yourself. I'll be back the day after tomorrow."

"Why? What's going on?"

"If my guess turns out to be right, I'll let you know."

Petra started at the images the media had managed to take before being pushed back by the police and FBI. Her chest tightened, and she quelled down the sense of panic. She was now surer than ever something was going on under all their noses. Someone was systematically killing people who had this additional gene. She would bet her job on it.

Joshua's words echoed in her mind. She had dismissed his concern for her safety outright. Was she in danger?

She hunted around her small room. "I need a goddam cigarette."

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📎A/N. Eeekkk!!! They kissed... and she liked it *wink* *wink* *nod* nod*. However, the woman is convinced he's a spy... but Joshua, I think you let slip just a little too much information :-(

Next chapter will be up next weekend. 

Till then, take care,

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