Intersection (29 page)

Those words woke Cassidy completely and she propped herself up to look into the face of the woman she loved. “Where is that coming from?” Alex shrugged. “Uh-uh…you promised.”

“What?” Alex asked.

“No running...spill.”

Alex took a deep breath. “What if I screw up, Cassidy?”

“What do you mean by ‘screw up’? Like cheat?”

“What? No! God. That would NEVER happen.”

“Okay? Lie?” Cassidy asked.

“No.”

“Alex…I’m at a loss here.”

“What if I screw up with Dylan?”

“What? You’re great with Dylan.” Cassidy took a deep breath. She thought for a minute and she suddenly wondered something. Things were moving fast for the pair. Maybe it was too much for Alex, a six year old always around. “Alex, if you need to slow this down…”

Now Alex shot up from her position to face Cassidy fully. “What?”

“Well, I guess I didn’t really think…I mean…Dylan is here 24/7. That’s a lot, for anyone.”

Alex laughed. “Cassidy, that’s not at all what I meant.” Cassidy took a deep breath and searched the agent’s eyes for
her meaning. “I just don’t want to overstep my bounds…like last night.”

“Alex, if it wasn’t for you last night would have been a disaster, for both me and Dylan.”

“It’s not my place, Cass… to tell you where he should sleep…stuff like that.” Cassidy kissed Alex. “What was that for?” The agent asked.

“I had to check if you were real,” Cassidy traced Alex’s lips with her finger.

“What; am I trading in Alfred for Pinocchio now?”

“Maybe,” Cassidy smiled. “Dylan loves you. My mother loves you. I love you….and it is your place.” The woman let out a nervous chuckle.

“What?” Alex asked.

“I forget sometimes that we really have all just met,” Cassidy admitted.

“I know. Me too.”

“I need to tell you something,” the teacher began tentatively. “And I don’t want you to get scared off.”

“Cass…seriously?” Alex chuckled.

“I am serious.”

“I’m sorry. Tell me,” Alex pulled Cassidy into her arms. “It’s all right, whatever it is.”

Cassidy let out a long breath. “All the things I imagined when I married Chris,” she hesitated.

“Yes…” the agent encouraged her lover to continue.

“They never happened, not really. I thought when Dylan came…but…and then he wanted to have another baby…conveniently, when he decided to run for office.”

“You didn’t?” Alex was surprised. Cassidy was a wonderful mother and Alex knew already how much she loved children.

“I did, but not like…not with Chris. I guess that’s when I really knew it was over.”

“Cass? Why would that scare me off?”

Cassidy swallowed hard. “Because I don’t feel that way with you. When I see you with Dylan…”

Alex chuckled. “You think because you want to have more children one day the big goofy agent is gonna’ turn tail and run.” Cassidy shrugged. “Cassidy, look… if you had asked me a few weeks ago if I would EVER settle down, fall in love, I would have said no. That’s the truth.” Alex felt a tear through her shirt and lifted the smaller woman in her embrace so that she could look in her eyes. “I love you, Cass, and right now I want to get through all of this mess…but there isn’t anything you could ever ask of me that would make me walk away from you, or Dylan for that matter….and truthfully? It scares the hell out of me sometimes, but it doesn’t scare me half as much as the thought of losing you.”

“I’m sorry,” Cassidy said.

“For what?” Alex laughed a bit.

“I just, well…it’s a crazy thing to say to someone you’ve known a week.”

“No…it’s not. No crazier than the fact that we’re together,” the agent said. “Actually, it makes me feel a little better.”

“It does?” Cassidy asked with surprise.

“Yeah. It does.”

“I love you, Alex.”

“I know…go to sleep, Cass.” Cassidy let out a happy, audible sigh. “I love you too. More than you could ever know,” Alex said as she silently thanked the stars she couldn’t actually see for being happier than she ever thought possible.

hristopher O’Brien sat up slightly in his hospital bed and took his first sip of water. His throat felt as if it were burning in the desert with no moisture to sooth it, making his voice raspy. “I don’t understand,” he swallowed more water and strained to finish his thought, “why Cassie isn’t here.”

“Congressman,” Agent Fallon began, “it is safer for both Mrs. O’Brien and your son in New York right now. Agent Toles is there.” Brian Fallon had spoken at length with his partner that morning. He was now aware that the congressman had met with Fisher and who Fisher was and was not. She had also filled him in on the fact that his original ‘feeling’ regarding money laundering and arms might not only be a reality, but that the congressman might be both privy to it and worse still, involved in something of that nature. Fallon liked and respected Cassidy, and although he sometimes resented Alex for not sharing much of her past, he both trusted and loved his partner. His once amicable feelings toward the politician in the bed were less than charitable this morning.

