Into a Dangerous Mind (43 page)

“Cassidy?”
 
Jerry pushed a wayward lock of hair from her face.
 
“What’s wrong, love?”

“I can sense him.”
 
Her words came out in a whisper.

Jerry spent too much time around Cassidy over the past year to doubt her abilities.
 
“Is he on the plane?”

Cassidy concentrated and ensured her shields were firmly in place and her obstinate mind hadn’t broken her promise to Zach.
 
She refocused on Jerry.
 
“No.
 
But I’ll bet we’ve just come into range of each other.
 
We haven’t been this close together since I was learning to use my gifts.”

She easily read Jerry’s concern that she would cancel the booking in Washington.
 
He’d worked tirelessly to get her this far, and having the President and several other important political figures attend her concert on opening night could only be a feather in both of their career caps.

can leave.
 
I’m here for the duration.”
 
Cassidy set her jaw stubbornly and firmed up her shields another notch.

“What if he comes to his senses and tries to see you?” Jerry asked.

“He’s been steadfast about staying away from me this long, I can’t see why he’d suddenly change his mind.
 
But if he does, I’ll be gracious and friendly and totally platonic.”
 
Although her heart still expected him to show up at her stage door one night, her mind had given up on the idea.
 
“He made his choice, and I’ve moved on.”
 
She hoped she said it convincingly, but one glance at Jerry’s raised eyebrow made her doubt.

“Whatever you say, love.
 
You’re the boss.”

Zach bolted awake in bed and leaned back against the headboard, his Glock 9mm already in his hand and in firing position.
 
He sighted down the gun around his dark bedroom, but couldn’t figure out what woke him.

He didn’t sense anyone in his apartment, and there didn’t seem to be any immediate danger, so he slowly lowered the gun and placed it back under his pillow.

He wearily swung his feet onto the floor and took a moment to scrub his hands over his face.
 
Then he sensed it again—a strong presence he hadn’t experienced in a year.
 
His head whipped up and he closed his eyes and concentrated.

Careful not to reach out—he had lost that right when he’d walked away—he just concentrated on sensing her again.
 
Her presence was unique, one he could never forget, but it had grown stronger, more confident since he last sensed it.
 
The feel of her was indelibly carved into his mind, and he reveled in it like another man might a piece of clothing with a woman’s perfume.

 
Her plane probably just landed, or came close enough for him to detect her aura.

Kathy’d kept in touch with him over the last year since he’d given her some tips on how to come to terms with her new powers, but had refused to tell Zach anything whenever he asked—including how Cassidy was and if she was happy.
 
Her answer had always been the same.
 
“If you want to know so badly, go find out for yourself.
 
And if you’re too damn stubborn to do that, then just leave it be.”

He’d asked Anderson as well, since he and Kathy talked regularly.
 
He told him Cassidy was happy and seeing someone named Bob who she and Kathy met in Paris a few years earlier.

.
 
Zach ground his teeth in frustration at the thought of another man ever laying his hands on Cassidy.

He opened his eyes and noticed the moonlight spilling in through the blinds, casting pale stripes over his bedspread.
 
His breath caught in his throat—the sight brought back vivid memories of the early morning he and Cassidy spent in bed during the Reaper ordeal.

The mental memory was so vivid he could still feel Cassidy’s silky skin under his hands and smell the fragrance of her hair.
 
Shaking his head, he scolded himself.
 
“Get a grip, Hatcher.
 
You walked away.
 
It’s done.”

He’d spent an entire year putting walls around the emotions and needs associated with Cassidy.
 
One brush of her presence and it all came rushing back.
 
If someone had asked him yesterday, he would have insisted he was over her.
 
She was nothing but a bittersweet memory from a relationship he clearly screwed up.
 
But now he couldn’t even lie to himself anymore.

He spent a moment trying to remember all the reasons he’d been so sure he had to leave her, but his mind remained stubbornly blank.
 
