Trevor smiled at the comment. He focused on Cassandra’s face, her smile dimming everything else around him. “I know,” he answered softly, more to himself than to George.
Robert lifted her veil, placed her hand in Trevor’s, and kissed her on the forehead before stepping to the side. Trevor held her eyes with his and winked at her playfully as he kissed the back of her hand. Turning to face the pastor, their clasped hands shook slightly. Their courtship and engagement had been a whirlwind romance, but both knew they were meant to be and that this day was just the beginning of a long life together.
Once everyone was settled, the pastor began to preside over the contemporary wedding Trevor and Cassie had requested. “We are gathered here to witness and celebrate the joining together of Trevor Joseph Brennan and Cassandra Cristina James in marriage, to be with them and rejoice with them in the making of this commitment. Marriage means the pledging of love; its strength is built upon imponderables of the spirit: loyalty, trust, joy, laughter, and tears. It is with all those in mind that Trevor and Cassandra come now before us to be joined.”
The pastor directed his comments to their friends and family. “The marriage of Trevor and Cassandra unites their families and creates a new one. They ask for your blessing. Will you, their families, give them your blessing and pledge to them your love and acceptance?”
The four people present replied in unison, “Yes.”
The pastor then turned to Trevor and asked him to proceed with his vows.
Trevor clasped her hands tightly and inhaled deeply as he locked his eyes with hers. “Cassandra, from the moment I first saw you, I knew you were the one with whom I wanted to share my life. I vow to help create a life that we can cherish, inspiring your love for me and mine for you. I vow to be honest, caring, and truthful, to love you as you are, and to grow old by your side as your love and best friend. I promise to comfort you in times of distress, encourage you to achieve all of your goals, laugh with you and cry with you, grow with you in mind and spirit, always be open and honest, and love you without reservation for as long as we both shall live.”
Tears filled her eyes at his words. Cassandra knew that they had come from his heart. When the pastor turned to her and smiled, the words she had practiced over and over in her head during the night came back to her. Inhaling deeply to calm her nerves, she locked eyes with Trevor again. “Trevor, I never saw you coming, but my soul recognized you even before we met. I promise with all my heart to share myself with you and take you as you are. To follow you through thick and thin, support you, care for you, and protect you. It will be my greatest joy to bring you laughter, comfort, and unconditional love all the days of our lives.”
Cassandra saw the tears fill Trevor’s eyes. He held hers in silent admiration. She heard the pastor ask for the rings and observed George handing them to him with a relieved smile, now unencumbered of his mission to guard them. She handed her bouquet to Jessica to free her hands as the ornate bands were blessed.
“May this ring be blessed so he who gives it and she who wears it may abide in peace, and continue in love until life’s end.”
Taking her left hand in his, Trevor slid the ring onto her trembling finger while he pronounced, “With this ring, I take thee, Cassandra Cristina James, as my wedded wife.”
The pastor repeated the words, blessing Trevor’s ring, “May this ring be blessed so that she who gives it and he who wears it may abide in peace, and continue in love until life’s end.”
Cassandra’s mouth went dry, her pulse raced out of control, and her hands shook as she slid his band onto his finger. Her voice broke. “With this ring, I take thee, Trevor Joseph Brennan, as my wedded husband.”
Releasing Trevor’s hand, she turned to face the pastor again, but before she could take a step Trevor swiftly grabbed and pulled her against him, kissing her hard on the lips. The pastor cleared his throat and chuckled when Trevor lifted Cassandra and turned in a circle with her in his arms. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. No need for permission to kiss the bride.”
Trevor laughed out loud and took her hand again as he set her back on her feet.
“I would like to present Mr. and Mrs. Brennan.” They smiled broadly as they turned to their family and friends. Jessica, tears in her eyes, let out a big whoop, handed the bouquet back to Cassandra, and threw her arms around her in a tight embrace.
****
Jessica caught the bouquet in her arms, her smile confused with a frown. “What’s this?”
“Do you see any other woman here? You get to keep it. That means you’re next, you know,” Cassandra grinned. “Just make sure you give me plenty of notice when you decide to tie the knot. It’s a long way from Dublin to California.”
“Ha! I’m enjoying myself Cassie. No chance of that happening any time soon.”
“Well, you know what that means. Now it’s my turn to badger you to get serious and find someone to settle down with.”
“I’ll get there. Don’t worry.” Jessica’s eyes were drawn to where the men gathered. Without looking away from them, she changed the subject. “Did your dad mention anything about Jeff?”
“No. It’s been so crazy we haven’t had a moment to breathe, let alone talk. Why? What happened?”
Jessica swung her head to her friend and grinned. “Your dad gave him his marching orders. Jeff was dumb enough to tell your dad he was better off without you, and something about your amateur skills pulling the company down,” she scoffed.
Cassandra’s eyebrows rose. “I’m surprised Bob didn’t strangle him then and there!”
“I think he almost did. He wouldn’t leave Bob’s office after the little chat. Jake and Davis from security had to physically carry him off the floor.”
“Damn. I wish I could have been there! It’s probably for the best I wasn’t. I might have followed up on my little fantasy of popping him one in the jaw.”