“Danger? The Letters?” Was all the congressman could force from his lips.

Fallon tried to calm his inner anger. “What do you know about Carl Fisher?” He asked pointedly.

The congressman avoided the agent’s eyes,” photographer.”

“I see. On your campaign?” Fallon went along. The congressman nodded. “You released him?” The congressman nodded again. “Why?”

“Cassie…” the congressman wheezed, “asked me…”

“I see. Why was that?” The congressman shook his head as if not really knowing.

“Hmm…Were you aware that Mr. Fisher worked for the government when you hired him?” The congressman did not answer. “I see. Were you aware that Mr. Fisher was an intelligence agent when you released him?” The congressman threw the agent a visual dagger. Fallon was unimpressed and unfazed. “You met with Mr. Fisher recently.” The congressman stared. “Well, Mr. O’Brien,” the agent deliberately stripped the man of his respectful title. “It appears that your friend, Mr. Fisher, has a thing for your ex-wife. That is why she is not here.” Fallon hoped his firm questioning and deliberate assessment would at the very least give the congressman some things to ‘chew’ on. “You need your rest,” Agent Fallon tipped his head. “I’ll be in touch when you are feeling more talkative.”

Agent Claire Brackett picked up her phone. “He’s awake. I’m not certain when they arrived but the wife said she was returning to New York on Friday… I need to know what Toles is doing. Who she’s seeing… I can’t go to New York…she already is suspicious of me….. I have to go.” The tall redheaded agent walked to the water cooler, grabbed a cup and sat back down at her desk.

“Brackett,” Assistant Director Tate called from the door. “My office.”

“Sir,” the young agent opened the door.

“Sit down, Brackett.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Brackett, this was on my desk this morning.” He passed her an envelope. She opened it and pulled out the photo. “Why were you outside Congressman O’Brien’s room yesterday?”

“Sir, I was just checking on Agent Toles.” Tate folded his arms. “As you know…Agent Toles and I…”

“What I know, Agent Brackett, is that the O’Brien case belongs to Agent Toles and Agent Fallon. They were assigned by me; you were not. Now…I have not spoken to Agent Toles since early this morning and I imagine you would prefer she did not know you were watching Mrs. O’Brien and her son.”

“Assistant Director, I understand…Agent Toles and I had a disagreement…I simply…”

“Brackett, here’s a piece of advice, Toles is Toles. Work is Work. Your cases are your cases and her cases are her cases. Are we clear?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. Now go deal with your case.”

Agent Fallon peered in the door as Agent Brackett left. “Sir? A word?’

“What is it, Agent Fallon?”

“I’d like to request some undercover protection for Mrs. O’Brien,” Fallon explained.

“Well, you could do that Agent Fallon but Agent Toles already took care of that this morning. Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.” Fallon turned to leave. “Next time you want to know what my conversation with another agent is regarding,” Tate said shuffling papers on his desk, “ask me.”

“Sir…” Agent Fallon left the office to apprise his partner of all he’d learned in Washington.

“Fallon…..What do you mean she was
watching
Cassidy?” Alex was burning. “When yesterday? What did she say to him?... Tate said what?...Great…..No….I’m in the car. Fallon…. I don’t know yet….. What did O’Brien say?......Really? He played
dumb?...He definitely met with Fisher….P.D. might be better on this than the bureau. Fisher’s gotta’ have someplace close by here. You have any N.Y. contacts?...Okay…. Trust him?... Okay….Yeah…Set it up…I’ll meet him tomorrow…. Yeah… you too,” she hung up the phone. “Shit.” Alex Toles pulled over and opened the glove box. She pulled out a small black flip phone. “Taylor?”

“Toles?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s going on?” Michael Taylor asked.

“You find anything on Brackett yet?” Alex’s voice gave away her concern.

“No. You want me to keep digging, don’t you?”

Alex took a deep breath. “She’s not FBI.”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure, yeah,” she answered.

“A feeling?”

“No, remember that bookstore on Mutanabbi Street? The shopkeeper?”

“Of course,” he answered.

“Remember that conversation, on our weekly sweep?”

“I do.”

Alex pressed her thumb into her temple. “Just happened with the Assistant Director.”

“Toles…”

“Taylor…I speak seven languages and this smells like shit in all of them.”

“Understood,” he said. “Toles…just be careful. I found out what Fisher did in the Marines.”

“Yeah?” Alex Toles asked nervously.

“Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to cross paths with him.”

“How bad?” Alex asked.

“Toles, he makes that bookshop look like a birthday party. He’s a sociopath with an IQ of 189.” Alex closed her eyes and tried to breathe. This situation felt too familiar. Two of the
most dangerous scenarios just became reality; someone on the inside was working against them and they had to deal with a genius who was a psychopath.