The day had been trying and she’d had an overwhelming need to lash out. Nathan’s attitude had fueled it even more. Both men had driven her nuts with their posturing; the testosterone in the room had been thick enough to cut with a knife. Nathan had almost blown it for her with his little outburst, and Bauer…she could still see the boyish cocky grin on his face when she grabbed his arm. She didn’t know what made her do it. At that time, the only thought in her mind was she couldn’t let her only lead walk out the door. The minute her fingers had connected with his arm, she had known it was a mistake. His warm skin had burned her hand and a jolt of electricity had stabbed her chest. God! For a minute there, when he had said, Here? Now? she had actually considered it and had to strangle the Yes! that had almost slipped from her mouth.
Cassandra’s own reaction had surprised her even more than Nathan’s jumping him. She wondered if she had let it show, pushing Nathan to act like an ape instead of the trained CIA agent she was counting on having as back-up. She had never anticipated that sort of reaction from Nathan. His jealousy frayed her nerves and needed to be dealt with.
The silence in the car back to the hotel had been painful. Cassandra had tried to discuss the details of what had just gone down with Nathan, but each time she had broached the subject he interrupted her with statements like, He was an ass, I can’t believe he’s one of their top analysts, and He’s Irish, for Christ’s sake, probably an IRA mole, for all we know.
When he had slammed the heel of his hand against the steering wheel, Cassandra could no longer take his griping. To satisfy her need to lash out she had jerked his chain: “Damn Nate, you’d think you were falling in love with the guy, the way you pushed him down on the table going hard and heavy at him.”
With a scowl, Nathan had turned his head and pinned her with a heavy stare, but Cassandra hadn’t backed down. “Don’t you dare give me that look. You had no right to butt in. I had everything under control, and then all of a sudden you lost it over some comment that doesn’t come close to what we were put through on the Farm during psych training.”
Cassandra had been spoiling for a fight and, on a roll, jibed, “What the hell was that, anyway?”
“I saw how you looked at him, Cass.”
Frowning, she had glared him in the eye. She was angered by his comment, but also uncomfortable because she knew his words to be true. She had indeed examined Bauer with the eyes of a woman before had she discovered who he was. To cover her unease she had gone on the attack. “‘Looked at him’? What do you mean ‘looked at him’? Get a grip. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“I know that he was interested in you. Guys sense when other guys are looking at their women,” Nathan had ground out.
Cassandra had turned slightly in her seat, her temper taking on a life of its own, “‘Their women’? Did you just say ‘their women’? What the hell, Nate! You sound like someone out of the fifties. For the record, his comment didn’t faze me so it shouldn’t have bothered you, either. Besides, I’m not your woman.”
Nathan’s lips had thinned and his eyes had narrowed dangerously at her before slowly returning to watch the road ahead. Reaching the hotel, Nathan stormed to the elevators without a word. Before Cassandra could catch up with him, he had stepped in and hit the button for his floor.
Cassandra stared as the doors closed, threw her hands up in the air, and called out, “Really?”
Even though Nathan’s outburst had happened a while ago, it still stung. She fell back on the bed, took a deep breath, and stared at the ceiling. Bauer’s parting comment also still rang in her ears, reminding her of past failures—her inability to remain with the CIA, having the Morrígan copied under her nose, her father’s disappointment in her. His words had thrown her off stride, derailing her plan of attack, and she hated herself for letting him see her crack, even if it was just for a passing moment. The luck of the Irish must have been on his side for him to catch her in a rare moment of weakness.
****
Trevor arrived home and made a beeline for the fridge. He grabbed a Guinness and poured a glass before making his way to his and George’s home office. He sat in front of his desktop computer and took a long pull of the dark goodness before he began his own little investigation. To start, he searched for the name: Cassandra James. It’s amazing what’s left scattered on the net without people’s knowledge, he thought, shaking his head.
He scanned through the many results listed based on relevance to the words typed, clicked on the first link, and read through a news article about Agent Cassandra James’s Medal of Honor for taking a shot in the line of duty. “Holy shit,” he mumbled. The article didn’t go into detail, but it explained how she had, without a second thought, shielded a man with her own body. He inhaled deeply at the thought of her being shot. The pain she must have gone through. She was definitely as tough as she appeared to be.
Adding additional parameters to the search, he narrowed down to more detailed articles that included information about her leaving the CIA and joining her father’s security company in San Francisco, her birthplace.
He was taken aback, especially in light of the intercept describing how she had screwed up the job and displeased her boss. That boss, based on the news item, was actually her father, Robert James. No wonder she was so intent on pursuing this mission of hers. She was protecting her legacy, as much as the client’s assets. What also caught Trevor’s attention was that Cassandra’s mother was never mentioned in any of the articles he read about her.
Trevor felt like a total jackass. No bloody wonder he had seen hurt in her eyes at the seemingly harmless comment. Unknowingly, he had touched on what appeared to be a seeping open wound. His remark hadn’t been intended to hurt her, but it had. He was able to connect the dots based on what he had uncovered, and the pain displayed in her eyes for that fleeting second wasn’t a figment of his imagination but something far more personal and real to her, something very sore.