“Well, then it’s a good thing you weren’t there.” Jessica’s gaze returned to the men and her eyes lingered a little longer on Stephan. Cassandra was about to say something when Jessica continued. “Has the purchase of the house in Dublin gone through?”
Cassandra’s excitement was crystal clear. “Yes!”
Stephan had handled the purchase of a nice house across from St. Stephen’s Green for them—their first home. The house was a marker of the times with its beautiful Georgian door and architecture, but it had been gutted and modernized on the inside to an open-concept layout that took advantage of each available inch of its multiple floors.
Although they had not been to the house yet, it was as if they already knew it inside and out. Stephan had sent them dozens of pictures and a video taken during a tour of the house after its renovation was complete. But the main reason they had fallen in love with it was because of the fabulous view of St. Stephen’s Green from their bedroom window.
“So what are you going to do now? I doubt you’ll settle to sitting at home doing nothing.”
“Trevor and I have talked about opening a data recovery business. We seem to have a knack for it. We’ll be handling the operations of Bauer Enterprises from Dublin. Don’t tell Bob, but, whenever you decide you need a new job, just let me know.” Jessica looked pensive, as if considering the offer seriously, and Cassandra burst out laughing.
Cassandra turned to look for her father and found him in the circle of men, a big smile on his face, and shaking Trevor’s hand. With Jessica on her heels, Cassandra walked over to Trevor, wrapped her arm around his waist, and leaned into him when he brought her closer for a peck on her lips.
Trevor glanced at his watch. “Sorry to cut this short, everybody, but we need to get going or we’ll miss our flight.”
“No worries,” George said. “You and Cassandra can catch a ride to the airport with me. I think my flight leaves right before yours.”
“That works. We just need to stop by Cassie’s to change and grab our carry-ons and laptops.” They had packed and shipped most of the
ir belongings to Ireland in the weeks prior to the wedding.
Robert turned to Jessica. “Ready to go? I’ll drop you off.”
Before Jessica could respond, Stephan blurted out, “I think you live close to my hotel. Can I offer you a lift?”
Jessica hesitated, “Lift…? Oh…ride, right? Sure.” She stumbled over her own words, blushing at the confused look he threw at her.
Kisses and hugs were exchanged before Trevor and Cassandra headed to George’s rental where Trevor helped Cassandra into the back seat and sat next to George for the quick trip. As they drove away, Cassandra turned to take a last look at her friends and family waving them off and sighed contently at the nice picture they made. Jessica smiled widely at Stephan—there was definitely something there to be dug out—and Robert laughed at something they had said. Even from the distance she could see a new light in his eyes.
Turning around to settle back in her seat, she caught Trevor’s eyes in the mirror smiling back at her in understanding. Cassandra grinned at him. Their adventure had just begun.
Epilogue
Redemption
Waiting to board their plane to Dublin, Trevor closed the laptop and a mischievous smile played across his face. Allison had achieved her goal after all.
“Trevor Joseph, what have you done now?” Cassandra approached him with cups in her hands.
“Nothing, a ghrá.”
“As if I couldn’t see the cat-that-ate-the-canary look on your face,” she scoffed as she sat beside him and handed him his tea.
“I sent the email.”
“Fully encrypted and untraceable, I hope?”
“Yes, Cassie girl. That thing was rerouted so many times, they will end up in Timbuktu if they even try to trace it.”
Cassandra chuckled at his cocky attitude. “What now?”
“Not much. They have the files. Let’s hope they use them as we recommended. If so, Allison’s dream will be fulfilled. In the end, she did make a difference. Pity it had to be through us.”
Trevor took her hand in his and brought it to his lips, kissing it softly. Cassandra studied him, and must have seen the gleam playing in his eyes. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
“The NSA refused my resignation.”
“What?! What do you mean, refused it? How are we supposed to go after information on your parents with you still working in Maryland? And what do we do with the house in Dublin?” Cassandra’s questions were shot out in rapid succession like bullets out of a machine gun.
Trevor squeezed her hand. “Hold on, let me finish. They didn’t want to lose their top infiltrations expert. So we negotiated. I agreed to be retained as a consultant instead.” Trevor lifted a finger to her lips when it looked like the machine gun was about to be go off again. “I’ll be brought in on tough cases. Apparently they like my eccentric methods. They’re calling it Operation Countermeasure.” Trevor’s smile was vibrant with enthusiasm. “There’s only one drawback. When they say ‘jump’ I’ll have to focus my efforts on the job at hand, but it means the move to Dublin is still a go.”
“What’s the upside of this arrangement, Trev? If the NSA is anything like the CIA, you could be jumping each time you close a case. Won’t that get in the way of our goal?”
“That’s the beauty of it, Cassie girl. It’ll actually help us in a big way.” Cassandra shot him a puzzled look and he rushed on excitedly. “As a consultant living in Dublin, I’m to be given full access to Echelon. Static IP address, high encryption and, get this, George is my liaison. He and I will still be working together.”
A spark of understanding appeared in her eyes when she realized what he was getting at. “You’re planning on using Echelon to find leads on your parents’ case?