He’d filled the time since he left her with work and obligations.
 
He took over Dix’s position and wanted to serve his friend’s memory by doing a damn good job.
 
Dix wouldn’t have accepted anything less.
 
But he knew he’d buried himself in work to keep thoughts of Cassidy at bay.
 
He also knew it never worked.

And with every professional goal he accomplished, it only served to highlight the emptiness which pervaded the rest of his life.

He stood and shuffled into the kitchen to make some coffee, to try to distract himself from thoughts of her.
 
But her presence kept tickling at the edges of his consciousness.
 
He couldn’t even concentrate and block it out—the physical bond between their minds was too strong to break apart.
 
He sighed and began to measure coffee grounds into the pot.

for you.”
 
The Washington Post carried an article a few weeks ago advising she would be performing at the Lisner Auditorium beginning tonight.
 
Agent Gerald dropped the paper on his desk after circling the article in red pen.

Zach had stuffed it in his briefcase and pretended nonchalance, but at the first opportunity, found an excuse to run down to his car where he was free to memorize every word.
 
It said she played her own music and was a world-wide performing and recording success.

Pride and happiness touched him for the first time in a year when he gazed at her picture next to the article.
 
They’d captured her while she played and even from the grainy picture he saw the emotion she poured into every note.
 
Still breathtakingly beautiful, she carried some sadness around the eyes even newsprint couldn’t hide.

put the sadness in her eyes, but he also rationalized repeatedly, convincing himself it was for the best.

This proved it again—didn’t it?
 
Wasn’t she thriving and happy without him?
 
Doing what she’d always dreamed of?
 
He kept his promise of never contacting her or even reaching out for her—hadn’t he?
 
“And so did she,” he reminded himself brutally.
 
“She kept it too damn well.”

Rage, sadness, loss and the hole in is soul which had yawned empty since he walked away from her, rose up to swallow him, and he hurtled his glass coffee mug across the room to shatter against the far wall.

“Yes!
 
God damn it, yes….”
 
He slid down the cabinets to sit on the floor holding his head in his hands and began to sob as he realized he’d hit bottom.
 
“I asked her and damn her—she didn’t love me enough to break her promise.”

Zach took a deep breath and walked through the front doors of Lisner Auditorium.
 
He rubbed his sweaty palms on his jacket and pulled against the restrictive collar of his tux.
 
“What the hell am I doing here?”

He’d almost talked himself out of coming dozens of times throughout the day.
 
In fact, he’d waited so long to decide, he’d just paid some very happy patron in the parking lot five hundred dollars for a seventy-five dollar ticket.

The words Dix said to him a year ago came back.

.”

trying until the day he died.
 
So, here he was, walking blindly into her life and hoping she didn’t kick him out, or worse, not even realize he was here.

After navigating the metal detectors and flashing his badge and two forms of ID to the secret service, he was allowed through with his Glock 9mm still in his shoulder holster.

For some reason its comforting weight against his side gave him confidence.
 
Because at this moment, he’d rather face one hundred heavily armed terrorists than one beautiful cellist with the power to crush his heart to dust.

Taking a deep breath, he walked forward toward the interior doors which led into the auditorium.
 
It brought back memories of another auditorium from what seemed like a lifetime ago, where she’d been in danger.
 
He still remembered the relief and surprise that flooded her face when she saw him behind the Reaper.

“I’m sorry sir, you’ll have to wait for intermission.”
 
An elderly woman dressed in an usher’s uniform broke him away from his memories.
 
“There’s a lounge around the side if you’d like to wait.”
 
She indicated the direction of the lounge with her usher’s flashlight.

Zach held up his badge and brushed by the startled woman.
 
At least someone tonight was impressed by his ID.

The music poured over him.
 
It pulled him forward and he opened himself to the psychic emotions Cassidy laced into every note.
 
He stopped halfway up the aisle and stood staring at her on stage.