Trevor leaned back against his chair and drank the last dregs from his glass before heading to bed. He now understood her a bit more. She was on a mission. He’d bet his last pint she was going to achieve her goal and he’d be seeing or reading about her again in the news soon. When he finally relaxed his head against the pillow, it wasn’t long before sleep overtook him, his body and mind exhausted from the events of the day.
****
The dream came hard and swift, snatching his breath away. A burning, blinding pain seared through him. When the dark blanket of agony faded from his sight, he found himself staring up into his own face, which looked down at him with eyes filled with fear, desperation, and anger.
“Don’t you fucking leave me! Stay with me, Cassandra!” The sound of his own words snapped him out of the dream. Trevor sprang up and threw his legs over the side of the bed as sweat beaded on his skin. Questions pounded in his head. What the hell does this one mean? Why are my dreams so fucking puzzling? Why am I dreaming about a total stranger? All he had were questions without answers. The only certainty he had was the deep connection to that woman—a stranger he couldn’t seem to get out of his head.
No use dwelling on it, he thought. She was gone. By now she was probably on a plane back to California. She was out of his life for good, but he needed her out of his mind, too. He knew time would take care of erasing his memories of her—out of sight, out of mind. The same way time was fading the memories of his parents. Trevor sighed. The way anger emanated from her, he was probably safer if their paths never crossed again. He needed to concentrate on his own quest instead of that of Cassandra James. He fell back against the bed and his pillow. He covered his eyes with his arm and hoped for a few hours of dreamless sleep.
****
Sleep was an elusive jerk, much like Nathan had been earlier that evening, Cassandra thought as she lay in bed later that night. Her ear still hurt from the sound of the phone slamming back into the cradle on his end when she had declined his invitation to meet him
in the lobby for dinner.
It was a good thing they were flying home the next day, she back to the Bay Area and he back to Virginia. Cassandra was relieved they would be parting ways, his possessiveness and bullish behavior was bothering her. Nathan was showing her a whole new side of him, and she was looking forward to putting some distance between them so she could breathe and think about how to handle it.
Rolling over on her side, she could see the outline of the file on the hotel room desk, and her thoughts turned to Trevor Bauer. Her excitement and expectations had been high earlier that day, believing the NSA employee to be the key to her redemption. Cassandra had truly thought she would be able to draw some answers from him. She hadn’t foreseen hitting a brick wall. Bauer hadn’t been the key. Even though his facial expressions had not shown deception when he admitted entering the system with no plans to secure any information for himself, she could swear there was something left to be disclosed about his excuse for infiltrating the servers.
Cassandra’s curiosity got the best of her. Giving in to it, she grabbed her laptop and accessed the online resources she regularly used to do background checks. A simple tool that would help her fulfill a need to know more about the man. Using his name as a key search word, her eyebrows rose when she was able to quickly narrow it down to one person. Strangely enough, out of the many Bauers in the area, there was only one Trevor. She pulled up a snapshot of his driver’s license to confirm she had the right person, and stared at the picture of the man who puzzled her so. Plugging the address listed on the license into maps, she saw he lived very close to his work.
Cassandra fought the need to find out more about him and resisted checking his background in depth. She closed her laptop with a sigh and flopped on her back, shut her eyes, and willed her brain to sleep—but it had other plans. Time and again, Bauer’s face flashed in her mind. The look of surprise on his face when he first heard her name, eyes popped open, and the word “Shite” echoing in the conference room had made her heart flip in her chest.
Six-foot-two inches tall with dark, unruly hair and crisp, indigo-blue eyes that turned almost the bluish/black of a raging storm when pissed. Oh man, had he been pissed, all right. Bauer’s eyes had burned through her before they had filled with anger and disbelief at her accusations. His trim athletic body had not skipped her notice. It still floored her that this man, whom she had never met before, had left such an impression on her. Jessica would have a field day with this little tidbit of information if she ever got wind of it. Thankfully, she most likely never would.
Cassandra’s enthralled mind refused to let go of the interesting subject that was Trevor Bauer. She was envious of his casual, confident, controlled attitude, so different from her own. He had taken everything she had hit him with—accusations of criminal activity, abuse of position and resources—and had deflected them with frustrating ease and humor.
She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Damn. Four hours left before she had to get up. Rolling onto her stomach, she buried her face in the pillow and imagined turning off the light in her head, isolating all thoughts in the background before she eventually fell to sleep with the image of Bauer’s charming crooked tooth still teasing her.
****
Nathan’s attitude had not improved by the time they reached the airport the following day. The drive and the return of the rental car took place in cold silence. Once in the terminal, Cassandra, whose plane would leave at a later time, walked him to his gate. When boarding was called, she moved to shake his hand but he grabbed her in a quick goodbye hug. Cassandra stepped back, slipping from his arms before they could tighten around her.
With a deep frown on his face, Nathan said, “I’ll call you once we’re back home.”
“Sure. Talk to you then.” With a sense of relief and freedom, she watched him board and headed to her own gate.