“Who? Me? Use government property and resources covertly to gather information for our personal advantage? Seriously? Nah,” he joked, reminding her of her own line when they first met.
“You’re a lucky son of a gun, Trev.”
“Told ya. Luck of the Irish. What could be better Cassie girl? We’ll be based in Ireland. We’ll be able to work the cases we want, follow up on any leads we find, and have the resources at our disposal to help explore those leads.” His words held a wistful note to them even he could hear.
Cassandra wrapped her hand tighter around his. “We will find out what happened to them.” Trevor’s heart flipped in his chest as he heard the seriousness of her tone and saw the determination in her eyes. This was what he had always wanted—someone with whom to share his life and quest. Someone who would embrace his entire world. He knew whatever decisions he made in his search for answers, Cassandra would be by his side on the winding trail they would both explore to the very end.
THE END
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Countermeasure series
TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE
Chris Almeida & Cecilia Aubrey
“So, how is the new guy doing?” Roy Denner, Chief Financial Officer of Mark Devlin Software, asked Mark Devlin, owner of MDS. They often held their casual meetings over the phone and that day was no different.
“New guy? Oh…you mean Antonín Mucha? Amazing. He had an impressive resume. Worked with some big names, including Conor Brennan.” Over the line, Roy heard Mark take a sip of his coffee.
“Brennan? Why is the name familiar?”
“Big name in biometrics. He led some major projects in the field.”
“Ah.”
“Mucha helped him with an algorithm for voice recognition some years back.”
“I see.”
“Apparently they were close for a while. Mucha mentioned he had some of Brennan’s notes. I bought them from him. They will be worth a fortune down the road—even though they look like chicken-scratch to me.”
“Why?”
“Don’t you remember? Brennan died in a boating accident some five years back—”
A knock on Mark’s door sounded over the line.
“Hi, Paul. Everything okay?” Roy overheard Mark’s question followed by a pause, then Paul’s muffled reply in the background.
“The decrypter, Mr. Devlin…I don’t know how…the files are gone.” Paul Faber, the lead developer at MDS, was in charge of their main piece of software—which was also one of his projects from inception.
“Mark, what’s going on?” Roy asked over the line.
“Roy. Grab Harold and get over here. My office. We have a situation.” His voice was thick with tension.
Mark hung up and Roy immediately called Harold Preston, MDS’s head of security, and instructed him to meet them at Mark’s office on the double. It was going to be a hell of a day.
****
George scanned the latest assignments and prioritized their order of attack for the day. It would be handled as soon as he could get a hold of Trevor.
With that in check, he scanned the latest report generated on their little keyword list—something he had been keeping an eye on for his buddy. He had to take a second pass at it to make sure he had gotten it right. When he did, a small smile played on his features.
“Trev’s going to want to hear this one…”
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
CHRIS ALMEIDA (C. ALMEIDA)
Chris Almeida began writing children’s stories at a very young age. Chris’ life took a totally different course when technology came into play, and the next 17years were spent delving deep into the world of programming and web design.
It was in 2010, when Chris began role playing online as a hobby, that writing wormed its way back into the picture. This time, writing storylines for a role playing group. The ideas and plots created for the game awoke the inner writer and a few months later, together with, partner in crime, Cecilia Aubrey, began writing Erotic Romance stories and Romantic Suspense.
Now, together, they have created a number of short stories, are currently working on a couple of book series and have several projects on
the side lines. Through it all, they have continued to enjoy role playing their favorite characters.
CECILIA AUBREY (C. AUBREY)
Cecilia Aubrey’s writing has been included in business publications and communications for several years. A year ago, Cecilia took on the role of a character in an online role playing group, and met partner, Chris Almeida. The development of story ideas, research, writing and participation in bringing those stories to life spurred a desire to take writing to a higher level. A few months later, a new passion was formed and, together with Chris Almeida, she began writing Erotic Romance stories and Romantic Suspense.
Inspired by the works of many Romance, Paranormal and Erotic authors, the majority of Cecilia’s free time is spent in collaboration with Chris on a number of short stories and several projects including Countermeasure, a Erotic Romantic Thriller series. For fun and inspiration, they have continued to bring their favorite role play characters and stories to life.
You can find them at:
http://caduobooks.com
http://countermeasureseries.com/
http://www.facebook.com/Counter.Measure.Series
http://www.facebook.com/CAlmeida.CAubrey.Authors
http://twitter.com/CAlmeidaCAubrey
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright Information
Acknowledgements
Quote
Prologue - The Darkest Hour
Chapter One - Second Chances
Chapter Two - Hidden Identities
Chapter Three - The Encounter
Chapter Four - Jaded
Chapter Five - The Breach
Chapter Six - The Morrigan
Chapter Seven - The Crumb
Chapter Eight - Shite!
Chapter Nine - Clash of the Titans
Chapter Ten - Aftermath
Chapter Eleven - Fate
Chapter Twelve - The Evil Inside
Chapter Thirteen - Voilá
Chapter Fourteen - Purgatory
Chapter Fifteen - The Eagles Have Landed
Countermeasure (Countermeasure Series) Page 34