Her mind continued to revolve around the facts of the Bristol case, exploring other potential avenues she could take to locate Allison Davis since her original theory had gone down the tubes. Exhausted from the sleepless nights and the tickertape of activity in her head, Cassandra couldn’t reconcile with the fact that she was heading home in defeat. She was driven to complete the job, not only for her father but also for herself and her self-esteem, independent from the fact that she’d been taken off the case.
Thinking of Robert led her back to Allison and to wondering what her family thought of her. Did they know what she had done? Were they disappointed in her? Cassandra’s heart raced as those questions crossed her mind. By the time she reached her gate her mind was running a mile a minute, shuffling through what facts she could recall from the full profile they had developed on Allison. Although she did not seem to have a lot of friends, she was very close to her family…Her family! They were the key to finding her!
Excited by the new possibilities, she found a seat in the boarding area, pulled out her cell, and dialed Nathan to share the good news, but immediately hung up before the call had a chance to connect. While Nathan might still be willing to help her, she didn’t want to create any more ties to him when she was looking for ways to break the existing ones.
It wouldn’t be fair to request his help when she knew he would be doing it because of how he felt toward her. Even though Cassandra was now certain she didn’t feel, or would ever feel, romantically inclined toward Nathan, he was still a dear friend and she didn’t want to lose him. Besides, even with all his connections, putting a request for digital surveillance on Allison’s family would mean that such a request would end up on a desk somewhere in Crypto City.
A rush of adrenaline flooded her when she realized where her train of thought was leading. She had no time to waste—the clock was ticking. Even if she managed to get around the CIA red tape through her own contacts, it would still take time to get something pushed through to the NSA.
Her thoughts narrowed in on the only person she knew who could help her cut those corners and tap into the source. She sat up straight in her seat and checked her watch. From the conversation she’d overheard between Bauer and his friend George, he would be leaving for work soon. If she hurried, she might be able to catch him still at home.
As soon as the idea crossed her mind, she dismissed it promptly and slumped back in her seat. What was she thinking? He’d never go for it. They certainly didn’t get along. She hadn’t left him with a very good impression of her either, judging by the look on his face after pummeling him with words in a way so not like her usual self—almost embarrassingly so.
Cassandra was antsy as she shuffled along with the other boarders to the gate. She looked down at the boarding pass in her hand and automatically handed it to the attendant. Cassandra’s vision narrowed on the pass and before the attendant could run it under the scanner she snatched it back with an edgy, “Sorry, I forgot something,” and took off at a slow jog out of the terminal. Her heart raced out of control; it had been an impulsive move, but Cassandra knew that if she didn’t at least try, she would regret it the rest of her life.
****
“You have reached your destination.”
Cassandra pulled her rental into the parking spot nearest Bauer’s house, cut the engine, and turned off the GPS. “Thank you chatty Cathy,” she whispered as her gaze moved to his front door.
Her body buzzed with energy and she once again second-guessed her decision to miss her flight and talk to him one more time. She leaned her head back against the headrest and let out a shaky breath. She was desperate, and he was her best chance for tracking down Allison.
Cassandra glanced at her watch anxiously, waiting for Bauer to come out. Her heart pounded in her chest and for a split second she wondered if her anxiety was solely related to the case. Not wanting to look too closely into her feelings, she got out of the car, leaned back against it and tried to enjoy the bright sunshine warming her skin.
****
Trevor stepped outside and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. His plan for t
he day was to work off some energy in the pool before heading to work. Walking down the few steps to street level, Trevor noticed a woman leaning against a parked car in front of his house. There was something familiar about her.
The woman’s brownish-gold hair was tied in a ponytail, her leather jacket and the blue top underneath it barely touched the waistband of her low-cut jeans, leaving a strip of golden skin peeking through. She had her face upturned toward the sun’s warm touch.
As he drew closer, she turned her head toward him and his breath stopped in his lungs. Even with her relaxed appearance—far more relaxed than the day before—and the large stunners shading her eyes, he recognized her immediately. Cassandra James. The last person he ever expected to see again, much less outside his house. Hiding his perplexity at her presence, he approached her.
“What an unpleasant surprise,” Trevor drawled sarcastically, unsure where his antagonistic words were coming from, as he secretly enjoyed seeing her there. “Are you lost? What brought you to this a amadáin’s doorstep?” Pinning her with hard, narrowed eyes, he added, “More importantly, how the hell did you find me?”
Chapter Eleven
Fate
Bauer’s hostile reaction to finding her outside his house raked across Cassandra’s already frayed nerves. She pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head, crossed her arms in front of her, and checked him out. Bauer was dressed pretty much as he had been the day before, but this time he was sporting a t-shirt with a barcode print and “GEEK” spelled underneath. The proud statement fit him so well, but, although funny, Cassandra kept her chuckle to herself. She needed his help and didn’t want to start the conversation laughing at him for his geeky sense of humor.
To break the ice, she replied with a question of her own: “Got a driver’s license?”
At first, Trevor didn’t get what she meant, and then it dawned on him: she had accessed the DMV and pulled his license. “Meh, any teenager with moderate skills can access that information.”
Countermeasure (Countermeasure Series) Page 12